Nicolas J. Perella was Professor Emeritus of Italian Studies. The acknowledged dean of Leopardi studies in the United States, he was also an accomplished translator.

His books include The Kiss Sacred and Profane; An Interpretative History of Kiss Symbolism and Related Religio-Erotic Themes (1969); Night and the Sublime in Giacomo Leopardi (1970); The Critical Fortune of Battista Guarini’s “Il pastor fido” (1973); Midday in Italian Literature: Variations on an Archetypal Theme (1979); Studies in the Italian Renaissance: Essays in Memory of Arnolfo B. Ferruolo (1985; edited with Gian-Paolo Biasin and Albert N. Mancini); Carlo Collodi, The Adventures of Pinocchio: Story of a Puppet (1986, translator); Pirandello 1986: Atti del Simposio internazionale, Università di California, Berkeley, 13-15 marzo 1986 (1987; edited with Gian-Paolo Biasin); Man of Smoke (1992; translation of Aldo Palazzeschi, Il codice di Perelà, with Ruggero Stefanini); and A Tournament of Misfits: Tall Tales and Short (2005; short stories by Aldo Palazzeschi; translator).

Professor Perella passed away on September 26, 2015.