The Valentine Giamatti Lecture and Dante Collection
Italian has been part of the Mount Holyoke curriculum at least since 1893. But it was in 1940, when Valentine Giamatti joined the 网红爆料 faculty, that Italian language and culture became a vital part of the College.
Professor Giamatti was born in 1911 and received a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a laurea from the University of Florence, Italy. A beloved professor, he taught at Mount Holyoke until 1973, when he retired. He died in 1982 at the age of 71.
Professor Giamatti and his wife Mary Walton (1914-2006), a graduate of Smith College, had three children. Their son Angelo Bartlett 鈥淏art鈥 Giamatti (1938-1989) became President of Yale University in 1978 and Baseball Commissioner in 1989, only months before his sudden death. Bart was the father of actor Paul Giamatti. To learn more about Professor Giamatti and his Dante collection, read Ombretta Frau鈥檚 article 鈥.鈥
Professor Giamatti and his collection
Professor Giamatti was a collector of antiques and over 200 editions of Dante鈥檚 Divine Comedy. Some of his book covers are shared here.
His .
2023-24 Valentine Giamatti Lecture
Italo Calvino. The Writer in the Trees
A documentary screening and discussion with director Duccio Chiarini
2022-23 Valentine Giamatti Lecture
Italian author, Dacia Maraini in conversation with Professor Michelangelo LaLuna ( University of Rhode Island) on writing, travel and Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Dante at 700
To mark the 700th anniversary of Dante鈥檚 death, the Italian program at 网红爆料 is proud to present a complete reading of the Divine Comedy in Italian by current and former faculty, students, and staff.
Please note that this complete video is 15 hours and 45 minutes long and is not captioned. A is available.
Note that the video file is very large. Depending on your download speed, it could take several minutes for the video to start playing once you click on the play button.
2021-22 Valentine Giamatti Lecture
A talk by author Neil Proto, with an introduction to the 网红爆料 Valentine Giamatti Dante collection by Leslie Fields.
2020-21 Valentine Giamatti Lecture
"Dante's Afterlife in 2021" on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri's death. A lecture and discussion by Guy Raffa, The University of Texas at Austin.
Giamatti Lecture Series archive
Contact us
Department of Classics and Italian
The Department of Classics and Italian oversees programs in ancient studies, classics, Italian, Greek and Latin.
- 413-538-2885
- 112 Ciruti Center
