Dr Maria Del Buono

• Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy AFHEA
• PhD in Italian Studies, University of Birmingham
• MA in History of Art, University of Siena Cum Laude
• BA in Science and Technology of Arts, Fashion and Performance, University of Palermo

Maria is an Italian Art Historian with a passion for the role of art and its intersection across culture, visual language, and history.

She pursued a BA in Science and Technology of Arts, Fashion, and Performance within the Department of Humanities at the University of Palermo. Further specialising via an MA in History of Art from the University of Siena, graduating cum laude. Her Master's thesis stemmed from a deep-seated passion for graphic arts, particularly manifested through an in-depth exploration of the designs used for book covers. Maria conducted an extensive analysis of the prolific body of work by Ferénc Pinter, an Italo-Hungarian graphic artist whose illustrious career at the Italian publisher Mondadori left an indelible mark on Italian visual culture.

Maria completed a Ph.D. in Italian Studies at the University of Birmingham in 2021. Supported through an  AHRC scholarship via M3C (Midlands 3 Cities), her doctoral research fell within the innovative Interdisciplinary Italy project, led by Professor Clodagh Brook (Trinity College, Dublin) and Professor Giuliana Pieri (Holloway University, London), see: Interdisciplinary Italy | AHRC-Founded Research Project. Following her Ph.D, Maria has taken a teaching post at UoB focusing on Italian language and culture.

Throughout her academic career, Maria has passionately engaged in teaching Italian language and culture at the University of Birmingham.

She teaches across all CORE modules in Italian studies, from Y1 to Y4 of undergraduate students in Modern Languages.

She has delivered in full, or contributed to, the following modules:

• LC Italian Core I – Advanced: Icons of Italy, Communicative Skills
• LC Italian Core I – Beginners: Icons of Italy, Use of Language and Communicative Skills
• LC Italian Core II - Beginners: Icons of Italy, Use of Language and Seminar
• LC Italian Core II - Advanced: Icons of Italy, Communicative Skills and Seminar
• LI Italian Core III – Intermediate: Icons of Italy, Use of Language and Communicative Skills
• LI Italian Core IV - Intermediate: Icons of Italy, Use of Language and Communicative Skills
• LH Italian Core VI - Language and Contexts, Use of Language, Critical Writing, Communicative Skills
• LH Italian Core VII - Language and Contexts, Use of Language and Communicative Skills

Maria has also made ad-hoc contributions to the following:

• Language for All – Italian beginner level;
• Italian and European Cinema class (BA Modern Languages);
• Masterclass on Italian language.

Maria has been convening the CORE IV module for both intermediate and advanced student groups.

Maria’s doctoral research focused on the captivating interplay between artistic creativity and commercialization in Italian film posters from 1945 to 1969. This pivotal era in Italy's socio-cultural history saw the rise of consumer culture, vividly captured in the visually stunning and culturally rich film manifesti of the time, where artistic creativity met commercialization; resulting in fascinating artistic posters though not without challenges. Critically, her thesis represents pittori di cinema (‘cinema painters’) as cultural mediators and catalysts of modernization in Italy in the aftermath of WWII.