In various lists of the books owned by Leonardo da Vinci, the artist notes the titles of several manuals of ars dictandi. The surviving epistolary documents which can be attributed to him – an... Show moreIn various lists of the books owned by Leonardo da Vinci, the artist notes the titles of several manuals of ars dictandi. The surviving epistolary documents which can be attributed to him – an original letter, not however in his own hand, and several copies – do not allow us to assess to what degree Leonardo used these manuals in writing his own correspondence. As a whole, though, the manuals would seem to constitute a coherent collection which might indicate the existence of a rationally organised plan to acquire proficiency in this skill. The article attempts to describe this ‘macrotext’, starting with a description of the treatises mentioned by Leonardo and including an analysis of the role they played in the development of epistolary skills generally. On the basis of this reconstruction the article hypothetically outlines the criteria which might have guided Leonardo in choosing certain texts from the diverse range of manuals in this field which were then available. Show less
Migliavacca, M.; Bandera, S.; Bezzi, J.; Casarotto, A.; Pisoni, L. 2021
In this paper we present the preliminary results of the 2019 field survey conducted in the framework of the project “Beyond the border. Study and enhancement of the highlands between Veneto and... Show moreIn this paper we present the preliminary results of the 2019 field survey conducted in the framework of the project “Beyond the border. Study and enhancement of the highlands between Veneto and Trentino”. The aim of this overarching project, which applies a multidisciplinary approach, is threefold: to detect in this mountain landscape the main activity areas and reconstruct possible connections between them; to analyse the long-term relationships between Trentino and Prealpine Veneto from prehistory to the present day; and to study the evolving function of this frontier area during periods of conflict/interaction. Several methods were employed to shed light on the above-mentioned research aims: field-walking survey, analysis of aerial photos, ethnographic and archival research, GIS-based landscape analysis and predictive modelling, and LiDAR data for feature detection in wooded areas. The combined use of all these approaches allowed us to identify long-term exploitation activities, which are documented also by both the ethnographic and archaeological data. The major periods of conflict in these areas are also highlighted in the archaeological record. The 2019-survey campaign opens up new research directions such as the future excavation of Bronze Age occupation zones; network and connectivity analysis between Prealpine Veneto and Trentino; hillforts and their interaction with the highlands. Show less
The article aims to investigate the relationship between myth and origin of literature according to Cesare Pavese. It compares the reflections contained in Il mestiere di vivere and La letteratura...Show moreThe article aims to investigate the relationship between myth and origin of literature according to Cesare Pavese. It compares the reflections contained in Il mestiere di vivere and La letteratura americana e altri saggi to the interpretation offered about by Ernesto de Martino in La fine del mondo. The focus is Pavese’s idea of literature, characterized by a strong mythical-symbolic component and intended as a barrier against the cultural apocalypses of modernity. Show less
Nonostante il fervore che ha caratterizzato gli studi epistolografici negli ultimi anni, ancora poco studiato risulta il settore della trattatistica quattrocentesca. Tuttavia, la pubblicazione di... Show moreNonostante il fervore che ha caratterizzato gli studi epistolografici negli ultimi anni, ancora poco studiato risulta il settore della trattatistica quattrocentesca. Tuttavia, la pubblicazione di alcuni importanti strumenti di ricerca quali il Medieval and Renaissance Letter Treatises and Form Letters (Polak, 1993-2015) o l’ISTC, fa ben sperare per una prossima inversione di tendenza. Per quanto riguarda la produzione in volgare, i cataloghi hanno consentito di identificare quello che è probabilmente il primo manuale stampato, l’anonimo Trattato de li ditamini (ISTC it00427400); sul versante manoscritto essi hanno permesso di rintracciare uno dei primi trattati di ars epistolandi del Quattrocento (cod. 2333, Biblioteca Statale di Lucca), e di identificare nuove testimonianza riconducibili alla “preistoria” del celebre Formulario di epistole missive e responsive di Bartolomeo