(July 11, 2016) “Professor Mirko Tavoni is one of the most distinguished Dante Alighieri scholars on the international landscape. His authority as maximum expert of historical Italian linguistics is reflected in a combination of great attention to the texts, history of literature and culture, Medieval and the Early Modern Age epistemology in Italy. In Germany, he has a forthcoming publication on the visionary aspects of the Divine Commedy”. The Alexander von Humboldt Stiftun, an institution which supports scientific cooperation in the world of German and international research has awarded Mirko Tavoni with the Forschungspreis Research Award. He is Professor of Italian Linguistics at the University of Pisa and President of ICoN (a network of 18 universities that operates in agreement with the Foreign Ministry and renowned for its role in promoting and diffusing Italian language and culture through various communication platforms). President of the Humboldt Stiftung, Professor Helmut Schwarz, was the one who awarded Tavoni at the ceremony held at the Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin on Thursday July 7 at the foundation’s annual meeting. The Dante scholar commented that this award ‘affirms high quality international humanistic research from our University and the fact that such a standard is recognised by prestigious international institutions’. Tavoni was the star of another event: on Friday July 8, invited by the Italian Ambassador to Germany, Pietro Benassi, at the Italian Embassy, a gathering between Italian researchers in Germany and award and Humboldt grant winners with the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Laura Boldrini.