Defining seduction as a crime, even when it was by mutual consent, had criminalized all forms of illegal sexuality, including that which is consensual; nonetheless, it had certainly not discouraged the conscious and deliberate use of informal and transgressive relations as training for marriage. Even rape, especially when qualified by agreement or promise, was a mechanism for the construction of a wedding, fitting naturally in a space, between transgression and tolerance, of sociability for the purpose of marriage. This space provided the opportunity, especially in Venice, a city marked by a high rate of immigration, for the promotion of mixed marriages. However, it does not seem to have made a great impact in boosting religious conversion for the purpose of marriage.

The well-known bigamous marriage of Landgrave Philip of Hesse can be seen as an attempt to test the openness of the Reformation process and its latitude for the normative restructuring of gender relations. In this situation Philip tried to introduce an option which he justified as a kind of third way between the strategic partnerships resulting from dynastic marriage policies and the widespread practice of extramarital relationships, mostly performed by the male members of the high nobility. Beyond the presumably “real” motives and interests of the protagonists, which in fact cannot be definitely detected, the paper focusses on the way in which this experiment has been justified, shaped and perceived from different perspectives in regard to its dynastic consequences. In fact, it provoked debates which reflected the high nobles’ love life in a rather unique way and involved not only the protagonists, but also the leading representatives of the reformation movement and lastly, the entire public since the affair was picked up in the context of the vehement polemics of the time. To reach his purpose, Philip had to translate his intention into moral categories, which, as a result of its public echo, fell back to him and exposed the princes’ practices to moral verdicts. In regard to the consequences within the family, it turned out that in fact it was impossible to evade serious conflicts since the more or less equal status of both wives, in regard to the validity of marriage, could not be unambiguously reconciled with the inevitable differences of rank. Thus, the logic of reformation debate, while encouraging Philip’s advance, imposed moral categories on princely behaviour, but, as it turned out, did not really offer a sustainable alternative.

In this paper, the authors draw the main lines of royal and church policies that tried to devise the acculturation of newly converted christians from the granadan recently conquested (and converted since 1502) population and the mudejares already present in Castilian soil. In a first moment, these policies aimed to curb the familiar solidarities based upon the familiar bounds that reinforced the cultural resistance of the Moriscos who chose to marriage with relatives very often. To do so, mixed marriages with old christians were promoted, as well as the breaking of pre-islamic marriage traditions, hindering the cultural practices that composed the traditional islamic heritage. All that measures failed, lingered by the crown in exchange of monetary services provided by the newly converted. These objectives were newly prosecuted after the Moriscos rebellion and later deportation all over Castile after 1570. By their part, the Moriscos were soon concious about the new rules about endogamy and marriage used in christianity, and they showed a very strong attitude to adapt to the new circumstances, if doing so they could maintain their familiar and social bounds or even strengthen them. The Moriscos accomplished the ecclesiastial behests for obtaining papal licenses for marriyng in forbidden degrees, showing a very clever strategy for avoiding the policies developed for their better integration in the old christian society.

Few days after Easter 1725, a young woman disguised as man presented herself to the Roman Inquisitor and confessed that few years earlier she had married another woman. The story of Giovanna Maria married to Anna Maria is the starting point for an analysis of the Roman Inquisition’s positions towards this crime. The difficulty in defining its nature and prosecution reveals a wider difficulty within the normative discourse in conceaving the possibility of a female same-sex relationship. The article attemps to examine such inconceivability.

The Curia in the Modern Era, even after the Council of Trent, is staffed by clergymen formed only within the minor orders, or by just laymen. Even among those eventually elevated to the pontificate were not even priests at the moment of their election. The presence of ordained clergymen in minoribus and of secular persons, was indeed significant even within the same body of the people of the Church. The essay describes this reality and proposes some interpretations of the phenomenon, not unknown, but substantially ignored by historiography.

