THE RESEARCH TEAM

Christian Vassallo

Principal Investigator

christian.vassallo@unito.it

Christian Vassallo studied Classics at the University of Naples ‘Federico II’ (PhD). He has been Junior Research Fellow at the National Research Council in Rome (CNR-ILIESI, ERC-Starting Grant 241184-PHerc: Interactive Edition and Interpretation of Various Works by Epicurean and Stoic Philosophers Surviving at Herculaneum); DFG-Projektleiter and Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter at the Universität Trier (Projekt VA 1030/1-1: Die Vorsokratiker in den Herkulanensischen Papyri); Fulbright Scholar and Distinguished Chair of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame (IN, USA); Alexander von Humboldt Foundation award-holder at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. He is currently Full Professor of Papyrology at the University of Turin. His main research interests are Papyrology (especially the Herculaneum papyri and the philosophical papyrus texts) and the History of Ancient Philosophy (especially the Presocratics, Plato and Platonism, and the Hellenistic Schools).

Roberta Pibiri

Project Manager

roberta.pibiri@unito.it

Roberta Pibiri received her PhD in Sociology (University of Turin, 2016), with a specialization in Sociology of Religions and qualitative research methods. She has worked in the Third Mission and public engagement field at the University of Turin (Research, Innovation and Internationalization Division - Research Impact and Valorisation and Public Engagement Area) and in collaboration with APEnet association. She currently works as a project manager of the ERC-CoG 101086695-APATHES (Department of Historical Studies) at SUM Hub Division - Research and Innovation Area of the University of Turin. Since 2022, she has been a certified Social Impact Assessor (Cepas certification) and she has been registered in the national registry of Impact Assessors. She is also a Counselor in Psychosynthesis.

Fabio Bellorio

Appointed Junior Research Fellow

fabio.bellorio@unito.it

Fabio Bellorio obtained his MA in Filologia, Letterature e Storia dell’Antichità at the Università degli Studi di Torino and his PhD in Classical Philology at the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, in a cotutelle de thèse with the Università degli Studi di Torino. His scholarly profile is that of a classical philologist with particular interests in Hellenistic and, more specifically, Stoic philosophy. For both his MA and his PhD he worked on Cicero’s De fato under the supervision of Prof. Ermanno Malaspina and Prof. Bardo M. Gauly. His doctoral thesis, Prolegomeni a una nuova edizione critica del De fato di Cicerone, provides the basis for a future critical edition of the work and is planned for future publication. He is co-editor of the forthcoming volume Non ut interpres sed ut... philosophus. A matter of editing and commenting on Cicero, currently under peer review for the De Gruyter series CICERO – Studies on Roman Thought and Its Reception (2026). He is currently working with Prof. Malaspina on a new edition and digitalisation of the Cronologia Ciceroniana for De Gruyter.

Samuele Coen

External Collaborator

samuele.coen@unito.it

Samuele Coen got both his Bachelor (2017, ‘Lettere Classiche’) and Master’s (2019, ‘Filologia, letteratura e tradizione classica’) degrees at the University of Bologna. Then, he moved to Oxford, where he completed a PhD in Classical Languages and Literature (2020–2024): his thesis, entitled Commenting on Ancient Texts: Interpreters and their Audience in the Graeco-Roman World (supervisors: Prof. Gregory Hutchinson and Prof. Daniela Colomo) is focused on ancient exegesis, and offers the first comprehensive study of papyrus commentaries. The results of his research have been published in top-level scholarly journals and have been presented at international conferences.

Federico Giulio Corsi

Junior Research Fellow

federicogiulio.corsi@unito.it

Federico Giulio Corsi received his PhD in History of Ancient Philosophy from Sapienza University of Rome in 2021 with a thesis on the epistemology and the science of nature in Diogenes of Oinoanda’s Epicurean inscription. In 2022 he spent a research period at the University of Cologne, where he prepared the publication of his dissertation (Epistemologia e scienza della natura in Diogene di Enoanda, Naples 2022). In 2023, he did a post-Doc research period at the Institut für Altertumskunde of the University of Cologne to study the 25th book of Epicurus’ On Nature. Since January 2024, he has been a Posdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Turin as part of the ERC-CoG 101086695-APATHES project.

