Reggio Emilia

The essay investigates the relationship between the Este family and some hospitallers commanders who in the XV century commissioned important artworks in Ferrara and Reggio Emilia. The first case is that of Avanzo de’ Ridolfi, preceptor in Ferrara in Lionello and Borso’s time, he renewed the decoration of the Santissima Trinità. The study of documents and the artistic analysis have support the identification between Bendedeo di Niccolò, a ferrarese painter, with the Master of the Imola triptych: in the past some frescoes, already in the mansion, were already attributed to this artist. The second case is that of Girolamo degli Ardizzoni, a prestigious
hospitaller of Reggio Emilia, linked with Borso and Ercole d’Este. The association with the ducal family is perhaps further confirmed by the prestigious choice of commissioning the decoration of a chapel in the church of his commendery to the ducal painter Baldassare d’Este, illegitimate son of Niccolò III. The essay analyzes the large fresco fragments survived in Santo Stefano and formulates new hypotheses on the iconography and their dating.

Alys-we searched for that oxymoron of the ‘Ideal School’.
    Performing School Tourism In over 180 schools in 21 countries,
    Unpicking the binary in education away from alternative or mainstream,
    Embodying places that are ‘educating differently’ Towards a queering...
    Rhizomatically dancing with those ‘gems’ of my edge-ucation.

    This thesis uses performing School Tourism to share stories that weave the complexities of the multiplicities of Alys, as the assemblage/ethnography (Wyatt & Gale, 2013) or my autoethnographic-we (Spry, 2016) searching for the ‘Ideal School’ around the world. The voices explored of the Alys-we are: Alys the UK state school teacher, Alys educating differently, Alys and Steiner, Alys the future parent, Alys the PhD student/ theorist, Alys the School Tourist, Alys the Performer, Alys the Van-Dweller, Alys the edge-dweller and the Queering of ‘Bad-Alys’. This thesis has developed performing School Tourism as an embodied approach, a feeling journey, that connects the ‘School Tourist’ rhizomatically (Deleuze and Guattari, 1980/87) with the more-than-human world of ways of ‘educating differently’. By accepting that their ‘Ideal School’ does not exist, these multiple-voices of Alys-we intra-act (Barad, 2007) to subvert the dominant discourse of education through uncovering ‘gems’ in these varied places around the world, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of the edge-ucation. This thesis concludes that current understandings of ‘school/schooling’ are not the future of learning but that sharing these ‘gems’ have potentiality (Munoz, 2009), through the ripple effect from performing School Tourism, to lead not to the ‘Ideal School’ but to changes within the current world and, on a more global scale, for new understandings of the ‘Earth-we’ as a 'utopian performative of hope' (Spry, 2016).
Available at: https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:16594

The paper aims to highlight an event linked as much to the history of Venice as to the one of the Emilia-Romagna, and not yet fully recorded by contemporary historiography: the privilege of citizenship and nobility granted in favour of the Fogliano of Reggio Emilia. Moving from a 1431 document of great importance, with which the doge Francesco Foscari confirmed to Tommaso da Fogliano the same privilege, granted in 1339 by Bartolomeo Gradenigo in favour of Guidoriccio da Fogliano, it is intended to understand why a mercenary captain had interest in binding himself to Venice, and on the contrary what interests the city could have in coordinating such a person to itself. The comparison with other information contained in the registers of the Grazie allows us to broaden the perspective, as Giberto, brother of Guidoriccio, had also obtained this privilege, coming to reflect on the issues of granted citizenship and the ambitions of two illustrious representatives of a noble kinship of Reggio Emilia and, in perspective, on the motivations that moved Tommaso almost a century later.

Nell’Estate 2018 si è svolta la seconda campagna di ricerche relativa al sito noto in letteratura archeologica come “Castellazzo”, nel comune di Gattatico (RE). I risultati sono stati di indubbio interesse, portando non solo ad una migliore comprensione delle fasi di vita di una struttura che sembra nascere attorno alla metà del IX secolo e scomparire con l’inizio dell’XI, ma soprattutto in relazione alla scoperta, nella stratificazione relativa al traumatico abbandono della struttura, di alcuni elementi da gioco in avorio riconducibili alla tipologia degli scacchi islamici. Si tratta di un ritrovamento assai raro e rappresenta testimonianza dell’assoluta centralità di questo settore della val d’Enza in tale periodo. Si dovranno attendere successive campagne di ricerca per escludere la presenza di altri pezzi e per meglio inquadrare le fasi di vita del fortilizio nell’ambito più ampio del contesto storico emiliano in questo periodo.

