Gabriel Niccoli holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of British Columbia. Having taught Italian literature in Canadian, American, and Italian universities, he is currently Full Professor in Italian Studies and Comparative Literature, and Chair of the Department of French and Italian Studies, at the University of Waterloo (St. Jerome’s). He has published on 16th and 17th-centuries dramatic theory, on European Baroque pastoral drama, and on women writers of the Italian Renaissance. He has edited a volume on Italian-Canadian immigration studies, currently editing a collection of critical essays on the concept of Nostos in this field. A monographic study on the 16th-century Venetian woman writer as literata is also forthcoming. Recognized with the premier University of Waterloo’s “Distinguished Teacher Award”, Prof. Niccoli also serves as Honorary Vice-Consul of Italy in Canada.