Claudia Antonini

Claudia Antonini earned her BA and MA in Italian Studies from the University of Pisa. She also holds a diploma di licenza (MA equivalent) in Modern Literature, Philology, and Linguistics from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. In 2017, she moved to New York to begin her PhD in Italian at Columbia University, from which she graduated in 2024. Before joining the faculty at Wake Forest, Claudia was a Francis A. Yates Fellow at the Warburg Institute in London.
At Wake Forest, Claudia teaches Italian language, culture, and literature. Her research focuses on Niccolò Machiavelli’s literary and historical writings, the networks of literary sociability in Renaissance Florence, and the roles of women within those circles. Her most recent article, published in the Sixteenth Century Journal (2024), calls attention to the virtuosa, poet, and courtesan Barbera (formerly known as Barbara Salutati), who was also the recipient of two of Machiavelli’s love poems.
- ITA 111 – Elementary Italian I
- ITA 319 – Grammar and Composition