Italian Origin Research Articles

“A Man of Intrigue but of No Virtue”

Abstract This chapter reconstructs the life of Jean-Baptiste Stouppe (1623–1692), a Huguenot of Italian origin who in the 1650s moved to England and was employed by Oliver Cromwell in important diplomatic / espionage missions. Passing into the service of Louis XIV as a soldier, he published some pro-French propaganda works aimed at Protestants, including a famous description of Dutch religious life, published in 1673, notorious for its negative portrayal of Spinoza’s philosophy. While presenting himself as a defender of Protestant orthodoxy, Stouppe was in fact a libertine with magical-alchemical interests. An unscrupulous and ambiguous figure, his intellectual trajectory is clearly inserted in what has been defined as the crisis of the European conscience.

Taste Beats Reputation in New Food Products Choice: The Case of Ready-to-Eat Pomegranate among Young Consumers in Veneto Region (Italy)

This study investigates the preferences for ready-to-eat pomegranate arils in Italy through a discrete choice experiment (DCE) on 264 young consumers in Italy. The aim is to estimate consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the reputational attributes of the product (e.g., the product origin and sales channel) and to discriminate the elicited preferences between tasting and non-tasting situations. To this purpose, a random parameter logit model was employed to assess the heterogeneity in consumer preferences. The results suggest that non-tasters attach a relevant value to the reputational attributes (e.g., +75% WTP for Italian origin). Moreover, considering the sensory features of the products, we found that consumers in this group discriminate against the proposed samples only through their visual characteristics: they prefer the sample with the largest size and red colored arils. In addition, we found that the tasting experience reduced the value attached to the reputational attributes (e.g., −50% WTP for local origin) for consumers, compared to non-tasting situation, thus shifting their preference to the samples that they appreciated the most (high liking). Specifically, we found that consumers in the tasting group preferred the product sample with the highest level of sweetness and the lowest level of sourness and astringency, showing a higher preference for sweetness. The findings contribute to the literature on consumers’ behavior on new food products (NFPs), showing that reputational attributes lose value after the tasting experience. In contrast, the sensory features of the NFPs can help tasters to reduce the information asymmetry, which traditionally represents a hurdle in purchases for new consumers. However, this depends on the individuals’ subjective preferences, as demonstrated by the significant effect of liking levels in discriminating consumers’ choices. To conclude, although these results cannot be extended to the general population, they may give some interesting insights about future trends of NFP demand.

Phenotypic Features and Genetic Findings in a Cohort of Italian Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum Patients and Update of the Ophthalmologic Evaluation Score.

Background: Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a rare ectopic calcification genetic disease mainly caused by ABCC6 rare sequence variants. The clinical phenotype is characterized by typical dermatological, ophthalmological and cardiovascular manifestations, whose frequency and severity are differently reported in the literature. Methods: A retrospective study was performed on 377 PXE patients of Italian origin, clinically evaluated according to the Phenodex Index, who underwent ABCC6 biomolecular analyses. Moreover, 53 PXE patients were further characterized by in-depth ophthalmological examinations. Results: A total of 117 different ABCC6 rare sequence variants were detected as being spread through the whole gene. The severity of the clinical phenotype was dependent on age, but it was not influenced by gender or by the type of sequence variants. In-depth ophthalmological examinations focused on the incidences of coquille d’oeuf, comet lesions, pattern dystrophy-like lesions, optic disk drusen and posterior-pole atrophy. Conclusion: Given the large number of patients analyzed, we were able to better evaluate the occurrence of less frequent alterations (e.g., stroke, myocardial infarction, nephrolithiasis). A more detailed description of ophthalmological abnormalities allowed us to stratify patients and better evaluate disease progression, thus suggesting a further update of the PXE score system.

Neoplasia-related spiny keratoderma: Dermoscopic findings of two cases and a literature review.

Neoplasia-related spiny keratoderma: Dermoscopic findings of two cases and a literature review.

