Dimensioni e problemi della ricerca storica

Diaspore italiane nella Francia del Cinquecento: note introduttive

Elena vALERI — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“Forms effect meaning”. Éditions et traductions

Roger Chartier — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Inspired by the work of D.F. McKenzie, this article identifies five reasons that determine the plurality of texts in a “single” work: the regime of attribution between authorship and anonymity, between the author’s name and the writer’s identity; variations in text across editions; changes in materiality across publication forms; migrations between languages and genres produced by translations;
readings and interpretations of works. The article does so by examining the publishinghistory of Castiglione’s Libro del Cortegiano, tracing the transformations of this work in its Italian editions and its translations into Spanish, French, and English during the sixteenth century. In particular, the article focuses on the challenge posed by translating that “nova parola” that defines the courtier’s grace:
“sprezzatura” as opposed to “affettazione”.

Una princeps delle traduzioni di Machiavelli nel 1577: l’edizione parigina delle Istorie fiorentine e il pensiero delle discordie

Jean-Louis Fournel — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The first complete translation of the Florentine Histories into a European vernacular language, namely French, was published in Paris in 1577. Through a historical investigation of the political context in which this edition emerged, this article proposes a discussion on the usual attribution of the editorial project to Yves de Brinon, as well as on the function of the book in a unique conjuncture, as a book of regained peace. Machiavelli’s Florentine Histories thus appear as the “biography” of a city, which can be read as a counter-biography of a peaceful queen, Catherine de’ Medici: in France as in republican Florence, it is possible to reconcile and overcome divisions.

Opere storiche nell’Europa delle guerre di religione. La traduzione francese del Cyprium bellum di Pietro Bizzarri (1573)

Giulio Merlani — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In 1573 the Parisian printers Nicolas Chesneau and Sébastien Nivelle, advocates of the fight against the Huguenots, published a work entitled Histoire de la guerre qui c’est passee entre les Venitiens et la Saincte Ligue, contre les Turcs pour l’Isle de Cypre. It was the French translation of a historical work originally entitled Cyprium bellum. This translation was done by another fierce champion of the Catholic cause beyond the Alps, the polygraph François de Belleforest. Believing in the usefulness of this work in helping and fuelling the fight against “heretics” in France, Belleforest decided to translate it from Latin. However, the Cyprium bellum was written by an heretic, the exile religionis causa Pietro Bizzarri. Impressed by the climate of violence and cruelty caused by the struggle between Catholics and Reformers, Bizzarri wrote this work hoping that the Christian world would find harmony and unity in the fight against the Turks. Through a comparison between Bizzarri’s work and Belleforest’s translation, this article aims to highlight and examine the strategies and aims that shaped the actions of historians, writers, translators and printers in France during the religious wars.

Cordoglio e speranza. In margine a due documenti su Caterina de’ Medici, Piero Strozzi e i fiorentini di Lione

Stefano Dall’Aglio — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The article draws inspiration from the discovery of two new letters relating to the relationship between Catherine de’ Medici, queen regent of France, and the Florentines in Lyon, including one written by Catherine herself. Both dating to August 1558, the documents revolve around the death in battle of Piero Strozzi, leader of the anti-Medici republican exiles, as well as the visit paid to the queen by Battista Alamanni as a representative of the Florentines in Lyon. The two letters provide an opportunity to reflect on several aspects of
a very delicate historical moment, characterized by the political and military crisis of the anti-Medici exiles and their insistent pursuit of the support of the French Crown. The documents show that, despite facing many difficulties, the Florentines did not give up and nurtured hopes that sometimes went beyond realism.

Le reti di un consiliatore. Aimone Cravetta tra pratica giuridica e mercato editoriale nello spazio italiano e francese del XVI secolo

Alessandra Favalli — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The printing of the works of Piedmontese jurist Aimone Cravetta began among publishers in Lyon and Venice in the middle decades of the 16th century. Through a comparative analysis of the author’s biography and the characteristics of his printed Consilia, this article highlights the complexity of the actors and markets involved in this publishing operation. It also reveals the inextricable connections
and mutual influences between Cravetta’s professional wanderings and the impact of the historical situation on the success of his works in Lyon and Venice.

Tra commercio e politica: famiglie fiorentine in Francia nel XVI secolo

Carlo Campitelli — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This essay analyses the cases of several important Florentine families who emigrated to France during the sixteenth century for economic and political reasons. The examples examined – the Bini, Mannelli and Del Bene families – are not only representative of a heterogeneous phenomenon such as the anti-Medici exile, but also allow us to analyse the phenomenon of political exile in the early modern age: from the functioning of exile communities to their ability to integrate into the socio-economic fabric of host societies and relate to political power. Retracing the events of some of the most active Florentines beyond the Alps, the essay seeks not only to reflect on the personal and family outcomes of this mass emigration, but also to highlight the intensity of financial relations and cultural exchanges between Italy and France in the sixteenth century.

Donato Giannotti en France. L’édition lyonnaise

Hèlene Soldini — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article aims to examine the relations that the Florentine Republican Donato Giannotti (1492-1572) maintained with France during his long exile from a particular vantage point, namely the French edition of his Libro della Republica de’ Vinitiani, first published in Rome in 1540 and reprinted thirty years later by Antoine Gryphe in Lyon. The editorial history of the book – the only one to have been published during the author’s lifetime – reveals how this French edition was a unique attempt to offer a revised version of the text, subjected to careful philological and linguistic examination on the model of the editio princeps and presented in a high-quality edition. The material analysis of Giannotti’s dialogue on Venice therefore raises a twofold question regarding the author’s relations with France. On the one hand, it invites us to consider the collaborative networks that unfolded around this editorial endeavor, which included not only the Republican exiles in Lyon who were engaged in an anti-Spanish historiographical project, but also humanists and men of letters who collaborated across the Alps for the publication of Latin and Greek classics. On the other hand, this research leads us to question the ways in which Giannotti’s book circulated and was received in France, and in particular its role in spreading the so-called “Myth
of Venice” across the Alps.