After situating the figuration of the postdevelopmental child in the context of hegemonic colonising developmental discourses about child rearing and education, I engage with posthumanist perspectives that rupture the binaries, power relations and age discrimination these discourses assume. Developmentalism raises concerns about how child  as knower is positioned. Drawing on the ground-breaking work of feminist philosopher and quantum physicist Karen Barad, an affirmative diffractive methodology is used with two approaches to teaching and learning: Reggio Emilia and Philosophy with Children (P4C). Through the experimental diffractive reading of the rhizomatic concept development that is core to both educational philosophies, new ideas are proposed for postdevelopmental curriculum construction. A new pedagogical practice of working with concepts is created, thereby deterritorialising what conceptual knowledge is. By putting philosophy at the heart of deterritorialising knowledge, room is made for children as knowledge producers, rather than knowledge consumers.

Ha contribuito alla fama del Palazzo Lorenzotti Rango d’Aragona, poi Coccapani, di Modena la circostanza che sulla metà dell’Ottocento, per quasi un cinquantennio, sia stato sia stato dimora dei conti Guicciardi feudatari di Cervarolo, zii di quella celebre Giulietta amata da Beethoven, che le dedicò la Sonata n. 14, op. 27 n. 2 “Al chiaro di luna”. Il conte Carlo Luigi Guicciardi (1756-1835), fratello minore di Francesco Giuseppe (Vienna 1752-1830), padre di Giulietta Guicciardi, si insediava nel 1831 in quel sontuoso palazzo della capitale austro-estense che vantava quasi cento vani. L'Appartamento nobile, di facies tardo settecentesca ma con interventi che risalgono ai Guicciardi, è ora sede dell'Accademia Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti di Modena.

Quando nel 1971 Giulia Niccolai e Adriano Spatola decidono di fondare la rivista «Tam Tam» hanno la chiara intenzione di dare un forte impulso all'intermedialità. Nei primi mesi del 1972 viene pubblicato il primo numero, stampato a Montecchio Emilia dalla tipografia Fontanini. La redazione è a Mulino di Bazzano, in provincia di Parma, ma la registrazione è presso il Tribunale di Torino, sede delle edizioni Geiger, fondate da Adriano con il fratello Maurizio nel 1967, quando era stato avviato il progetto di 'assembling press' concretizzato nell'omonima antologia internazionale. «Tam Tam» ha una testata che visualizza sinesteticamente, in una sorta di prospettiva acustica, il suono del tribale strumento di comunicazione. Il che già la dice lunga su scambi e convergenze linguistiche e sulla volontà di porsi nel mezzo di una rete di comunicazione al di fuori dei canali istituzionali. Testata e progetto grafico della rivista sono di Giovanni Anceschi, il formato è insolito, minuscolo e leggero, tascabile e postabile senza difficoltà: entra comodamente nella classica busta 12x18 e può arrivare, senza grosse spese, anche oltreoceano. Le tecniche non legate alla linearità della scrittura sono al centro dell'attenzione. Spatola è molto informato su quanto succede nel mondo. Il concretismo internazionale va a gonfie vele, Fluxus impegna spazi sempre più ampi; in Italia le pratiche verbovisive si fanno sempre più coinvolgenti: una fitta rete di scambi tra Bologna, Firenze, Genova, Napoli, Roma, Torino è già una realtà degna di grande attenzione. In questo clima, la rivista, chiaramente schierata contro l'engagement antiletterario, sostiene istanze totalizzanti e si apre ad esperienze di confine. La disponibilità a cedere ad impulsi extra letterari incoraggia un tipo di scrittura polidimensionale. Contaminazioni e scambi attuati su territori di frontiera determinano una testualità complessa che non riesce ad evitare l'attrazione di modi e tecniche linguistiche di diversa estrazione. Ci si rivolge con rinnovata attenzione verso le avanguardie storiche e, nello stesso tempo, si tengono d'occhio le tecnologie emergenti con particolare riferimento verso i sistemi di comunicazione e le problematiche che implicano. La visualità, il fonetismo, la gestualità, il nonsense, disvelano in pieno la matrice materica dei modelli di poesia che si vogliono affermare. Le scelte della redazione, grazie ad «una condensazione non soltanto gestuale, visuale o concreta, ma soprattutto segnica o ideografica del testo», 1 favoriscono il superamento delle barriere linguistiche e attivano numerose convergenze in funzione di «una ristrutturazione verticale del fare poetico» 2 in opposizione allo «sterminato materiale lessicale messo a disposizione dal meccanismo dell'espansione orizzontale, tenuta a livello dei mass media». 3 Queste dichiarazioni fuori dal coro, quando il dibattito è tutto orientato sulla dicotomia impegno/disimpegno e il clima di restaurazione culturale si fa pesante, coagulano intorno all'iniziativa editoriale un vivace flusso di autori italiani e stranieri, che rivendicano «il diritto dell'operazione poetica a istituirsi come coscienza della e nella attività comunicativa, in una sintesi non a priori ma a posteriori, dal paesaggio dell'esperienza quotidiana all'astrazione intellettuale». 4 Già da anni Spatola 5 è in contatto con i più importanti esponenti della poesia concreta e visuale. Allievo di Luciano Anceschi, è chiamato a collaborare con «il verri» e attraverso quell'esperienza ha assimilato il concetto anceschiano di 'convergenza delle arti': l'opera d'arte è vista in chiave fenomenologica e letta nel mezzo di una rete di interconnessioni e di scambi interdisciplinari che ne chiariscono il senso. Dopo «Bab ilu» (1962), si fa le ossa nel Gruppo 63, pubblica il romanzo L'Oblò (Feltrinelli, 1964), anima «Malebolge» (1964-65). Ma è proprio con Geiger, l'antologia-laboratorio che permette agli artisti partecipanti di 'seminare nel campo del vicino', e con le

