Showing papers in "Journal of Modern Italian Studies in 2014"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that antimafia politics evolved from an association with agricultural workers' cooperativism in an anti-middleman direction after the 1950s land reform, and assesses ethnographically how this tradition has influenced actors in the contemporary, largely successful, movement of antimafia cooperatives that cultivate land confiscated from the mafia by the Italian state.
Abstract: Debate on the antimafia movement has placed the phenomenon mainly in the urban civil society tradition of new Italian social movements. While acknowledging the resonance of antimafia mobilization in this context, this article explores a different tradition, wherein struggles against the mafia in Sicily are analysed alongside, and in constant interconnection with, the development of the agrarian cooperative movement of the island. Focusing on the Alto Belice area of western Sicily, the article argues that antimafia politics evolved from an association with agricultural workers' cooperativism in an anti-middleman direction after the 1950s land reform. Moreover, it assesses ethnographically how this tradition has influenced actors in the contemporary, largely successful, movement of antimafia cooperatives that cultivate land confiscated from the mafia by the Italian state. It examines how these actors link to this genealogy, associating their contemporary activity, in largely imaginary ways, to this history ...
21 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take a look at the relations between Italy and Yugoslavia in a long perspective during the Cold War and portray the development of relations from enmity after the Second World War to good neighbourly relations in Cold War Europe.
Abstract: Considering the relations of two neighbouring countries with a difficult past and separated by ideological barriers, this article takes a look at the relations between Italy and Yugoslavia in a long perspective during the Cold War. The aim is to portray the development of relations from enmity after the Second World War to good neighbourly relations in Cold War Europe. Including new archival sources of Yugoslav origin, the article shows how mutual relations between Italy and Yugoslavia developed, considering the importance of economic factors, political ambitions, but also the impact of diplomatic agents and political leaders for cooperation on the Adriatic. Taking the international environment into account, the article shows that many developments leading to detente in Europe had indeed their precursors on the Adriatic. This makes the development of relations between Italy and Yugoslavia a success story during the Cold War which has hitherto not been thoroughly acknowledged in historiography.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reconstruct the entire political and historical trajectory of transformism in Italy, from the coming to power of the liberal Left under Agostino Deprestis in the 1870s to the so-called Second Republic of today which, precisely because of its transformist tendencies, seems to be facing yet another new crisis of the ‘system’.
Abstract: The Italian vice, a historic stain, national character or simply a system of government? For many years and certainly since the founding of the Italian state, transformism/trasformismo has been one of the concepts most used and abused by scholars to describe the (mal)functioning of Italian political institutions and the low yields of its political system. This essay reconstructs the entire political and historical trajectory of transformism in Italy, from the coming to power of the liberal Left under Agostino Deprestis in the 1870s to the so-called Second Republic of today which, precisely because of its transformist tendencies, seems to be facing yet another new crisis of the ‘system’. But is the concept of transformism really applicable only to Italy, although this was certainly where it was first born, grew and was exported to the rest of the world? These questions are addressed in the concluding sections of the essay.
16 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines some brief case studies of camorristi in Europe to discuss these concepts of mafia mobility; and concludes by suggesting that there is no "one size fits all" analysis and that more attention should be paid to the interdependence of territories.
Abstract: Italian mafias are now present and active abroad, and many national legal economies are undermined by their activities. The American government responded to this threat in 2011 by introducing an ‘executive order’ that blacklisted the Camorra's (the Neapolitan mafia) activities in the United States. Recently, there has been a growing debate on criminal mobility and, in particular, why, when and how Italian mafiosi move out of their territory of origin and expand into new foreign territories. Recent literature suggests that Italian mafias change their behaviour across territories and will succeed in ‘transplanting’ when there are emerging new markets. This article examines some brief case studies of camorristi in Europe to discuss these concepts of mafia mobility; and it concludes by suggesting that there is no ‘one size fits all’ analysis and that more attention should be paid to the interdependence of territories.
