I was born in the industrial plains of northeastern Italy. Of the folks in my hometown, Goethe once wrote that we “show proper respect for the good heritage of the past.” I do not know if that is true any longer for all of us, but the past has always been important to me.

After a brief stint with the Classics in high school, I soon turned my attention to Asia—specifically, ancient and premodern China. I received my BA and MA in Languages and Civilizations of Asia and Mediterranean Africa from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and studied Buddhist archaeology at the School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University. During the two years I spent in China, I traveled several times to the western area of the country, in particular Gansu and Xinjiang.

In 2017, I moved to Chicago to pursue my doctorate in Art History at the University of Chicago. My dissertation, titled “Paradigms of Beholding: The architecture of religious experience in Gandhāra,” explores the Buddhist art and architecture of the northwestern regions of Pakistan between the first and fourth century CE and shows how sacred spaces and religious objects shaped spiritual affect.

My research interests, however, are quite broad. In addition to Buddhist visual and material culture in premodern South Asia, I have also worked on early Hindu architecture and sculpture in Pakistan, rock-cut monasteries in China, and South Asian and Chinese ceramics. I am also interested in reception of ancient and late antique Asian art in the modern globalized world, and in eco-art history. I am a full member of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan (ISMEO/Ca’ Foscari).

My second nature is that of a visual artist. Even though I often bring my artistic inclinations to my practice as art historian by drawing my own architectural reconstructions and visualizations of ruined objects and monuments, my artistic practice has a separate life too. Through my paintings, I explore familial memory and its materiality, and I investigate represented identities and genders by pushing the boundaries of self-portraiture. I have also tried my hand at pottery and embroidery, with little success. After training for some years in oil painting at an artist’s studio, I am now mostly self-taught.

When I am not working, I enjoy hiking, trail running, reading, and cooking.