Viene pubblicato un documento del 1409 nel quale sono elencate trenta monete utilizzate come lasciapassare o contrassegni segreti (signa) da presentare alle porte delle città di Parma e Reggio Emilia e in alcune fortezze del territorio circostante per farsi identificare e potervi accedere. Le monete, sia di zecche italiane che straniere, sono spesso descritte con grande dettaglio. Si riporta la trascrizione integrale del documento e la traduzione delle parti di testo relative alle monete, delle quali si propone una identificazione insieme ad alcune considerazioni numismatiche.

This paper presents the edition of a document of 1409 listing thirty coins used as ‘passport’ or secret token of identity to have access at the gates of the cities of Parma and Reggio Emilia and fortresses of the surrounding territory. The coins are described in detail and can be identified; they are billon or silver coins of various Italian and foreign mints. This is the first evidence of such a use of coins.

The holistic education movement emerged in the mid-1980s as a response to the then dominant worldview of mainstream education. It is an educational paradigm that integrates the idealistic ideas of humanistic education with spiritual philosophical ideas. Holistic education theorists propose an integration of what most progressive and democratic movements in education assume should be kept separate: spirituality and humanistic ideals.  While these two paradigms may be combined philosophically, the author questions whether they can be jointly applied in a single approach to education. This book investigates this question by exploring the pedagogical application of the philosophical principles advocated by leading theorists in the field of holistic education in four selected school systems: Waldorf Schools, Montessori Schools, Reggio Emilia Schools, and Neohumanist Schools. The analysis and detailed description of the pedagogy in these school systems helps illuminate issues involved in the application of holistic education. This book will be especially useful to educators who are seeking to broaden their understanding of the theory and practice of holistic education.

