Bianca Gaudenzi

Dr Bianca Gaudenzi

BA MA MPhil PhD

Bianca is an Assistant Professor in Modern European History at the Free University of Bozen, a Bye-Fellow at Wolfson College, 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

Abstract painting featuring a simplified yellow outlined figure beside a faint sepia-toned face rendered on textured canvas.

Art Exhibition: 'Images and Other Conversations'

22/08/2026 at 10.00

Visit Wolfson's latest exhibition 'Images and Other Conversations', featuring work by artists Suleman Aqeel Khilji and Charlotte Winifred Guérard, winners of the Wolfson Royal Academy Schools Graduate Prize.

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A tall, narrow black sculpture made of stacked horizontal layers stands on a grassy lawn in a landscaped courtyard, with trees and brick buildings in the background.

Wolfson College Sculpture Trail: Richard Bray

22/08/2026 at 10.00

Wolfson College is delighted to showcase the work of acclaimed Cambridgeshire-based artist and sculptor, Richard Bray MRSS. 

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Zurich

Wolfson In Zurich 2026

03/09/2026 at 19.00

Join us for summer drinks with the Wolfson community in Zurich.

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A tree-lined campus walkway covered in golden autumn leaves leads toward a building, creating a vibrant canopy with a few people walking along the path.

Open Cambridge - Tree Trail

11/09/2026 at 10.00

A self-guided Tree Trail taking you through the beautiful and varied gardens of Wolfson College.

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A person wearing gloves and a lab coat adjusts a microscope while examining a clear cell culture dish in a laboratory.

Virtual Open Evening: Graduate Course in Medicine

17/09/2026 at 18.00

Join the Cambridge Graduate Course in Medicine team for an online open evening.

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