Massimo Villani's Books

Time and History

Researches on the Ontology of the Present

By: Massimo Villani

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Time and History

Researches on the Ontology of the Present

By: Massimo Villani

The hypothesis from which this book starts is that the twentieth century has broken the link between time and history, thus producing a twofold consequence. On the one hand, time definitively loses the characteristics of linearity and coherence that it still had in Hegel, and will be conceived in terms of a multiplicity of heterogeneous temporal lines; on the other hand, and consequently, history tends to disappear from the philosophical horizon to give way to theses on a post-historical time, whose main characteristics are stasis, the inability to synthesize incoherent temporalities, the impossibility of producing openings towards the future. However, precisely within the short century – the one in which time has supposedly contracted to the point of expunging history from itself – critical reflections were produced, which, despite the acquisition of scientific and philosophical lessons about the multi- form and reversible nature of time, have recovered a fruitful relation with history in a cumulative and teleological sense.

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118

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Inschibboleth Edizioni

Published Date

ISBN 10

8855293788

ISBN 13

9788855293785

On Extension

Jean-Luc Nancy in the Wake of Hannah Arendt

By: Massimo Villani

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On Extension

Jean-Luc Nancy in the Wake of Hannah Arendt

By: Massimo Villani

The point of intersection between the theoretical paths of Nancy and Arendt lies in the theme that is also the most difficult problem they bequeath to us. Both, in fact, think of being in terms of a drive to appear, a movement that tends to be infinite and, for that very reason dangerous, and yet one that must be indulged and even urged. Thought must, so to speak, stay close to this original dimension in which extension spaces itself: it is in this proximity that existence experiences a thrill, a fervor. It is what Arendt calls “public happiness” and Nancy calls “ferveur” or “extase”. The stakes of both philosophical exercises are very similar. It is a matter of identifying with extreme accuracy and within a much broader ontological drive, the narrow space between an intensification of existence comparable to fascist and fusional ardor, and an exposition that remains at a suspended step. It is a matter of taking the narrow path between mystical ecstasy, and an inoperative ecstasy, that is, a projection towards the outside that does not access any surreality, but merely spaces – continually putting back into play – immanence in which we are.

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196

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Inschibboleth Edizioni

Published Date

ISBN 10

8855290479

ISBN 13

9788855290470

Merchant Writers

Florentine Memoirs from the Middle Ages and Renaissance

By: Vittore Branca,Massimo Ciavolella/Luigi Ballerini

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Merchant Writers

Florentine Memoirs from the Middle Ages and Renaissance

By: Vittore Branca,Massimo Ciavolella/Luigi Ballerini

The birthplace of Boccaccio, Machiavelli, and the powerful Medici family, Florence was also the first great banking and commercial centre of continental Europe. The city’s middle-class merchants, though lacking the literary virtuosity of its most famous sons, were no less prolific as writers of account books, memoirs, and diaries. Written by ordinary men, these first-hand accounts of commercial life recorded the everyday realities of their businesses, families, and personal lives alongside the high drama of shipwrecks, plagues, and political conspiracies. Published in Italian in 1986, Vittore Branca’s collection of these accounts established the importance of the genre to the study of Italian society and culture. This new English translation of Merchant Writers includes all the texts from the original Italian edition in their entirety. Moreover, it offers a gripping personal introduction to the mercantile world of medieval and Renaissance Florence.

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418

Publisher

University of Toronto Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1442624841

ISBN 13

9781442624849

Reactionary Mathematics

A Genealogy of Purity

By: Massimo Mazzotti

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Reactionary Mathematics

A Genealogy of Purity

By: Massimo Mazzotti

A forgotten episode of mathematical resistance reveals the rise of modern mathematics and its cornerstone, mathematical purity, as political phenomena. The nineteenth century opened with a major shift in European mathematics, and in the Kingdom of Naples, this occurred earlier than elsewhere. Between 1790 and 1830 its leading scientific institutions rejected as untrustworthy the “very modern mathematics” of French analysis and in its place consolidated, legitimated, and put to work a different mathematical culture. The Neapolitan mathematical resistance was a complete reorientation of mathematical practice. Over the unrestricted manipulation and application of algebraic algorithms, Neapolitan mathematicians called for a return to Greek-style geometry and the preeminence of pure mathematics. For all their apparent backwardness, Massimo Mazzotti explains, they were arguing for what would become crucial features of modern mathematics: its voluntary restriction through a new kind of rigor and discipline, and the complete disconnection of mathematical truth from the empirical world—in other words, its purity. The Neapolitans, Mazzotti argues, were reacting to the widespread use of mathematical analysis in social and political arguments: theirs was a reactionary mathematics that aimed to technically refute the revolutionary mathematics of the Jacobins. Reactionaries targeted the modern administrative monarchy and its technocratic ambitions, and their mathematical critique questioned the legitimacy of analysis as deployed by expert groups, such as engineers and statisticians. What Mazzotti’s penetrating history shows us in vivid detail is that producing mathematical knowledge was equally about producing certain forms of social, political, and economic order.

