MR. MICHELE PIFFERI
Full Professor of Medieval and Modern Law History
and Criminal Law History
PhD Legal History
Law Department – University of Ferrara, Italy
Via Ercole I D’Este, 37
44121 Ferrara - IT
Phone/fax number: +39 0532 455689
email: m.pifferi@unife.it
webpage: http://docente.unife.it/michele.pifferi
Law degree (LL.M. equivalent 110/110 cum laude) at the University of Ferrara (1999).
PhD in Legal history at the University of Macerata (2004), with a thesis on “Criminal law doctrine in the 16th century”.
From 2003 to 2005 research fellow at the University of Ferrara, Faculty of Law with a project on the origins of the criminal law principles of the 16th century.
From 2006 to 2010 researcher in Medieval and modern law history at the University of Ferrara, Law Department. From October 2010 Associate Professor of Medieval and Modern Law History at the University of Ferrara. Since December 2017 Full Professor of Legal History at the Law Department, University of Ferrara.
Member of the Editorial Board of the series Rechtsgeschichte und Rechtsgeschehen – Italien (LIT Verlag), of Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno and of Rivista di storia del diritto italiano. Member of the Advisory Board of the Franz-von-Liszt-Institut für Internationales Strafrecht – Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.
From 2024 Research Associate at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford.
Fellowships awarded
Visiting researcher at the Max-Planck-Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte in Frankfurt am Main (September-December 2002);
Emil Noël Fellow (Fall Semester 2009) at the Jean Monnet Center for International & Regional Economic Law and Justice, New York University School of Law;
Robbins Fellow (September-October 2012) at Berkeley UC - School of Law;
Academic Visitor at the Oxford Centre for Criminology (January to March 2014 and September to October 2016);
Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the University of Hamburg (from July 2015 to February 2017);
Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Law Faculty (from October to December 2021; from December 2024 to January 2025);
Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, Law Faculty and Centre for Criminology (July-November 2022; September 2023-January 2024).
Institutional commitments
From November 2015 to October 2021, Deputy Rector for the Librarian System of the University of Ferrara.
From 2018 to 2025 Deputy Director of the Law Department, University of Ferrara.
Courses
At the University of Ferrara, Faculty of Law:
- History of modern and contemporary law (2006; 2021-present)
- History of medieval and modern law (2007- present)
- History of criminal law (2007- present).
- History of constitutionalism (2013; 2017- present)
- Ius commune (2016)
Erasmus teaching activity:
- Erasmus Teaching Assignment (STA) at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Derecho, April 2012.
- Erasmus+ Staff Mobility for Teaching at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, June 2017.
Supervisor
PhD students:
- Federico Fabi, research project “State and administrative power in the 18th-century Estensi dukedom” (2021-2024).
Post-doc supervisor:
- Gianmarco Bondi, research project: “Origins and developments of the general part of criminal law in the common law” (2024-2025)
- Stefano Malpassi, research project “Mass immigration, economic crisis and crimmigration: the case of the United States at the beginning of the XX century” (2022-2024);
- Marco Venturoli, research project “The role of the victim in the Italian criminal law system” (2013-2014).
FUNDING (CURRENT AND PAST)
o Project title: “Casuistry” and rule-based approach in criminal law. Historical perspectives, current developments
o Person months:
o Funding organisation: PRIN 2022 MUR
o Role: Principal Investigator
o Project title: Legal History and Mass Migration: Integration, Exclusion, and Criminalization of Migrants in the 19th and 20th Century
o Person months:
o Funding organisation: PRIN 2017 MUR
o Role: Principal Investigator
o Project title:
o Person months:
o Funding organisation:
o Role:
- From 2011 to 2013 coordinator of the research interdisciplinary group on Mafia and Organized Crime (MaCrO) at the Law Dept. in Ferrara.
- From November 2012 to 2015 scientific coordinator of a research unit working on a national project (Futuro In Ricerca) on “Migration Policies and Legal Transplant in the Mediterranean Area: Control Strategies between Colonialism and Post-Colonialism”.
- From May 2020 to April 2024 PI of a national research project (PRIN 2017) on Legal History and Mass Migration: Integration, Exclusion, and Criminalization of Migrants in the 19th and 20th Century.
PUBLICATIONS:
1) Books
- Reinventing Punishment. A Comparative History of Criminology and Penology in the 19th and 20th Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
(Reviews: D. Garland, in «Theoretical Criminology» 21/3 (2017), pp. 405-409; P. Garfinkel, in «The Modern Law Review» 80/5 (2017), pp. 974-978; A. Aragoneses, in «Rechtsgeschichte/Legal History» 25 (2017), pp. 386-388; I. Ramoz Vázquez, in «Glossae. European Journal of Legal History» 14 (2017), pp. 1063-1064; J. Whitman, in «Law and History Review» 36/3 (2018), pp. 686-688; J. Koehler in «British Journal of Criminology» 59/1, 2019, pp. 254-256).
- L’individualizzazione della pena. Difesa sociale e crisi della legalità penale tra Otto e Novecento (Milano: Giuffrè, 2013).
- Generalia delictorum. Il Tractatus criminalis di Tiberio Deciani e la “parte generale” di diritto penale (Milano, Giuffrè, 2006).
2) Edited Books
- Legal Responses to Mass Migration: From the Nineteenth Century to World War II, ed. by Luigi Nuzzo, Michele Pifferi, Giuseppe Speciale, Cristina Vano (Torino-London-New York: Giappichelli-Routledge, 2024).
- The Limits of Criminological Positivism: The Movement for Criminal Law Reform in The West, 1870-1940, ed. by Michele Pifferi (Abingdon: Routledge, 2022).
- Il controllo dello straniero. I “campi” dall’Ottocento ad oggi, ed. by Eliana Augusti, Antonio M. Morone, Michele Pifferi (Roma: Viella, 2017).
- Attualità e storia delle circostanze del reato. Un istituto al bivio tra legalità e discrezionalità, ed. by Roberto Bartoli and Michele Pifferi (Milano: Giuffrè 2016).
- Diritti individuali e processo penale nell'Italia repubblicana, ed. by Daniele Negri and Michele Pifferi (Milano: Giuffrè, 2011).
- Diritto contro. Meccanismi giuridici di esclusione dello straniero, ed. by Orsetta Giolo and Michele Pifferi (Torino: Giappichelli, 2009).
2) Articles or book chapters
- (co-authored with Alberto di Martino) Eredità casuistica e fattispecie penale. Radici, ritorni, nuovi scenari, «Quaderni fiorentini», LIV (2025), 79-134.
- The Historical Origins and Evolution of Rehabilitative Punishment, in «Crime and Justice. A Review of Research», edited by Michael Tonry, vol. 53, 2024 (©2025), 103-160;
- Exceptionality and Common Features of Migration Law in the Age of Mass Migration, in Legal Responses to Mass Migration: From the Nineteenth Century to World War II, ed. by Luigi Nuzzo, Michele Pifferi, Giuseppe Speciale, Cristina Vano (Torino-London-New York: Giappichelli-Routledge, 2024), 337-357;
- From casuistry to the general part. The conception of criminal responsibility from the ius commune to the penal codes (XII-XIX centuries), in Thomas Crofts, Louise Kennefick, Arlie Loughnan (eds.), The Routledge International Handbook on Criminal Responsibility (London-New York: Routledge, 2025), 138-152;
- The rise and fall of penal casuistry: Medieval theological roots and modern systematization of criminal fault, in «The Yale Journal of Law and Humanities» (2024, forthcoming);
- La criminalística de posguerra y los desafíos de la Constitución republicana, in S. Martín, F. Fernández-Crehuet, A. Aragoneses (eds.), Desarrollo de la dictadura, dictadura del desarrollo. El régimen franquista en su entorno internacional (1945-1969), Sevilla: Athenaica Ediciones, 2025, 659-696;
- Construction and De-construction of Legal Identity: Different Notions of Autonomy in Italian Legal Thought (19th–20th Centuries), in Peter Collin, Augustín Casagrande (eds.), Law and Diversity: European and Latin American Experiences from a Legal Historical Perspective. Vol. 1: Fundamental Questions, Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Franfurk a M., 2024, 569-580;
- Dalla casistica alle regole: la normativizzazione della responsabilità penale tra medioevo ed età moderna, in «Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno», 52 (2023), 401-423.
