Culture In Italy Research Articles

M.G. Agnesi, R. Rampinelli and the Riccati family: A cultural fellowship formed for an important scientific purpose, the Instituzioni analitiche

The intense correspondence that developed between Rampinelli, Agnesi and the Riccatis from 1745 to 1752 documents with a wealth of details the exchange of scientific ideas that arose around the writing and printing of Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana. Reconstructing the history and significance of this undertaking can help us understand the role that Agnesi's work played in the mathematics and general culture in Italy at the time, as well as the farsightedness of her tutors and supporters. It can also help demonstrate why today we no longer consider valid the judgments that Loria and Truesdell passed on this exemplar of a female intellectual.

Memories in Context: The Social and Economic Function of Cinema in 1950s Rome

During the 1950s, cinema in Italy blossomed, bringing film entertainment to Italians on an unprecedented scale. This study draws upon the testimony of 325 elderly Romans about their cinemagoing experiences during this period. Their memories are set in the particular context of the film programs that they (and fellow filmgoers) selected—information that is derived from daily newspapers and supplemented with trade listings of the most popular films screened in Rome. In producing a bottom-up account of cinemagoing, the paper contributes to the general debate about film culture in Italy in the postwar era.

The Role of Scandal in the Political Life of Italy during the Period 1976-2011

This research was conducted to examine the relations between political culture in Italy and its political scandals in the XX century and their impact on the failure of so-called “The First Italian Republic” regime in the 1990-s. The research covers the most significant political scandals from the “Propaganda Due” to the most famous “Tangentopoli”. The findings revealed that political scandal is a turning point in the modern democracy, which reveals the main system problems and gives a chance to the government to estimate the political risks and take an action to prevent the following worsening of the situation. Also the results of the research present an attempt to systemize on the base of the most recent data published in academic sources and classify and leading media political scandals according their actors, reasons and consequences as well as coverage in the media. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1s1p333

The lack of probability culture in Italy. Toward an international comparative research program

Probability culture is a basic part of the background knowledge in the hard sciences. Its influence in our decision making criteria has an increasing impact also in our everyday life. In this paper we discuss the Italian endowment in probability culture. After shortly investigating what are the origins of the intrinsic difficulties that emerge with the study of probability we discuss the issues of learning and teaching the discipline by analysing the results of a recent national statistical analysis. We propose the introduction of new experimental teaching techniques, especially in the developmental age. An extensive research program is proposed which includes international comparison methods as well as the in-depth investigation of the outstanding performances of cities like Shanghai.

L’œuvre d’Igiaba Scego, femme et écrivaine : une vision interculturelle de l’héritage postcolonial

Un nouveau phénomène littéraire, encore jeune et restreint, est en train de se développer en Italie : celui des enfants de migrants, nés en Italie ou arrivés en bas âge, qui s’initient à l’écriture. Ces écrivains évoluent à l’intérieur de la société italienne, présentent des origines parfois plus lointaines que les confins de notre Méditerranée – congolais, somaliens – ils rejettent l’assignation à une seule identité qui les enfermerait dans une dimension qui n’est pas véritablement la leur. Leur but serait donc de trouver un espace où «habiter» sans pour autant renier leurs origines ni se cantonner à la communauté qui les a vus naître. À partir de cette hypothèse nous pouvons nous demander si ces écrivains relèvent de cette dimension d’entre-deux qui les caractérise et les positionne à l’intérieur de cet espace multiple; et si leur évolution personnelle et culturelle au bord de la Méditerranée, loin du pays de leurs parents, influe systématiquement sur leur écriture. Nous nous intéressons ici à Igiaba Scego, écrivaine marquée à la fois par la colonisation italienne et par la migration. Née en Italie en 1974 de parents Somaliens, Igiaba Scego, en phase avec son activité d’écrivaine, collabore avec des journaux italiens comme «L’Unità». Son oeuvre attire toute notre attention car elle embrasse différents thèmes: celui de la migration et du dialogue des cultures en Italie, l’expérience interculturelle de l’héritage postcolonial et la question de l’écriture au féminin.

Evaluation of biomass production potential and heating value of hybrid poplar genotypes in a short-rotation culture in Italy

