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Laura Madella

University of Parma, Dipartimento di Discipline Umanistiche, Sociali e delle Imprese Culturali, Post-Doc

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University of Ferrara

Kansas State University

University of Michigan

Michaela Valente

Università degli Studi "La Sapienza" di Roma

Manfred Malzahn

United Arab Emirates University

Niccolò Scaffai

University of Siena / Università di Siena

Universitat de València

The University of Sydney

Thomás A S Haddad

Universidade de São Paulo

Daniel Hershenzon

University of Connecticut

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Books by Laura Madella

Alessandro Piccolomini, Dialogo de la bella creanza de le donne (1539), a cura di L. Madella. Roma: Anicia, 2023

Nella tradizione filosofica e letteraria del dialogo come occasione di conoscenza, il dialogo tra... more Nella tradizione filosofica e letteraria del dialogo come occasione di conoscenza, il dialogo tra donne si inserisce come un genere molto più recente, spesso intrecciato con la novellistica e lo spazio elusivo e ambiguo della commedia. Il Dialogo de la bella creanza de le donne di Alessandro Piccolomini (1539) rappresenta un modello di questo genere, e si pone come ineludibile lettura per comprendere il panorama dell’educazione morale del tardo Rinascimento. In tale panorama, le interlocutrici si muovono a loro agio e con disincanto, contribuendo così all’emersione e alla discussione delle forme etiche del loro mondo. Piccolomini affida la funzione maieutica alla dama più anziana, che finisce per occupare il centro della scena, tanto che l’operetta è meglio nota con il nome di lei: la Raffaella.

Comunicare per gesti nel Rinascimento: un cantiere di ricerca

by Alessandro Arcangeli, Giulia Morosini, Umberto Cecchinato, Elisa Frei, and Laura Madella

BRUNIANA & CAMPANELLIANA, 2021

Introduction: This text introduces a dossier of essays, resulting from an informal research group... more Introduction: This text introduces a dossier of essays, resulting from an informal research group that has begun, and plans to continue, to work on the subject area and approach of a cultural history of gesture. The scope of the following pages is twofold: firstly, to set a historiographical background of the main directions in which a cluster of disciplines have ploughed the field, and indicate some of the gaps that still need filling; secondly, to signal some specificities of the historical context of the Renaissance that makes it a particularly interesting territory to explore in this perspective.
Keywords: Gesture, Cultural History, Renaissance Italy.􏱏􏰑􏱐􏱑􏰏

Sull'Alphabeto christiano di Juan de Valdés

by Laura Madella and Francesco Mattei

Edizioni Anicia, 2018

In un secolo che si incamminava verso l’istituzionalizzazione educativa, l’Alphabeto Christiano d... more In un secolo che si incamminava verso l’istituzionalizzazione educativa, l’Alphabeto Christiano dello spagnolo Juan de Valdés (ca. 1500-1541) presentava all’uomo di fede un modello di autoeducazione della coscienza autonomo, indipendente da ogni autorità di persone, organizzazioni o chiese. L’individuo era ritenuto responsabile, per tutta la vita, della propria formazione, perché fatto capace dallo spirito divino nell’interiorità della sua anima, unico luogo in cui il trascendente può entrare in comunicazione con gli esseri umani ed essere realmente compreso. Eretico e mentore di eretici, guida spirituale di Giulia Gonzaga, cortigiano e solicitador all’ombra di Carlo V, Valdés consegna all’Alphabeto il manifesto spirituale e pedagogico del suo magistero italiano, esercitato nella segretezza e condannato all’oblio dalle efficaci forme di censura cattoliche e protestanti.

Verteutschter Kindermord des Ritters Marino. La versione tedesca de La Strage de gl’innocenti di B. H. Brockes (1715), in G. B. Marino, Panegirici & Epithalami.

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Papers by Laura Madella

L. Madella (2024). "Apology of Human Geography in Daniello Bartoli's work." A Global Earth in the Classroom. New Voices in the History of Early Modern Education, ed. by D. Salomoni. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 110-130.

A Global Earth in the Classroom. New Voices in the History of Early Modern Education, 2024

Examining the schoolbooks that were used in the late 19th century to teach Italian children the h... more Examining the schoolbooks that were used in the late 19th century to teach Italian children the history of their peninsula, it is easy to see that they combined historical facts with geographical elements, and that the authors depicted Italian and sometimes European geography in a moral way.
The landscapes and places and conformation of territories were linked to the habits of the inhabitants, or it was supposed they had the power to awake states of mind, and foster events; often natural landscapes and elements inherently represented positive or negative ideas. We know that interpretations of this kind have remote origins, and complex, sometimes insidious long-lasting influences in the cultural history of ideas; a rich strand of interdisciplinary research is developing around these topics today .
As far as early modern history is concerned, Daniello Bartoli's La Geografia trasportata al morale (The geography morally read) certainly marked a fundamental step in which Catholic and Baroque culture appropriated this trend, filled it with its own contents and reshaped it according to its formal taste (Introduction, p. 111).
See more: https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/68359

L. Madella (2023). The More the Years the Less the Food: Alvise Cornaro on The Sober Life (1558). In S. Guidi, J. Braga (eds.), The Quantification of Life and Health from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century: Intersection of Medicine and Philosophy. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 62-78.

As in 1558 the Venetian Luigi Cornaro (1484–1566)1 wrote the first "Discorso sulla Vita Sobria", ... more As in 1558 the Venetian Luigi Cornaro (1484–1566)1 wrote the first "Discorso sulla Vita Sobria", the Galenic paradigm was still undisputed in the professional and popular medical culture and it is well recognizable in the notions that Cornaro expounds and in the advice he dispenses: as man grows older, he must reduce the amount of food and beverages consumed, so as not to fatigue the digestive system, avoid humoural imbalance and preserve, ultimately, a better state of health.
What has made this book so renowned, according to scholars, is the
mix of autobiographical narrative, human sympathy and moral rigour,
But I believe that there is also a more specific aspect in the work that catalyses the reader’s attention and distinguishes Cornaro’s Discourse. Such is the issue of the amount of food in relation to the age of man and its moral and symbolic implications, direct and indirect, which the author reiterated and declined in different ways throughout the work.

A Plea for a Jesuit Annual Catalog Database

Engaging Sources: The Tradition and Future of Collecting History in the Society of Jesus, 2021

This paper originated from the spring semester I spent as a fellow at Boston College in 2019 and ... more This paper originated from the spring semester I spent as a fellow at Boston College in 2019 and partially accounts for a digitization project that will proceed rather differently from the way it began, even if this will simply confirm the viabil- ity of its starting premises. The project aims to create a digital, open-access, English-language, and researchable database of the Jesuit annual catalogs. But why, in particular, the annual catalogs? The reason is their content and the way they dis- play it: information on the identity, domicile, and activity of each and every member of the Society of Jesus kept almost continuously from the late sixteenth century on, through an accurate and efficient system of accounting. Read the full article: https://doi.org/10.51238/ISJS.2019.30

