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Carlo Boccianti's Churches from the Maremma to the Fucino: not just Houses for the Farmers but Something Strĕnŭus
No full textIn the context of post-war reconstruction, the Agrarian Reform that began in 1950 was fundamental to the modernisation and rebirth of Italy. Thanks to the reform bodies, latifundia were expropriated in some regions of the south and in specific areas in others, and the land was distributed among farmers, creating appropriate infrastructures and housing solutions: scattered farms, but also small hamlets, usually centred around a church. An example of this are the settlements designed by Carlo Boccianti (1922-2015) for the Ente per la colonizzazione della Maremma Tosco-Laziale e del Territorio del Fucino in Tuscany, Lazio and Abruzzo. The combination of architecture, which spoke "a very simple language", almost "semi-classical", and sculpture, Boccianti's first love, which was used to "stimulate the sensitivity of the peasants" with something "strĕnŭus" (bold), animated, with more or less happy results, the church projects that the architect carried out in the Agrarian Reform areas. This essay is a sketch of this path of experimentation and research: from the first of Boccianti's churches in the Maremma, Santa Maria Goretti in Rispescia, in the province of Grosseto, where the abstract crucifix by the sculptor Alfio Castelli (1917-1922) around which Boccianti had designed the building's façade was never placed; to the church of the Cuore Immacolato di Maria in Borgo Ottomila, in the centre of Fucino: a building that, probably, housed this and other valuable works by Castelli and which, with the first nucleus of the settlement, was his only intervention in the Abruzzo area involved in the Agrarian Reform; to the church of San Giuseppe Operaio in Pescia Romana, in the province of Viterbo: one of the last that Boccianti designed for the Ente Maremma and a perfect partnership between architecture and art born, in particular, from the collaboration between Boccianti and the sculptor Pietro Cascella (1921-2008). Carlo Boccianti's churches from the Maremma to the Fucino, beyond intellectual purposes or the celebration of architecture, gave voice to the need for spirituality and not just houses of the rural communities settled there, with sensitivity to ecclesiastical needs and awareness of the social role of sacred buildings
Beyond the Pale: Reading the White Interior in Contemporary Church Refurbishments
No full textHistoric churches are an integral feature of British cities, serving not only as places of worship but also as cultural attractions that draw growing numbers of secular visitors. In recent years, several parishes in London have employed celebrated architectural practices to renovate their historic churches with the intention of raising the profile of these buildings. An observable trend in such refurbishments are whitewashed interiors often replacing previously colourful schemes. This paper explores whether a current trend for white interiors suggests new directions in the social and religious cultures of Christianity. For example, do white spaces offer neutral territory for encounters between the sacred and secular, appealing to both worshippers and cultural tourists alike? Do such design schemes reflect a growing move away from collective congregational worship and towards private spirituality and contemplation? The paper presents three recently refurbished historic churches in London as case studies through which to explore these questions: St John-at-Hackney; St Augustine’s, Hammersmith; and St John’s Waterloo. The selected case studies offer examples from both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, suggesting possibilities for reading the trend as an expression of ecumenism. In conclusion, the paper asks whether austere white schemes, such as those presented in the case studies, offer unifying spaces for different worshipping and non-worshipping communities, or whether, as the Catholic priest and architectural theorist Peter Newby suggests, the emptying out of narrative content has stripped them of the ‘full immersive experience’ of Christian worship
Alessandra Acocella, Valentina Rossi (a cura di), Anni Novanta. Arti visive, moda e design. Postmedia, Milano, 2024
No full textThe Representation of Poverty and the Poverty of Representation
No full textIn this essay I draw upon both my reporting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, United States, and my ethnography of the digitization of mental health work in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to examine the representation of poverty and the poverty of representation in contemporary social and political discourse
