Il vasto patrimonio epigrafico, sia in lingua italiana sia latina, prodotto in Italia durante il ventennio fascista costituisce un assai interessante campo di indagine in merito al rapporto con il periodo più controverso e sensibile della... more
Il vasto patrimonio epigrafico, sia in lingua italiana sia latina, prodotto in Italia durante il ventennio fascista costituisce un assai interessante campo di indagine in merito al rapporto con il periodo più controverso e sensibile della storia dell’Italia unita e alla sua rielaborazione pubblica, in virtù della natura intrinseca di scrittura esposta propria di ogni iscrizione. Si presenteranno qui alcuni esempi di iscrizioni di Roma risalenti all’epoca fascista, variamente sottoposte a operazioni di cancellazione, riscrittura o damnatio memoriae e, a volte, di seguente restauro e recupero testuale (non senza casi di travisazioni) per riflettere sulle diverse strategie e i diversi approcci nei confronti dei testi iscritti, anche in rapporto con casi simili tratti dalla storia e dall’epigrafia di Roma antica. Ne emerge una casistica complessa e diversificata, da cui risulta quanto sia spesso difficile la pura e semplice cancellazione dei testi, tanto in virtù del loro portato di testimonianza storica tout court, quanto in virtù della loro specifica natura epigrafica, a volte addirittura monumentale e artistica, oltre che per una carente riflessione collettiva sull’eredità fascista.
The rich epigraphic production, both in Italian and in Latin, made in Italy during the fascist period, is an interesting research field, to study one of the most controversial periods of the Italian history after the year 1860 and its public reception, thanks to the specific nature of “displayed writing” typical of any inscription. There will be presented some examples of fascist inscriptions from Rome, that have been erased, re-written, sometimes restored (not without some misunderstandings) in different ways, with different applications of damnatio memoriae. Aim of the paper is to reflect on the different strategies and approaches towards inscribed texts, also in comparison with similar cases drawn from ancient Roman history and epigraphy. The examples are extremely diverse and complex, since it’s often not easy just removing the texts, given their role as historical witnesses and their nature of monuments and artifacts, not to quote a still imperfect collective reflection about the fascist heritage.
The rich epigraphic production, both in Italian and in Latin, made in Italy during the fascist period, is an interesting research field, to study one of the most controversial periods of the Italian history after the year 1860 and its public reception, thanks to the specific nature of “displayed writing” typical of any inscription. There will be presented some examples of fascist inscriptions from Rome, that have been erased, re-written, sometimes restored (not without some misunderstandings) in different ways, with different applications of damnatio memoriae. Aim of the paper is to reflect on the different strategies and approaches towards inscribed texts, also in comparison with similar cases drawn from ancient Roman history and epigraphy. The examples are extremely diverse and complex, since it’s often not easy just removing the texts, given their role as historical witnesses and their nature of monuments and artifacts, not to quote a still imperfect collective reflection about the fascist heritage.
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Abstract · Ancient inscriptions in the Castle of Santa Severa (Lazio) · In the open areas and courtyards of the Castle of Santa Severa (Santa Marinella, Province of Rome) thirteen ancient inscriptions (twelve in Latin and one in Greek)... more
Abstract · Ancient inscriptions in the Castle of Santa Severa (Lazio) · In the open areas and courtyards of the Castle of Santa Severa (Santa Marinella, Province of Rome) thirteen ancient inscriptions (twelve in Latin and one in Greek) are preserved, mostly fragmentary. All of them are funerary texts, with the exception of one brick stamp. They are all unpublished except for one of them, whose history is closely related to the Ordine di Santo Spirito, which owned the Castle from 1482 to 1980. So far neglected by scholars, these inscriptions are here published for the first time. The only edited text was thought to be lost until today and has now been “rediscovered”.
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Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Very little is known about its early history in the Mediterranean, which previous... more
Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Very little is known about its early history in the Mediterranean, which previous authors have sought to trace through Classical (Greek and Latin) texts that record the name colocasia (including cognates) from the 3rd century BC onwards. In ancient literature, however, this name also refers to the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. and its edible rhizome. Like taro, lotus is an alien introduction to the Mediterranean, and there has been considerable confusion regarding the true identity of plants referred to as colocasia in ancient literature. Another early name used to indicate taro was arum, a name already attested from the 4th century BC. Today, this name refers to Arum, an aroid genus native to West Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean. Our aim is to explore historical references to taro in order to clarify when and through whic...
