Dr Melissa Calaresu
- College positions:
Deputy Senior Tutor (Postgraduates)Neil McKendrick Lecturer in HistoryDirector of Studies in HistoryDirector of Studies in History and Modern LanguagesPostgraduate Tutor
- University positions:
Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of HistoryCo-Convenor of the Early Modern Worlds Workshop and SeminarCo-Convenor the Eighteenth Century Seminar
- Subjects: History History and Modern Languages History and Politics
On sabbatical 2023-24
Degrees
BA (Hons.) in History (Huron College, University of Western Ontario, Canada), M.A. in History (Queen’s University, Canada), PhD in History (Cantab), Commonwealth Scholar, 1990-1994
Research interests
Early modern cultural history of Europe, with a special emphasis on Naples and southern Italy, and the Grand Tour. Urban and food history.
Publications include
- Exploring Cultural History: Essays in Honour of Peter Burke (2010)
- New Approaches to Naples c.1500–c.1800: The Power of Place (2013)
- Catalogue for the Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition, Treasured Possessions from the Renaissance to Enlightenment (2015)
- Food Hawkers: Selling in the Streets from Antiquity to the Present Day (2016)
- Catalogue for the Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition, Feast & Fast: The art of food in Europe, 1450-1800 (2019)
Recent public engagement
- ‘The many sides of the pineapple’, in ‘Eating the past’, History Workshop Online, 20 February 2023: https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/food/the-many-sides-of-the-pineapple/
- Ice cream: A cool history, The Forum, BBC World Service, 19 June 2022, available as a podcast.
- Darwin College Series lecture on Food and cultural history, Darwin College, Cambridge, 25 February 2022, available online.
- ‘We are what we eat’, interview for Thoughtlines Podcast series, CRASSH, 21 January 2021.
Teaching interests
Early modern and modern European history (1500-1850), history of collecting, history of material culture, and history of food.