Visiting Assistant Professor of Romance Languages
Schedule a meeting with Prof. Sassi here: https://calendly.com/marsassi/officehour
Education
Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
Areas of Expertise
Medieval Studies, Preaching, Italian literature, Medievalism, Dante
Courses
RLIT 105 SEM
Pathway to Proficiency (not offered 2024/25)COMP 221 SEM
Dante and the Medieval World (not offered 2024/25)Scholarship/Creative Work
Co-Edited Book
Elisabetta Appetecchi, Maurizio Campanelli, Cristina Di Bari, Achille Giacopini e Mario Sassi, eds. I testi statutari del Commune d’Arcadia. Rome: Accademia dell’Arcadia, 2021.
Articles
Mario Sassi, “Vernacular Religious Miscellanies of Exempla: The Case of UPenn Ms. Codex 331,” Manuscript Studies 8, no. 1 (2023): 1–23.
Mario Sassi, “Strategies of Interpretation in French and Italian Exempla,” Medieval Sermon Studies 66 (2022): 3–19.
Mario Sassi, “The Language of a Preacher: Cavalca, Passavanti, and the First Steps toward a National Vernacular,” Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa 58, no. 1 (2022): 27–49.
Mario Sassi obtained his Ph.D. in Italian at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught both language and culture—with particular attention given to Dante’s Divine Comedy. He also taught for DePauw University’s summer study abroad program in Grado, Italy. His research focuses on Medieval storytelling and popular narratives, considering the role of the supernatural in religious and literary works (exempla and novelle). He is interested in the interactions between language and creativity, publishing on medieval Italian language and manuscripts. Additionally, he studies medievalism in contemporary pop culture, including in videogames and TV shows.
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