Imma Petito (1993) joins the HOST research team as a Ph.D. student on the joint doctoral project ‘Relations between the Kingdom of England and Italy in the Later Middle Ages: space, time and men’ within the bilateral cooperation between the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the University of Salerno (UNISA). She is working under the supervision of prof. dr. Bart Lambert (history), prof. dr. Francesco Senatore (history) and prof. dr. Silvia Siniscalchi (geography).
She is an Honorary research fellow ("Cultore della materia") in Medieval History and Medieval Institutions at the University of Naples "Federico II" (UNINA) and a member of the scientific committee of Serie I, Dispacci Sforzeschi da Napoli – Fonti per la storia aragonese di Napoli.
She obtained, cum laude, a master's degree in Historical Sciences at UNINA (2017). She graduated from the Schools of the State Archives of Naples and the Vatican Secret Archives (2019). She was a fellow of the Alberto Varvaro Advanced Training School in History and Philology of the manuscript and ancient book, in collaboration with Ministero dei Beni Culturali and the UNINA (2019-2021).
Her research interests are mainly focused on the areas of institutional, cultural and diplomatic history (in particular with reference to Italy, Europe, and the Mediterranean between the Later Middle Ages and the Early Modern period) and documentary production relating to the 13th-16th centuries.
Her research project involves the study of English relations with Florence, Venice, Milan, Naples and Rome, under the regency of Edward IV of York followed - after the brief parentheses of the reigns of Edward V and Richard III - by Henry VII Tudor. The investigation proposes to reconstruct the most significant moments and aspects of the relationships between these powers and will develop a comparative perspective focused on cultural history, languages, communication, perception of spaces, characters and, therefore, on the discursive and cultural dimension of these connections. A very useful and essential contribution to the research is provided by the literature and manuscripts on the late medieval Low Countries that were the fulcrum of the routes between England and Italy, as they were transitional zones. The Low Countries represented the centre of political, social and cultural relations between these realities.
“I strongly believe in cultural exchange and communication between different cultures and countries, an objective that I will try to promote first and foremost with my research project”.