Silvia Ronchey

**Silvia Ronchey** (born 1958) is an Italian author, byzantinist, and professor in the Department of Humanistic Studies at the Università degli Studi Roma Tre in Rome, Italy.

## Biography

After studying at the Universities of Pisa (_Laurea_ in Classics, 1981) and Florence (PhD in Byzantine Philology, 1989), Ronchey completed her paleographical training at the Libraries of the Monastery of St. John the Theologian in Patmos and of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Alexandria, Egypt. In the early nineties she conducted extended periods of research at the Centre de Recherches d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance of the Collège de France in Paris and the Dumbarton Oaks Institute of Byzantine Studies in Washington D.C., where she collaborated with Alexander Petrovich Kazhdan.

Ronchey’s publications include monographs focusing on Byzantine literature, history, and civilization, as well as their _Nachleben_ in modernity and the contemporary age. Ronchey’s major foci of interest include Michael Psellus, Eustathius of Thessaloniki, the _Barlaam and Ioasaph_, and Bessarion. In addition, over the last thirty years, Silvia Ronchey is the scholar who has delved most thoroughly into the figure of Hypatia of Alexandria, researching her ethical, philosophical, religious, and political character, as well as the circumstances of her assassination.

Ronchey has authored and hosted cultural tv and radio shows in Italy, and conducted interviews with some of the major cultural figures of recent decades, such as Claude Lévi-Strauss, James Hillman, Ernst Jünger, Jean-Pierre Vernant, and Elémire Zolla.

Her encounter with James Hillman, in particular, initiated a long-running collaboration, resulting in several television interviews and three books: _L’anima del mondo_, _Il piacere di pensare_, and _L’ultima immagine_, Hillman’s last published work.

## Selected works

- _Hypatia. The True Story_, Berlin – Boston: De Gruyter, 2021.
- _James Hillman – S. Ronchey, L’ultima immagine, Milano, Rizzoli, 2021._
- _La Cattedrale sommersa. Alla ricerca del sacro perduto, Collana Saggi italiani, Milano, Rizzoli, 2017; Best BUR 2018_.
- S. Ronchey – P. Cesaretti (a cura di), _Eustathii Thessalonicensis Exegesis in canonem iambicum pentecostalem_, Berlino – New York, De Gruyter, 2014.
- _Ipazia. La vera storia, Milano, Rizzoli, 2010_ (Premio Nazionale Letterario Pisa 2012, Premio Teocle 2011 Premio Città delle Rose 2011) e 2015<sup>6</sup>; nuova edizione riveduta e ampliata, Milano, BUR, 2022.
- _S. Ronchey – T. Braccini, Il romanzo di Costantinopoli, guida letteraria alla Roma d'Oriente, Torino, Einaudi, 2010 (Premio De Lollis 2011, Premio Roma: menzione speciale 2011) e 2016<sup>2</sup>._
- _L'enigma di Piero. L'ultimo bizantino e la crociata fantasma nella rivelazione di un grande quadro, Milano, Rizzoli, 2006_ (Premio Elsa Morante 2006, Premio Frontino-Montefeltro 2006, Premio Bevilacqua 2007) e 2017<sup>4</sup>; ピエロ·デッラ·フランチェスカ《キリストの鞭打ち》の謎を解く:最後のビザンティン人と近代の始まり. Japanese edition of _L'Enigma di Piero_, Tokyo, Hakusuisha, 2019.
- _Lo Stato Bizantino, Torino, Einaudi, 2002 (_Premio Finale Ligure 2003, Premio Capalbio 2003) e 2019<sup>2</sup>.
- _James Hillman, Il piacere di pensare, Conversazione con Silvia Ronchey, Milano, Rizzoli, 2001 e 2022<sup>2</sup>; BUR 2004 e 2013_<sup>4</sup>.
- James Hillman_, L'anima del mondo, Conversazione con Silvia Ronchey, Milano, Rizzoli, 1999; BUR 2001._
- Aleksandr Petrovič Každan _– S. Ronchey, L'aristocrazia bizantina. Dal principio dell'XI alla fine del XII secolo, Palermo, Sellerio, 1997, 1999_<sup>2</sup> _con postfazione di_ Luciano Canfora.
Her books have received numerous literary awards, including the Premio Nazionale Letterario Pisa and Premio Elsa Morante.

## Other projects

- Wikiquote contains quotations by or on Silvia Ronchey
- Wikimedia Commons contains images or other files on Silvia Ronchey

## Other websites

- (IT) Official website, on silviaronchey.it.
- (IT) Works by Silvia Ronchey, on openMLOL, Horizons Unlimited srl.
- Works by Silvia Ronchey, on Open Library, Internet Archive.
- (FR) Publications by Silvia Ronchey, on Persée, Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation.
- (IT) Recordings by Silvia Ronchey, on RadioRadicale.it
- Silvia Ronchey on Academia.edu
- (IT) Webpage of the Università di Roma Tre on Silvia Ronchey