Madella, L., Giacomantonio, A. (2023). Acqua, gioco, potere. Ipotesi biopolitiche d’interpretazione dei serious games. In QTimes - Webmagazine, XV/2: 43-56

by Laura Madella and Andrea Giacomantonio

QTimes - XV/2, 2023

Questa è l’acqua è il commencement speech con cui David Foster Wallace, nel 2005, saluta i laurea... more Questa è l’acqua è il commencement speech con cui David Foster Wallace, nel 2005, saluta i laureandi del Kenyon College di Gambier. Un discorso penetrante. Mostra sul piano letterario la dinamica attraverso la quale i dispositivi biopolitici esercitano il loro potere pervasivo, ubiquo sull’essere umano, ridotto plausibilmente a nuda vita. Un potere che, da un lato, promuove e conserva la vita; dall’altro, non si sottrae quando l’esito delle sue manifestazioni è tanatologico. La biopolitica è probabilmente ambivalente. Diversi dispositivi educativi contribuiscono al mantenimento e alla riproduzione di questa forma di governo. I loro processi e i loro prodotti sono macchiati, ipotizziamo, dalla stessa ambivalenza. Ne è un esempio la valutazione scolastica. Ma il gioco e, al suo interno, i serious game, sono esempi paradigmatici. È facile dimostrare con rigore il loro valore. Sembra, però, che, nella prospettiva indicata dalla teoria del capitale umano, l’homo ludens possa rappresentare una declinazione dell’homo oeconomicus, uno degli operatori attraverso i quali la biopolitica esercita la sua presa sull’essere umano.
https://www.qtimes.it/?p=water-game-power-biopolitical-hypotheses-of-serious-games-interpretation

Veterinari in Francia e ritorno: storie di formazione professionale nella Lombardia teresiana e giuseppina

Veterinarians to France and back: history of vocational education in Lombardy under the rule of T... more Veterinarians to France and back: history of vocational education in Lombardy under the rule of Theresa and Joseph II. In the late 18th century, the culture of Enlightenment rethought the role of veterinary medicine and realized that its practice needed a theoretical specialization as well as a separate training. This paper follows two young men from Mantua, at that time a dominion of the Habsburg monarchy, from their school years at Alfort, near Paris, to their professional adulthood as public veterinarians, through the lens given by the exchange of letters between the governor of Lombardy Karl von Firmian and the administrative officer of Mantua Joannon de Saint-Laurent. Veterinarios a Francia y viceversa: historias de educacion profesional en Lombardia bajo el gobierno de Maria Teresa y Jose II. A finales del siglo XVIII, la cultura de la Ilustracion replanteo el papel de la medicina veterinaria y se dio cuenta de que su practica requeria una especializacion teorica, asi como una...

La spedizione mantovana nei Balcani nella relazione di Lorenzo Bazzi (1611), in I gonzaga tra Oriente e Occidente. Viaggi, scoperte geografiche e meraviglie esotiche, a cura di A. Canova e D. Sogliani, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2022, pp. 77-96

Oggetto di questo saggio è un manoscritto datato 8 giugno 1611. Racconta il viaggio per mare di L... more Oggetto di questo saggio è un manoscritto datato 8 giugno 1611. Racconta il viaggio per mare di Lorenzo Bazzi da Mantova a Dubrovnik, che gli italiani chiamavano Ragusa ed era la capitale della repubblica marinara omonima, il suo soggiorno di alcuni mesi e il rientro. Si conserva nella Corrispondenza Affari Esteri dell’Archivo Gonzaga, busta 796, sezione Porta Ottomana e Levante, è vergato in grafia chiara e regolare e si direbbe autografo. La relazione è un documento interessante e gustoso da molti punti di vista. Anzitutto per la sua natura squisitamente pratica. Una relazione di viaggio che è, in realtà, la relazione di un lavoro svolto: Lorenzo Bazzi aveva viaggiato su incarico del duca, e redasse questa cronaca a consuntivo, su espressa richiesta del medesimo. In secondo luogo, la storia del Bazzi offre un ottimo pretesto per raccontare una delle ultime avventure del regno di Vincenzo I, che morirà nel febbraio 1612, meno di un anno dopo la stesura del nostro documento. In ultima istanza, ricorda al lettore che le esperienze della corte Gonzaga con i mondi lontani e l’esotico avvennero tramite una moltitudine di soggetti pressoché anonimi che creavano i contatti, animavano gli scambi, mettevano a disposizione degli attori principali, oggi diremmo, le loro competenze specifiche – nel caso del nostro autore, la padronanza della lingua serba. Le coste orientali del mare Adriatico e il loro entroterra, geograficamente così vicine a quel Nord Italia veneto e lombardo ed emiliano che la famiglia Gonzaga ha sempre considerato da un osservatorio privilegiato – un lembo di pianura rorida all’intersezione delle tre regioni – per un piccolo principato continentale incarnavano già l’Oriente con le sue rarità, il suo fascino e le sue incognite, con il pericolo della presenza turca che forse Vincenzo talora vagheggiava secondo i parametri cavallereschi tassiani della Gierusalemme. Anche se la conquista delle anime non era il guiderdone che il duca bramava.

https://www.storiaeletteratura.it/catalogo/i-gonzaga-tra-oriente-e-occidente/12476

"Del cuore sono chiari argomenti le parole". Lezioni di morale e buonsenso negli Apologi di Giulio Cesare Capaccio (1602), in Parole che formano. Intrecci fra letteratura nazionale e storia dell'educazione, a cura di G. Iacoli, D. Varini e C. Varotti, Modena, Mucchi Editore, 2022, pp. 77-95.

In tanta parte della letteratura cattolica della Controriforma viene riconosciuta alle parole una... more In tanta parte della letteratura cattolica della Controriforma viene riconosciuta alle parole una natura sincera e rassicurante: nei testi pedagogici, in particolar modo, si pretende che esse intendano quel che dichiarano, rimandino a un concetto preciso, e quel concetto si presuppone corrisponda a verità; le agitazioni del barocco le investono solo in superficie e i loro travestimenti formali – da frase musicale, da figura retorica,
da immagine – altro non sono che sagaci divertissements. Rientrano in questo orizzonte gli Apologi del napoletano Giulio Cesare Capaccio (1550 1634), pubblicati a Napoli nel 1602, ristampati nel 1607, e di nuovo a Venezia dal Barezzi nel 1619. Si tratta di una raccolta di 94 epigrammi morali sul modello della favola esopica, illustrati da incisore ignoto. Posti cronologicamente al centro della produzione scrittoria di Capaccio, gli Apologi raccolgono aspetti già presenti in altre pubblicazioni: come l’afflato morale, che nella sua declinazione religiosa muove la prosa opulenta delle Prediche quadragesimali (1582-1586); il gusto per il repertorio, ben espresso nella Selva dei concetti scritturali (1594, rist. 1600); la raffigurazione emblematica, su cui Capaccio ragiona nel terzo libro del ponderoso trattato Delle imprese (1592). Ma a differenza di tutte queste opere che precedono, e a differenza del Principe che lo seguirà (1620) e sarà l’ultima composizione di grande respiro scritta dal napoletano prima del Forastiero (1634), gli Apologi non mostrano alcuna ambizione di magnificenza: sono un’operetta snella e diretta, lontana dall’eloquio fluviale caro all’epoca.

"Un insegnamento carsico. Alcune conseguenze della censura cattolica sui libri di Juan de Valdés". Educazione. Giornale di pedagogia critica, XI/2 (dicembre 2022), pp. 106-125

"A karstic teaching. Some effects of catholic censorship on Juan de Valdés' work." The essay inve... more "A karstic teaching. Some effects of catholic censorship on Juan de Valdés' work." The essay investigates the presence in the Italian library system of 16 th century printed books attributed to the Spanish heretic Juan de Valdés and identifies some of their owners in the early modern modern age. Valdesian books that survived the censorship of the Holy Office reveal a persistent interest in Catholic readers from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, both religious and secular. Thus is fulfilled, in a partial and unforeseen way, one of the Valdés's original goals: to spread his teaching, gradually and under the radar, among sensitive and knowledgeable Christians who showed the desire to know it.

