Abstract The essay explores the possibility of examining history of emotions through the documents of the Holy Office, providing a series of examples through the analysis of a number of sources: the letters of the local inquisitors, the biographies and autobiographies of the judges, the trial depositions of the accused, the manuals for the magistrates, and literary representation.

Abstract New forms of enslavement surfacing on the world stage have spurred an international surge of studies in recent decades on the topic of slavery in general and Atlantic slavery in particular. Italian historiography on the Early Modern Age has actively contributed to this body of work and suggested various avenues of research fueled by different perspectives, from intellectual history to social history, from political history to gender and labor history. As is fitting considering Christian universalism, much attention has been granted to the religious dimension of the phenomenon. Various issues have been addressed, from the Catholic Church’s role and culture to the roles played by individual religious orders, from conversion practices used among slaves to the creation of the “African pantheon” featuring former slaves who became saints. Taken together, these studies have helped to add complexity to our understanding of the relationship between Catholicism and Atlantic slavery and call into question the separation between Mediterranean and Atlantic slavery, two worlds that are actually closely intertwined. A focused analysis of the relationship between slavery and sanctity, explored through the case of Jesuit Pedro Claver who was born in Catalonia in 1580, became a missionary overseas and died in Cartagena de Indias (New Kingdom of Granada) in 1654, is effective in demonstrating the spatial and temporal scope of these events. This extensive scope calls for longer-term reflections that go beyond the Early Modern Age and recognize the inextricable connections between religious and political history.

Abstract This article, focusing on the Venetian context, aims to provide an overview of atheism, particularly of a ‘popular’ nature, with a special emphasis on the seventeenth century. By analyzing a few cases and the evolution of historiographical developments on early modern Italy, it seeks to demonstrate that unbelieving and openly atheistic points of view were indeed present in popular, non-academic circles, and that the dynamics of contamination between levels of culture were constant and not always linked to top-down acculturation processes.

Abstract In recent decades, global history studies devoted specifically to the Society of Jesus have contributed significantly to research on missions and the emergence of the concept of global Christianity. In the absence of a prevailing political and economic role played by the Italian Peninsula in the Early Modern Age, the Papacy acted with its universal body and offshoots consisting of missionaries; through these, Rome projected itself into the spaces of global politics and intellectual discussions. The Papacy and Society of Jesus, both global institutions based in Rome, found themselves at odds in dealing with many of the issues raised by journeys in other continents. These include the controversy of Chinese rites, a question this article addresses once again setting off from Rome and the debates that took place as the Papacy prepared to condemn these rites.

Abstract This article reviews Italian and international historiography on the history of Jews in Italy during the early modern period, aiming to critically engage with the notion of the “ghetto” and the interpretive frameworks through which it has been studied. It situates this concept within broader historiographical trends in Italian history of the period. The study gives particular attention to the growing influence of the Roman Inquisition and its pervasive—though not total—control over Jewish communities, noting the varied ways this influence was enacted across Italy’s diverse urban and rural regions. The analysis begins with an exploration of Jewish responses to the temporary readmission into the Papal States under Pope Sixtus V from 1587 to 1590, using this episode to re-evaluate the category of the ghetto. The conclusion argues for a future research direction that moves beyond the assumed stability of the ghetto, reconstructing the history of Jews in Italy by identifying people, places, actors, distinctions, and movements—while remaining mindful of the profound impact of the long history of persecutions.

Abstract Initially a valedictory lecture, this essay discusses the question for which motives people joined the Christians in the second and third centuries. It analyzes the conversion accounts of Justin Martyr, Tatian the Assyrian, Clement of Alexandria, Gregory the Wonderworker, Cyprian of Carthage, and the story about Thecla of Iconium. Next, it pays attention to the role of simple preachers, the Roman persecutions, and especially the love and care that Christians displayed to both fellow-believers and non-Christian friends and neighbors during plagues. With reference to Cyprian of Carthage and Dionysius of Alexandria and in agreement with Rodney Stark it is argued that someone who was supported was more likely to survive the pandemic than those who were abandoned by their relatives and friends. It is likely that therefore such non-Christians have converted thanks to their experiences with Christians.