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350

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226826740

ISBN 13

9780226826745

Death in the Duomo.A Renaissance Conspiracy

By: Massimo Gregori Grgič

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Death in the Duomo.A Renaissance Conspiracy

By: Massimo Gregori Grgič

Death in the Duomo" is a historical novel. Set in Renaissance Florence, the novel reconstructs the attack againt the Medici family on April 26th, 1478, known to history as the "Pazzi conspiracy", in which Giuliano de 'Medici, brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent, lost his life. The story starts on December 26th, 1476, date of another conspiracy, during which Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, was killed. The story then skips to Florence and follows the planning of the attack to the Medici, with Pope Sixtus IV as obscure principal, actually performed by Jacopo and Francesco de 'Pazzi and other conspirators. The story alternates between Palazzo Pazzi and Palazzo Medici, in the days before the attack, until the dramatic conclusion of the plot. Against the backdrop of historical events, the love story spreads between two fictional characters: Lapo Lanfredini and Fiammetta Tornaquinci. Lust for power, scandals, economic and political interests, mysteries and alchemy are the main ingredients of the novel, which offers an accurate and realistic trip thorough Medicean Florence, in which play Pico della Mirandola, Sandro Botticelli, Angelo Poliziano, Leonardo Da Vinci and many more contemporary artists. The descriptions are rich in historical details and costumes. The story is exciting and engaging, like a real blast from the past.

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196

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il Ciliegio Edizioni

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ISBN 10

8867713752

ISBN 13

9788867713752

The Poetics of Dante's Paradiso

By: Massimo Verdicchio

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The Poetics of Dante's Paradiso

By: Massimo Verdicchio

`In the world of Dante scholarship, there is a real need for studies such as The Poetics of Dante's Paradiso, which challenge our notions of the principal souls of the Paradiso. Rooted in a close analysis of the poem, Massimo Verdicchio's intelligent interpretation is supported by relevant textual evidence and provides an important counterpoint to the canonical readings of the cantica. Traditional readings of Dante's Paradiso have largely considered this third cantica of the Commedia as a poem apart. It deals with those blessed souls in Paradise who are free of sin and beyond punishment, in contrast to the sinners in the previous two cantica, and is thus no longer based on the principle of contrapasso. At the literal level this is true in that all the characters one encounters are either those who have been saved, religious leaders, or saints. However, at the allegorical level, as Massimo Verdicchio argues in The Poetics of Dante's Paradiso, the blessed souls still have something to hide, something shameful in their past earthly life, which is revealed nonetheless. In this book, Verdicchio provides a canto-by-canto analysis of Paradiso. He maintains that the cantica can allegorically be seen as a commentary on the political and religious establishment, framed as the punitive action of the DXV announced at the end of Purgatorio, denouncing the illicit and destructive alliance between the House of Anjou and the Church. Verdicchio focuses on the relationship that Dante establishes among the ten heavens, into which the poet divides the cantica and their equivalent in the Arts and Sciences of the Trivium and Quadrivium, as outlined in the Convivio. This approach provides the key to interpreting the cantos and the discourse of the inhabitants of Paradise who appear, on the surface, blameless. However, it is the earthly and human side of the blessed souls that captures Dante's attention, and this dichotomy is revealed in his characterization of the heavens. Poetic allegory and irony are the two principal modes of this cantica, and the source of much of its comedic complexity. As one of the characters puts it, in Heaven `we do not repent but we smile.' A highly original and comprehensive reading, The Poetics of Dante's Paradiso demonstrates that the intricacies of Dante's text reveal subversive undercurrents and a subtle irony, employed to deliver a critique of the Church and Empire of his own time.

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193

Publisher

University of Toronto Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1442641193

ISBN 13

9781442641198

The Fugitive

By: Massimo Carlotto

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The Fugitive

By: Massimo Carlotto

From the author of Death’s Dark Abyss and The Goodbye Kiss comes an extraordinary tale of life on the run. Massimo Carlotto’s odyssey began in 1976 when, as a member of a militant leftwing organization that had fallen awry of the ruling powers, he was arrested and falsely accused of murder. Unwilling to play the role of fall guy in a political power struggle, he chose to flee the country rather than wait for a verdict that the whole country knew was a foregone conclusion. He first went into hiding in the French underworld and then made his way to a Mexico embroiled in bloody class conflict. Betrayed by a Mexican lawyer, he returned to Italy in 1985 and spent six years in prison, during which time the “Carlotto case” became Italy’s most famous legal fiasco. Carlotto was finally freed with a presidential pardon in 1993. Subsequently, his case helped bring about significant changes to the Italian criminal code to ensure that similar judicial travesties would never happen again. The Fugitive is the first book that Carlotto wrote as a free man. It tells his story with verve and humor. Virtually a handbook on how to live life on the run, The Fugitive is also a vibrant novel full of vivid underworld characters and breathtaking moments that Carlotto recounts in the cool, lucid prose that has become his trademark.

