Jilian Pizzi is a Ph.D. student in the Italian Department and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society. Her research interests lie in medieval history and religion, and in particular the interaction between Christianity and Judaism with a primary focus on historicizing Dante’s Commedia. In addition, Jilian is also interested in feminist theory and female experiences within Christianity.
Jilian graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College in 2017 with a B.A. in Italian. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded the William Pepperell Montague Prize in Philosophy and the Bettina Buonocore Salva Prize for excellence in Italian. Jilian received an M.A. and an M.Phil. from Columbia University. Her qualifying exams focused on contextualizing Dante’s Commedia within historical Judeo-Christian relations in the Middle Ages, major elements of medieval religious culture including asceticism, heresy, and religious orders, as well as major feminist texts and modern Italian novels dealing with religion, the body, and female experiences. She is a member of the Dante Society of America and the Renaissance Society of America.
Jilian is a Preceptor in the Core Curriculum, teaching Literature Humanities. She has taught Italian language as a teaching fellow and has served as teaching assistant for Professor Barolini’s “Dante’s Divina Commedia.” She has served as the Italian Department’s Lead Teaching Fellow for the Center for Teaching and Learning for the 2022-23 academic year as well as Senior Lead Teaching Fellow for the 2023-2024 academic year. She has worked as rapporteur for the University Seminar for Medieval Studies since 2022.
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