Elena Past and Niccolò Scaffai in conversation

As part of this Special Issue, we have invited Professor Elena Past (Ohio State) and Professor Niccolò Scaffai (Siena) to discuss current and historical Italian approaches to the Environmental Humanities, as specialists, respectively, in cinema and Italian literature. Their stimulating dialogue offers a broad exploration of national and international cultural influences, political contexts, and the current state of the Italian Studies discipline. The Introduction to this Special Issue has highlighted how the study of the Environmental Humanities encompasses several strands, including ecofeminism (Barca, 2020), environmental history (Armiero, 2021, 2023; Biasillo, 2025), and environmental anthropology (Teti, 2022), to name a few. This Contexts and Debates contribution focuses on literary studies and cinema, and the many intersections they allow.