Cognitive Assessment and Rehabilitation of subjects with Traumatic Brain Injury

This thesis regards the study and the development of new cognitive assessment and rehabilitation techniques of subjects with traumatic brain injury (TBI). In particular, this thesis i) provides an overview about the state of art of this new assessment and rehabilitation technologies, ii) suggests new methods for the assessment and rehabilitation and iii) contributes to the explanation of the neurophysiological mechanism that is involved in a rehabilitation treatment. Some chapters provide useful information to contextualize TBI and its outcome; they describe the methods used for its assessment/rehabilitation. The other chapters illustrate a series of experimental studies conducted in healthy subjects and TBI patients that suggest new approaches to assessment and rehabilitation. The new proposed approaches have in common the use of electroencefalografy (EEG). EEG was used in all the experimental studies with a different purpose, such as diagnostic tool, signal to command a BCI-system, outcome measure to evaluate the effects of a treatment, etc. The main achieved results are about: i) the study and the development of a system for the communication with patients with disorders of consciousness. It was possible to identify a paradigm of reliable activation during two imagery task using EEG signal or EEG and NIRS signal; ii) the study of the effects of a neuromodulation technique (tDCS) on EEG pattern. This topic is of great importance and interest. The emerged founding showed that the tDCS can manipulate the cortical network activity and through the research of optimal stimulation parameters, it is possible move the working point of a neural network and bring it in a condition of maximum learning. In this way could be possible improved the performance of a BCI system or to improve the efficacy of a rehabilitation treatment, like neurofeedback.

