Álvaro Alonso is Ph.D. in Hispanic Philology by the Universidad Complutense and, since 1983, he teaches Spanish Literature at the same university. He got his thesis diploma with a dissertation on La Fortuna en la poesía del siglo XV.  Initially he wrote about poetry in 15^th century cancineros and published two poetic anthologies. Later on he became interested in 16^th century love poetry and its relationships with Italian Petrarchism. Lately, he has worked on Spanish Renaissance religious poetry.

His main interests are: a) poetic relationships between Spain and Italy in 1400-1500; b) 15^th and 16^th century poetry, especially pastoral poetry; c) religious poetry.

In addition, he has worked on La Celestina and the impact of classical and hellenistic philosophy on Christian thought and poetry in the late Middle Ages and in the Renaissance.