IT: La rilettura di alcune testimonianze archivistiche e l’attribuzione in questa sede di un importante disegno della seconda metà del XVII secolo, raffigurante una suggestiva soluzione progettuale per il prospetto meridionale del Palazzo Ducale di Sassuolo, gettano nuova luce sul ruolo che l’architetto romano Mattia De Rossi (1637-1695), allievo prediletto e fidato collaboratore di Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), potrebbe avere avuto – a livello ideativo – anche all’interno del cantiere sassolese, grazie alla mediazione del cardinale Rinaldo d’Este, presso cui De Rossi era impegnato a Tivoli e non solo. Si giustificherebbe così quella originalissima “artificiosa naturalità” di matrice berniniana, estranea alla locale cultura architettonica, che accomuna il disegno per Sassuolo alla scenografica soluzione di Bernini per il Castello degli Altieri a Monterano, nel cui cantiere era presente De Rossi. La riflessione offre poi lo spunto per restituire al pittore modenese Francesco Stringa (1635-1709), dal 1685 sovrintendente alle fabbriche ducali, un disegno per l’adattamento del paliotto argenteo del Duomo di Reggio Emilia, recentemente riferito dalla critica a Mattia De Rossi.
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EN: The rereading of a number of archive testimonies and the attribution in this article of an important design from the second half of the 17th century, showing the original plan for the southern side of the Ducal Palace of Sassuolo, cast new light on the role that the Roman architect Mattia De Rossi (1637-1695) – favourite student and trusted collaborator of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) – might have had (on an ideational level) also on the Sassuolo building site, thanks to the mediation of Cardinal Rinaldo d’Este, for whom De Rossi was working in Tivoli and elsewhere. This would justify that highly original ‘artificial naturalness’ of Berninian leanings, far-removed from the local architectural culture, shared by the design for Sassuolo with Bernini’s scenographic solution for the Castello degli Altieri in Monterano, a building site where De Rossi had also been present. The reflection then offers the starting point to reattribute to the Modenese painter Francesco Stringa (1635-1709) – from 1685 superintendent of the ducal buildings – a design for the adaptation of the silver altarpiece of the Cathedral of Reggio Emilia, recently attributed by critics to Mattia De Rossi.

RESUMEN: La producción historiográfica realizada en los dominios de los marqueses de Este (duques de Modena desde 1452 y de Ferrara desde 1471) durante la Baja Edad Media presenta una compleja diversidad de testimonios que atestigua el interés de las autoridades gubernamentales por dejar constancia de la memoria local. Este trabajo presenta las historias elaboradas, propone una clasificación de las mismas desde distintos puntos de vista, y ofrece un análisis interpretativo sobre sus características particulares y generales. Dicho examen repara especialmente en aspectos como la pervivencia de la tradición analística medieval, los elementos propios del humanismo, las diferencias existentes entre las composiciones vinculadas al notariado urbano y a la cancillería cortesana, los métodos llevados a cabo en el tratamiento documental, y la intencionalidad política que justifica su redacción. Asimismo, en cada caso se acota la cronología abordada, y se valora las posibilidades y límites que ofrecen para el conocimiento histórico.
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Abstract: The historiographical production of the late Middle Ages on the house of the Marquis of Este (Dukes of Modena as of 1452, and Ferrara as of 1471) presents a complex variety of testimonies which manifest the interest political authorities had for recording local memory. This study examines this type of chronicle, pro¬poses a typology based on different points of view and advances an interpretation of their particular and general features. It focuses on aspects like the survival of the medieval annals tradition, influences intrinsic to Humanism, the differences among texts written by urban notaries and those of the court chancellery, the methods used in the treatment of sources as well as the political intent that jus¬tifies its production. Furthermore, a chronology of texts is proposed, as well as an assessment of the limits and possibilities these texts hold for historical knowledge.

Young American children in today's public schools live in a world in which tensions around about identity (i.e., ethnicity and race, gender continuums, language backgrounds and proficiencies, cultural values and beliefs, economic resources, schooled experiences, literacy, and im/migration history) are part of everyday conversation. However, many early childhood science and mathematics educators are reticent to engage deeply in dialogue around these identities, not only due to a common narrative where science and mathematics are interpreted as culturally-neutral, but also because few models within early childhood science and mathematics education exist on how to engage in these conversations. Given this, we ask, how can we prepare and support teachers in developing a positive awareness of culture, identity, diversity, and other critical tensions faced by our youngest learners? How can we prepare and support teachers in engaging in these critical conversations as connected to science and mathematics with young children?