L'a(rche)tipico Brian O'Nolan. Comico e riso dalla tradizione al post-

This study aims at analysing Brian O'Nolans literary production in the light of a reconsideration of the role played by his two most famous pseudonyms ,Flann Brien and Myles na Gopaleen, behind which he was active both as a novelist and as a journalist. We tried to establish a new kind of relationship between them and their empirical author following recent cultural and scientific surveys in the field of Humour Studies, Psychology, and Sociology: taking as a starting point the appreciation of the comic attitude in nature and in cultural history, we progressed through a short history of laughter and derision, followed by an overview on humour theories. After having established such a frame, we considered an integration of scientific studies in the field of laughter and humour as a base for our study scheme, in order to come to a definition of the comic author as a recognised, powerful and authoritative social figure who acts as a critic of conventions. The history of laughter and comic we briefly summarized, based on the one related by the French scholar Georges Minois in his work (Minois 2004), has been taken into account in the view that humorous attitude is one of man’s characteristic traits always present and witnessed throughout the ages, though subject in most cases to repression by cultural and political conservative power. This sort of Super-Ego notwithstanding, or perhaps because of that, comic impulse proved irreducible exactly in its influence on the current cultural debates. Basing mainly on Robert R. Provine’s (Provine 2001), Fabio Ceccarelli’s (Ceccarelli 1988), Arthur Koestler’s (Koestler 1975) and Peter L. Berger’s (Berger 1995) scientific essays on the actual occurrence of laughter and smile in complex social situations, we underlined the many evidences for how the use of comic, humour and wit (in a Freudian sense) could be best comprehended if seen as a common mind process designed for the improvement of knowledge, in which we traced a strict relation with the play-element the Dutch historian Huizinga highlighted in his famous essay, Homo Ludens (Huizinga 1955). We considered comic and humour/wit as different sides of the same coin, and showed how the demonstrations scientists provided on this particular subject are not conclusive, given that the mental processes could not still be irrefutably shown to be separated as regards graduations in comic expression and reception: in fact, different outputs in expressions might lead back to one and the same production process, following the general ‘Economy Rule’ of evolution; man is the only animal who lies, meaning with this that one feeling is not necessarily biuniquely associated with one and the same outward display, so human expressions are not validation proofs for feelings. Considering societies, we found that in nature they are all organized in more or less the same way, that is, in élites who govern over a community who, in turn, recognizes them as legitimate delegates for that task; we inferred from this the epistemological possibility for the existence of an added ruling figure alongside those political and religious: this figure being the comic, who is the person in charge of expressing true feelings towards given subjects of contention. Any community owns one, and his very peculiar status is validated by the fact that his place is within the community, living in it and speaking to it, but at the same time is outside it in the sense that his action focuses mainly on shedding light on ideas and objects placed out-side the boundaries of social convention: taboos, fears, sacred objects and finally culture are the favourite targets of the comic person’s arrow. This is the reason for the word a(rche)typical as applied to the comic figure in society: atypical in a sense, because unconventional and disrespectful of traditions, critical and never at ease with unblinkered respect of canons; archetypical, because the “village fool”, buffoon, jester or anyone in any kind of society who plays such roles, is an archetype in the Jungian sense, i.e. a personification of an irreducible side of human nature that everybody instinctively knows: a beginner of a tradition, the perfect type, what is most conventional of all and therefore the exact opposite of an atypical. There is an intrinsic necessity, we think, of such figures in societies, just like politicians and priests, who should play an elitist role in order to guide and rule not for their own benefit but for the good of the community. We are not naïve and do know that actual owners of power always tend to keep it indefinitely: the ‘social comic’ as a role of power has nonetheless the distinctive feature of being the only job whose tension is not towards stability. It has got in itself the rewarding permission of contradiction, for the very reason we exposed before that the comic must cast an eye both inside and outside society and his vision may be perforce not consistent, then it is satisfactory for the popularity that gives amongst readers and audience. Finally, the difference between governors, priests and comic figures is the seriousness of the first two (fundamentally monologic) and the merry contradiction of the third (essentially dialogic). MPs, mayors, bishops and pastors should always console, comfort and soothe popular mood in respect of the public convention; the comic has the opposite task of provoking, urging and irritating, accomplishing at the same time a sort of control of the soothing powers of society, keepers of the righteousness. In this view, the comic person assumes a paramount importance in the counterbalancing of power administration, whether in form of acting in public places or in written pieces which could circulate for private reading. At this point comes into question our Irish writer Brian O'Nolan(1911-1966), real name that stood behind the more famous masks of Flann O'Brien, novelist, author of At Swim-Two-Birds (1939), The Hard Life (1961), The Dalkey Archive (1964) and, posthumously, The Third Policeman (1967); and of Myles na Gopaleen, journalist, keeper for more than 25 years of the Cruiskeen Lawn column on The Irish Times (1940-1966), and author of the famous book-parody in Irish An Béal Bocht (1941), later translated in English as The Poor Mouth (1973). Brian O'Nolan, professional senior civil servant of the Republic, has never seen recognized his authorship in literary studies, since all of them concentrated on his alter egos Flann, Myles and some others he used for minor contributions. So far as we are concerned, we think this is the first study which places the real name in the title, this way acknowledging him an unity of intents that no-one before did. And this choice in titling is not a mere mark of distinction for the sake of it, but also a wilful sign of how his opus should now be reconsidered. In effect, the aim of this study is exactly that of demonstrating how the empirical