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130

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

1609451732

ISBN 13

9781609451738

Sun And The Other Stars Of Dante Alighieri, The: A Cosmographic Journey Through The Divina Commedia

By: Sperello Di Serego Alighieri,Massimo Capaccioli

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Sun And The Other Stars Of Dante Alighieri, The: A Cosmographic Journey Through The Divina Commedia

By: Sperello Di Serego Alighieri,Massimo Capaccioli

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is the story of a journey across the Universe as it was known in the Middle Ages, a work of science fiction ante litteram. Dante had an encyclopedic mind, no doubt, and his poem is the most widely read book after the Bible. He was a master of the astronomical knowledge of his time, and used astronomy in his work to indicate places, to measure time, and to exemplify beauty. Indeed, in the Convivio, he wrote that science is 'the ultimate perfection of our soul' and 'astronomy — more than any other science — is noble and high for a noble and high subject.'We propose a reading of the Divine Comedy through astronomy with a journey starting from the Earth, proceeding to the Moon, the planets, and to the outermost edges of the Universe. The way in which Dante connects ancient astronomy with modern conceptions of the cosmos will astonish readers more than 700 years later.

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179

Publisher

World Scientific

Published Date

ISBN 10

9811245517

ISBN 13

9789811245510

Philosophy, Mysticism, and the Political

Essays on Dante

By: Massimo Cacciari

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Philosophy, Mysticism, and the Political

Essays on Dante

By: Massimo Cacciari

Among today's Italian philosophers, Massimo Cacciari is perhaps the most assiduous commentator of Dante. Philosophy, Mysticism, and the Political collects all of Cacciari's writings on Dante to this day, from his masterful analysis of St. Francis of Assisi in Dante's Paradiso and Giotto's frescoes to a new consideration of Dante's "European" idea of empire as a federation of nations, peoples, and languages. Cacciari does not force Dante into any philosophical straitjacket. Rather, he walks with Dante, takes notes, asks questions, raises issues, and tries to understand the Divine Comedy in Dante's terms. Cacciari approaches Dante's Ulysses and the theologico-philosophical vertigo of Paradiso not as a critic but from the point of view of a faithful, assiduous, perceptive, sometimes perplexed, and sometimes worshipful reader. Cacciari's analysis shows once more that Dante does not belong to the past. Dante creates his own age and stays with us whenever we wish to follow his path.

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Page Count

237

Publisher

State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438486901

ISBN 13

9781438486901

Larkhill's Wartime Locators

Royal Artillery Survey in the Second World War

By: Massimo Mangilli-Climpson

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Larkhill's Wartime Locators

Royal Artillery Survey in the Second World War

By: Massimo Mangilli-Climpson

Artillery survey suffered during the pacifist inter-war period but the war in North Africa highlighted its importance. By the end of 1942 ten major survey units had been formed. Nine were conventional serving in all the main theatres, including the Far East. They played a key part in victories such as El Alamein, Anzio, Caen and Imphal, with their flash-spotting, sound-ranging and surveying of gun lines. A tenth regiment was secretly involved tracing the flight of Hitlers V1 and V2 rockets in order to locate their launch bases. These ‘soldier-scientists were all trained at the School of Survey, Larkhill, on Salisbury Plain. Their work took them to the front line and a considerable number were casualties or became POWs. This is the story of the contribution of these 4,000 men who made up the Survey Regiments. It tells of the heroes, such as Robert (Tug) Wilson of the SBS and the skilful men whose actions under the most difficult and dangerous conditions have received little acknowledgement until now.

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Page Count

1963

Publisher

Casemate Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1781594449

ISBN 13

9781781594445

On the Causes of the Greatness and Magnificence of Cities, 1588

By: Giovanni Botero,Massimo Ciavolella,Luigi Ballerini

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On the Causes of the Greatness and Magnificence of Cities, 1588

By: Giovanni Botero,Massimo Ciavolella,Luigi Ballerini

The first treatise ever written on the sociology of cities, On the Causes of the Greatness and Magnificence of Cities (1588) marked a radical departure from previous literature on urban centres. It provided a revolutionary analysis of how cities function, and of the political, economic, demographic and geographic factors that cause their growth and decline. Noteworthy too is Botero's strikingly original use of sources in his analysis: moving beyond familiar classical and biblical references, he drew groundbreaking insights from reports by travelers and missionaries about cities in the non-European world, especially in China. Though seminally important to the history of urban studies, On the Causes of the Greatness and Magnificence of Cities has not been available in a modern translation until now. This edition of the treatise which includes an introduction by Geoffrey W. Symcox on the intellectual context within which it was conceived is a must-read for anyone interested in the life of cities both historical and contemporary.

