The Netherlands’ only Professor of Italian to retire: “Italy has a way of capturing people’s imagination”
An interview with Harald Hendrix
After a 45-year academic career, Professor of Italian Language and Culture Harald Hendrix will retire in July 2025. What have been the highlights of his career? What can the Netherlands learn from Italy? And what does he hope to pass on to future generations? “Italy has served as a place of learning for centuries.”
A lifelong fascination with Italy
Hendrix can’t quite pinpoint what first sparked his curiosity about Italy. “As a first-generation university student, I come from a background where such an interest was anything but typical. Yet I started teaching myself Italian at the age of twelve, using a 19th-century grammar book printed in Gothic German script. For my final school project, I wrote a 150-page paper on the Italian Renaissance, pieced together from books in the local library. That was quite unusual at the time.”
Later, he realised he wasn’t the only one to experience such a solitary, early passion. “Over the years, I’ve met students who followed a strikingly similar path – clearly, Italy has a unique way of capturing people’s imagination early on.”
International collaboration and Italian connections
Harald Hendrix studied History, Italian, and Literary Studies in Utrecht. After earning his doctorate and holding his first academic post at the University of Amsterdam, he has worked at Utrecht University since 1994. He began as Associate Professor of Renaissance Studies and was appointed Professor of Italian Language and Culture in 2001.
In that role, he served as director of the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome from 2014 to 2019 and carried out research within various international networks, such as Cinquecento Plurale. “A particularly memorable moment came in 2002, when I met my Roman colleague Paolo Procaccioli at the Warburg Institute in London.”
Real business is of course only done over a good meal.
“That meeting marked the beginning of a close collaboration and a steady stream of joint publications. We instantly connected over our shared interest in unconventional sixteenth-century writers. Especially eccentric figures like Pietro Aretino, who was known for both hagiographies and erotic poetry – a remarkable combination, of course.”
Hendrix’s work took on an extra dimension after he bought a house near Rome. “That gave a personal depth to my collaboration with my Roman colleagues. It’s something Italians value immensely – and I do too. Sharing a connection with the place where you work is a powerful motivation for lasting partnerships. And if, like me, you enjoy talking about food, you’ll always find a warm welcome among Italian academics, as real business is of course only done over a good meal.”
Italy as a learning ground for Dutch students
“The fascination with Italian language and culture isn’t confined to academia,” says Hendrix. “This autumn’s Michelangelo exhibition in Haarlem, for instance, is expected to draw huge crowds. Italy has served for centuries as a place of learning for Dutch students eager to look beyond their textbooks. Since the early sixteenth century, wealthy young Dutchmen have travelled there on their Grand Tours. By immersing themselves in another culture and its rich heritage, students gain a deeper understanding of their own position and role in the world.”
Universities, Hendrix believes, play a vital role in this process. “They are institutions that shape future generations, and I’ve considered it a great privilege to contribute as a teacher. Those moments when you see students taking a leap forward in their development always move me. Especially in intensive seminars, like my recent Renaissance Reading Room, you sense a shared momentum – everyone, myself included, begins to understand difficult texts more clearly with each passing minute. It’s incredibly energising and makes you want to keep digging.”
That passion is what Hendrix hopes to pass on. “That curiosity to understand the difficult, the enthusiasm for knowledge for its own sake, the drive to really learn something – I hope to see all of that alive in the generations to come.”
Fund for Italy Studies
To continue supporting those future generations after his retirement, Hendrix established the Fund for Italy Studies. “From personal experience, I know how much difference a bit of support can make. I have no doubt that in the future, young people will continue to be deeply inspired by Italy. Often, you don’t need much – simply being immersed in the art and culture that surrounds you in Italy is enough. But you do need the opportunity to make that experience meaningful. I hope this fund can provide that opportunity, just as I was once fortunate enough to receive myself.”