For the period May 2011 - April 2012

Applications must be made by 31 January 2011

A new announcement has been published on www.cini.it inviting applications for 6 scholarships to the Vittore Branca International Center for the Study of Italian Culture for the purposes of attending activities and using its facilities during the period May 2011 - April 2012. Applications can be made until 31 January 2011 by any Italian or foreign scholar who has not reached 35 years of age by that date and who wishes to pursue a research project in line with the topics suggested by the Giorgio Cini Foundation (the announcement, research topics and applications forms can be downloaded from www.cini.it/centrobranca).

The scholarships are intended for students studying for a masters degree, doctorate or specialization, post-graduate students and Ph.D. graduates who wish to pursue research which requires a six-month stay on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Candidates are free to choose their period of stay (six consecutive months) any time from May 2011 to April 2012.

Each scholarship consists of 7,000 euros pretax, free accommodation for six consecutive months on the Cini Foundation Campus and access to its library facilities.

Applications for the scholarships (together with the required documents) must be sent by registered post or courier to arrive at the following address before 31 January 2011: Fondazione Giorgio Cini onlus, Segreteria del Centro Internazionale di Studi della Civiltà Italiana “Vittore Branca”, Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, 30124 Venezia.

Candidates considered to be suitable will be interviewed in Italian or English, possibly via internet, by one or several of the directors of the Giorgio Cini Foundation and may be invited to provide supplementary information. The results of the applications will be communicated before 28 February 2011.

Named after a world-renowned Italianist and historic Secretary General of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, the Vittore Branca Center is an international resource for humanities studies and a study and meeting place for both young researchers and  senior scholars interested in furthering their knowledge of Italian culture, especially that of the Veneto, in fields such as the visual arts, history, music, literature and drama. With 60 rooms, the Branca Center Campus offers the opportunity to study  and stay in Venice, even for a lengthy period, at economically reasonable conditions in a setting conducive to reflection and intellectual exchanges. The Center’s activities and  facilities are on offer to researchers, expert scholars but also writers and artists interested in studying Italian culture from an interdisciplinary point of view. The length of their stay will be in keeping with the aims of their research project.

Since it opened in June 2010, the Center has been attended by scholars interested in studying Italian culture who have come from major institutions in various countries – Italy, USA, Poland, Germany, Armenia, Israel, Croatia, Belgium, Switzerland, UK and Romania.

Research topics awarded scholarships in 2010 have included:

• History of Venice – Exporting the Italian Renaissance to the Balkans (1381-1453): civic models, workforce, legal systems, the arts
• Literature - Analysis of three Goldoni librettos
• Antique Books - Innovation and appropriation: illustrated scientific printed books in the Fondazione Giorgio Cini
• Literature - The “Veneto line” in 20th-century Italian culture and the role of Diego Valeri
• Antique Books - Learning to draw, drawing to learn: theory and practice in Italian Drawing Books, 1565-1760
• Theater - Fin-de-siècle women, actresses and photography
• History of Art - 16th- and 17th-century Venetian palaces
• Music - Gino Gorini’s pianism
• Music - Orlandini’s Nerone – An historical-philological study.