Luca Bertolani Azeredo, PhD
Historian of political violence — Storico della violenza politica
PhD in Global History and Governance (2026, Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Naples). I work on modern and contemporary Ireland, across political, social and cultural history. My current research studies Italians in Ireland from the nineteenth century to the present.
Dottore di ricerca in Global History and Governance (2026, Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Napoli). Mi occupo di Irlanda in età moderna e contemporanea, con ricerche di taglio politico, sociale e culturale. La mia ultima ricerca studia gli italiani in Irlanda dal XIX secolo a oggi.
Research strands
Political violence and paramilitarism in Ireland, 1909–1916
My doctoral research investigates Irish paramilitary bodies in the decade before the Great War: how they armed, drilled and built their own legitimacy in a space where — in the phrase that gives the thesis its title — “there are illegalities that are not crimes”. It cuts across nationalism and unionism, looking at youth organisations, the discipline of the body, the press, and the ways the British state chose not to intervene.
Italians in Ireland, from the nineteenth century to today
A history of Italian migration to Ireland built from the ground up: censuses, parish registers, ice-cream parlours and chip shops, families crossing the border of a divided land. The project reconstructs names, trades and itineraries, and makes them searchable on a public map.
Publications (12)
- 2026 — Cittadini virili, armati, e patriottici? Il caso degli Young Citizen Volunteers, Belfast 1912-16, in Matteo Millan, Marco Maria Aterrano, Enrico Acciai (a cura di), Percezioni e pratiche di (in)sicurezza in Italia, Viella
- 2026 — ‘There are things stronger than Parliamentary majorities’. For a political use of violence in Ireland, 1909–1916, in Karina Bénazech Wendling, Vanessa Boullet, Pauline Collombier, Tim Heron (eds), Radicalism, Radicalisation and de-Radicalization in Ireland from 1798 to the Present Day, Éditions de l'Université de Lorraine
- 2026 — Review of New Perspectives on Conflict and Ireland in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Paul Huddie, Cathal Billings and Arlene Crampsie, Études irlandaises, vol. 51, no. 1, 2026, pp. 161–162
- 2026 — Review of The Science of the Child in Liberal Italy, by Luisa Tasca, Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, vol. 19, no. 1, Winter 2026, pp. 76–77
- 2025 — Review of Conflict, Diaspora, and Empire: Irish Nationalism in Britain, 1912–1922, by Darragh Gannon, Irish Studies Review, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 440–442
- 2024 — Il manuale del giovane terrorista. Na Fianna Éireann e la nascita del paramilitarismo irlandese, in Generoso Cefalo e Riccardo Mardegan (a cura di), Con quale autorità? La narrazione storica come strumento di (de)legittimazione, Edizioni dell'Orso, Alessandria, pp. 85–92
- 2024 — Manly Physique, Attractive Uniforms and Drill Manoeuvres, in Maria Gaviña-Costero, Dina Pedro, Dónall Mac Cathmhaoill (eds), 'Lost, Unhappy and at Home': The Impact of Violence on Irish Culture. Volume II: Socio-Cultural Aspects, Peter Lang, Oxford, pp. 15–30
- 2024 — The Irish Labour Party 1922-32: A Decade of Opposition, in Sarah-Anne Buckle, Olivier Coquelin, Francis Devine (eds), Retreat From Revolution. Irish Working Class Politics in the 1920s, Umiskin Press, Dublin
- 2024 — Italian Labour & Unions in the ’70s. A Decade of Troubles, in Jack McGinley, Noel Ward (eds), Visions of Labour and Class in Ireland and Europe. Irish Labour History Society 2nd International Conference, Umiskin Press, Dublin
- 2024 — Review of Roscommon: The Irish Revolution, 1912–23, by John Burke, Irish Studies Review, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 312–313
- 2024 — Review of The Camp Fire Girls. Gender, Race, and American Girlhood, 1910–1980, by Jennifer Helgren, Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, vol. 17, no. 2, Spring 2024, pp. 310–312
- 2020 — Come (non) si racconta una pandemia. La Spagnola nelle pagine del «Corriere della Sera», Amici di Passato e Presente, 15 giugno 2020
Conference papers (25)
- 2026-06 — “Un poco di gelato, if I may”. A New History of Italian Immigration to Ireland (1880s-1926). Association for the Study of Modern Italy, Postgraduate Summer School 2026, Department of Criminology, Cambridge
- 2026-04 — The Pedagogy of Violence: Youth, Discipline, and Paramilitary Culture in Early 20th Century Ireland. Comparative Irish Studies from Ancient Times to the Present, Jagiellonian University, Cracovia
- 2026-03 — Migrants in a Divided Land: Italian Communities and the Making of Modern Ireland. Colloque SOFEIR “Irish Exceptionalism”, Université de Strasbourg
