The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University

Annual Report 2005–2006

new york 2006

Contents

Board of Guarantors 9

Senior Fellows 11

Staff 12

Director’s Report 13

Fellows’ Reports 23

Winners of the Premio New York 63

Description of Programs 69 fellowship program premio new york

Activities of the Academy 73 fellows’ seminars film series concert series “italy at columbia” lecture series forum on art and the new biology of mind exhibitions

the mission of the italian academy

ounded in 1991 on the basis of an and society; presents distinguished exam- agreement between the Republic of ples of Italian culture and art; and pro- FItaly and Columbia University, the motes academic, cultural and scientific Academy sponsors advanced research in exchange at the highest level. all areas relating to Italian history, science

about the academy

t the core of the Italian Academy’s prestige and its location in New York, the work lies its Fellowship Program. Academy has also become a critical site AFellowships are open to senior for meetings between distinguished mem- scholars at the post-doctoral level and bers of the Italian and American business above who wish to devote a semester or a and political communities. Its theater, full academic year to genuinely innovative library, and other public spaces offer work in any field relating to culture, cul- important locations for a variety of con- tural memory, and the relations between certs, exhibitions and films reflecting the culture, the sciences, and the social sci- finest aspects of cultural relations ences. The most advanced part of the Fel- between the Republic of Italy and the lowship Program is the Academy’s ongo- artistic and academic communities of ing Project in Art and the Neurosciences, New York and the United States. in which scholars in both the humanities McKim, Mead and White’s 1927 Casa and the sciences work together in assess- Italiana, beautifully reconstructed in ing the significance of the latest develop- 1993, is the home of the Academy. It pro- ments in genetics and the neurosciences vides exceptional offices for the Acade- for the humanities—and vice-versa. my’s Fellows, as well as housing a library The Academy also serves as the chief and a magnificent theater in Neo-Renais- reference point in the United States for all sance style, in which major academic, links between the worlds of higher educa- theatrical and musical events regularly tion in Italy and the U.S. Thanks to its take place.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 5

Annual Report 2005–2006

Board of Guarantors 2005–2006

appointed by appointed by the ministry columbia university of foreign affairs of the republic of italy Barbara Aronstein Black George Welwood Murray Professor of Law, Claudio Angelini Columbia University Director, Italian Cultural Institute, New York Daniele Bodini Livio Caputo Chairman, American Continental Properties, Presidente della Commissione Stranieri ed New York Immigrazione Comune di Milano Jonathan Cole Roberto de Mattei John Mitchell Mason Professor of the Vice Presidente del Consiglio Nazionale delle University and Provost and Dean of the Ricerche Faculties Emeritus, Columbia University Stefano Parisi Zvi Galil Amministratore Delegato, Fastweb S.p.A. Dean of the School of Engineering; Schapiro Professor, School of Engineering; Julian Giovanni A. Puglisi Clarence Levi Professor, Computer Science, Segretario Generale, Commissione Nazionale Columbia University Italiana UNESCO Jeffrey T. Schnapp Salvatore Rebecchini Professor of French and Italian; Director, Presidente, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.p.A. Stanford Humanities Lab, Stanford University Fritz Stern chair University Professor, Columbia University Alan Brinkley Provost, Columbia University

report on the academic year 2005–2006 9 10 italian academy for advanced studies in america Senior Fellows 2005–2006

Qais al-Awqati Carlo Ossola Robert F. Loeb Professor of Medicine and Ordinario di Letteratura Italiana Professor of Physiology and Cellular all’Università di Torino, Accademico dei Lincei Biophysics at Columbia University e Membro del Collège de France

Bruno dalla Piccola Francesco Pellizzi Ordinario di Genetica presso l’Università Editor of Res and Research Associate in Middle “La Sapienza” di Roma e Direttore Scientifico American Ethnology al Peabody Museum at dell’Istituto C.S.S. Mendel di Roma Harvard University

Victoria de Grazia Angelo Maria Petroni Professor of History at Columbia University Ordinario di Sociologia all’Università di Bologna e Direttore della Scuola Superiore Giorgio Einaudi della Pubblica Amministrazione Addetto Scientifico presso l’Ambasciata Italiana a Washington Paolo Simoncelli Ordinario di Storia Moderna all’Università Anthony Grafton “La Sapienza” di Roma Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University Rodolfo Zich già Rettore del Politecnico di Torino ed attuale Denis Hollier Presidente dell’Istituto Superiore “Mario Boella” Professor of French at New York University

Eric Kandel Nobel Laureate and University Professor, Columbia University

report on the academic year 2005–2006 11 Staff

fall 2005 work study staff David Freedberg, Director 2005-6 Elisabetta Assi, Assistant Director Christine Ashley Berthoumeiux Olivia D’Aponte, Assistant Director Joseanibal Colon-Ramos Robert Brooks, Business Manager Camilla Fonseca Will Buford, Events Coordinator Anna Hunt Allison Jeffrey, Administrative Sandra Paine Coordinator Justin Reardon Jenny McPhee, Film Series Curator Emily Reeves Anna Maria Poma-Swank, Librarian Jeff Ryan Rick Whitaker, Theater Manager Matthew Sohm Brian Manning-Spindt spring 2006 Amy Tang Achille C. Varzi, Acting Director (David Freedberg on sabbatical leave) part-time staff Abigail Asher, Acting Assistant Director Ezio Blasetti Irina Oryshkevich, Acting Assistant Director Robert Brooks, Business Manager Will Buford, Events Coordinator Allison Jeffrey, Administrative Coordinator Jenny McPhee, Film Series Curator Anna Maria Poma-Swank, Librarian Rick Whitaker, Theater & Music Director

12 italian academy for advanced studies in america Director’s Report

very year the Fellowship Pro- cant pool will continue to grow at the gram at the Academy grows extraordinary rate of the last few years, it Estronger. When I restructured the is clear – both from the demand for Fel- Fellowship Program in the course of lowships and from our national and inter- 2001-2002, it did not seem possible to national reputation – that the Academy imagine that applications would increase has already achieved a reputation that by a rate of almost 100% per year, nor ranks it with the most distinguished insti- that they would come from so wide a vari- tutes of advanced studies in America and ety of disciplines. While there can be no Europe. We should therefore prepare our- question that the overall quality of each selves to deal with the continuing demand year’s group of Fellows has improved for places. In order to do this we will need along with the growth in the applications to expand our growing staff, provide more pool, it is not always possible to predict funds for additional Fellowships, and the collegiality of the group. But this year consider restructuring some of our inter- has been remarkable for the exceptional nal spaces to provide additional offices for civility, erudition, and spirit of collabora- Fellows. Without support for any of these, tion of the group as a whole. For all of us we will not be able to expand as much as at the Academy – and I think for Colum- our current potential indicates. bia in general – the Fellows of 2005-2006 In his report on his Acting Directorship will remain a model of collegiality and of the Academy during my absence on scholarly cooperation. They have shown a Sabbatical Leave during the spring term, notable spirit of devotion not just to the Professor Achille Varzi described the Fel- Academy, but also to Columbia and to the lowship Program in the following way: great traditions of Italian and American “More than ever before, our Fellowship scholarship. Program has flourished, making the While it seems unlikely that our appli- Academy a recognized unique center for

