Dr. Ilaria Serra

ilaria serra
Ph.D., Comparative Studies, ֱ
Professor of Italian and Comparative Studies
ֱItalian ProgramCoordinator
Cavaliere della Repubblica italiana, Ordine della Stella d'Italia
Areas of Expertise: Italian cinema, literature and cultural studies; Italian American studies; Italian song; History of Italian immigration
E-mail: iserra1@fau.edu Phone: 561-297-0286

Ilaria Serra is from Venice, Italy. She is a Professor of Italian and Comparative Studies, the coordinator of the ֱItalian Program and faculty member in the graduate programs (Master's in Comparative Literatre and PhD in Comparative Studies). Her research weaves Italian American Studies into Italian Studies more broadly; main areas of focus include Italian cinema, Italian literature, Italian history through popular song, and the history of Italian immigration to the United States. She founded and co-leads the ֱStudy Abroad Program in Venice, Italy (), where she teaches the course Venice and Its Reflections ().

She has received FAU's highest scholarly honor twice: University Scholar of the Year Award at the Assistant Professor Rank (2012); and University Scholar of the Year Award at the Associate Professor Rank (2020). In 2023 she was knighted by the President of the Italian Republic for her merit in the promotion of Italian culture abroad. In 2024 she received the Premio alla Carriera by FATI-Florida Association Teachers of Italian, the by the Italian Language Foundation, New York, and the Columbus International Award (Rome-Miami). In 2025, she was the recipient of College of Arts and Letters Faculty Research Recognition Awards ("for her exceptional scholarship, mentorship, and international engagement connecting ֱto Italian institutions through research and study-abroad initiatives”).

Dr. Serra created with her studentsthe digital humanities projects, “,” “” and “Floritalians.” She started and coordinates the FAU Italian and Italian American Film Festivals and organizes the annual International Symposium "Italy in Transit." She recently received an (click here for the Monnet Center interview .)

cavaliere serra

Ilaria Serra receives the Knighhood insignia (Order of the Star of Italy) from Consul General of Italy in Miami, Michele Misto'

Courses

  • Italian Language
  • Poetic Geography of Italy (graduate) "" in Parchi Letterari Magazine; presentation (h10.59).
  • Italo Calvino's World (graduate)
  • Venice in the Italian Literary Imagination (graduate)
  • Scrivere se stessi: l’autobiografia italiana (graduate)
  • Translating Identities: Italian America (graduate)
  • Italian Culture Through Film (graduate)
  • Venice and Its Reflections
  • The Italian City between History and Imagination
  • ItalianLanguage through Film
  • Italy in Lyrics (Italian History through Its Music)
  • Italian Literature from the Baroque to the Present
  • Masterpieces of Italian Cinema
  • Italian-American Cinema
  • Italian Cinema and Literature: From Text to Screen
  • World Literature

Books

Serra, Ilaria and Edoardo Lebano. . Third edition. Wiley, 2025.

lebano serra book

Serra Ilaria. . A Culture and Language Textbook. New York: Linus Learning, 2021.

italia cantata

Serra Ilaria (ed.). Eugenia Bulat, . Tropea: Meligrana, 2018.

pietra bulat

Serra, Ilaria, and Alan Gravano, eds. . Selected Proceedings of the 42th Annual AIHA Conference. New York: Bordighera Press, 2013.

southern exposure

Serra, Ilaria..Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 2009.

immagined immigrant

Serra, Ilaria. . Fordham University Press, 2007.

value worthless lives

Serra, Ilaria. . Cierre, 1997.

immagini immaginario

Selected Articles

Serra, Ilaria. “.” Rossocorpolingua. IX.1 (2026): 58-83.

Serra, Ilaria. “.” Letteratura e Pensiero. Rivista trimestrale di Scienze Umane 26 (2025): 77-100.

Serra, Ilaria. “” for Rossocorpolingua VIII.4 (2025).

Serra, Ilaria. “.” Literary Geographies 11. 2 (2025): 161-182.

Serra, Ilaria. “.” Polisemie 5 (2024). DOI:10.31273/.v5.1246

Serra, Ilaria. “G.” Biography: An Interdisciplinary Journal (University of Hawaii Press) 46.1 (2023). 49-52.

Serra, Ilaria. “.” The Italianist – Special Issue, 'Cross-Cultural Approaches to Italian Ecocriticism.' 42 (2022-23).

Serra, Ilaria. “,” Italian Culture 41.1 (2023). 80-102.

Serra, Ilaria. “Fuori dalla porta, dentro dalla finestra: Dio nell’architettura di Pietro di Donato,” Campi Immaginabili66/67 (2022). 456-471.

Serra, Ilaria. “Paper in Hand and Eyes Wide Open: The Year in Italy.” Biography: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 44.1 (2021): 83-90.

Serra, Ilaria. “Scorsese and Dante: Art and the Afterlife. O'Brien’s Martin Scorsese's Divine Comedy. Movies and Religion.” Review essay. Italian Americana. Cultural and Historical Review. 29.1 (Winter 2021), 85-88.

