Claudia OLIVIERI
Claudia Olivieri is an associate professor (SLAV-01/A, Slavic Studies) in the Department of Humanities at the University of Catania, where she teaches Russian language and literature. Her research has focused on 19th-century Russian literature (Dostoevsky, Somov) and cinematic relations between Russia/the USSR and Italy, on which she co-edited the volume Italia-Russia. Un secolo di cinema / Vek kino (ABCDesign, 2020), sponsored by the Italian Embassy in Moscow, and on Italian-Soviet film co-productions (in particular the film Italiani brava gente and the documentary Russia sotto inchiesta). Today he focuses on contemporary Russian literature, culture and society: he has explored the work of Vladimir Sorokin in numerous essays, examined the relationship between cinema and nostalgia in the monograph Cinema russo da oggi a ieri (Rome, Lithos, 2015), and has studied contemporary Russian theatre (with particular reference to ‘diversity’ theatre, ‘Doc’ theatre and Chekhovian rewritings) as well as prose and the literary phenomenon of the 1990s. She is a member of the Academic Board of the PhD programme in Germanic and Slavic Studies (Sapienza University of Rome). She is a member of the Italian Association of Slavists, where she has served as secretary and a member of the executive committee. She is secretary of the editorial board of the Library of Slavic Studies, as well as a member of the editorial board of the series ‘Masterskaja20’ and the journals “eSamizdat”, ‘Slavica TerGestina’ and ‘Avtobiografiя’. She is one of the founders of the Inter-University Centre for the Study of Post-Soviet Culture and Counterculture, as well as a member of other research centres, such as “Argo”, “School for Saving Classics” and CESPES.
Claudia Olivieri
ORCID Id: 0000-0002-1519-4691
Since 2021, has been Associate Professor of Russian Language and Literature at the Department of Humanities of the University of Catania, where she completed her academic training and previously served as Research Fellow (2003–2005), Adjunct Lecturer (2005–2012), and Tenured Assistant Professor (2012–2021
Since 2005, has regularly taught courses in Russian Language and Russian Literature at undergraduate and postgraduate level within the Department of Humanities of the University of Catania.
Since 2024, she has been member of the Doctoral Board and the Quality Assurance Committee of the PhD Programme in Germanic and Slavic Studies at Sapienza University of Rome; she also has served as appointed external evaluator for several doctoral dissertations at Italian universities, including Bari, Genoa, Milan, Pisa, Roma Tre, Sapienza University of Rome, and Trieste-Udine.
Between 2004 and 2020, and again in summer 2024, carried out several research and teaching stays in Moscow upon invitation of the Russian State University for the Humanities (RGGU), serving as Visiting Researcher, Visiting Professor, and coordinator of the Intensive Russian Language Course organized for students of the Russian Language and Literature programme at the University of Catania. During these periods, she conducted archival and bibliographical research at major Russian institutions, including the Russian State Library, the State Historical Library, the Theatre Library, RGALI, and Gosfilmofond. She also attended advanced training courses, seminars, conferences, and theatre festivals.
Since 2018, has been a founding member of the Inter-University Centre for the Study of Post-Soviet Culture and Counterculture, established in collaboration with the Universities of Turin (lead institution), Roma Tre, and Macerata. Since 2023, she has been affiliated with the Inter-University Research Centre for Argumentation, Pragmatics and Stylistics (“Argo” Centre), contributing to interdisciplinary research activities at the intersection of literary studies, rhetoric, and cultural analysis. Since 2024, she has been a member of the research centre “School for Saving Classics”, devoted to the reinterpretation and transmission of classical traditions in contemporary cultural contexts. From 2026 onward, she has also been affiliated with the Interdepartmental Centre for Pascal and Seventeenth-Century Studies (CESPES), expanding her research collaborations toward early modern intellectual and cultural studies.
In 2021, Claudia Olivieri conceived the project Permanent Russia, originally established as a reading laboratory devoted to Russian classics and developed in collaboration with several Italian universities. The initiative subsequently evolved into a broader scientific network and platform for critical reflection on Russian literature and culture in relation to contemporary issues. The project has so far generated two international conferences held at the University of Catania (Russia, Permanent? Re-reading the Russian Classics Today, 2024) and at the University of Trieste (The Difficulties of Translation, or Impermanent Russia: Rewriting the Russian Classics Today, 2026). A third conference devoted to Russian theatre is currently in preparation.
- 2017-2026: member of the editorial board of the series Biblioteca di Studi Slavistici (FUP), of which she has been secretary since 2026;
- Since 2020: member of the editorial board of the series Masterskaja 20. Studi e ricerche sulla Russia moderna e contemporanea (WriteUp Books);
- Since 2021: member of the editorial staff of the journal eSamizdat;
- Since 2022: member of the editorial staff of the journal Slavica Tergestina;
- Since 2023: member of the Scientific Committee of the series Lumen (DueTreDue);
- Since 2024: member of the editorial staff of the journal Avtobiografiя;
- Since 2024: member of the editorial staff of the journal Fabrica Litterarum Polono-Italica.
- 2022–2025 / 2017–2019: member of the executive committee and secretary (2022–2025) of the Association of Italian Slavists;
- 2018–2020: commissioned by the Italian Embassy in Moscow to produce the book *Italy – Russia. A Century of Cinema (in collaboration with Olga Strada), for which she received the ‘Francesco Misiano’ Award (2023, 10th edition);
- 2015–2019 / 2020–2024: Assistant evaluator for the VQR;
- (since) 2007: Accredited language expert (Russian) at the Court of Catania;
- 2005: Italian language lecturer at the Italian Cultural Institute ℅ Italian Embassy in Moscow (Teaching Italian as a second language).
My research, which has always been characterised by an interdisciplinary approach (i.e. the relationship between literature, the visual and performing arts, and cinema), has focused on the following main areas:
1) 19th-century Russian literature;
2) Italian-Soviet cinematic relations and co-productions;
3) Contemporary Russian culture, with particular reference to theatre and the phenomenon of the 1990s
I began my academic career with research into 19th-century Russia, focusing in particular on Dostoevsky’s relationship with painting and drawing, and the cinematic adaptability of his work (with a specific focus on Memoirs from a House of the Dead and the archival screenplays edited by V. Sklovskij). I went on to study a number of film archives, analysing the complex production process and the political and cultural background of certain films co-produced by Italy and the USSR in the 1960s and, more generally, the cinematic relations between the two countries during the 20th century. For the past few years, I have been focusing on contemporary Russia. I have undertaken a detailed critical examination of the ‘phenomenon of nostalgia’ that pervades contemporary Russia, scrutinising over seventy years of Soviet and post-Soviet cinema, culture, literature and society through the filmography of Andrei Konchalovsky, the frequent practice of remakes, and the screenplays and selected works of Vladimir Sorokin (opera librettos, prose, and plays). I have examined some recent and significant theatrical initiatives, such as the work of Teatr.doc (suspended between literature, documentary and politics), the theatre of diversity and inclusion (which, among other things, sheds light on the delicate interplay between culture, society and politics in recent years), and the substantial body of Chekhovian rewritings (by writers such as V. Sorokin, B. Akunin, L. Ulitskaya). I have now extended these lines of research to further reinterpretations of Chekhov’s work (the subject of persistent attention and the output of numerous playwrights) and to a ‘new’ nostalgia for the controversial decade of the late 1990s (recalled and ‘revitalised’, albeit with a completely different purpose, with the same yearning for the Soviet era).