Ombretta Frau

Ombretta Frau is Dorothy Rooke McCulloch Professor of Italian. Her scholarly interests include nineteenth and early twentieth-century Italian authors and public intellectuals, and the material culture of literature. She has published more than fifty articles, book chapters, blog and encyclopedia entries on Italian authors including Pirandello, Jolanda, Mantea, Sfinge, Mara Antelling, Annie Vivanti, Flavia Steno, Matilde Serao, Dacia Maraini, Aldo Palazzeschi, Vincenzo Cerami, and on motherhood, the connection between language, gender and violence online, and the relationship between fascism and culture. With Cristina Gragnani, she is the author of the critical edition of Luigi Pirandello’s Taccuino di Harvard (Mondadori, 2002) and Sottoboschi letterari. Sei case studies fra Otto e Novecento: Mara Antelling, Emma Boghen Conigliani, Evelyn, Anna Franchi, Jolanda, Flavia Steno (Firenze University Press, 2011).

With Juliet Guzzetta, she is the guest editor of a forthcoming special issue of g/s/i [Gender/Sexuality/Italy] on Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s unique brand of conservative feminism. Among her recent publications are articles on Mount Holyoke’s Giamatti Dante Collection, on the importance of literary description in Italo Calvino (and his 1984 visit to Mount Holyoke), on Matilde Serao’s correspondence, and on nineteenth century Italian intellectual Angelo De Gubernatis.  

Frau has taught at Boston College, Rice University, and Harvard University, where she received excellence in teaching awards. At Mount Holyoke, she teaches Italian language, literature, and culture, including on Children’s Literature, Travel Literature, Theatre, Food culture, Fascism, and the Mediterranean. Her classes incorporate many pedagogical tools, and she believes in creating a friendly classroom atmosphere that encourages discussion.

A past president of the American Association for Italian Studies’ Women Studies Caucus, Frau collaborates with the Enciclopedia delle Donne and the Dizionario Treccani. She is the recipient of the 2022 Meribeth E. Cameron Faculty Award for Scholarship at Mount Holyoke.