Ensuring increased and sustainable biomass production is critical for European countries. Short-rotation coppice (SRC) plantations on agricultural lands have a great potential to increase biomass supply for biofuels, bioenergy, and bioproducts. In Italy, SRC is based on the use of fast growing species, high planting density, and short harvesting cycles. In this study, the performance of new genotypes to be used in SRC plantations for biomass production was evaluated after three biennial rotations. At the trial plantation in Mira (Northern Italy), six different poplar (Populus) genotypes, belonging to different interspecific hybrids were studied. This plantation provided the opportunity to study the relationships between survival, biomass production and other growth parameters over multiple rotations and for a wide genotypic range. Biomass production differed significantly among rotations starting from 16Mgha−1year−1 in the first, peaking at 20Mgha−1year−1 in the second, and decreasing to 17Mgha−1year−1 in the third rotation. At the end of each rotation, significant differences among genotypes were observed in number of shoots per stool and per ha, stem diameter, tree height, and biomass production. Mean survival rates became significantly different from the other rotations only in the third rotation during which survival rate ranged from 95% for (P.×generosa)×P. nigra ‘Monviso’ to 75% for (P.×generosa)×P. nigra ‘AF6’, but non-significant difference was observed among genotypes. Skewness and inequality of shoot size distributions were genotype-dependent and increased with rotations. Highest biomass production was found for genotypes P.×canadensis ‘83.148.041’, ‘Monviso’ and (P.×generosa)×P. trichocarpa ‘AF8’ with mean annual dry mass production of 21.7, 19.5 and 19.3Mgha−1year−1, respectively. Genotype×rotation interactions were significant on shoot size, diameter and number, but not on survival and biomass production highlighting that genotypes behaved differently over rotations. Moisture and ash content, wood specific gravity, and higher heating value were determined at the end of the third biennial rotation, and significant differences among genotypes were found. This study is critical for investigating the behavior of novel poplar genotypes with potential for commercial biomass production over multiple coppice rotations.

GOOD CATHOLICS, GOOD ITALIANS: RELIGION AND RESCUE IN RECENT ITALIAN HOLOCAUST DRAMAS

The Holocaust features prominently in a number of recent Italian television productions, many of which have focused on members of the Catholic clergy and on secular but pious historical figures. This article argues that such cultural products partake of a broader process of constructing a normative, ‘consensual’, and inherently conservative notion of Italian national identity for the twenty-first century. The article will combine two lines of enquiry. Firstly, it will situate these television products in the long-term history of conflicting and often mutually exclusive memory cultures in Italy, each vying for recognition in the public arena throughout the twentieth century. These fractured memory cultures find a common ground in the oft-mentioned myth of the ‘good Italian’. In the context of this long history, the article will then explore the challenge to fixed notions of Italian identity represented by the recent wave of immigration to the country, and television’s insufficient engagement with these developments. In exploring the place of Holocaust narratives in contemporary Italian television, this article examines the medium’s role as public historian and purveyor of far-from-neutral cultural values in a specific moment of the country’s history.

Publishing and technical culture in Italy 1863-1947

This analysis offers a partial view of the technical press within the wider changes in publishing during the considered period (1863–1947). Through examples of various titles, an integrated exposure is proposed, which demonstrates the context in which books and periodicals from subjects such as civil engineering, earth sciences, and transportation were published.

The Evolution of Professional Nursing Culture in Italy

We explored the perceptions of Italian nurses regarding their developing culture as a health profession. We sought to understand the ongoing evolution of the nursing profession and the changes that were central to it becoming an intellectual discipline on par with the other health professions in Italy. In 2010, the Regulatory Board of Nursing established a center of excellence to build evidence-based practice, advocate for interdisciplinary health care, and champion health profession reforms for nursing. In this study, focus groups—involving 66 nurse participants from various educational, clinical, and administrative backgrounds—were utilized to better ascertain how the profession has changed. Six themes, three of them metaphors—“vortex,” “leopard spots,” and “deductive jungle”—explain nurses’ experiences of professional change in Italy between 2001 and 2011 and the multiple dimensions that characterize their professional identity and autonomy.

Genetic evidence does not support an etruscan origin in Anatolia

The debate on the origins of Etruscans, documented in central Italy between the eighth century BC and the first century AD, dates back to antiquity. Herodotus described them as a group of immigrants from Lydia, in Western Anatolia, whereas for Dionysius of Halicarnassus they were an indigenous population. Dionysius' view is shared by most modern archeologists, but the observation of similarities between the (modern) mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNAs) of Turks and Tuscans was interpreted as supporting an Anatolian origin of the Etruscans. However, ancient DNA evidence shows that only some isolates, and not the bulk of the modern Tuscan population, are genetically related to the Etruscans. In this study, we tested alternative models of Etruscan origins by Approximate Bayesian Computation methods, comparing levels of genetic diversity in the mtDNAs of modern and ancient populations with those obtained by millions of computer simulations. The results show that the observed genetic similarities between modern Tuscans and Anatolians cannot be attributed to an immigration wave from the East leading to the onset of the Etruscan culture in Italy. Genetic links between Tuscany and Anatolia do exist, but date back to a remote stage of prehistory, possibly but not necessarily to the spread of farmers during the Neolithic period.