16 citations
TL;DR: The February 2013 Italian general elections were characterized by the highest volatility to date as discussed by the authors, and the Partito Democratico (Democratic Party) obtained the absolute majority of seats in the House of Deputies, but it could not be considered the winner of the elections.
Abstract: The February 2013 Italian general elections were characterized by the highest volatility to date. Although, thanks to the majority bonus, the Partito Democratico (Democratic Party) obtained the absolute majority of seats in the House of Deputies, it could not be considered the winner of the elections. Lacking a majority in the Senate, it was obliged to form a government with Silvio Berlusconi's party and with the rather small number of parliamentarians elected in former Prime Minister Mario Monti's list. In spite of his last-minute surge, Berlusconi was a clear loser, having lost almost six million votes in respect of his 2008 victory. Comedian Beppe Grillo's Movimento Cinque Stelle (Five Stars Movement) received the highest-ever number of votes for a new entry into any post-war European general election. Unwilling to play the coalitional game and made up of inexperienced and incompetent parliamentarians, Grillo's party has remained isolated and ineffective. The present Italian party system consists of th...
14 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the ways in which Italian legislation and local policy in Rome since 2007 have aimed at containing and controlling the Roma population, but have resulted instead in the Italian state's own violations of national and international human rights standards.
Abstract: This article examines the ways in which Italian legislation and local policy in Rome since 2007 have aimed at containing and controlling the Roma population, but have resulted instead in the Italian state's own violations of national and international human rights standards. Roma have been relocated to isolated mega-camps subjected to regulations, surveillance and ‘workfare’, which, rather than reducing crime and increasing formal employment, leave residents few alternatives to illegal or semi-legal income generation. These camps also appear to generate ambiguous relationships between local officials, police officers and powerful individuals within the communities. They are thus loci in which various dimensions of illegality and power intersect and merge. The analysis explores the grey areas created by contradictory and hyper-bureaucratic regulations and attempts to shed light on the strategies of survival through informality that emerge within the interstices of the law.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a discussion of Italian-Jewish selfrepresentation, evaluating the causes that led to a "repression" and "concealment of the trauma" in the first decades after the war, is presented.
Abstract: example. The UCII then took a pro-active role, seeking and identifying a non-Jewish historian to produce a history of the persecutions that the Committee would underwrite and disseminate. This, then, is the origin ofRenzoDeFelice’s Storia degli ebrei in Italia sotto il fascismo, researched and written in just over one year and first published in 1961. Schwarz sees De Felice’s book as, inevitably, reaffirming the vision of Italy as the ‘victim itself of a racial delirium considered decidedly foreign to its own sensibility and history’ (p. 163); he is more severe regarding De Felice’s defence of this view years later, in subsequent editions. Schwarz devotes the final chapter and conclusion to a discussion of Italian-Jewish selfrepresentation, evaluating the causes that led to a ‘repression’ and ‘concealment of the trauma’ (p. 175) in the first decades after the war. Among these was the need, shared with all Italians, for a ‘reconciliatory memory’. Even more significant in the case of the Jews, according to Schwarz, was their adherence to the pact of emancipation that idealized Italy and reinforced the perspective that Jews should show gratitude and prove worthy of their promotion into society. Only since the 1980s, he contends, have new ways of conceiving citizenship, and the consequences of Israeli politics, worked to dislodge the emancipation paradigm. Schwarz concludes with a reflection on the fragility of a modern Jewish identity grounded too firmly in the Shoah. This is an extremely thoughtful and well-documented work, a must-read for those interested in Italian Jewish history, certainly, but also contemporary Italian history and historiography in general. The English edition is a somewhat modified and expanded version of the original Italian version that appeared in 2004. The translation by Giovanni Noor Mazhar reads extremely well, suffering from only very occasional infelicities of tense or word choice. The book does not present itself in a particularly neat package: a major shift in perspective and sources occurs between Parts 1 and 2; chapters range in length from five to thirty-three pages; and the time period announced in the preface (1943–61) proves misleading by the end, when the concluding discussion extends to the 1980s–1990s and beyond. Because the revision of historiographical and popular perspectives on the Fascist anti-Jewish campaign and the discrediting of the idea of Italian exceptionalism are a crucial endpoint of this story, it would have been helpful if the author had not limited himself to brief references to the recent scholarship in these areas. These remain minor points, however, and what should be emphasized is that Schwarz’s ambitious, probing study substantially advances our understanding of Jewish experience, self-representation and self-understanding after Mussolini.