Read the full paper:
https://www.giornaledipedagogiacritica.it/index.php/gdpc/article/view/220/225

Practical medicine as education of the body. Thomas Elyot’s Castel of Helth

In 1539 Thomas Elyot, humanist and diplomat at the court of Henry VIII, published The Castel of H... more In 1539 Thomas Elyot, humanist and diplomat at the court of Henry VIII, published The Castel of Helth, the first regimen sanitatis writ-ten ex novo in English. Not a simple repeat of medical common-places drawn by Galenic tradition, this work was also aimed to non-physicians and people who could not read Latin. Its prescriptions acted on moral habits and pointed to educate the reader toward rea-soning and virtue. By appealing to the national pride of the English language, Elyot hoped to minder the vocation to excess in the ruling class, which was at that time so pernicious to the public weal. La medicina preventiva como educacion del cuerpo. Thomas El-yot’s Castel of Helth (1539-1541) En 1539, Thomas Elyot, humanista y diplomatico en la corte de En-rique VIII, publico The Castel of Helth, el primer regimen sanitatis escrito ex novo en ingles. No es una simple repeticion de lugares medicos comunes dibujados por la tradicion galenica, sino que este trabajo esta parcialmente basado en la cultura alimentaria e higienica inglesa y esta claramente dirigido a personas que no son medicos y personas que no podian leer latin. Sus prescripciones sobre la dieta y la salud fisica actuan sobre los habitos morales y apuntan a educar al lector sobre el razonamiento y las virtudes. Al apelar al orgullo nacional de la lengua inglesa ennoblecida a traves del sujeto medico, The Castel of Helth esperaba atender la vocacion al exceso en la clase dominante, tan perniciosa para el bienestar publico.

E. Frei, L. Madella (2022). The Devils sang Matins so properly. Francis Xavier´s close encounters with Demons in Daniello Bartoli´s Asia (1653). "Quaderni d'Italianistica", 42/2 (2021), pp. 15-41

by Laura Madella and Elisa Frei

Quaderni d'italianistica, 2022

Daniello Bartoli (1608–85) was commissioned to write the “official” history of the Society of Jes... more Daniello Bartoli (1608–85) was commissioned to write the “official” history of the Society of Jesus a century after its foundation. Later called by Leopardi “the Dante of baroque prose,” Bartoli offered a powerful representation of the overseas policies of his order, as well as an appealing overview of the remote lands its members visited for the first time. The main character and hero of Bartoli’s treatise Asia (1653) is Francis Xavier (1506–52), the “Apostle of the Indies.” This paper focuses on Xavier’s “strange encounters” with the “Indian otherness,” recounted by Bartoli as a confrontation with the “spiritual otherness.” Our essay examines several episodes of supernatural events in which Bartoli indulged in a dramatic narrative. With his colorful language, did Bartoli want to encourage vocations to the order, fellow Jesuits to travel to Asia, to gain financial and political support, or all of them? These episodes will be analyzed from a historical point of view (how Bartoli used his sources) and in a pedagogic perspective (which message he wanted to spread and to which readership).

Madella, L. (2021). «Politici pericolosi o filosofi incompiuti»? Morale civile, religione e formazione degli insegnanti. Un dibattito al Parlamento subalpino (1858), in Rassegna di Pedagogia, 1-2 (2020), pp. 135-156.

Nella primavera 1858, la Camera dei deputati del Regno di Sardegna discusse il progetto di legge ... more Nella primavera 1858, la Camera dei deputati del Regno di Sardegna discusse il progetto di legge per l’istituzione di scuole normali per i maestri elementari, presentato dal ministro Giovanni Lanza. L’articolo esamina le diverse posizioni dei partecipanti al dibattito, che offre molti elementi per comprendere l’idea di formazione morale degli insegnanti sviluppata dalla classe del futuro Regno d’Italia, a un anno dalla promulgazione della Legge Casati. Read online: http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=202002102&amp;rivista=21 - During the spring 1858, the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Sardin- ia discussed the legislative project concerning the establishment of normal schools for primary schoolteachers, drafted and submitted by Giovanni Lanza. The paper aims to examine the opinions of the deputies participating in the debate, so to enlighten the idea of teacher moral training developed by the prospective Italian ruling class, one year before the enactment of the Casati law on education system.

Madella, L. (2021). Philosophy of Care and the Bildungsroman : Words and Facts in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. In: Braga, J., Santiago de Carvalho, M. (eds) Philosophy of Care. Advancing Global Bioethics, vol 16. Springer, Cham.

Philosophy of Care New Approaches to Vulnerability, Otherness and Therapy, 2021

Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-1796) is inextricably tied to the birth of the Bildungs... more Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-1796) is inextricably tied to the birth of the Bildungsroman and stands at a critical moment in the history of European philosophy of education. The concept of self-care permeates Goethe's theory of the self-formation, insomuch as he displayed the latter as the consequence of one's knowledge of the self and the world. In particular, the novel materializes in its threads the main features of what Foucault described as the historical turning point in the European idea of the care of the self. The paper aims to highlight this topic through the examination of three characters and the representation of their dealings with self-knowledge and self-care.

Children's literature in Italian Journals: An Overview

Children's Readings: Studies in Children's Literature, 2020

In the Italian landscape, the dissemination of scholarly research on children's literature is inf... more In the Italian landscape, the dissemination of scholarly research on children's literature is influenced by the fact that the disciplinary division of academic knowledge generally considers children's literature as a branch of History of Education, more rarely as one of Philosophy of Education and, when dealing with children aged 3-5, as a part of Early Childhood Education. For this reason, essays on books and writings for young people often appear in journals mainly devoted to the alleged "major" pedagogical subjects, with some notable exceptions. As a whole, children's literature today is a well-developed academic field in Italy, with regular international exchanges on the subject matter. Such academic divisions influence the very field of publications devoted to children's literature: it is represented by academic journals that include children's literature in a broader research scope, and specialized journals, often initiated outside the academic world and addressed to a larger audience of readers, parents, educators, and those who express their interest in the subject matter. Among the academic journals, the official bulletin of the SIPED Association (Italian Pedagogical Society), Pedagogia Oggi ("Pedagogy today"), which publishes articles both in Italian and English, hosts articles in all areas of educational studies and therefore also prints research on children's literature. This subject also appears often in the online journal Nuova Secondaria Ricerca ("New High School Research"), which is the academic branch of Nuova Secondaria ("New High School"), a professional journal for high school teachers and administrators. Another publication, Bambini ("Children"), which is

Le Poesie per il secondo rettorato di Pietro Tamburini (1790): fra polemica giansenista ed entusiasmi studenteschi. In Fonti per la storia delle popolazioni accademiche in Europa, X Atelier Héloïse a cura di G. P. Brizzi et al., Bologna, il Mulino, 2022, pp. 537-558

Fonti per la storia delle popolazioni accademiche in Europa - Sources for the History of European Academic Communities. X Atelier Héloïse, a cura di G.P. Brizzi, C. Frova, F. Treggiari, 2022

Le Poesie per la elezione in Rettore Magnifico della R. I. università di Pavia, seguita il dì 5 d... more Le Poesie per la elezione in Rettore Magnifico della R. I. università di Pavia, seguita il dì 5 dicembre 1790 nel regio professore di sacra teologia Don Pietro Tamburini Bresciano sono un singolare libretto d’occasione. Vi partecipano studenti, cariche istituzionali e autori anonimi, con versi in latino e italiano, tedesco e francese e persino in dialetto. Tutti accomunati da un’autentica adorazione per il giansenista Tamburini e concordi che il nuovo incarico fosse una sacrosanta lezione per i suoi detrattori, accademici e uomini di chiesa. In realtà il consenso delle autorità austriache per le teorie e l’operato di Tamburini stava giungendo al capolinea e, nel 1794, il prelato verrà allontanato da Pavia e dalla docenza. Il saggio indaga come i componimenti poetici tematizzano la “vittoria ideologica” del Tamburini nell’arena accademica, anche alla luce dei loro caratteri stilistici e delle specifiche storiche del tempo.

