I sensi spirituali nel Liber di Angela da Foligno. La metafora del "gusto" nel Liber di Angela da Foligno e nella mistica femminile francescana tra XIII e XIV secolo.

Angela da Foligno’s Liber is a fundamental text for the scholar of Women Mystics between the XIIIth and the XIVth century in Italy and all over Europe, and it has been chosen in my research because of its originality, with refer of its feminine and franciscan essence. Angela teaches to the italian hagiographic tradition the internal point of view of the holy woman, who becomes the teller of her both ordinary and extraordinary experiences. After giving references about the religious and social historical universe in evolution during the XIIth century, my research proceeds with a linguistic and rhetorical analysis based upon the Liber. I have been searching in Angela’s text and in contemporary italian feminine hagiography the sensory metaphor of “tasting”. That kind of metaphor has an ancient memory and, thanks to the Origene’s studies - the Christian Father of the IIIrd century - we can easily recognize it already in the Bible; Origene identifies the sensory metaphor as a rhetoric system, able to exemplify the God learning process of soul. Theory of “spiritual senses”, theory of vision and rhetoric, evolving from the IIIrd to the XIIIth century, are the theological and linguistic heritage of our feminine and franciscan literature. Inside of that, the metaphor of “tasting” moves and changes, therefore becoming the favourite way of mystics to represent the contact of their souls with God.

Evidenze micropaleontologiche e sedimentologiche di cicli deposizionali e climatici circa millenari nei Depositi Tardoquaternari della Piana dell'Arno e del Delta del Po

A multidisciplinary study was carried out on the Late Quaternary-Holocene subsurface deposits of two Mediterranean coastal areas: Arno coastal plain (Northern Tyrrhenian Sea) and Modern Po Delta (Northern Adriatic Sea). Detailed facies analyses, including sedimentological and micropalaeontological (benthic foraminifers and ostracods) investigations, were performed on nine continuously-cored boreholes of variable depth (ca. from 30 meters to100 meters). Six cores were located in the Arno coastal plain and three cores in the Modern Po Delta. To provide an accurate chronological framework, twenty-four organic-rich samples were collected along the fossil successions for radiocarbon dating (AMS 14C). In order to reconstruct the depositional and palaeoenvironmental evolution of the study areas, core data were combined with selected well logs, provided by local companies, along several stratigraphic sections. These sections revealed the presence of a transgressive-regressive (T-R) sequence, composing of continental, coastal and shallow-marine deposits dated to the Late Pleistocene-Holocene period, beneath the Arno coastal plain and the Modern Po Delta. Above the alluvial deposits attributed to the last glacial period, the post-glacial transgressive succession (TST) consists of back-barrier, transgressive barrier and inner shelf deposits. Peak of transgression (MFS) took place around the Late-Middle Holocene transition and was identified by subtle micropalaeontological indicators within undifferentiated fine-grained deposits. Upward a thick prograding succession (HST) records the turnaround to regressive conditions that led to a rapid delta progradation in both study areas. Particularly, the outbuilding of modern-age Po Delta coincides with mud-belt formation during the late HST (ca. 600 cal yr BP), as evidenced by a fossil microfauna similar to the foraminiferal assemblage observed in the present Northern Adriatic mud-belt. A complex interaction between allocyclic and autocyclic factors controlled facies evolution during the highstand period. The presence of local parameters and the absence of a predominant factor prevent from discerning or quantifying consequences of the complex relationships between climate and deltaic evolution. On the contrary transgressive sedimentation seems to be mainly controlled by two allocyclic key factors, sea-level rise and climate variability, that minimized the effects of local parameters on coastal palaeoenvironments. TST depositional architecture recorded in both study areas reflects a well-known millennial-scale variability of sea-level rising trend and climate during the Late glacial-Holocene period. Repeated phases of backswamp development and infilling by crevasse processes (parasequences) were recorded in the subsurface of Modern Po Delta during the early stages of transgression (ca. 11,000-9,500 cal yr BP). In the Arno coastal plain the presence of a deep-incised valley system, probably formed at OSI 3/2 transition, led to the development of a thick (ca. 35-40 m) transgressive succession composed of coastal plain, bay-head delta and estuarine deposits dated to the Last glacial-Early Holocene period. Within the transgressive valley fill sequence, high-resolution facies analyses allowed the identification and lateral tracing of three parasequences of millennial duration. The parasequences, ca. 8-12 meters thick, are bounded by flooding surfaces and show a typical internal shallowing-upward trend evidenced by subtle micropalaeontological investigations. The vertical stacking pattern of parasequences shows a close affinity with the step-like sea-level rising trend occurred between 14,000-8,000 cal years BP. Episodes of rapid sea-level rise and subsequent stillstand phases were paralleled by changes in climatic conditions, as suggested by pollen analyses performed on a core drilled in the proximal section of the Arno palaeovalley (pollen analyses performed by Dr. Marianna Ricci Lucchi). Rapid shifts to warmer climate conditions accompanied episodes of rapid sea-level rise, in contrast stillstand phases occurred during temporary colder climate conditions. For the first time the palaeoclimatic signature of high frequency depositional cycles is clearly documented. Moreover, two of the three "regressive" pulsations, recorded at the top of parasequences by episodes of partial estuary infilling in the proximal and central portions of Arno palaeovalley, may be correlated with the most important cold events of the post-glacial period: Younger Dryas and 8,200 cal yr BP event. The stratigraphic and palaeoclimatic data of Arno coastal plain and Po Delta were compared with those reported for the most important deltaic and coastal systems in the worldwide literature. The depositional architecture of transgressive successions reflects the strong influence of millennial-scale eustatic and climatic variability on worldwide coastal sedimentation during the Late glacial-Holocene period (ca. 14,000-7,000 cal yr BP). The most complete and accurate record of high-frequency eustatic and climatic events are usually found within the transgressive succession of very high accommodation settings, such as incised-valley systems where exceptionally thick packages of Late glacial-Early Holocene deposits are preserved.