12 citations
TL;DR: The essays in this collection offer much food for thought about Italy's political situation and its still-evolving transition towards a new institutional framework as mentioned in this paper, as well as the role of the media in this transition.
Abstract: The essays in this collection offer much food for thought about Italy's political situation and its still-evolving transition towards a new institutional framework. As the editors and authors corre...
12 citations
TL;DR: Burns' Migrant Imaginaries as mentioned in this paper includes an introduction, five separate chapters, an afterword, and a bibliography of primary and secondary texts which are related to our work.
Abstract: Jennifer Burns' Migrant Imaginaries. Figures in Italian Migration Literature includes an introduction, five separate chapters, an afterword, and a bibliography of primary and secondary texts which ...
9 citations
TL;DR: The politics toward Rom minorities in Italy is marked by a binary of recognition: on one hand, there exists the recognition of a nomad identity (present in various institutional practices), on the other a recognition of the cultural identity of Rom and Sinti (exemplified by many associations).
Abstract: The politics toward Rom minorities in Italy is marked by a binary of recognition: on one hand, there exists the recognition of a nomad identity (present in various institutional practices), on the other a recognition of a cultural identity of Rom and Sinti (exemplified by many associations, either pro-Gypsy or Gypsy). But in the case of Melfi the predominant politics is a decisive refusal of recognition by Melfitani and Melfitani of Gypsy origins. The situation in Melfi should be read as the logical conclusion of a long process of assimilation which led to the dissolution of the historical Rom community.
9 citations
TL;DR: The essential characteristics of the Italian welfare state as it developed after the Second World War generated social cleavages and inequities that affected the Italian economy and provided grist for future reforms.
Abstract: The essential characteristics of the Italian welfare state as it developed after the Second World War generated social cleavages and inequities that affected the Italian economy and provided grist for future reforms. At the same time, the welfare state provided political actors with incentives and resources that constrained attempts at reform. With the financial crisis beginning in 2008, serious reform was no longer optional. But austerity politics have generated pressures for changes to the welfare state which are unlikely to moderate most of the underlying inequities generated by the post-war system. Going forward, Italian policymakers must chart a path that is informed by efforts to overcome the pathologies of the past without further undermining the social and economic health of the country.
TL;DR: Nerenberg opens her excellent volume Murder Made in Italy by telling us that what we have in front of us are two books in one: there is the book that will satisfy both scholars and the cultur...
Abstract: Ellen Nerenberg opens her excellent volume Murder Made in Italy by telling us that what we have in front of us are two books in one: there is the book that will satisfy both scholars and the cultur...
TL;DR: Pine as discussed by the authors describes his journey into the contact zone of the Camorra and the Neapolitan neomelodica, and his encounter with daily life in Naples.