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137

Publisher

University of Toronto Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1442645075

ISBN 13

9781442645073

A History of Italian Fertility During the Last Two Centuries

By: Massimo Livi Bacci

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A History of Italian Fertility During the Last Two Centuries

By: Massimo Livi Bacci

Profound changes have occurred in the demography and sociology of Italian fertility since Napoleonic times. Using the statistical system instituted in 1861 with national unification, Massimo Livi-Bacci provides a systematic and detailed analysis of fertility trends in Italy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He brings to light the main features of the secular decline: its rapid occurrence in the northern and central areas; the widening urban-rural gap; the shaping of social and economic differences; and the late, slow downward trend in the South. Multivariate statistical analysis enables the author to measure the changing relationship between fertility and social or economic phenomena. Historical evidence illustrates the effect on fertility of mass emigration and Fascist policy as well as of social changes such as those in agrarian structure, mobility, and communications. An altered attitude toward procreation is evident in some parts of Italy in the early nineteenth century. The decline becomes apparent in certain northern and central regions in the 1870s and 1880s and it appears at the aggregate national level in the 1890s. Originally published in 1977. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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335

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Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400870127

ISBN 13

9781400870127

Time and History

Researches on the Ontology of the Present

By: Massimo Villani

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Time and History

Researches on the Ontology of the Present

By: Massimo Villani

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118

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Inschibboleth Edizioni

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ISBN 10

8855293788

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9788855293785

On Extension

Jean-Luc Nancy in the Wake of Hannah Arendt

By: Massimo Villani

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On Extension

Jean-Luc Nancy in the Wake of Hannah Arendt

By: Massimo Villani

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196

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Inschibboleth Edizioni

Published Date

ISBN 10

8855290479

ISBN 13

9788855290470

Don Vito

By: Massimo Ciancimino,Francesco La Licata

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Don Vito

By: Massimo Ciancimino,Francesco La Licata

This is the true story of Vito Ciancimino--Don Vito da Corleone, the "Mayor of the Corleones"--who spent forty years in the grip of death, mafia, politics, business deals and the secret service. Don Vito recounts years of clandestine and previously censored contacts between politicians and the mafia--between the Italian State and the Cosa Nostra. The key witness is Massimo, the penultimate and hitherto closest of Don Vito's five children, who has given his personal testament for the first time. His account rewrites some of the most important events of Italy's recent history. If Roberto Saviano's Gomorra revealed the workings of the mafia system from street level, Francesco La Licata and Massimo Ciancimino's Don Vito tells us about the people who held the reins of power. In the words of Attilio Bolzoni of Republica: "This is the portrait of a man who was a key player from post war Italy to our days in one of the most daunting of Italian affairs, a figure who inspired fear, a devil. He was friend with mafia bosses and great politicians, of killers and respectable gentlemen. Vito Ciancimino was the incarnation of power itself, maybe the most hated and feared, the most suspected and worshipped, man of Palermo and of the whole Sicilian society.

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Page Count

320

Publisher

Quercus

Published Date

ISBN 10

1623651999

ISBN 13

9781623651992

Book's by Massimo Villani

Time and History

Time and History

On Extension

On Extension

Merchant Writers

Merchant Writers

Reactionary Mathematics

Reactionary Mathematics

Death in the Duomo.A Renaissance Conspiracy

Death in the Duomo.A Renaissance Conspiracy

The Poetics of Dante's Paradiso

The Poetics of Dante's Paradiso

The Fugitive

The Fugitive

Sun And The Other Stars Of Dante Alighieri, The: A Cosmographic Journey Through The Divina Commedia

Sun And The Other Stars Of Dante Alighieri, The: A Cosmographic Journey Through The Divina Commedia

Philosophy, Mysticism, and the Political

Philosophy, Mysticism, and the Political

Larkhill's Wartime Locators

Larkhill's Wartime Locators

On the Causes of the Greatness and Magnificence of Cities, 1588

On the Causes of the Greatness and Magnificence of Cities, 1588

A History of Italian Fertility During the Last Two Centuries

A History of Italian Fertility During the Last Two Centuries

Time and History

Time and History

On Extension

On Extension

Don Vito

Don Vito

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