Download the norms here.
A preamble
Annali d’italianistica’s style incorporates and adapts MLA Style Manual (2008) and Chicago Manual. Essays are 6000-9000 words long and are written in Italian or English.
At publication, each contributor will receive a PDF of the entire volume. As the author of your article, you may publish it elsewhere, either in the current or revised form, if the new publication avenue permits it, and as long as you acknowledge that it first appeared in Annali d’italianistica. If you would like a printed copy, contact us at annali@elon.edu for a special discount. Please encourage your institution and colleagues to subscribe to Annali (https://annali.org/subscribe/).
Submitting an article: practical norms
- Submit an electronic copy in Microsoft Word.
- Submit your article in English or in Italian. Please write in the language in which you write most idiomatically and effectively.
- Do not divide the text in sections, section breaks or columns.
- Include the author’s name, followed by the title of the essay, followed by an abstract of 100-150 words and a list of 5-8 key words. If you write in Italian, include a “sinossi” and a list of “parole chiave.” Please also include an abstract in English.
- Authors are advised to create parts/sections and assign a subtitle to each section. In creating subtitles, please skip one line after the previous section, use bold and no Italics, do not skip a line after the subtitle, and align the beginning of the new paragraph to the left.
- The first paragraph after title (and also the first paragraph right after a subdivision or subtitle in the essay or chapter) requires no indentation.
- Place name the name of the university or other affiliation or Independent Scholar at the end of the essay, just before the Works Cited.
- At the end of the essay, provide a Work Cited section: this is a COMPLETE list of ALL references, including books and authors simply mentioned in your essay. Do not include in Works Cited any authors you do not quote or mention.
- References: In the body of the essay, reference only author or shortened title, also in footnotes; the full title appears in Works Cited. DO NOT give full bibliographical information in the footnotes, but make sure that the full bibliographical information appears in the list of Works Cited. In the body of the essay and footnotes, refer to critics using also the first name of authors the first time you mention them, and last name only afterwards, unless there is confusion.
Formatting Tips for the Essay
- Do not use a template or a style that the editor cannot override.
- Use Times New Roman 12 throughout the essay, 1 inch margins all around.
- Name of author at the beginning of essay.
- Title of essay after the name of the author.
- Indent first lines of paragraphs (except the first one of each section) at 0.25 inches.
- After a block quote, indent paragraph only if you wish to begin a new paragraph; otherwise, do not indent.
- Longer quotes (more than three lines of text) are set off from the body of the text; do not indent but skip a line before and after.
Substantiate Statements
- Important statements must be validated with reference to reliable sources. For instance, the reader would like to know what the source of the following statement is:“Out of 200,000 partisans, 60,000 were women, 35,000 actively engaged in armed combat.”
- In referencing your source, please be as specific as possible; that is, refer to page(s) in articles and books. If your quote comes from an online page insert (online) instead of the page number.
Quoting Critics or Authors
Introduce briefly authors you quote. NOT:
È possibile affermare che il mondo descritto nel Decameron non “è una evoluzione, ma è una catastrofe, o una rivoluzione, che da un dì all’altro ti presenta il mondo mutato” (De Sanctis, Storia della letteratura italiana 1.314).
BUT:
Come afferma De Sanctis, è possibile affermare che il mondo descritto nel Decameron non “è una evoluzione, ma è una catastrofe, o una rivoluzione, che da un dì all’altro ti presenta il mondo mutato” (Storia della letteratura italiana 1.314).
Quotes within the Text of a Book Listed in Works Cited
Premise: Do not create a footnote to reference a work or author listed in WC. Insert reference within the text following the norms below.
a) Author of book or article has one entry only in Works Cited:
Giulio Bollati interpreted Cuoco’s thought in terms of a nationalism that would blossom under Mussolini’s dictatorship (3). [The name of the author appears in the sentence; no need to repeat it within parentheses, containing only the page you refer to.]
b) Author of several books or articles listed in Works Cited:
– “diverse” (Cuoco, Saggio storico 90).
