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CRISTINA IANNARINO
cristina_iannarino@brown.edu
EDUCATION
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Brown University
Fordham University
• Mentor: Dr. William David Myers, Professor and Chair of the History
Department
• Readers: Dr. Alessandro Polcri, Associate Professor of Modern Languages and
Literatures (Italian) and Comparative Literature and Dr. Susanna Barsella,
Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures (Italian) and
Medieval Studies
• Successfully defended before a committee of mentor and readers—Grade: A
Spring 2017 – present Digital Humanities Project
The Respublica Mulierum: Mapping Italian Humanist Women
Abstract: In 1544, Sienese herbalist and physician Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1501-77) published his seminal
work, I discorsi, a translation and commentary on the Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides’ De materia
medica. Mattioli’s 1544 commentary, updated with new entries on flora and botanical woodcuts, is noted for
including the first entry on the tomato in European herbal literature, as well as the method of preparation for
consumption, “fried in olive oil with salt and pepper.” The 1554 updated edition includes the first name for
the tomato, pomi d’oro and a detailed illustration of the fruit, thereby reflecting its increased cultivation in the
Italian peninsula in the decade between the initial publication and the updated edition. Mistakenly believed
to be a relation of the controversial mandrake, the tomato was generally condemned or ignored by early
modern Europeans. Yet European herbalists, botanists, and physicians from John Gerard to Rembert
Dodoens consistently echoed Mattioli's observations, including the key “Italian” method of the tomato’s
preparation, that would dominate herbal literature in almost every major European language for centuries.
Consequently, the tomato's association with Italians overshadowed the tomato's true colonial origins,
cementing the tomato's exalted position in the Mediterranean diet and Italian cuisine.
PUBLICATIONS
Publication accepted; forthcoming review in 2017 volume of Italian Poetry Review (Journal of the Italian
Department at Columbia University, the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, and the
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Fordham University) of Brundin, Abigail, Crivelli,
Tatiana, and Maria Serena Sapegno, eds. A Companion to Vittoria Colonna. The Renaissance Society of
America Texts and Studies Series 5. Leiden: Brill, 2016.
Translator for forthcoming Italian edition of Reich, Jacqueline. The Maciste Films of Italian Silent Cinema.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015.
Copy Editor and Peer Reviewer for the 2014-7 volumes of the Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal.
PRESENTATIONS
Abstract: In 1998, the late Umberto Eco (1932-2016) gave a series of lectures on the art of translation at the
University of Toronto. Perhaps best known for his international bestseller, The Name of the Rose, the Italian
medievalist, novelist, and semiotician later expanded his lectures into a volume of essays titled Experiences in
Translation. Eco argues that an effective translation is rooted in connotation rather than denotation; it can
and must express the true sense of a text even when it violates both lexical and referential faithfulness. Eco’s
interpretive exercises were applied to translate Dr. Jacqueline Reich’s publication with Indiana University
Press, The Maciste Films of Italian Silent Cinema (2015) from English to Italian alongside Dr. Fabio Pezzetti
Tonion from the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin. This research addresses how to preserve the integrity
of Dr. Reich’s originality and expression as a scholar, as well as that of the original Italian archival material to
present Maciste to an audience and culture well-acquainted with him.
“The Golden Apple: Pietro Andrea Mattioli’s Influence on the Usage of the Tomato in
Renaissance Italy” (see Research Experience)
Brown University
Andrew W. Mellon Fellow, Cogut Institute for the Humanities
Fordham University
The Francis R. Favorini Italian Achievement Award (2017)
Fordham Undergraduate Research Grant (2016)
Loyola Scholarship
Dean’s List (2013-17)
Generoso Pope Foundation Scholarship (2013-17)
F.I.AM.E. (Forum of Italian-American Educators) Scholarship (2013)
AFFILIATIONS
May 2014 - Jul 2017 AI Strategic, Web Design & Social Media Marketing Consultants, Intern
Summer 2017 Dr. Richard Gyug and Dr. William David Myers, Webmaster
• Participated in a two-week Fordham historical study tour from May 25th to
June 14th in which 23 students walked 200 miles of the medieval pilgrimage
known as the Camino de Santiago from León to Santiago de Compostela
• Organized inventory of student-authored blog posts and photos centered on
student activities and historical site reports on towns and cities along the way
• Created Wordpress-run website with custom HTML coding to host blog posts
and photo galleries as a record of the course submitted to the university:
www.fordhamcamino2017.wordpress.com
Sept. 2014 – May 2017 Dept. of African & African-American Studies, Associate Asst. to the Senior Secretary
• Organized and supervised “food runs,” during which food is packaged and
delivered; coordinated with Sodexo and Fordham Dining and local branch of
Part of the Solution (POTS) twice weekly
Sept. 2016 – May 2017 Fordham Club, Co-President of Mental Health Awareness Subcomittee (MHAS)