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College of Arts and Humanities

Andrea Polegato

Associate Professor

Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures | Office: PB 521

apolegato@csufresno.edu

Education

  • Ph.D., Italian Literature with minor in Ancient Chinese Philosophy and Language, Indiana University, Bloomington
  • M.A., Italian Literature, Indiana University, Bloomington
  • Laurea cum laude, History of Political Philosophy, Università degli Studi di Padova 

Courses Taught

  • ITAL 1A. Elementary Italian
  • ITAL 1B. Elementary Italian
  • ITAL 2A. Intermediate Italian
  • ITAL 2B. Intermediate Italian
  • ITAL 100. Italian Literature and Cinema in Translation
  • ITAL 110. Italian Food Culture
  • ITAL 130. Leadership in Italy: from Machiavelli to Mussolini
  • ITAL 160T. Italian Film and Food
  • ITAL 160T. Made in Italy (study abroad)
  • ITAL 190. Independent Study
Andrea Polegato (Ph.D. Indiana University) is Associate Professor in Italian Studies and Advisor for the minor in Italian Studies at the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures at California State University, Fresno. He also serves as QLT facilitator for all CSU campuses, supporting colleagues in developing quality online and hybrid courses by sharing his expertise and passion for online teaching and learning. Dr. Polegato’s research focuses on the political language of Niccolò Machiavelli and Florence between Quattrocento and Cinquecento. He also has a strong interest in comparative studies, in particular on the comparison between Renaissance Italy and ancient China. His publications include the volume “Machiavelli in Contemporary Media” he co-edited for Palgrave Macmillan (May 2021) and a series of articles: on Machiavelli’s administrative letters, Pietro Aretino’s “The Stable Master,” Ermanno Olmi’s films “The Profession of Arms” and “Singing behind the screens,” and the comparison between Machiavelli with the Chinese thinkers, Sunzi and Han Feizi. Dr. Polegato also collaborates with the Italian Journal NAM: Nuova Antologia Militare, directed by Virgilio Ilari.
  • Niccolò Machiavelli’s political language
  • Representations of power in literature, philosophy, and media
  • Renaissance Florence
  • Art of War
  • Comparative Studies
  • Italy and East Asia
  • Italian Studies
  • Italian Food Culture
  • Fascism and Futurism
  • Teaching Methodologies
  • Online Teaching and Learning
 
Book
  • Polegato, Andrea. Prudence, Virtue and Justice in the first Machiavelli. (in progress)
 
Edited Book
  • Polegato, Andrea and Benincasa Fabio, eds. Machiavelli in Contemporary Media. London, Palgrave Macmillan 2021. 
 
Book Chapters & Articles
  • “Love” and “Loyalty” in Machiavelli’s Administrative Letters: The Relationship Between Florence and Its Subjects” in Niccolò Machiavelli and the Anatomy of Passions. Leiden, Brill. (book chapter proposal accepted). 
  • “House of Cards between Machiavelli and Machiavellianism” in Machiavelli in Contemporary Media” London, Palgrave Macmillan 2021, 119-132. 
  • “Introduction” to Machiavelli in Contemporary Media (with Fabio Benincasa), in Machiavelli in Contemporary Media. London, Palgrave Macmillan 2021, 1-10.
  • “Il corpo come metafora politica nel primo Machiavelli.” in Corpus/Corpora, tra materialità e astrazione. Roma, Aracne editrice 2021. Pp. 63-80. 
  • “Master and Commander: a Comparison between Machiavelli and Sunzi on the Art of War.” NAM: Nuova Antologia Militare 1.3 (2020): 93-112.
  • “On the expression ‘Li òmini in universali iudicano più alli occhi che alle mani’: an Alternative Reading of Chapter 18 in The Prince.” Politics: Rivista di Studi Politici 6/2 (2016): 1-17.
  • “La rappresentazione del potere cortigiano nel Marescalco di Pietro Aretino.” Incontri, Rivista europea di studi italiani 28/2 (2013): 66-75.
  • “Dal Po ai mari della Cina, la ‘sorprendente’ evoluzione dell’ultimo Ermanno Olmi.” (With Fabio Benincasa). Mimesis Simplegadi. Pensieri d’Oriente 29 (2009): 29-41.
 