author Brian O'Nolan was the real Deus in machina, the master of puppets who skilfully directed all of his identities in planned directions, so as to completely fulfil the role of the comic figure we explained before. Flann O'Brien and Myles na Gopaleen were personae and not persons, but the impression one gets from the critical studies on them is the exact opposite. Literary consideration, that came only after O'Nolans death, began with Anne Clissmann’s work, Flann O'Brien: A Critical Introduction to His Writings (Clissmann 1975), while the most recent book is Keith Donohue’s The Irish Anatomist: A Study of Flann O'Brien (Donohue 2002); passing through M.Keith Booker’s Flann O'Brien, Bakhtin and Menippean Satire (Booker 1995), Keith Hopper’s Flann O'Brien: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Post-Modernist (Hopper 1995) and Monique Gallagher’s Flann O'Brien, Myles et les autres (Gallagher 1998). There have also been a couple of biographies, which incidentally somehow try to explain critical points his literary production, while many critical studies do the same on the opposite side, trying to found critical points of view on the author’s restless life and habits. At this stage, we attempted to merge into O'Nolan's corpus the journalistic articles he wrote, more than 4,200, for roughly two million words in the 26-year-old running of the column. To justify this, we appealed to several considerations about the figure O'Nolan used as writer: Myles na Gopaleen (later simplified in na Gopaleen), who was the equivalent of the street artist or storyteller, speaking to his imaginary public and trying to involve it in his stories, quarrels and debates of all kinds. First of all, he relied much on language for the reactions he would obtain, playing on, and with, words so as to ironically unmask untrue relationships between words and things. Secondly, he pushed to the limit the convention of addressing to spectators and listeners usually employed in live performing, stretching its role in the written discourse to come to a greater effect of involvement of readers. Lastly, he profited much from what we labelled his “specific weight”, i.e. the potential influence in society given by his recognised authority in determined matters, a position from which he could launch deeper attacks on conventional beliefs, so complying with the duty of a comic we hypothesised before: that of criticising society even in threat of losing the benefits the post guarantees. That seemingly masochistic tendency has its rationale. Every representative has many privileges on the assumption that he, or she, has great responsibilities in administrating. The higher those responsibilities are, the higher is the reward but also the severer is the punishment for the misfits done while in charge. But we all know that not everybody accepts the rules and many try to use their power for their personal benefit and do not want to undergo law’s penalties. The comic, showing in this case more civic sense than others, helped very much in this by the non-accessibility to the use of public force, finds in the role of the scapegoat the right accomplishment of his task, accepting the punishment when his breaking of the conventions is too stark to be forgiven. As Ceccarelli demonstrated, the role of the object of laughter (comic, ridicule) has its very own positive side: there is freedom of expression for the person, and at the same time integration in the society, even though at low levels. Then the banishment of a ‘social’ comic can never get to total extirpation from society, revealing how the scope of the comic lies on an entirely fictional layer, bearing no relation with facts, nor real consequences in terms of physical health. Myles na Gopaleen, mastering these three characteristics we postulated in the highest way, can be considered an author worth noting; and the oeuvre he wrote, the whole collection of Cruiskeen Lawn articles, is rightfully a novel because respects the canons of it especially regarding the authorial figure and his relationship with the readers. In addition, his work can be studied even if we cannot conduct our research on the whole of it, this proceeding being justified exactly because of the resemblances to the real figure of the storyteller: its ‘chapters’ —the daily articles— had a format that even the distracted reader could follow, even one who did not read each and every article before. So we can critically consider also a good part of them, as collected in the seven volumes published so far, with the addition of some others outside the collections, because completeness in this case is not at all a guarantee of a better precision in the assessment; on the contrary: examination of the totality of articles might let us consider him as a person and not a persona. Once cleared these points, we proceeded further in considering tout court the works of Brian O'Nolan as the works of a unique author, rather than complicating the references with many names which are none other than well-wrought sides of the same personality. By putting O'Nolan as the correct object of our research, empirical author of the works of the personae Flann O'Brien and Myles na Gopaleen, there comes out a clearer literary landscape: the comic author Brian O'Nolan, self-conscious of his paramount role in society as both a guide and a scourge, in a word as an a(rche)typical, intentionally chose to differentiate his personalities so as to create different perspectives in different fields of knowledge by using, in addition, different means of communication: novels and journalism. We finally compared the newly assessed author Brian O'Nolan with other great Irish comic writers in English, such as James Joyce (the one everybody named as the master in the field), Samuel Beckett, and Jonathan Swift. This comparison showed once more how O'Nolan is in no way inferior to these authors who, greatly celebrated by critics, have nonetheless failed to achieve that great public recognition O’Nolan received alias Myles, awarded by the daily audience he reached and influenced with his Cruiskeen Lawn column. For this reason, we believe him to be representative of the comic figure’s function as a social regulator and as a builder of solidarity, such as that Raymond Williams spoke of in his work (Williams 1982), with in mind the aim of building a ‘culture in common’. There is no way for a ‘culture in common’ to be acquired if we do not accept the fact that even the most functional society rests on conventions, and in a world more and more ‘connected’ we need someone to help everybody negotiate with different cultures and persons. The comic gives us a worldly perspective which is at the same time comfortable and distressing but in the end not harmful as the one furnished by politicians could be: he lets us peep into parallel worlds without moving too far from our armchair and, as a consequence, is the one who does his best for the improvement of our understanding of things.