Rossella De Luca

External Collaborator

rossella.deluca@unito.it

Rossella De Luca is an Arabist, a qualified text editor, and a translator. She obtained her doctoral degree in Arabic Studies from the Freie Universität Berlin. She successfully defended her recently published dissertation, Teaching Arabic to the Maronites. Jirmānūs Farḥāt's (1670-1732) Contributions to Philology and Pedagogy, in 2024. During her doctoral studies, she participated in Prof. Dr. Islam Dayeh’s research group Arabic Philology and Textual Practices in the Early Modern Period, focusing on Christian Arabic manuscripts and early prints. She also taught master’s courses on Arabic literature and worked as an editorial assistant for the academic journal Philological Encounters (Brill). Since June 2025, she has worked as an external collaborator for the ERC-CoG 101086695-APATHES, editing the Arabic textual sources analysed in the project. She is also a CELTA-certified English teacher.

Rosalba Feo

Junior Research Fellow

rosalba.feo@unito.it

Rosalba Feo has her BA from the University of Bologna and her MA from the University of Bologna and Collegio Superiore, where she particularly studied Classical Philology with Proff. Valentina Garulli and Camillo Neri, and dedicated both her BA’s and MA’s thesis to the epigrammatic anthologies preserved on papyri. Her PhD research has focused on the papyrological tradition of the Attidographer Philochorus of Athens, under the supervision of Proff. Luisa Prandi and Holger Essler. This work has resulted in several talks and papers. A draft of a monograph is in progress and scheduled for publication in the series Corpus dei Papiri Storici Greci e Latini. During her Master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral studies she has built considerable research-based expertise on Papyrology, firstly in Oxford, Vienna, London, finally in Naples, where she held a post-doctoral research position (‘borsista di ricerca’) at the Centro Internazionale per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi, and she has been taught Herculaneum Papyrology. From November 2023 she is a ERC Research Fellow at the University of Turin.

Lavinia Ferretti

SNSF Grantee

lavinia.ferretti@unito.it

Lavinia Ferretti studied Classical Archaeology and Greek Philology at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, where she got her BA (2016) and MA (2019). She completed in 2024 a PhD in Greek Philology at the same university under the supervision of Prof. Paul Schubert, with a thesis focusing on Greek documentary papyri and their typology. She was postdoctoral researcher at the University of Basel, Switzerland (2023-2025) in the research group EGRAPSA led by Prof. Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello; there, she worked on the development of Computer Vision and AI technologies for the study of the palaeography of Greek papyri. Her research focuses on Greek documentary papyri, the materiality of ancient texts, and digital humanities. In Turin, she will pursue her own research project on the administrative procedures related to petitions in Greek and Roman Egypt thanks to a Postdoc Mobility funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Leonardo Franchi

External Collaborator

leonardo.franchi@unito.it

Leonardo Franchi obtained his master’s degree in History of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, where, under the supervision of Prof. Aldo Brancacci, he earned his PhD in Philosophy with a thesis on Parmenides’ fragments B 6 and B 7 Diels-Kranz. He spent several research stints at the Universität Trier (host: Prof. Christian Vassallo), the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (host: Prof. Angela Ulacco), and the University of Edinburgh (host: Prof. Simon Trépanier). He was also a scholarship holder at the Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies in Naples and is a member of the editorial board of the journal La Cultura. He has published articles and contributions in national and international scholarly journals and volumes. His research areas include pre-Socratic thought and its reception in Platonic, Aristotelian, Hellenistic, and Neoplatonic philosophies.