L’argomentazione machiavelliana sul rischio tra consilium e deliberatio. I capitoli etico-politici (XV-XVIII) del Principe
No full textAlthough awareness of risk (for both the head of state and the state itself) is an all-pervasive feature in Machiavelli’s works, the ethico-political chapters XV-XVIII in The Prince are particularly useful to highlight this specific argumentative approach. Risk, which the prince could dangerously ignore if he either followed the consilium offered by standard treatises on how to behave or practiced Christian ethics, is thus assessed in an extensive deliberatio. First, Machiavelli does so from a general perspective in chapter XV. Then he addresses common topics in a prince’s political life, such as liberality vs. parsimony (XVI), cruelty vs. “piety” (XVII), and whether to keep one’s word or not. In doing so, the author adopts several techniques, such as the unreal conditional mood, stark rhetorical contrasts, paradoxes and apodictic statements.Sebbene la comunicazione del rischio (per il detentore del potere e per lo stato) sia costante nell’opera di Machiavelli, i capitoli etico-politici XV-XVIII del Principe illustrano più particolarmente questa impostazione argomentativa. Tale rischio, che potrebbe essere pericolosamente ignorato dal principe se si ispirasse al consilium dato dai trattati sul comportamento o dall’etica cristiana, viene valutato in un’ampia deliberatio: prima in una prospettiva generale nel capitolo XV, poi in situazioni più topiche della politica del principe: la liberalità o la parsimonia (XVI), la crudeltà o la “pietà” (XVII), il rispetto o meno della parola data (XVIII). Per tale argomentazione l’autore si avvale di varie tecniche come l’uso del condizionale irreale, dei forti demarcatori di opposizione, del paradosso o della formulazione apodittica
The Fourth Road, Aulò, Beyond the frame, and Maka: A Study Guide
No full textThis study guide is aimed to help students explore four documentaries about postcolonial culture in Italy: The Fourth Road, Aulò, Beyond the Frame, and Maka. It is the result of a reflection and collective work by a professor who wrote the films and a teaching assistant and previous student of a course on migration studies. Each film features a prominent African Italian writer, respectively Kaha Mohamed Aden, Ribka Sibhatu, Ubah Cristina Ali Farah and Geneviève Makaping. After a brief plot summary, the study guide includes questions about various elements of cinematic style, such as sound, lighting, and genre conventions. It also explores themes related to migration cultures, including the feelings of multiple belonging and unbelonging experienced by immigrants. Additionally, the guide investigates spatial issues such as ghettoization, the spatialization of memory, and the concept of intimate and affective geography. Specific questions address the histories of Somalia, Eritrea, Cameroon, and Italy
Are asymmetries in imperative negation based in usage?
No full textThis article extends the study of (a)symmetries in negation to the domain of (negative) imperatives. It examines a balanced sample of the world’s languages for distinctions in tense, direction/location and intersubjectivity and observes that, like with asymmetry in standard negation, they are often neutralized from positive to negative but not vice versa. Intersubjective marking is found to be somewhat exceptional in that the opposite situation does occasionally occur. The article also tests whether and confirms that these asymmetries are grounded in usage patterns, with a corpus investigation of English and Dutch (negative) imperatives. It proposes negation’s discourse presuppositionality, which has been argued to account for neutralization in standard negation, as an explanation for most but not all of these typological and usage-based results in imperative negation too. It nevertheless makes a case for other, more imperative-specific motivations as well
Assenza e riverbero di una voce non umana ne «Il castello dei destini incrociati» di Italo Calvino e «Giuramenti» del Teatro Valdoca