Discovering intercultural relations in the digital age with school students. A few Polish-Italian cases

This article briefly presents how the implementation of ICT in cultural institutions has improved education and research. The article emphasizes discovering the activity of Italian artists in Poland, thanks to digitization, which was carried out with particular intensity in the last two decades. Digitization has become a great achievement thanks to the funding of numerous international projects by the European Commission. Special recognition in this action should be given to Rossella Caffo and her team, under whose guidance the plan for the coordination of digitization in Europe and numerous detailed projects were created. In addition to the millions of digitized objects sent to Europeana, the project teams also developed several programs. One of them, MOVIO, software for virtual exhibitions, began to be used in projects with Polish schools. One of the virtual exhibitions was devoted to Elwiro Michał Andriolli, an outstanding artist of Italian origin. The exhibition was prepared on the basis of digitized materials available on Polish websites and in Europeana, where we also found unique French and Lithuanian materials. Unfortunately, no Italian objects were found there. We plan to continue searching for the achievements of Italian artists in Poland, in the CrowdSchool project (Creative Learning at School thanks to a collaborative Crowdsourcing Annotation Process), whose aim is to prepare didactic materials useful in distance learning and intercultural connections. Close cooperation is planned here between a Polish secondary school from Jarosław, interested in architecture, and a Liceo Artistico from Bologna.

Multilingual Behaviour within the Portuguese and Italian Communities in Montreal: A Quest of Purism

Many heritage speakers, starting particularly from the second generation, return to the practice of their heritage languages so as to build or rebuild their diasporic and heritage identities. Within an urban context such as in Montreal (Quebec), multilingual behaviour exists. This is due to the presence of multiple languages and dialects, as well as the bilingual reality of this city, where both French and English are dominant. Such conditions provide evidence of how determinant in-group ideologies and stereotypical attitudes are concerned with communities and languages (standard and vernacular) and how they function in the process of linguistic integration within the group and the Canadian city. Focusing on recent research that compares heritage speakers of Portuguese and Italian origin in Montreal, this contribution addresses whether identifying places have an important role in the process of integration within the group, in shared spaces of language or dialect practice, both private and public. Moreover, questions arise as to how standard languages are valued within both communities (mainly in schools) and how competency and legitimacy have been evaluated and by whom, in this process of integration. The two communities observed are very different, given the practice and behaviour as well as in-group ideologies of inclusion. This contribution argues that, as a consequence of our ‘global’ societies, there is an extension of new identities during the process of development where multilingual behaviour is reviewed and analysed for the dynamicity in the repertories of new generation speakers. Our comparison brings to light a central ideology of language purism, and the ways in which it is institutionalized and/or contested across the two groups.

The New Perception of the Other in Chipilo, Mexico

This ethnographic work focuses on Chipilo, a bilingual immigrant community of Italian origin in Mexico that has managed to maintain its dialect and culture for more than six generations thanks to a strong sense and pride of its ethnic identity. Socioeconomic changes and increase in mixed marriages during the last twenty years have affected the process of identity construction. Starting with an analysis of the characteristics that have typically come to define identity and otherness, we examine the new perception of “the other” from the internal perspective of the community. Data derived from a corpus of interviews provide grounds to claim the emergence of a different discourse representation of “otherness” among groups within the same community.