Miniatore. Tra i documenti registrati nel catalogo del Polak, si propone in queste pagine lo studio di una raccolta di soprascritte e intestazioni con rubriche in volgare composta in area bolognese nell’ultimo quarto del ’400. Si tratta di una tipologia trattatistica particolarmente negletta dalla critica, che in realtà può consentire di riflettere su un passaggio tutt’altro che secondario nella storia dell’epistolografia del Rinascimento: quello cioè dell’evoluzione tre-quattrocentesca della salutatio, una delle sezioni più soggette a riflessione teorica nelle artes medievali. Dal trattatello emerge, infatti, una tipologia epistolare alternativa a quella tradizionalmente in oggetto nei manuali due- trecenteschi, che, per diversi aspetti, risulta simile a quella ancora oggi in uso. Dei Soprascripti si tenta qui un’approfondita descrizione, e se ne pubblica in appendice un ampio estratto. Show less
This paper diacusses the Avellino Event Project and the Minor Centres project. Both projects add to the long term reconstruction of the human landscape in the plain south of Sezze (Agro Pontino,... Show moreThis paper diacusses the Avellino Event Project and the Minor Centres project. Both projects add to the long term reconstruction of the human landscape in the plain south of Sezze (Agro Pontino, Lazio). Show less
Il numero tematico ‘L’Italia e la Francia: Scambi culturali’ esce in contemporanea con il numero speciale ‘La France et l’Italie: Échanges culturels’ della rivista di Studi Francesi RELIEF. Revue...Show moreIl numero tematico ‘L’Italia e la Francia: Scambi culturali’ esce in contemporanea con il numero speciale ‘La France et l’Italie: Échanges culturels’ della rivista di Studi Francesi RELIEF. Revue électronique de littérature française. Potenziali autori sono stati invitati a riflettere sugli scambi culturali tra l’Italia e la Francia dal Medioevo fino ad oggi. La religione, la politica, le scienze e le arti hanno gettato le basi per una relazione proficua e molto stretta tra i due paesi. Ci sono stati dei periodi di intensificazione di tali rapporti transnazionali tra le due lingue e culture: si pensi all’influenza della lirica dei trovatori provenzali alla corte siciliana nel Duecento, o al traffico intenso messo in moto dai regnanti amanti dell’arte nelle città-stato italiane durante il Rinascimento invitando artisti e musicisti francesi alle loro corti. Altri esempi di questi incontri culturali sono il grand tour che portò gli aristocrati francesi a visitare il Bel Paese nel Settecento, il cosmopolitismo dell’Ottocento, le avanguardie, tra cui quelle italiane, concentratesi nella Parigi dell’inizio del Novecento. Non si dimentichino poi le ondate di migrazioni politiche, economiche e culturali e la crescente globalizzazione dei rapporti culturali a partire dal 1950.Come si può desumere dal temario, si parte da una prospettiva interdisciplinare e non limitata nel tempo con lo scopo di ricostruire alcune costellazioni di scambi e di collaborazioni, che insieme formano un campo fluido e in movimento tra le due culture che potremmo identificare con la categoria del transnazionale. Mentre la penisola italica è stata caratterizzata come un crocevia di culture, la Francia invece rappresenta nell’immaginario collettivo piuttosto una forza culturale egemonica e centralizzante. I rapporti culturali tra i due paesi sono stati di varia natura nei diversi periodi storici, fino a cristallizzarsi da una parte in un modello francese identificato con Parigi e, dall’altra, in un pluralismo di contatti con una geografia socialmente e etnicamente differenziata coinvolgendo singoli artisti o movimenti. Show less
Authorial variants in Annibal Caro’s Apologia · The collation of 20 copies, traditionally indicated for the scrutiny of an edition like this consisting of a thousand copies, proved to be... Show moreAuthorial variants in Annibal Caro’s Apologia · The collation of 20 copies, traditionally indicated for the scrutiny of an edition like this consisting of a thousand copies, proved to be insufficient to clearly reconstruct the printing phases of this princeps. It shows a complex situation attested today by the collation of 84 copies (almost a quarter of those emerging from catalogs in Italy and abroad), which reveals the importance that this text has played for Caro during the note controversy with Ludovico Castelvetro: the reconstruction of the material genesis of the Apologia offers one of the best examples of personal promotion implemented through the press within the so called “questione della lingua”.Therefore, this contribution presents a privileged philological case, because it is rich in information, in which the typologies of textual variations and the possible linguistic, stylistic, content and mechanical motivations claim the consideration of multiple material aspects, even paper and watermarks, and illustrate the importance of collating surviving copies and the need to conduct it extensively and systematically if we want to offer to the public today a work realized during the period of manual printing. Show less