Abstract: lively details, photos, anecdotes that enrich his analysis. It is a pleasure to read. The book is organized in six chapters, which mark Pine’s journey into the contact zone. He sets out the context of Naples and the Camorra in Chapter 1 clearly. In Chapter 2, he describes his methodological approach of participant observation, his need to learn Neapolitan and his encounter with daily life in Naples. His text at times resembles that of Sudhir Venkatesh (2008) in Gang Leader for a Day: they both in an intelligent and thoughtful way describe their encounters with these worlds that exist at the margins of legality, one in Naples, the other in Chicago. Chapter 6 is particularly gripping as it is Pine’s encounter with the world of neomelodica and the boss-impresario, Gaetano, aka ‘the Lion’. By setting himself up as a ‘video-maker’, as someone who shoots videos for singers, he gains access to the ‘contact zone’ and to Camorra habits and behaviour that outsiders rarely catch a glimpse of. This chapter contributes to our understanding of these semi-legal worlds, these ‘grey zones’ that surround the Camorra but which are rarely seen from the inside. It is this type of study that we need more of – here it is the world of neomelodica but equivalent studies on white-collar professionals and politicians would be just as important. I found both books insightful, helping me understand Naples better, from different perspectives. I recommend them to anyone interested in contemporary Italy and the South. We need more of this type of research, though the first-hand fieldwork required makes it rarer because of the pressures of modern academic life.
TL;DR: The subject of Italy's national unity and its Risorgimento origins have been the object of heated public debates in Italy long before the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Unification took place.
Abstract: Italy's national unity and its Risorgimento origins have been the object of heated public debates in Italy long before the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Unification took place, but in re...
TL;DR: Canright Chiari as discussed by the authors examines the perception of Le Nuove Prison from the outside, through the relations that the prison institution has had and continues to have with the city of Turin, as well as the role and significance that it may itself have in the future, especially considering that its time as a prison has passed and it has entered a new phase of transformation and renewal whose final outcome is still uncertain.
Abstract: internationally renowned prisons . . . will help universalize some of the problems facing Le Nuove as a museum/tourist site and to place Le Nuove within a broader global prison museum context’ (p. 179). In the last, short chapter, significantly titled ‘The Outer Walls’, the author examines the perception of Le Nuove ‘from the outside’, through the relations that the prison institution has had and continues to have with the city of Turin, as well as the role and significance that it may itself have in the future, especially considering that ‘certainly its time as a prison has passed and it has entered a new phase of transformation and renewal whose final outcome is still uncertain’ (p. 212). At any rate, according to the intentions of the author, the book offers a detailed and well-documented analysis of ‘multiple temporalities and meanings brought out through stories in and about the prison’ (p. 213). Canright Chiari’s work is undoubtedly a very useful testimony and an important scholarly contribution as concerns the ‘stories’ that have crossed the space of this prison, ‘an imaginary mapping of a place as it exists in memory as well as in myth, not as a static place but as an assemblage of events, which are continuously transformed by and for the present’ (p. 213). Letme conclude bymentioning that perhaps the author could have investigated in greater depth the historical, political and cultural context that characterized the complex history of the 1960s and 1970s in Italy, so as to avoid dangerous and misleading simplifications of a complex and problematic period that was certainly marked by severe conflicts and social tensions, but also and above all was rich in essential and indispensable political and cultural achievements by antagonistic forces. In addition, she could have lingered longer on the problematic and complex conceptual definition of terms such as, for instance, ‘terrorism’, ‘political violence’, ‘armed fight’ and ‘years of lead’. Also, it would have been useful, in my view, had she offered further and more argumentative comparisons with those critical theoretical references (she does, in fact, mention Carlo Ginzburg, Alessandro Portelli, and Foucault) to which the author relates in some ways in the course of her writing. However, perhaps all of this is beyond the intentions and the plans of this challenging work. It is a book that, drawing on the substantial and well-structured archival material and interviews provided to the reader, still remains crucial for anyone who wants to learn in detail and to deepen their knowledge of the ‘cultural history’ of Le Nuove in Turin.
TL;DR: In this article, a specific aspect of the development of corporativism as "unofficial" doctrine of Fascist Italy: its presence in Italian universities is discussed. But the authors do not consider the role of the corporatist education in the formation of a future ruling class.