report on the academic year 2005–2006 13 interdisciplinary collaboration between antor of the Academy, secured the co- scholars from Italy and elsewhere.” sponsorship of one Fellow in the field of The success of our Program is not only Computer Science, while Professor Eric testified by the wonderful spirit of colle- Kandel, Director of the Center for Neuro- giality and scholarly cooperation that has biology and Behavior, co-sponsored a Fel- driven the activities of our research Fel- low in the field of Neuroscience. In addi- lows during both semesters. It is certainly tion, this year we had our first Alexander worth recording that the number of appli- Bodini Fellow for studies in areas related cations that we have received for next to adolescent mental illness. I am delight- year has increased tremendously, nearing ed to say that all these tangible expres- a total of 200. This makes our Program sions of esteem for our Program will con- one of the most sought-after post-doctoral tinue also next year. In addition, next year research opportunities in the world, we will benefit from a co-sponsorship reflecting the growing esteem in which the through Professor Ottavio Arancio’s labo- Academy is held among scholars in Italy ratory at Columbia University Medical and elsewhere. Of course, this also means School. We are, of course, very thankful that the selection process has become a for this support: not only because it truly challenging task, as many applica- enables us to fund all the Fellowships we tions are of excellent quality. In this have space for, but also because it pro- regard, our distinguished referees on the vides some of our Fellows with the oppor- selection committee have been of invalu- tunity to pursue their research projects in able assistance and I would like to extend close contact with the extraordinary my sincere thanks to all of them. The Fel- resources that Columbia has to offer. Our lows selected for 2006-2007 (eleven in hope for the future is to be able to pro- the fall and ten in the spring) form a stel- mote this kind of arrangement with other lar group, with projects ranging from lit- departments as well, both in the sciences erature, history, and the history of art to and in the humanities. philosophy, political theory, physics, and This year we had eleven Fellows in the the neurosciences. We can only regret that fall term, and eleven in the spring, as well our budget and facilities do not allow us as the two winners of the Premio New to offer more. York in the fall, and two in the spring. As in the past, the Fellowship Program This is the maximum number of Fellows was greatly assisted by the support of oth- feasible in terms of current financial and er institutions at Columbia. Professor Zvi space resources. Indeed, it should be not- Galil, Dean of the School of Engineering ed here that current levels of funding are and Applied Sciences and devoted Guar- sustained by the fact that three of the Fel-

14 italian academy for advanced studies in america lowships were partly funded by relevant Italy in the anni di piombo, in years cru- departments at Columbia. Of course the cial for relations between the US and Italy Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to as the Cold War ended. We were fortunate make a substantial contribution to the to have Professors Alexander Stille and New York Prize Fellowships, but we are Henry Graff as interlocutors, who were exploring the possibility of finding more able to bring the significance of Ambas- private sponsors for Fellowships (along sador Gardner’s role in Italy during these the lines of the already existing Alexander years to the fore. On October 8, the Presi- Bodini Fellowship). dent of the Italian Senate, Marcello Pera, One of the most distinctive aspects of delivered an address on the new universi- intellectual life at the Italian Academy is ty reforms in Italy at a Gala Dinner at the that it is truly interdisciplinary. Interdisci- Academy. plinarity is much spoken about in universi- As is well-known, Mozart’s great libret- ty circles these days, but in practice the tist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, was Professor of borders between disciplines seem to remain Italian at Columbia between 1825 and well-guarded. At the Academy the situa- 1838. His library formed the basis of tion, for the moment at least, remains Columbia’s not insubstantial holdings of refreshingly different. It is open, critical, Italian history and literature. Two thou- engaged, and frank. Our Fellows come sand five – the year before the 250th from a large variety of areas in the human- anniversary celebrations for Mozart – was ities, sciences and social sciences, and I the bicentennial of Da Ponte’s arrival in continue to be amazed at the fertility of this country, and we were fortunate to be cross-disciplinary discussion both at our able to mark this event with a program weekly Fellows’ Lunches, and in conversa- largely organized by the Da Ponte Institut tions in and out of our offices at the Acade- in Vienna under the dynamic leadership of my. In fact, an increasing number of our Professor Herbert Lachmayer. On October Fellows give lectures and participate in 10, in the presence of the Austrian Consul seminars throughout the New York metro- General, Dr Brigitte Blaha, and the Direc- politan area, thus contributing not only to tor of the Austrian Cultural Forum, Graf scholarship in their fields, but also to the Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, as well as regard in which the Academy is held. Gary A. Henningsen, Master of the Grand As always we enjoyed a full program of Lodge of New York, Professor Lachmayer events this year. On September 28 and his colleagues, Reinhard Eisendle and Ambassador Richard Gardner presented Werner Hanak, presented their remark- his remarkable book, Mission Italy, an able “exhibition in a box,” an exceptional account of his years as Ambasssador to package of illustrations and text, contain-

report on the academic year 2005–2006 15 ing essays on Da Ponte and his signifi- a seminar on The New Geopolitics of the cance (including one by myself on Da Balkans. We were fortunate enough to have Ponte as cultural pioneer in New York). some of New York’s most distinguished This was followed by a marvelous concert Balkanists as Professor Jean’s respondents, performed by the Trio Marc Chagall, who including Professor Susan Woodward, and came over from Vienna specially for the Columbia’s own Professor Mark Mazower occasion (sponsored by the Von Karajan and Professor Robert Jervis. I am especial- Centrum in Vienna). On the following day, ly grateful to Gordon Bardos for having we held a small symposium on Da Ponte, moderated the discussion and for having again organized by Professor Lachmayer ensured a smooth collaboration between and his colleagues, Gernot Gruber, Otto the Academy and the Harriman Institute in Biba, Richard Heinrich and Rainer Münz sponsoring this important event on a topic introduced by the great diva Regina that has been too neglected in the United Resnik, who spoke movingly not only States in recent years. about Mozart’s operas, but also about her Our film series, under the able curator- work in Vittorio Veneto, where Da Ponte ship of Jenny McPhee, continued to play a was born. considerable role in the cultural life of The success of the events around Da New York – and of Morningside Heights Ponte in October augur well for future in particular – with a series dedicated to projects in collaboration with the Da “Fascism on Film.” As has now become Ponte Institut. At the moment I am work- customary at our film series, each film ing together with Professor Lachmayer to was introduced by a distinguished examine the possibilities for future authority on the subject. research projects. These will highlight the Rick Whitaker, our dedicated theater role of Italy in the European Enlighten- manager, played an ever-larger role in the ment and its American ramifications. ideation and organization of our cultural They will exemplify the critical role of the activities. In the Fall, the concert series was Academy in reaffirming and emphasizing appropriately devoted to the theme of the cultural and historical relations Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was entitled “Lorenzo between the United States and Europe. Da Ponte: A Bridge from Italy to New At the suggestion of our Guarantor Prof. York,” and consisted of three exceptional De Mattei, Prof. General Carlo Jean, Pro- vocal recitals, all dedicated to Da Ponte, his fessor of Strategic Studies at Luiss Guido circumstances, and his musical afterlife. Carli in Rome, and Representative of Mr. Whitaker also initiated a series of OSCE at the Dayton Peace Accords, came free public lectures by Columbia Professors to the Academy on December 8 to conduct held at the Academy. The series was simply