In 1791, the new impresario Prospero Franceschetti organized an extraordinary carnival season of three serious operas in the Teatro di Cittadella at Reggio Emilia. Bianchi's La morte di Cesare, Andreozzi's Virginia and Sarti's Giulio Sabino added to a cycle of classical tragedies all glorifying the revolutionary rising of Roman republicans and rebels against tyranny. Domenico Bedini was the star singer of all three operas, Francesco Fontanesi the genius of their stage sets. The season was organized by self-confident citizens from Reggio on the edge of their own revolutionary rising against the despotic rule of duke Ercole III d'Este from Modena. Since the correspondence of the impresario Franceschetti is preserved in the state archive at Reggio, his dealings with the authorities, with the dancers and the singers and with Bedini as the master-mind behind La morte di Cesare can be reconstructed in detail. The original Italian texts of the letters will be contained in a seperate appendix.

The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education has been globally recognized by educators and researchers as the most exceptional example of quality early education (Gardner, 1999; Kantrowitz & Wingert, 1991). However, within this approach there is a strong emphasis on the visual arts that in turn has diminished opportunities for children to participate in music activities. Andress (1998) was the first to expose the lack of music in this approach, and her concern was echoed by Matthews (2000), O’Hagin (2007), Vuckovic & Nyland (2010), and Smith (2011). As a result of this void, the present investigation explores the philosophies and practices of the Reggio Emilia approach within a kindergarten to grade seven elementary school music program. Specifically, I examine the role of the child, the role of the teacher, the environment as a third teacher, multiple forms of knowing, the role of documentation, and the Atelier.
I use an autoethnographic approach to implement, reflect, and document this experience. I not only discover that Reggio Emilia can be successful within a music classroom setting, but argue that these philosophies and practices are of great importance to understanding new ways in which music educators can benefit from this approach beyond the scope of traditional programs and approaches to music with children. By adapting this approach to a music setting in grades higher than the early childhood years, my research extends the current Reggio literature. I not only present my struggles during this experience, but also explain how to supersede challenges and draw from the strengths of this approach that were exposed within the scope of my music program.

Pergamene due e trecentesche con gli atti di vassallaggio e di rinnovazione di feudo tra vari abitanti del castello di Canolo, nel Reggiano, ora nel territorio di Correggio, tra il 1255 e il 1335: si analizzano le investiture e il rituale, si descrivono i nomi, i luoghi del castello di ritenuta fondazione matildica, su cui per un breve periodo nei secoli XIII e XIV signoreggiarono i Lupi, famiglia ghibellina attiva fin dal secolo XII nel Comune di Reggio sotto la cui giurisdizione storicamente si trovò poi Canolo, appartenenti ad un ramo estinto discendente dalla stirpe di Gerardo Lupo, del seguito della contessa Matilde di Canossa.

The economic development of the Po Valley in the Middle Ages was closely related to water management. Entire areas were claimed to be put under tillage. Complex drainage works were undertaken, as were several structures to protect fields from floods. During the 12th century the administration of the territory was increasingly dominated by urban governments, which englobed rural communities (which were largely responsible for water management at local level) in their administration practices. Cities remained the fulcrum of the administration of the territory as regional states developed, remaining a fundamental element in the administration of the countryside. Urban elites had to balance different and often conflictual interests, since waterways could be used for very different economic purposes, as transport, irrigation, energy (water mills). This paper will study water management in normal situations in the Po Valley between 12th and 15th centuries, largely on the bases of normative texts, looking at the different economic interests link to water resources.  Water management in normal situations had important implications on the hydrogeological equilibria of these areas. The paper tries to formulate some general conclusions, in order to submit to a new analysis old historiographical issues but also to ask new questions which could open new research lines in the study of  the relationship between society and water management.

Saggio pubblicato in occasione del centenario dell'impresa fiumana di Gabriele d'Annunzio. In questo lavoro si è voluto riportare alla luce il contributo dei reggiani nell'impresa dannunziana e di come tale avvenimento venne percepito nella città del Tricolore.

Saggio uscito nella rivista Reggio Storia N°164, 3 luglio 2019.

This article presents a new addition to the catalogue of the calabrian artist Gregorio Preti: the anonymous canvas depicts the "Sacrifice of Jephthah’s daughter" and it's kept in the storage of Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia. The painting previously belonged to the collection of the historian and literatus Andrea Balletti and entered the local museum after his death in 1938. The painting is here compared with other mature works of the artist around the half of the Seventeenth century, showing their stylistic affinity. At that time, the artist was blending his early caravaggism with more classical influences coming from painters such as Orazio Riminaldi and the emilian artists.

