Maria Chiara Marzolla

Maria Chiara Marzolla, PhD (University of Galway)

Senior Researcher in Classical and Religious Studies • Expert in Musical Tradition Preservation at the Mantinea Institute

Maria Chiara Marzolla is a scholar of Classics, music, and religious studies whose research bridges ancient texts, musical practice, and cultural transmission. She holds a PhD in Classics from the University of Galway (Ireland), where her doctoral research focused on music as an intangible cultural practice within the early Irish Church, examining its theological, liturgical, and performative dimensions. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Giacomo Puccini Conservatory of Music in La Spezia.

Dr. Marzolla’s academic formation combines Classical Studies, History of Religions, and professional musical training. She earned a Master’s Degree in History of Religions from the University of Padua with a thesis on early female monasticism and the figure of Olympias of Constantinople, and a Laurea Triennale in Classical Studies with a focus on Germanic and Latin philology. Alongside her humanistic education, she completed a Diploma in Piano at the Francesco Venezze Conservatory of Music in Rovigo, grounding her scholarly work in historically informed musical practice.

Her research interests centre on the conservation, interpretation, and transmission of intangible heritage, particularly early Christian music, liturgical traditions, and the role of women in religious and performative contexts. She has published a monograph and several peer-reviewed articles on female monasticism, women’s ministries, and religious history, contributing to the valorisation of historical knowledge embedded in textual, musical, and ritual sources.

Dr. Marzolla is actively involved in international research networks and scholarly dissemination. She has presented her work at major academic venues, including the International Congress of Celtic Studies, where she explored symbolic soundscapes and musical imagination in medieval narrative sources. She is also a member of the research group Identità e itinerari della nota romana (sec. XI–XIII) at the Fondazione “Ugo e Olga Levi”, where she contributes to the study of Gregorian chant and medieval musical notation as forms of intangible musical heritage.

Her current research is developed within the PNRR-funded AFAM project Casta Diva: An International Research and Production Digital Platform on Women in Italian Musical Theatre, coordinated by the Conservatory of La Spezia. In this context, she investigates musical and theatrical practices within female monastic communities and their influence on the emergence of Italian musical theatre, with particular attention to gendered performance traditions and their historical continuity.

In parallel, Dr. Marzolla works as an academic content developer for Opera VR – Virtual Learning and Research Hub, a pioneering digital project aimed at creating immersive educational environments for higher music education. Within this framework, she is responsible for the development of scholarly content related to Monteverdi’s Orfeo, a cornerstone of operatic heritage, contributing to innovative strategies for the digital preservation, interpretation, and dissemination of musical and theatrical heritage.

Through her interdisciplinary expertise, Dr. Marzolla’s work supports a nuanced understanding of how historical music, performance, and religious practice can be studied, preserved, and re-activated for contemporary audiences, reinforcing the connection between scholarly research, education, and cultural heritage revitalisation.

+39 351 359 7171
contact@mantinea.institute