Alumni and Careers
Lucas DiCerbo
Class of: 2023
Major(s): Biochemistry
Minor(s): Italian Studies
After graduating with a minor in Italian Studies, I was fortunate to receive a Fulbright research fellowship in Naples, Italy. I currently live in the historic center of Naples and study chemistry with a research group at Federico II, the city’s flagship university. The short- and long-term benefits of this transformative life experience are too numerous to count. I have expanded my linguistic abilities, grown as a scientist, and connected with other international students over a mutual admiration – and, at times, incredulity – for the city of Naples and its unique way of life.
Bram Hollis
Class of: 2023
Major(s): Anthropology, Italian Studies
While I didn’t enter ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ expecting to graduate in Italian, I found the department one of the most welcoming and intellectually intriguing at ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ. In particular, my work with Professor Hall on Ariosto was a highlight of my time there.
Nothando Khumalo
Class of: 2023
Major(s): Computer Science, Italian Studies
I started taking Italian at ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ for fun, but quickly realized all the opportunities that Italian could give me at ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ and beyond. As an Italian, Computer Science double major, I completed an honors thesis that used natural language processing to predict the authorship of the ballads in The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. With Prof. Crystal Hall, I learned how Italian literature could provoke interesting computational problems.
Kate McKee
Class of: 2022
Major(s): Italian Studies
I graduated from ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ with an Italian studies major in 2022 and have since moved to the UK, where I have been studying Italian at the University of Oxford. I graduated from the masters in Italian in 2023 with a thesis on smells in Dante’s Commedia, a topic that I had initially stumbled upon in Professor Saiber’s Purgatorio seminar in my senior year at ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ. I am now in my first year of a doctorate in Italian at Oxford, where I am more broadly studying smell in the works of due- and trecento Italian poets, with a focus on Dante and Boccaccio.
Sabrina Lin
Class of: 2021
Major(s): Art History, Visual Arts, Italian Studies
I discovered Italian during my first semester at ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ, quickly fell in love with the richness of Italian culture, art, history and never looked back! Classes in the Italian Department were undoubtedly some of my academic highlights at ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ, which also intersected with my pursuit of Art History in powerful and unexpected ways. In addition to spending a semester abroad in Siena, my coursework in Italian literature has been deeply influential to my scholarship of contemporary art—studying Dante with Prof. Saiber alerted me to the nuances and challenges of translation, while reading postcolonial feminist fiction with Prof. Gavioli made me attuned to structures of power and access.
Holden Turner
Class of: 2021
Major(s): Environmental Studies, Earth and Oceanographic Science
Minor(s): Italian Studies
I completed an Italian minor at ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ while also pursuing an ES/EOS coordinate major — Riley house was my home during my senior year! Because of the flexible nature of Italian Studies, I was able to unite these passions in my graduate studies, which have included a Masters in Environmental Humanities at Università Ca’ Foscari (Venice, Italy; graduated 2024) and a PhD in Modern Languages and Literature at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland; started 2025). I use my experience in Italian language and culture to speak with experts on issues of sea-level rise and adaptation in Italy, and I hope to use what I learn in cross-cultural conversation to rewire climate change narratives in the US and Europe toward action for more livable futures.
Sofia Trogu
Class of: 2019
Major(s): Neuroscience, Italian Studies
I immediately fell in love with the Italian department from the first day I stepped into Riley House for the Open House before classes started freshman year. Whether it was the biscotti and caffè offered or the welcoming introduction by Professor Saiber, I knew I had found a second home. I grew up speaking Italian with my Sardinian father at home, but I wanted to enrich my knowledge of the language and the culture by taking Italian grammar and seminar courses.