Research Group "Social Sciences Facing the Challenges of the Climate Crisis and Ecological Transition", Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Trieste

On Thursday, May 7, 2026, from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM, the event "The Rich in Times of Crisis: From the Black Death to Covid-19 and Beyond" will take place in the Aula Venezian, Building A of the Piazzale Europa Campus.

Guido Alfani (Economic History, Bocconi University of Milan), author of As Gods Among Men: A History of the Rich in the West (2023, Princeton University Press; tr.it. Laterza 2024), will discuss with Daniele Andreozzi (Economic History, University of Trieste) and Fabio Raimondi (History of Political Thought, University of Trieste).

Guido Alfani is a full professor at Bocconi University in Milan. His fields of interest include economic history and demography, with a particular focus on long-term dynamics, economic inequality, and the history of pandemics. He is a member of leading research centers in Italy and abroad, including the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality (New York, U.S.) and the CEPR - Center for Economic Policy and Research (London, U.K.).
His latest book (As Gods Among Men: A History of the Rich in the West), addressing the pressing issues of contemporary economic and geopolitical debates, has received widespread national and international attention, both in academia and among the general public, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world, and has been widely covered in the media, from the New York Times to the BBC. Many of his articles, addressing the problems of unequal distribution of wealth, have appeared in the national press, from La Repubblica to Sole 24 Ore and Corriere della Sera.