The American University of Rome's Inaugural Writer-in-Residence, Andrea di Robilant

Acclaimed author and journalist joins AUR to inspire a new generation of storytellers through fine writing and cross-cultural narratives.

ROME, LAZIO, ITALY, April 24, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- At The American University of Rome (AUR), stories are part of our DNA - stories of crossing cultures, exploring ideas, and discovering new perspectives. It’s only fitting, then, that we’ve welcomed AUR professor, author, and journalist Andrea di Robilant as AUR’s first Writer-in-Residence: a role designed to bring fine writing and the art of storytelling into even sharper focus for our students and community.

With a journalist’s instinct for clarity and a historian’s gift for unearthing forgotten lives, di Robilant’s work has captivated readers around the world. From "A Venetian Affair" to "Lucia," his books reveal the drama of the past with the intimacy of personal memoir. His most recent work, "This Earthly Globe," explores the life of Renaissance geographer Giovanni Ramusio - a man who quite literally helped Europe understand the shape of the world. Critics have called it “immersive,” “elegant,” and “beautifully researched,” and it continues to win praise from readers around the globe.

But it’s not just Andrea’s published work that’s inspiring. Since stepping into the Writer-in-Residence role, he’s been engaging directly with AUR’s students - mentoring, advising, and leading creative initiatives that are already affecting the way our community thinks about writing. This approach was ably proven at a recent public writing workshop hosted on campus. Andrea invited students, faculty, and the wider Rome community into a behind-the-scenes look at how historical narratives are shaped and delivered much more than a lesson in research or structure, but rather a masterclass in curiosity, empathy, and finding the human voice behind the facts.

For one International Relations student with a passion for creative nonfiction, the workshop was a turning point: “Andrea showed me that great writing isn’t about big words or perfect grammar. It’s about caring deeply - about your subject, your reader, and the story you’re trying to tell. I left that session wanting to tell stories that matter.”

This is the kind of spark the Writer-in-Residence program was created to ignite.

In the true spirit of the residency, Andrea used his own work on a new book as the topic of the talk and as a springboard for the workshop. He made it clear, through illustration and example, that method and topic are intimately linked, adding that the project one ends up completing may look very different from the project one envisaged at the beginning of the journey. In his example, an initial interest in the myth of the founding of Venice leads to much more than a discovery of truth opposed to convenient fiction. It can deliver a profoundly human understanding of the many individual, collective, and institutional actors involved in perpetuating or challenging the myth. It can illuminate figures that history would have forgotten had it not been for an inquisitive writer willing not just to scour the archives but also to trudge through the mud, in pouring rain, towards an isolated, dimly lit farmhouse, to see who would answer the door when curiosity knocked. Perhaps someone with a story to tell.

Andrea’s term as Writer-in-Residence at AUR was designed to be more than simply lectures. His role is to be a bridge between the academic and the real world - a working author who is open, generous, and deeply committed to nurturing the next generation of storytellers. In an age of fast takes and fleeting attention, Andrea di Robilant reminds us that thoughtful storytelling still has the power to move people - and to change the way we see the world, present and past.

Harry Greiner
The American University of Rome
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