Learning outcomes

It aims to provide an understanding of the proposed topic through a social-historical and comparative approach.
The course will be seminar-based. Students will be expected to actively participate in discussions, having read and being prepared to comment upon the sources under consideration.

Program

"Family memory in the early modern period."
Since antiquity within the nobility, and since the Late Middle Ages within the mercantile and bourgeois classes, special forms of memory, written and unwritten, have developed, specifically designed to remember the past of the family, to perpetuate its self-awareness, and to build a reference model for future generations. The written form of this unusually early kind of memory, initially born also for practical purposes (remembering everything that can be useful) is the "family book", which emerged in vernacular in Italy at the end of the thirteenth century and through the whole early modern period will get up to today. After an introduction on the oldest forms assumed by family history, the course will analyze in a specific way especially the Italian texts (15th-18th centuries), through which the family expressed its "need for eternity" in all ages.
Comparisons will be carried out also with other European situations. At least one lesson will be dedicated to aspects of iconography and art history.

Assigned readings
The following bibliographic references must be seen as merely indicative, and will be supplemented by texts that will be assigned by the professor during lessons.
G. Ciappelli, Memoria collettiva e memoria culturale. La famiglia fra antico e moderno, "Annali dell'Istituto Storico Italo-Germanico", 29 (2003), pp. 1-23.
R. Mordenti, I libri di famiglia in Italia, II, Geografia e storia, Storia e Letteratura, Roma 2001.
G. Ciappelli (a cura di), Memoria, famiglia, identità fra Italia ed Europa nell'età moderna, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009.

Non-attending students must in any case contact the professor.

Examination Methods

The exam will consist of: a) an oral section - based on knowledge of assigned readings (see "Programma"), material distributed during the lectures, and class notes for students who attend lectures; b) a written essay of 10-15 pages on a topic agreed upon with the professor. Papers must be submitted to the professor at least two weeks in advance of the oral exam, and in a form agreed upon with the professor during office hours.