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In the history of archaeology, Cosimo De Giorgi is known mainly for his discoveries in Lecce in the early 20th century when, in the area of Piazza S. Oronzo, during excavations at the 'Isola del Governatore', he unearthed the amphitheatre, the most representative monument of Roman Lupiae to date. On the same occasion, De Giorgi brought to light, for the first time in Lecce, a sequence of layers referable to the ancient town, thus initiating research on the Messapian and Roman phases that, until then, were attested by erratic finds that had been presented in an inaccurate or fanciful way. The results of these important investigations were published in 1907 in "Lecce sotterranea", an accurate report that provides insight into De Giorgi's working method, based on patient excavation, the careful recording and prudent interpretation of the archaeological data, and the drawing up of plans showing the precise position of ancient artefacts. In this paper, with the help of largely unpublished documents, "Lecce sotterranea" is the starting point for outlining the profile and characteristics of Cosimo De Giorgi as an archaeologist. Its aim is to highlight the European dimension of the scholar by recalling the network of relations that he established with the most famous archaeologists of the time, as well as the battles he vigorously fought to excavate, conserve and make accessible the amphitheatre, which, thanks to his efforts, was declared a 'national monument' in 1906. The aim of this paper is also to examine De Giorgi's activities in making the results of his research known to both the general public and the institutions, and the legacy of his discoveries and intuitions, that are aspects of considerable importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers the edition and linguistic-lexical analysis of an unpublished document, preserved in the State Archives of Naples, written in Melpignano (LE) in 1460 and addressed to princess Anna Colonna, wife of Giovanni Antonio Orsini del Balzo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we intend to disclose the contribution given by Cosimo De Giorgi to the start of epigraphic studies in Salento. The discussion is carried out in three distinct paragraphs: the first offers a survey of all the inscriptions, both in dialect and in Italian, mentioned in the famous "travel sketches"; in the second one takes stock of the situation on the major epigraphs in the vernacular still available in the Terra d'Otranto, pointing out three unpublished inscriptions; in the third and in the appendix there is news of an autograph by De Giorgi containing a large collection of Salento inscriptions. Contextually, the relationship between De Giorgi and some important Byzantinists of the time is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The linguistic landscape of the Italian Salento is heterogeneous in terms of the graphic choices made by Salentino writers. Indeed, the dialect spoken in Salento has no established written standard, so the trend appears to be to primarily rely on Italian orthographic norm. Consequently, for the Salentino writers it's not easy to represent sounds that are not found in the Italian phonology. This paper investigates the graphic solutions adopted in the linguistic landscape of 77 Salento towns to represent the retroflex consonant, the voiceless postalveolar fricative, syntactic gemination and consonant lengthening in writing. The use of diacritics and of graphemes that are not common in the Italian script is also documented. Data show how the absence of orthographic norms in Salento leads both to a high variability, and to a general adherence to the Italian system. The result is often a hiding of phonetic and phonological forms that are typical of Salentino. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a chapter of an Old Salentino medieval text is edited and analyzed, for the first time, as a source of linguistic information. The so-colled Grigoriu is an anonymous vernacular translation of the Tetrastichae Sententiae, a 4th century Greek poetic work by Gregory of Nazianzus. The Old Salentino translation, written in the Greek alphabet, survives in a unique manuscript, the codex Vaticano Greco 2252, copied in Terra d'Otranto around the 1330s. The Sententiae are here translated along with the commentary on the text by Nicola / Nilo Dossapatre, written in the 12th century. A linguistic analysis shows the importance of the data provided by the Vatican manuscript for the reconstruction of the historical grammar of the Salentino dialects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If we were to use the categories of historiographical controversy, we would have to conclude that the the story of Gregorio Carruggio represented one of the few cases of intellectual anti-fascism militant in Salento: in fact, from the news we recovered, there were no other malicious cases in Lecce of public fires of the printing machines, such as the one that touched the "Italia Meridionale" paper, directed by Carruggio. And this would be enough. By reading the newspaper, we can know the profile of a free man like few others, who produces a thought and a work, which they did not want to foment revolting masses, but like few other intellectuals were able to surround a class with a void inadequate, false, and often even ridiculous manager. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to deal with a rather debated topic in the context of historiography on fascism, namely the role that the prefects played in its affirmation, especially in the Southern regions. After analyzing continuity and differences in the prefectural functions between the Giolitti age and fascism, especially in relation to the figure of the so-called "political prefect", the essay offers a reconstruction of the case study of the Terra d'Otranto, focusing attention on figures such as Eugenio De Carlo and Enrico D'Arienzo. The survey highlights the non-negligible difficulties through which the action of the prefectural authority had to unravel in Lecce and in the province, witnessed by rapid changes and removals. Moreover, this signaled the serious problems of consensus and stability in the political direction that fascism had to face, especially in the early years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to offer an overview of the historiography on "local fascisms", exploring the reasons that led to its emergence, between the Seventies and Nineties of the Twentieth century, and its subsequent developments. At the same time, the main issues that, in the last forty years, have presided over the investigative work on the link between fascism and the South will be examined. Local fascisms in the Mezzogiorno were questioned through the theme of continuity and ruptures between the liberal and fascist ruling classes and that of the internal balances within the "agrarian bloc", whose interpretation was based on the categories of "modernization" and "corporatism". The article closes by illustrating issues and problems posed by the case of the advent of fascism in the Terra d'Otranto and in the province of Lecce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemics and pandemics plagued the human existence for centuries; then, as now, the first reaction is to pray. In some Christian denominations the prayer was addressed to the saints; even today the most invoked saints are St. Rita, St. Rocco, and St. Sebastian. The Covid-19 pandemic remember us that we still have to face these types of calamities. What is the best way to communicate such a shocking event? Media and social media catch people's attention. In Italy there are different points of view about this unknown disease and the vaccine effectiveness. This is a critical situation and people are called to take a stand. Who to believe? To the saints or to the healthcare workers, the new "heroes" of Covid19 pandemic? This paper debates what health communication methods have been used since 2020 and which one should be consider the best choice. This was done by analysing data, as number of followers, of some of the physicians and communicators who have spoken about Covid-19. In the past, during epidemic and pandemic situations, people entrusted saints. Nowadays people could choose from the pantheon of these divine and deified professionals, preferring those who are more reassuring. The user needs a communicative style with which he feels informed, reassured, but at the same time listened to, understood, and not judged, just as if he were protected by a saint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay examines Rebibbia Quarantine, a series of animated shorts released by renowned Italian comic artist Zerocalcare (Michele Rech) both on his social network channels and via television broadcast in the Spring of 2020. The series chronicles the consequences of the lockdown on the author himself and the people of his neighborhood, Rebibbia (a suburban district of Rome). While these shorts are comedic in tone, I argue they can actually be considered as an example of 'graphic journalism', albeit combined with a semi-autobiographical, diaristic narrative. This paper engages in a close reading of Zerocalcare's pandemicrelated shorts, exploring their peculiarities as regards to content, style and format, and underlining their importance in the Italian media covering of the Covid-19 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a short essay by Francesco Muscogiuri, entitled Di alcuni caratteri meno popolari della Divina Commedia, published in Florence in 1889. Here the author, who had been a pupil of Francesco De Sanctis at the University of Naples, analyzes three figures from Dante's poem, Guido da Montefeltro, Belacqua and Piccarda Donati, trying to highlight their "characters". The essay retraces the main points of this study, which deserves to be remembered in the panorama of Dante's criticism of the late nineteenth century because it is one of the few who remain faithful to the method and overall interpretation of the Commedia offered by De Sanctis in a period of clear prevalence of the "historical school", as we try to demonstrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the Rapporto, an essay on the Chinese calendar, composed by Sabatino de Ursis S.J., priest and missionary in China, in 1612. In the Rapporto, the first of its kind to be written in a European language, de Ursis accurately reported on the features of the Chinese calendar, in the perspective of reforming it. On the basis of the western developments in the science, he gave a critical account of the notable lacks present in Chinese astronomy and other scientific disciplines. Sabatino de Ursis’s scientific contribution is to be considered in the wider context of Matteo Ricci’s strategy aimed at promoting the evangelization of the populations of the Far East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the argumentation developed by Vanini, widely in his works, on the power of imagination understood, on the cognitive level, no more as aristotelian capability intermediate between sense and intellect, but as capability essentially active, capable of determining change on bodies. Particularly, this work underlines Vanini's