Serena Professor of Italian
Encyclopedia
The Serena Professorship of Italian is the senior professorship in the study of the Italian language
at the University of Cambridge
, University of Oxford
, and University of Manchester
. At Cambridge, it was founded in 1917 by a donation of £10,000 from Arthur Serena (died 1922), a shipbroker and son of the Venetian
patriot Leone Serena.
When after Grayson’s retirement the Serena Chair was ‘frozen’, because of government funding cuts, Gianni Agnelli, head of Fiat, generously agreed a contribution of £750,000 to ‘unfreeze’ the Oxford Chair. In recognition of this benefaction, the name of the Chair at Oxford became the Fiat-Serena Chair of Italian Studies.
In the summer of 2009 there was a further modification in nomenclature when the name changed to the Agnelli-Serena Chair of Italian Studies, a change which reflects more directly the role of the two great benefactors at the beginning and end of the twentieth century.
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, and University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
. At Cambridge, it was founded in 1917 by a donation of £10,000 from Arthur Serena (died 1922), a shipbroker and son of the Venetian
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
patriot Leone Serena.
Serena Professors at Cambridge
- Thomas OkeyThomas OkeyThomas Okey was an expert on basket-weaving, a translator of Italian, and a writer on art and the topography of architecture and art works in Italy and France...
(1919) - Raffaello Piccoli (1929)
- Edward BulloughEdward BulloughEdward Bullough was a psychologist and philosopher of art. He was a lecturer at Cambridge on modern languages and ultimately was named Serena Professor of Italian in 1933. He is most noted for the idea of psychical distance.- Publications :...
(1933) - Eric Reginald Pearce Vincent (1934)
- Uberto Limentani (1962)
- Patrick Boyde (1981)
- Zygmunt Barański (2002)
Serena Professors at Manchester
- E. G. Gardner (1920)
- P. Rébora (1923)
- Mario PrazMario PrazMario Praz KBE was an Italian-born critic of art and literature, and a scholar of English literature. His best-known book, The Romantic Agony , was a comprehensive survey of the erotic and morbid themes that characterized European authors of the late 18th and 19th centuries...
(1932) - Walter Llewellyn BullockWalter Llewellyn BullockProfessor Walter Llewellyn Bullock was an English scholar, critic, teacher, lecturer and promoter of Italian Studies at the Universities of Chicago and Manchester where he was Serena Professor of Italian. He was founder, in 1937, and general editor of Italian Studies as the annual journal of the...
(1935–1944) - Stephen J. Milner (2006–Present)
Serena Professors at Oxford
- Cesare Foligno (1919–40)
- Alessandro Passerin d’Entrèves (1946–57)
- Cecil Grayson (1957–87)
When after Grayson’s retirement the Serena Chair was ‘frozen’, because of government funding cuts, Gianni Agnelli, head of Fiat, generously agreed a contribution of £750,000 to ‘unfreeze’ the Oxford Chair. In recognition of this benefaction, the name of the Chair at Oxford became the Fiat-Serena Chair of Italian Studies.
- John Woodhouse (1990–2001)
- Martin McLaughlin (2001–Present)
In the summer of 2009 there was a further modification in nomenclature when the name changed to the Agnelli-Serena Chair of Italian Studies, a change which reflects more directly the role of the two great benefactors at the beginning and end of the twentieth century.