Research Interests: History, Ancient History, Botany, Asian Studies, Archaeology, and 15 moreHebrew Literature, Classics, Arabic Literature, Greek Language, Hebrew Language, Byzantine Literature, Agriculture, Botanical literature, Historical Ecology, Chronology, Economic botany, Classical Literature, Colocasia esculenta, Colocasia, and History of cultivated plants
Numerose e non ancora studiate in maniera approfondita sono le epigrafi moderne in latino di Roma del periodo postunitario, specialmente quelle iscritte su case e palazzi; in questa sede se ne analizzano tre in particolare che risultano... more
Numerose e non ancora studiate in maniera approfondita sono le epigrafi moderne in latino di Roma del periodo postunitario, specialmente quelle iscritte su case e palazzi; in questa sede se ne analizzano tre in particolare che risultano essere traduzioni latine di proverbi greci, ovvero Veniat qui proderit hospes; Domus amica, domus optima; Domi manere convenit felicibus. Le vicende testuali delle traduzioni latine fanno emergere l’importanza che ebbero, per la fortuna di questi proverbi e il loro conseguente riuso epigrafico, gli Adagia di Erasmo da Rotterdam e la raccolta paremiografica di Michele Apostolio nell’edizione Pantiniana del 1619; per la seconda e la terza di queste iscrizioni, inoltre, la storia degli edifici sui quali si trovano evidenzia il ruolo decisivo avuto dagli architetti Innocenzo Sabbatini e Marcello Piacentini. Modern Latin inscriptions of Rome, after Italy’s unification, are numerous and not deeply studied yet, especially the ones set on houses and buildings; here three of these inscriptions are analyzed, which are Latin translations of Greek proverbs, i.e. Veniat qui proderit hospes; Domus amica, domus optima; Domi manere convenit felicibus. Textual vicissitudes of Latin translations show the importance, for the fortune of these proverbs and their consequent epigraphic re-use, of Erasmus of Rotterdam’s Adagia and Michael Apostolius’ paroemiographic collection in the edition of Petrus Pantinus of 1619; moreover, as concerns the second and the third of the above inscriptions, the history of the buildings on which they are situated stresses the considerable role played by the architects Innocenzo Sabbatini and Marcello Piacentini.
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La realizzazione di iscrizioni in latino costituì uno degli strumenti di cui la propaganda fascista si servì per affermare la propria supposta continuità politica e culturale con l’antica Roma. Tali iscrizioni presentavano il più delle... more
La realizzazione di iscrizioni in latino costituì uno degli strumenti di cui la propaganda fascista si servì per affermare la propria supposta continuità politica e culturale con l’antica Roma. Tali iscrizioni presentavano il più delle volte citazioni da autori classici, funzionali all’affermazione del destino imperiale dell’Urbe e all’esaltazione delle virtù romane (ad es. Verg. Aen. 6, 851-853; Hor. Carm. Saec. 9-12; Liv. 5, 55, 2; Vitr. 6, 1, 11). È tuttavia possibile rintracciare i prodromi di tale fenomeno già nella cultura epigrafica romana sviluppatasi negli anni fra il 1870 e il periodo della Grande Guerra: l’analisi di alcuni esempi significativi in questo senso potrà mettere in luce gli aspetti di continuità che, specialmente a Roma, l’epigrafia in latino del ventennio fascista ebbe con quella del periodo precedente.
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Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Very little is known about its early history in the Mediterranean, which previous... more
Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Very little is known about its early history in the Mediterranean, which previous authors have sought to trace through Classical (Greek and Latin) texts that record the name colocasia (including cognates) from the 3rd century BC onwards. In ancient literature, however, this name also refers to the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. and its edible rhizome. Like taro, lotus is an alien introduction to the Mediterranean, and there has been considerable confusion regarding the true identity of plants referred to as colocasia in ancient literature. Another early name used to indicate taro was arum, a name already attested from the 4th century BC. Today, this name refers to Arum, an aroid genus native to West Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean. Our aim is to explore historical references to taro in order to clarify when and through which routes this plant reached the Mediterranean. To investigate Greek and Latin texts, we performed a search using the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) and the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL), plus commentaries and English and French translations of original texts. Results show that while in the early Greek and Latin literature the name kolokasia (Greek κολοκάσια) and its Latin equivalent colocasia refer to Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., after the 4th century AD a poorly understood linguistic shift occurs, and colocasia becomes the name for taro. We also found that aron (Greek ἄρον) and its Latin equivalent arum are names used to indicate taro from the 3rd century BC and possibly earlier.
