A lecture by Nicoletta Maraschio. The Accademia della Crusca: History and New Frontiers of the Italian Language

Nicoletta Maraschio is the current president of Accademia della Crusca. The Crusca ("The Academy of Bran"), the most glorious Italian literary Academy, was founded with the mission of maintaining the "purity" of the Italian language and to promote research on historical linguistics. Professor Maraschio teaches History of the Italian language at the University of Florence. She has been director of the Centre for Italian Grammar at Accademia della Crusca and the journal "Studi di Grammatica Italiana." Her research has extended over many topics in the history of the Italian language: from the language of literary authors (among which Boccaccio, Alberti, Salviati), to Renaissance linguistic thought; from the evolution of the Italian orthographs, through the language of the Church to the language of mass media (cinema, radio, and television). Professor Maraschio will lecture on the historical role played by Accademia della Crusca, and will take into account the influence of foreign languages, especially English, on contemporary Italian language.