“HISTORIE DIPINTE” E “IMMAGINI PARLATE” SAN CARLO BORROMEO NEGLI AFFRESCHI DI BIASCA

The ancient church of Saint Peter in Biasca, in Canton of Ticino, preserves a pictorial cycle on the Life of St. Charles Borromeo, commissioned in 1620 by the parish priest Giovanni Basso to the painter Alessandro Gorla from Bellinzona. The twelve panels, complete with captions, which depict in an ideal order and with a lively language some episodes in the life of the Saint, can be considered an unicum, a direct reference to the presence of St. Charles in the Three Ambrosian Valleys, and a testimony of his reforming pastoral action, implemented according to the resolutions of the Council of Trent also thanks to the charismatic figure of Basso.

CENNI SULLE FORME DELLA CONTAMINAZIONE DAL NOVECENTO A OGGI

Notes on “Contamination” in the Twentieth Century and Beyond. The essay focuses on some key cultural features of the twentieth century and of the contemporary world as related to humanistic knowledge. In particular, it deals with the specific aspect of “contamination” across multiple styles as arts, genres, languages and expressive forms, which frequently involve “interdisciplinarity”. The authors illustrate some of the many examples of “contamination”, especially in the fields of cinema, art and literature, also by briefly discussing its cultural significance.

LA PAURA. RIFLESSIONI INTERDISCIPLINARI PER UN DIBATTITO CONTEMPORANEO SU VIOLENZA, ORDINE, SICUREZZA

The book Riflessioni interdisciplinari per un dibattito contemporaneo su violenza, ordine, sicurezza offers an interesting interdisciplinary perspective on aspects of the social life that undoubtedly show continuity between past and present and that exert a strong influence on criminal systems. If fear, as an instinct, constitutes a natural defense tool for the individual, ‘collective’ fear is a phenomenon open to different declinations, not all positive, as we will see, for example, in the current hypertrophy of the criminal law. Sometimes collective fear is triggered by objective causes (e.g. by natural catastrophes, epidemics, famines, wars or revolutions); sometimes, instead, collective fear is generated by the so called ‘culture of fear’. Such culture instills and amplifies a sense of insecurity towards true or presumed enemies by using propaganda, rhetoric or violence (just think at the ‘function’ of terrorism). This insecurity, in turn, drives people to search safety and strengthens the power of those who offer protection even with the tools of the criminal law.

LEONE X E LEOPOLDO DE’ MEDICI COMMITTENTI E COLLEZIONISTI DI RAFFAELLO: TRE ESEMPI

Leo X and Leopoldo de ‘Medici, patrons and collectors of Raphael: three examples. Today, the great majority of Raphael’s works in the Uffizi exist thanks to the Medici art collections of the early 1500s to the early 1670s. It is therefore possible to assert that this Florentine family had a particular taste for Raphael’s works. However, not all the paintings collected in that time reflect the Medicis’ artistic interests, as many of them came from expropriations or bequests and inheritances. Despite this, one artistic genre, more than others, appears to be particularly representative of the Medici family’s interest: the portrait. The aim of this paper is to identify some trends concerning the Medicis’ taste in the portrait and self-portrait. In doing so, three artworks – preserved in the Gallerie degli Uffizi – will be examined here: the Portrait of Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de ‘Medici and Luigi de’ Rossi; the Portrait of Tommaso Inghirami, known as Fedra; and Raphael’s self-portrait. These examples show how the artistic execution of Raphael’s artworks, or their later inclusion in the Medici collection (following Raphael’s death), depended on two main Medici personalities, namely Leo X and the prince and cardinal Leopoldo. Moreover, such portraits also reflect the three main recurrent circumstances under which works would usually be included in the Medici collection. The first concerned the creation of the artwork through a direct relationship between patron and artist (and, here, reciprocal incentives from one to the other can be seen). The second had to do with a consolidated taste of the Medicis in creating a collection of artistic portraits and, here, the acquisition of the artwork perfectly reflects this artistic taste. In the third case, we will see how the desire for a complete collection of artistic self-portraits sometimes brought the collector to acquire artworks that did not exactly correspond to their tastes.