Sergio Knipe

External Collaborator

sergioknipe@gmail.com

Sergio Knipe is a freelance publishing professional specialising in the translation and editing of academic and scholarly texts. He earned his PhD in Roman History from the University of Cambridge. He collaborates extensively with international publishers and translation agencies, working on translations of texts relating to philosophy, ancient history, aesthetics, and art. He has provided proofreading and editorial support for numerous academic publications, including work for the Philosophy Department of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He has also authored English-language textbooks for publishing houses such as Mondadori, Rizzoli, and Pearson. His research interests include late antique philosophy and Neoplatonic religiosity.

Rosanna Malafronte

Junior Research Fellow

rosanna.malafronte@unito.it

Rosanna Malafronte got her MA degree in Herculaneum Papyrology at the University of Naples ‘Federico II’ with a thesis on some unpublished preparatory editions (Illustrazioni) by the 19th-century scholar Giuseppe Maria Parascandolo. She earned her PhD at the University of Pisa under the supervision of Prof. Graziano Ranocchia. Her dissertation focused on PHerc. 1025 (a new critical edition, with introduction and commentary), a roll probably transmitting a moral work by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus of Gadara. She has presented posters and talks at national and international conferences and published articles in various scientific journals, like Cronache Ercolanesi and Aegyptus. As a Team Member of the ERC-CoG 101086695-APATHES, she will prepare a new edition of Books 1 and 2 of Chrysippus’ On Providence (respectively transmitted by PHerc. 1421 and PHerc. 1038), collaborating with the FESt volume devoted to Chrysippus’ physics.

Tiziano Ottobrini

Appointed Senior Research Fellow

tiziano.ottobrini@unito.it

Tiziano Ottobrini studied at the Catholic University of Milan where he earned his first degrees (Classics and Philosophy) and his first PhD (History of Ancient Philosophy), under the supervision of Prof. Roberto Radice. He continued his studies mainly in Rome. His research delves into the influence of Greek philosophy on Greek, Latin, Coptic and Siriac patristics (doctrina patrum); moreover, one of his research focuses is on paleographic investigation. His research activity has taken place in several Italian and foreign institutions studying topics related to the intersection between philological institutio, biblical exegesis, and theoretical investigation. He is the author of books and essays on these themes. As part of the ERC-CoG 101086695-APATHES project he is dealing with the new edition of the corpus of Chrysippus of Soli.

Fabian Ruge

Junior Research Fellow

fabianmoritz.ruge@unito.it

Fabian Ruge obtained his M.A. in philosophy at HU Berlin and his doctorate in philosophy with a thesis on the Stoic theory of sign and proof at LMU Munich (Munich School of Ancient Philosophy) in 2021. Before joining the ERC-CoG 101086695-APATHES project in November 2023, he worked as a research associate (wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) in Ancient Philosophy at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. His research interests centre around ancient logic and epistemology, especially in Aristotle and the Stoa. In the APATHES project, his main responsibilities are currently the logical and physical sections of Zeno of Citium’s FESt edition and the philosophical commentary on the new edition of Chrysippus’ Logical Investigations (PHerc. 307).

Emanuele Zimbardi

Junior Research Fellow

emanuele.zimbardi@unito.it

Emanuele Zimbardi earned in 2020 his PhD in Classical and Byzantine Philology at Sapienza University of Rome and the Freie Universität Berlin. Then, he worked as a research assistant in the ERC-StG 758732-FLOS (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) for three years. His research interests focus on the textual transmission of classical and patristic literature in Greek, Syriac, and Arabic, on the linguistic interaction of Greek and Oriental languages in the Middle Ages, and on the spreading of Greek culture in Oriental milieu. Since November 2023, Emanuele has is a Junior Research Fellow of the ERC-CoG 101086695-APATHES. His contribution to the project concerns mostly the critical editions of Zeno of Citium and of Chrysippus, and the analysis of the Oriental transmission of Stoic fragments and thought.

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