Scienza, Tecnica, Politica: Il Problema del Metodo nel Pensiero di Jacopo Aconcio

The aim of this PhD thesis is to study accurately and in depth the figure and the literary production of the intellectual Jacopo Aconcio. This minor author of the 16th century has long been considered a sort of “enigmatic character”, a profile which results from the work of those who, for many centuries, have left his writing to its fate: a story of constant re-readings and equally incessant oversights. This is why it is necessary to re-read Aconcio’s production in its entirety and to devote to it a monographic study. Previous scholars’ interpretations will obviously be considered, but at the same time an effort will be made to go beyond them through the analysis of both published and manuscript sources, in the attempt to attain a deeper understanding of the figure of this man, who was a Christian, a military and hydraulic engineer and a political philosopher,. The title of the thesis was chosen to emphasise how, throughout the three years of the doctorate, my research concentrated in equal measure and with the same degree of importance on all the reflections and activities of Jacopo Aconcio. My object, in fact, was to establish how and to what extent the methodological thinking of the intellectual found application in, and at the same time guided, his theoretical and practical production. I did not mention in the title the author’s religious thinking, which has always been considered by everyone the most original and interesting element of his production, because religion, from the Reformation onwards, was primarily a political question and thus it was treated by almost all the authors involved in the Protestant movement - Aconcio in the first place. Even the remarks concerning the private, intimate sphere of faith have therefore been analysed in this light: only by acknowledging the centrality of the “problem of politics” in Aconcio’s theories, in fact, is it possible to interpret them correctly. This approach proves the truth of the theoretical premise to my research, that is to say the unity and orderliness of the author’s thought: in every field of knowledge, Aconcio applies the rules of the methodus resolutiva, as a means to achieve knowledge and elaborate models of pacific cohabitation in society. Aconcio’s continuous references to method can make his writing pedant and rather complex, but at the same time they allow for a consistent and valid analysis of different disciplines. I have not considered the fact that most of his reflections appear to our eyes as strongly conditioned by the time in which he lived as a limit. To see in him, as some have done, the forerunner of Descartes’ methodological discourse or, conversely, to judge his religious theories as not very modern, is to force the thought of an author who was first and foremost a Christian man of his own time. Aconcio repeats this himself several times in his writings: he wants to provide individuals with the necessary tools to reach a full-fledged scientific knowledge in the various fields, and also to enable them to seek truth incessantly in the religious domain, which is the duty of every human being. The will to find rules, instruments, effective solutions characterizes the whole of the author’s corpus: Aconcio feels he must look for truth in all the arts, aware as he is that anything can become science as long as it is analysed with method. Nevertheless, he remains a man of his own time, a Christian convinced of the existence of God, creator and governor of the world, to whom people must account for their own actions. To neglect this fact in order to construct a “character”, a generic forerunner, but not participant, of whatever philosophical current, is a dangerous and sidetracking operation. In this study, I have highlighted how Aconcio’s arguments only reveal their full meaning when read in the context in which they were born, without depriving them of their originality but also without charging them with meanings they do not possess. Through a historical-doctrinal approach, I have tried to analyse the complex web of theories and events which constitute the substratum of Aconcio’s reflection, in order to trace the correct relations between texts and contexts. The thesis is therefore organised in six chapters, dedicated respectively to Aconcio’s biography, to the methodological question, to the author’s engineering activity, to his historical knowledge and to his religious thinking, followed by a last section concerning his fortune throughout the centuries. The above-mentioned complexity is determined by the special historical moment in which the author lived. On the one hand, thanks to the new union between science and technique, the 16th century produces discoveries and inventions which make available a previously unthinkable number of notions and lead to a “revolution” in the way of studying and teaching the different subjects, which, by producing a new form of intellectual, involved in politics but also aware of scientific-technological issues, will contribute to the subsequent birth of modern science. On the other, the 16th century is ravaged by religious conflicts, which shatter the unity of the Christian world and generate theological-political disputes which will inform the history of European states for many decades. My aim is to show how Aconcio’s multifarious activity is the conscious fruit of this historical and religious situation, as well as the attempt of an answer to the request of a new kind of engagement on the intellectual’s behalf. Plunged in the discussions around methodus, employed in the most important European courts, involved in the abrupt acceleration of technical-scientific activities, and especially concerned by the radical religious reformation brought on by the Protestant movement, Jacopo Aconcio reflects this complex conjunction in his writings, without lacking in order and consistency, differently from what many scholars assume. The object of this work, therefore, is to highlight the unity of the author’s thought, in which science, technique, faith and politics are woven into a combination which, although it may appear illogical and confused, is actually tidy and methodical, and therefore in agreement with Aconcio’s own intentions and with the specific characters of European culture in the Renaissance. This theory is confirmed by the reading of the Ars muniendorum oppidorum, Aconcio’s only work which had been up till now unavailable. I am persuaded that only a methodical reading of Aconcio’s works, without forgetting nor glorifying any single one, respects the author’s will. From De methodo (1558) onwards, all his writings are summae, guides for the reader who wishes to approach the study of the various disciplines. Undoubtedly, Satan’s Stratagems (1565) is something more, not only because of its length, but because it deals with the author’s main interest: the celebration of doubt and debate as bases on which to build religious tolerance, which is the best method for pacific cohabitation in society. This, however, does not justify the total centrality which the Stratagems have enjoyed for centuries, at the expense of a proper understanding of the author’s will to offer examples of methodological rigour in all sciences. Maybe it is precisely because of the reforming power of Aconcio’s thought that, albeit often forgotten throughout the centuries, he has never ceased to reappear and continues to draw attention, both as a man and as an author. His ideas never stop stimulating the reader’s curiosity and this may ultimately be the best demonstration of their worth, independently from the historical moment in which they come back to the surface.

