Role
Gabriele teaches Italian on the University Language Programme, teaching from beginner to advanced.
Career overview
Prior to his appointment at NTU, Gabriele worked as a sole trader (food) and in retail (second hand books). He's also a columnist and radio broadcaster for different Swiss media providers.
Research areas
Gabriele has a PhD in cultural studies about parts of Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro. His research falls into diverse and complementary areas of interest such as literature written in Italian by Swiss, Slovenian, Croatian, and Montenegrin authors, nationalism, symbols, as well as food and wine cultures.
In recent years Gabriele has been engaged in research and dissemination activities attending conferences as well as giving university and public talks.
Conferences
2024 Paper entitled “Le geografie dell'italiano: diversItà oltre l'italocentrismo". “DiversItalia: insegnare la diversità" conference, University of Nottingham (24th May).
2020 Paper entitled “Beyond Italy’s political (b)order: why we should incorporate the diversity of San Marino, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Croatia in Italian teaching and assessment”. Teaching Diversity in the Italian Classroom” conference, King’s College, London (30th June).
2019 Paper entitled “Crossing the boundaries of the (Italian) nation state in ULP teaching and assessment”, NLC Conference 2019 (14th June), Nottingham Trent University.
2015 Paper about modern Istrian literature at CFP workshop: Memory-Nostalgia-Melancholy: Re-imagining Home in a Time of Mobility, (Rovinj/Rovigno 6-7th September).
2014 Paper about indigenous “Italian” cultures beyond Italy’s state border in the literary work of the Swiss writers Massimo Lardi (Il Barone de Bassus) and Gerry Mottis (Oltre il confine e altri racconti). AAIS annual conference, University of Zurich (23rd-26th May).
2012 Paper about the Swiss writer Massimo Lardi (Dal Bernina al Naviglio) at the “Oltre i confini. Aspetti transregionali e interculturali dell’italiano”, conference, Belgrade University (25th-26th May).
University talks and workshops
2024 “Do humanities matter? Humanities, sustainability, and business" (5th November).
2024 “Does ‘Italian’ food exist outside of Italy? Food cultures in the Swiss Alps and the Eastern Adriatic " Nottingham Trent University (19th October).
2024 “Promoting language awareness through sustainability practices across industries to humanities students". Nottingham Trent University (13th June).
2024 “Italianità 'ai margini'. Viaggio nelle culture 'italiane' di Istria, Dalmazia, Bocche di Cattaro e Grigioni italiano". University of Leiden (1st May).
2023 “Sustainability, languages, and employability in the Valposchiavo (energy, tourism, wine)”. Nottingham Trent University (12th December).
2023 "A wish sandwich: authenticity in language and food culture teaching”. Nottingham Trent University (14th June).
2023 “Food cultures & language teaching. Myths and similarities between native speakerist ideologies and national food narratives”(workshop). Nottingham Trent University (25th January).
2020 Gabriele planned and moderated a series about and with the writers Massimo Lardi, Aljoša Curavić, Gerry Mottis, and Roberta Dubac, University of Lausanne (2nd June, 9th June, 2nd December, 9th December).
2020 Talk about "Italianità ai margini dell'Italia. Uno sguardo etnografico", University of Lausanne (12th May).
2019 Talk about “AlterItà: la cultura appartiene agli stati?”, Università di Milano Bicocca (17th December).
2019 Talk about “AlterItà: la cultura appartiene agli stati?”, University of Oxford (25th November).
2018 Talk about “Indigenous ‘Italian’ Cultures of Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Switzerland’s Italian Grisons: Fragility, Vitality, and Connectedness”, University of Liverpool (25th November).
Public talks
2024 Talk about La cucina ai margini dell'italianità, Forlimpopoli, Festa Artusiana (22nd June).
2024 Talk about Italianness on the margins, Dante Alighieri Society, Nottingham (20th January).
2023 Talk about the lexicographer Giuseppe Ragazzini, L'uomo oltre il dizionario, Modigliana (23rd September).
2020 Talk about border and language defence in Switzerland in conversation with Sergio Savoia, head of on-air multichannel promotion at Swiss public broadcaster RSI, Istituto di Cultura Italiano, London (26th November).
2020 Talk about AlterItà in conversation with the TV correspondent Marco Varvello, Istituto di Cultura Italiano, London (29th June).
2019 Talks about cultural piracy and the book AlterItà: Circolo Filologico Milanese, Milano (14th December), Cantina Brojli, Aquileia (13th December), and UniTre, Tirano (27th May).
2018 Talks about AlterItà in Soazza, Trieste, Poschiavo, and Prosto di Piuro (April, May, and June).
2017 Talks about AlterItà: culture ‘italiane’ indigene al di fuori dei confini dell’Italia in Bellinzona and Brusio (14th and 15th September), organized by Pro Grigioni Italiano and Prof. Sacha Zala (Berne University).
