FemSMed's New Fellows | Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Michele Santoro and Doctoral Fellow Alice Sanna Bucci
The FemSMed project would like to extend a warm welcome to the two new members who are joining us this October, Dr. Michele Santoro and Alice Sanna Bucci.
Our new postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Michele Santoro received a Ph.D. (summa cum laude) in Historical, Geographical and Anthropological Studies in a joint degree from the University of Padua and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. His expertise extends from the institutional and juridical frameworks of the Venetian maritime domain to the socio-political history of the Early Modern Mediterranean. Previously, his research focused on the social and institutional history of the Adriatic coast, on issues of illicit activities such as banditry and piracy, captivity, and contraband, and the early developments of the Venetian secret services in Istanbul. As a postdoctoral researcher at FemSMed, his research will focus on the dynamics of patronage and the enslavement of women in the Venetian maritime domain.
FemSMed's new Doctoral Fellow Alice Sanna Bucci has completed her M.A in Historical Sciences at The University of Bologna in July 2026. Her MA thesis, written under the supervision of Prof. Guido Bartolucci and Prof. Giulia Bonazza, focuses on "Female Slavery at Court, with Particular Reference to the Courts of Mantua, Florence and Ferrara between the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries". Her doctoral dissertation examines the presence of enslaved females in the port cities of Ancona and Venice from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, and analyzes the social and cultural implications of their hitherto unexplored presence.