Remarks on the Question of the So-Called Monastic Schools of Architecture

The hypothetical interpretation of the beginnings of monastic architecture in Hungary in the eleventh century as corresponding to the Italian origin of the clergy cannot be proved, and the beginning of the dominating role of a three-apsidal, axially organized basilica in Hungary cannot be traced earlier than the last quarter of the eleventh century.The dominance of the type, which has been considered in Hungarian art history since the nineteenth century as a “national” building type, can be dated as of the last quarter of the eleventh century. It is not only the problem of monastic architecture, because the same typology—in other dimensions—is also characteristic of other church buildings—cathedrals and provostry churches.However, it is apparent that both in the case of monasteries and in other genres of church buildings, the Hungarian solutions are minimal and less complicated. There is an important written source concerning the value of the patronage of church buildings. The so called Estimationes communes iuxta consuetudinem regni (i.e. common estimations) go back to Romanesque times and they were still accepted in 1516 by the printed edition of Decretum tripartitum by István Werbőczy. The classification of ecclesiastic property was governed by two criteria: the value of the building and the possession of the right of sepulture.The architectural heritage of the Cistercians appears as a rather uniform stylistic phenomenon. This uniformity was interpreted in the art historical literature as a contribution by the order supposedly having an own building organization. But the hypothesis that the workers, the conversi of the order were among the other craftsmen and builders of churches and monasteries of the order has been revealed as a legendary interpretation of art history.The most active period of the Hungarian Cistercians began with the privileges given by King Béla III to the Order and with the foundation of three abbeys in the 1180s. The very rational and well-organized building activity of the Cistercians and also the effective control coming from the top of their centralized organization has been presumably considered as unusual by contemporary observers.To prevent the excessive influence of secular people and to improve the education of the monks, the centralized organization was proposed for the Benedictines too. This reform was initiated by popes of the time about 1200, Innocent III and also Honorius III. It seems that the necessary reform as well as the solution of the problems by adopting the experience of the Cistercians influenced the spread of the regular monastery building under the evident intention of imitation. Quadratic interior courts framed by open galleries and surrounded by the most important common rooms, including the chapterhouse and refectory of the monastery, appear evidently from about 1220 in Hungarian Benedictine architecture.The Praemonstratensians, a reform order, was a nearly contemporary parallel to the Cistercians. In the twelfth century and also at the beginning of the thirteenth they were in fact in a straight contact with the Cistercians, who exercised a kind of control over the order, whose rules were not derived from the Benedictine rules but were based on the rules of St. Augustine. Mainly the centralized organization of the order could correspond to the Cistercian model. The main difference between these reform orders concerned their patronage. While the Cistercians in Hungary were mostly under royal patronage (mainly after the visit of a delegation of Cîteaux to the Court of Béla III in 1183), the Praemonstensian constructions were mainly foundations by private patrons.It seems that contrary to partly surviving hypotheses and forgeries in old art historical literature, no royal court and also no monastic order was practically involved in architecture or building praxis, including schools of architecture. Their relationship was different, corresponding to their liturgy and to the representation of their self-image.

The Date and Provenance of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: The Evidence of Pirqe deRabbi Eliezer and the Chronicles of Moses

Abstract The date of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan has been the occasion of much controversy, with propositions ranging from the Second Temple period to the time of the Crusades. Related to the Targum is the late midrashic work Pirqe deRabbi Eliezer (eighth century), but the nature of this relationship is disputed. The present article proposes that the Targum depends unilaterally on PRE, based on two principal arguments: 1. PRE does not refer to common Targumic traditions in Pseudo-Jonathan; and 2. Pseudo-Jonathan uses sources that post-date PRE, namely the Chronicles of Moses, which was written around the eleventh century. The Targum’s use of late sources places its redaction long after the conclusion of the first millennium. The author proposes a twelfth-century Italian origin, which corresponds to the earliest evidence for the Targum.

Mobility, Meaning, and the Monumental Body: The Italian Origin of Two North American Cemetery Motifs

Founded in 2002, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide is a scholarly, refereed e-journal devoted to the study of nineteenth-century painting, sculpture, graphic arts, photography, architecture, and decorative arts across the globe.

Allelic HLA Matching and Pair Origin Are Favorable Prognostic Factors for Unrelated Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Neoplastic Hematologic Diseases: An Italian Analysis by the Gruppo Italiano Trapianto di Cellule Staminali e Terapie Cellulari, Italian Bone Marrow Donor Registry, and Associazione Italiana di Immunogenetica e Biologia dei Trapianti