Proceedings
  • ”The Competition between Ruler and his Advisors: Machiavelli’s Virtù vs. Han Feizi’s Shì” In Italy and East Asia: Exchanges and Parallels. Eds. Mario Mignone, and Gaoheng Zhang. (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2020): 208-221.
  • “Comparing Machiavelli and Sunzi: Preliminary Notes.” Italy and China: Centuries of        Dialogue. Eds. Francesco Guardiani, Gaoheng Zhang, Salvatore Bancheri (Firenze: Franco Cesati Editore, 2017): 321-328. 
  • “Chiron and the Ambiguity of Princely Power: Machiavelli’s Interpretation of a Mythological Character.” Allusions and Reflections: Greek and Roman Mythology in Renaissance Europe. Proceedings of the Symposium (Stockholm, June 7-9, 2012). Ed. Elisabeth Wåghäll Nivre (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholar Publishing in cooperation with the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, 2015): 381-392. 
 
Backgound Essay
  • “History of Venice by Gian Giacomo Caroldo” Background Essay for the website Italian Paleography, Newberry Library, 2020.
 
Reviews
  • Andrea Guidi, Books, People, and Military Thought: Machiavelli's Art of War and the Fortune of the Militia in Sixteenth-century Florence and Europe (Leiden: Brill, 2020). NAM: Nuova Antologia Militare (in preparation).
  • Sean Erwin, Machiavelli and the Problems of Military Force: A War of One’s Own.  (New York: Bloomsbury, 2022) in Journal of Military History (forthcoming, 2023).
  • Fabio Frosini “...Quella università, o populo o  soldati o grandi». Le «armi» tra pubblico e  privato nel Principe, nei Discorsi e nell’Arte della  guerra di Machiavelli” («Studi rinascimentali»,  19, 2021) in La rassegna della letteratura italiana  126. 2 (2022).
  • Luciano Piffanelli, Politica e diplomazia nell’Italia del primo Rinascimento. Per uno studio della guerra contra et adversus ducem Mediolani. (Rome: École française de Rome 2020). Annali d’Italianistica 38 (2020): 500-502.
  • Virgilio Ilari, Clausewitz in Italia e altri scritti militari. (Roma: Aracne 2020). NAM: Nuova Antologia Militare 1.3 (2020): 393-404.
  • Patricia Vilches and Gerald Seaman. Eds. Seeking Real Truths, Multidisciplinary perspectives on Machiavelli (Leiden Boston: Brill, 2007). Italica 86/2 (2009): 329-330.
  • George Thomas. “The Parasite as Virtuoso: Sexual Desire and Political Order in Machiavelli’s Mandragola.” Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy 30/2 (2003): 179-194. Rassegna della letteratura italiana 112/1 (2008): 242.
  • Carolyn J. Mackay. Il dialetto Veneto di Segusino e Chipilo. (Cornuda [Treviso]: Grafiche Antiga, 2002). Italica 84/1 (2007): 108-109.
 
Textbook Chapters
  • “Emily Dickinson” in Il caffè letterario. Poesia e Teatro, ISBN 978-88-268-1991-4 (2017): 233-36; 239-40; 243-44; 248-49; 253-54. (Translated into English an introduction to Emily Dickinson; introduced and wrote explanatory notes for a selection of Dickinson's poems; created exercises for comprehension and for in-class activities).
  • “Italian and European authors” in Materiali didattici per l’insegnante: La letteratura, Leopardi, vols. 3A and 3B, ISBN 978-88-268-0840-6, (2015): 2-15, 25-26, 29-32.  (I wrote the introduction and explanatory notes for excerpts from the works of Leopardi, Verga, Wilde, Italian Futurism, Pirandello, Joyce, Weaver, and Calvino; created exercises for comprehension and for in-class activities).