SOMMELLA Rosario

Rosario Sommella (Naples, 1959) is full professor of Economic-Political Geography (M-GGR/02 - 11/B1) at the Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Naples “L'Orientale.”
Since November 2024, he has been coordinator of the Evaluation Unit at the University of Naples ‘L'Orientale’.

Position and career
2021-ongoing: Vice President of the Association of Italian Geographers (AGeI).
2018-2024: Pro-Rector for Teaching at the University “L'Orientale” and President of the University's Teaching Hub
2016-2017: coordinator of the Master's Degree Program in International Studies.
2013-2017: vice president of the Association of Italian Geographers (AGeI).
2012-2015: director of the Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Naples “L'Orientale”.
2011-2014: extraordinary professor of Economic-Political Geography, Faculty of Political Science/Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Naples “L'Orientale”. Confirmed full professor from 1-11-2014.
2005-2011: director of the Department of Social Sciences, University of Naples “L'Orientale”.
2001-2011: associate professor of Economic-Political Geography, Faculty of Political Science, University of Naples “L'Orientale”.
1998-2001: associate professor of Economic-Political Geography, Faculty of Economics, University of Foggia.
1995-1998: researcher of Economic-Political Geography, Faculty of Political Science, University of Naples “L'Orientale”.
1985-1995: tenured professor of General and Economic Geography in upper secondary school. Lecturer, with teaching and research activities, in Political and Economic Geography at the Faculty of Political Science, “L'Orientale” University.
1983: Degree in Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Naples “L'Orientale” (110 cum laude).

Teaching
Courses 2024/25: Political Geography of the Mediterranean Region (LM), Cities, Regions and Territorial Development (L). Other teaching held: Geography of International Relations, Political and Economic Geography (2009/2018), Regional Geography (2017/2018), Geography of Development (1998/2008), Geography of Migration, Political Geography of the Mediterranean (2008/2012).
He is a member of the Teachers' Board of the PhD program in “International Studies” (Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, L'Orientale, since the 29th cycle)
He has been coordinator of the Board of the PhD in “Geography of Development and Urban-Regional Dynamics” (L'Orientale, Dept. of Human and Social Sciences).
He was a lecturer (2007) at the University “Torcuato Di Tella” in Buenos Aires.
At the Faculty of Economics of the University of Basilicata (Potenza) he taught the course of Economic Geography (2008/10).
He has taught courses in Economic Geography at the University of Foggia (1998-2001).
He was a member of the Faculty of the Level I Master's Degree “MILD” (Master in International and Local Development) organized by Stoà - Institute of Studies for Management and Business Administration (Ercolano - NA) and the Faculty of Political Science of the Orientale.
He has carried out various teaching activities in the field of higher education, professional training and in the field of secondary school teachers' refresher courses.

Scientific activities
In a career spanning more than 40 years, major stimuli have come from issues emerging in the Mediterranean area, developing countries and the Mezzogiorno, with a focus on issues of Urban and Regional Geography.
In more recent years, the research work has still mainly addressed the Mezzogiorno and the Mediterranean area, with more attention to the themes of Political Geography (manuals, popular geopolitics, geopolitics of illegal powers) and urban spaces (Political Geography, Geography of Trade and Consumption, representations through media, suburbs).

He has participated in conferences in Italy or abroad (in many cases as a member of scientific and organizing committees) and in research groups characterized by national and international collaborations. These include the international network on “City, Retail and Consumption,” for which he was a member of the organizing committee and scientific committee of the Fourth International Seminar on “City, Urban Retail and Consumption” (University of Naples “L'Orientale,” October 14-17, 2013). In 2016 he was a member of the Organizing Committee of the Days of Geography 2016 (annual meeting of the Association of Italian Geographers) on the theme “Mediterranean: frontiers, cities, territories” (University of Naples “L'Orientale”, September 8-10, 2016).
He is a member of the editorial board of “Geotema” (Class A scientific journal for the competition sector 11/B1).

Main research experiences
1980/81: A.Ge.I. working group on “Development and underdevelopment: third world countries.” Field study in Egypt.
1982: research on the “Global Mediterranean Policy of the EEC,” commissioned by the EEC itself from four European research institutes, including the current Department of Social Sciences of the Oriental. Field study in Egypt.
1988: study trip to Jordan at Jordan University in Amman.
1987/90: working group on “Metropolitan areas and urbanization in the Mezzogiorno,” PF C.N.R. “Structure and evolution of the Italian economy,” task force activated at the Orientale.
1993/95: A.Ge.I. group (later national program 40%) on inland areas of the Mezzogiorno coordinated by P. Coppola.
1997/99: Research Project of Significant National Interest (Prin) “Griss” (Interuniversity Research Group on Sustainable Development), coordinated by B. Menegatti (Univ. of Bologna), Naples-Orientale operational unit, directed by L. Viganoni, on “The sustainable city: informal economy, valorization of local identities and globalization paths in the Mediterranean basin.”
1998/99: research by the “Giovanni Agnelli” Foundation of Turin on “Territory, regions, strategies in Italy.”
1999/2000: collaboration with the Oriental Dept. of Social Sciences in the framework of an agreement with the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park for the drafting of the Park Plan.
1999/2001: working group on “Urban identities as cultural heritage. Their evolution in the Mezzogiorno and the Mediterranean area,” PF C.N.R. ”Cultural Heritage.”
2000/2002: direction of the Foggia operational unit of the Prin “SLoT” (Local systems in territorial development projects), coordinated by G. Dematteis (Polytechnic of Turin), with a project on “Development by local systems in the territorial policies of the Mezzogiorno”.
2003/2005/2011: collaboration in the drafting of the annual reports of the Italian Geographic Society.
2004/2006: Prin “Mars” (Actors, networks and strategies in the Mezzogiorno of cities), coordinated at the national scale by L. Viganoni.
2007/2009: Prin on “Urban quality and competitiveness. the role of tourism development and policy,” national coordinator F. Adamo, University of Eastern Piedmont.
2015/2018: Prin on “Commerce, consumption and cities: practices, planning and governance for urban inclusion, resilience and sustainability,” national coordinator L. Viganoni, University of Naples “L'Orientale”.
2023/ongoing: Prin on “Next cities for whom? Imaginaries, resources and inequalities in urban fragments,” national coordinator G. Sistu.