The establishment of the modern Pontifical State, as from the Mid-fifteenth Century, is complemented by the formation of the Court of Rome, incorporating two closely related structures: the Roman Curia – as the ensemble of authority governing the Universal Church and the Pontifical

State – and the Papal Court – consisting of dignitaries responsible of personally assisting the pope, a service run by both clergymen and lay people. In the course of the Sixteenth Century one can observe a tendency, primarily determined by ecclesiastical policy, to promote the clergy into the administration, a practice that was consolidated in time. The distinction between clergymen and lay people, structured during the fourth century for reasons linked to the administration of sacraments, is redefined between the Eleventh and the Twelfth Century, with the intention of restricting the government of the Church to the clergy. Enforced in the first modern era of the Court of Rome, the legislation clericalized the whole government, on the premise, however, that the principle of eminence and dignity were not given in virtue of the sacrament of the Holy Orders, but through jurisdiction.

The article studies the dynamics of the relationship between clerics and laity within the Papal Court and the Roman Curia during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, highlighting an evident clericalization, with a subsequent sacralization of power, with regard to the government not only of the Papal States, but above all of the Universal Church. The work starts by examining the underlying lexicographical and historiographical issues, in order to study the development of the clerical-lay relationship over the long term, in which the layman is restricted to the functions of the Court, to the detriment of other roles, while on the contrary, the cleric (priest, religious, bishop and cardinal), in retaining his roles in Court, further enhances his position within the Curia, until reaching a kind of monopoly within the heart of Catholicism.

The evolution from steam to electric locomotive is a key part of the process of modernization of the rail transport. In this respect Italy played a leading role in Europe. The process of railway electrification began in the last decade of the Nineteenth Century thanks to the work of private companies and it was eventually developed by the National Railway (namely “Ferrovie dello Stato”). In 1940 about 60% of the entire Italian rail network was electrified. The development of railway electrification was particularly significant during the fascist period (mainly in the Thirties). On the one hand, the Regime tried to increase the demand for electricity, because the market, dominated by powerful and influential companies, was seized by a crisis of overproduction. On the other hand, the Regime tried to stem the decline in rail traffic caused by the economic crisis and the increasingly fierce competition of road transport. At the same time, the achievements in this area and the subsequent improvement of the rail service, the increase in speed of the routes and the reduction of distances, albeit limited ? with rare exceptions ? to Northern and Central Italy, were skillfully exploited by fascist propaganda, which was trying to depict the National Railway, a company no longer in the black, as the crowning achievement of the fascist Regime.

After the Habsburg defeat in the First World War, South Tyrol was forcefully included in the Italian territory. The last liberal Italian governments failed in their attempt to establishment a peaceful balance between the German and the Italian civilizations. After Mussolini’s rise to power, the Fascist Regime scientifically acted to dismantle the identity of the German speaking South Tyroleans. This minority reacted to the forced Italianization with a recall to the German language and tradition. This essay analyzed the role played by the German culture in the safeguard of the South Tyrolean identity between the two world wars. For the South Tyroleans the German language became a crucial factor for their cultural and ethnical survival. Given that, the research presented in this paper shows that the South Tyroleans did not passively adapt to the inputs coming from the German world. After Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, the Tyrolean leading elite refused to follow Nazism. They increased their hostile isolation against the Italian Regime and increased their distance from Germany. This essays is based on the main primary and secondary sources on the issue. It gives a new and articulated picture of the relation between German culture and the South Tyrolean minority, going beyond the old and stereotyped presentation of the South Tyroleans as passive “consumers” of the German language and culture.

In 2004 Italy asked France to extradite Cesare Battisti, ex member of the seventies movement Proletari Armati per il Comunismo. Battisti legal case soon became an affaire, involving Italian and French public opinion. Central points of the debate were relevant historical problems, such as Italian history of the Seventies, French conception of the right of asylum, amnesty, extradition etc. This paper analyses all these factors, putting in evidence the link they have with long-term history. In the first part we give an overview of the Mitterrand doctrine, by which in 1985 François Mitterrand recognized French political protection to Italian political emigrates. In the second part we retrace the origins and the nature of French political conception of the right of asylum and foreigners reception, particularly referring to political refugees and to Italian political emigration in France during the Twentieth Century. We retrace continuities and fractures of this history, putting in evidence the regularity of some elements like the ambiguity of Italians political emigrates’ legal status, as well of French practices to regulate their presence in France. In the last part we give an overview of others affaires, generated by other Italian extradition requests in different historical periods. Taking into accounts and considering relevant historical differences, we will examine the continuity of French social repertoires to defend Italian political immigrants. In the conclusions, we try to understand when and why this particular form of asylum ended, indicating in European integration a relevant factor in this process’ conclusion.