HLA molecules are important for immunoreactivity in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The Gruppo Italiano Trapianto di Cellule Staminali e Terapie Cellulari, Italian Bone Marrow Donor Registry, and Associazione Italiana di Immunogenetica e Biologia dei Trapianti promoted a retrospective observational study to evaluate HLA matching and the impact of allelic HLA mismatching and non-HLA factors on unrelated Italian HSCT outcomes. From 2012 to 2015, 1788 patients were enrolled in the study. The average donor age was 29 years and the average recipient age was 49 years. As a conditioning regimen, 71% of the patients received myeloablative conditioning. For GVHD prophylaxis, 76% received either antithymocyte or anti-T lymphocyte globulin, cyclosporine A, and methotrexate. Peripheral blood was the stem cell source in 80%. The median duration of follow-up was 53 months. Regarding HLA matching, 50% of donor-recipient pairs were 10/10 matched, 38% had 1 mismatch, and 12% had 2 or more mismatches. A total of 302 pairs shared Italian origin. Four-year overall survival (OS), progression-free survival, GVHD-free relapse-free survival, and relapse rates were 49%, 40%, 22%, and 34%, respectively. The 4-year NRM was 27%, and the 100-day cumulative incidence of grade ≥II acute GVHD (aGVHD) was 26%. In multivariate analysis, 9/10 and ≤8/10 HLA allele-matched pairs were associated with worse OS (P=.04 and .007, respectively), NRM (P=.007 and P < .0001, respectively), and grade III-IV aGVHD (P=.0001 and .01, respectively). Moreover, the incidences of grade II-IV aGVHD (P=.001) and chronic GVHD (P=.002) were significantly lower in Italian pairs. In conclusion, 10/10 HLA matching is a favorable prognostic factor for unrelated HSCT outcome in the Italian population. Moreover, the presence of 2 HLA-mismatched loci was associated with a higher NRM (P < .0001) and grade II-IV aGVHD (P=.006) and a poorer OS (P=.001) compared with 1 HLA-mismatched locus in early or intermediate disease phases. Finally, we found that Italian donor and recipient origin is a favorable prognostic factor for GVHD occurrence.

Caucasian lean subjects with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease share long-term prognosis of non-lean: time for reappraisal of BMI-driven approach?

ObjectiveThe full phenotypic expression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in lean subjects is incompletely characterised. We aimed to investigate prevalence, characteristics and long-term prognosis of Caucasian lean subjects with...

Nutritional quality of commercial butters

Abstract The consumption and consequent production of butter has increased considerably in recent years. In order to know the butters sold in Brazil, the study aimed to analyze butters of Brazilian, French, Italian and Argentine origin. The samples were analyzed for fat content, moisture, Defatted Dry Extract (DDE), and total acidity for comparison with Brazilian legislation. The levels of chlorides, protein, ash, total dry extract, water activity, color and determination of the lipid profile were also determined. In all analyses, there was a statistically significant difference between the samples. Some samples showed disagreement with the quality requirements recommended in Brazilian legislation for commercialization. Indeed, 10 samples did not present the minimum fat content required, varying from 68.53% to 77.31% in butters with salt and from 71.64% to 81.72% in those without salt. Eight samples presented humidity levels above the legal recommendations, varying from 17.05% to 20.28%. All products were in agreement with acidity levels. The predominant fatty acids in all samples were myristic acid (C14: 0), palmitic acid (C16: 0), stearic acid (C18: 0) and oleic acid (C18: 1n9). The regional influence, breed and handling of the animals and season of the year in which the milk was obtained for butter production, were suggested to be the main reason for the physical-chemical difference found between the samples.

«Сон Богородицы» — «Sogno di Maria» в контексте итальянской словесности о Страстях Христовых

The “Dream of the Virgin” is an apocryphon about the Passion of Christ, revealed to the Mother of God in a visionary dream. It circulated among many European nations in the form of a spiritual verse, a narrative, a prayer, or an incantation. Starting with the fundamental work of A. N. Veselovsky, this story has been an important subject of comparative research up to the present day. The oldest manuscripts with texts related to it are of Italian origin and date back to the 14th and 15th centuries. The article presents features of the Italian tradition of the apocryphon in texts preserved in these early manuscripts and in more recent folklore recordings. In Italy, the “Dream of the Virgin” existed in the context of various poetic texts about the Passion of Christ and the Lament of the Virgin Mary. The development of Italian volgare literature on the theme of the Passion is associated with the cult of the Passion of Christ, which was extremely widespread in the 13th and 14th centuries. Some details in the Italian texts suggest that the motif of the Virgin Mary’s dream about the Passion possibly originated in the tradition of the Holy Land related to the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane

Screening of Durum Wheat (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn.) Italian Cultivars for Susceptibility to Fusarium Head Blight Incited by Fusarium graminearum.

