BIANCO ELISA

Elisa Bianco is an Associate Professor of Modern History (HIST-02/A, formerly M-STO/02) at the University of Insubria. Her academic career has developed entirely within the same institution, where she previously held fixed-term Assistant Professor positions.
She earned a PhD in History and Doctrine of Institutions from the University of Insubria in 2011. Her academic qualifications also include a Master’s degree in Teaching Italian as a Second Language and a degree in Classics from the University of Padua.
Her research activities fall within the field of Modern History, with a particular focus on European cultural and intellectual history, the circulation of knowledge, travel history and travel writing, and relations between Europe, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic world. An important strand of her scholarship also explores the reception of the Byzantine Empire in early modern and Enlightenment culture. These research interests have been further developed through numerous visiting periods and research stays at international institutions, including Georgetown University, the John Carter Brown Library, the American Philosophical Society, Arizona State University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Georgia State University.
Throughout her career, she has received several grants and awards supporting her research, including funding from the Lerici Foundation in Stockholm for the Italian edition of Jacob Jonas Björnståhl’s work, the Collaborative Cluster Fellowship at the John Carter Brown Library and the John “Bud” Velde Award from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
In addition to her individual research, she actively contributes to scholarly communities through her participation in scientific committees, editorial boards and research networks. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the series Apium Urbis scripta inedita ac rariora, serves on the Scientific Council of ISEP, the Institute for the Study of Padanian Judaism, and is affiliated with the International Research Center for Local Histories and Cultural Diversities at the University of Insubria. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Quaderni del CERM and of the Scientific Council of the Centre for Research on Minorities at the University of Insubria. Over the years, she has collaborated with numerous scientific and editorial committees and has contributed to international research projects. Since 2017, she has served on the Academic Board of the PhD Programme in Law and Humanities at the University of Insubria.
She has participated as a speaker, organiser and chair in conferences and seminars in Italy and abroad, presenting research on topics aligned with her main scholarly interests, including the modern reception of Byzantium, eighteenth-century travel culture, the Grand Tour and the international circulation of knowledge between the modern and contemporary periods.
Her scholarly output reflects the continuity and coherence of these research interests. Among her major publications is the monograph "La Bisanzio dei Lumi. L’Impero Bizantino nella cultura francese e italiana da Luigi XIV alla Rivoluzione" (Peter Lang, 2015), which constitutes a central element of this research trajectory.
At the University of Insubria, her teaching activities encompass courses in Modern and Contemporary History, Politics and Society in the Modern World, and Contemporary History within the degree programmes in Interlinguistic and Intercultural Mediation Sciences, Communication Sciences and Tourism Sciences.
She has also held, and continues to hold, several institutional appointments at the University of Insubria. Since 2024, she has served as Deputy Director of the Department of Human Sciences, Innovation and Territory. She is also a member of the AiQuaR Committee for Internal Quality Assurance in Research and of the Departmental Strategic Planning Committee. Throughout her academic career, she has undertaken a range of additional responsibilities related to teaching coordination, student guidance, quality assurance processes and academic governance.