- La penalistica del dopoguerra e le sfide della Costituzione repubblicana. Qualche considerazione sul problema del metodo e il fine della pena, in «Giornale di storia costituzionale», 46 (2023), 211-235.
- Punishment and Social Control in Historical Perspective. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics (2022) Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.ORE_POL-01784.R1
- Brief Remarks on the Prohibition of Penal Analogy in Fascist Italy, in Florian Jeßberger, Moritz Vormbaum, Boris Burghardt (hrsg.), Strafrecht und Systemunrecht. Festschrift für Gerhard Werle zum 70. Geburtstag (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), pp. 625-634.
- Introduction. An historiographical reassessment of criminological positivism, in M. Pifferi (ed.), The Limits of Criminological Positivism. The Movement for Criminal Law Reform in the West, 1870-1940 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2022), pp. 1-15.
- From responsibility to dangerousness? The failed promise of penal positivism, in M. Pifferi (ed.), The Limits of Criminological Positivism. The Movement for Criminal Law Reform in the West, 1870-1940 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2022), pp. 255-279.
- Criminological Reformism and Transnational Criminal law (1870s-1930s), in Neil Boister, Sabine Gless, Florian Jeßberger (eds.), Histories of Transnational Criminal Law (Oxford: OUP, 2021), pp. 27-39.
- Crisis del liberalismo penal y ascenso del derecho penal autoritario. La cultura penalística de entreguerra, in Sebastián Martín, Federico Fernández-Crehuet, Alfons Aragoneses (eds.), Saberes Jurídicos y Experiencias Políticas en la Europa de Entreguerras. La Transformación del Estado en la Era de la Socialización (Sevilla: Athenaica Ediciones, 2021), 393-451.
- The Theory of Social Defence and the Italian Positive School of Criminal Law, in «Glossae. European Journal of Legal History», 17 (2020), pp. 22-46.
- Criminology and the rise of authoritarian criminal law (1930s-1940s), in S. Skinner (ed.), Ideology and Criminal Law. Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2019), pp. 105-124.
- Problemi costituzionali del diritto penale tra riformismo e ascesa del paradigma autoritario (1920-1940), in «Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno», 48, 2019, pp. 309-353.
- Le insanabili antinomie della tortura. Modelli di verità e significato del dolore nella quaestio per tormenta medievale, in «Legislazione Penale», 9.9.2019, http://www.lalegislazionepenale.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Pifferi-approfondimenti-LP-1.pdf, pp. 1-22.
- Antinomie e caratteri costanti dello ius migrandi tra Otto e Novecento, in «Rivista trimestrale di diritto pubblico», 2, 2019, pp. 395-407.
- Veritatis inquisitio per tormenta. Verità, corpo e dolore nella tortura giudiziaria medievale, in L. Stortoni, D. Castronuovo (eds.), Nulla è cambiato? Riflessioni sulla tortura (Bologna: Bononia University Press, 2019), pp. 43-66.
- The roots of Italian penal codification: Nation building and the claim for a peculiar identity in criminal law, in A. Masferrer (ed.), The Western Codification of Criminal Law. A Revision of the Myth of its Predominant French Influence (Cham: Springer, 2018), pp. 163-192.
- Diritto individuale o pericolo sociale? Scienza giuridica ed emigrazione tra Otto e Novecento, in A.C. Amato Mangiamieli, L. Daniele, M.R. Di Simone e E. Turco Bulgherini (eds.), Immigrazione marginalizzazione integrazione (Torino: Giappichelli, 2018), pp. 36-56.
- Criminal Responsibility and Its Histories: New Perspectives for Comparative Legal History, in «Critical Analysis of Law», 4(2), 2017, pp. 222-232.
- Controllo dei confini e politiche di esclusione tra Otto e Novecento, in Eliana Augusti, Antonio M. Morone, Michele Pifferi (eds.), Il controllo dello straniero. I “campi” dall’Ottocento ad oggi (Roma: Viella, 2017), pp. 81-105.
- Accidentalia delicti e criteri di commisurazione della pena. Una lettura storica delle circostanze alla ‘periferia’ del codice, in R. Bartoli, M. Pifferi (eds.), Attualità e storia delle circostanze del reato. Un istituto al bivio tra legalità e discrezionalità, Milano: Giuffrè, 2016, pp. 1-18.
- L’espulsione e la detenzione dello straniero tra Otto e Novecento, in «Quaderni Costituzionali», 36(4), 2016, pp. 839-859.
- Respingere, detenere, espellere: la costruzione del diritto dell’immigrazione tra Otto e Novecento, in M. Bosworth, La “galera amministrativa” degli stranieri in Gran Bretagna. Un’indagine sul campo (Napoli: Ed. Scientifica, 2016), pp. 335-362.
- Oltre Beccaria? Le proposte della criminologia tra Otto e Novecento, in Giovanni Chiodi, Loredana Garlati (eds.), Dialogando con Beccaria. Le stagioni del processo penale italiano (Torino: Giappichelli, 2015), pp. 107-138.
- Global Criminology and National Tradition: The Impact of Reform Movements on Criminal Systems at the Beginning of the 20th Century, in T. Duve (ed.), Entanglements in Legal History: Conceptual Approaches, Global Perspectives on Legal History 1 (Frankfurt am Main: Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, 2014), pp. 543-564 (http://global.rg.mpg.de).
- Alla ricerca del “genio italico”. Tradizione e progetti nella penalistica postunitaria, in Giovanni Cazzetta (ed.), Retoriche dei giuristi e costruzione dell’identità nazionale (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2013), pp. 257-295.
- Indetermined Sentence and the Nulla Poena Sine Lege Principle. Contrasting Views on Punishment in the U.S. and Europe Between the 19th and the 20th Century, in, Georges Martyn, Anthony Musson, Heikki Pihlajamäki (eds.), From the Judge’s Arbitrium to the Legality Principle. Legislation as a Source of Law in Criminal Trials (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2013), pp. 387-406.
- Individualization of Punishment and the Rule of Law: Reshaping Legality in the United States and Europe between the 19th and the 20th Century, in «The American Journal of Legal History», 52, 3, 2012, pp. 325-376.
- Il mandatum nella criminalistica del Cinquecento. Finzioni argomentative e logiche punitive, in «Historia et Ius. Rivista di storia giuridica dell’età medievale e moderna» [www.historiaetius.eu], 1 (2012), paper n. 8, pp. 18.
- A proposito di “Storia del diritto penale e della giustizia. Scritti editi e inediti (1972-2007)” di Mario Sbriccoli, in «Rivista di storia del diritto italiano», 84, 2012, pp. 480-487.
- Criminalistica, in P. Cappellini, P. Costa, M. Fioravanti, B. Sordi (eds.), Il contributo italiano alla storia del pensiero, Ottava appendice, Diritto (Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2012), pp. 141-148.
