A specialist in contemporary Italian literature, Professor Cavigioli's research interests include age studies, women writers, historical-pedagogical literature, and foreign-language teaching methodology. She has published widely in both Italian and American journals. She is the author of four books: I giovani raccontano gli anziani: Il contributo del VideoConcorso Pasinetti alla riflessione su invecchiamento, dialogo intergenerazionale e trasmissione culturale in Italia (Cafoscarina, 2010), Women of a Certain Age: Contemporary Italian Fictions of Female Aging (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2005), La fatica di iniziare il libro: Problemi di autorità nel diario di Sibilla Aleramo (Edizioni dell'Orso, 1995), and By Airmail: Testo di letture e civiltà inglese e americana (Società Editrice Internazionale, 1990).

In addition to teaching and coordinating the Italian language program for the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, she is affiliated with the university's Center of Excellence on Aging and with the Women's and Gender Studies Program.