Italian State Research Articles

Making Sense of Oil Pollution: Thresholds of Harm in the Extractive Ecologies of Val d'Agri

This contribution investigates the politics of oil extraction and perceptibility in Val d'Agri, an area in the southern Italian region of Basilicata that sits on the largest onshore oil reservoir in the country. In this article, I examine the ways in which diffused industrial contamination emerges in the landscape and is intercepted and translated by human bodily senses. In doing so, I consider how material phenomena of slow and accretive environmental degradation have a spatial affect and shape ontologies of pollution in the region. To explore how oil becomes a highly political process of epistemological reconfiguration, I examine the rift between expert science and environmental monitoring, which are appropriated by oil corporations and the Italian State, and forms of knowledge that are mobilized by local citizens in an attempt to make sense of ecological degradation and claim environmental rights. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork and open-source investigation, this contribution invokes accounts of situated practices of citizen sensing that navigate and assemble the evidence of slow and chronicle effects of hydrocarbon pollutants in Val d'Agri. Citizens generate fluxes and exchanges of knowledge that stimulate new political possibilities between inhabitants, activists, and experts and are constitutive of environmental resistance. I give resonance to the existing and emerging struggles around environmental justice in the region as an invitation to consider the possibilities of sensing and local knowledge to bring to the surface a different understanding of contamination and challenge the power of extractive economies.

Il lungo percorso dal dopoguerra a oggi (1944-2023): dal ripristino dei diritti degli ebrei vittime delle leggi razziste dell’Italia fascista al ricupero della Memoria per lottare contro il pregiudizio e l’antisemitismo

The long road after WWII until today (1944-2023): from the reinstatement of the rights denied to Jews victim of the racist laws of fascist Italy to recovering the Memory of the Holocaust to fight against prejudice and antisemitism ABSTRACT: This paper who served as a basis of the author’s speech at the official remembrance of the Holocaust at the residence of the President of the Republic of Italy (Quirinale palace) on 27 January 2023 examines the various phases of this process. First from 1944 to the mid-1980 the key element is the enactment of more that 90 pieces of legislation abrogating the antisemitic laws of 1938-45 and granting some compensation to the victims. In a second phase (until the end of the XX century) Judaism is recognized as religious entity with parity of rights as compared with the Catholic Church (the Agreement - “Intesa” - between the Italian State and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities of 1987) thus empowering Judaism in Italy to be an active and distinct contributor to Italy’s society. In that period the “Mancino law” of 1993 enacts criminal provisions to fight racism in Italy more effectively. The last phase from 2000 until to-day, witnesses, after the official recognition of the “Holocaust Remembrance Day” each 27 January (“Giorno della Memoria”) witnesses an engagement of Italian institutions to fight antisemitism through education and cultural initiatives. SOMMARIO: 1. La reintegrazione nei diritti negati: un processo lungo e faticoso (1944-1987) - 2. Dal completamento del disegno costituzionale con l’intesa tra Stato e Comunità ebraiche (1987-89) alla repressione del razzismo con la “legge Mancino” (1993) - 3. La riflessione sulla Shoah quale insegnamento per l’oggi: il Giorno della Memoria (2000) - 4. La strategia europea contro le discriminazioni e l’antisemitismo: protezione ed educazione - 5. La strategia e le iniziative italiane - 6. In conclusione.

German Crimes and Italian Money?

Abstract On 29 June 2022, the Italian Parliament approved Law no. 79, which converted — with amendments — Article 43 of Decree-Law no. 36/2022 of 30 April 2022 into law, possibly marking the final stage of the long saga of the German–Italian dispute over Germany’s civil liability for Nazi crimes against the Italian population during World War II. The Decree-Law was originally issued, as a matter of urgency, with a specific purpose: the Italian government intended to prevent the Federal Republic of Germany from suffering the loss of a significant real estate asset, located in Rome, due to the execution proceedings before the Court of Rome. However, the purpose of this legislative measure was not solely to avert this scenario in the short term. On the contrary, with the Decree-Law, now converted into law, the singular result has been reached that the Italian state will pay all compensation owed to victims of Nazi massacres on behalf of Germany. The article contextualizes the new provision, analysing the saga of Germany’s civil liability in parallel with the criminal prosecutions of Nazi criminals in Italy, both after the war and in more recent years. It provides critical evaluations and proposes hypotheses on possible future scenarios.