- Tiberio Deciani, in P. Cappellini, P. Costa, M. Fioravanti, B. Sordi (eds.), Il contributo italiano alla storia del pensiero, Ottava appendice, Diritto (Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2012), pp. 149-152.
- Ius peregrinandi e contraddizioni dell’età liberale. Qualche riflessione sulla “falsa” libertà di migrare in Italia e negli Stati Uniti, in M. Meccarelli, P. Palchetti, C. Sotis (eds.), Ius peregrinandi: il fenomeno migratorio tra diritti fondamentali, esercizio della sovranità e regimi dell’esclusione (Macerata: EUM, 2012), pp. 255-275.
CONFERENCES/SEMINARS/WORKSHOPS ORGANIZED:
- Seminars series ‘Casuistry’ and rule-based approach in criminal law. Historical perspectives, current developments, University of Ferrara, Law Department:
o April 9, 2024: Giorgio Pino (Università Roma Tre) & Giovanni Tuzet (Università Bocconi Milano) Logica giuridica e diritto penale: ragionare per principi, ragionare per casi;
o May 7, 2024: Guido Rossi (Università di Palermo) & Maria Sole Testuzza (Università di Catania) Caso, fatto ed evento nella cultura giuridica medievale;
o May 16, 2024: Emily Corran (University College London) & Stefania Tutino (UCLA) Casuistry and Probabilism in Medieval Theology and Law;
- Franz von Liszt in English? Seminar – Oxford, 27 November 2023, 3.30-6 PM – Centre for Criminology seminar room, Organized by: Michele Pifferi & Florian Jeßberger (Humboldt University, Berlin).
- “Legal Response to Mass Migration Between the 19th Century and the WWII”, Naples, University Federico II – January 27-28, 2022 (https://legalhistoryandmassmigration.com/conference-legal-response-to-mass-migration-between-the-19th-century-and-the-wwii-naples-january-27-28-2022/);
- “Legal History and Mass Migration. Seminars”, Ferrara, Law Department (webinar), April 14 and 5, May 5, 2021. Speakers: Arno Dal Ri (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina), Matteo Pretelli (Università L’Orientale di Napoli), Marco Tabellini (Harvard Business School);
- “The Limits of Criminological Positivism: The Movement for Criminal Law Reform in The West, 1870-1940”, Ferrara, Law Department, May 17, 2019;
- “Criminal Law in Liberal and Fascist Italy”, keynote speaker Paul Garfinkel, Ferrara - Law Dept., May 10, 2017;
- “Sentencing Issues. Historical and Comparative Perspectives”, keynote speakers Julian Roberts, Florian Jessberger, Michael Tonry, Ferrara - Law Dept., May 5, 2017;
- “Race, Rights, Equality”, keynote speakers Michael Livingstone, Loredana Garlati, Giuseppe Speciale, Ferrara - Law Dept., May 3, 2017;
- “Attualità e storia delle circostanze del reato. Un istituto al bivio tra legalità e discrezionalità”, Firenze, Centro di studi per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno, May 20, 2015;
- “Sovereignty, Citizenship, Immigration. A Historical and Criminological Analysis”, keynote speakers Mary Bosworth and Claudia Storti, Ferrara Law Dept. April 14, 2015.
- “Campi: quale fine? Teorie e prassi di governance”, Firenze, Dept. of Political and Social Science, May 11, 2015;
- “Criminology and Legal History”, keynote speaker David Garland, Ferrara Law Dept., May 16, 2013;
- “Organized Crime: History and International Perspective”, keynote speaker James Jacobs, Ferrara Law Dept., December 12, 2012;
- “Diritti individuali e processo penale nell’Italia repubblicana”, Ferrara Law Dept., November 12–13, 2010.
- “Una tribuna per le scienze criminali. La cultura delle riviste nel dibattito penalistico tra Otto e Novecento”, Jesi, Faculty of Law, February 25-26, 2010.
LECTURES/PAPERS:
- Paper “The Conception of Criminal Responsibility from the ius commune to the Penal Codes”, Criminal Responsibility. Modern Law Review Seminar, University of Glasgow, 2 May 2025.
- Panelist at the Conference on Global Migration and the Rule of Law Presented in collaboration with Loyola University Chicago College of Arts and Sciences and Pontifical Gregorian University and supported in part by the Morris I. Leibman Endowment, Panel 1: Origins of the Migra1on Crisis, Rome, Pontifical Gregorian University, April 11-12, 2025.
- Paper “Rehabilitative Punishment”, Crime and Justice—A Review of Research, Volume 53. Crime and Justice in Historical Perspective. Initial Drafts Conference, May 2-3, 2024 - Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security, and Law, Freiburg.
- Paper “The Rehabilitative Ideal: An Historical Overview”, Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford, Informal Seminar Programme 2023-24 - Michaelmas Term, November 16, 2023.
- The Rise and Fall of Penal Casuistry: Medieval Theological Roots and Modern Systematization of Criminal Fault, Comparative Legal History: A Conference on Themes in the Work of Jim Whitman, Yale Law School - Friday, Oct. 13 and Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023.
- Chair of the panel “Law” - Border Criminologies: The First Ten Years, The Bonavero Institute for Human Rights, Mansfield College, University of Oxford, Sept. 11, 2023.
- Chair of the panel “Legal history and mass migration. Integration, exclusion, and criminalization of Migrants in the XIX and XX centuries”, European Society for Comparative Legal History, 7th Biennial Conference, held at the University of Augsburg, 21-23 June, 2023.
- Paper “Legal history, mass migration and criminological positivism. A tentative Research agenda”, Human Rights and Democracy Forum & Bracton Centre for Legal History Research, University of Exeter, School of Law, 23 November, 2022.
- Paper “Legal history and criminological positivism: a contribution to historical criminology”, given at the University of Leeds, School of Law, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, 14 November 2022.
- Lecture “Punishing social dangerousness. Criminological positivism and the new notion of criminal responsibility (1870s-1930s)”, All Souls Criminology Seminar Series, All Souls College, Oxford, 10 November 2022.
- Paper “Border control and mass migration: A comparative overview between the 19th and 20th centuries” at the Oxford Legal History Forum, University of Oxford – faculty of Law, 8 November 2022.
- Paper “The new ‘Pillars of Hercules’ of the criminal judge. Rethinking judicial powers between criminological reformism and WWI”, given at the 6th Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, Lisbon, 22-24 June, 2022.
- Lecture “Legacies of Beccaria’s modern theory of punishment”, given at the PhD Course in “Diritti umani. Evoluzione, tutela e limiti”, Il carcere, la persona, i diritti, Palermo, 13-17 June, 2022.
- Paper “La penalistica del dopoguerra e le sfide della Costituzione repubblicana”, given at the international conference “La España de los años 50 y 60 en su contexto europeo. II encuentro de historia jurídica comparada”, Sevilla, University of Sevilla - Law School, 10-12 November, 2021.
- Paper “Giacomo Matteotti e il riformismo penale europeo”, given at the Conference “Giacomo Matteotti fra diritto e politica”, Rovigo, Accademia dei Concordi – Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza, 19 November 2021.
- Panel discussant at the International conference: “Domesticating International Justice” – Panel VIII: Immunities, held in Milan, 30 Sept. – 2 Oct. 2021, Alexander von Humboldt-Kolleg – Università degli Studi di Milano.
- Lecture “Lecturae criminalium nello Studio patavino: il laboratorio del Tractatus di Deciani”, Seminars on legal history, Padua DPCD e DISSGEA, October 21, 2020 (webinar).
- Paper “Rileggere carcere e fabbrica nel 2020”, given at the Conference of the Association Franco Bricola, “Carcere senza fabbrica. Modelli correzionalistici ed esclusione sociale. Ricordando Massimo Pavarini”, Bologna, September 30, 2020.