Frei E., Madella L., Dimostrare autorità e usare cortesia. L'etichetta giapponese nel Cerimoniale di Alessandro Valignano SJ (1583)

by Laura Madella and Elisa Frei

Bruniana&Campanelliana. Ricerche filosofiche e materiali storico-testuali, 2021

Showing Authority and Acting Politely. Japanese Manners in Alessandro Valignano SJ’s Cerimoniale ... more Showing Authority and Acting Politely. Japanese Manners in Alessandro Valignano SJ’s Cerimoniale (1583).This article deals with the gestures described –and prescribed– in the handbook written by Alessandro Valignano at the beginning of the 1580s for the Jesuit missionaries in Japan. Also known as the Cerimoniale, the manual (intended for internal use only) provided Jesuits with the proper etiquette to use when interacting with Japanese people, especially religious and political authorities.

An Esoteric Education: Vespasiano Gonzaga’s Private Library

Vespasiano Gonzaga, first and last Duke of Sabbioneta, built his small ideal city between 1554 to... more Vespasiano Gonzaga, first and last Duke of Sabbioneta, built his small ideal city between 1554 to 1590. One of his ambitious projects being for his Duchy to become a “cathedral of learning”, he provided it with schools and a public library. He also owned a private library which reflected his own leanings and needs and represented the coeval trend of aristocratic education, increasingly interested in science, to the detriment of literature and, in particular, theological matters. The article investigates along these lines, presenting Vespasiano Gonzaga’s scientifical books. Una educacion esoterica: la biblioteca privada de Vespasiano Gonzaga Vespasiano Gonzaga, por encima de todo el Duque de Sabbioneta, construyo su pequena ciudad ideal entre 1554 y 1590. Uno de sus ambiciosos proyectos era que su Ducado se convirtiera en una “catedral del saber”, proveyendola de escuelas y de una biblioteca publica. El tambien tuvo una biblioteca privada que reflejo sus propias inclinaciones y neces...

Alessandro Piccolomini, Dialogo de la bella creanza de le donne (1539), a cura di L. Madella. Roma: Anicia, 2023

Nella tradizione filosofica e letteraria del dialogo come occasione di conoscenza, il dialogo tra... more Nella tradizione filosofica e letteraria del dialogo come occasione di conoscenza, il dialogo tra donne si inserisce come un genere molto più recente, spesso intrecciato con la novellistica e lo spazio elusivo e ambiguo della commedia. Il Dialogo de la bella creanza de le donne di Alessandro Piccolomini (1539) rappresenta un modello di questo genere, e si pone come ineludibile lettura per comprendere il panorama dell’educazione morale del tardo Rinascimento. In tale panorama, le interlocutrici si muovono a loro agio e con disincanto, contribuendo così all’emersione e alla discussione delle forme etiche del loro mondo. Piccolomini affida la funzione maieutica alla dama più anziana, che finisce per occupare il centro della scena, tanto che l’operetta è meglio nota con il nome di lei: la Raffaella.

Comunicare per gesti nel Rinascimento: un cantiere di ricerca

by Alessandro Arcangeli, Giulia Morosini, Umberto Cecchinato, Elisa Frei, and Laura Madella

BRUNIANA & CAMPANELLIANA, 2021

Introduction: This text introduces a dossier of essays, resulting from an informal research group... more Introduction: This text introduces a dossier of essays, resulting from an informal research group that has begun, and plans to continue, to work on the subject area and approach of a cultural history of gesture. The scope of the following pages is twofold: firstly, to set a historiographical background of the main directions in which a cluster of disciplines have ploughed the field, and indicate some of the gaps that still need filling; secondly, to signal some specificities of the historical context of the Renaissance that makes it a particularly interesting territory to explore in this perspective.
Keywords: Gesture, Cultural History, Renaissance Italy.􏱏􏰑􏱐􏱑􏰏

Sull'Alphabeto christiano di Juan de Valdés

by Laura Madella and Francesco Mattei

Edizioni Anicia, 2018

In un secolo che si incamminava verso l’istituzionalizzazione educativa, l’Alphabeto Christiano d... more In un secolo che si incamminava verso l’istituzionalizzazione educativa, l’Alphabeto Christiano dello spagnolo Juan de Valdés (ca. 1500-1541) presentava all’uomo di fede un modello di autoeducazione della coscienza autonomo, indipendente da ogni autorità di persone, organizzazioni o chiese. L’individuo era ritenuto responsabile, per tutta la vita, della propria formazione, perché fatto capace dallo spirito divino nell’interiorità della sua anima, unico luogo in cui il trascendente può entrare in comunicazione con gli esseri umani ed essere realmente compreso. Eretico e mentore di eretici, guida spirituale di Giulia Gonzaga, cortigiano e solicitador all’ombra di Carlo V, Valdés consegna all’Alphabeto il manifesto spirituale e pedagogico del suo magistero italiano, esercitato nella segretezza e condannato all’oblio dalle efficaci forme di censura cattoliche e protestanti.

Verteutschter Kindermord des Ritters Marino. La versione tedesca de La Strage de gl’innocenti di B. H. Brockes (1715), in G. B. Marino, Panegirici & Epithalami.

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L. Madella (2024). "Apology of Human Geography in Daniello Bartoli's work." A Global Earth in the Classroom. New Voices in the History of Early Modern Education, ed. by D. Salomoni. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 110-130.

A Global Earth in the Classroom. New Voices in the History of Early Modern Education, 2024

Examining the schoolbooks that were used in the late 19th century to teach Italian children the h... more Examining the schoolbooks that were used in the late 19th century to teach Italian children the history of their peninsula, it is easy to see that they combined historical facts with geographical elements, and that the authors depicted Italian and sometimes European geography in a moral way.
The landscapes and places and conformation of territories were linked to the habits of the inhabitants, or it was supposed they had the power to awake states of mind, and foster events; often natural landscapes and elements inherently represented positive or negative ideas. We know that interpretations of this kind have remote origins, and complex, sometimes insidious long-lasting influences in the cultural history of ideas; a rich strand of interdisciplinary research is developing around these topics today .
As far as early modern history is concerned, Daniello Bartoli's La Geografia trasportata al morale (The geography morally read) certainly marked a fundamental step in which Catholic and Baroque culture appropriated this trend, filled it with its own contents and reshaped it according to its formal taste (Introduction, p. 111).
See more: https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/68359

L. Madella (2023). The More the Years the Less the Food: Alvise Cornaro on The Sober Life (1558). In S. Guidi, J. Braga (eds.), The Quantification of Life and Health from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century: Intersection of Medicine and Philosophy. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 62-78.

As in 1558 the Venetian Luigi Cornaro (1484–1566)1 wrote the first "Discorso sulla Vita Sobria", ... more As in 1558 the Venetian Luigi Cornaro (1484–1566)1 wrote the first "Discorso sulla Vita Sobria", the Galenic paradigm was still undisputed in the professional and popular medical culture and it is well recognizable in the notions that Cornaro expounds and in the advice he dispenses: as man grows older, he must reduce the amount of food and beverages consumed, so as not to fatigue the digestive system, avoid humoural imbalance and preserve, ultimately, a better state of health.
What has made this book so renowned, according to scholars, is the
mix of autobiographical narrative, human sympathy and moral rigour,
But I believe that there is also a more specific aspect in the work that catalyses the reader’s attention and distinguishes Cornaro’s Discourse. Such is the issue of the amount of food in relation to the age of man and its moral and symbolic implications, direct and indirect, which the author reiterated and declined in different ways throughout the work.