Other examples:
Author’s name in prose and title in parenthetical citation
Morrison writes, “Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it’s gone, but the place—the picture of it—stays” (Beloved 35).
Author’s name and title in prose
As Morrison writes in Beloved, “Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it’s gone, but the place—the picture of it—stays” (35).
Author’s name and title in parenthetical citation
The character Sethe notes, “Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it’s gone, but the place—the picture of it—stays” (Morrison, Beloved 35).
Manuscripts
The manuscripts and books in archives, must be listed with their bibliographical references (book, chapter, paragraph, verse, etc.), with letters or reference numbers spaced, without commas or periods: e.g., Laur. XLII I; Magl. II IV 250; Vat. Chig. L V 176.)
Formatting Quotations
a. Quotations in the essays are set in quotation marks: “quotation” (Title page) or “quotation” (page) (see above).
b. Quotations longer than 3 lines areset off from the body of the text:
- do not indent the quotation that is set off from the body of the text, but simply skip an extra line at the beginning and end of quotation;
- place quotation within “ ” only if it is a direct discourse;
- quote the original text; if the editor allows you to provide a translation, begin a new paragraph and place the translation within parenthesis ( );
- after each block quote, use accapo (new paragraph) to reference author and book (unless it is already present immediately above), always followed by page reference.
Quotations with omitted words
Ad’I uses this symbol for omitted phrases in a quotation: […] (please notice that the spacing is automatically generated by Word). Make sure, if needed, to place a fourth period, meaning a full stop, either before the ellipsis— . […]— or after the ellipsis— […].—to reflect the original quotation.
Category 1: The quotation becomes part of your sentence:
According to this practice, the following quotation from Luigi Monga’s “Cycles of Early-Modern Hodoeporics”—in Annali d’italianistica 18 (2000) at page 199—“The image of the journey repeats the familiar patterns of the individual’s endeavors from birth toward death, from the exile of this lacrymarum vallis to a glorious world of personal salvation.”—can be cited as follows:
a. According to Monga, “[t]he image of the journey repeats the familiar patterns of the individual’s endeavors from birth toward death […]” (199).
b. If one accepts Monga’s statement that “the journey repeats the familiar patterns of the individual’s endeavors from birth toward death” (199), hodoeporics often becomes a paradigm of human life.
c. Monga suggests that “the individual’s endeavors from birth toward death” may lead “to a glorious world of personal salvation” (199).
d. Monga argues that “the individual’s endeavors from birth toward death” represent the “image of the journey […] from the exile of this lacrymarum vallis to a glorious world of personal salvation” (199).
Explanations:
Example a: the […] indicates that the quotation you make does not end with a full stop.
Example b: There is no need to add […] at either the beginning or end of your quotation, which you have assimilated in your sentence.
Example c: Same explanation as in (b).
Example d: You need to insert […] since you omit words within the quotation itself.
Category 2 of quotations: The quotation does not become part of your sentence:
The quotation does not become part of your sentence, but it is preceded, most commonly, by a comma or semicolon:
Monga states: “The image of the journey repeats the familiar patterns of the individual’s endeavors from birth toward death, from the exile of this lacrymarum vallis to a glorious world of personal salvation” (199).
Monga remarks, “The image of the journey repeats the familiar patterns of the individual’s endeavors from birth toward death, from the exile of this lacrymarum vallis to a glorious world of personal salvation” (199).
Category 3 of quotations: Quotations set off from the body of the text:
- use […] at the beginning and also at the end, if you omit words at the beginning and end of the quotation (as well as within it) AS THE QUOTE HAS NOT BECOME PART OF YOUR SENTENCE;
Translations
The journal is for Italian Studies scholars, and articles are normally written in Italian or English. Never translate the original quotation, whether it is in English if you write in Italian, or vice-versa. If you think that a translation or paraphrase of quotes in Italian or in English are needed, you may follow the examples listed below. If you quote from Latin and ancient Greek, you may quote the original and add the translation, or just provide the translation taken from a reliable source. The same norm applies to quotes from other languages other than Italian or English.