16 italian academy for advanced studies in america entitled “Italy at Columbia,” and was ally. With the help of some of Columbia’s intended to highlight aspects of Columbia’s most distinguished neuroscientists we contribution to the study of Italian culture have been able to bring exceptional young over and above the offerings of our already Italian neuroscientists to the Academy. As distinguished Italian Department. All the I have commented in the past and noted lectures were enthusiastically received— in my initial remarks here, the spirit of not surprisingly, given that the speakers in interdisciplinary collaboration and colle- the fall term were James Beck on Masaccio giality at the Academy is truly exception- and the Pictorial Revolution, Richard al. It offers great hope for the prospects of Howard on Pirandello, and James Shapiro building strong bridges across the disci- on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. In this way plines – an ambition often aimed for, but we brought students at Columbia together rarely achieved. I had long wished to with members of the interested public at bring together the world’s most famous the agreeable site of the Italian Academy. cognitive scientists interested in both sci- No one present could have doubted the ence and art with a group of noted schol- continuing centrality of Italian culture to ars and artists; so when two of Columbia’s Columbia’s concerns. Nobel Laureates, Eric Kandel and On March 24, a remarkable and Richard Axel, approached me last sum- pathfinding event took place at the Acad- mer to organize such a forum under the emy. But first some background. Ever sponsorship of the Blouin Foundation, I since I became Director of the Academy in was happy to agree. We are grateful to July 2000, I have made a major commit- Louise MacBain and all members of the ment to establishing a program that Foundation’s staff for having helped would bring artists and scholars in the make the Academy’s conference on March humanities together with neuroscientists. 24 on Art and the New Biology of Mind It seemed to me then, as it does now, that such a huge success. Our theater was the neurosciences was not simply one of packed with a riveted audience the whole the strongest fields in the sciences and one day long – no mean achievement for a which offered many possibilities for col- dense conference containing many speak- laboration with people working in the ers. A very distinguished international humanities, but also an area in which group included Antonio Damasio, V.S. Italy was particularly strong. As a token Ramachandran, Raymond Dolan, Semir of this commitment we set up a modest Zeki, Joseph LeDoux and Vittorio Gallese project on Art and Neuroscience, which from Parma, one of the discoverers of has quietly gained recognition over the mirror neurons (certainly one of the most years, both at Columbia and internation- important discoveries in the field of the

report on the academic year 2005–2006 17 neurosciences in the last two decades). The new series of public lectures called The atmosphere was intense and exciting. “Italy at Columbia” began with David Rosand Everyone present was aware of the pio- speaking on “Giorgione, Titian, and crisis in Venice” and continued with Victoria de Grazia neering nature of the event and the many on “How the West was won for Mass Con- exciting prospects it opened up. sumption: the Italian campaign, 1953–1973. In the spring term I took a portion of a As always, our program of events also long-overdue academic leave, and handed included a number of workshops and confer- over the reins to my colleague at Colum- ences organized in cooperation with other bia, Professor Achille Varzi. I am very institutes and centers at Columbia and else- where. In addition to the symposium on Art grateful to Prof. Varzi for taking on the and the New Biology of Mind, about which challenging task of Acting Director (an Professor Freedberg comments above, we also especially challenging role when it is only held a two-day conference on Social Justice in for a short time), and for so ably directing Transatlantic Perspective, an event organized the program which had, of course, largely with the support of the History Department, been devised previously. the Office of the Provost, the Herbert H. In addition to his remarks on the Fel- Lehman Center for American History at Columbia University, and the Interuniversity lowship Program cited at the beginning of Center for European-American History and this report, Professor Varzi also reported Politics in Turin. The keynote address was by on the events of the spring term and on Columbia University Professor and Nobel other aspects of his directorship as follows: Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, and was followed by intense discussions on the subject by a distin- Our acclaimed Film Series, under the cura- guished group of Italian and American schol- torship of Jenny McPhee, confirmed its success ars. This conference was followed in April by a in the spring term with six screenings featur- workshop titled “Social Economics: Market ing the work of the poetic master of Italian Behavior in a Social Context,” organized in cinema, Michelangelo Antonioni. As in the collaboration with two of our former Fellows: past, some of New York’s most distinguished Giovanna Devetag, now an Associate Professor academics and cultural observers introduced of Business Economics and Management at the each film and led a discussion afterwards—a University of Perugia, and Daniela Del Boca, formula that our audience appears to appreci- Professor of Economics at the University of ate greatly. During the spring we also held our Turin. Needless to say, this sort of collabora- by-now traditional concert series. Under the tion bears witness to the lasting intellectual inventive curatorship of our Theater Manager, and scientific exchanges that we aim to pro- Rick Whitaker, the series was entitled “Three mote through our Fellowship Program at the Italian Men: Solo Performers at the Italian Academy, so we were especially delighted by Academy” and once again included a perform- the success of this event. ance by master pianist Emanuele Arciuli – As always, we had an active program of art now becoming a more-than-welcome fixture at exhibitions. Francesco Simeti’s beautiful and the Academy.