On the Other Shore: The Atlantic Worlds of Italians in South America during the Great War

On the Other Shore: The Atlantic Worlds of Italians in South America during the Great War

N08 The emerging role of the IBD Care Manager: preliminary results from a survey by Italian IBD nurses

Abstract Background A multidisciplinary team (MT) approach has increasingly taken a prominent role in the management of IBD patients, providing a complete level of assistance. A key figure is represented by the IBD care Managers (ICM), who is usually an independent practice nurse, responsible for evidence-based assessment, care planning, treatment evaluation and the provision of practical information, health education and emotional support to patients. The ICM coordinate also each figure of the MT and help patients to accede to community resources and social services. The aim of the study is to investigate what are the skills required for ICMs, according to the nurses’ judgement. Methods A questionnaire was created by a team of experienced nurses on the basis of the Second N-Ecco declaration of consent and administered to nurses who have worked in an IBD unit for a period of at least three years. A definition of the ICM was provided to any participant. The questionnaire consisted of 3 sections: behavioural, knowledge and managerial skills than an ICM (score with Likert scale 0-4). The questions of the created sections were studied in relation to the benefits for the patient, the organizational advantages, the clinical advantages and the Italian state of the art. Results 55 nurses partecipated to the study from 16 Italian centers. In the evaluation of behavioural skills (Fig. 1) of the ICM, "Management and support of the pregnant patient" (0.7), is the lowest scored item, while "patient privacy" obtained higher scores (3.2). In the evaluation of knowledge (Fig. 2) of the ICM, the "Knowledge of intimacy and sexuality" obtained the lowest score (0.7), while knowledge of pshyco-phisical and social impact of the disease obtained an higher score (1.8). In managerial skills (Fig. 3) the "Management of the pain" (0,8) obtained a lowest score compared to "Management of biological therapies" (2.6). Conclusion This is the first national survey exploring the role and the required skills of ICMs The awareness of ICM, their role and the measure of their performances, is the first step to foster the development of this figure in the health system. Further studies are mandatory to assess clinical and organizational outcomes.

Implementing sustainable innovation in state universities: Process and tools

Universities have the vision, the knowledge and the power to lead the change towards a more sustainable world. However, there is a lack of studies investigating how universities can systematically reorient themselves to help society become more sustainable. In general, a research gap exists in the implementation of the business model innovation process, in the tools that should be used to pass from the design stage to implementation and in the identification of the main challenges that may hinder this process. This paper adopts the concept of a sustainable business model for interpreting the core logic through which universities create value for themselves, society and the environment. In the first stage of research, a theoretical framework was proposed for diagnosis of the integration of sustainability in the business models of universities. This framework was applied in the context of Italian state universities to identify business models with different degrees of strategic orientation towards sustainability. Now the research aim is to examine the processes and tools used and challenges faced by Italian state universities when implementing sustainable innovation. A multiple-case study is carried out on four Italian state universities showing a high level of integration of sustainability in all elements of the business model. The combination of both quantitative and qualitative data, and the patterns observed across cases, led to the presentation of five theoretical propositions, which were summarized in a preliminary model of the processes, tools and challenges involved when implementing sustainable innovation in higher education. The main theoretical contributions of this study are the advancement of knowledge regarding the dynamics (process) and the elements (tools) for the implementation of sustainability strategies in state universities, and the provision of a new causal map of the relationships among the variables that affect sustainable innovation in higher education.

