- Education:
Alessandro Catalano graduated in Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (110/110 cum laude), where in 2002 he received his Doctorate in Slavic Studies with a dissertation on Counter-Reformation in Boemia, which was assessed by AIS (Italian Association of Slavists) as the best doctoral dissertation in Slavic studies in the triennium.
Since December 2006 he has been working as Researcher at the Department of Anglo-Germanic and Slavic Literatures of the State University of Padua, where he teaches Czech Language and Literature.

- Research experiences:
Besides extensively researching abroad, namely at the University of Prague and Vienna, in 1992-2002, he taught Czech Literature at the Universities of Florence (2001-2003) and Pisa (2002-2006). Then, at the Institut fur Geschichte of Vienna University, he carried on a postdoctoral research project titled "Changing the 17th century paradigm through Harrach's diaries" (2003-2005)- thanks to a "Lise Meitner" scholarship, reserved by Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung to particularly deserving foreign researchers.
Later, he was one of the coordinators of the project, titled "Die Tagebucher und Tagzettel des Kardinals Ernst Adalbert von Harrach (1598-1667). Edition und Kommentar" (http://www.univie.ac.at/Geschichte/Harrach). The project was also financed by Vienna Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, and in 2010 has been published the edition of the 7 volumes of cardinal Ernst Adalbert von Harrach's "journals".
Recently, he was the coordinator of the project, titled "Tra memoria e utopia: il samizdat come simbolo della cultura europea. Storia, confini, prospettive" (http://www.maldura.unipd.it/samizdat/). The project was financed by University of Padova, and at the end 2011 has been published the volume "Il samizdat tra memoria e utopia. L’editoria clandestina in Cecoslovacchia e Unione sovietica nella seconda metà del XX secolo".

- Other experiences:
He is a member of the editorial staff of the magazines Souvislosti, Český časopis historický, Svět literatury and Folia historica bohemica, as well as of the editorial board of the series Studien zum mitteleuropäischen Adel. Together with Simone Guagnelli he designed, created and founded the journal eSamizdat. He regularly translates from Czech and is committed to studies in twentieth-century Czech literature, in particular in the fifty years of socialist realism and dissent, Counter-Reformation and the history of Middle-Eastern Europe.

Notices