18 italian academy for advanced studies in america evocative pastoral installation piece in the fessor William Harris, has a full program Salone, “Woodsy/woodzee,” engaged the of its own, and contributes substantially to attention of all our visitors, while Premio New the vitality of intellectual life at the Acade- York prizewinner Ivana Spinelli concluded her my. Under the direction of Prof. Paolo semester at the Academy with her provocative series of paintings and drawings that form Valesio, head of the Department of Italian, part of her ongoing “Global Sisters” project. Italian Poetry Review is headquartered at Our other Premio New York winner, Sissi the Academy, thus consolidating our links Olivieri, drew New York’s attention with her with contemporary Italian literary culture performance piece, “Suspended,” as well as in a number of significant ways. The Uni- with her major woven pieces and her draw- versity Seminar on Modern Italian History ings. Both young artists contributed fully to also holds its meetings in the Academy. the Fellows seminars, and kept us all up-to- date with interesting aspects of the current Fellows of the Academy both participate New York art scene. In the Spring semester we in this important University Seminar continued with a show by photographer Ian- (composed of senior scholars from nis Delatolas and painter David Ryan, fol- throughout the New York metropolitan lowed by a photography and video exhibition area) and present papers at it. by Silvio Wolf curated by Laura Barreca and This year saw the creation of an Olivia D’Aponte and organized in collabora- tion with the Robert Mann Gallery of New important new organization, the Italian York. The year concluded as always with the Academy Alumni Fellows Association Premio New York art show, featuring the (IAAFA). It will clearly play an ever larger works of performance artist Marcella Vanzo role in the growing network of support and a film by Antonio Rovaldi. which the Academy enjoys around the Amongst the many institutions and individ- world, as well as reinforcing the links uals who have given us special support this between Alumni and the Academy. We year, I would like to thank Antonio Bandini, Consul General in New York, and Claudio also hope that it will serve to maintain the Angelini, Director of the Istituto Italiano di bonds between Fellows once they leave us Cultura in New York. Together with their for their continuing professional lives. We respective staffs, they have provided invalu- are all very grateful to Annalisa Coliva able help in so many of our activities, further- (Fellow, 2004) for having set up the Asso- ing the spirit of collaboration between Colum- ciation on a firm institutional and legal bia University and the Republic of Italy. basis, for having acted as midwife at its The Academy continues to offer space birth, and for having taken on the com- to three important Columbia institutions plex task of being its first chair. dedicated to Italian and to Mediterranean It is a pleasure to underline Professor culture more generally. The Center for the Varzi's words about the support we con- Ancient Mediterranean, directed by Pro- tinue to enjoy from Consul General Anto-

report on the academic year 2005–2006 19 nio Bandini, who since his arrival in New Directors that much more difficult. Pro- York in 2003 has become one of the Acad- fessor Varzi was aided in his outstanding emy's best friends. The same must also be interim directorship by two temporary recorded for Dott. Claudio Angelini, direc- appointments, that of Dr. Irina Oryshke- tor of the Italian Cultural Institute, with vich to the role of Acting Assistant Direc- whom we enjoy not only cordial relations, tor in charge of Fellows, and Ms. Abigail but also mutually supportive ones. Several Asher, who was an inventive and of our events – notably the exhibitions of resourceful Acting Assistant Director for the winners of the Premio New York – Events. Their skills, good counsel, and could not take place without the support common sense were exemplary from of the Italian Cultural Institute. We look beginning to end. forward to continuing and enhancing our Above all I want to thank the core cultural collaborations with it. members of our staff who ensured that This has been an exceptionally hectic the Academy continued to operate with- year from the point of view of staffing and out a hitch over this temporary transition- staffing changes. In December Olivia al period. Indeed, it was genuinely transi- D’Aponte left her position as Assistant tional, since in 2005-2006 we moved, I Director in Charge of Events, to travel the think, from being a relatively significant world. She served the Academy devotedly player on the academic and cultural field, for three years, and was instrumental in to a truly significant one, of which we bringing it to its present level of excel- hope both Columbia and Italy can be lence. Just before I left for my sabbatical proud. Allison Jeffrey, our longest-stand- in January, Elisabetta Assi, Assistant ing member of staff, carried the brunt of Director in charge of Fellows and Diplo- the responsibilities this year. Rick matic Affairs, was lured away from us by Whitaker devoted long hours not only to a New York law firm which made her an his role as Theater and Music Director, offer which we could not possibly match. but to many other aspects of the Acade- The fact that Dott.ssa Assi (herself a my’s life. Jenny McPhee, advisor in so qualified member of the New York Bar) many areas, continued as curator of our was so much in demand did not surprise critical Film Series. Robbie Brooks ran me, as no one could have performed her the business side of the Academy and Will onerous tasks at the Academy with the Buford ensured that all of our events went same intelligence and energy. smoothly. Their presence has been invalu- Both these departures, occurring as able; we could not have done without they did just as I was beginning my them – or without their remarkable leave, made the transition between friendliness and reliability.

20 italian academy for advanced studies in america As Director of the Academy I feel of Italian culture, science and learning in proud to be associated with a staff of such the United States will enhance their lives excellence. The spirit of collegiality that as much as it has ours. has come to exist amongst our Fellows is Needless to say, I remain grateful to at least in part due to the example set by our devoted Board of Guarantors for all all those I have named above. As I write, their support over the past year, as well as we prepare to welcome two new staff to Provost Alan Brinkley and President members, Ellen Baird, who will take over Bollinger. Both are frequent visitors to as Administrative Coordinator (to replace events at the Academy, and retain an Allison Jeffrey, promoted in March to the active interest in very many of our events. position of Assistant Director in Charge of The Academy would not be the same Events), and Dott.ssa Barbara Faedda, without their encouragement and partici- anthropologist, who comes to us from pation. I am thus able to conclude this Rome, and will replace Elisabetta Assi as report in a spirit of optimism about the Assistant Director in Charge of Fellows road ahead. All that is necessary to make and of Diplomatic Affairs. They will have it smoother is an expansion of our endow- shining examples to follow, but I am sure ment, a project to which we hope to they will live up to our expectations. I devote increasing energy in the course of wish them well at the Academy, and hope the coming years. that our commitment to the furtherance david freedberg

report on the academic year 2005–2006 21

Fellows’ Reports

Pamela Ballinger

During the semester I spent at the Ital- research at the archives of the Ministero ian Academy, I carried out research and degli Affari Esteri in Rome, the Archivio writing on a book project that examines Centrale dello Stato, the National the experience of Italian nationals return- Archives in Paris (which contain the doc- ing to the Italian peninsula as refugees umentation of the International Refugee after World War II from a variety of pos- Organization or IRO), and the U.S. sessions lost with the defeat of fascism. National Archives. My time in New York These lost territories include Istria and permitted me to finish up with the Inter- Zara, the Dodecanese Islands, Albania, national Refugee Organization materials Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia, and (during a spring break trip) and consult Libya. In my research, I compare the sta- the relevant material of the United tus and rights of “national refugees” in Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Admin- Italy to those of non-Italian displaced per- istration (UNNRA) on deposit at the Unit- sons (DPs) and explore the different ed Nations Documentation Center. Both regimes of refugee relief administered by the UNNRA and IRO documents contain the Italian state, international agencies considerable material on “Italian” nation- (Allied Military Government, United al refugees, particularly in the form of Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Admin- debates over whether individuals classi- istration, International Refugee Organiza- fied as such were eligible for international tion, United Nations High Commissioner aid or proved the sole responsibility of the for Refugees) and voluntary agencies. Italian state. Positions shifted over time, Analyzing the two categories of refugees with some of the Italian refugees receiving together sheds light on the redefinition international relief after initially being (legal and social) of Italian citizenship denied. In turn, the clear-cut division of and national identity in the decade fol- Italian and foreign refugee camps did not lowing World War II, as well as Italian prove so distinct in practice. In the city of attitudes to immigrants or “aliens” in the Trieste, for example, “Italians” from Istria early post-war period. sometimes lived alongside other refugees Before coming to the Academy, I had who had fled from Eastern bloc countries. already conducted extensive archival I also took advantage of the variety of

