Francesco Borghesi

Francesco Borghesi is Associate Professor of Italian Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney, where he has held a continuing position since 2009. He progressed from Lecturer (2009–2011) to Senior Lecturer (2012–2018) and Associate Professor (Level D, 2019–present), and served as Chair of the Department of Italian Studies from 2020 to 2022. Earlier appointments include Lauro de Bosis Fellow in the History of Italian Civilization at Harvard University (2008–2009), Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Italian Studies at McGill University (2006–2008), Research Fellow at The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University (2005–2006), and Frances A. Yates Short-term Fellow at The Warburg Institute, University of London (2004–2005). Borghesi earned a Laurea in Filosofia from the Università di Bologna (2000), an M.A. in Italian Studies from Brown University (2002), and a Ph.D. in Italian Studies from Brown University (2004).

His research centers on the diffusion of ideas in Italian and European history from the thirteenth to eighteenth centuries, particularly the intersections of literature, religion, and philosophy. Major publications feature the critical editions Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Lettere (Florence: Olschki, 2018) and Concordia, pietas et docta religio. Le lettere di Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Edizione e studio dell’incunabolo bolognese del 1496 (Bologna: il Mulino, 2004). He has edited key volumes including Translating the East: Theories and Practices in Europe, China and Tibet between the Sixteenth- and the Nineteenth-Century (Intellectual History Review 34/3, 2024, with Y. Lü), La biblioteca di Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Tra bilanci e prospettive di ricerca (Bologna: Marietti1820, 2024), Peace and Concord from Plato to Lessing (Theoria 159, 2019, with A. Benjamin), From Ancient Theology to Civil Religion (Intellectual History Review 29/1, 2019), Machiavelli (Italian Culture 32/2, 2014), and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man: An edition with commentary (Cambridge University Press, 2012, with M. Papio and M. Riva). Notable honors include the Ahmanson Fellowship at Villa I Tatti – The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies (2014–2015), Lauro de Bosis Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Harvard University (2008–2009), DAAD Research Fellowship at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (2003), and Dame Frances A. Yates Short-term Fellowship at the Warburg Institute.

Professional Email: francesco.borghesi@sydney.edu.au