Examples:
More singing and dancing often follow, as in the afternoon of the first day, when everybody sings and dances a carola (a circular dance) and Dioneo plays the lute and Fiammetta the viol, after which follow more “canzoni vaghette e liete” (“gay and merry little songs,” Dec. 1. Intro. 106-08).
Nevertheless—Emilia adds in her preamble—the bitterness of the characters’ travails was of such extent and duration that one can scarcely believe that the consequent happiness could possibly sweeten it (“[…] la quale [novella], ancora che lieto fine avesse, fu tanta e sì lunga l’amaritudine, che appena che io possa credere che mai da letizia seguita si raddolcisse,” 2.6.4).
If the quotation is set off from the text (the so-called block quote), quote the original first, and provide reference on the next line; then have the translation follow within parentheses. Example:
It is precisely at this moment that the narrator introduces the figure of the circle most clearly and for the very first time in the Decameron:
Le quali [giovani donne], non già da alcuno proponimento tirate ma per caso in una delle parti della chiesa adunatesi, quasi in cerchio a seder postesi, dopo piú sospiri lasciato stare il dir de’ paternostri, seco della qualità del tempo molte e varie cose cominciarono a ragionare.
(Dec. 1. Intro. 52)
(Not because they were drawn by a set purpose but rather by mere chance, these ladies, having gathered in one of the parts of the church and seated themselves in a sort of circle, after many sighs, they gave up saying paternosters, and began to talk about many and various things on the quality of time.)
(Author’s transl.)
Further examples of quotations (with or without translations of the quoted text, according to the editor’s suggestions):
Guerricchio defines Banti’s short stories “stories of trials” (“racconti di prova”). She identifies the “trial” in “a personal transgression” (“una personale infrazione”) that takes the female protagonists away from “their standard lives, dull and subdued” (“norma di un vivere trito e sottomesso,” 30).
Editor’s explanations:
- As long as the name of the author of the quotations(s) has been mentioned earlier in the paragraph, there is no need to repeat the author’s name after each quotation(s). Make sure to do so at least once within each paragraph, normally after the last quotation in the paragraph. (Always insert clear references for each block quote.)
- In the example quoted above, since only one page number has been provided, it is assumed that all previous quotations in the same paragraph come from the same page number; if this is not the case, every quotation must have its reference page.
- If the author’s name appears in the Works Cited at the end of the volume once only, there is no need to provide the title of the work before the page number. The above example, therefore, assumes that Guerricchio has only one entry in the Works Cited.
- However, if Guerricchio has two entries listed in the Works Cited, the reference to page 30 does not suffice and should be emended as follows:
(“norma di un vivere trito e sottomesso,” in “Racconti di Anna Banti” 30),
or, abbreviating the article’s title:
(“norma di un vivere trito e sottomesso,” in “Racconti” 30).
Here is a quotation with translation of Dante within the body of the text: Time and again Dante follows a resolutely lowbrow tradition (“[…] ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta”; “[…] and he had made a trumpet of his arse,” Inf. 21.139).
Or:
It is clear that time and again (e.g., “[…] ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta”; “[…] and he had made a trumpet of his arse,” Inf. 21.139) Dante employs a lowbrow tradition.
Or: It is clear that time and again—e.g., “[…] ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta”; “[…] and he had made a trumpet of his arse,” Inf. 21.139—Dante employs a lowbrow tradition.
Please notice that there is no need to encumber the text further by inserting a square bracket for the reference to Inf. 21.139. At the same time, “ ” must be used for both the original and translation.
An example from the Decameron:
At the beginning of Day Four, the narrator describes his own body, that is his person, as having been created by heaven “tutto atto ad amarvi” (“entirely suited to love you [ladies],” “Introduction” 32).