- Lecture “The New Horizons of Criminal Law: Expectations and Limits of Enrico Ferri’s Theory”, given at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito, July 28, 2020 (webinar).
- Paper “Transnational Debates on Criminal Law Reform and Transnational Criminal Law between the 1870s and 1930s”, given at the International Symposium “Histories of Transnational Criminal Law”, October 15-18, 2019, Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover.
- Paper “Construction and de-construction of legal identity: different notions of autonomy in Italian legal thought (19th-20th century)”, given at the conference “Law and Diversity. European and Latin American Experiences from a Legal Historical Perspective”, 24-25 June, 2019, Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main.
- Paper “Between Repression and Prevention: Social Defense in Enrico Ferri and Silvio Longhi”, given at the GERN Seminar 2019-2020 “The birth of penal positivism in Europe and Latin-America: rise and resistances”, University of Valencia, Law School, June 20, 2019.
- Paper “The Rise of Preventive Justice. The Transnational Debate on Measures of Security”, given at the Workshop “Transnational Criminal Law in Transatlantic Perspective (1870-1945): Towards a dialogue between the Global North and the Global South”, May 23-24, 2019, Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main.
- Paper “From Responsibility to Dangerousness? The Failed Promise of Penal Positivism”, given at the Workshop “The Limits of Criminological Positivism: The Movement for Criminal Law Reform in The West, 1870-1940”, Ferrara, Law Department, May 17, 2019.
- Paper: “Border control and individual freedom to migrate: a historical overview between the 19th and 20th centuries”, given at the 8th Bonn Humboldt Award Winners’ Forum “Between handcraft and confession, empiricism and normativity: Self- determination in international jurisprudence”, Bonn, 17-21 October 2018.
- Lecture “Quale trattamento per quale infermo di mente: dalle categorie della “scuola positiva” alle riforme della post-modernità”, given at “Corso di formazione permanente della Scuola Superiore della Magistratura”, Scandicci, 12-14 September 2018.
- Lecture “Freedom to Move and Border Control in Historical Perspective”, given at Law on the Bosphorus Istanbul International Summer School 2018- Human Rights, Terrorism And Refugees, 6 August- 17 August 2018.
- Paper: “Fears and borders: the historical roots of ‘crimmigration’”, given at 1st Turkish – Italian Public and Criminal Law Conference. Terrorism and organized crime: legal answers in the democratic secular state, Modena, April 20-21 2018.
- Paper “Fra passato e presente. profili storici, filosofici, costituzionali”, given at the Conference of the Franco Bricola Association “Nulla è cambiato? Riflessioni sulla tortura” (Nothing is changed? Reflections on torture), Ferrara, Law Dept., 9-10 March 2018.
- Lecture “Le ‘zone grigie’ della legalità penale tra Otto e Novecento”, given at Corso di formazione permanente della Scuola Superiore della Magistratura, Scandicci, 21-23 giugno 2017.
- Paper “Diritto individuale o pericolo sociale? Scienza giuridica ed emigrazione tra Otto e Novecento”, given at the conference Immigrazione Marginalizzazione Integrazione, Roma, University of Roma Tor Vergata, 15-16 June 2017.
- Paper “Crisi del liberalismo penale e ascesa del penale autoritario”, given at the conference “Saberes jurídicos y experiencias político-constitucionales europa, 1918-1945”, I Encuentro de historia jurídica comparada, Siviglia, Facultad de Derecho, 22-24 March 2017.
- Paper “The roots of Italian penal codification. Nation building and the claim for a peculiar identity in criminal law”, presented at the International Conference “The influence of the Code pénal (1810) over the codification in Europe and Latin America. Tradition and Foreign Influences in the Codification Movement”, Valencia, November 10-11th, 2016.
- Paper “Criminology and the rise of authoritarian criminal law (1930s-1940s)”, given at the Oxford Centre for Criminology, Informal Seminar Series, October 20th, 2016
- Paper “Preventive Detention and Constitutional Limits: A Comparative Historical Analysis”, presented at the British Crime Historians Symposium 5, University of Edinburgh, 7-9th October 2016.
- Paper “Riformismo criminologico e garanzie costituzionali tra Otto e Novecento”, presented at the conference “L'Atlante criminale. Responsabilità penale e pericolosità sociale tra vecchie e nuove esperienze”, Università degli Studi di Teramo, Facoltà di Giurisprudenza, 26-27th May, 2016.
- Co-convener of the conference “Attualità e storia delle circostanze del reato. Un istituto al bivio tra legalità e discrezionalità”, Firenze, Centro di studi per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno, May 20, 2015.
- Paper “Poteri amministrativi e libertà di emigrare. Le radici storico-giuridiche di un’aporia”, presented at the workshop “Campi: quale fine? Teorie e prassi di governance”, Firenze, Department of Political and Social Science, May 11, 2015.
- Paper “The Dark Side of Criminology? Criminological Theories and the Crisis of Penal Liberalism”, presented at the conference “Anti-Democratic Ideology and Criminal Law under Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes”, London, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 10-11 September, 2015.
- Discussant at the seminar “Crimine e follia nel secolo di Cesare Lombroso”, held at the University of Teramo (May 19, 2015)
- Paper “Oltre Beccaria? Le proposte della criminologia tra Otto e Novecento”, held at the Conference “Dialogando con Beccaria: Le stagioni del processo penale italiano”, Milano, University of Milano Bicocca, 6 November 2014.
- Paper “New Penology and Legal Traditions: Cultural Variations in the Criminalisation Process between the 19th and the 20th centuries”, presented at the Third Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, “Traditions and Changes”, (Macerata, 8-9 July 2014).
- Paper “Le storiche contraddizioni dello ius migrandi”, presented at the seminar “Storie di confine. Flussi migratori e controllo delle frontiere”, Caffeina Festival – Università della Tuscia, Viterbo, 5 July 2014.
- Paper “In search of European and American penological identities. A comparative historical approach to criminology”, discussed at the Oxford Centre for Criminology, Oxford (February 20, 2014).
- Paper “The roots of different penological identities in Europe and the U.S. The individualization of punishment between the 19th and the 20th centuries”, presented at The criminal law and criminal justice group of the LSE Department of Law and the Mannheim Centre for Criminology, London, LSE, January 21, 2014.
- Discussant at the seminar Quale futuro per la pena di morte? Presentation of the Italian translation of David Garland’s book La pena di morte in America. Un’anomalia nell’era dell’abolizionismo, Milano: il Saggiatore, 2013, held at Florence, Centro di studi per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno (May 31, 2013)
- Seminar Criminology and Legal History, held at the Department of Legal Science in Ferrara, with David Garland (NYU) (May 16, 2013)
- Seminar on Organized Crime: History and International Perspective, held at the Department of Legal Science in Ferrara, with James Jacobs (NYU) (December 12, 2012).
- Paper “Global Criminology and National Tradition. The Impact of Reform Movements on Criminal System at the Beginning of the 20th Century”, presented at the “Entanglement in Legal History Workshop”, held at the Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main, 29-31 August, 2012.
Public Engagement activities
- Member of the scientific committee of the exhibition “Natura naturata. Capolavori librari dell'Università degli Studi di Ferrara”, University of Ferrara, University Library of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Ferrara, 18 April – 1 May 2019 (https://www.movio.beniculturali.it/unife/naturanaturata/en/1/natura-naturata);
- Member of the scientific committee of the online exhibition “Maestri di diritto tra la corte Estense e l’Europa”, University of Ferrara and University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 2023 https://virtualheritage.unife.it/s/maestri_diritto/page/introduzione
Full Professor of Medieval and Modern Law History
and Criminal Law History
PhD Legal History
Law Department – University of Ferrara, Italy
Via Ercole I D’Este, 37
44121 Ferrara - IT
Phone/fax number: +39 0532 455689
email: m.pifferi@unife.it
webpage: http://docente.unife.it/michele.pifferi
Law degree (LL.M. equivalent 110/110 cum laude) at the University of Ferrara (1999).