report on the academic year 2005–2006 25 materials related to UNNRA contained in ian minority in Slovenia and Croatia (a Columbia University’s Oral History Sec- community “left behind” by the territori- tion, Butler Library, and the Lehman al revisions to Italy after World War II) for Suite Collection. Herbert Lehman served a conference in April on “Ethnic Mobi- as the Director of Foreign Relief and lization” sponsored by the University of Rehabilitation Operations and, in 1943, Leuven, Belgium. In addition, I finalized became the first Deputy Director of that for publication an article (distinct from organization’s successor, UNNRA. The my larger book project) on representa- rich collection of Lehman’s papers at tions of culture in maritime museums in Columbia include a section of interesting and around the Gulf of Trieste. correspondence and materials related to As an anthropologist working on a his- UNNRA in its early phases, such as torical subject, I benefited not only from Lehman’s diary of a trip to Italy, Greece, the wide interdisciplinary scholarly range and Yugoslavia. The Lehman Collection of the Academy Fellows’ interests but also also houses the papers of Hugh R. Jack- from the opportunity to meet and discuss son, deputy-director of UNNRA (1942- my work with a variety of scholars in 45), and Robert G.A. Jackson, Senior diverse fields. I participated in the Mod- Deputy Director-General of UNNRA ern Italian Studies seminar held at the (1945-47). Academy once a month, which brings In addition to carrying out supplemen- together scholars of contemporary Italy tary archival research for my project, I from around the New York City area. I also wrote an article entitled “Borders of also took part in a reading group made up the Nation, Borders of Citizenship: Italian mostly of anthropologists at Columbia’s Repatriation and the Redefinition of Harriman Institute. These experiences National Identity after World War II,” provided opportunities to think about and that offers an overview of my book proj- discuss different aspects of my research. ect topic. I presented a working draft of The semester spent at the Academy this article in the Italian Academy Fel- and in New York has helped me to recon- lows’ seminar. Benefiting from the useful ceptualize further my book project. Ini- comments of the seminar participants, I tially, I began my project with a sharp finalized the manuscript and then submit- focus on the Italian populations of the ted it for consideration to a journal. I pre- Istrian peninsula, which was transferred sented a shorter version of the paper to from Italian to Yugoslav control by a the Council of European Studies confer- series of agreements between 1947 and ence held in Chicago in March. I also 1954. During my archival research, I wrote an article-length paper on the Ital- expanded the project by inserting the sto-

26 italian academy for advanced studies in america ry of Istria’s Italians (the vast majority of attention on the experience of reconstruc- whom had emigrated from Istria by tion after the war. In working at the U.N. 1955) into a larger picture of population archives, I also became aware of the movements to Italy after World War II intense and renewed scholarly interest in and the sorting out of refugees into the UNNRA and, in particular, the assistance categories of “national refugees” and it offered to displaced persons. I am now non-national DPs. As the result of my fel- orienting my work to speak to these wider lowship at the Academy, I am also think- debates. I hope that my research will ing about the specific Italian case in the attract not only the interest of scholars of larger picture of reconstruction in Europe Italy but of Europe and refugees more after World War II. During my semester in generally. I am grateful to the Italian New York, I attended a number of talks Academy for the time and space in which given by historians who are focusing new to develop and refine my project.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 27 Francesco Borghesi

During my year as a Fellow at the Ital- the letters and the printed editions (which ian Academy, I have focused mainly on contain 47 letters by Pico, 14 addressed two research projects. The first of these to him). At the Italian Academy I have has been the centre of my studies over the found the perfect environment for the last last five years. It is the critical edition of phase of the editing procedure: collating Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s letters. In the manuscripts and the printed editions the past years it has addressed the diffu- in order to establish the correct text of the sion of manuscripts and printed editions letters. I had the chance to show the of Giovanni Pico’s letters. A collection of progress made regarding this project his letters, put together and edited by his while at the Academy at the conference of nephew Giovan Francesco Pico della the American Association for Italian Mirandola shortly after his uncle’s death, Studies held in Genoa in late May 2006. was first published along with the rest of I have also had the opportunity to con- Pico’s work in Bologna in 1496 by tinue my work on a long-term research Benedetto Faelli. It was then reprinted ten project addressing the origins and diffusion times, almost unchanged, by different of Pico’s thought, in particular the much printers during the fifteenth century. debated question of concordia, the tenden- Because Giovan Francesco allegedly cy to view the teachings of major ancient wished to furnish an orthodox image of and medieval thinkers as fundamentally in his uncle’s beliefs, some epistles remained harmony. This concordism has a rich and excluded from this collection, which is important history during the Middle Ages, therefore partial and unreliable. This and its influence may be found in vernacu- research involved locating all the manu- lar texts such as the Tesoretto. As Brunetto script material. I discovered that most of Latini writes: “Each one by its nature / is a it was to be found in Europe, mainly in different factor, / and is sometimes sepa- Italy, but also in libraries in France, Ger- rate; / but I make them equal; / all of their many, Austria, Switzerland, Russia and discord / returns to such concord / that I the Vatican. In order to provide a reliable through them control / the world and sus- critical edition of these letters it is neces- tain it, / except for the will / of the Divini- sary not only to locate, but also to collect, ty.” This idea is echoed in both literary describe, and collate both manuscripts of texts and in the visual arts. It is treated not