intent to bring back a naturalistic explanation of all the extraordinary and unusual phenomena to the imagination operating power of acting on and modifying the corporeal reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay attempts a reappraisal of the content and form of a Latin epigram attributed to Antonio Tebaldeo. It is dedicated to a presumed portrait of Lucrezia Crivelli by Leonardo da Vinci which some critics have identified with the famous Leonardo portrait of the Belle Ferronnière datable to 1493-1494 (Paris, Louvre Museum, on loan at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi). As known, Tebaldeo's Latin text is handed down by two slightly different manuscripts: one appears in the Codex Atlanticus of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana (c. 456, formerly 167 rectoc) dated to the 1490s; the other, an early 16th-century apograph, is comprised in the section "pictura" of the Codex Ottobonianus 2860, c. 160r (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana). So far, neither version has properly been investigated, and this has prevented us from reaching a correct evaluation of Tebaldeo's epigram. In an earlier essay (still unpublished), I made an endeavor to evaluate both versions: this may provide us with some clues to the fortuna critica of the epigram from the late 15th century onwards. In the present abbreviated paper I shall briefly investigate both poems with regards to notions of Beauty and Nature. Leonardo's inventiveness, his ability to portray Crivelli's likeness and convey immortality to it through his art, are exalted in both versions. Literally speaking, Tebaldeo's epigram highly praises Lucrezia's beauty, being considered a great gift of Nature to her which, however, is doomed to perish as a consequence of time. Yet, Lucrezia's physique will remain ineffaceable thanks to Leonardo's pictorial art, thus becoming timeless. The essay briefly explores both concepts contained in Tebaldeo's epigram: that of immortal beauty created by art and considered a real and threatening challenge to Nature; and that of human beauty perpetuated through art; in this case, Leonardo's marvelous pictorial invention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the wide collection of Leonardo da Vinci's Machines, interpreted and built by Giuseppe Manisco, which represent the items in the Museum dedicated to them in Galatone (Lecce), the Binoculars have a prominent position. A small but revolutionary object, as it was surprisingly conceived a century before scientists like Galileo Galilei - whose invention is linked to - did. Through a careful analysis of Folio 25 of Manuscript F by Leonardo da Vinci, further confirmed by detailed considerations, this paper aims at drawing attention, this time in the field of optics, on the greatest genius of all time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with a XVIII c. comedy which has been re-edited by Donato Valli in 2006. The comedy (hereafter Stampita) is written in Sallentinian and is composed by 461 proparoxyton septenaries. These verses result in a sustained rhythm throughout a discussion between three characters about what we may call nowadays an agri-food topic. Two laymen and a physician argue on a technique that was used to reduce the presence of acid in grape fermentation, namely the one which is based on the use of gypsum in the wine. The point is whether this technique improves the product without causing health injuries in wine consumers. Since the language used by the scientist is too much cautious and balanced and does not answer in terms of a clear-cut explanation, both the sceptical layman and his friend decide to go drinking in order to forget what they think a silly discussion. At the end they give the audience the impression they were aware that the technique was mainly motivated by industrial interests. Outside this intriguing content, which may always be seen - mutatis mutandis - as a topical subject, the comedy shows relevant interests for its linguistic structure and the way how the violation of Grice's maxims and Culpeper's politeness rules raises comic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is that of examining the studies on the so called «frammento lirico» and «prosa d'arte», which Donato Valli carried out from 1980 to 2001. Valli's investigations should be placed in the context of the decades-long work he carried out on certain poetic aspects, considered more problematic and unclassifiable, almost heretical and marginal, irreducible to the hegemonic lines and canons of the Twentiethcentury, regarding the poetry of Lucini, Comi and Onofri, as well as the works by Rebora and Boine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we remember Donato Valli, longtime Professor of History of modern and contemporary Italian literature at the University of Lecce, one year after his death. In particular, we will examine his scientific activity, which includes several important studies on 20th century Italian poetry, on hermeticism, on the so called "fragment" and the "prose of art", as well as on the literary culture of Salento in the 1800s and 1900s. In the Appendix, there is a short unpublished Dichiarazione by Donato Valli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine Mario Marti's studies on the literature produced in Salento, to which he dedicated a significant part of his research activity. We will first examine the "Biblioteca Salentina di cultura", which later became the "Biblioteca di Scrittori Salentini", a collection with which he wanted to trace the cultural history of a region on a strictly scientific basis. Later, we will move on to other works in this field, which include, among other things, the most notable poets in dialect and language of the twentieth century, including, on the one hand, Nicola G. De Donno and Pietro Gatti, and, on the other, Girolamo Comi and Vittorio Bodini. In the Appendix, there are two unpublished letters by Mario Marti regarding the "Biblioteca di Scrittori Salentini". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the main features of regional Italian in central-northern Apulia. In the area, the presence of several dialectal microareas and some alloglotte minorities causes a very fragmented repertoire. The regional Italian represents an important variety, since the presence of strong dynamics that go from the bottom to the standard, whit the Italianization of the dialects, can help to create a shared regional Italian, reducing local differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a short description of the main phonetic properties of the dialect of Carovigno (Brindisi, Southern Apulia). While the linguistic classification of similar dialects which are described in areal surveys is easier, Carovigno dialect basically remains a border language. Some of its features are sometimes highlighted in order to show its relations with either northern Sallentinian or southern Apulian dialects. Accounting for the ancient roots of the settlements in its territory, our contribution provides evidence for the former position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dialect of Leporano (Taranto) is described by local authors and has been recorded between the dialects of the CDI survey of 1966-69. This paper explores the possibility of a matching with nowadays linguistic conditions as documented by recent enquiries. The main informant, now retired, has always been engaged in activities of reversing language shift. He has been recorded on the basis of a specific phonetic questionnaire and provided solid cues of preservation of this dialect as compared to recordings of the previous enquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives an essay of an unpublished book written in the dialect of San Pietro Vernotico (Brindisi, Southern Italy) by the author's grandfather. Only the first chapter of a legendary description of the town is reproduced and translated in Italian with a few linguistic comments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is providing an early transcription of the linguistic content of two short recordings in a Sallentinian variety which were collected in 1914 by Ferdinand Brunot. A digital version is now available at the Archives de la Parole of the Bibliothèque National de France and has allowed us to add some new information to the metadata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper concerns the use of dialect in the plays by Raffaele Protopapa, one of the most representative playwrights from Salento. The focus is on the comical effects that some dialectal features can produce in the development of the dramatic action. Particular attention is given to the comical efficacy of impoliteness: by adopting the General strategies of impoliteness by Leech, it's possible to show that in dialect comedies the infraction of pragmatic and politeness norms (such as protest, verbal aggression, imposition, distrust) leads to humor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper accounts for a selection of words belonging to traditions of the central Salento that are related to water and its uses in everyday life. A difficult etymological analysis often depends on a relative phonetic variation in the attested forms. Furthermore, a significant cultural distance between generations is responsible of changes in the lexis. Language witnesses therefore the coexistence of two broadly autonomous cultures for the old generation and the younger one (vertically connected by an intermediate generation). Through a different linguistic knowledge about techniques and uses of pots and pans, elderly and young people describe their vision of this resource and its civilization value. The main informant is a woman born at the beginning of the XX s. who still remembers the vital role played by water in the countryside whereas younger speakers tend to refer to seawater or town's water supply, just trying to keep a broad memory of pottery in agriculture and domestic use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an essay on both a geographic and linguistic description of the dispersion of family names in the Lecce province (Southern Italy). Only the first ten names which are most widespread in the province are accounted for. After a short discussion about the names' origins given by some authoritative sources, a selection of maps is proposed in order to better describe the geographical distribution of the families with those names. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with personal names of people born in Manduria (Taranto, Southern Italy) during the XIX c. It aims at highlighting the consistency of the considered database by comparing familiar preferences from the beginning to the end of the century. Emerging differences in the names' choice are also analyzed on historical and geographical bases and are discussed in connection with similar data collected in other regions. Italian State Archives preserve very interesting collections of names useful for the research in anthroponymy. They collect records about birth, wedding and death of each individual since the introduction of the Civil status (Napoleon 1806), through the Restauration period (1816), until the creation of the Italian Civil status (Jan. 1st 1866). Data is extracted from registers of birth available at the Archivio di Stato di Taranto and is related to the years 1809 and 1899. The main differences are related to changes in the frequency and the position of the traditional types and may account for the interplay between intra-familiar conservation and the diffusion of prominent religious and historical figures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at providing a linguistic account on the description of agricultural and societal practices during the first part of the XX c. narrated in a recent book written with large excerpts in the Sallentinian dialect of Sava (Tarentum, Southern Italy). Diffuse references are made to popular traditions as seen by the eyes of a young boy and rivisited as an old man with the true words of the local dialect which are here emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a selected corpus of administrative and legal texts produced in Medieval Salento, which has been created thanks to the database of the BDSud(it) project (www.bdsud.it). The results highlight the existence of a good number of documents, whose investigation shall contribute to improve the definition of the historical-linguistic picture of Italy's Eastern strip of land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is rather reckless to exhaustively define the languages which were actually spoken by southern Italian humanists during the Italian Renaissance. This is especially evident because of the persistent diamesic differences and the widely diglossical conditions through the centuries. Furthermore, a difficult reconstruction is pointed out by various authoritative sources (Palermo 2004, Coluccia 2010) due to philological considerations. The attempt may result even riskier when dealing with those pronunciation features which are generally blurred by the writing system of such languages. Nevertheless, keeping in mind the present day linguistic situation of the Sallentinian towns where Galateo did live, this paper aims at broadly summarising some considerations about local characteristics widespread within texts in vulgar attested in Galateo's works with respect of the expected evolutionary conditions of such languages since the XVth c. (Bausi 2004, Iurilli 2010, Maggiore 2016). Even though variation may be accounted for in reference to stylistic or textual reasons (see Parlangeli 1956), phonetic realisations that we may imagine, thanks to explicit conditions witnessed by some authors, are mostly inferred (cp. Sabatini 1993, 1996, Coluccia 2010). On the basis of a selection of examples taken from the Esposizione del Pater Noster, I propose to assess more reliable occurrences which may be studied according to nowadays conditions. By providing phonetic-dialectological references, I look forward to helping those specialists who are working to a detailed description of the linguistic framework in which these texts were written. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern age's figurative circles, which develop the main theme of Mercy Works in Terra d'Otranto, not only are linked with numerous local micro-histories, but also represent an uncontested people's religiousness. This paper aims to be an introductory exploration of a little known field and with not enough studies carried out in this very area. This has led to the opportunity of increasing the possibilities of future researches and highlighting the need of carrying out systematic iconographic index, which are essential work tools in order to study figurative projects in which buyers, artists, works and addressees will partecipate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, the hospital had special meaning; it was the institution inspired by the need to help spiritually and materially our community of similar individuals, according to the commandment of love for neighbor. The original purpose of this organization was as a ‘homeless shelter' for paupers. In this essay, the Archival sources that have being examined, belong to the Record Office of State in Lecce: “Congregazioni di Carità. Ospedale di San Giovanni d'Aymo o dello Spirito Santo". These ancient papers show the corporal and spiritual works mercy set up by laymen and ecclesiastics with the purpose of realizing the evangelical precepts. By testamentary dispositions, the concern for the soul's health is the 'leitmotiv' of will-wills. The motivations that encouraged the believers to weigh in with bequests, donation and charity, for the institutes actively involved in a case of the weaks, they were inspired by the works of mercy. This practice, however, was not only aimed at the improvement of the sufferings of the weaker, but also (and sometimes above all) to get an edge in this life and in the afterlife. The hope of the eternal and the redemption of the human condition, through donations to the places of worship and pious, that were more closely related to the individual, for someone felt at least a requirement, in view of the fact of the the afterlife. Did anybody donate to save the soul, or to real mercy towards to the poor? It is difficult to establish it! [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theme of mercy is correlated, in Christianity, with the theme of salvation. This has made decisive the contribution of proper education. Under such a profile, the story of the Church is also a multi-century educational activity, whose indications norms date back at least to St. Basil and Sant'Agostino. Especially in the Counter-Reformation times come up with welfare schools aimed at the poor and the needy person. The activity of San Filippo