Stefano Piantino

Before joining Yale, Stefano earned a Laurea (BA, 2021) and a Laurea Magistrale (MA, 2024) in Comparative Literature from the University of Turin.

His undergraduate thesis offered a narratological reading of the rewriting of epic narratives in contemporary literature through the work of Elsa Morante. Building on this foundation, his master’s thesis explored the social implications of such rewritings from a gender perspective, focusing on the works of Morante and Elena Ferrante.  His academic interests, centered on Italian studies, include genre, narratology, and literary theory, alongside gender studies and the environmental humanities.

During his MA, he spent a year in Japan at Saitama University, where he focused on Japanese language, literature, and culture, as well as material studies. At Yale, he plans to expand his research into the blue humanities, with a comparative approach and a particular interest in how water destabilizes the structures and conventions of canonical and Early Modern epics—especially through their contemporary rewritings.