A Plea for a Jesuit Annual Catalog Database

Engaging Sources: The Tradition and Future of Collecting History in the Society of Jesus, 2021

This paper originated from the spring semester I spent as a fellow at Boston College in 2019 and ... more This paper originated from the spring semester I spent as a fellow at Boston College in 2019 and partially accounts for a digitization project that will proceed rather differently from the way it began, even if this will simply confirm the viabil- ity of its starting premises. The project aims to create a digital, open-access, English-language, and researchable database of the Jesuit annual catalogs. But why, in particular, the annual catalogs? The reason is their content and the way they dis- play it: information on the identity, domicile, and activity of each and every member of the Society of Jesus kept almost continuously from the late sixteenth century on, through an accurate and efficient system of accounting. Read the full article: https://doi.org/10.51238/ISJS.2019.30

Madella, L., Giacomantonio, A. (2023). Acqua, gioco, potere. Ipotesi biopolitiche d’interpretazione dei serious games. In QTimes - Webmagazine, XV/2: 43-56

by Laura Madella and Andrea Giacomantonio

QTimes - XV/2, 2023

Questa è l’acqua è il commencement speech con cui David Foster Wallace, nel 2005, saluta i laurea... more Questa è l’acqua è il commencement speech con cui David Foster Wallace, nel 2005, saluta i laureandi del Kenyon College di Gambier. Un discorso penetrante. Mostra sul piano letterario la dinamica attraverso la quale i dispositivi biopolitici esercitano il loro potere pervasivo, ubiquo sull’essere umano, ridotto plausibilmente a nuda vita. Un potere che, da un lato, promuove e conserva la vita; dall’altro, non si sottrae quando l’esito delle sue manifestazioni è tanatologico. La biopolitica è probabilmente ambivalente. Diversi dispositivi educativi contribuiscono al mantenimento e alla riproduzione di questa forma di governo. I loro processi e i loro prodotti sono macchiati, ipotizziamo, dalla stessa ambivalenza. Ne è un esempio la valutazione scolastica. Ma il gioco e, al suo interno, i serious game, sono esempi paradigmatici. È facile dimostrare con rigore il loro valore. Sembra, però, che, nella prospettiva indicata dalla teoria del capitale umano, l’homo ludens possa rappresentare una declinazione dell’homo oeconomicus, uno degli operatori attraverso i quali la biopolitica esercita la sua presa sull’essere umano.
https://www.qtimes.it/?p=water-game-power-biopolitical-hypotheses-of-serious-games-interpretation

Veterinari in Francia e ritorno: storie di formazione professionale nella Lombardia teresiana e giuseppina

Veterinarians to France and back: history of vocational education in Lombardy under the rule of T... more Veterinarians to France and back: history of vocational education in Lombardy under the rule of Theresa and Joseph II. In the late 18th century, the culture of Enlightenment rethought the role of veterinary medicine and realized that its practice needed a theoretical specialization as well as a separate training. This paper follows two young men from Mantua, at that time a dominion of the Habsburg monarchy, from their school years at Alfort, near Paris, to their professional adulthood as public veterinarians, through the lens given by the exchange of letters between the governor of Lombardy Karl von Firmian and the administrative officer of Mantua Joannon de Saint-Laurent. Veterinarios a Francia y viceversa: historias de educacion profesional en Lombardia bajo el gobierno de Maria Teresa y Jose II. A finales del siglo XVIII, la cultura de la Ilustracion replanteo el papel de la medicina veterinaria y se dio cuenta de que su practica requeria una especializacion teorica, asi como una...

La spedizione mantovana nei Balcani nella relazione di Lorenzo Bazzi (1611), in I gonzaga tra Oriente e Occidente. Viaggi, scoperte geografiche e meraviglie esotiche, a cura di A. Canova e D. Sogliani, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2022, pp. 77-96

Oggetto di questo saggio è un manoscritto datato 8 giugno 1611. Racconta il viaggio per mare di L... more Oggetto di questo saggio è un manoscritto datato 8 giugno 1611. Racconta il viaggio per mare di Lorenzo Bazzi da Mantova a Dubrovnik, che gli italiani chiamavano Ragusa ed era la capitale della repubblica marinara omonima, il suo soggiorno di alcuni mesi e il rientro. Si conserva nella Corrispondenza Affari Esteri dell’Archivo Gonzaga, busta 796, sezione Porta Ottomana e Levante, è vergato in grafia chiara e regolare e si direbbe autografo. La relazione è un documento interessante e gustoso da molti punti di vista. Anzitutto per la sua natura squisitamente pratica. Una relazione di viaggio che è, in realtà, la relazione di un lavoro svolto: Lorenzo Bazzi aveva viaggiato su incarico del duca, e redasse questa cronaca a consuntivo, su espressa richiesta del medesimo. In secondo luogo, la storia del Bazzi offre un ottimo pretesto per raccontare una delle ultime avventure del regno di Vincenzo I, che morirà nel febbraio 1612, meno di un anno dopo la stesura del nostro documento. In ultima istanza, ricorda al lettore che le esperienze della corte Gonzaga con i mondi lontani e l’esotico avvennero tramite una moltitudine di soggetti pressoché anonimi che creavano i contatti, animavano gli scambi, mettevano a disposizione degli attori principali, oggi diremmo, le loro competenze specifiche – nel caso del nostro autore, la padronanza della lingua serba. Le coste orientali del mare Adriatico e il loro entroterra, geograficamente così vicine a quel Nord Italia veneto e lombardo ed emiliano che la famiglia Gonzaga ha sempre considerato da un osservatorio privilegiato – un lembo di pianura rorida all’intersezione delle tre regioni – per un piccolo principato continentale incarnavano già l’Oriente con le sue rarità, il suo fascino e le sue incognite, con il pericolo della presenza turca che forse Vincenzo talora vagheggiava secondo i parametri cavallereschi tassiani della Gierusalemme. Anche se la conquista delle anime non era il guiderdone che il duca bramava.

https://www.storiaeletteratura.it/catalogo/i-gonzaga-tra-oriente-e-occidente/12476

"Del cuore sono chiari argomenti le parole". Lezioni di morale e buonsenso negli Apologi di Giulio Cesare Capaccio (1602), in Parole che formano. Intrecci fra letteratura nazionale e storia dell'educazione, a cura di G. Iacoli, D. Varini e C. Varotti, Modena, Mucchi Editore, 2022, pp. 77-95.

In tanta parte della letteratura cattolica della Controriforma viene riconosciuta alle parole una... more In tanta parte della letteratura cattolica della Controriforma viene riconosciuta alle parole una natura sincera e rassicurante: nei testi pedagogici, in particolar modo, si pretende che esse intendano quel che dichiarano, rimandino a un concetto preciso, e quel concetto si presuppone corrisponda a verità; le agitazioni del barocco le investono solo in superficie e i loro travestimenti formali – da frase musicale, da figura retorica,
da immagine – altro non sono che sagaci divertissements. Rientrano in questo orizzonte gli Apologi del napoletano Giulio Cesare Capaccio (1550 1634), pubblicati a Napoli nel 1602, ristampati nel 1607, e di nuovo a Venezia dal Barezzi nel 1619. Si tratta di una raccolta di 94 epigrammi morali sul modello della favola esopica, illustrati da incisore ignoto. Posti cronologicamente al centro della produzione scrittoria di Capaccio, gli Apologi raccolgono aspetti già presenti in altre pubblicazioni: come l’afflato morale, che nella sua declinazione religiosa muove la prosa opulenta delle Prediche quadragesimali (1582-1586); il gusto per il repertorio, ben espresso nella Selva dei concetti scritturali (1594, rist. 1600); la raffigurazione emblematica, su cui Capaccio ragiona nel terzo libro del ponderoso trattato Delle imprese (1592). Ma a differenza di tutte queste opere che precedono, e a differenza del Principe che lo seguirà (1620) e sarà l’ultima composizione di grande respiro scritta dal napoletano prima del Forastiero (1634), gli Apologi non mostrano alcuna ambizione di magnificenza: sono un’operetta snella e diretta, lontana dall’eloquio fluviale caro all’epoca.