Current status and future perspectives of Italian finfish aquaculture

Currently available data show that shellfish and finfish production in Italy, derived both from fisheries and aquaculture activities, is on the order of 474,000 tons, each activity representing 50 % of the total amount. In this context, the finfish aquaculture industry contributes on average 31 % to the national aquaculture production and on average 59 % of its value, giving a total amount of 72,000 tons and a value of around 351 million € (2010). According to FEAP statistics, Italy is the fourth largest finfish producer in EU27, after the UK, Greece, and Spain, while it is also one of the six largest finfish producers among the non-EU and EU member countries, together with Norway, UK, Greece, Turkey, and Spain. Presently, fish culture activities are mainly focused on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, 55.5 %), followed by European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, 13.6 %), gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata, 12.2 %), gray mullet (Mugil cephalus, 5.3 %), sturgeon (Acipenser spp., 2 %), and European eel (Anguilla anguilla, 1.7 %). Over the last 20 years, freshwater fish production and aquaculture (trout, carp, and eel) have decreased in Italy, with the exception of sturgeon. In contrast, marine fish production has significantly increased during the same period, and the two leading species, European sea bass and gilthead sea bream, presently contribute 25.8 % of the finfish production. From 1,900 tons in 1990, production reached 19,000 tons in 2010, with a 900 % increase, at an average percentage of 4.5 %. In addition, new marine fish species were successfully cultured over the same period. This review outlines the past and present situation of finfish culture in Italy and discusses future developments and priorities, with particular emphasis on new, emerging aquaculture species.

Palliative care training and research: The development in Europe and the Bologna experience

Development of palliative care (PC) culture spur the need of proper and formal training. Palliative medicine is not fully recognized as an academic medical discipline due to its humanistic influences, and studies show that physicians declare to be not prepared to provide care and pain management to dying patients. Nowadays, despite leading countries in PC being considered more innovative than other countries,such as Italy, facts show that the achievement of acknowledged discipline went through a long process. In Italy,professionals from about 450 PC units and organizations need to receive a proper and homogeneous training. In Italy, palliative medicine official certification is an undergoing process advocated by a few organizations and in Bologna the Academy of the Sciences of Palliative Medicine operates since 2007 with the defined mission of developing PC culture, also within the University. In order to be as much effective in pursuing its mission, the Academy has strengthened several international cooperation programs and today is leader in PC professional training and research in Italy. The recent law and its feasibility is fastening the process of development of Palliative Care Culture in Italy even if training is not properly regulated and official certification for physician is under evaluation. In Europe, the European Association of Palliative Care is stressing the need for training programs in palliative medicine and the outcomes of the dedicated task force on official certification and specialty in Palliative Medicine will remarkably force policy makers and national councils to officially recognize the discipline.

Cultural Activities and Economic Development: A Territorial Survey

This paper studies the characteristics of the cultural sector in Italy and its interactions with the production system as a whole. After stating a clear definition of the cultural sector, we analyze the demand and supply of culture in Italy, at a regional level. We carry out descriptive analysis of household cultural spending, the pricing of the different cultural activities, and the capability of regional cultural heritage to attract tourists. Then we examine, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the public financing of culture in the Italian regions, also on the basis of the opinions of a panel of qualified experts, expressly interviewed for this work. Finally we give an overview of the regulatory framework and of the main administrative features of the cultural sector. Some open questions arise from our work, as well as many options for policy measures: the distribution of competences between the different levels of government; the form and the extension of private involvement; the governance of cultural initiatives.

Finalitŕ e sapere della pianificazione spaziale. Appunti per la ricostruzione di uno statuto disciplinare

Urban planning culture in Italy, but also elsewhere, is experiencing a period of particular academic and social weakness. This weakness is seen, at least in part, in the absence of rules for the discipline to reinforce training processes and to give them authority. Planning culture today is characterised by a large number of different objectives which are not always clear and consistent with each other. No codified technical language exists with which to communicate without too many misunderstandings. A training process cannot be based on practices alone, but requires the support of institutionalised knowledge and it is therefore indispensible to ask the question whether it is still possible to refer to spatial planning as a discipline.

Twisted Roots. Intellectuals, Mass Culture and Political Culture in Italy

Twisted Roots. Intellectuals, Mass Culture and Political Culture in Italy The article examines the rise of mass culture in Italy from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. It particularly analyses the literary production, politically organised cultural offering as well as the role of the intellectuals. Despite the high illiteracy rate (until the beginning of the twentieth century higher than in other countries), different mass-cultural spheres developed throughout Western Europe. The socialist and Catholic communities decisively contributed to this development. With the help of their own publications and distribution channels as well as libraries, they encouraged the population to read. Simultaneously, intellectuals and writers with precarious social situations hoped for new fields of activity in the emerging cultural industries. The gap between these expectations and modern reality led many of these observers to criticise massculture. In some cases, it even led to political radicalisation and rapprochement with the fascist movement.