Publications
2025 (article) G. Paleari, A caccia di parole, uova, panini, e coniglietti pasquali, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, March, pp. 36-37.
2024 (article) G. Paleari, Cioccolato tra pirati, libri, trattati e film, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, December, pp. 40-41.
2024 (article) G. Paleari, Bar, pub, taverne e inn, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, September, pp. 18-19.
2024 (article) G. Paleari, Mele, male, sidro e torte, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, June, pp. 16-17.
2024 (article) G. Paleari, Pane, burro e fantasia: tra parole, galateo e cucina, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, March, pp. 16-17.
2023 (article) G. Paleari, Christmas pudding: storia e curiosità, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, December, pp. 30-31.
2023 (article) G. Paleari, Una fame da re e regine, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, September, pp. 12-13.
2023 (article) G. Paleari, Haggis, neeps & tatties, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, June, pp. 10-11.
2023 (article) G. Paleari, Influssi coloniali nella cucina britannica, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, March, pp. 50-51.
2022 (article) G. Paleari, Wie Panama und die Bermudas zu Hut und Hosen kamen, 27th December, Der Bund, Bern.
2022 (article) G. Paleari, Emozioni ‘autentiche’ prodotti non sempre ‘autentici’, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, December, pp. 50-51.
2022 (article) G. Paleari, Say cheese!” Le Midlands tra Red Leicester, Stilton e Porto, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, December, pp. 48-49.
2022 (interview) G. Paleari, James Baron, Chef nei Grigioni con la moglie Natacha, La Domenica (Corriere del Ticino), Lugano, 4th December, p. 45.
2022 (article) G. Paleari, Vino inglese? Yes please!, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, September, pp. 72-73.
2022 (article) G. Paleari, Tea: da semplice bevanda per pochi a pasto per tutti, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, June, pp. 62-63.
2022 (article) G. Paleari, Drei wilde Seiten Englands, 29th April, Tages Anzeiger, Zurich.
2022 (article) G. Paleari, Brunch: tra cacciatori, digiuni e alzate di gomito, Réservé, Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, March, p. 45.
2022 (article) G. Paleari, Hut ab vor Ecuador. So enstand der Panamahut, Nau Media, Zurich.
2021 (article) G. Paleari, Sapori elvetici veri e presunti nella cucina inglese, Réservé. Magazine di enogastronomia, turismo e attualità, Lugano, December, pp. 60-61.
2019 (article) G. Paleari, L’italiano sarà meraviglioso, ma solo quando non lo si impone con la forza.
2018 (article) G. Paleari, Autochthonous “Italianness” beyond Italy’s national border in Istria, Dalmatia, the Mouths of Cattaro, and the Italian Grisons. In Ricerche Sociali, n. 25, Centro Ricerche Storiche Rovigno, Rovinj-Rovigno, pp. 5-57.
2018 (book) G. Paleari, AlterItà. Saggio sulle culture ‘italiane’ indigene di Istria, Dalmazia, Bocche di Cattaro e Grigioni italiano: vitalità, fragilità e legami, Isepponi, Poschiavo, 359 pp.
2018 (article) G. Paleari, Nazione: un’idea sbagliata di cui siamo prigionieri?
2018 (article) G. Paleari, Ma davvero il patrimonio culturale deve appartenere a uno stato?
2017 (book chapter) G. Paleari, Memory, Italianness, and borders in Istria in the literary work of Roberta Dubac. In Maja Mikula (ed.), Remembering Home in a Time of Mobility. Memory, Nostalgia and Melancholy. Cambridge Scholars: Newcastle Upon Tyne, pp. 35-52.
2012 (article) G. Paleari, Altre Italie: culture “italiane” indigene oltre il confine della nazione. In Quaderni Grigionitaliani, PGI, Coira, pp. 36-52.
2006 (article) G. Paleari, L’italiano in mano inglese, Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata, Bulzoni, Roma, pp. 119-142.
2002 (article) G. Paleari, The Year Abroad: Does the Assessment Meet the Requirements of the Learning Outcomes?, in L’Analisi linguistica e letteraria, Vita e Pensiero, Milano, pp. 339-352.
Press expertise
Gabriele is an experienced radio broadcaster. He has written and produced programmes for Swiss public radio network RSI. In 2025 he did a documentary about the carbonara sauce; in 2024 he covered the Irish elections for RSI Rete Due's Laser and he also contributed to a live programme about the myths of Italian as a musical language. In 2021 and 2022, he produced and hosted the weekly feature Mercator, which is about lesser known people, facts, and places (42 episodes).
In 2019 and 2020 he produced and hosted the weekly feature Curiosità British, which is about British cultural peculiarities (76 episodes).
Moreover, he has been a guest and has given radio and TV interviews to Swiss, Italian, and Slovenian media on topics such as travel, cultural expressions such as food, wine, and language. His main areas of expertise are the Eastern Adriatic and the Central Alps.