Natale Vacalebre

Natale Vacalebre (1985) received his Ph.D. in Bibliography and Book History from the University of Udine in 2015. In 2012 and 2013 he has been Research Fellow n Bibliography at the Università Cattolica in Milan, where he chiefly studied the production of 15thcentury Lombardy printed books and the provenance of Milanese incunabula.A former Research Fellow of the Bibliographical Society of America, he is currently a Benjamin Franklin Fellow in Italian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Vacalebre has studied the history of books and libraries for many years, with a special interest in ancient collections of religious orders, and the production and commerce of Italian books in the early modern age. His latest book, "Come learmadureel'armi" (Like arms and weapons", Florence:Olschki, 2016) is a detailed account of the history ofEarly ModernJesuit libraries, where he proposes a new research method relate to the history of Ignatian book collections based on both documentary and book provenance analysis.

Currently, Vacalebre is working on two different projects: the history of Early Modern Jesuit typography, and the reading strategies related to Dante's Divine Comedy in the XVth century.He has given lectures at the Universities of Genova, Perugia, Brescia, and Milan (Catholic University) and at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Thessaloniki (GR). He is a member of the editorial board ofthe scientific journal“L’Almanaccobibliografico” andanactivecorrespondantof the Boston College Jesuit Bibliography.