Abstract: This article deals with a specific aspect of the development of corporativism as ‘unofficial’ doctrine of Fascist Italy: its presence in Italian universities. It argues that corporatist schools followed the fortune of the ideals they were called to represent, which were definitely eclipsed by the mid-1930s, when the economic crisis called for more direct and effective forms of state intervention in economic life. In the universities, the rise of corporativism as a specific field of study, and the broader project of creating an ideologically educated future ruling class, challenged the domination exercised by the powerful faculties of law in particular, which traditionally were the key paths for access to the legal profession and the civil service. The resistance of the conservative university establishment meant that the plans to promote corporatist curricula had failed well before the fall of the regime, but many of those appointed to teach Corporative Studies under Fascism maintained their academic posi...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse how Gioacchino Volpe and his students at the Scuola di Storia Moderna e Contemporanea configured the question of the Mediterranean political space as a matter of historical interest by analyzing the case of Corsica.
Abstract: During the 1930s, historiography in the sector of studies on Corsica grew considerably owing to the efforts of Gioacchino Volpe and his students at the Scuola di Storia Moderna e Contemporanea. Corsica was situated within the Mediterranean political space, and it acquired a geopolitical importance that shifted it outside its circumscribed regional context to the centre of the Mediterranean interests of the great European powers. This article analyses how Gioacchino Volpe and his students at the Scuola configured the question of the ‘Mediterranean political space’ as a matter of historical interest by analysing the case of Corsica. Rather than restricting themselves to a regionalist approach in their research on Corsica, Volpe and his students framed the island's history in the more general context of European and Mediterranean history.
TL;DR: Turnaturi as mentioned in this paper discusses the need to clarify linguistic choices in social communication (use of lei over voi, and the re-establishment of foreign lexicon, e.g., the use of ‘cocktail’ rather than ‘code di gallo’ for a drink) and the desire to discipline social conduct in a society characterized by a bourgeoning consumerism.
Abstract: promote a lifestylemade of honest work andmodest leisure (dopolavoro and trips organized by the Touring Club at affordable prices). The last chapter of this section is devoted to colonial conduct, a fascinating and unexplored topic, which is unfortunately too briefly treated here. Turnaturi adds, as an appendix, Lea Schiavi’s racist treatise titled Piccolo galateo ad uso delle signore dalla pelle nera (1937), a fewoffensive pages aimed at ridiculing Africanwomen.While Turnaturi acknowledges the evidence of a racism that needs no further comment, a more comprehensive analysis of this little-known text would have been welcome. The economic boom is the focus of the third section, which includes conduct books – dubbed by the author ‘manuals of reconstruction’ – written mainly in the 1950s and 1960s. There is, first of all, the need to clarify linguistic choices in social communication (use of lei over voi, and the re-establishment of foreign lexicon, e.g. the use of ‘cocktail’ rather than ‘code di gallo’ for a drink) and the desire to discipline social conduct in a society characterized by a bourgeoning consumerism. Conduct material, often published in women’s weekly magazines, offers an extensive collection of suggestions on how to use consumer goods, and thus distinguish oneself in a society that through an easier social mobility is slowly dissolving class distinctions. The fourth and last part of the book, titled ‘Buone e cattive maniere del terzo millennio’, is devoted to what seems also a revolutionary change in conduct literature. No longer an expression of a cultural capital (defined according to Pierre Bourdieu’s theory), the elite addressed in contemporary conduct books represents mainly the country’s economic capital and, because of this, good manners, from being an art, become merely a technique to obtain good careers. The main victim of this change, according to Turnaturi, is culture itself, no longer a sign of distinction, and viewed as obsolete in a society projected towards youthfulness, modernity and efficiency. Finally, Turnaturi provides at the end of the volume a very useful bibliography of conduct books (1861–2010) and critical works published mainly in the last fifty years. Among the many studies devoted to conduct literature, Turnaturi’s volume stands out for the thoroughness of its analysis and also its writing style, which is truly engaging and enjoyable. Indeed, it may be said that Signore e signori d’Italia presents itself as a conduct manual on how to read the Italian history of social manners and learn, therefore, about the transformational power of social interactions. It is to be hoped that Turnaturi’s volume will soon be translated in to English, as it would provide English speakers (scholars as well as the general public) with essential reading for the understanding of Italian society, of yesterday as well as of today.