No full textStarting from some reflections by philosopher Adriana Cavarero regarding the traditional opposition phoné/logos, the article aims to provide insights into the concept of the voice of the woods, seeking to reestablish the central role of the body as a medium of vocal expression: written words are alive, as they were sonorous, corporeal and meaningful. In order to demonstrate how a literary text can incorporate a minor voice – the sonic otherness of the woods – two extreme cases will be analyzed. On one hand, the inaudible voice of the woods in Il Castello dei destini incrociati by Italo Calvino – apparently a voice in absence – is so powerful that it deprives of language even the people who pass through this place. On the other hand, the daily listening to the woods in the performance Giuramenti by Teatro Valdoca leads to the transcription/translation of this voice into poetic verses, therefore making possible – by reverberation – the entry of the woods into performative and writing practices.A partire da alcune considerazioni della filosofa Adriana Cavarero riguardo alla tradizionale opposizione phoné/logos, l’articolo approfondisce il concetto di voce boschiva, cercando di ristabilire il ruolo centrale del corpo come mezzo di espressione vocale: la parola scritta è viva, dal momento che è stata innanzitutto sonora, corporea, significativa. Al fine di mostrare come un testo letterario possa incorporare una voce minore – l’alterità sonora del bosco – verrà proposta l’analisi di due casi limite. Da una parte, la voce inudibile del bosco ne Il Castello dei destini incrociati di Italo Calvino – apparentemente una voce in assenza – si dimostra tanto potente da privare del linguaggio anche gli uomini che attraversano tale luogo. Dall’altra, l’ascolto quotidiano del bosco nello spettacolo Giuramenti del Teatro Valdoca conduce alla trascrizione/traduzione di questa voce in versi poetici, rendendo così possibile – per riverbero – l’entrata del bosco nella pratica performativa e di scrittura
A più silenzi. Il potere risarcente del non detto in «Ora Intima» e ne «L’Infanta sepolta»
No full textThe following article aims to read two short stories by Paola Masino and Anna Maria Ortese in the perspective of the compensatory function that silence takes on in them. The absence of voice characterizes, in fact, both Ortese’s L’Infanta sepolta - from the collection of the eponymous title published in 1950 by Adelphi - and Masino’s Ora intima that appeared posthumously in 1992 in Colloquio di notte. The present reflection seeks to show how the silence to which the Black Madonna and Sister Arcangela are condemned gives them an opportunity for redemption. Their rebellion, in fact – though apparently inscribed in female silence – takes its start from the absence of voice to break free from the tradition of acquiescence and passivity.Il seguente intervento intende rileggere due racconti di Paola Masino e Anna Maria Ortese alla luce della funzione risarcente che in essi assume il silenzio. L’assenza di voce caratterizza, infatti, sia L’Infanta sepolta di Ortese – dell’omonima raccolta pubblicata nel ‘50 da Adelphi – sia Ora intima di Masino apparso postumo nel ‘92 in Colloquio di notte. La presente riflessione vuole dimostrare come il silenzio cui sono condannate la Madonna nera e Suor Arcangela fornisca loro un’occasione di riscatto. La loro ribellione, infatti – sebbene apparentemente iscritta nel tacere femminile – prende l’abbrivio dall’assenza di voce per svincolarsi dalla tradizione di acquiescenza e passività
Joyce Lussu, la Resistenza e la guerra: un’autobiografia politicamente orientata
No full textThe paper aims to analyze Joyce Lussu’s writing in reference to the Resistance and the theme of war, to highlight how the author's cosmopolitan identity, her geographical, gendered and literary marginality give her writing a hybrid, boundary between genres and politically oriented character. Specifically, the early prose work Fronti e frontiere, the 1970s work L’uomo che voleva nascere donna, the autobiography Portrait, and the author’s approach to poetry will be analyzed, with references also to her relationship with revolutionary poets and her tendency to reuse autobiographical pieces in an attempt at identity construction.L’articolo si propone di analizzare la scrittura di Joyce Lussu in riferimento alla Resistenza e al tema della guerra, per mettere in evidenza come l’identità cosmopolita dell’autrice, la sua marginalità geografica, di genere e letteraria, conferiscano alla sua scrittura un carattere ibrido, al confine tra i generi e politicamente orientato. Nello specifico verranno analizzati la prima opera in prosa Fronti e frontiere, l’opera degli anni Settanta L’uomo che voleva nascere donna, l’autobiografia Portrait e l’approccio dell’autrice alla poesia, con riferimenti anche al suo rapporto con i poeti rivoluzionari e alla sua tendenza al riuso di tasselli autobiografici, in un tentativo di costruzione identitaria