Shaping the United States: Italian Contributions and the Philadelphia Legacy" Lecture Series

On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, revisit the transatlantic Exchange between America and Italy around liberty, equality, and the “pursuit of happiness.” At the center stands the Neapolitan thinker Gaetano Filangieri, whose Science of Legislation and correspondence with Benjamin Franklin argue that happiness must guide law and reform. A powerful reminder that happiness is not a slogan, but a civic responsibility sustained through just institutions. In the early days of the United States of America-at a time when the Italian peninsula had yet to become a unified nation-the two countries enjoyed rich and lively intellectual connections. The Founders deeply engaged with Italian history and thought – Washington studied Roman military history, Adams admired Machiavelli, Jefferson drew from Palladio and had a longtime friendship with Mazzei, and Franklin corresponded with Italian scholars and scientists. It is a fascinating history, one that deserves to be more widely known and celebrated.

Amedeo Arena is Full Professor of European Union Law at the University of Naples “Federico II” and Senior Fellow at the Institute of European Studies at UC Berkeley. Scientific Coordinator of the Filangieri Academy of Partenope, his research explores the transatlantic circulation of Enlightenment ideas, especially the correspondence between Gaetano Filangieri and Benjamin Franklin. He has edited leading volumes on Filangieri published in 2024 and 2025.

In the early days of the United States of America—at a time when the Italian peninsula had yet to become a unified nation—the two countries enjoyed rich and lively intellectual connections. The Founders deeply engaged with Italian history and thought — Washington studied Roman military history, Adams admired Machiavelli, Jefferson drew from Palladio and had a longtime friendship with Mazzei, and Franklin corresponded with Italian scholars and scientists. It is a fascinating history, one that deserves to be more widely known and celebrated.

Barbara Faedda serves at Columbia University as the executive director of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies and as an adjunct professor in the Italian Department. Since 2019, she is Ambassador and Permanent Observer for the European Public Law Organization to the United Nations. In 2022, the President of the Italian Republic appointed her Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. Her books include From Da Ponte to the Casa Italiana: A Brief History of Italian
Studies at Columbia University (Columbia University Press, 2017), and Elite: Cultura italiana e statunitense tra Settecento e Novecento (Ronzani, 2020).

The talk investigates the impact and legacy that Italian arts and architecture exerted on Philadelphia’s landscapes from the 18th-century to nowadays, making it become the cosmopolitan urban environment that it is today. Throughout the centuries Philadelphians traveled to the peninsula bringing back objects to display or studied the country’s art and architecture styles to shape the evolving aspect of the city. By analyzing some lesser-known sites, monuments, and artworks in Philadelphia, the talk highlights also the role that migrant Italian artists played in the development of the city, showing how places, arts, identities that today are perceived as ‘American’ have in most cases a transnational history to tell.

Luca Zipoli is Assistant Professor in the Department of Transnational Italian Studies at Bryn Mawr College. He holds a Ph.D. in Italian literature from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and has been a Fellow of the Italian Academy at Columbia University. His scholarly interests and publications span a broad variety of topics, from Renaissance Culture to Modern Italian Literature, including the co-edited 2 volumes Lettura del «Morgante» (Olschki, 2026) and numerous essays in peer-reviewed journals (Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore, Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana, Italian Culture, Italianistica, Nemla Italian Studies, Parole rubate).

The Italian Enlightenment – and, in particular, the writings of an Italian thinker, Cesare Beccaria – had a major influence on the American Revolution. Beccaria’s book, Dei delitti e delle pene (1764), quickly translated into French and then into English as An Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1767), shaped the views of countless American revolutionaries and lawmakers on topics ranging from liberty and tyranny to capital punishment and torture. America's foundational legal documents-the Declaration of
Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. Bill of Rights-were all shaped by Beccaria’s ideas, and those ideas continue to shape modern-day debate over abuses of power and the criminal justice system.

John Bessler is Professor of law at the University of Baltimore and an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He has published extensively on the topic of capital punishment and on the foundations and origins of American law. One of his books, The Celebrated Marquis: An Italian Noble and the Making of the Modern World (Carolina Academic Press, 2018), is an award-winning biography of the 18th-century Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria. The relationship between Beccaria, the Enlightenment, and criminal justice issues is also at the center of his books The Baron and the Marquis: Liberty, Tyranny, and the Enlightenment Maxim That Can Remake American Criminal Justice (Carolina Academic Press, 2019), and The Birth of American Law: An Italian Philosopher and the American Revolution (Carolina Academic Press, 2014), the latter being the recipient of the prestigious 2015 Scribes Book Award. He has taught at multiple law schools, including the University of Minnesota Law School and the George Washington University law School. In 2024, he was elected as a member of the American Law Institute.

The event reflects on Italian contributions to the cultural and intellectual foundations of the United States and to Philadelphia’s urban identity. It then focuses on academic exchange, featuring the Italian Fulbright Commission and Fulbright scholars. The event also celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Fulbright Program, highlighting its role in fostering dialogue and collaboration between Italy and the United States.

Paola Sartorio is the Executive Director of the US-Italy Fulbright Commission. She has more than 25 years of experience in international relations, resource mobilization, and academic cooperation. Since 2013, she is the Executive Director of the U.S.-Italy Fulbright Commission, the bilateral governmental organization that promotes academic exchanges between Italy and the U.S. Under her leadership, the Commission grew public-private partnerships and launched innovative programs. Her previous
experience includes being part of the team that lead the second wave of reform of the United Nations of the office of the Secretary-General.