PhD in Legal history at the University of Macerata (2004), with a thesis on “Criminal law doctrine in the 16th century”.
From 2003 to 2005 research fellow at the University of Ferrara, Faculty of Law with a project on the origins of the criminal law principles of the 16th century.
From 2006 to 2010 researcher in Medieval and modern law history at the University of Ferrara, Law Department. From October 2010 Associate Professor of Medieval and Modern Law History at the University of Ferrara. Since December 2017 Full Professor of Legal History at the Law Department, University of Ferrara.
Member of the Editorial Board of the series Rechtsgeschichte und Rechtsgeschehen – Italien (LIT Verlag), of Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno and of Rivista di storia del diritto italiano. Member of the Advisory Board of the Franz-von-Liszt-Institut für Internationales Strafrecht – Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.
From 2024 Research Associate at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford.
Fellowships awarded
Visiting researcher at the Max-Planck-Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte in Frankfurt am Main (September-December 2002);
Emil Noël Fellow (Fall Semester 2009) at the Jean Monnet Center for International & Regional Economic Law and Justice, New York University School of Law;
Robbins Fellow (September-October 2012) at Berkeley UC - School of Law;
Academic Visitor at the Oxford Centre for Criminology (January to March 2014 and September to October 2016);
Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the University of Hamburg (from July 2015 to February 2017);
Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Law Faculty (from October to December 2021; from December 2024 to January 2025);
Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, Law Faculty and Centre for Criminology (July-November 2022; September 2023-January 2024).
Institutional commitments
From November 2015 to October 2021, Deputy Rector for the Librarian System of the University of Ferrara.
From 2018 to 2025 Deputy Director of the Law Department, University of Ferrara.
Courses
At the University of Ferrara, Faculty of Law:
- History of modern and contemporary law (2006; 2021-present)
- History of medieval and modern law (2007- present)
- History of criminal law (2007- present).
- History of constitutionalism (2013; 2017- present)
- Ius commune (2016)
Erasmus teaching activity:
- Erasmus Teaching Assignment (STA) at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Derecho, April 2012.
- Erasmus+ Staff Mobility for Teaching at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, June 2017.
Supervisor
PhD students:
- Federico Fabi, research project “State and administrative power in the 18th-century Estensi dukedom” (2021-2024).
Post-doc supervisor:
- Gianmarco Bondi, research project: “Origins and developments of the general part of criminal law in the common law” (2024-2025)
- Stefano Malpassi, research project “Mass immigration, economic crisis and crimmigration: the case of the United States at the beginning of the XX century” (2022-2024);
- Marco Venturoli, research project “The role of the victim in the Italian criminal law system” (2013-2014).
FUNDING (CURRENT AND PAST)
o Project title: “Casuistry” and rule-based approach in criminal law. Historical perspectives, current developments
o Person months:
o Funding organisation: PRIN 2022 MUR
o Role: Principal Investigator
o Project title: Legal History and Mass Migration: Integration, Exclusion, and Criminalization of Migrants in the 19th and 20th Century
o Person months:
o Funding organisation: PRIN 2017 MUR
o Role: Principal Investigator
o Project title:
o Person months:
o Funding organisation:
o Role:
- From 2011 to 2013 coordinator of the research interdisciplinary group on Mafia and Organized Crime (MaCrO) at the Law Dept. in Ferrara.
- From November 2012 to 2015 scientific coordinator of a research unit working on a national project (Futuro In Ricerca) on “Migration Policies and Legal Transplant in the Mediterranean Area: Control Strategies between Colonialism and Post-Colonialism”.
- From May 2020 to April 2024 PI of a national research project (PRIN 2017) on Legal History and Mass Migration: Integration, Exclusion, and Criminalization of Migrants in the 19th and 20th Century.
PUBLICATIONS:
1) Books
- Reinventing Punishment. A Comparative History of Criminology and Penology in the 19th and 20th Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
(Reviews: D. Garland, in «Theoretical Criminology» 21/3 (2017), pp. 405-409; P. Garfinkel, in «The Modern Law Review» 80/5 (2017), pp. 974-978; A. Aragoneses, in «Rechtsgeschichte/Legal History» 25 (2017), pp. 386-388; I. Ramoz Vázquez, in «Glossae. European Journal of Legal History» 14 (2017), pp. 1063-1064; J. Whitman, in «Law and History Review» 36/3 (2018), pp. 686-688; J. Koehler in «British Journal of Criminology» 59/1, 2019, pp. 254-256).
- L’individualizzazione della pena. Difesa sociale e crisi della legalità penale tra Otto e Novecento (Milano: Giuffrè, 2013).
- Generalia delictorum. Il Tractatus criminalis di Tiberio Deciani e la “parte generale” di diritto penale (Milano, Giuffrè, 2006).
2) Edited Books
- Legal Responses to Mass Migration: From the Nineteenth Century to World War II, ed. by Luigi Nuzzo, Michele Pifferi, Giuseppe Speciale, Cristina Vano (Torino-London-New York: Giappichelli-Routledge, 2024).
- The Limits of Criminological Positivism: The Movement for Criminal Law Reform in The West, 1870-1940, ed. by Michele Pifferi (Abingdon: Routledge, 2022).
- Il controllo dello straniero. I “campi” dall’Ottocento ad oggi, ed. by Eliana Augusti, Antonio M. Morone, Michele Pifferi (Roma: Viella, 2017).
- Attualità e storia delle circostanze del reato. Un istituto al bivio tra legalità e discrezionalità, ed. by Roberto Bartoli and Michele Pifferi (Milano: Giuffrè 2016).
- Diritti individuali e processo penale nell'Italia repubblicana, ed. by Daniele Negri and Michele Pifferi (Milano: Giuffrè, 2011).
- Diritto contro. Meccanismi giuridici di esclusione dello straniero, ed. by Orsetta Giolo and Michele Pifferi (Torino: Giappichelli, 2009).
2) Articles or book chapters
- (co-authored with Alberto di Martino) Eredità casuistica e fattispecie penale. Radici, ritorni, nuovi scenari, «Quaderni fiorentini», LIV (2025), 79-134.
- The Historical Origins and Evolution of Rehabilitative Punishment, in «Crime and Justice. A Review of Research», edited by Michael Tonry, vol. 53, 2024 (©2025), 103-160;
- Exceptionality and Common Features of Migration Law in the Age of Mass Migration, in Legal Responses to Mass Migration: From the Nineteenth Century to World War II, ed. by Luigi Nuzzo, Michele Pifferi, Giuseppe Speciale, Cristina Vano (Torino-London-New York: Giappichelli-Routledge, 2024), 337-357;
- From casuistry to the general part. The conception of criminal responsibility from the ius commune to the penal codes (XII-XIX centuries), in Thomas Crofts, Louise Kennefick, Arlie Loughnan (eds.), The Routledge International Handbook on Criminal Responsibility (London-New York: Routledge, 2025), 138-152;
- The rise and fall of penal casuistry: Medieval theological roots and modern systematization of criminal fault, in «The Yale Journal of Law and Humanities» (2024, forthcoming);
- La criminalística de posguerra y los desafíos de la Constitución republicana, in S. Martín, F. Fernández-Crehuet, A. Aragoneses (eds.), Desarrollo de la dictadura, dictadura del desarrollo. El régimen franquista en su entorno internacional (1945-1969), Sevilla: Athenaica Ediciones, 2025, 659-696;
- Construction and De-construction of Legal Identity: Different Notions of Autonomy in Italian Legal Thought (19th–20th Centuries), in Peter Collin, Augustín Casagrande (eds.), Law and Diversity: European and Latin American Experiences from a Legal Historical Perspective. Vol. 1: Fundamental Questions, Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Franfurk a M., 2024, 569-580;
- Dalla casistica alle regole: la normativizzazione della responsabilità penale tra medioevo ed età moderna, in «Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno», 52 (2023), 401-423.
