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The aim of this article is to draw attention to 'literary' names in humanist epistolography, by means of examples of interpretation and of an ironic, mocking and disruptive playing with names, taken mainly from the epistulae familiares of prominent late fifteenth-century intellectuals. The first part of my paper contains a selection of names from the correspondence of Marcantonio Sabellico. The second, which includes other literary genres, examines the case of Angelo Poliziano, whose cognomen seems to have been specially designed for readings that were either adulatory or witty, and sometimes simply offensive, in the writings of his contemporaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The macroeconomic effects of social capital are typically studied using data at country, region or, at most, province level of aggregation. However, social capital is defined by connections among agents who know each other and its effects, if any, should be detected at a more detailed level of spatial aggregation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study using longitudinal municipality-level data to investigate the causal link between social capital and growth. We extend earlier research by accounting for the endogeneity of all the covariates as well as unobserved heterogeneity. The evidence suggests that social capital has been a source of growth inequality in Italy between 1951 and 2001. The causal effect of social capital on growth is positive, on average, and stronger in the Centre-North of Italy. In addition, it was higher in the 1950s. The paper also presents local estimates of the growth return to social capital, which are of interest for specific sub-populations of municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well-known among historians that rhetoric was at the centre of the studia humaniora in the Italian Renaissance and an important part of education in those times. In this essay the author draws attention to three short tracts discussing the merits of rhetoric from various points of view. Ognibene da Lonigo claims in Oratio de laudibus eloquentiae (1485) that rhetoric is absolutely indispensable in all fields of human life. In Filippo Beroaldo's Declamatio philosophi, medici et oratoris de excellentia disceptantium (1497), the orator gains the victory over his rivals. Both these writers argue mainly by citing 'authorities'. In his Dialogus de eloquentia (set down before 1555), Marcantonio Maioragio tries to argue by rational argument for the higher value of the studia humaniora over an exclusively Christian education. None of the three authors achieves more than plausibility for his claim. The echo of Cicero's philosophical and rhetorical works is clearly perceptible in all of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article discusses the microhistory of local merchants and traders from the Liguria region of Italy in the region of Genoa, Italy in the second half of the 18th century. Topics discussed include the historiography of river merchants of Liguria, hierarchies of trade and politics, and the relationships between merchants and their home villages.