Footnotes
- Do not insert the footnote number manually, but use the automatic system provided by Word. In the footnotes, the footnote number should be superscript (which the software does automatically) and left-aligned. Please skip one space after the footnote number. Do not skip a line after each note.
- Within the essay, do not refer to a specific footnote in your essay using a number because the footnote numbers may be changed.
- How to reference a footnote:
Oltre al dottor Carlo Fabrizi, unico traduttore ufficiale dall’inglese a Venezia nella prima metà del ’700 (Infelise 57n120), fra i nomi più ricorrenti troviamo […]. [Here, the name within parentheses references the author, who appears once only in the list; the first number refers to the page, the abbreviation n stands for footnote, and the following number, with no spacing, indicates the number of the footnote.]
come invece afferma lo studioso, caratterizzati da “descrizioni telegrafiche” (29n8). [=at page 29, footnote 8]
English style
- British spelling is allowed in essays that come from the UK and countries using British spelling.
- In reading contributions, the editors will make suggestions only when they are necessary. Quite often these suggestions concern punctuation.
- Please double-check your long sentences for coherence and simplify them.
- Please follow English norms about restrictive and non-restrictive sentences, changing punctuation and relative pronouns accordingly. Concerning restrictive and non-restrictive sentences, please read appropriate passages in such reputable works as The Chicago Manual of Style, Fowler’s Modern English Usage, or similar works (e.g., the MLA Purdue Style).
Italics
- Do not use underlining; use italics only.
- Titles within titles in italics are not set in italics.
- In titles of books or articles in Italian, capitalize only the first word: I promessi sposi, Il marzocco. Do not capitalize subtitles after column.
- Titles of newspapers are set in italics.
- When you emphasize the original text, which should be done sparingly, use italics and add: my emph.; or: emph. added.
Page numbering
Please follow these examples:
1-8;
11-15; 20-25; 25-35.
35-101; 96-104.
103-08; 105-95;103-04; 395-401.
923-1005.
1005-10; 1100-35.
1135-210; 1210-15; 1215-320.
1608-1774; 1899-1911.
Dates
They basically follow the same norms exemplified above for numbers: 1545-63; 1915-18.
- Dates for newspapers and magazines: Place date within parentheses:
Gallarati Scotti, Tommaso. “Due maestri del Manzoni”. Corriere della Sera (27 maggio 1959): 3.
OR
Gallarati Scotti, Tommaso. “Due maestri del Manzoni.” Corriere della Sera (27 May 1959): 3.
Roman Numerals
- Use always Arabic numbers instead of Roman numbers except to indicate the pages marked with Roman numerals in prefaces of introductions to books, preferring low case Roman numerals.
- Number of volume (first, second, etc.) within the body of essay is referenced as follows:
Lettre d’une dame Angloise (Desfontaines 2.325-49). [Not : II, 325-49.] [That is, volume two, pages 325-49, of Desfontaines]
- Use numerals, separated by a period, to indicate act, scene, and lines of a play (1.4.33-35=act 1, scene 4, lines 33 to 35)
- Sometimes Roman numerals are used for introductions. In this case indicate the page(s) will small letters.
Abbreviations
- Do not use ibid., cfr., or op. cit., ss.
- ed. [=edited by]
- transl. [translated by]
- Bible: do not abbreviate short titles. If you use abbreviations, make sure you are consistent.
Abbreviations of Dante’s Works
Please use the following abbreviations to quote Dante’s works. NEVER use Roman numerals, but only Arabic numerals, following the examples below. Always quote the original; if you wish, you may also quote a standard translation or have your own rendering. If translation does not have standard divisions as in critical editions, please quote page numbers.
Vita nova [Please use Barbi’s or De Robertis’s numbering and text] VN 1.1; VN 2.3-5
Commedia [use Petrocchi’s edition, which is the text followed by most recent English translations]
Inferno = Inf.
Inf. 1.1-3 [= canto one, lines 1-3]
Purgatorio = Purg.