- La penalistica del dopoguerra e le sfide della Costituzione repubblicana. Qualche considerazione sul problema del metodo e il fine della pena, in «Giornale di storia costituzionale», 46 (2023), 211-235.
- Punishment and Social Control in Historical Perspective. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics (2022) Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.ORE_POL-01784.R1
- Brief Remarks on the Prohibition of Penal Analogy in Fascist Italy, in Florian Jeßberger, Moritz Vormbaum, Boris Burghardt (hrsg.), Strafrecht und Systemunrecht. Festschrift für Gerhard Werle zum 70. Geburtstag (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), pp. 625-634.
- Introduction. An historiographical reassessment of criminological positivism, in M. Pifferi (ed.), The Limits of Criminological Positivism. The Movement for Criminal Law Reform in the West, 1870-1940 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2022), pp. 1-15.
- From responsibility to dangerousness? The failed promise of penal positivism, in M. Pifferi (ed.), The Limits of Criminological Positivism. The Movement for Criminal Law Reform in the West, 1870-1940 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2022), pp. 255-279.
- Criminological Reformism and Transnational Criminal law (1870s-1930s), in Neil Boister, Sabine Gless, Florian Jeßberger (eds.), Histories of Transnational Criminal Law (Oxford: OUP, 2021), pp. 27-39.
- Crisis del liberalismo penal y ascenso del derecho penal autoritario. La cultura penalística de entreguerra, in Sebastián Martín, Federico Fernández-Crehuet, Alfons Aragoneses (eds.), Saberes Jurídicos y Experiencias Políticas en la Europa de Entreguerras. La Transformación del Estado en la Era de la Socialización (Sevilla: Athenaica Ediciones, 2021), 393-451.
- The Theory of Social Defence and the Italian Positive School of Criminal Law, in «Glossae. European Journal of Legal History», 17 (2020), pp. 22-46.
- Criminology and the rise of authoritarian criminal law (1930s-1940s), in S. Skinner (ed.), Ideology and Criminal Law. Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2019), pp. 105-124.
- Problemi costituzionali del diritto penale tra riformismo e ascesa del paradigma autoritario (1920-1940), in «Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno», 48, 2019, pp. 309-353.
- Le insanabili antinomie della tortura. Modelli di verità e significato del dolore nella quaestio per tormenta medievale, in «Legislazione Penale», 9.9.2019, http://www.lalegislazionepenale.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Pifferi-approfondimenti-LP-1.pdf, pp. 1-22.
- Antinomie e caratteri costanti dello ius migrandi tra Otto e Novecento, in «Rivista trimestrale di diritto pubblico», 2, 2019, pp. 395-407.
- Veritatis inquisitio per tormenta. Verità, corpo e dolore nella tortura giudiziaria medievale, in L. Stortoni, D. Castronuovo (eds.), Nulla è cambiato? Riflessioni sulla tortura (Bologna: Bononia University Press, 2019), pp. 43-66.
- The roots of Italian penal codification: Nation building and the claim for a peculiar identity in criminal law, in A. Masferrer (ed.), The Western Codification of Criminal Law. A Revision of the Myth of its Predominant French Influence (Cham: Springer, 2018), pp. 163-192.
- Diritto individuale o pericolo sociale? Scienza giuridica ed emigrazione tra Otto e Novecento, in A.C. Amato Mangiamieli, L. Daniele, M.R. Di Simone e E. Turco Bulgherini (eds.), Immigrazione marginalizzazione integrazione (Torino: Giappichelli, 2018), pp. 36-56.
- Criminal Responsibility and Its Histories: New Perspectives for Comparative Legal History, in «Critical Analysis of Law», 4(2), 2017, pp. 222-232.
- Controllo dei confini e politiche di esclusione tra Otto e Novecento, in Eliana Augusti, Antonio M. Morone, Michele Pifferi (eds.), Il controllo dello straniero. I “campi” dall’Ottocento ad oggi (Roma: Viella, 2017), pp. 81-105.
- Accidentalia delicti e criteri di commisurazione della pena. Una lettura storica delle circostanze alla ‘periferia’ del codice, in R. Bartoli, M. Pifferi (eds.), Attualità e storia delle circostanze del reato. Un istituto al bivio tra legalità e discrezionalità, Milano: Giuffrè, 2016, pp. 1-18.
- L’espulsione e la detenzione dello straniero tra Otto e Novecento, in «Quaderni Costituzionali», 36(4), 2016, pp. 839-859.
- Respingere, detenere, espellere: la costruzione del diritto dell’immigrazione tra Otto e Novecento, in M. Bosworth, La “galera amministrativa” degli stranieri in Gran Bretagna. Un’indagine sul campo (Napoli: Ed. Scientifica, 2016), pp. 335-362.
- Oltre Beccaria? Le proposte della criminologia tra Otto e Novecento, in Giovanni Chiodi, Loredana Garlati (eds.), Dialogando con Beccaria. Le stagioni del processo penale italiano (Torino: Giappichelli, 2015), pp. 107-138.
- Global Criminology and National Tradition: The Impact of Reform Movements on Criminal Systems at the Beginning of the 20th Century, in T. Duve (ed.), Entanglements in Legal History: Conceptual Approaches, Global Perspectives on Legal History 1 (Frankfurt am Main: Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, 2014), pp. 543-564 (http://global.rg.mpg.de).
- Alla ricerca del “genio italico”. Tradizione e progetti nella penalistica postunitaria, in Giovanni Cazzetta (ed.), Retoriche dei giuristi e costruzione dell’identità nazionale (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2013), pp. 257-295.
- Indetermined Sentence and the Nulla Poena Sine Lege Principle. Contrasting Views on Punishment in the U.S. and Europe Between the 19th and the 20th Century, in, Georges Martyn, Anthony Musson, Heikki Pihlajamäki (eds.), From the Judge’s Arbitrium to the Legality Principle. Legislation as a Source of Law in Criminal Trials (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2013), pp. 387-406.
- Individualization of Punishment and the Rule of Law: Reshaping Legality in the United States and Europe between the 19th and the 20th Century, in «The American Journal of Legal History», 52, 3, 2012, pp. 325-376.
- Il mandatum nella criminalistica del Cinquecento. Finzioni argomentative e logiche punitive, in «Historia et Ius. Rivista di storia giuridica dell’età medievale e moderna» [www.historiaetius.eu], 1 (2012), paper n. 8, pp. 18.
- A proposito di “Storia del diritto penale e della giustizia. Scritti editi e inediti (1972-2007)” di Mario Sbriccoli, in «Rivista di storia del diritto italiano», 84, 2012, pp. 480-487.
- Criminalistica, in P. Cappellini, P. Costa, M. Fioravanti, B. Sordi (eds.), Il contributo italiano alla storia del pensiero, Ottava appendice, Diritto (Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2012), pp. 141-148.
- Tiberio Deciani, in P. Cappellini, P. Costa, M. Fioravanti, B. Sordi (eds.), Il contributo italiano alla storia del pensiero, Ottava appendice, Diritto (Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2012), pp. 149-152.