- 2025-11 — “I Fought the Law, and I Won”. The United Kingdom and the Crisis of Paramilitarism, 1900-1916. Engaged Citizens. Seminar PRIN 2022, Università di Napoli Federico II
- 2025-11 — The Enniskillen Horse: Illegality, Legitimacy and the Birth of Irish Paramilitarism. Irish Studies Seminars, Autumn 2025, Queen’s University Belfast
- 2025-09 — “Rebels under the Union Jack”. Reassessing Loyalist Radicalisation in the Home Rule Crisis. 7th EFACIS International Postgraduate Conference, Charles University, Praga
- 2025-09 — La Dolce Vita? Story of an Italian Ice-Cream Parlour in Enniskillen. 35th Irish Conference of Historians, Maynooth University
- 2025-06 — «There are illegalities that are not crimes». An Investigation into Political Violence and Paramilitary Bodies in Ireland before the Great War. PhD Workshop 2024-25, discussant Brian Hughes, Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Napoli
- 2025-05 — Framing Military Resistance: The Press and the Irish Home Rule Crisis. EFACIS Conference 2025, Åbo / Turku
- 2024-12 — Shaping the Youth of Conflict: Religious Divides and the Foundations of Irish Paramilitary Organizations. Religion, Division and Development in Ireland. 3rd CEPH Irish Research Initiative Workshop, CEPH
- 2024-12 — Cittadini virili, armati, e patriottici? Il caso degli Young Citizen Volunteers, Belfast 1912-16. Percezioni e pratiche di (in)sicurezza in Italia. PRIN 2022, Università di Roma Tor Vergata
- 2024-06 — “No Man shall ride armed within the Realm”: The Enniskillen Horse and the Irish Home Rule Crisis. ACIS MIC 2024 Conference, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick
- 2024-06 — “It may be tomfoolery – but is it legal?” The Enniskillen Horse and the Irish Home Rule Crisis (1912-14). Galway Conference of Irish Studies 2024: Slow Violence X Irish Studies, University of Galway
- 2024-04 — “There are things stronger than Parliamentary majorities”: For a Political Use of Violence in Ireland, 1909-1916. Radicalism, Radicalisation, and Deradicalisation in Ireland, Université de Lorraine, Nancy
- 2024-04 — «There are illegalities that are not crimes». An Investigation into Political Violence and Paramilitary Bodies in Ireland before the Great War. Doctoral Workshop, discussants Richard English e Daniel Joseph Macarthur-Seal, Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Napoli
- 2023-09 — The Children of the Empire. Youth Organisations in British Ireland between Imperialism and Anti-Colonialism, 1909-1916. 6th EFACIS International Postgraduate Conference, Charles University, Praga
- 2023-09 — Italian Labour & Unions in the ’70s – a Decade of Troubles. Irish Labour History Society 2nd International Conference, Liberty Hall, Dublino
- 2023-08 — Na Fianna Éireann and the Young Citizen Volunteers. EFACIS Conference 2023, Queen’s University Belfast
- 2023-05 — The Balloon and the Bullet. Children and Young People in Irish Early Paramilitarism. 21st International AEDEI Conference, Universitat de València
- 2023-05 — Manly Physique, Attractive Uniforms, and Drill Manoeuvres: Kids and Boys Playing with War in Pre-War Ireland. Gender and Sexuality History Workshop, Easter 2023, University of Cambridge
- 2023-03 — “There are illegalities that are not crimes”. An Investigation into Political Violence and Paramilitary Bodies in Ireland before the Great War. Global History and Governance – Research Workshop 2022-2023, Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Napoli
- 2023-03 — Manly Physique, Attractive Uniforms, and Drill Manoeuvres. Two Case Studies in Pre-War Ireland. Irish History Students’ Association 74th Annual Conference, Carlow College
- 2022-10 — The Handbook of the Young Terrorist. Na Fianna Éireann and Irish Paramilitarism. Economic and Social History Society of Ireland Conference, Maynooth University
- 2022-05 — Il manuale del giovane terrorista. Na Fianna Éireann e il paramilitarismo irlandese. Student Conference 2022 — Con quale autorità?, Università degli Studi di Pavia
- 2018-11 — 1918 – L’influenza Spagnola. Riflessione e discussione a 100 anni dalla più grande epidemia della storia. Simposio Permanente della Storia, Università degli Studi di Padova
Projects
- Italians in Ireland — A census of the Italian families who migrated to Ireland between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: biographical records, census sources and a navigable map of settlement.
Education
- 2021–2026 — PhD in Global History and Governance (Doctor Europaeus), Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Napoli
- 2024 — Visiting Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin
- 2023 — Visiting Student, University College Cork
- 2022–2023 — Visiting Student, Queen’s University Belfast
- 2017–2020 — MA in Historical Science, Università degli Studi di Padova
- 2019 — Erasmus+, University College Dublin
- 2013–2017 — BA in History, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna
Contact
Privacy e note legali