In 2009, a set of 35 cultivars of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn.) of Italian origin was screened for fusarium head blight (FHB) susceptibility at CIMMYT (Mexico) and in the 2019–20 cropping season, 16 of these cultivars, which had been included in the Italian National Plant Variety Register, were tested again in southern and northern Italy. Wheat cultivars were artificially inoculated during anthesis with a conidial suspension of Fusarium graminearum sensu lato using a standard spray inoculation method. Inoculum was a mixture of mono-conidial isolates sourced in the same areas where the trials were performed. Isolates had been characterized on the basis of morphological characteristics and by DNA PCR amplification using a specific primer set and then selected for their virulence and ability to produce mycotoxins. The susceptibility to FHB was rated on the basis of the disease severity, disease incidence and FHB index. Almost all of the tested cultivars were susceptible or very susceptible to FHB with the only exception of “Duprì”, “Tiziana” and “Dylan” which proved to be moderately susceptible. The susceptibility to FHB was inversely correlated with the plant height and flowering biology, the tall and the late heading cultivars being less susceptible.

The Court Culture in France, Italy and England in 16-17th Centuries: Interaction and Mutual Influence

&lt;p&gt;The article examines the traditions of French court ballet, which are rooted in early medieval Italian musical and theatrical performances, as well as the traditions of the medieval carnival. The functional features of the French court ballet are revealed. French ballet is viewed through the prism of a synthesized art form: dance, music, poetry and complex scenography. It is specified that French ballet as an independent genre was formed in the era of Queen Catherine de Medici.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It was revealed that thanks to the skill and professionalism of choreographers of both French and Italian descent, the French court ballet reached its peak in the first half of the seventeenth century.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It was determined that the court ballet was becoming a cultural and political instrument that raised the status of France in Europe, served to strengthen the authority of the French monarch, and was a means of uniting the French monarchy and the people. Despite significant financial costs, the political and cultural feasibility of staging court ballets exceeded the economic feasibility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;An analogy is drawn with the English court Мasque. It is substantiated that the English court Masque was based on the traditions of Italian intermedio and French court ballet. Thus, English stage designers adopted the experience of Italian stage designers. Dances of Italian origin were an integral part of Masque in England. Choreography in Masque was created by French and Italian choreographers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It has been proven that English culture was influenced by continental culture, which contributed to the formation of a common cultural space.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is substantiated that the genre of French ballet, Italian intermedio and English Masque were not a high art, but over time, having undergone a transformation, they evolved into new forms and genres.&lt;/p&gt;

Sex moderates the association between the COMT Val158Met single-nucleotide polymorphism and disorderliness facet of novelty seeking

Previous studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the effect of the Val158Met polymorphism of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene on personality and cognition. Here, nonclinical Caucasian university students of Italian origin were administered the Temperament and Character Inventory–Revised, Tellegen Absorption Scale, Differential Attentional Processes Inventory, and Waterloo-Stanford Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. We found that the COMT Val158Met polymorphism was significantly associated with the disorderliness facet of novelty seeking (NS4) and that sex was a moderator of this association. Females with the Met/Met genotype showed higher NS4 scores compared to those with the Val/Met and Val/Val genotypes. No significant genotype effect was found for males. Additionally, we failed to find a significant effect of the COMT gene on attention and hypnotic suggestibility measures. These results provide further evidence for a sex-specific influence on the gene–behaviour associations.