Alys-we searched for that oxymoron of the ‘Ideal School’. Performing School Tourism In over 180 schools in 21 countries, Unpicking the binary in education away from alternative or mainstream, Embodying places that are ‘educating differently’ Towards a queering... Rhizomatically dancing with those ‘gems’ of my edge-ucation. This thesis uses performing School Tourism to share stories that weave the complexities of the multiplicities of Alys, as the assemblage/ethnography (Wyatt & Gale, 2013) or my autoethnographic-we (Spry, 2016) searching for the ‘Ideal School’ around the world. The voices explored of the Alys-we are: Alys the UK state school teacher, Alys educating differently, Alys and Steiner, Alys the future parent, Alys the PhD student/ theorist, Alys the School Tourist, Alys the Performer, Alys the Van-Dweller, Alys the edge-dweller and the Queering of ‘BadAlys’. This thesis has developed performing School Tourism as an embodied approach, a feeling journey, that connects the ‘S...

I musei civici di Reggio Emilia, Modena e Bologna furono tra i primi musei di preistoria in Italia e diretti risultati del clima culturale e politico dell’Europa del tardo ottocento. Sorti in concomitanza con la creazione dello stato italiano e con la formazione dell’archeologia preistorica come disciplina scientifica, questi musei furono rappresentativi, non solo del diffuso senso d’identità nazionale (benchè marcato da un forte orgoglio nelle tradizioni locali), ma anche delle impostazioni teoriche e dei metodi di ricerca dei primi studiosi italiani di preistoria e protostoria. Grazie alle coraggiose scelte curatoriali degli ultimi trent’anni, che hanno conservato e restaurato gli allestimenti ottocenteschi come ‘artefatti’ del passato, le collezioni ottocentesche di questi musei rappresentano ancora oggi risorse inestimabili per gli studiosi della storia della preistoria e protostoria italiana ed europea. Questo contributo esamina l’importanza che i primi studi di preistoria e l’attività di ricerca archeologica del tardo ottocento ebbero nel definire la natura e la identità di questi musei e come la loro missione originaria sia stata rispettata e rinnovata nelle scelte curatoriali recenti.

This article reports on a philosophy for children (P4C) literacy project in a South African foundation phase classroom that introduces an important new focus in the P4C classroom: the visualisation of philosophical ideas provoked by the picture book The Big Ugly Monster and the Little Stone Rabbit (2004) by Chris Wormell, giving voice to young children’s own imaginative ideas and beliefs (in this case about death). This research shows how a particular use of the community of philosophical enquiry pedagogy combined with the making of drawings necessitates a rethinking of what ‘voice’ means. We conclude that the children’s drawings bring something new into existence, thereby offering unique material and discursive opportunities for all children, including those who otherwise might not have expressed their ideas.

Nella sede di un convegno dedicato nel 1988 a Lelio Orsi, Gabriella Guandalini e Graziella Martinelli Braglia hanno operato una prima puntualizzazione circa la personalità di Ercole Setti, maestro modenese del tardo Manierismo che contrasse un non esiguo debito verso l'arte del celebre artista di Novellara.

Abstract - The petrifications of Lazzaro Spallanzani from the museum collections of Pavia and Reggio Emilia (Italy). Lazzaro Spallanzani in the late eighteenth century was in charge to setup and manage two natural history museums at the same time. The first one, under his direction, was located in the University of Pavia. The other was his private museum located in his home in Scandiano, in the province of Reggio Emilia. These two museums were both created to support the study and the scientific research but with different target. The first was a museum set up with educational purposes, for the benefit of students of the University of Pavia, while the second was a private collection. These two collections of natural bodies were formed by zoological, mineralogical samples and petrifications. This last term was used at that time to represent the living organisms (animal or vegetal) that had been turned into stone. This is the case of the Bolca ichthyofauna that so fascinated the scientist of Scandiano.
As we can see the scientific interest of Spallanzani was not limited to biology but it extended in other branches,  paleontology for example, as a natural extension of his research. His collections of fossils, 250 years after, are still both preserved. One in the museum of the University of Pavia and the other one in the Musei Civici of Reggio Emilia (moved here after the scientist death).