Areli Marina

Because I teach one of our department’s big gateway courses, the survey of Western art history from prehistory through the Middle Ages, I have the pleasure of introducing many KU students to the discipline of art history. I also teach courses on the art and architecture of medieval and early modern Europe, with special emphasis on Italy and the built environment. My interest in historic architecture was kindled on the ramparts of El Morro Castle in my native Puerto Rico.

In my research, I investigate the monumental sculpture, architecture, and urban design of upper Italy between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. My first book, The Italian Piazza Transformed: Parma in the Communal Age (Penn State Press, 2012), won the 2013 Howard A. Marraro prize for the best book on Italian Catholic history. My articles and essays on the architecture and urbanism of Bologna, Florence, Parma, Verona, and Venice have appeared in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, I Tatti Studies, and Renaissance Quarterly. I am now at work on a digital humanities project about Italian baptismal buildings erected from 1000 to 1500, as well as a book on the transformation of the Italian landscape effected by lords and aspirants to lordship during the later Middle Ages.

In my classroom, students can explore the objects, spaces, and ideas that have shaped the cultures of Europe, develop a framework to interpret them intelligently, and sharpen their ability to speak and write about them lucidly.