Dall'involucro all'invaso. Lo spazio a pianta centrale nell'opera architettonica di Adalberto Libera

An archetype selected over the centuries Adalberto Libera wrote little, showing more inclination to use the project as the only means of verification. This study uses a survey of the project for purely compositional space in relation to the reason that most other returns with continuity and consistency throughout his work. "The fruit of a type selected over centuries", in the words of Libera, is one of the most widely used and repeated spatial archetypes present in the history of architecture, given its nature as defined by a few consolidated elements and precisely defined with characters of geometric precision and absoluteness, the central space is provided, over the course of evolution of architecture, and its construction aspects as well as symbolic, for various uses, from historical period in which it was to coincide with sacred space for excellence, to others in which it lends itself to many different expressive possibilities of a more "secular". The central space was created on assumptions of a constructive character, and the same exact reason has determined the structural changes over the centuries, calling from time to time with advances in technology, the maximum extent possible and the different applications, which almost always have coincided with the reason for the monumental space. But it’s in the Roman world that the reason for the central space is defined from the start of a series of achievements that fix the character in perpetuity. The Pantheon was seen maximum results and, simultaneously, the archetype indispensable, to the point that it becomes difficult to sustain a discussion of the central space that excludes. But the reason the space station has complied, in ancient Rome, just as exemplary, monuments, public spaces or buildings with very different implications. The same Renaissance, on which Wittkower's proving itself once and for all, the nature and interpretation of sacred space station, and thus the symbolic significance of that invaded underlying interpretations related to Humanism, fixing the space-themed drawing it with the study and direct observation by the four-sixteenth-century masters, the ruins that in those years of renewed interest in the classical world, the first big pieces of excavation of ancient Rome brought to light with great surprise of all. Not a case, the choice to investigate the architectural work of Libera through the grounds of the central space. Investigating its projects and achievements, it turns out as the reason invoked particularly evident from the earliest to latest work, crossing-free period of the war which for many authors in different ways, the distinction between one stage and another, or the final miss. The theme and the occasion for Libera always distinct, it is precisely the key through which to investigate her work, to come to discover that the first-in this case the central plan-is the constant underlying all his work, and the second reason that the quota with or at the same time, we will return different each time and always the same Libera, formed on the major works remained from ancient times, and on this building method, means consciously, that the characters of architectural works, if valid, pass the time, and survive the use and function contingent. As for the facts by which to formalize it, they themselves are purely contingent, and therefore available to be transferred from one work to another, from one project to another, using also the loan. Using the same two words-at-issue and it becomes clear now how the theme of this study is the method of Libera and opportunity to the study of the central space in his work. But there is one aspect that, with respect to space a central plan evolves with the progress of the work of Libera on the archetype, and it is the reason behind all the way, just because an area built entirely on reason centric. It 'just the "center" of space that, ultimately, tells us the real progression and the knowledge that over the years has matured and changed in Libera. In the first phase, heavily laden with symbolic superstructure, even if used in a "bribe" from Free-always ill-disposed to sacrifice the idea of architecture to a phantom-center space is just the figure that identifies the icon represents space itself: the cross, the flame or the statue are different representations of the same idea of center built around an icon. The second part of the work of clearing the space station, changed the size of the orders but the demands of patronage, grows and expands the image space centric, celebratory nature that takes and becomes, in a different way, this same symbol . You see, one in all, as the project of "Civiltà Italiana" or symbolic arch are examples of this different attitude. And at the same point of view, you will understand how the two projects formulated on the reuse of the Mausoleum of Augustus is the key to its passage from first to second phase: the Ara Pacis in the second project, making itself the center of the composition "breaks" the pattern of symbolic figure in the center, because it is itself an architecture. And, in doing so, the transition takes place where the building itself-the central space-to become the center of that space that itself creates and determines, by extending the potential and the expressiveness of the enclosure (or cover) that defines the basin centered. In this second series of projects, which will be the apex and the point of "crisis" in the Palazzo dei Congressi all'E42 received and is no longer so, the symbol at the very geometry of space, but space itself and 'action' will be determined within this; action leading a movement, in the case of the Arco simbolico and the "Civiltà Italiana" or, more frequently, or celebration, as in the great Sala dei Recevimenti all’E42, which, in the first project proposal, is represented as a large area populated by people in suits, at a reception, in fact. In other words, in this second phase, the architecture is no longer a mere container, but it represents the shape of space, representing that which "contains". In the next step-determining the knowledge from which mature in their transition to post-war-is one step that radically changes the way centric space, although formally and compositionally Libera continues the work on the same elements, compounds and relationships in a different way . In this last phase Freedom, center, puts the man in human beings, in the two previous phases, and in a latent, were already at the center of the composition, even if relegated to the role of spectators in the first period, or of supporting actors in the second, now the heart of space. And it’s, as we shall see, the very form of being together in the form of "assembly", in its different shades (up to that sacred) to determine the shape of space, and how to relate the parts that combine to form it. The reconstruction of the birth, evolution and development of the central space of the ground in Libera, was born on the study of the monuments of ancient Rome, intersected on fifty years of recent history, honed on the constancy of a method and practice of a lifetime, becomes itself, Therefore, a project, employing the same mechanisms adopted by Libera; the decomposition and recomposition, research synthesis and unity of form, are in fact the structure of this research work. The road taken by Libera is a lesson in clarity and rationality, above all, and this work would uncover at least a fragment.