Autoportret z lisem. Przeszłość do przezwyciężenia w prozie autobiograficznej Magdaleny Tulli

The author focuses on the creation of the children’s hero from autobiographical novels by Magdalena Tulli: Włoskie szpilki (2011) and Szum (2014). The expressing of traumatic experience from the past in Tulli’s works takes not only the form of a successful artistic endeavour, but is also a kind of self-care. Waligóra argues that the fact of rejecting a girl by her mother and numerous examples of oppressiveness of the outside world result in life failures, the heroine’s emotional dys­function and melancholic-depressive nature of memories.The psychological and sociological vivisection of the existence of a family of Jewish (mother) and Italian (father) origin is enriched by the Holocaust and postwar anti-Semitic topics. The female narrator of both novels explores the sources of devastating experience of Shoah that became a pain­ful part of her motherʼs and auntʼs biography. The moving complaint about an unhappy childhood, tempered by the creation of a fictional friend — a fox, takes the form of a difficult forgiveness in parallel, the forgiveness including the closest people: the wrongdoers who have become victims themselves.

Microbial deterioration of lamb meat from European local breeds as affected by its intrinsic properties

• Quality characteristics of lamb meat from eight European breeds was characterised. • Proximate composition of lamb meat was affected by production system. • Substantial variability in the levels of spoilage bacteria in lamb meat was found. • Growth of spoilage bacteria in meat was exarcerbated by higher ultimate pH. • Meat from heavier lamb carcasses underwent a slower spoilage process. Although sheep meat has a small share of ∼1.5 % of the total meat production in the EU, sheep farming is of great importance to rural development and the environment. Enhancing the quality of lamb meat of local breeds is essential to ensure both profitability for sheep producers and the conservation of endangered breeds. This study aimed to (i) characterise the evolution of spoilage microorganisms in refrigerated vacuum-packed lamb meat from a total of 10 farms housing 8 local breeds of Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Slovenian origin raised in intensive, extensive or semi-extensive regime; and (ii) elucidate how intrinsic properties of meat can affect its microbial spoilage. Cold carcass weight (CCW), ultimate pH (pH 24 ) and proximate analysis were quantified on carcass/meat from each of the 285 animals raised and slaughtered for this purpose; while mesophiles, lactic acid bacteria, Pseudomonas spp. and psychrotrophic bacteria were enumerated during 15-day storage at 4 °C. Substantial variability in all attributes were found between the ten farms. CCW of intensively-raised lambs (21.4 kg; 95 % CI: 20.6–22.1 kg) were higher (p < 0.05) than the ones in semi-extensive regime (14.9 kg; 95 % CI: 14.4–15.4 kg), and in turn these were heavier (p < 0.05) than the extensively raised lambs (12.4 kg; 95 % CI: 12.0–12.7). Mean contents of protein (76.5–87.4% db), fat (3.78–13.1% db) and ashes (4.62–5.65% db) in lamb meat were highly dependent on the farm. Although meat from some farms was associated to higher microbial levels, in general, microbial growth was found to be modulated by intrinsic properties of meat. Higher pH 24 (p < 0.05), moisture (p < 0.05), protein content (p < 0.05) and ashes content (p < 0.01) accelerated spoilage rate; whereas meat from heavier carcasses (p < 0.001) and of higher fat content (p < 0.01) presented slower growth of spoilage bacteria. In order to improve the microbial quality of lamb meat, animal handling must be enhanced to minimise pre-slaughter stress; slaughtering practices and hygiene must be improved; and a carcass classification system could be adopted towards the selection of fatter animals and chilled carcasses of optimal pH 24 .

Terra Sigillata-Funde in Der Einheimischen Siedlung Lágymányos

Samian ware of Lágymányos. 65 pieces of Samian ware were unearthed during the excavation of the Eraviscus settlement of Lágymányos. It is a fairly small amount compared to the number of PGW finds, which is well over a thousand pieces. Despite all this, imported ceramic finds unearthed in these sites allow us to set up a timeframe of the lifespan of the settlement. A third of the finds originate from Italia, accordingly, it is presumable that in the middle to the second half of the first century this settlement was already a part of the Roman commercial circuit. Three potteries of Italian origin classifiable into three groups includes a relatively great amount of good quality A2 ware.The 26 pieces include early-type Drag. 29 and early forms also appear amongst the undecorated vessels. There are fewer Central Gaulish finds and even less (3 pieces) of Rheinzabern products. According to the Samian wares found the life of the settlement can be traced up until the Marcomannic wars (166–180 AD).Later finds suggest that the settlement was abandoned or sparsely populated afterward.