- Ius peregrinandi e contraddizioni dell’età liberale. Qualche riflessione sulla “falsa” libertà di migrare in Italia e negli Stati Uniti, in M. Meccarelli, P. Palchetti, C. Sotis (eds.), Ius peregrinandi: il fenomeno migratorio tra diritti fondamentali, esercizio della sovranità e regimi dell’esclusione (Macerata: EUM, 2012), pp. 255-275.
CONFERENCES/SEMINARS/WORKSHOPS ORGANIZED:
- Seminars series ‘Casuistry’ and rule-based approach in criminal law. Historical perspectives, current developments, University of Ferrara, Law Department:
o April 9, 2024: Giorgio Pino (Università Roma Tre) & Giovanni Tuzet (Università Bocconi Milano) Logica giuridica e diritto penale: ragionare per principi, ragionare per casi;
o May 7, 2024: Guido Rossi (Università di Palermo) & Maria Sole Testuzza (Università di Catania) Caso, fatto ed evento nella cultura giuridica medievale;
o May 16, 2024: Emily Corran (University College London) & Stefania Tutino (UCLA) Casuistry and Probabilism in Medieval Theology and Law;
- Franz von Liszt in English? Seminar – Oxford, 27 November 2023, 3.30-6 PM – Centre for Criminology seminar room, Organized by: Michele Pifferi & Florian Jeßberger (Humboldt University, Berlin).
- “Legal Response to Mass Migration Between the 19th Century and the WWII”, Naples, University Federico II – January 27-28, 2022 (https://legalhistoryandmassmigration.com/conference-legal-response-to-mass-migration-between-the-19th-century-and-the-wwii-naples-january-27-28-2022/);
- “Legal History and Mass Migration. Seminars”, Ferrara, Law Department (webinar), April 14 and 5, May 5, 2021. Speakers: Arno Dal Ri (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina), Matteo Pretelli (Università L’Orientale di Napoli), Marco Tabellini (Harvard Business School);
- “The Limits of Criminological Positivism: The Movement for Criminal Law Reform in The West, 1870-1940”, Ferrara, Law Department, May 17, 2019;
- “Criminal Law in Liberal and Fascist Italy”, keynote speaker Paul Garfinkel, Ferrara - Law Dept., May 10, 2017;
- “Sentencing Issues. Historical and Comparative Perspectives”, keynote speakers Julian Roberts, Florian Jessberger, Michael Tonry, Ferrara - Law Dept., May 5, 2017;
- “Race, Rights, Equality”, keynote speakers Michael Livingstone, Loredana Garlati, Giuseppe Speciale, Ferrara - Law Dept., May 3, 2017;
- “Attualità e storia delle circostanze del reato. Un istituto al bivio tra legalità e discrezionalità”, Firenze, Centro di studi per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno, May 20, 2015;
- “Sovereignty, Citizenship, Immigration. A Historical and Criminological Analysis”, keynote speakers Mary Bosworth and Claudia Storti, Ferrara Law Dept. April 14, 2015.
- “Campi: quale fine? Teorie e prassi di governance”, Firenze, Dept. of Political and Social Science, May 11, 2015;
- “Criminology and Legal History”, keynote speaker David Garland, Ferrara Law Dept., May 16, 2013;
- “Organized Crime: History and International Perspective”, keynote speaker James Jacobs, Ferrara Law Dept., December 12, 2012;
- “Diritti individuali e processo penale nell’Italia repubblicana”, Ferrara Law Dept., November 12–13, 2010.
- “Una tribuna per le scienze criminali. La cultura delle riviste nel dibattito penalistico tra Otto e Novecento”, Jesi, Faculty of Law, February 25-26, 2010.
LECTURES/PAPERS:
- Paper “The Conception of Criminal Responsibility from the ius commune to the Penal Codes”, Criminal Responsibility. Modern Law Review Seminar, University of Glasgow, 2 May 2025.
- Panelist at the Conference on Global Migration and the Rule of Law Presented in collaboration with Loyola University Chicago College of Arts and Sciences and Pontifical Gregorian University and supported in part by the Morris I. Leibman Endowment, Panel 1: Origins of the Migra1on Crisis, Rome, Pontifical Gregorian University, April 11-12, 2025.
- Paper “Rehabilitative Punishment”, Crime and Justice—A Review of Research, Volume 53. Crime and Justice in Historical Perspective. Initial Drafts Conference, May 2-3, 2024 - Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security, and Law, Freiburg.
- Paper “The Rehabilitative Ideal: An Historical Overview”, Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford, Informal Seminar Programme 2023-24 - Michaelmas Term, November 16, 2023.
- The Rise and Fall of Penal Casuistry: Medieval Theological Roots and Modern Systematization of Criminal Fault, Comparative Legal History: A Conference on Themes in the Work of Jim Whitman, Yale Law School - Friday, Oct. 13 and Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023.
- Chair of the panel “Law” - Border Criminologies: The First Ten Years, The Bonavero Institute for Human Rights, Mansfield College, University of Oxford, Sept. 11, 2023.
- Chair of the panel “Legal history and mass migration. Integration, exclusion, and criminalization of Migrants in the XIX and XX centuries”, European Society for Comparative Legal History, 7th Biennial Conference, held at the University of Augsburg, 21-23 June, 2023.
- Paper “Legal history, mass migration and criminological positivism. A tentative Research agenda”, Human Rights and Democracy Forum & Bracton Centre for Legal History Research, University of Exeter, School of Law, 23 November, 2022.
- Paper “Legal history and criminological positivism: a contribution to historical criminology”, given at the University of Leeds, School of Law, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, 14 November 2022.
- Lecture “Punishing social dangerousness. Criminological positivism and the new notion of criminal responsibility (1870s-1930s)”, All Souls Criminology Seminar Series, All Souls College, Oxford, 10 November 2022.
- Paper “Border control and mass migration: A comparative overview between the 19th and 20th centuries” at the Oxford Legal History Forum, University of Oxford – faculty of Law, 8 November 2022.
- Paper “The new ‘Pillars of Hercules’ of the criminal judge. Rethinking judicial powers between criminological reformism and WWI”, given at the 6th Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, Lisbon, 22-24 June, 2022.
- Lecture “Legacies of Beccaria’s modern theory of punishment”, given at the PhD Course in “Diritti umani. Evoluzione, tutela e limiti”, Il carcere, la persona, i diritti, Palermo, 13-17 June, 2022.
- Paper “La penalistica del dopoguerra e le sfide della Costituzione repubblicana”, given at the international conference “La España de los años 50 y 60 en su contexto europeo. II encuentro de historia jurídica comparada”, Sevilla, University of Sevilla - Law School, 10-12 November, 2021.
- Paper “Giacomo Matteotti e il riformismo penale europeo”, given at the Conference “Giacomo Matteotti fra diritto e politica”, Rovigo, Accademia dei Concordi – Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza, 19 November 2021.
- Panel discussant at the International conference: “Domesticating International Justice” – Panel VIII: Immunities, held in Milan, 30 Sept. – 2 Oct. 2021, Alexander von Humboldt-Kolleg – Università degli Studi di Milano.
- Lecture “Lecturae criminalium nello Studio patavino: il laboratorio del Tractatus di Deciani”, Seminars on legal history, Padua DPCD e DISSGEA, October 21, 2020 (webinar).
- Paper “Rileggere carcere e fabbrica nel 2020”, given at the Conference of the Association Franco Bricola, “Carcere senza fabbrica. Modelli correzionalistici ed esclusione sociale. Ricordando Massimo Pavarini”, Bologna, September 30, 2020.