The Italian State Monopoly in Life Insurance: The Organisational and Management Model of the INA (1912–1923)

The Italian State Monopoly in Life Insurance: The Organisational and Management Model of the INA (1912–1923)

The Italian State Monopoly in Life Insurance: The Organisational and Management Model of the INA (1912–1923)

The Italian State Monopoly in Life Insurance: The Organisational and Management Model of the INA (1912–1923)

It was the anarchists: The quest for the truth about Italy’s bombs

On 12 December 1969 a bomb exploded in Piazza Fontana, in Milan, killing 17 people and wounding 84. This paper uses critical and activist criminology, and explores, through a resistance lens, the struggle for truth that followed. On the one hand, denial through a strategy of manipulation was carried out by both the Italian government and mainstream media, which placed the blame on the anarchist movement, laying the groundwork for an authoritarian upheaval. On the other hand, the mobilization of both the old and the new left solidified to counter this denial by illuminating state responsibility for the Piazza Fontana bombing. This paper models the specific species of state crime denial used by a transnational coalition of far-right forces operating in and around the Italian state, and the forms of resistance within left civil society that helped counter denial and stall the authoritarian drift. It also looks to expand the literature on resistance to state crime, by documenting a still poorly understood episode in Italian history where civic opposition to state violence helped abort the further institutionalization of authoritarian politics. This paper will shed a light on the dialectical process between state crime and resistance, as theorized by Green and Ward. Moreover, an analysis of resistance stages through the use of Stanley and McCulloch’s work, will allow me to carry out an in-depth analysis of the mobilization process that took place after the Piazza Fontana bombing.

Italy, Vatican, Russia. Scientific Path of Evgenia Sergeevna Tokareva. To the 70th Anniversary of Her Birth

The article is devoted to the review of the scientific path of the leading Russian researcher of the history of Italy and the Catholic Church E. S. Tokareva and is timed to her jubilee. The whole scientific biography of the jubilee relates to the Institute of the World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where E. S. Tokareva has been working for 45 years. She began her research activity with the study of the relations between the Catholic Church and the Italian state in the period of the fascist dictatorship (1922—1943). Then she paid attention to the problems of interaction between religious communities in Europe and political regimes of various types, and since the late 1990s she has been working on the relationship between the Vatican as the Centre of the Catholic world and Soviet Russia. Much attention in the article is paid to the review of scientific and organizational activities of the jubilee, who since 2004 headed the Centre for the History of Religion and Church at the Institute of the World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and also coordinated scientific relations of the Institute of the World History with church (both domestic and foreign) academic structures, such as the Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences, Gregorian University, and the Church Scientific Centre “Orthodox Encyclopedia”.

Bibliography of Scientific Works by Evgeniya S. Tokareva: 1982—2023

This publication provides a complete list of scientific works by Evgenia Sergeevna Tokareva, Doctor of Historical Sciences, leading researcher at the Institute of the World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This publication is timed to the anniversary of E. S. Tokareva and reflects the diversity of the directions of her research and the main stages of her scientific path. The list includes works on the relations between the Catholic Church and the Italian state during the Fascist period, on the role of the religious factor in international relations, on the interaction between European religious traditions and political regimes of different types in the twentieth century, as well as on the relations between the Vatican as the Centre of the Catholic world and Soviet Russia. No less important are the publications in which E. S. Tokareva acted as a responsible editor and compiler.

Italian and French Democracies’ Containment of Communist Unrest in the Early Cold War

After a brief interlude of legality ending in 1947, France and Italy faced violence fuelled by Communist organisations; the most important took place from the autumn of 1947 to the autumn of 1948 and greatly impressed governments and public opinion, sustaining fear of a Communist uprising. Facing this challenge to public order were resolute Ministers of the Interior Mario Scelba and Jules Moch. Their policy gained them the reputation of reso­lute anti-Communists going beyond the limits of democratic legality. This paper questions this simple picture. In fact, for centre-right and centre-left govern­ments ruling these two countries, emergency powers were linked to the state of (civil) war and both ministries’ policies relied mainly on the application of the existing penal code and the mobilisation of existing forces. Moves to strengthen repressive laws depended on a long and uncertain parliamentary process and, without wide political consensus and solid parliamentary majorities, they often proved to be too little or too late. Judiciary repression was sometimes inefficient, leaving the Ministries infuriated by impunity. With the fear of world war peaking in 1950, there were legal efforts to thwart possible Communist support for a Soviet invasion; but those did not appear any more fruitful than prior attempts, and faded when internal matters seemed more urgent than the declining “Red Threat” in the 1950s. This study also highlights the fact that the repression by the Italian state, relying on former Fascist laws and sometimes infringing on civil liberties, was more violent than in France. Casualties caused by law enforcement persisted even after the decrease of Communist activism, underlying the histor­ically higher level of social and political confrontation in Italy.