Serra, Ilaria. “Needlework and the Feminine in Adriana Trigiani's Novels.” Letterature d'America XL.179 (2020). 81-100.

Serra, Ilaria. “” Biography. An Interdisciplinary Journal 42.1 (2019) (University of Hawaii Press): 69-76. muse.jhu.edu/article/726549. Published. Print and web.

Serra, Ilaria. “.” Biography:An Interdisciplinary Journal(University of Hawaii Press) 43.1 (2020): 101-108.

Serra, Ilaria. “.” Biography. An Interdisciplinary Journal 42.1 (2019): 69-76.

Serra, Ilaria. “”. Forum of Modern Language Studies54.5 (Fall 2018): 1-24.

Serra, Ilaria. “.” New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film 15.2 (2017). 191-207.

Serra, Ilaria. “.” Biography. An Interdisciplinary Journal40.4 (Fall 2017).

Serra, Ilaria. "Voyageurs sulle vie italiani del mondo." Studi italianiXXVIII.1 (gennaio-giugno 2016). 181-99.

Serra,Ilaria. "."Forum Italicum : A Journal of Italian Studies Special issue "Music and Society in Italy." 49 (August 2015): 545-566.

Serra, Ilaria. "Geografia poetica dell’assenza. Poeti italoamericani e l’Italia abbandonata."Lettere aperte(University of Innsbruck, Austria). Edition 2, 2015.

Serra, Ilaria. "The Last Dance: Orienta Badia's Autobiographical Novel, Rina." Italianamericana 32.2 (Summer 2014): 146-71.

Serra, Ilaria. "Alterità acquatica nella poesia italo-rumena di Eugenia Bulat."Lingua Romana11.2 (Fall 2013).

Serra. Ilaria. "." Italian Sound. Special issue of California Italian Studies4.1 (2013).

Serra, Ilaria. " ." Luci ed ombre 1.4 (Settembre-Ottobre 2013).

Serra, Ilaria. "." History Workshop Journal 76 (Fall 2013).

Serra, Ilaria. "." Adaptation 4.2 (September 2011).

Serra, Ilaria. "." Italica 88.1 (Spring 2011): 94-114.

Serra, Ilaria. "From Immigration to Art Appreciation. The Extraordinary Case of the Morikami Museum in Florida." International Journal of the Arts in Society 4.3 (2009): 447-55.

Serra. Ilaria. "." Mnemosyne. (Quaderno dell'Osservatorio Scientifico delle testimonianze autobiografiche e della memoria scritta e audiovisiva) 2 (2009): 133-44.

Serra, Ilaria. "." Italica 86.3 (2009): 452-70.

Serra, Ilaria. "Creare una memoria collettiva: Le donne e i documentari italoamericani." Oltreoceano. Percorsi Letterari e Linguistici 2 (2008): 85-92.

Serra, Ilaria. "." Dante. Riviste internazionale di studi su Dante Alighieri 3 (2006): 129-45.

Serra, Ilaria. "Rhyming Immigration. Two Italian American Autobiographies in Verses." New Expressions. Special issue of VIA. Voices in Italian America 17 (2006): 69-84.

Dinev, T., Bellotto, M., Hart, P., Colautti, C., Russo, V., Serra, I. "." European Journal of Information Systems 15.4 (2006).

Translation

Serra, Ilaria. “Giovanni Corona. Poesie/Poems” Translation and Critical Introduction. Mosaici: Learned Online Journal of Italian Poetry, 2017.

SELECTED Book Chapters

Serra, Ilaria. “The Syntax of Mobile Lives. Gaetano Zompini’s Le arti che van per via” Mobile Lives. Itinerant and Street Trades in Historical Perspective, edited by Rosa Miriam Salzberg and Massimo Rospocher. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2026. 118-139.

Serra, Ilaria. “On Monte Stella.” Living Biculturalism, Writing Transculturalism. Celebrating Luigi Fontanella, edited by Anthony Tamburri. Casa Lago Press, 2025. 39-54.

Serra, Ilaria. “Poetic Calabria: Hidden Metaphors among its Rocks.” , Caterina Pangallo ed. Sidney, Australia: Cambridge Scholars, 2023. 219-240.

Serra, Ilaria. “Il linguaggio dei fiori in Romancero gitano.” by Federico Garcia Lorca (Marino Magliani e Riccardo Ferrazzi, transl). Cosenza: Pellegrini Editore, 2023. 5-14.

Serra, Ilaria. “Emigrazione e circo: la famiglia Zoppé tra Italia e Stati Uniti.” Viaggiare in un mondo diviso. Marco Severini, ed. Ronzani editore, 2022. 191-208.

Serra, Ilaria. “Questions on an Old Map: Joseph Tusiani’s If Gold Should Rust.” Il miglior Fabbro. Essays in Honor of Joseph Tusiani, edited by Paolo Giordano and Anthony Tamburri. New York: Bordighera Press, 2021. 239-258.