Purg. 1.1-3
Paradiso = Par. 1.1-3
Convivio = Conv. [Please use a reputable edition with divisions in books and paragraphs]
Conv. 1.1-5
De vulgari eloquentia = DVE [Please use a reputable edition with divisions in books and paragraphs]
DVE 1.1-2
Rime [We have too many editions with different numberings. Please use a reputable edition with numbering: the first number will indicate the poem, while the following number(s) indicate the lines. It might be wise to quote the first line of the poem to help the reader identify the poem, given the great differences in numbering.]
Monarchia = Mon. [Please use a reputable edition with divisions in books and paragraphs]
Mon. 1.1-2
Epistles = Ep. [Please use a reputable edition with divisions in numbers and paragraphs]
Ep. 1.1-2
De situ et forma aque et terre = De situ [Please use a reputable edition with divisions in books and paragraphs]
De situ 1.1
Elenco delle abbreviazioni in italiano
A c. di [=a cura di]
Comm. [=commento di; commentato da.]
Trad. [=tradotto da, traduzione di]
t. [=tomo]
vol. [volume]
Punctuation
- For all quotations use double quotes: “ ”
- Use single quotes— ‘ ’ — only within double quotes.
- Do not use single quotes, but rather double quotes, to emphasize or to suggest a special meaning of the word or expression used. Use double quotes sparingly to emphasize or to suggest a special meaning of the word or expressions used.
- Quotation marks always include period and commas in essays written in English (not in Italian); colons and semicolons are never included within quote marks.
- If a quotation ends with single and double quote marks, commas and/or periods are placed within single and double quote marks:
.’”
,’”
- I saggi scritti in italiano hanno la punteggiatura dopo le virgolette. Esempio: “citazione”.
- Full-stop period of a complete sentence included within parentheses is placed within the parenthesis:
NOT
(Apparently, not much: Buyamba notes that their use of the term is grammatically incorrect as baluba is the plural form of the singular muluba).
BUT
(Apparently, not much: Buyamba notes that their use of the term is grammatically incorrect as baluba is the plural form of the singular muluba.)
- Double quotes also include the final period that is part of titles:Crotti, Ilaria. “Le seduzioni della virtù.”
- Hyphens, m/dashes, and cities in works cited: Distinguish between the hyphen (trattino), such as in the word double–check, which is available on the keyboard, and the m/dash (lineetta)—such as this one—which can be found under Insert, then Symbols.
- No space before and after the m/dash.
- Cities in bibliographies: Use Italian names of cities: Milano, and not Milan; Roma, and not Rome; etc. Indicate the first city only (Roma: Laterza, 2000; and not: Roma-Bari, etc.).
Works Cited
The list of Works Cited follows the text of the essay and is organized in alphabetical order (without taking articles into consideration), without distinctions between texts and critical works, according to the last names of the authors (or editors) and the works of the authors.
Authors with multiple works listed
The last names and names of the authors whose works are cited more than once will be indicated, after the first time, with six underscores followed by the period, like this:
______.
Books
Last name, Name. Title. Place of publication: Publisher, year. The year of the first edition, if applicable, follow the title.
Examples:
Asor Rosa, Alberto, ed. Le forme del testo. La prosa. Vol. 2, t. 2. Letteratura italiana. Torino: Einaudi, 1984.
Binni, Walter. L’Arcadia e il Metastasio. Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1963.
Charon, Rita, et al. The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine. New York: Oxford UP, 2017.
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. 1880. Transl. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. London: Everyman’s Library, 1992.
Conte, Giuseppe. La metafora barocca: saggio sulla poetica del Seicento. Milano: Mursia, 1972.
Petrocchi, Giorgio. “Masuccio Salernitano.” In Letteratura italiana. I minori. 3rd edition. Milano: Marzorati, 1969.
Shields, David, and Shane Salerno. Salinger. La guerra privata di uno scrittore. 2013. Milano: Isbn Edizioni, 2014.