TL;DR: In fact, it is not too uncommon these days to hear Italians bemoan the poor state of their country in matters of social conduct, such as loud mobile phone conversations, ferocious public debates on television.
Abstract: It is not too uncommon these days to hear Italians bemoan the poor state of their country in matters of social conduct. Loud mobile phone conversations, ferocious public debates on television – pep...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare Vincenzo Rabito's original typescript with surviving fragments of his other writings to suggest that Terra matta is an even more remarkable creation than we have hitherto taken it to be.
Abstract: Comparison is a basic strategy in anthropology for analysing social and cultural organisation and for revealing similarities and differences by unexpected juxtapositions. Here I use it in two ways. First, by treating Terra matta as a cultural valuable, I explore how its value, history and mythology are created in the course of its passage through different hands, taking the classic ethnography of the kula as a model. Second, I compare Vincenzo Rabito's original typescript with surviving fragments of his other writings to suggest that Terra matta is an even more remarkable creation than we have hitherto taken it to be.
TL;DR: The notion of Italianness in the Fascist journal Il Selvaggio (1924-43) was examined in this paper through examining the concepts of Fascist purity and intransigence, the nation's purported vices and virtues, and the publication's belief in an Italian road to modernity as a means of regenerating the national character.
Abstract: This article deals with the notion of Italianness in the Fascist journal Il Selvaggio (1924–43). It sets out to do this through the examination of the concepts of Fascist purity and intransigence, the nation's purported vices and virtues, and the publication's idiosyncratic belief in an Italian road to modernity as a means of regenerating the national character. While it is claimed that the latter goal ultimately failed, the article argues that the endeavour to fare gli italiani can usefully serve the purpose of exploring the totalitarian dynamic and the utopian dimension present in the Fascist movement.
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of state power on the use and circulation of antiquities by unauthorized excavators and collectors is analyzed using ethnographic data and textual analysis of newspaper articles concerning tombaroli or "tomb robbers".
Abstract: Unearthing old objects was for centuries a widespread activity in Italy. Artefacts were removed from the soil and re-incorporated into the social realm as votives, chits and treasure. Women and men knowledgeable about old things and old places were respected repositories of history. The twentieth century brought significant changes to this sphere of cultural activity: archaeology became a professionalized discipline, regulated by the state, and artefacts became scientific objects belonging to the Italian nation. Today, unauthorized excavators risk prosecution, fines and imprisonment. In this paper I ask: What is the effect of state power on the use and circulation of antiquities by unauthorized excavators and collectors? How do the men and women who inhabit the cultural margins distinguish themselves from each other? My analysis draws on ethnographic data and textual analysis of newspaper articles concerning tombaroli or ‘tomb robbers’. I focus on marginalized cultural production, a key dimension that is ...
TL;DR: Giuseppe Dossetti (1913-96) was a key figure in post-war Italian Catholic politics and culture, as well as one of the founding fathers of the Republic.
Abstract: Giuseppe Dossetti (1913–96) was a key figure in post-war Italian Catholic politics and culture, as well as one of the founding fathers of the Republic. But that is not all. He was a refined and ecl...
TL;DR: The study of Mussolini and the tools that bolstered his system of personal rule is not a matter solely of interest to history, but also relevant to the present day as mentioned in this paper, where the authors of this excellent collection of original chapters write,
Abstract: ‘The study of Mussolini and the tools that bolstered his system of personal rule,’ the editors of this excellent collection of original chapters write, ‘is not a matter solely of interest to histor...
TL;DR: Costanza Quatriglio as discussed by the authors used the story of an "invisibile" to rewrite the history of Italy, not as a historian but as a filmmaker, self-reflexively drawing attention to the history and style of Italian cinema itself.