Politiche pubbliche per la stagionalità del turismo da una prospettiva territoriale. Casi di studio in Scozia e in Sardegna

Rita Cannas presents a PhD thesis in Economics (Geo-Economic curriculum) which is titled “Public Policies for Seasonality in Tourism from a Territorial Perspective. Case Studies in Scotland and Sardinia”. The specific area of the research is public policies for contrasting seasonality in tourism in peripheral areas. Seasonality has seen such as a problem in terms of social and economics patterns especially for those local communities which are situated in peripheral areas. The research explores what, how and for who, public policies, that have been in place in Scotland and Sardinia over the last 10-5 years, are working and what kind of results these have produced. The research has empirical and theoretical implications for studying tourism seasonality. It aims to highlight the local supply patterns of the phenomenon investigated, and to improve knowledge about the strategies and the policies that have been adopted in the two territorial contexts (Scotland and Sardinia) for contrasting or modifying seasonality in tourism. The type of subject and the research questions have suggested the adoption of an interpretative theoretical perspective and a qualitative methodological approach, although a set of quantitative secondary data is also required for understanding main tourism's characteristics and for analyzing the specificity of seasonality. Interview with key actors of the local system in Scotland and Sardinia is the method chosen to collect primary data. In total the researcher has done 20 interviews in deep. Case studies are chosen both as unity of analysis and research strategy. The main findings of the research show a different and complex scenario about quality and quantity of public policies and strategies in tourism in the two case studies. The role of local resources is quite strategic on delivering tourism services and on counteracting seasonality. Events, festival are the main demand-side strategies. From a supply-side the principles policies are focused on quality of services, technology, high skills, sustainability. Partnership between public and private sector seems to be a fundamental way to work in order to attain changes and outcomes. The research has a strong research design, provides coherent results, and it has been done paying attention to the validation of the whole process.