The role of the Italic community as a new agent of glocal development in the post-pandemic era

<abstract> <p>The pandemic and the digital revolution are changing the global geopolitical landscape. The dispersion of power linked to the new digital decision-making centers is accompanied by a fragmentation of the traditional system of power in the international geopolitical arena. In this scenario, it is difficult to identify who is in charge of sovereignty and governance. A glocal perspective would suggest continuing to look at States, but also at local political entities, such as cities, and super-national cultural identities, such as global civilizations. It is a solution that could allow Italy, and other countries, to avoid what John Agnew called the territorial trap that would push the world system into giving national answers to the growing number of global challenges. In the post-pandemic phase, Italy will face its most important test of resilience since the Second World War. This paper intends to investigate whether and in what terms the Italian State will be able to recognize and make use of the soft power of the Italic community and civilization as a new agent of glocal development. The digital revolution accelerated by the pandemic could in fact transform the digital space into the ideal place for the recognition and strengthening of the global network of Italics around the world. Italic is not simply a synonym for Italian. Italic is someone who appreciates and recognizes the charm of Italy. The Italic does not necessarily have a passport or an Italian bloodline; he can live in Italy or anywhere else. The way of life and the commonality of values is the glue that unites Italics and this can become a soft power of Italy, strengthening the Italian State internally and externally. We refer to that mix of culture, taste, style, quality craftsmanship, fashion, design, high-value manufacturing, electronics, robotics, avant-garde entrepreneurship and gastronomic excellence that gives life to a refined art of living well.</p> </abstract>

Cultural Encounter, Race, and a Humanist Ideology of Empire in the Art of Trecento Venice

Cultural Encounter, Race, and a Humanist Ideology of Empire in the Art of Trecento Venice

On the Issue of Italian Generic Badges in the Coins of the Early Modern Time

The article is devoted to Italian generic badges (it. impresa), minted in coins. Considered are predominantly northern Italian states, where their own special heraldic traditions have developed, which differ from French or Spanish ones. The borrowing of badges is indicated. The article shows the interaction of personal and generic badges. The influence of ancient coins on the coins of the early modern period and the reception of images as pictorial mottos are considered. Unique narrative sources relating to badges are given. Changes in generic badges over several generations of their owners are indicated. Despite the large volume of the article, it is too early to draw conclusions, since there are more questions about the existence of generic badges than answers to them, and, therefore, further study is required.

The Restitution of Antiquities and the Modern Italian State

The Restitution of Antiquities and the Modern Italian State

The inflammatory bowel disease care manager: Italian state of the art.

In the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) multidisciplinary team, a key figure is the IBD care manager, usually an independent practice nurse, responsible for evidence-based assessment, care planning, treatment evaluation, and provision of practical information, health education, and emotional support to patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the profile of this figure in Italy. A team of experienced nurses created a questionnaire based on the Second N-ECCO declaration, which was administered to nurses who worked in an IBD unit for a period of at least 3 years. A definition of IBD care manager was provided to every participant. The questionnaire consisted of 3 sections: behavioral, knowledge and managerial skills that an IBD care manager should exhibit. Results were studied in relation to the benefits for the patient, organizational advantages, clinical advantages and Italian state of the art. Fifty-five nurses participated in the study, from 28 Italian centers. In the evaluation of behavioral skills of IBD care managers, "management and support of the pregnant patient" was the lowest scored item, while "patient privacy" obtained higher scores. In the evaluation of knowledge, "knowledge of intimacy and sexuality" obtained the lowest scores, while "knowledge of psychophysical and social impact of the disease" obtained a higher score. In managerial skills "management of pain" obtained the lowest scores. Our study confirmed that IBD care managers are invaluable nursing figures within the multidisciplinary team that cares for IBD patients, providing benefits to both patients' clinics and management.

