Rebecca Kerns, the 2027 Samuel H. Kress Foundation Rome Prize in Ancient Studies, is a PhD candidate in Classics specializing in Roman archaeology and urban history. Her work explores forces of change and stasis in Roman cities, with a particular focus on urban disasters.
Maria Cecilia Lovato, the 2027 Franco Zeffirelli Italian Fellow in Modern Italian Studies, is an art historian working on Italian visual culture in the first half of the twentieth century, with particular attention to the interwar period and the relationship between the visual arts and colonialism.
On October 27, 2026, Giulia Colletti (2026 Italian Fellow) curated the exhibition and public program "They Make You Write Your Poems" at Onassis ONX in New York City. AAR sat down with Colletti to learn more about how the event came together and how the time she spent in Rome as an Italian Fellow at the American Academy shaped the project.
For over a century, the Rome Prize has supported innovative and cross-disciplinary work in the arts and humanities. Each year, the prize is awarded to about thirty artists and scholars who represent the highest standard of excellence and who are in the early or middle stages of their careers.
Buy tickets for the November 2 celebration.