28 italian academy for advanced studies in america only in Dante’s Commedia, but also in the cordism during the late Middle Ages and Convivio and De monarchia, which was the Early Modern period from Giovanni later translated into Italian by Marsilio Pico’s point of view. For Pico, a true con- Ficino. The relationship of Dante and the cordia philosophica is possible in which Roman de la Rose by means of the Tesoret- most philosophical and theological dis- to was seen by Gianfranco Contini, and agreements can be shown to be merely ver- Francesco Mazzoni noted that the Tesoret- bal or else reconciled by placing the discor- to, written within an important literary dant positions in the proper perspective. continuum of philosophical poetry, exem- I believe this research may be relevant plifies a continuation into the thirteenth- in shedding light on the historical antece- century Italian vernacular of the twelfth- dents of long-debated contemporary ethi- century Latin Neoplatonist culture of the cal, political and religious issues, such as school of Chartres. In the Palazzo Pubblico human rights and religious pluralism. of Siena, on the North wall of the Sala dei Paraphrasing the philosopher Alasdair Nove, Justice is depicted ‘distributing’ and McIntyre, affirming the variety and hete- ‘commuting’ rewards and punishment so rogeneity of moral beliefs, practices and as to hand the cords which Concord braids concepts, we are committing ourselves to together to the first in a procession of twen- evaluations of different particular beliefs, ty-four men. The philosophical and politi- practices and concepts. It seems that the cal relevance of Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s nature of moral judgement in distinctively Buon governo frescoes and its concordistic modern societies is such that it is no lon- theme have been discussed by scholars ger possible to appeal to moral criteria such as Nicolai Rubinstein, Quentin Skin- without having a reliable knowledge of its ner, Randolph Starn and, more recently, history. I presented some preliminary Maria Monica Donato. results of my studies on concordia during The persistence of concordistic ideals my time at the Italian Academy at the can be verified also throughout the Renais- Renaissance Society of America conferen- sance, and its relevance needs to be studied ce held in late March in San Francisco. in texts such as the Orlando Furioso. Arios- As my main research project, so far, to’s ‘aspro concento, orribile armonia,’ entails the edition of a humanist text, I describing the battle of Paris, has been dis- have a strong interest in textual criticism cussed as symptomatic by scholars from and history of scholarship, philology and Benedetto Croce to Robert M. Durling and material culture. In the past few years, I Albert R. Ascoli, though each arrives at a have also acquired an interest in the so- very different interpretation. My aim called “digital philology” and discovered would be to fashion a history of con- the potential of electronic resources,

report on the academic year 2005–2006 29 thanks to two on-line projects supported text within a password-protected environ- by the Department of Italian Studies at ment. I presented a paper at the interna- Brown University, the “Pico Project” and tional conference on “Digital philology” in the “Conclusiones Nongentae Project.” January 2006 in Hamburg, where I was They are both born out of a collaboration invited by the Institut für Griechische und between Brown University and the Uni- Lateinische Philologie of the University of versity of Bologna, Italy, and I am cur- Hamburg. rently the editorial manager of the former Furthermore, thanks to the generosity and one of the three editors of the latter. of the Italian Academy and its Director, A group of collaborators has designed a Professor David Freedberg, I have been so web site to be used as a resource for a col- fortunate to be able to organize a seminar laborative annotated edition and commen- on digital philology, which was held in tary of Pico’s Conclusiones Nongentae, early May 2006. http://www.stg.brown.edu/ Last but not least, I cannot avoid men- projects/pico/index.php. This project was tioning the fact that I had the opportunity conceived within the framework of the Vir- to discuss with a group of very challenging tual Humanities Lab, whose scope is to researchers a side-project on methodologi- provide a platform for a number of shared cal issues related to the status of proof in research activities, ranging from scholarly historical research. I feel very much editions and publications to advanced indebted to the Fellows and the Director of online workshops and seminars. The Con- the Italian Academy – to be precise the clusiones project is the ideal continuation Directors, as Professor Achille Varzi has (albeit different in format and scope) of been the Acting Director during the spring the annotated version of Pico’s Oratio de semester – not only for the discussion we hominis dignitate (the “Pico Project”), had on this occasion – that, by the way, available at http://www.brown.edu helped me a great deal in transforming an Departments/Italian_Studies/pico/. This idea into an article which has been recent- annotated digital edition will soon be ly published – but also for the help and printed, as it will be published by Universi- expertise dispensed with generosity ty of Toronto Press in the ‘Lorenzo Da throughout the academic year. A final Ponte Italian Library.’ Currently, the Con- thanks goes to the members of the staff of clusiones web site provides access to the the Academy. Each one of them has gone transcription of the original edition of out of her or his way to make my stay at Pico’s text. The core of the project is an the Academy and in New York City annotating system allowing participating incredibly pleasant. Their effort has been scholars to share their annotations to Pico’s quite successful and deeply appreciated.

30 italian academy for advanced studies in america Benedetta Cestelli Guidi

During the spring semester I spent at native art, as it is put forward in his Primi- the Italian Academy I was able to contin- tive Art (1927), is striking insofar as it ue in the best possible place my ongoing bears few similarities with the anthropo- cross-cultural research on the approaches logical approach to art production which to the art object both from anthropology was then focused on a contextual and and art history perspectives. My interest symbolic understanding of the object and focuses on the decades between the end of not on its formal qualities. On the con- the 19th and the beginning of the 20th trary, in talking about compositional century which saw the institutionalization devices followed by the artist and placing of the disciplines within the University the creative urge at the centre of his/her and the Museum when each field interest- artistic drive, Boas paves the way for the ed in art – archaeology, ethnography and enhancement of aesthetic value of native art history – shaped its own discourses art and, to a certain extent, to art criticism and eventually erected its own discipli- tout court. His intuitions about the differ- nary boundaries. ences in style due to gender and about the During these months I have focused on dynamicity of art practices widened his Franz Boas’ art criticism of native art. In fellow anthropologists’ interest in art and my paper on “Franz Boas’ Grammar of resulted in new studies oriented toward Native Art,” I endeavored to assess Boas’ the disclosure of the artist’s psychology aesthetic education in late 19th-century such as Ruth Bunzel’s The Pueblo Potter Germany in order to see to what extent his and a stylistic approach to native art col- background allowed for his aesthetic lections such as Gladys Amanda Reichard appreciation of non-mimetic, non-Western on Melanesian Design. Boas’ insistence on art which he collected during his first the dynamics of cultural traits together fieldtrip in the US in the 1880s and with with his firm refusal of looking for ur- which he then worked while curator of the forms allowed him to show a formal pat- ethnographical collections of the American tern which he identified as the art style of Museum of Natural History, New York the Northwestern tribes. Within a given (1896-1905). After a lifelong interest in area, a geographic area which shared cul- cultural productions, his late approach to tural traits, Boas underlined differences in