Come città dell'infanzia. Architettura, educazione e immagine in due colonie per i figli degli Italiani all'estero a Cattolica e Tirrenia

The present doctoral dissertation deals with two significant case studies of Italian holiday camps which appear as interesting architectural experiences that reflect both the pedagogic and educational programmes of the fascist regime, and the discussion on the constructive and expressive principles that characterize the Italian architecture during the Thirties. The research explains the colony "XXVIII October for the sons of the Italian workers living abroad", today known as "Le Navi" ("The Ships"), built in Cattolica in 1934 and projected by the Roman architect Clemente Busiri Vici, and the feminine colony "for the sons of the Italian workers living abroad" built in 1934 in Tirrenia and projected by the architects Mario Paniconi and Giulio Pediconi. These holiday camps are the sole buildings commissioned directly by the Department in the Italian Foreign Office with the aim of offering a seaside stay to the sons of the Italians living in the colonies who, probably, could visit Italy only one time in their life. Firstly, the work illustrates the most relevant themes concerning these holiday camps, such as the representative intents that the buildings evoked to the children attending the places. Sun-bathing and group gymnastics were some of the rituals in the communal life, where order and discipline gave a precise internal organization to the spaces. Over the correspondence to practical functions, the figures and the forms of the different spaces of the buildings involve the children in an educational dimension. Subsequently, the function of the Department in the Italian Foreign Office and the planning and constructive ideas of the two colonies will be introduced. These colonies were conceived by a precise social project with educational, welfare and therapeutic aims. The elements, the spaces and the volumes create a fixed and theatrical scene of the life, full of ideological, political and celebratory overtones. Finally, the research shows that the relation between the architectural shape of the buildings and the rituals performed by fascist tutors produces an ideal space, extraneous to the external world that could influence the behavior of the children. The plan is to transmit to the children an image of Italy that will remain engraved in their minds once they have returned to their countries. In these projects there is the intent to transmit the image of "italianity" abroad. The way to do this was to plan for them a scenery which contains all the architectural elements of Italian cities. The holiday camps are proposed a sort of microcosm that appears as an "evocation" of the places and the spaces of Italian cities. The buildings appear as veritable "cities of childhood".

Rupture du silence. L'écriture engagée de Gisèle Pineau

A writer by passion and a psychiatric nurse by profession, Gisèle Pineau is described as the new feminine voice of the literature from the French Antilles (Martinique and Guadeloupe). In all her novels, she explores the human condition and more specifically that of women. Breaking the silence that oppresses Antillean women, Gisèle Pineau delves into the destinies of women from Guadeloupe, scrutinizing the environment of her island and elsewhere, reinventing the French language, and giving voice and identity to all those women who have never had the possibility to express themselves. After having introduced the author in a postcolonial context linked with the theory of the feminine writing and its expressions in Caribbean literature, the plight of women is described through the experience of their bodies in Antillean society and elsewhere. The author focuses on physical and psychological violence denouncing the treatment of women. Escaping from oppression, women look for the space to rebuild a new life and a new identity.

Strutture archetipiche della Modernità: l'emersione della Grande Madre nel Modernismo ispano-americano

La ricerca verte sull'osservazione di alcune specifiche dinamiche archetipiche rilevabili all’interno dell'inconscio collettivo di fine Ottocento e della profonda influenza che queste ebbero tanto sulla cultura e sulla società ispano-americana del tempo, quanto sulla specifica corrente letteraria modernista. L’archetipo di cui si analizza la riemersione letteraria è quello della Grande Madre, come teorizzato da C. G. Jung e perfezionato con i successivi studi di Erich Neumann. Avvalendosi, in particolare, delle riflessioni di quest'ultimo e spaziando fino ad includere contributi psicoanalitici e studi simbolici successivi (in particolare quelli di James Hillman, Gaston Bachelard e Gilbert Durand) si evidenzia la dominanza archetipica della Grande Madre all'interno del Modernismo ispano-americano, intesa tanto in senso transpersonale (cioè come rappresentazione dell'inconscio) quanto in senso più specificamente rappresentativo del Femminile. Si applica, infine, il vaglio della critica archetipica alle opere di Delmira Agustini, Alfonsina Storni e Juana de Ibarbourou, dirigendo, in particolar modo, l'analisi alla rappresentazione letteraria degli aspetti di questo archetipo identificati come ‘negativi’, e, quindi, più duramente sottoposti a rimozione nel corso dei secoli.