"Un insegnamento carsico. Alcune conseguenze della censura cattolica sui libri di Juan de Valdés". Educazione. Giornale di pedagogia critica, XI/2 (dicembre 2022), pp. 106-125

"A karstic teaching. Some effects of catholic censorship on Juan de Valdés' work." The essay inve... more "A karstic teaching. Some effects of catholic censorship on Juan de Valdés' work." The essay investigates the presence in the Italian library system of 16 th century printed books attributed to the Spanish heretic Juan de Valdés and identifies some of their owners in the early modern modern age. Valdesian books that survived the censorship of the Holy Office reveal a persistent interest in Catholic readers from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, both religious and secular. Thus is fulfilled, in a partial and unforeseen way, one of the Valdés's original goals: to spread his teaching, gradually and under the radar, among sensitive and knowledgeable Christians who showed the desire to know it.

Read the full paper:
https://www.giornaledipedagogiacritica.it/index.php/gdpc/article/view/220/225

Practical medicine as education of the body. Thomas Elyot’s Castel of Helth

In 1539 Thomas Elyot, humanist and diplomat at the court of Henry VIII, published The Castel of H... more In 1539 Thomas Elyot, humanist and diplomat at the court of Henry VIII, published The Castel of Helth, the first regimen sanitatis writ-ten ex novo in English. Not a simple repeat of medical common-places drawn by Galenic tradition, this work was also aimed to non-physicians and people who could not read Latin. Its prescriptions acted on moral habits and pointed to educate the reader toward rea-soning and virtue. By appealing to the national pride of the English language, Elyot hoped to minder the vocation to excess in the ruling class, which was at that time so pernicious to the public weal. La medicina preventiva como educacion del cuerpo. Thomas El-yot’s Castel of Helth (1539-1541) En 1539, Thomas Elyot, humanista y diplomatico en la corte de En-rique VIII, publico The Castel of Helth, el primer regimen sanitatis escrito ex novo en ingles. No es una simple repeticion de lugares medicos comunes dibujados por la tradicion galenica, sino que este trabajo esta parcialmente basado en la cultura alimentaria e higienica inglesa y esta claramente dirigido a personas que no son medicos y personas que no podian leer latin. Sus prescripciones sobre la dieta y la salud fisica actuan sobre los habitos morales y apuntan a educar al lector sobre el razonamiento y las virtudes. Al apelar al orgullo nacional de la lengua inglesa ennoblecida a traves del sujeto medico, The Castel of Helth esperaba atender la vocacion al exceso en la clase dominante, tan perniciosa para el bienestar publico.

E. Frei, L. Madella (2022). The Devils sang Matins so properly. Francis Xavier´s close encounters with Demons in Daniello Bartoli´s Asia (1653). "Quaderni d'Italianistica", 42/2 (2021), pp. 15-41

by Laura Madella and Elisa Frei

Quaderni d'italianistica, 2022

Daniello Bartoli (1608–85) was commissioned to write the “official” history of the Society of Jes... more Daniello Bartoli (1608–85) was commissioned to write the “official” history of the Society of Jesus a century after its foundation. Later called by Leopardi “the Dante of baroque prose,” Bartoli offered a powerful representation of the overseas policies of his order, as well as an appealing overview of the remote lands its members visited for the first time. The main character and hero of Bartoli’s treatise Asia (1653) is Francis Xavier (1506–52), the “Apostle of the Indies.” This paper focuses on Xavier’s “strange encounters” with the “Indian otherness,” recounted by Bartoli as a confrontation with the “spiritual otherness.” Our essay examines several episodes of supernatural events in which Bartoli indulged in a dramatic narrative. With his colorful language, did Bartoli want to encourage vocations to the order, fellow Jesuits to travel to Asia, to gain financial and political support, or all of them? These episodes will be analyzed from a historical point of view (how Bartoli used his sources) and in a pedagogic perspective (which message he wanted to spread and to which readership).

Madella, L. (2021). «Politici pericolosi o filosofi incompiuti»? Morale civile, religione e formazione degli insegnanti. Un dibattito al Parlamento subalpino (1858), in Rassegna di Pedagogia, 1-2 (2020), pp. 135-156.

Nella primavera 1858, la Camera dei deputati del Regno di Sardegna discusse il progetto di legge ... more Nella primavera 1858, la Camera dei deputati del Regno di Sardegna discusse il progetto di legge per l’istituzione di scuole normali per i maestri elementari, presentato dal ministro Giovanni Lanza. L’articolo esamina le diverse posizioni dei partecipanti al dibattito, che offre molti elementi per comprendere l’idea di formazione morale degli insegnanti sviluppata dalla classe del futuro Regno d’Italia, a un anno dalla promulgazione della Legge Casati. Read online: http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=202002102&amp;rivista=21 - During the spring 1858, the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Sardin- ia discussed the legislative project concerning the establishment of normal schools for primary schoolteachers, drafted and submitted by Giovanni Lanza. The paper aims to examine the opinions of the deputies participating in the debate, so to enlighten the idea of teacher moral training developed by the prospective Italian ruling class, one year before the enactment of the Casati law on education system.

Madella, L. (2021). Philosophy of Care and the Bildungsroman : Words and Facts in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. In: Braga, J., Santiago de Carvalho, M. (eds) Philosophy of Care. Advancing Global Bioethics, vol 16. Springer, Cham.

Philosophy of Care New Approaches to Vulnerability, Otherness and Therapy, 2021

Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-1796) is inextricably tied to the birth of the Bildungs... more Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-1796) is inextricably tied to the birth of the Bildungsroman and stands at a critical moment in the history of European philosophy of education. The concept of self-care permeates Goethe's theory of the self-formation, insomuch as he displayed the latter as the consequence of one's knowledge of the self and the world. In particular, the novel materializes in its threads the main features of what Foucault described as the historical turning point in the European idea of the care of the self. The paper aims to highlight this topic through the examination of three characters and the representation of their dealings with self-knowledge and self-care.