report on the academic year 2005–2006 31 forms and meaning, breaking down the a number of venues for native art which evolutionist assumption of a uni-linear reflect the shift of native art works from evolution of art, either from abstract pat- the ethnographic display to the art dis- tern or realistic rendering. play that eventually brought forward Given his originality in approaching Greenberg’s work on Primitivism and native art I then traced Boas’ debts to Modern Painting (1938). On the other European art historians and aesthetics hand American artists seem to have read from late romanticism – Goethe, Herder - and to be aware of Boas’ work on native to his contemporaries, and focused on the art and it is compelling to see how the Viennese art historian and museum cura- drive towards a pure expressive sign or tor Alois Riegl. I was able to point out the color of the early work of the Abstract similarities of approach to art in the two Expressionists draws upon Northwestern German-speaking scholars in a later stage native arts which were presented by Boas of the research which I presented in a lec- both in his book and in his display of the ture titled “Franz Boas’ Grammar of Northwest coast tribes in the AMNH. Native Art: An art historical perspective” Boas’ fellow art historians working at organized by Northwestern University in Columbia and in other US universities April, 2006. seem to have been interested in his Lately my work has shifted toward the approach to native art which helped reception of Boas’ art criticism within the reshape the perception of what should be artists’ and scholars’ community in New considered as art. Since Vasari, some art York City. Although it appears that Primi- styles have been dismissed on the ground tive Art was not much used by either of not being art but only attempts to be anthropologists or art historians at the so; Meyer Shapiro’s and Henry Focillon’s time it was printed, I have tracked down a studies on Roman and Gothic art and route through which the book seems to architecture are part of these reevalua- have been influential in the decades after tions of non-mimetic art which Boas it was published. Art historians on the pushed forward in Primitive Art. other side of the Atlantic seem not to have While I was Fellow at the Academy I acknowledged Boas’ originality and presented a paper at a conference on groundbreaking assumptions but it was in “Aby Warburg e l’Italia. La ricezione tra the United States that his discourse on the fine Ottocento e Novecento,” co-organized formal qualities of native art found its by the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ audience, both within the art market, the and the University of Siena and sponsored artists’ community and the scholars’. by the Centro Warburg Italia (Siena). My From the late ‘30s onward New York saw interest lay in how Aby Warburg and Vit-

32 italian academy for advanced studies in america torio Macchioro, an Italian archaeologist nal by Italian scholars, among whom was and religion scholar, approached religious the leading historian of religion of the iconography and rituals in antiquity and time, Raffaele Pettazzoni. A comparison the Renaissance and whether it reflected of Pettazzoni’s essay on the iconography their concern with political religion ( I of the three-headed God and of Rudolph here borrow a term that has often Wittkower’s study on the iconography of recurred at the Italian Academy seminars the eagle and the serpent showed a recep- thanks to the work of Simon Levis Sullam tion of iconology within Italian history of and Piergiorgio Odifreddi) in late ’20s religion. and ’30s Europe. Warburg and Macchioro It is time to start gathering my collec- shared interest in the mythical figure of tion of JSTOR articles from my studiolo’s Orpheus and in the visual representations, floor and I haven’t even mentioned the such as Macchioro’s study of the fresco of most important thing, i.e., the feeling I the ‘Casa dei Misteri’ at Pompei, have have had of belonging to a much bigger been the starting point of a comparison in project which came forward in the daily methods and aims which I then followed contact and exchange with my fellow up well into the ‘40s. In 1946 the War- scholars, with the staff and the visitors of burg Institute issued a number of its Jour- the Italian Academy.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 33 Antonio Feliciello

The main aim of my research project is tumor formation. There is considerable to understand the molecular mechanism by experimental evidence that implicates ele- which hormones and neurotransmitters vated activity of the epidermal growth fac- elicit major biological functions, including tor (EGF) in various human cancers, hormone secretion from endocrine glands, including breast cancer, glioblastoma and ion channels activity, development of cer- skin melanoma. Therefore, inhibition of tain types of human cancers. During my EGF signaling represents the main focus of stay at Columbia University, as a Fellow of modern therapies and several molecules the Italian Academy, I have been focusing that selectively interfere with this pathway on elucidating the molecular framework by are already being tested in controlled clini- which a signal generated at cell membrane cal trials. propagates throughout the cell, thereby Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors eliciting major biological effects. The final (EGFRs) belongs to the family of the tyro- goal of my research project is to improve sine kinase membrane receptors (RTKs) our understanding of cell behavior and that play a crucial role in different aspects develop novel tools that selectively inhibit of cell physiology. Altered expression and hormone-dependent growth, differentiation activity of these families of membrane and survival of cancer cells. receptors have been largely recognized as a In all countries, cancer is a major health leading cause of several human diseases. problem and represents the second most The binding of epidermal growth factor prevalent cause of death. The morbidity (EGF) to its cognate tyrosine kinase recep- and prevalence of cancer has wide impact tors at cell membrane induces the forma- in terms of general health and welfare. tion of macromolecular complexes com- Therefore, a means of inhibiting carcino- posed by a variety of adapters and signal- genesis onset and/or progression is a sub- ing molecules. The formation of such com- ject of great interest to scientists and physi- plexes under plasma membrane is a critical cians world wide. Early cancer detection, step for the sequential activation of down- targeted therapy, and finally, increased stream effectors. The EGF signaling path- patient survival depend upon an expansion way might be regulated at each point of of our understanding of the molecular such enzymatic cascade. One important mechanism underlying cellular growth and mechanism is evoked by protein tyrosine

34 italian academy for advanced studies in america phosphatases (PTPs). PTPs represent an Research, Columbia University, I wished to expanding family of signaling enzymes that test if PTPD1 is involved in the mechanism catalyse de-phosphorylation of tyrosine of cancer progression. The 3LL Lewis lung residues on specific substrates, including carcinoma is a highly invasive cell line receptors and adapter molecules. PTPs act derived from C57Bl/6 mice that had been not only as negative regulators of tyrosine used widely to monitor cancer growth and kinase signaling, but positively participate metastases in vivo. 3LL cells express high at each molecular event of the signal trans- levels of endogenous PTPD1 and when duction pathway. Thus, the dynamic inter- injected in mice tail veins they will allow play between kinases and phosphatases the formation of lung and liver metastases. regulates the rate and magnitude of the sig- By using genetic tools, the activity of naling pathways activated on the cell mem- PTPD1 in 3LL cells was selectively brane by a given growth factor. silenced. Cells bearing inactive PTPD1 We have isolated a protein, tyrosine were isolated and subsequently injected phosphatase (PTPD1), that interacts with into the tail veins of C57Bl/6 mice. Three the NH2 terminus of AKAP121, a scaffold weeks later, the mice were sacrificed and protein that assembles and regulates dis- their lungs removed for analysis. Mice tinct signaling enzymes on the mitochon- injected with cells carrying inactive PTPD1 dria. PTPD1 is a widely expressed cytosolic showed significant decrease of lung non-receptor tyrosine phosphatase that weights, compared to controls. Inspection interacts with—and is phosphorylated by— of the lung surfaces revealed that inactiva- sre tyrosine kinase. Our work indicates that tion of PTPD1 significantly reduced the PTPD1 is fundamental for the growth fac- number of metastatic lesions. Histological tor-dependent proliferation of most mam- analysis of the lungs confirmed that mice malian cells and recent evidence in the lab- injected with cells containing inactive oratory demonstrates that this gene is PTPD1 carried fewer and smaller metastat- essential for cell respiration and energy pro- ic tumors. duction. We found that the levels of PTPD1 These findings indicate that PTPD1 is protein are markedly increased in human an important regulator of EGF signaling in bladder cancers. PTPD1 expression linearly vivo, which is essential for growth and sur- increases with the grading and invasiveness vival of a large fraction of cancer cells. potential of these tumors, suggesting an Since its levels were significantly elevated in important role of this phosphatase in the human bladder cancers, PTPD1 may serve mechanism of tumorigenesis. as a biomarker for tumor invasiveness and As Research Scholar at the Italian Acad- as a potential target for anti-metastatic emy and Fellow at the Institute of Cancer therapy.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 35 Nicola Gardini