The problem of creativity and scientific heritage of Machiavelli in the framework of the historiographical assessments of Francesco De Sanctis

The article deals with the problem of creativity and scientific heritage of Niccolò Machiavelli in the system of historiographic assessments by Francesco De Sanctis (1817-1883). The author states the importance of addressing this issue in the era of globalization, since the era of the Italian Renaissance reflected cardinal changes in the interpretation of the historical process. In addition, in the era of globalization, the question of the system for forming the stages of historiographic assessments of Machiavelli's scientific heritage has significant methodological potential. Of particular interest in this regard is the Italian historiography of the 19th century, which developed under the influence of the emergence of a single centralized Italian state. What the Italians failed in the 16th century, what Machiavelli dreamed about in the final chapter of The Prince, became a historical fact in 1861. Of course, before the Italian historiography, a natural question arose about the creation of a holistic picture of Italian social and political life, within which the name of Machiavelli was to occupy a significant place. Thus, after Italy gained its statehood in the 19th century, representatives of Italian historiography faced the task of determining the true place of the entire scientific heritage of Machiavelli within the framework of Italian historical development. This task was brilliantly solved in the framework of the «History of Italian Literature» by Francesco De Sanctis (1817-1883).Consideration of the problems of creativity and scientific heritage of Machiavelli in the system of historiographic assessments by Francesco De Sanctis allows us to state the deep theoretical and methodological significance of these assessments. In de Sanctis' assessments of Machiavelli's heritage, not only a dry academic approach prevails, but also the desire to tie these assessments to De Sanctis' contemporary Italian political life of the 19th century. The scientific heritage and work of Machiavelli is considered by Francesco De Sanctis as a kind of lesson for the present. Machiavelli, who relies on realism and yet pays tribute to Fortune, is regarded as precisely a modern author. The assessments of the outstanding Italian scholar expressed in the second volume of the «History of Italian Literature» laid the foundation for a significant part of the modern interpretation of Machiavelli. In the era of globalization, the appeal to the key aspects of the formation of assessments of creativity and scientific heritage of Machiavelli within the framework of Italian historiography of the 19th century is of considerable interest. Thus, the views of Machiavelli were formed in a complex and rich atmosphere of the decline of the political influence of Italy, which became a fact after the military events of 1494. This allows us, in turn, referring to the heritage of the Florentine thinker, to see the content of his concepts in the light of the challenges of the era of globalization and the formation of a new world order.

Policing the Sicilian Mafia: Repression and Control of the Mafia Phenomenon in Late Nineteenth-Century Italy

The article analyzes the repression of the Mafia phenomenon in Sicily between 1896 and 1901. The close attention paid to the Mafia by the authorities during this period produced a strong evidence base which this article examines through the lens of policing practices. These practices remain neglected as to date the historiography has focused on tracing legal developments rather than examining the application of laws by the forces of law and order. Accordingly, the article puts forward a series of historiographically important questions: what was the attitude of police forces in controlling dangerous individuals? How much do the practices adopted by police forces tell us about the possibilities for state intervention and the limits of its influence? What was the relationship between the perception of a criminal threat, police operations and the construction of judicial truth? The article reveals a very clear image of the Italian state in the liberal era. In fact, state officials and high-ranking institutional figures seemed interested in strengthening the social and political order by establishing control networks which could operate in any circumstances. They aimed to make it impossible not to interact with state officials. In this sense, rather than seeking a complete monopoly of violence, they aimed to oblige local power holders, social groups and semi-public figures to bargain with state officials. The effect was that social groups with means of violence at their disposal did not necessarily become a threat to the maintenance of order and nor did they necessarily forestall the possibility of state mediation and hegemony.

Restoration in Zadar, Split and Pula between the Rapallo and Paris Treaties

The article discusses cases of restoration in Zadar (Zara), Split (Spalato) and Pula (Pola), performed in three historical periods by Italian and Yugoslav authorities. The interventions are located within a timeframe outlined by diplomatic arrangements between the Italian and South Slavic states, made in Rapallo in 1920 and Paris in 1947. They were revisionist, selective, discriminative, substitutive, integrative and reconstructive, and they are seen as reflexes of political realities and professional standards in fascist and early republican post-war Italy, as well as in the early communist Popular Republic of Croatia. The article also discusses the role of intellectuals in political agendas of the period under discussion.