Fellows will enjoy all the privileges of the Harvard Center, including use of the Biblioteca Berenson seven days a week and lunch with other I Tatti Appointees from Monday through Friday.  Craig Hugh Smyth Visiting Fellows do not receive an office or study, but are invited to work in the Library itself.  One of the goals of I Tatti is to establish an intellectual community in which a fruitful interchange of ideas can take place.  Thus Fellows are expected to live in the Florence area and spend at least two or three days a week at the Villa.

The Fellowships are funded by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, first made in 2005 and renewed in 2008.  The Fellowship is named after Craig Hugh Smyth, fourth director of Villa I Tatti (1973-85).  His selfless devotion to a number of institutions of higher learning and research is legendary, and he always put the good of the institution above time for personal research.

 

Category A: Museum and Library Professionals

The primary constituency will be museum curators.  From the outset, however, it was also foreseen that Renaissance scholars in any position with constrained research time could apply, such as librarians, academic administrators, conservators, and the like.  It is not intended for recent post-doctorates, but rather for scholars who have worked for a considerable period without leave.  University teachers with the usual academic summer vacation and/or sabbatical programs are not eligible.

Applicants may include former I Tatti Appointees, including Mellon Research Fellows from Central Europe.  However, the Craig Hugh Smyth Visiting Fellowship can be held only once, even if an applicant qualifies in both categories. 

The selection committee will pay attention to the candidate’s record of publication and to the potential of the project to yield original results.  Museum professionals will often be carrying out the research for a forthcoming exhibition or for the catalogue of their permanent collection, but they can also apply for projects relating to their personal research interests in the Renaissance.   Library professionals can apply for projects in any field of Italian Renaissance studies, but not for projects in library science detached from the Renaissance.

 

Category B: Mothers

The recent renewal of the grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will allow the extension of the Craig Hugh Smyth Fellowship to another category of scholar with unusual responsibilities limiting time for research, namely, mothers. 

Mothers with small or adolescent children have formed part of the class of full-year I Tatti Fellows every year in recent memory.  For a family staying in Florence for ten months, the school system plus local childcare arrangements has allowed these women to be among the most successful of all I Tatti Fellows. 

The Craig Hugh Smyth Visiting Fellowship Category B, however, is a short-term fellowship, usually of three months, aimed at mothers with the primary responsibility of caring for children up to sixteen years of age.  It is available to women who do not live in the region and who normally do not have access to the research facilities of Florence.

In these cases of shorter residency the local schools will be of less help and child care will present more formidable obstacles.  To cope with the extra expenses that child care involves the Fellowship provides a monthly supplement.  In some cases the Smyth Fellow has found it efficient to come to Florence alone and use the supplement to help with extra child care expenses back home; in other cases, perhaps less frequently, she has chosen to come accompanied by a child and to try to arrange child care during her residency.

When possible, I Tatti will provide a small apartment on its property in order to allow the Smyth Fellow to settle in quickly.  However, it should be emphasized that I Tatti cannot provide Smyth Fellows with apartments large enough to accommodate full families.

 

Stipend

The stipend for both categories of Craig Hugh Smyth Fellowship is $5,000 per month, plus a one-time supplement towards transportation expenses, depending on the distances involved.  When possible, a small apartment will be set aside for the Fellow’s use, rent free, but with charges for telephone, internet connection, and utilities.  When it is not possible to provide an apartment, a supplement of $1,500 per month will be offered as a contribution towards rent.

The normal periods of residence are: September through mid-December, January through March, April though June.  Applicants should indicate a first and second preference.  The Fellowships cannot be held in July and August or over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. 

For Category B, there will also be a supplement of $1,000 per month to help cover extra child care expenses.

 

Application

Applications and the supporting material should arrive before the firm deadline of April 15.

 

Hard Copy Application

Application and supporting materials should be sent to:

 Fellowship Application Office

Villa I Tatti

Via di Vincigliata 26

50135 Florence, Italy

 Your applications should include:

1.  A completed Craig Hugh Smyth Visiting Fellowship application form (click here to obtain a pdf form).

2. A compact curriculum vitae that does not exceed five pages, including a list of publications.  Please indicate document title, date and page number in the header or footer.

3. A statement of the project to be developed at I Tatti, which should be double-spaced and cannot exceed 1000 words.  Please give a word count at the beginning and indicate document title, date and page number in the header or footer.  The opening paragraph should be a concise abstract of the project.  A focused bibliography of one page (in addition to the 1000 words) should be added at the end.  The statement can be in English, Italian, French or German.

4. Category A – brief letter describing current position and listing previous sabbaticals or leaves. Category B – brief letter describing your family circumstances, including ages and names of children and practical arrangements you intend to make during your time in Florence.

Online Application

If you are submitting an online application, your application and supporting materials will be sent automatically to the Florence office; please do not send a hardcopy in the mail.

Please click here to submit an online application whereby you will then receive instructions on how to attach items #2-4 (listed above).

Letters of recommendation for both hardcopy and online applications 

Two confidential letters of recommendation are required from scholars who know your work well.  These should not be included with the application, and must not be sent or faxed by the candidate.  They must be sent directly by the recommenders and should arrive by April 15, in one of the following ways:

 

• hard copies on official letterhead, mailed to the Florence address

                                                  or

• signed letter, scanned and sent by email attachment to applications@itatti.it;                                    or sent by fax to +39 055 3906894

 

For those who applied the previous year, please submit a new application form, an updated curriculum vitae, project description, and one new letter of recommendation.  To be successful, a project must have made considerable progress since the previous application.