Preface

Preface

This book is one of the outcomes of a research project on this topic (P.I. Helena Sanson) co-funded by the Leverhulme Trust (in the form of a Philip Leverhulme Prize) and an Isaac Newton Trust Research Grant1. The editors would like to express their thanks to the Leverhulme Trust and the Newton Trust for their generous support.

Some of the essays in this volume were presented in earlier versions at the international conference held on this topic in Cambridge (20-21 March 2014), but further contributions by other scholars working in the field were also included to broaden the scope of our book.

We are grateful also to the Italian Institute of Culture in London, in particular to the former Director Caterina Cardona, the Italian Department at the University of Cambridge, and the Society for Italian Studies for sponsoring the conference. We thank all the authors who contributed to this volume for the enthusiasm with which they embraced this collaborative research2.

Helena Sanson
and Francesco Lucioli