Bianca Gaudenzi

Dr Bianca Gaudenzi

BA MA MPhil PhD

  • Position Bye Fellow
  • School Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty of History
  • Personal website
  • Email bg265@cam.ac.uk
  • Department link

Bianca is an Assistant Professor in Modern European History at the Free University of Bozen, a Bye-Fellow at ÐÔÊӽ紫ý, and a Visiting Scholar at the GHI Rome. Her research focuses on fascist consumer culture and the restitution of looted artefacts since 1945.

Bianca Gaudenzi

Bianca read modern languages and history at the University of Florence and at the Humboldt University of Berlin, followed by an MPhil in Modern European History and a PhD in History at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge in 2011.

She was a Royal Historical Society Centenary Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, London between 2009 and 2010, was awarded a Junior Research Fellowship at Newnham College, Cambridge (2011-2014), a Marie Skłodowska Curie-ZIF Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Konstanz (2015-1017) and a Research Group Leader position (Nachwuchsgruppenleiterin, Habilitationsstelle) at the University of Konstanz (2018-2024). During this time, she successfully applied for a three-year grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG, Eigene Stelle) to fund her project on 'The Restitution of Looted Cultural Property in Austria, Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany, 1945-1998', which she carried out as a Research Fellow at the German Historical Institute in Rome (2018-2022).

Since 2021 Bianca has been acting as an expert for the ‘Working Group for the study and research on cultural property taken from the Jews in Italy between 1938 and 1945 as a result of the Racial Laws’ of the Italian Ministry of Culture and is a member of the Royal Historical Society, the German History Society and the Association for the Study of Modern Italy.

Bianca’s research interests lie in the cultural and social history of 20th-century Europe, Germany, Italy and Austria in primis, focusing primarily on two main fields of research:

1) The history of consumer culture during the Fascist and Nazi regimes - starting with the role played by advertising professionals in fostering consensus by projecting the illusion of a future Fascist consumer society (the subject of her first two books, Comprare per credere, 2016, and Fascismi in vetrina, 2023). More recently she also embarked on a project that analyses the history of colonial consumption in 20th-century Italy, comparing the consumption of the so-called ‘colonial’ goods in the Italian peninsula with the consumption practices, places and objects in the colonial space, especially in Libya.

2) The politics of restitution of fascist-looted cultural property in Germany, Italy, and Austria since 1945, comparing the prompt restoration of state-owned collections after the Second World War with the extremely strenuous quest for restitution to Jewish citizens. The project devotes particular attention to the so-called ‘sitting-room art’, rather than the very few prominent artworks which have gathered so much attention in the past, as a way of showing how cultural heritage helped shape the identity, taste, and social status of the educated middle classes. This field of research has been developed in both transnational and global perspectives, with particular attention to colonial-era looted artefacts, as explored in her co-edited Special Issue of the Journal of Contemporary History (2017) and her Special Issue of The material legacies of Italian colonialism with QFIAB, Journal of the GHI Rome (2024). Public outreach activities included two major TV programmes for Italian audiences, teacher training activities with the MEIS (Museum of Italian Jewry and Shoah) and on-site tours of Rome’s Jewish quarter.

What's on

A triptych of abstract images: a smooth round stone nestled in a curved rock, distorted eyeglass frames scattered on a white background, and a high-contrast black and white microscopic image resembling organic or cellular structures.

Art Exhibition: ÐÔÊӽ紫ýat 60

14/06/2025 at 10.00

Celebrating Wolfson’s 60th anniversary year, this exhibition highlights the range of artistic disciplines and styles that have made up our exhibitions over the years.

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A women's crew waiting to start their race

May Bumps Marquee 2025

20/06/2025 at 14.00

Join us by the riverside to cheer on ÐÔÊӽ紫ý Boat Club's crews!

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People are gathered on a sunny lawn outside Wolfson's buildings, sitting on blankets and benches, chatting and socializing.

ÐÔÊӽ紫ý Garden Party 2025

22/06/2025 at 14.30

Join us at ÐÔÊӽ紫ýfor an afternoon of music and light refreshments in the College grounds!

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Two young men are pictured side by side: one smiling in front of a brick wall, the other looking thoughtful in a wooded area while wearing glasses and a suit with a purple scarf.

The Mary Bevan Recital: Jack Marley (saxophone) & Aidan Módica (piano)

22/06/2025 at 19.00

Join us for our annual Mary Bevan concert with prize winners of the prestigious Cambridge University Concerto Competition.

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A group of people stands outdoors near a table with books and papers, attentively reading or listening during a gathering.

WolfWords Launch and Poetry Reading

27/06/2025 at 11.00

Please come and join us for the launch of this year's WolfWords poetry anthology, which brings together poems from the entire ÐÔÊӽ紫ýcommunity.

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