Children's literature in Italian Journals: An Overview

Children's Readings: Studies in Children's Literature, 2020

In the Italian landscape, the dissemination of scholarly research on children's literature is inf... more In the Italian landscape, the dissemination of scholarly research on children's literature is influenced by the fact that the disciplinary division of academic knowledge generally considers children's literature as a branch of History of Education, more rarely as one of Philosophy of Education and, when dealing with children aged 3-5, as a part of Early Childhood Education. For this reason, essays on books and writings for young people often appear in journals mainly devoted to the alleged "major" pedagogical subjects, with some notable exceptions. As a whole, children's literature today is a well-developed academic field in Italy, with regular international exchanges on the subject matter. Such academic divisions influence the very field of publications devoted to children's literature: it is represented by academic journals that include children's literature in a broader research scope, and specialized journals, often initiated outside the academic world and addressed to a larger audience of readers, parents, educators, and those who express their interest in the subject matter. Among the academic journals, the official bulletin of the SIPED Association (Italian Pedagogical Society), Pedagogia Oggi ("Pedagogy today"), which publishes articles both in Italian and English, hosts articles in all areas of educational studies and therefore also prints research on children's literature. This subject also appears often in the online journal Nuova Secondaria Ricerca ("New High School Research"), which is the academic branch of Nuova Secondaria ("New High School"), a professional journal for high school teachers and administrators. Another publication, Bambini ("Children"), which is

Le Poesie per il secondo rettorato di Pietro Tamburini (1790): fra polemica giansenista ed entusiasmi studenteschi. In Fonti per la storia delle popolazioni accademiche in Europa, X Atelier Héloïse a cura di G. P. Brizzi et al., Bologna, il Mulino, 2022, pp. 537-558

Fonti per la storia delle popolazioni accademiche in Europa - Sources for the History of European Academic Communities. X Atelier Héloïse, a cura di G.P. Brizzi, C. Frova, F. Treggiari, 2022

Le Poesie per la elezione in Rettore Magnifico della R. I. università di Pavia, seguita il dì 5 d... more Le Poesie per la elezione in Rettore Magnifico della R. I. università di Pavia, seguita il dì 5 dicembre 1790 nel regio professore di sacra teologia Don Pietro Tamburini Bresciano sono un singolare libretto d’occasione. Vi partecipano studenti, cariche istituzionali e autori anonimi, con versi in latino e italiano, tedesco e francese e persino in dialetto. Tutti accomunati da un’autentica adorazione per il giansenista Tamburini e concordi che il nuovo incarico fosse una sacrosanta lezione per i suoi detrattori, accademici e uomini di chiesa. In realtà il consenso delle autorità austriache per le teorie e l’operato di Tamburini stava giungendo al capolinea e, nel 1794, il prelato verrà allontanato da Pavia e dalla docenza. Il saggio indaga come i componimenti poetici tematizzano la “vittoria ideologica” del Tamburini nell’arena accademica, anche alla luce dei loro caratteri stilistici e delle specifiche storiche del tempo.

Frei E., Madella L., Dimostrare autorità e usare cortesia. L'etichetta giapponese nel Cerimoniale di Alessandro Valignano SJ (1583)

by Laura Madella and Elisa Frei

Bruniana&Campanelliana. Ricerche filosofiche e materiali storico-testuali, 2021

Showing Authority and Acting Politely. Japanese Manners in Alessandro Valignano SJ’s Cerimoniale ... more Showing Authority and Acting Politely. Japanese Manners in Alessandro Valignano SJ’s Cerimoniale (1583).This article deals with the gestures described –and prescribed– in the handbook written by Alessandro Valignano at the beginning of the 1580s for the Jesuit missionaries in Japan. Also known as the Cerimoniale, the manual (intended for internal use only) provided Jesuits with the proper etiquette to use when interacting with Japanese people, especially religious and political authorities.

An Esoteric Education: Vespasiano Gonzaga’s Private Library

Vespasiano Gonzaga, first and last Duke of Sabbioneta, built his small ideal city between 1554 to... more Vespasiano Gonzaga, first and last Duke of Sabbioneta, built his small ideal city between 1554 to 1590. One of his ambitious projects being for his Duchy to become a “cathedral of learning”, he provided it with schools and a public library. He also owned a private library which reflected his own leanings and needs and represented the coeval trend of aristocratic education, increasingly interested in science, to the detriment of literature and, in particular, theological matters. The article investigates along these lines, presenting Vespasiano Gonzaga’s scientifical books. Una educacion esoterica: la biblioteca privada de Vespasiano Gonzaga Vespasiano Gonzaga, por encima de todo el Duque de Sabbioneta, construyo su pequena ciudad ideal entre 1554 y 1590. Uno de sus ambiciosos proyectos era que su Ducado se convirtiera en una “catedral del saber”, proveyendola de escuelas y de una biblioteca publica. El tambien tuvo una biblioteca privada que reflejo sus propias inclinaciones y neces...

Casalini C., Madella L. (2021) The Jesuit Cultivation of Vegetative Souls: Leonard Lessius (1554–1623) on a Sober Diet. In: Baldassarri F., Blank A. (eds) Vegetative Powers. International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées, vol 234. Springer, Cham.

by cristiano casalini and Laura Madella

A useful prism through which one can examine the positive Jesuit attitude toward the human condit... more A useful prism through which one can examine the positive Jesuit attitude toward the human condition is that of the nature and operations of the vegetative soul. Rather than neglecting aspects that pertained presumably to the lowest functions of human life, Jesuit theologians dealt with issues of nutrition and generation in a variety of their works. Sometimes, Jesuit theologians even went beyond their own teaching interests to put the vegetative soul at the very center of their research. This contribution will inquire into a successful long seller during the seventeenth century as an example of such literature. In 1613, the Dutch theologian Leonard Lessius (1554–1623) published the Hygiasticon seu vera ratio valetudinis bonae et vitae ad extremam senectute conservandam (Antwerp), a peculiar treatise that was strictly focused on nutrition and the best ways to optimize it for the physical and spiritual health of human beings. Although such an outcome was the fruit of a moral habit rooted in human learning and observation, Lessius also connected it to traditional virtues such as “temperance” and “sobriety.” By doing this, Lessius seemed to provide an implicit correction to the ranking of human functions–at least from the practical aspects of living a Christian life–, as nothing superior could be performed without rendering appropriate respect to the lower powers. As was true of any being in this world, humans were to be primarily gardeners of their souls.

A Plea for a Jesuit Annual Catalog Database

Engaging Sources: The Tradition and Future of Collecting History in the Society of Jesus (Proceedings of the Symposium held at Boston College, June 11–13, 2019), 2021

This paper originated from the spring semester I spent as a fellow at Boston College in 2019 and ... more This paper originated from the spring semester I spent as a fellow at Boston College in 2019 and partially accounts for a digitization project that will proceed rather differently from the way it began, even if this will simply confirm the viabil- ity of its starting premises. The project aims to create a digital, open-access, English-language, and researchable database of the Jesuit annual catalogs. But why, in particular, the annual catalogs? The reason is their content and the way they dis- play it: information on the identity, domicile, and activity of each and every member of the Society of Jesus kept almost continuously from the late sixteenth century on, through an accurate and efficient system of accounting.
Read the full article: https://doi.org/10.51238/ISJS.2019.30

«Politici pericolosi o filosofi incompiuti»? Morale civile, religione e formazione degli insegnanti: un dibattito al Parlamento subalpino (1858)

Rassegna di pedagogia, vol. 1-2, 2020

Nella primavera 1858, la Camera dei deputati del Regno di Sardegna discusse il progetto di legge ... more Nella primavera 1858, la Camera dei deputati del Regno di Sardegna discusse il progetto di legge per l’istituzione di scuole normali per i maestri elementari, presentato dal ministro Giovanni Lanza. L’articolo esamina le diverse posizioni dei partecipanti al dibattito, che offre molti elementi per comprendere l’idea di formazione morale degli insegnanti sviluppata dalla classe del futuro Regno d’Italia, a un anno dalla promulgazione della Legge Casati.
Read online:
http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=202002102&rivista=21

During the spring 1858, the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Sardin- ia discussed the legislative project concerning the establishment of normal schools for primary schoolteachers, drafted and submitted by Giovanni Lanza. The paper aims to examine the opinions of the deputies participating in the debate, so to enlighten the idea of teacher moral training developed by the prospective Italian ruling class, one year before the enactment of the Casati law on education system.