- Lecture “The New Horizons of Criminal Law: Expectations and Limits of Enrico Ferri’s Theory”, given at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito, July 28, 2020 (webinar).
- Paper “Transnational Debates on Criminal Law Reform and Transnational Criminal Law between the 1870s and 1930s”, given at the International Symposium “Histories of Transnational Criminal Law”, October 15-18, 2019, Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover.
- Paper “Construction and de-construction of legal identity: different notions of autonomy in Italian legal thought (19th-20th century)”, given at the conference “Law and Diversity. European and Latin American Experiences from a Legal Historical Perspective”, 24-25 June, 2019, Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main.
- Paper “Between Repression and Prevention: Social Defense in Enrico Ferri and Silvio Longhi”, given at the GERN Seminar 2019-2020 “The birth of penal positivism in Europe and Latin-America: rise and resistances”, University of Valencia, Law School, June 20, 2019.
- Paper “The Rise of Preventive Justice. The Transnational Debate on Measures of Security”, given at the Workshop “Transnational Criminal Law in Transatlantic Perspective (1870-1945): Towards a dialogue between the Global North and the Global South”, May 23-24, 2019, Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main.
- Paper “From Responsibility to Dangerousness? The Failed Promise of Penal Positivism”, given at the Workshop “The Limits of Criminological Positivism: The Movement for Criminal Law Reform in The West, 1870-1940”, Ferrara, Law Department, May 17, 2019.
- Paper: “Border control and individual freedom to migrate: a historical overview between the 19th and 20th centuries”, given at the 8th Bonn Humboldt Award Winners’ Forum “Between handcraft and confession, empiricism and normativity: Self- determination in international jurisprudence”, Bonn, 17-21 October 2018.
- Lecture “Quale trattamento per quale infermo di mente: dalle categorie della “scuola positiva” alle riforme della post-modernità”, given at “Corso di formazione permanente della Scuola Superiore della Magistratura”, Scandicci, 12-14 September 2018.
- Lecture “Freedom to Move and Border Control in Historical Perspective”, given at Law on the Bosphorus Istanbul International Summer School 2018- Human Rights, Terrorism And Refugees, 6 August- 17 August 2018.
- Paper: “Fears and borders: the historical roots of ‘crimmigration’”, given at 1st Turkish – Italian Public and Criminal Law Conference. Terrorism and organized crime: legal answers in the democratic secular state, Modena, April 20-21 2018.
- Paper “Fra passato e presente. profili storici, filosofici, costituzionali”, given at the Conference of the Franco Bricola Association “Nulla è cambiato? Riflessioni sulla tortura” (Nothing is changed? Reflections on torture), Ferrara, Law Dept., 9-10 March 2018.
- Lecture “Le ‘zone grigie’ della legalità penale tra Otto e Novecento”, given at Corso di formazione permanente della Scuola Superiore della Magistratura, Scandicci, 21-23 giugno 2017.
- Paper “Diritto individuale o pericolo sociale? Scienza giuridica ed emigrazione tra Otto e Novecento”, given at the conference Immigrazione Marginalizzazione Integrazione, Roma, University of Roma Tor Vergata, 15-16 June 2017.
- Paper “Crisi del liberalismo penale e ascesa del penale autoritario”, given at the conference “Saberes jurídicos y experiencias político-constitucionales europa, 1918-1945”, I Encuentro de historia jurídica comparada, Siviglia, Facultad de Derecho, 22-24 March 2017.
- Paper “The roots of Italian penal codification. Nation building and the claim for a peculiar identity in criminal law”, presented at the International Conference “The influence of the Code pénal (1810) over the codification in Europe and Latin America. Tradition and Foreign Influences in the Codification Movement”, Valencia, November 10-11th, 2016.
- Paper “Criminology and the rise of authoritarian criminal law (1930s-1940s)”, given at the Oxford Centre for Criminology, Informal Seminar Series, October 20th, 2016
- Paper “Preventive Detention and Constitutional Limits: A Comparative Historical Analysis”, presented at the British Crime Historians Symposium 5, University of Edinburgh, 7-9th October 2016.
- Paper “Riformismo criminologico e garanzie costituzionali tra Otto e Novecento”, presented at the conference “L'Atlante criminale. Responsabilità penale e pericolosità sociale tra vecchie e nuove esperienze”, Università degli Studi di Teramo, Facoltà di Giurisprudenza, 26-27th May, 2016.
- Co-convener of the conference “Attualità e storia delle circostanze del reato. Un istituto al bivio tra legalità e discrezionalità”, Firenze, Centro di studi per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno, May 20, 2015.
- Paper “Poteri amministrativi e libertà di emigrare. Le radici storico-giuridiche di un’aporia”, presented at the workshop “Campi: quale fine? Teorie e prassi di governance”, Firenze, Department of Political and Social Science, May 11, 2015.
- Paper “The Dark Side of Criminology? Criminological Theories and the Crisis of Penal Liberalism”, presented at the conference “Anti-Democratic Ideology and Criminal Law under Fascist, National Socialist and Authoritarian Regimes”, London, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 10-11 September, 2015.
- Discussant at the seminar “Crimine e follia nel secolo di Cesare Lombroso”, held at the University of Teramo (May 19, 2015)
- Paper “Oltre Beccaria? Le proposte della criminologia tra Otto e Novecento”, held at the Conference “Dialogando con Beccaria: Le stagioni del processo penale italiano”, Milano, University of Milano Bicocca, 6 November 2014.
- Paper “New Penology and Legal Traditions: Cultural Variations in the Criminalisation Process between the 19th and the 20th centuries”, presented at the Third Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, “Traditions and Changes”, (Macerata, 8-9 July 2014).
- Paper “Le storiche contraddizioni dello ius migrandi”, presented at the seminar “Storie di confine. Flussi migratori e controllo delle frontiere”, Caffeina Festival – Università della Tuscia, Viterbo, 5 July 2014.
- Paper “In search of European and American penological identities. A comparative historical approach to criminology”, discussed at the Oxford Centre for Criminology, Oxford (February 20, 2014).
- Paper “The roots of different penological identities in Europe and the U.S. The individualization of punishment between the 19th and the 20th centuries”, presented at The criminal law and criminal justice group of the LSE Department of Law and the Mannheim Centre for Criminology, London, LSE, January 21, 2014.
- Discussant at the seminar Quale futuro per la pena di morte? Presentation of the Italian translation of David Garland’s book La pena di morte in America. Un’anomalia nell’era dell’abolizionismo, Milano: il Saggiatore, 2013, held at Florence, Centro di studi per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno (May 31, 2013)
- Seminar Criminology and Legal History, held at the Department of Legal Science in Ferrara, with David Garland (NYU) (May 16, 2013)
- Seminar on Organized Crime: History and International Perspective, held at the Department of Legal Science in Ferrara, with James Jacobs (NYU) (December 12, 2012).
- Paper “Global Criminology and National Tradition. The Impact of Reform Movements on Criminal System at the Beginning of the 20th Century”, presented at the “Entanglement in Legal History Workshop”, held at the Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main, 29-31 August, 2012.
Public Engagement activities
- Member of the scientific committee of the exhibition “Natura naturata. Capolavori librari dell'Università degli Studi di Ferrara”, University of Ferrara, University Library of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Ferrara, 18 April – 1 May 2019 (https://www.movio.beniculturali.it/unife/naturanaturata/en/1/natura-naturata);
- Member of the scientific committee of the online exhibition “Maestri di diritto tra la corte Estense e l’Europa”, University of Ferrara and University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 2023 https://virtualheritage.unife.it/s/maestri_diritto/page/introduzione
