The Scalesi Project: Legacies of a Mediterranean Voice
The Mediterranean Institute, University of Malta, together with the Faculty of Arts, Letters and Humanities of the Université de la Manouba, is delighted to invite you to The Scalesi Project: Legacies of a Mediterranean Voice. This seminar session marks the official launch of The Scalesi Project, a long-term, public-facing collaborative research initiative inspired by the poet, literary and cultural critic Mario Scalesi (1892–1922).
The event will take place on Thursday, 4 December 2025, at 18:30, at the Mediterranean Institute, Tal-Ħursun Farmhouse, University of Malta (Msida Campus).
Mario Scalesi — a Tunisian writer of Sicilian and Maltese descent — occupies a distinctive place in the history of francophone poetry in the Maghreb as well as the broader emergence of a Mediterranean poetic modernism. His life and work evoke a Central Mediterranean story shaped by layered cultural identities, displacement and the interplay of cultural and personal geographies. His poetic oeuvre, marked as it is by a profound sense of melancholy rendered in an incisive aesthetic, has often been credited, amongst other aspects, for its articulacy in evoking the universality of suffering, existential loss, and the facets of a complex cultural identification cut short by Scalesi’s untimely passing.
The Scalesi Project will feature lectures, seminars, and public forums exploring Scalesi’s life and oeuvre, delivered by international academics, poets, and practitioners. The translation of Scalesi’s poetry into English and Maltese is a key component of the project.
The launch event will be addressed by:
• Professor Ameur Cherif, Rector, Université de la Manouba
• Professor Alfonso Campisi, Department of Italian Studies and President, Sicilian Chair for the Dialogue of Cultures and Civilisations, Université de la Manouba
• Professor Norbert Bugeja, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, and Director of the Mediterranean Institute, University of Malta
• Professor Flaviano Pisanelli, Department of Italian Studies, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3
This session is free and open to the public. Students and postgraduate researchers are particularly encouraged to attend and participate. A Q&A session will follow, accompanied by light refreshments. Please note that presentations and discussions will take place in English, Italian, French, and Maltese. Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve your place, kindly email Ms Isabelle Abela at
aXNhYmVsbGUgISBhYmVsYSB8IHVtICEgZWR1ICEgbXQ= confirming your attendance.
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