Harry Ransom Center - Investigating the Ranuzzi Family manuscript collection

I propose to undertake a three-month research fellowship at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas from January to March 2026, to examine the extensive manuscript collection of the Ranuzzi family. This archive contains invaluable documents related to sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth-century Bologna, offering critical insights for my research on the relationship between laughter and violence in Renaissance Bologna. My project focuses on the beffa, which was a cruel and often violent form of practical joke, exploring its social, cultural, and psychological implications. One of my key case studies investigates pranks and acts of violence among students in Renaissance Bologna and will form the basis of a paper I intend to present at the prestigious Renaissance Society of America annual conference in February 2026, as well as a forthcoming journal article. Documents related to student violence in the sixteenth century are scarce in Bologna’s surviving archival and library collections, making the Ranuzzi manuscript collection a unique and indispensable resource for this period. Access to these manuscripts will therefore provide essential primary sources for this study, enriching my analysis and contributing to broader scholarly discussions on humour, aggression, and social dynamics in early modern Europe.