Relazioni dispari. Sessualità, rapporti di potere, affetti nell'Italia Moderna. Introduzione

Fernanda Alfieri, Serena Di Nepi — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

«Che sia questa povereta liberata, giaché il suo honore resta per sempre carcerato»: la violenza sessuale contro le schiave ebree in età moderna

Tamar Herzig — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article focuses on the sexual violence inflicted on Jewish women who were enslaved by Tuscan corsairs in the seventeenth century. It analyzes two case studies of documented rapes: one involving state-owned enslaved women and the other pertaining to a privately-held domestic slave. Through these cases, the article elucidates t he particular disadvantages that enslaved female Jews faced, as members of a triply marginalized group: enslaved, female, and members of a religious minority within the larger disenfranchised population in the Catholic-ruled regions of the Mediterranean, most of whom were Muslim. Finally, the article illuminates the harsh realities of sexual abuse at the hands of private slaveowners, which attest to the persistence of late medieval patterns well into the height of the post-Tridentine era.

Moral Transgression and Enslavement in Early Modern Livorno (17th-18th Centuries)

Benedetta Chizzolini — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article investigates how sodomy involving enslaved and formerly enslaved
Muslim men was perceived and prosecuted in early modern Livorno, focusing
first on the Bagno degli schiavi and then on the shops and taverns where enslaved
Muslims worked. Drawing on court records and administrative sources, it shows
that cases involving Muslims were viewed with particular suspicion, shaped by
long-standing Christian stereotypes that linked Islam to vice and moral disorder.
The first part of the article examines the Bagno and the galleys as spaces
of confinement, coercion, and close male proximity, where Capuchin reforms
introduced after 1677 increased vigilance without eliminating these practices.
The second part turns to more open urban settings, such as dockside taverns and
workshops, where the relative autonomy of enslaved Muslims facilitated interfaith
encounters, especially pederastic relations involving vulnerable, often Christian,
youths. Overall, the article argues that prosecutions for sodomy reflected
wider anxieties about religious contamination, social hierarchy, and the ambiguous
integration of enslaved Muslims into Livorno’s urban life.

«La Sodomia è peccato et è pena d’ogni altro misfatto». Corpi, potere e disciplina nel Collegio Urbano (1729-33)

Chiara De Ninno — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This contribution provides insight into the internal tensions within the Collegio Urbano of Propaganda Fide recorded between 1729 and 1733. At that time, a group of students submitted letters and spontaneous statements to the cardinals of the Congregation in an attempt to denounce illicit and unconventional relationships between the rector, Moriconi, and some students of the College. The objective of this research is to establish a connection between the theme of sexual discipline among clergy and aspects that have hitherto been overlooked, including but not limited to clerical masculinity, the relationship between physical and spiritual integrity, and power hierarchies in the College. The study employs a range of primary sources to reconstruct the context in which the events took place and to explore the establishment of an unequal relationship between seminar students and superiors.

«Senza dire cos’alcuna, li lasciai fare il loro interesse». Relazioni sessuali tra uomini nel ghetto di Ancona (XVIII secolo)

Germano Maifreda — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article aims to analyze the interconnections between the history of sexuality and the history of Jews, particularly in the realm of male homosexual relations, in order to enrich the understanding of the functioning of ghettos in modern Italy. The analysis is based on a judicial file preserved in the archive of the Jewish Community of Ancona, which documents a 1736 proceeding. The author reconstructs the in flagrante arrest of two men from the ghetto, Isach Vitale Trevi and Isach Michele Monsignore (or Bonsignore), accused of “carnalità” (sexual acts). The essay highlights the defensive strategy of the accused, providing a framework for understanding the dynamics of solidarity and cross-control within the ghetto.

Amore, sessualità e convivenza fra ebrei e cristiane nella Venezia del Settecento

Federica Francesconi — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article investigates emotional and sexual relationships that involved dwelling together between Jewish men and Christian women in eighteenth-century Venice, drawing on sixteen judicial proceedings initiated by the Ufficiali al Cattaver between 1712 and 1775. By analyzing testimonies from lovers, neighbors, workers, passers-by, and members of their surrounding communities, the study reconstructs practices of courtship, forms of intimacy, material arrangements of shared households, and the emotional dynamics that shaped these heterodox unions. Despite strict prohibitions and social stigma, these relationships generated shared domestic spaces – households that were neither fully Jewish nor Christian – and reveal processes of everyday integration, urban mobility, and the negotiation of religious boundaries. The judicial records further illuminate neighborhood reactions, informal surveillance networks, gossip as a moral instrument, and anxieties surrounding interreligious contamination. Taken together, these cases expand our
understanding of emotions, sexuality, and interconfessional relations in eighteenth- century Venetian society.

Nelle terre dei fratelli Vigevano, «trasportati dalla passione e dall’amore» (Cortemaggiore, metà del XVIII secolo)

Fernanda Alfieri — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This essay explores Jewish-Christian relations in the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla in the mid-18th century. The focus is on a case that came to the attention of the Roman Inquisition, involving two Jewish brothers and the Christian women with whom they allegedly had illicit relationships. The case is investigated with particular attention to local, ecclesiastical, and secular archives.