Serra, Ilaria. “I molteplici trattini del cinema italoamericano.” Gli italiani in USA: nuove prospettive di una diaspora secolare, edited by Anthony Tamburri and Silvana Mangione. New York: John D. Calandra Italian American Institute 2021. 97-128.

Serra, Ilaria. “Voci da un sogno veneziano in Florida: Boca Raton.” L’originalità della ricerca storica, edited by Marco Severini. Fano: Aras, 2021. 155-168.

Serra, Ilaria.“La Sardegna come poesia: Giovanni Corona. Una lettura geografica.” Nuovi studi su Giovanni Corona, edited by Simona Cigliana. Roma: Carocci Editore, 2020. 77-101. Book review .

Serra, Ilaria. “‘Street’ is Feminine in Italian. Feminist Bodies in Italian Streets.” , edited by Richard Shusterman. Leiden (NL): Brill, 2019. 153-176.

Serra, Ilaria. “La gioventù di Mario Isnenghi tra libri e campielli.” La gioventu’ degli storici e delle storiche, edited by Marco Severini and Lidia Pupilli. Venice: Marsilio.

Serra, Ilaria. "Italian American Femininities,"The Routledge History of the Italian Americans, edited by William Connell and Stanislao Pugliese. New York: Routledge, 2017.

Serra, Ilaria: "Femminismo Ruggente Cantato,"Dieci passi nella storia de ll’emancipazione femminile italiana. Marsilio Ed., Venice, Italy (2016). 209-27.

Serra, Ilaria. "Ritorno alla polis: i film di Dennis Dellai." Un nuovo cinema politico italiano? Ed. William Hope, Luciana d'Arcangeli, and Fabiana Stefanoni. Vol. 2. London: Troubador Press, 2014. 40-51.

Serra, Ilaria. "De Salvo’s Rialto: Walking on a Livable Bridge." : Essays on Memory, Culture, and Women in the Work of Louise De Salvo. Eds. Edvige Giunta and Nancy Caronia. New York: Fordham University Press, 2014. 222-32.

Serra, Ilaria. "Rina quasi Orienta. Il romanzo autobiografico di Orienta Badia Johnson."Culture e transcultura nelle Americhe. Studi dedicati a Daniela Ciani Sforza.Ed. Silvana Serafin. Venice: La Toletta Edizioni, 2014. 159-73.

Serra, Ilaria. "Introduction." . Ed. Laura Ruberto. New York: Bordighera Press, 2010. 17-31.

Serra, Ilaria. "Outsider Rhetoric in Italian Immigrant Autobiographies." New York: Farleigh Dickinson University Press. 143-64.

Serra, Ilaria. "Travel Literature: Crossing the Gaze between Italy and America." Teaching Italian American Literature, Film, and Popular Culture. Ed. Edvige Giunta and Kathleen Zamboni McCormick. New York: Modern Language Association, 2007. 578-88.

Serra, Ilaria. "Forme e deformità della famiglia nel cinema italoamericano." . Ed. Giuliana Muscio and Giovanni Spagnoletti. Venezia: Marsilio, 2007. 164-72.

External Links

Ilaria Serra was organizer and jury member of the first photo competion "La mia finestra e' un quadro... e uno specchio" in collaboration with Festival delle Opere Prime, Gallio. The sponsor, Love Immobiliare, published Ilaria Serra's critical (English version). Summer 2026.

Ilaria Serra speaks about Italian American cuisine in (February 27, 2026).

Ilaria Serra presents “La casa e il bosco di Mario Rigoni Stern” at the Conference Luoghi, oggetti, arredi e case d'autore, il contesto degli archivi degli artisti e degli scrittori, Associazione Premio Nazionale Elio Pagliarani and Fondazione Baruchello, Rome, October 28, 2025. ).

Ilaria Serra presents “Pinocchio illustrato sul gioco dell’oca” at the Conference Il burattino Multimediale, Fondazione Collodi, Collodi, Tuscany, July 5, 2025. .

Ilaria Serra's short story-essay "" (Natale a Venezia, 2025) is read by Elisabetta Tiveron at the Avamposto, a surviving pocket of Venetian culture in the tourist area of Venice.

Ilaria Serra interviewed for , November 2024.

Ilaria Serra presents the ֱItalian Program for the magazine WeTheItalians: by Umberto Mucci.

Ilaria Serra interviewed by Dean Horswell for "In Conversation. An Arts and Letters Podcast" on her research on Italian music.

Ilaria Serra featured in ֱResearch Thursday in 2022, and in 2020.

Ilaria Serra in

York University, The Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian-Canadian Studies, Roundtable discussion . Michela Baldo (U Birmingham), Licia Canton (Accenti Magazine, AICW), Ryan Calabretta-Sajder (U Arkansas), and Ilaria Serra (Florida Atlantic U); facilitated by Elia Chairholder Abril Liberatori.

sullo studio dell'Italiano a FAU, Marzo 2020.

: Ilaria Serra interviewed by WPBF about an Italian language love story.