Bandits on the bench. Issues from the Kingdom of Naples (XVII century), by Annastella Carrino, Roberta Falcetta, Giovanna Patruno
This dossier aims to intercept the plural manifestations of banditry in the South of Italy in the modern age. On the basis of the case studies encountered in the judicial fund of the Regia Udienza di Lucera, a provincial court with jurisdiction over the provinces of Capitanata and Contado di Molise, we proceeded to test, in a specific context, the topoi that have characterized the study of the phenomenon so far: the bandits themselves, the community, the feudality, the Church, the forces of control, the legislation, and the trial dynamics. Far from having answers and providing solid reconstructions of profiles, facts and mechanisms, our investigation ends up provoking mostly questions, or, said otherwise, noting the complexity and richness of a history that is only apparently banal and repetitive.
Keywords: Banditry, Crime, Kingdom of Naples.
Woods, ships, mills. Some reflections on the role of timber in the growth of the 12th century (from Tuscan sources), by Jacopo Paganelli
The essay deals with the general theme of economic growth in Tuscany in the 12th century, focusing on the use of timber. As the century progressed, the need for that raw material climbed: due to the growth in population and trade, wood was increasingly in demand for the construction of ships and for the building of mills, necessary to grind the grain needed to sustain the demographic exploit. The increased demand for timber raised the value of forests and uncultivated land, benefiting their owners.
Keywords: Growth, Xiith Century, Tuscany, Timber, Ships, Mills.
Discretio, prophetia and Chiara of Montefalco: directional activities of a living saint, by Taro Shirakawa
This article sheds light on Chiara da Montefalco’s directional activities through the perspective of her exercise of Discretio. In her lifetime, the term Discretio was still in conceptual flux, indicating from the Pauline discernment of spirits, distinction of good and bad, to judgement and advice on proper conduct. It also overlapped with prophecy, a particular form of cognition about hidden things. Being recognised as a living prophetess, Clare was able to guide thoughts and behaviour of the believers around her, to practice discernment of spirits and to eliminate potential rivals as heretics or deceived. Her devotees accepted those her direction as the work of a prophecy about the present or Discretio. Clare’s case shows that the charismatic authority of the living saint appropriated and conducted the conceptual apparatus and practices formed by the institutional Church. She, too, was a promoter of the process of disciplining, though constantly complicating it.
Keywords: Discretio, Discernment of Spirits, Spiritual Direction, Living Saints.
Birth of a grassroots community in Florence in the 70s: the group of Don Luigi Consonni, Maurizio Bassetti
In this essay the author presents the work carried out in the 70s, in the parish of Corpus Christi in Florence, by Don Luigi Consonni, a little-known figure of the Florentine panorama of those years, which instead it would be right to re-evaluate. The young priest of the congregation of Don Guanella, formed in the atmosphere of the Second Vatican Council, became a point of reference for dozens of young people, fostering their human and spiritual growth. The political climate and the events of the Italian and Florentine Church of those years then led him to radical choices and to try his hand at the experience of a grassroots community, a parable common to many other ecclesial realities. The characteristics of that ecclesial experience and the reasons for the transition from a parish group to a basic community are the object of this work.
Keywords: Church, Grassroots Community, Florentine Church, Luigi Consonni.
A new museum for an ‘ancient’ history? Transfiguration of the ‘tin soldier’, by Guido Vannini
This paper will touch on some aspects of the history and character of the ‘Museo del Figurino Storico’ in Calenzano at a moment of transition in the history of a museum that retains its uniqueness in the national panorama. Certainly an episode, but it is a case that plays an interesting role for two reasons: it ‘covers’ an actually scientifically marginal sector of the historical (and/or archaeological? ) – that of the (originally and mainly, actually ‘toy soldier’) historical figurine – but with a dynamic and experimental approach that has made the institution peculiar of its kind; the second reason is that the current transition offers the possibility of entering a season, that of public history and archaeology, which, provided it does not close in on itself, offers the museum the opportunity to use, even in experimental forms, all the potential of an original capability to share the results of certain fields of historical-archaeological research with civil society that accompanies and integrates other forms present or being developed throughout Europe.
Keywords: Museum, History, Archaeology, Figurine, Calenzano, Bevagna