Abstract: All of Costanza Quatriglio's films – her shorts, feature films and feature-length documentaries – are either journeys in search of marginalized and invisible subjects or psychological explorations of the invisible aspects of visible individuals. In Terramatta; Il Novecento italiano di Vincenzo Rabito analfabeta siciliano (2012), Quatriglio continues her inquiry into invisible subjects and uses the story of an ‘invisibile’ (as she defines Rabito) to rewrite the history of Italy, not as a historian but as a filmmaker, self-reflexively drawing attention to the history and style of Italian cinema itself. In our discussion of Terramatta;, we analyse Quatriglio's juxtaposition and intersection of the archival footage of official history with Rabito's personal accounts conjured on the screen through the voice of the actor Roberto Nobile, and her filmed images of contemporary landscapes inhabited by Rabito's words. We consider the ways in which the documentary creates a dialogue between public and private history...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the functioning of the Italian legal system, especially with respect to crime and immigration, and argue that the larger legal-political framework only increases the number of irregular persons whose only chance of making a livelihood is to engage in "irregular" jobs.
Abstract: This paper discusses the functioning of the Italian legal system, especially with respect to crime and immigration. While political discourse from both right and left stresses the need for the ‘security’ and ‘control’ of immigration, the larger legal-political framework only increases the number of ‘irregular persons’ whose only chance of making a livelihood is to engage in ‘irregular’ jobs. Consequently, public attitudes towards immigrants are becoming systematically tied to ‘crime’ and ‘illegality’. The Italian state draws heavily on its resources to sustain judges, prosecutors, lawyers and a large bureaucratic apparatus, repeatedly running trials that aim to punish crimes often related to the essential condition of being a migrant. Most of these crimes represent no threat to security, nor violate social norms or trust among citizens. Therefore, Italian legislation has the ultimate effect of attracting, above all, those migrants that are willing or more prone to live in a condition of illegality, rather...
TL;DR: Bronte is a small rural town in Eastern Sicily, located on the slopes of Mount Etna just under its active volcano as discussed by the authors, and it was the starting point for Lucy Riall's excellently and beautifully written novel, "Bronte" (1860).
Abstract: Bronte is a small rural town in Eastern Sicily, located on the slopes of Mount Etna just under its active volcano. There, in August 1860 – so starts Lucy Riall's excellently and beautifully written...
TL;DR: The relationship between the Catholic Church and Italian politics has been explored in this paper, following a pattern that has come to be known as "ruinismo" over the last twenty years.
Abstract: It is only seven years since Monsignor Camillo Ruini resigned from his role as President of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), yet it feels much longer. The tempestuous events that marked Silvio Berlusconi's decline, on one hand, and the election of Pope Francis to the Holy See, on the other, have made such an impression on recent Italian history that seems to leave no time for reflection on what has happened over the last twenty years. This article explores how, during this time, Cardinal Ruini has re-fashioned the relations between the Catholic Church and Italian politics, following a pattern that has come to be known as ‘ruinismo’. The essay follows the development of the theological-political line of the Conference, from the “mediation” of the “Catholic Party”, the Christian Democrats (DC), to the “policy of presence” of politically committed Catholics, defined in these terms by the ecclesiastical congress in Loreto in 1985 and fully carried out under Ruini's management, with the backing of Berlu...
[...]
TL;DR: In this article, Carlo Sini was appointed professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Thessaloniki, Greece, where he was a lecturer in the Ethics of Writing course.
Abstract: It is not easy for me to review this book as I owe the author of Ethics of Writing too great a debt for my philosophical education. In 1977, when Carlo Sini was appointed professor of Theoretical P...
TL;DR: The Italian Silent Cinema: A Reader as mentioned in this paper is an incredibly rich text, a must-read for anybody interested in studying the beginnings of cinema in Italy and its multifaceted, interdisciplinary and complex hist...
Abstract: Italian Silent Cinema. A Reader is an incredibly rich text, a must-read for anybody interested in studying the beginnings of cinema in Italy and its multifaceted, interdisciplinary and complex hist...