Tracce di cinefilia su Facebook

La mia tesi approfondisce le dinamiche della cinefilia su Facebook: quali relazioni s'instaurano tra lo spettatore cinefilo, e dunque il suo particolare sguardo, e la moltitudine di frammenti di cinema dispersi nella rete; come si sono modificati i rapporti, gli atteggiamenti, i processi di negoziazione, le abitudini e soprattutto i discorsi dei cinefili al cospetto di tracce di cinema sui social network e in particolare su Facebook. Inoltreprovo a dimostrare che la cinefilia è un'esperienza costitutivamente autobiografica, cui il web permette il perpetuare potenzialmente infinito della (auto)narrazione di sé.

Ravenna e i piu' significativi centri dell'Impero. Il mosaico parietale tra V e VI secolo: Revisione critica

Tra il V ed il VI secolo, la città di Ravenna, per tre volte capitale, emerge fra i più significativi centri dell’impero, fungendo da cerniera tra Oriente e Occidente, soprattutto grazie ai mosaici parietali degli edifici di culto, perfettamente inseriti in una koinè culturale e artistica che ha come comune denominatore il Mar Mediterraneo, nel contesto di parallele vicende storiche e politiche. Rispetto ai ben noti e splendidi mosaici ravennati, che insieme costituiscono senza dubbio un unicum nel panorama artistico dell’età tardoantica e altomedievale, nelle decorazioni musive parietali dei coevi edifici di culto dei diversi centri dell’impero d’Occidente e d’Oriente, e in particolare in quelli localizzati nelle aree costiere, si possono cogliere divergenze, ma anche simmetrie dal punto di vista iconografico, iconologico e stilistico. Sulla base della letteratura scientifica e attraverso un poliedrico esame delle superfici musive parietali, basato su una metodologia interdisciplinare, si è cercato di chiarire l’articolato quadro di relazioni culturali, ideologiche ed artistiche che hanno interessato e interessano tuttora Ravenna e i vari centri della tarda antichità, insistendo sulla pluralità, sulla complessità e sulla confluenza di diverse esperienze artistiche sui mosaici di Ravenna. A tale scopo, i dati archeologici e artistici sono stati integrati con quelli storici, agiografici ed epigrafici, con opportuni collegamenti all’architettura, alla scultura, alle arti decorative e alle miniature, a testimonianza dell’unità di intenti di differenti media artistici, orientati, pur nella diversità, verso le medesime finalità dogmatiche, politiche e celebrative. Si tratta dunque di uno studio di revisione e di sintesi sui mosaici parietali mediterranei di V e VI secolo, allo scopo di aggiungere un nuovo tassello alla già pur vasta letteratura dedicata all’argomento.

Inimmaginabile e progetto. Architettura e memoria nei luoghi della Deportazione

La memoria pubblica della Sho'ah è inscritta in una quantità proliferante di immagini e spazi memoriali. Ciò è riscontrabile in modo particolare nei principali "siti dello sterminio" assurti a simbolo nel corso degli anni, mentre molti altri "luoghi di memoria" della Deportazione soffrono di una condizione di intrinseca debolezza. Essa è riconducibile in primo luogo alla fragilità del dato materiale, i cui resti ormai privi di eloquenza risultano difficili da interpretare e conservare, in secondo luogo alla sovrapposizione di memorie concorrenti venutesi a determinare in conseguenza dei riusi successivi a cui queste strutture sono spesso andate soggette dopo la guerra, infine alla difficoltà di rendere espressione compiuta alla tragedia della Deportazione. Il caso del campo di Fossoli è paradigmatico: esso interroga la capacità del progetto di "dare forma" al palinsesto delle memorie, rendendo possibile il riconoscimento ed esplicitando una significazione delle tracce, senza aggiungere ulteriori interpretazioni. Lo spazio e il paesaggio, in quanto linguaggi indentitari, possono offrirsi come strumenti da questo punto di vista. Michel De Certeau vi fa riferimento quando afferma che lo spazio coincide con «l’effetto prodotto dalle operazioni che lo orientano, che lo circostanziano, o temporalizzano e lo fanno funzionare come unità polivalente di programmi conflittuali o di prossimità contrattuali». Lo spazio gioca un ruolo cruciale nel conformare l'esperienza del presente e allo stesso tempo nel rendere visibili le esperienze passate, compresse nella memoria collettiva. Lo scopo di questa ricerca è interrogare le potenzialità spaziali del luogo, considerate sotto il profilo culturale e semantico, come valida alternativa alla forma-monumento nella costruzione di una o più narrazioni pertinenti della memoria.