Formed in 2011 as a result of the merger of four different departments ¬  ̶, namely, the Department of Linguistics, Communication Studies and Performing Arts; the Department of Italian Studies; the Department of Anglo-Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures; and the Department of Romance Studies ̶, the Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies (DiSLL) reflects and recasts the academic heritage, the resarch traditions and directions of its predecessors in a successful attempt to embrace the future while honouring the past. Notably, it was by incorporating the substantial historical holdings of the pre-existing departments that one of the most important Italian libraries for philological, linguistic and literary studies was created.

DiSLL covers a broad spectrum of subject areas pertaining to the study and teaching of the following disciplines:

• Historical and General Linguistics,
• Italian Studies,
• Italian Philology and Comparative Literature,
• Theory and Anthropology of Literary Texts,
• Linguistics and History of the Italian Language,
• Mediaeval and Humanistic Latin Literature,
• Romance Philology, Languages and Literatures (French, Galician, European and Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Castilian and Latin American Spanish),
• Germanic Philology, Languages and Literatures (American, English, German),
• Slavic Philology, Languages and Literatures (Czech and Slovak, Polish, Russian, Serbian and Croatian, Slovenian),
• Hungarian Philology, Language and Literature
• Greek Language and Literature
• Byzantine Philology
• Music
• Drama and Theatre Studies
• History of Cinema
• Film Studies
• Performing Arts.

People
Currently, the DiSLL has approximately 80 members of permanent teaching staff, 30 members of  technical and administrative staff, roughly 20 research grant holders and 30 PhD students.

Department
Since autumn 2019, DiSLL has been located in the spacious, elegant ‘Beato Pellegrino’ building complex, formerly conventual buildings that were remodelled, specifically adapted and conveniently integrated to host the entire division of Humanities. The buildings may be accessed either from via Beato Pellegrino 28 or from via Vendramini 13.

Research
DiSLL is a department committed to research with the quality and intensity that lead to excellence.  It also organizes a series of conferences and seminars cycles. Many of these activities are held within the framework of research projects that are funded through competitive calls at local, national and international level – e.g. PRAT, PRIN, SIR, ERC – which ultimately makes the Department particularly attractive to professors and researchers from other universities.

Educational offer
The DiSLL has a broad, well-structured educational offer, including:

• two first-cycle (i.e. Bachelor’s) degree courses

• Classical and Italian Studies
• Language, Literature and Cultural Communication

• five second-cycle (i.e. Master’s) degree courses
• Modern Philology
• European and American Languages and Literatures
• Modern Languages for International Communication and Cooperation
• Linguistics
• Communication Strategies
• a bi-national, inter-university second-cycle degree course in Modern Philology with majors in French and Italian Studies (jointly run by the universities of Padova and Grenoble Alpes)
• a Doctoral Programme in Linguistic, Philological and Literary Studies which brings together the disciplinary competences and research lines of the areas of Linguistics and Literary Studies at the University of Padova

First- and second-cycle degree courses at DiSLL participate in the Erasmus+ Programme in cooperation with numerous European Universities, thus offering a variety of exchange opportunities for both incoming and outgoing students.

Public Engagement
Besides educational activities intended for students, the Department also offers a wide range of activities that are either open to, or specifically aimed at, the dissemination of knowledge in society (Public Engagement). In particular, the department actively cooperates with schools at all levels of education, as well as with local organizations and institutions, with the aim of promoting cultural activities and events such as training and refresher courses for teachers, workshops, book presentations, festivals, summer schools and drama workshops in foreign languages.
Overall, the DiSLL stands out as a diversified and yet close-knit scientific, educational and cultural community providing high-quality education, training and growth opportunities while allowing everyone to enjoy a truly meaningful experience both on a human and professional level.