ALLE RADICI DELLA GRANDE CRISI. GIORGIO LUNGHINI E JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES

The notes in memory of Giorgio Lunghini deal with his approach to economic theory and in particular with his investigation of the causes of the great economic crisis of the 2007-2013 years. He identifies four main causes of the crisis: 1) the financialization of the world economy; 2) the growing debt of the private and public sectors; 3) the global trade and capital movement imbalances (in USA, Asia, South America and Europe); the existence of countries which are in a structural trade deficit and surplus; the sharp division between debtor and creditor countries; 4) the role of economic theory e in particular the return to the laissez-faire doctrine and liberalism (monetarism; the critiques to “bastard” Keynesians rather than Keynes who, in Lunghini’s view, is not a Keynesian); the return to the “Treasury view”, the “Washington consensus” and “Bruxelles consensus”. In the Notes, these four causes are analysed in detail.

IL CIRCOLO VIRTUOSO: SCIPIONE EMILIANO E I SUOI AMICI NELL’IMMAGINE DI CICERONE

The image transmitted by Cicero especially in the De re publica and in the Laelius de amicitia has fueled the traditional thesis on the so-called ‘scipionic circle’: philhellenism, with more specific reference to the names of Polybius and Panaetius, would have had a profound impact in Rome already from the middle of the second century B.C. on the customs, ideals and philosophical vocation of the group of aristocrats who gather around the charismatic figure of Scipio Aemilianus. However, more recent studies have strongly questioned whether the cultural process activated by the encounter with Greek thought could have already evolved a century before Cicero, within a ruling class that still too much resembles the Horatian ferus victor; and also Cicero in other works represents the main figures of that group in a less idealized way on a cultural level, starting with Scipio himself and his friend Laelius.

IL CONCETTO DI STORIA LOCALE E L’INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER FOR LOCAL HISTORIES AND CULTURAL DIVERSITIES DELL’UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DELL’INSUBRIA

I. Some remarks on the methodology of local history, and on some of its possible definitions, mainly focused on the important contribution given to the subject by Lewis Mumford’s essai The value of local history (1927). II. Since 1999, the International Research Center for Local Histories and Cultural Diversities of the University of Insubria has had, among its goals, research about and promotion of local histories and cultures. Interest in its own territorial area (Insubria region) is central, but it has also wider targets, including historiography theories. In its twenty years of activity, the Center has deepened historical research through advanced courses, publications, editions of historical sources, online databases and electronic resources, exhibitions, conferences and meetings, a library and a photographic archive. Multidisciplinary involvement, methodological issues, critical study of sources are the main features of its approach.

«LA COGNIZIONE DEL DOLORE» DI CARLO EMILIO GADDA: IL «ROMANZO FAMILIARE» DI UNA VITA

This essay aims at analysing La cognizione del dolore as a “family novel” which was continued by Carlo Emilio Gadda for nearly all his life. A key element of this investigation is the notion of “complexity” which Gadda acquired during his university studies in the field of philosophy and which is present in his poetics and many aspects of his literary output. Such a notion exerts a strong influence on the obsessively recurring themes as well as the manifold formal and narrative techniques which are constantly hybrid and based on combinatorial mechanisms.

LA POLONIA DI OGGI E LA SHOAH: LA LEGGE E LA STORIA

Last year’s relations between the Polish and Israeli leaderships, with the controversy over the influences (or perhaps interference) of the Warsaw government on the treatment of the historical memory of the Holocaust and its international implications, lead us to make two important considerations. Firstly, the possible consequences that the so-called “Holocaust law” can bring to historical research; Furthermore, a reflection on the negative effects that an improper use of the law can cause on the social and administrative level, trying to compare the cases of today’s Poland and of the General Government, that is the section of the Polish state occupied by the Nazis not annexed, but transformed into a very peculiar territorial entity.

QUANDO FINÌ IL COLONIALISMO ITALIANO? TRE DECOLONIZZAZIONI A CONFRONTO

The end of Italian colonialism cannot simply be limited to Italy’s military defeat during the Second World War and the consequent loss of colonial possessions. In actuality, the Republic of Italy clamored for the restitution of the former colonies until the rejection of the Bevin-Sforza Compromise at the U.N. General Assembly in 1949. It is therefore justifiable to point out the reality of an Italian colonialism during the Republican era, with its specific characteristics, which was the premise of the decolonization processes for Libya, Eritrea and Somalia. This note takes into consideration the specificity of these three paths of decolonization with reference to the Italian transition from a renewed colonial policy to a real postcolonial one.