Faculty Profile
Luca Trazzi
Senior Lecturer in Italian; Resident Director, Dickinson in Italy, 2024-2026 (2013)
Contact Information
Bosler Hall
717-254-8083
Bio
Luca Trazzi holds degrees in foreign languages and literature, linguistics, and Food Studies. At Dickinson, he teaches Italian language and culture courses at the elementary, intermediate, and writing-in-the-discipline (WID) levels and coordinates Italian cultural programming on campus. He currently chairs the Food Studies Program, where he contributes to the interdisciplinary curriculum through teaching at the gateway, elective, and capstone levels. He developed a Globally Integrated Course for Intermediate Italian focused on sustainability, urban agriculture, and urban markets in Italy. He has led two Food Studies summer programs titled Bioregions and Food Cultures of Italy, in which participants explored local food systems through the holistic concepts of bioregion and terroir. From 2024 to 2026, he served as Resident Director for the European Studies Program at the K. Robert Nilsson Center for European Studies in Bologna, Italy.
Education
- B.A., Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Italy, 2007
- M.A., 2010
- Master Universitario di Primo Livello in Food Studies, 2019
2026-2027 Academic Year
Fall 2026
ITAL 101 Elementary Italian
Intensive study of the fundamentals of Italian grammar, with a view to developing reading, writing, speaking, and understanding skills. Laboratory and other audiovisual techniques are used. Cultural elements are stressed as a context for the assimilation of the language.
Spring 2027
ITAL 231 Read/Writ Contemp Ital Culture
Designed to increase student's awareness of various rhetorical conventions and command of written Italian through analysis and imitation of model texts of a literary and non-literary nature.
Two and a half hours classroom and one hour laboratory per week. Prerequisite: 201 or the equivalent.
FDST 250 Bioregions & Food Cultures
Food cultures in Italy are diverse and complex. This course examines local food systems through the concepts of bioregion and terroir, highlighting relationships between landscapes, natural processes, and human practices. Through case studies of regions such as Bologna and the Po Valley, Turin and Piedmont, and the Venice lagoon, students explore urban agriculture, markets, food access, and environmental challenges, alongside the history of Italian food and the Mediterranean diet. The course will also look into the economic dimensions of food systems, including geographical indications, market structures, and local production. Students analyze how policies, sustainability practices, and urban food governance shape regional food economies and issues of access and inequality. Topics include sustainable practices, Italian gastronomic heritage, organic production, and cultural influences on regional cuisines.