The pursuit of Italy: a history of a land, its regions, and their peoples

This is the book that explains the whole extraordinary course of Italian history like no other in English. The Pursuit of Italy traces the whole history of the Italian peninsula in a wonderfully readable style, full of well-chosen stories and observations from personal experience, and peopled by many of the great figures of the Italian past, from Cicero and Virgil to Dante and the Medici, from Cavour and Verdi to the controversial political figures of the twentieth century. The book gives a clear-eyed view of the Risorgimento, the pivotal event in modern Italian history, debunking the influential myths which have grown up around it. Gilmour shows that the glory of Italy has always lain in its regions, with their distinctive art, civic cultures, identities and cuisine and whose inhabitants identified themselves not as Italians, but as Tuscans and Venetians, Sicilians and Lombards, Neapolitans and Genoese. This is where the strength and culture of Italy still comes from, rather than from misconceived and mishandled concepts of nationalism and unity. This wise and enormously engaging book explains the course of Italian history in a manner and with a coherence which no one with an interest in the country could fail to enjoy. David Gilmour is one of Britain's most admired and accomplished historical writers and biographers. His previous books include The Last Leopard : A Life of Giuseppe di Lampedusa (winner of the Marsh Biography Award) Curzon (Duff Cooper Prize) and Long Recessional:The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling (Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography).

Identifying best practices in short‐term eruption forecasting

Volcano Observatory Best Practices Workshop: Near‐Term Eruption Forecasting; Erice, Italy, 11–15 September 2011 Eighty volcanologists associated with volcano observatories in 27 countries gathered at the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture in Italy to share experiences and develop synergy in shortterm forecasting of eruptions. The meeting was conducted under the aegis of the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO); sponsored by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI); and endorsed by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Figures of the socio-political, scientific, and cultural life of Italy, 17–19 centuries. The exhibition of autographs at the RSL

2011 — the Year of Russian culture and Russian language in Italy and the Year of Italian Culture and Italian language in Russia is the culmination of centuries-old ties between Moscow and Rome. The history of relations between Russia and Italy is intimately associated with the interpenetration of cultures of two countries: Italy culture in Russia — due to famous and great architects, sculptors, musicians, and Russian in Italy, where many painters, poets and writers from our Fatherland worked. “Cross-year” also has been reflected in the activities of the Russian State Library, where was the exhibition of the Italian autographs of 17–19 centuries, presented to visitors for the first time from 10 to 30 June 2011. There are letters and documents written with the own hand of those who made up blossom to Italy, working for the blessing and country prosperity, struggling for its independence.

All the World is a Book: Italian Renaissance Printing in a Global Perspective

One of the most interesting features of Renaissance culture in Italy was its obsession with knowledge about other peoples and their customs. This was likely due to more than just intellectual curiosity. You might even call it an anxiety about wanting to know more about the world beyond the Mediterranean so that “Italians” could understand better their own place and social identity vis-a-vis other peoples and places. How, then, did literature about or from distant lands contribute to shaping identity, inform values, and promote collective self-reflection? After briefly discussing the development and the impact of printing in Italy, I will consider the relationship between texts and material formats in Olaus Magnus’s Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (1555), a work that enjoyed a wide circulation and that described the many marvels of a relatively hitherto unknown part of the world, Scandinavia, to Italian readers. I will then briefly discuss two other books, Nicolas Monardes’ popular work, Historia medicinal (1565–1569) and Giambattista della Porta’s Magia naturalis (1558) as instances of changing attitudes and practices.

The Italian Communist Party and the “Lysenko Affair” (1948–1955)

This article explores the impact of the VASKhNIL conference upon the cultural policy of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and Italian communist biology, with particular attention to the period between 1948 and 1951. News of the Moscow session did not appear in the Italian news media until October, 1948, and for the next three years party biologists struggled over whether to translate the official transcript of the proceedings, The Situation in Biological Science, into Italian. This struggle reveals the complex efforts of the PCI to confirm the ideological and political connection with the Soviet Union, without completely alienating significant milieus of the democratic and antifascist culture in Italy. The apparent impossibility of doing both is indicated by the fact that the project was finally abandoned in March-April, 1951. The article is divided into three sections, each focused on different actors and their response to Lysenkoism. The first section outlines the features of the PCI's pro-Lysenko campaign, with particular regard to the intellectual militancy and organizational commitment of Emilio Sereni, head of PCI's Cultural Commission between 1948 and 1951. The second section analyzes the reaction of the three most important figures in Italian communist biology during this period, Massimiliano Aloisi, Franco Graziosi and Emanuele Padoa. The third section interprets the decision not to publish a translation of The Situation in Biological Science as a consequence of the conflicts between PCI cultural program and the editorial policy of the left-wing publishing house Giulio Einaudi Editore.