Articles, chapters in books, and reviews:
Malato, Enrico. “La città di Dante.”In Dante. Roma: Salerno Editrice, 1999. 17-30.
Beckwith, Sarah. “Enter the Child. A Scene from Stanley Cavell’s The Claim of Reason.” Philosophy and Literature 46.2 (2022): 251-62.
Kantorowicz, Ernst H. “The King’s Advent and the Enigmatic Panels in the Doors of Santa Sabina.” Art Bulletin 26 (1944): 207-31.
Hollander, Robert. “Dante’s Use of the Fiftieth Psalm (A Note on Purg. XXX, 84).” Dante Studies 91 (1973): 145-50.
______. “Le opere di Virgilio nella Commedia di Dante.” In Dante e la “Bella Scola” della poesia. Ed. Amilcare Iannucci. Ravenna: Longo, 1993. 251-348.
Cavarero, Adriana. “‘A Child Has Been Born Unto Us’: Arendt on Birth.” Transl. Silvia Guslandi and Cosette Bruhns. PhiloSOPHIA 4.1 (2014): 12-30.
Per I saggi scritti in italiano la punteggiatura va fuori dalle virgolette:
Hollander, Robert.. “Le opere di Virgilio nella Commedia di Dante”. In Dante e la “Bella Scola” della poesia. A c. di Amilcare Iannucci. Ravenna: Longo, 1993. 251-348.
Films
Director. Title. Production. Country, year.
Benigni, Roberto. La vita è bella. Cecchi Gori Group, Melcampo Cinematografica. Italia, 1997.
Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox. USA, 1977.
Images
In order to ensure a good quality, (the original) illustrations need to be at least 10 x 15 cm at a resolution of 300 dpi (dimensions: 1200 x 1800 pixels). Please do not try to blow up low-resolution files as this will not improve but worsen the quality.
Please provide images in a separate file, with a clear numeration, and captions in a separate Word file. Images might be placed at the end of the essay to avoid unregular spacing.
Make direct references to your images in your essay. A few ways to do this:
- “An example of this technique can be seen in Figure 1.”
- “This monument was very ornate (see Figure 1)”
- “Many chairs of this era, particularly the chairs at Versailles (Figure 1), were very ornate.”
Norms for Proofreading
- When the editors return your essay, follow instructions and re-read your essay carefully for meaning, clarity, spelling, and printing errors. Ask a reliable colleague to do the same task as well.
- Double-check all quotations, page references, and bibliographical entries. Never assume that you have not made any mistakes.
- Every quotation must have a page reference; when several quotations from the same work and page occur in the same paragraph, indicate the page number at the end of the last quote in the same paragraph, like this (3).
- Check consistency of such typographical signs as “ ” and ‘ ’.
- Check consistency of bibliographical entries.
Template
Name of Author
Title of Essay: Subtitle / Titolo: sottotitolo
Abstract (Or: Sinossi): (column is bold) 100/150 word abstract of essay.
Key Words (Or: Parole chiave): 5-8 key words divided by commas and with a period at the end.
Blank space
[To improve readability of your essay, Annali requires dividing the essay in various sections – every 3-4 pages –, giving them a subtitle, according to the following suggestions and formatting.]
Introduction [Provide an appropriate subtitle, or write Introduction]
The first paragraph starts with no indentation
Body of text: indent all beginnings of paragraphs (except the first one).
Longer quotes (more than three lines of text) are set off from the body of the text; no indentation, skip a line before and after.
After block quote:
Do you begin a new paragraph after the quotation? If so, indent line.
No new paragraph? Do not indent.
First Subtitle [Provide an appropriate subtitle]
Second Subtitle [Provide an appropriate subtitle]
Additional Subtitles
Conclusion
Name of academic affiliation [Italics]
Works Cited/Opere citate
List of works cited.
To indicate the second (or third, etc.) entry of an author: six underlines followed by period and space.
______.