Smaldone, who has been working in Lecce since 1885, is directed at the education of the deaf-mute (1848-1923), enjoying the aid of Congregation of the Salesian Sisters of Sacred Hearts that he founded. Fundamental to understand the spirit of mercy is the Statuto per il Pio Istituto dei sordo-muti (Statute for the Pious Institute for the deaf-mutes) made by San Filippo and illustrated in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The curiosity, which was aroused by recent geographical discoveries and catechetical trips carried out by missionaries in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries, concerning the four continents that were known at the time and the people inhabiting them and their customs, inspired the Relationi Universali which was published in 1591 by the Piedmontese Jesuit Giovanni Botero (1544-1617). Originally conceived as a statistical examination of the spread of ecumenical Christianity, the work widened during the following five years to represent an organic repertoire of anthropogeography, with systematic information on physical configuration, size of population, economic resources, military power and political constitution of all states of the world. Due to its accuracy, the Relationi was a huge improvement compared to similar works of that time and for almost a century it was an informative text widely known and published in several editions. Among them, the posthumous one of 1618 and 1622-23, prepared by the Venetian Alessandro de Vecchi, which included engravings of Hans Burgkmeir depicting the natives of the Americas, East India and Arabia in their distinctive costumes, along with monstrous creatures that seem to come from medieval fantasy. This paper focuses on the musical scenes included in the section dedicated to the Procession of the King of Cochin, and their iconographic and textual sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn travelled in Italy with her husband Wilhelm and son Sebastian between 1839 and 1840. She wrote a kind of music diary on the feelings and the emotions she felt during the trip. Her husband sketched the incipit of each song, describing the most important steps of the trip: this work is included in the Reise-Album kept at the Berlin Staatsbibliothek. This paper compares the iconographic and musical reception of some topoi characterizing Italy and shown in the Reise-Album. It particularly concerns popular dances and genre paintings and analyzes the links between the clichées consolidated in North European imaginary and the real outcomes of direct experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1782 the king of Naples, Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, promoted an intense reconnaissance campaign in order to find out the different clothing fashions followed throughout his kingdom so that he could enrich the catalogue of figures which were painted on the Royal Factory of Capodimonte porcelain. Among the artists involved there were Saverio Della Gatta, already known for his paintings showing landscapes and scenes of everyday life, and, in the following years, Antonio Berotti and Stefano Santucci. The characters, dressed in traditional costumes of the royal provinces, were mainly represented in watercolours or gouaches portraying individual subjects and genre scenes, sometimes influenced by the artist-travellers from the other side of the Alps. These works describe a peaceful world without strong conflicts, rarely showing poverty or the efforts of work and they are characterized by a certain humanity. This paper aims to highlight some aspects of the presence of music in scenes portraying folk customs and moments of everyday life in the Kingdom of Naples, in the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first half of the XX century the knowledge and the recovery of faraway cultures or those normally foreign to the western cultivated milieus brought about the development of a musical style characterized by the taste of exoticism and archaism. This aspect was not only perceived in the musical field but also in the arts in general. At Francavilla al Mare (Chieti) in the former Franciscan convent of Santa Maria del Gesù, the painter Francesco Paolo Michetti together with other artists shared the project to reach a form of art which would synthesize their different experiences and focus on the theme of nature and the Abruzzo people. These common interests brought about the meeting between Gabriele D'Annunzio and Michetti, opening the way to the rustic tragedy The daughter of Iorio. This play, full of visual and musical expressions, was characterized by an exotic dimension, overflowing with colour, rhythm, light and folk songs. This paper focuses on the link between visual, literary and musical representations of La figlia di Iorio, with particular emphasis on the music and on the several recreations stimulated by this subject playing the role of 'pre-text' during the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article retraces Leonardo's lifelong passion for cooking, moving from some attempts to introduce the nouvelle cuisine in Florentine inns during his apprenticeship in Verrocchio's workshop, towards his vivid interest in setting up sumptuous banquets and organizing spectacular feasts for Ludovico Sforza (also known as "Il Moro") in the Sforza's court in Milan. In the above-mentioned article it is also possible to find references to some of the artist-scientist's inventions he made to facilitate the tiring culinary work or to enrich the table, such as the spit roast, the three-pronged fork and the napkin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]