Children's Literature in Italian Journals: An Overview

Detskie chtenia/Children's reading: Studies in Children's Literature, 2020

The paper introduces the reader to the most influential Italian journals dedicated to children’s ... more The paper introduces the reader to the most influential Italian journals dedicated to children’s literature, domestic and foreign. It offers an overview of these journals’ themes, features, and content. Italian scholarship in children’s literature today represents an engaging field of academic research, often connected with the major directions in educational studies, such as the history and philosophy of education. Thus, scholarly outcome of the latest research in children’s literature is usually distributed throughout major professional journals, generally led by university-based research groups. These journals offer critical essays with a comparative perspective, not only from a geographic (non-Italian literature, non-Italian authors) but also from a cross-disciplinary point of view (history and philosophy, as well as social science, visual arts, methodology, etc.). Such academic centers at universities in Rome, Florence, Macerata, Bologna, and Genoa support the rich tradition of educational and literary studies. They also host authoritative academic journals, as well as influential periodicals edited by non-academic cultural institutions, libraries and the like, whose main purpose is to enhance reading practices among young people. For this reason, articles in such periodicals privilege contemporary literature (in all its artistic venues), investigate the relationship between literary works and their audiences, and often focus on educational settings and their adult actors (schools and teachers, libraries and librarians).
Read the full article:
http://www.detskie-chtenia.ru/index.php/journal/article/view/444

SEEN FROM AFAR. Images of Europe in the cultivation of American Identity

by Luana Salvarani, Laura Madella, Andrea Giacomantonio, Benedetto Vertecchi, Francesco Mattei, and Diego Varini

Europeans "seen from afar” contributed to the building of American identity as did the ones who ... more Europeans "seen from afar” contributed to the building of American identity as did the ones who made their way to the New World. Often despised, slightly feared, admired for their cultural traditions but also perceived as a bothersome counterpart, they provided an image of Europe which obsessed thoughts and deeds of 18th- and 19th-century Americans, especially the ones interested in education. Various declinations of the theme are here offered by Italian and foreign scholars.
Conclusions are provided by Francesco Mattei and Benedetto Vertecchi, with a reflection on how an America "seen from afar" influences today's educational practices, and reasoning on how the Old World educational culture could still give its contribution in this crowded battlefield.

Etica e nutrizione in età moderna - Università di Roma Tre, 29 gennaio 2024

Ethics | p2022kfeys maurizio balistreri * fabrizio bigotti laura madella * cecilia muratori germa... more

Prolongevity Literature in Late Renaissance Italy. IEF e Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, May 21st, 2020

Among the plenty of topics that Italian Renaissance resumed from the Ancients, senility was retri... more Among the plenty of topics that Italian Renaissance resumed from the Ancients, senility was retrieved as well. I believe that Renaissance, as it happened in many regards concerning human individuality, reprocessed even the idea of aging and its dissemination, and that that rephrasing was crucial in the unfolding of modern sensibilities. Here, some literary tracks.

Schooling the Mob is a Dangerous Job: Doubts and Worries About Popular Education in an Italian Academy of the Habsburg’s Empire (1772-74). HES Conference 2018, Limerick, 8th-9th Nov. 2018.

Juan Andrés (1740-1817) nel bicentenario dalla morte. Mantova, Accademia Virgiliana, 6 dicembre 2017

by Laura Madella and cristiano casalini

An esoteric education: astrological books, instruments and paraphernalia in Vespasiano Gonzaga’s private library. RSA Annual Meeting, Chicago, March 31st 2017

"Libri luterani n. 140": Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga's library. Luther in Italy, Biblioteca Casanatense-DHI, Roma, 22-24 febbraio 2017.

A Religious Education in Mantua: Juan de Valdés’s Alphabeto Christiano and Giulia Gonzaga. RSA Annual Meeting, Boston, March 31st 2016

The Duchy of Mantua was not only one of the Italian Renaissance’s seedbed, but also a place where... more The Duchy of Mantua was not only one of the Italian Renaissance’s seedbed, but also a place where Reform’s spiritual inquietudes developed and bumped into each other. Giulia Gonzaga (1513-1566) attracted these inquietudes as a magnet, and her influence is evident in many examples of the Italian reformes’ presence in Mantua, such as the unorthodox writings of the Benedectine monks at Polirone Abbey, Bernardino Ochino’s sermons, and the activity of Michelagnolo Florio. The tolerant policy of cardinal Ercole Gonzaga has also to be related to Giulia Gonzaga’s spiritual life. This presentation shall focus on the role played by Giulia Gonzaga as spokeswoman of Juan de Valdés’s Alphabeto Christiano. This text, in the Marcantonio Magno’s Italian version, aimed to be an educational model for the Gonzaga’s intellectual clique, but also an inspirational book for the Italian reformed undercover network.

I libri di Juan de Valdés nella cultura italiana

Conference presentation at: La Relación Hispano-Italiana Moderna I: Libro, Literatura y Cultura, ... more

Le maestre di Cordelia

Conference Presentation at: Pedagogie dell'Essenziale II. Maestre e Maestri d'Italia: Le storie, ... more

La polemica giansenista all'Università di Pavia nelle poesie encomiastiche per il secondo rettorato di Pietro Tamburini (1790)

Conference presentation at: X Heloise Workshop, L’Europa delle Università: contesti comuni e pecu... more

Una publicística europea de grandes consecuencias: El tabaco en los siglos XVI-XVII.

Virtual Seminar at: Comparatística y Globalización, Seminario Permanente Juan Andrés. Universidad... more

Prolongevity in Late Renaissance Italy

Webinar. 21 May 2020, Universidade de Coimbra Instituto de Estudos Filosóficos, Portugal.

The More the Years, the Less the Food: The Matter of Quantity in Luigi Cornaro’s Writings On the Sober Life (1558-1565)

Laura Madella, 2019

Conference Presentation at: The Quantification of Bodies. Organism, Health and Representation fr... more

Juan Andrés. La Biblioteca Universale a Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli "Vittorio Emanuele III", 18 gennaio 2018.

by David Salomoni and Laura Madella

Egido, El diálogo de las lenguas y Miguel de Cervantes.

Recensión. Revista Internacional de Ciencias Humanas y Crítica de Libros, 2020

(Traduzione spagnola a cura di Davide Mombelli) Aurora Egido, filóloga, catedrática y académica,... more (Traduzione spagnola a cura di Davide Mombelli)
Aurora Egido, filóloga, catedrática y académica, es autora de una importante y larga serie de monografías sobre literatura y cultura del Siglo de Oro [...] El reciente El diálogo de las lenguas y Miguel de Cervantes se aplica a la reconstrucción e interpretación de una de las polémicas de mayor preocupación entre la intelectualidad tanto española como europea como consecuencia de la consolidación de las diversas lenguas vernáculas: la cuestión de la lengua. Cuestión ésta que, por presentar implicaciones identitarias (tanto religiosas como nacionales), animó un intenso y prolongado debate en Europa, debate documentable en la época a través de dos grandes sectores de producción: el de los tratados especulativos o doctrinales y el de las producciones de la literatura artística. Ello pone a prueba la finura de la autora, su virtud del ‘diálogo’ con sentido y la aplicación de la razón hermenéutica.

Read online: https://revistarecension.com/2020/02/02/egido-el-dialogo-de-las-lenguas-y-miguel-de-cervantes/

Giornata di Studi - Etica e nutrizione in età moderna [Workshop - Ethics of Nutrition in the Early Modern Age]

by Simone Guidi, Fabrizio Bigotti, Luca Tonetti, Laura Madella, and Francesco Toto

Università degli Studi Roma Tre - 29 gennaio 2024 - Via Ostiense 234, Aula Verra / Sala del Consi... more