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A small but significant part of the Latin inscriptions of Rome carved on monuments and public or private buildings after 1870 – once the city became the capital of the unified Italian nation – was realized in classical verses (hexameters,... more
A small but significant part of the Latin inscriptions of Rome carved on monuments and public or private buildings after 1870 – once the city became the capital of the unified Italian nation – was realized in classical verses (hexameters, pentameters and elegiac couplets). These inscriptions, 24 in total, show original texts extremely diversified in terms of content and urbanistic context. They are collected herein for the first time in a specific epigraphical corpus, presented in chronological order, each one with translation, a brief note indicating year, client, author (when known), palaeographic features and metre, and a detailed historical, linguistic, stylistic and literary commentary.
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Lo studio analizza dettagliatamente, attraverso la documentazione conservata nell’Archivio Storico Capitolino, la genesi del testo dell’epigrafe latina di Ponte Sublicio (1918), voluta dall’architetto Marcello Piacentini in ossequio al... more
Lo studio analizza dettagliatamente, attraverso la documentazione conservata nell’Archivio Storico Capitolino, la genesi del testo dell’epigrafe latina di Ponte Sublicio (1918), voluta dall’architetto Marcello Piacentini in ossequio al modello antico di Ponte Fabricio e redatta dall’archeologo Lucio Mariani: ci si sofferma in particolare sul rapporto tra l’iscrizione moderna e quella antica, sulla ripresa del formulario tipico dell’epigrafia classica e sulle implicazioni ideologiche delle scelte compiute in relazione alla temperie culturale dell’epoca.
The paper analyzes in detail, through the documents preserved in the Capitoline Historical Archive, the genesis of the text of the Latin inscription of Ponte Sublicio (1918), wanted by Marcello Piacentini as imitation of the ancient model of Ponte Fabricio and written by the archeologist Lucio Mariani: in particular the focus is on the relationship between the modern inscription and the ancient one, on the revival of the classical epigraphy formulary and on the ideological implications of the decisions which had been taken referring to the cultural environment of the period.
The paper analyzes in detail, through the documents preserved in the Capitoline Historical Archive, the genesis of the text of the Latin inscription of Ponte Sublicio (1918), wanted by Marcello Piacentini as imitation of the ancient model of Ponte Fabricio and written by the archeologist Lucio Mariani: in particular the focus is on the relationship between the modern inscription and the ancient one, on the revival of the classical epigraphy formulary and on the ideological implications of the decisions which had been taken referring to the cultural environment of the period.
The urban transformation of Rome, once the city became the capital of the unified Italy, led to the erection of many buildings bearing Latin inscriptions with a strong ideological connotation. Palazzo Costanzi, built in 1878 in front of... more
The urban transformation of Rome, once the city became the capital of the unified Italy, led to the erection of many buildings bearing Latin inscriptions with a strong ideological connotation. Palazzo Costanzi, built in 1878 in front of Piazza dell’Esquilino, shows a quotation by Horace (Serm. I 8, 14) saying that “now it is possible to live on the healthy Esquiline Hill”. If in the Augustan age it was thanks to Maecenas, at that time these words ascribed such merit both to the owner of the house Domenico Costanzi and to its architect Gaetano Koch. An answer to this assertion is given by an inscription carved on Palazzo Bassi, built in 1887. Here the building itself states that after the realization of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II it does not envy the healthy Esquiline Hill. By quoting the same Horace’s words, the architect of Palazzo Bassi Giulio Podesti clearly wanted to stress the beauty of his work compared to Koch’s: this epigraphic dialogue has been lasting until today.
