About

Born in 1945, Luciano Rossi pursued classical studies at the Universities of Heidelberg, Rome, and Paris, earning a doctorate in Letters in 1967 and specialising in Modern Philology in 1969. He began his academic career as an Assistant Lecturer, first at the University of Messina (1967–1969) and subsequently at the University of Rome (1970–1979). From 1975 to 1984, he was a professor at the University of Siena, and from 1984 to 2010, he held the Chair of Romance Philology (Romanische Literaturen des Mittelalters) at the University of Zurich, where he is now Professor Emeritus.

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In addition to his primary academic appointments, Rossi was a Visiting Professor at McGill University, Montreal (1988); Guest Professor at the University of Geneva (1990–91); Visiting Professor at UCLA, California (May 1993); Guest Professor at CESCM, Poitiers (September 1994); Guest Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela (March 1997); and Guest Professor at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne (2003). He has delivered lectures at leading European institutions, including the Collège de France, Paris-IV Sorbonne, the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, and the Circolo Linguistico Padovano.

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From 1969 to 1980, Rossi was an editor of Cultura Neolatina, and between 1971 and 1973, he co-founded and co-directed the international journal Teoria e Critica / Theory and Criticism. He also co-edited the Romanische Literaturen und Sprachen section of the Lexikon des Mittelalters alongside Marc-René Jung, and later collaborated with Jacqueline Cerquiglini, Maria Luisa Meneghetti, and Michel Zink as editor of the Revue Critique de Philologie Romane.

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His research interests span medieval narrative art (with a focus on Italian, French, and Portuguese traditions), Occitan, French, and Italian lyric poetry, and the reception of classical traditions in the Middle Ages.