Dr. Tacconi's research interests extend beyond music history to include the art, culture, and politics of medieval and Renaissance Italy. In 1997 she co-organized a manuscript exhibition at the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana of Florence (I libri del Duomo di Firenze. Codici liturgici e Biblioteca di Santa Maria del Fiore, secoli XI-XVI), for which she was also the co-editor of the catalogue (Florence: Centro Di, 1997).  She has presented papers at conferences in the United States, Italy, England, Denmark, and Belgium and is the author of numerous articles, essays, and catalogue entries.

Dr. Tacconi is the recipient of a 2001 Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching from the College of Arts and Architecture.  At Penn State she has served as Musicology Area Coordinator, Chair of the Graduate Committee, and School of Music Graduate Officer.  She's the current Executive Director of the Penn State Institute for the Arts and Humanities.  Also a performer, she has appeared as both pianist and harpsichordist and as director of several early music ensembles.

Dr. Tacconi spent the 2002-03 academic year in Florence as a post-doctoral Fellow at the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti.  While there, she completed a monograph, Cathedral and Civic Ritual in Late Medieval and Renaissance Florence: The Service Books of Santa Maria del Fiore (Cambridge University Press, 2005).