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Numerose e non ancora studiate in maniera approfondita sono le epigrafi moderne in latino di Roma del periodo postunitario, specialmente quelle iscritte su case e palazzi; in questa sede se ne analizzano tre in particolare che risultano... more
Numerose e non ancora studiate in maniera approfondita sono le epigrafi moderne in latino di Roma del periodo postunitario, specialmente quelle iscritte su case e palazzi; in questa sede se ne analizzano tre in particolare che risultano essere traduzioni latine di proverbi greci, ovvero Veniat qui proderit hospes; Domus amica, domus optima; Domi manere convenit felicibus. Le vicende testuali delle traduzioni latine fanno emergere l’importanza che ebbero, per la fortuna di questi proverbi e il loro conseguente riuso epigrafico, gli Adagia di Erasmo da Rotterdam e la raccolta paremiografica di Michele Apostolio nell’edizione Pantiniana del 1619; per la seconda e la terza di queste iscrizioni, inoltre, la storia degli edifici sui quali si trovano evidenzia il ruolo decisivo avuto dagli architetti Innocenzo Sabbatini e Marcello Piacentini.
Modern Latin inscriptions of Rome, after Italy’s unification, are numerous and not deeply studied yet, especially the ones set on houses and buildings; here three of these inscriptions are analyzed, which are Latin translations of Greek proverbs, i.e. Veniat qui proderit hospes; Domus amica, domus optima; Domi manere convenit felicibus. Textual vicissitudes of Latin translations show the importance, for the fortune of these proverbs and their consequent epigraphic re-use, of Erasmus of Rotterdam’s Adagia and Michael Apostolius’ paroemiographic collection in the edition of Petrus Pantinus of 1619; moreover, as concerns the second and the third of the above inscriptions, the history of the buildings on which they are situated stresses the considerable role played by the architects Innocenzo Sabbatini and Marcello Piacentini.
Modern Latin inscriptions of Rome, after Italy’s unification, are numerous and not deeply studied yet, especially the ones set on houses and buildings; here three of these inscriptions are analyzed, which are Latin translations of Greek proverbs, i.e. Veniat qui proderit hospes; Domus amica, domus optima; Domi manere convenit felicibus. Textual vicissitudes of Latin translations show the importance, for the fortune of these proverbs and their consequent epigraphic re-use, of Erasmus of Rotterdam’s Adagia and Michael Apostolius’ paroemiographic collection in the edition of Petrus Pantinus of 1619; moreover, as concerns the second and the third of the above inscriptions, the history of the buildings on which they are situated stresses the considerable role played by the architects Innocenzo Sabbatini and Marcello Piacentini.
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Le iscrizioni in latino presenti sugli edifici tanto pubblici quanto privati sorti dopo l’annessione di Roma al regno d’Italia nel 1870 rappresentano un fenomeno di ampia portata (non meno di 550 documenti) che certifica la fortuna della... more
Le iscrizioni in latino presenti sugli edifici tanto pubblici quanto privati sorti dopo l’annessione di Roma al regno d’Italia nel 1870 rappresentano un fenomeno di ampia portata (non meno di 550 documenti) che certifica la fortuna della lingua e dell’epigrafia latina in epoca recente. Tuttavia queste iscrizioni, sostanzialmente nuove ed estremamente varie per contenuti, forme e tipologie testuali, non sono mai state adeguatamente analizzate nel loro insieme da un punto di vista filologico ed epigrafico. In vista dell’edizione di un corpus complessivo, in questa sede ci si sofferma sulle iscrizioni di carattere pubblico, presentando alcuni casi notevoli che attestano il significato ideologico e politico determinato dall’uso del latino dal periodo liberale a quello fascista e illustrano il rapporto tra testo e contesto, epigrafe e monumento, moderno e antico.
Il presente corpus epigrafico consiste nella raccolta sistematica e nello studio delle iscrizioni in latino di carattere civile realizzate sugli edifici e i monumenti della città di Roma a partire dal 20 settembre 1870 fino ad oggi. Il... more
Il presente corpus epigrafico consiste nella raccolta sistematica e nello studio delle iscrizioni in latino di carattere civile realizzate sugli edifici e i monumenti della città di Roma a partire dal 20 settembre 1870 fino ad oggi. Il corpus censisce un totale di 773 iscrizioni esistenti e di 196 iscrizioni scomparse, individuate attraverso una lunga ricerca sul campo e un alacre spoglio dell'esigua bibliografia sul tema.