Francesco Erspamer is professor of Italian studies and Romance languages and literatures at Harvard University.  He is interested in aesthetics, history of ideas, politics, and cultural change. He has worked extensively on the Renaissance, the 19^th  and 20^th century, and contemporary issues. His most recent books are The Creation of the Past: On Cultural Modernity and Fear of Change: Crisis and Criticism of the Concept of Culture. He is presently writing a book on cultural design with Pier Luigi Sacco. Email: erspamer@fas.harvard.edu.

Pier Luigi Sacco is professor of Cultural Economics at IULM University, Milan, director of the IRVAPP Center of Bruno Kessler Foundation, Trento, and the special adviser to the European Commission in the field of cultural heritage. His research is focused on the economy of culture in postindustrial times. He claims that investing in intangible goods must become a part of a new economic policy and that it is a way to include art in the building of our prosperity. Sacco has authored numerous publications on modern economics. Email: pierluigi_sacco@fas.harvard.edu.

Francesca Bellei is a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at Harvard University. She holds a BA in Classics from the University of Cambridge and an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of St Andrews. Her research investigates dynamics of identity construction, through a focus on migrant and multilingual literature. She works primarily on Latin, ancient Greek, Italian and Anglophone literatures and film. Hailing from Rome, she credits postcolonial, Marxist, feminist and queer theory with making her a paranoid reader and a better writer. Email: bellei@g.harvard.edu.

Peter Lieberman is a teaching assistant in Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. He has taught a wide range of Italian courses for all ability levels. He strongly believes that authentic cultural materials and immersive experience are essential to language learning, and strives to incorporate non-didactic Italian texts and films in his curricula. Research and personal interests include Italian linguistic geography and dialectology, microhistory, and gelato. He grew up between New England and Florence. Email: plieberm@fas.harvard.edu.

.

.