This study presents the results of chemical analyses on a specific type of decorated ceramics, the so-called maiolica compendiario, which was produced and traded throughout many areas of Europe... Show moreThis study presents the results of chemical analyses on a specific type of decorated ceramics, the so-called maiolica compendiario, which was produced and traded throughout many areas of Europe between ca. AD 1550 and 1650. Due to the enormous success of the compendiario, and the similarity in the ceramic style amongst different European production centers, faience decorated in compendiario faces many attribution problems (Jaspers 2009; 2012b). The Dutch soil revealed a large amount and wide range of maiolica decorated in compendiario. Dozens of them have been positively linked to French production (e.g. Nevers and Rouen), the area of central Italy (e.g.. the cities of Faenza and Deruta), and Southern Italy (e.g. Castelli d’Abruzzo and/or Naples/Salerno). However, there is a broad but unique category of compendiario that belongs to one specific homogeneous stylistic group, which has several authentication problems. In previous literature, it was often incorrectly attributed to a provenance in Faenza, the Italian city that invented the style, or to Haarlem/Delft, because Dutch borders contained the most archaeological examples of this compendiario type. Yet, Nina Jaspers claimed, based on stylistic similarities with other Ligurian productions , that this particular group was produced in Liguria (Albisola and Savona); on the northwestern Italian coast (Jaspers 2007a; 2007b; 2007c; 2009; 2012a, 2012b; 2013). In this research, we tested Jaspers’ hypothesis through chemical analysis with a portable-XRF (pXRF) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) on the maiolica paste composition. A large dataset of 200 faience samples from archaeological excavations in Amsterdam, Enkhuizen, Hoorn and ceramic reference material from Italy (Liguria, Venice, Faenza, Naples), France (Nevers) and Portugal were analysed. The results of the analysis and the comparison of following elemental ratios: Fe/Sr, Zr/Ti for pXRF and La/Sc; Th/Co; La/Cr; Th/Sc; La/Lu; Y/Tb; V/Sc for ICP-MS, provide solid evidence to connect the unique group of compendiario retrieved from Dutch soil to the Ligurian reference materials. Hence, through the interpretation of the trace and rare earth elements values, we confirmed Jaspers’ hypothesis that the majority of imported compendiario in the Netherlands belongs to Ligurian production, rejecting the previous attributions to a production provenance in Faenza, Haarlem or Delft. Moreover, the results from this analysis demonstrated that faience during the 16th and 17th centuries can be analysed and distinguished by the composition of matrix components either with pXRF, being non-invasive, and with micro-destructive analysis with ICP-MS. This research called for a reconsideration of the European production of compendiario, confuting the previous false attributions, and quantitatively places Ligurian production as one of the most prominent in Europe. Show less
This article aims to: present a literature review about Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) for practicing teachers and teachers in preparation; set up a link between TBLT and the guidelines of the... Show moreThis article aims to: present a literature review about Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) for practicing teachers and teachers in preparation; set up a link between TBLT and the guidelines of the Action-Oriented Approach described in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages; and bring together current theory, research and practice. In this paper we define the notion of ‘task’ and we discuss the relationship between TBLT and a communicative language teaching. We also describe a TBLT syllabus, we analyse different instructional sequences, we outline our own framework according to the TBLT criteria and we argue which place the Focus on form must have in it. Additionally we explore which possibilities the Web 2.0 provides to this methodology. The text is illustrated with examples in order to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Show less