In the fall 2005 I worked as a Fellow at traumatic. It was like leaving for the mili- the Italian Academy on a book about lit- tary service – a forced departure and a erary lacunae. When I arrived at the violent rupture in the continuum of Academy in early September, my project research. was still at a very early stage. I had in my The environment at the Academy mind just a few leading notions (a defini- couldn’t have been more inspiring and tion of lacuna, some sources, the reasons amiable. Not only was I stimulated by Pro- why this project dawned on me), tons of fessor Freedberg’s and other Fellows’ opin- notes, and lots of questions. I believe that ions (I found the scientists’ takes on my a number of these questions were subject particularly beneficial), but I used answered by the end of my stay, making Columbia University as a vantage point. I my research a very happy occasion. So I got in touch with colleagues from other left the Academy with a gratifying sense departments (not just literary ones) and of accomplishment. To be sure, my book discussed with them a number of issues. was far from finished, but some important One of them, Professor Rita Charon, chapters of it had been written and I turned out to be a very special encounter. could certainly envision the whole of it. Professor Charon, a medical doctor and Regretfully, I could not spend the spring Ph. D. in English literature, teaches Narra- semester at the Academy. If I had been tive Medicine at Columbia University. Her able to, my book would have been com- work in the field of bioethics is held in pleted by the end of April (which, much international repute. I interviewed her for to my sorrow, could not happen in Italy, a magazine online I edit for the Diparti- where university and family life dragged mento di Italianistica at the University of me back to diverging obligations). Padua (www.ilcalzerottomarrone.it) and I will always think of my time at the discussed with her another project of mine: Academy as one of the most fruitful and an essay on the notion of illness, which I intellectually challenging ones of my had partially written before starting at the entire academic life. Leaving my office, in Academy and has just been published by which reading and writing proved so Bollati Boringhieri (appended to my trans- extraordinarily rewarding, was close to lation of Virginia Woolf’s 1930 essay On

36 italian academy for advanced studies in america Being Ill). I also attended one of Prof. entific notions. A tremendous gulf sepa- Charon’s writing seminars at the School of rates the language of science and that of Social Work. It was an illuminating experi- the humanities, or I should say the lan- ence, which showed me all the more guage of scientists and that of literati. It is cogently the importance and the difficul- high time that the two, science and litera- ties of writing one’s lived experience. While ture, retrieved faith in reciprocal commu- at the Academy, I also found interesting nication and addressed together the most material on illness I intend to include in fundamental issues of human life. Scien- the fall 2006 issue of the above-mentioned tists like Michael Rogan should serve as magazine (this issue will be totally devoted paragons. to the relation between literature and Professor Teodolinda Barolini medicine). (Department of Italian, Columbia Univer- Before I conclude this report, I must sity) gave me precious advice on the mention at least some other individuals structure of my book. She can read and whose opinions helped my research on word people’s intentions with astonishing lacuna find its way. Professor Michael lucidity. Our lunches at “Le Monde,” on Rogan, a neuroscientist at Columbia Uni- Broadway, make an important chapter in versity and a great reader of literature the story of my fellowship at the Acade- (Dickens is one of his favorites), taught my. So will my encounters at Butler me the notion of “foveation” and, in the Library with my old friend Professor course of our discussions, made me realize Daniel Javitch (NYU). He too helped me how hard it is to translate literary cate- to outline the structure of my book and gories into supposedly corresponding sci- recommended some important readings.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 37 Ludovico Geymonat

During my year as a Fellow at the Ital- places were made holy by the presence of ian Academy, I focused my research on relics and images, and images gained the transmission of images, specifically of authority by their location at specific sites iconography, in medieval art. Current and shrines. digital technology allows images to be Drawings and circumstantial evidence moved and copied at high speed and high offer indications concerning the medieval fidelity. This was not the case in the past, practice of reproducing images in order to and yet technologies of reproduction have transmit them. This is a crucial point always been central to the transmission which touches upon a number of issues in and diffusion of images. Images on the study of medieval art, from the devel- unmovable mediums – wall-paintings, for opment of specific iconographies to the example – needed to be copied onto a spreading and assimilation of style, from mobile support in order to travel. Inter- the understanding of which features were mediary supports, that is model-drawings considered essential in an image to that of and the artists’ visual memory, were the technical execution of works of art. essential to the outcome of the image’s Along with a couple of Byzantine cases, transmission. about a dozen sets of model-drawings Christian medieval iconography oper- from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ated on the basis of the shared meaning of have been preserved. This is a formative a number of signs and images. Referring period in both the development of artistic at first to the founding texts of the Old traditions and the creation of cultural and New Testament, a rich language of identity in many Italian cities. The visual images developed in the public space of evidence suggests that it was through the churches and shrines. By representing use of model-drawings that painters and holy figures and scenes, images made the patrons active in Italy at the time appro- sacred immediately present on-site. Cults priated images from distant places, espe- of saints and their relics enhanced this cially from the Holy Land. phenomenon by creating a reciprocal con- In the course of my doctoral research, I nection between the authority and effec- investigated the vast painted cycle from tiveness of images and their location: the thirteenth century in the Baptistery at

38 italian academy for advanced studies in america Parma. I used the results of my analysis However, nowadays the appropriation of as the starting point for my research at Byzantine elements looks interesting to the Italian Academy. My inquiry on the our eyes, and the assessment of maniera cycle in Parma showed that certain scenes greca is often a positive one. preserve rare iconography copied from An analysis of the visual evidence sug- monumental paintings in the Holy Land. gests that, by means of drawings from The use of model-drawings seems respon- Byzantine works, something originating sible for the transfer of this specific in Byzantine art could well reach the iconography and the appropriation of repertory of thirteenth century artists. Byzantine images. This technique The question remains, however: is explains, in fact, a number of idiosyncrat- maniera greca a matter of Byzantine ic features in the wall paintings in Parma. sources or instead of the technical device The cycle in the Baptistery offers a reveal- of linear drawings able to capture in dark ing case study. The results prompted a contours the shape and essential features series of questions which go beyond this of a figure’s position, drapery and iconog- particular example, involving the wider raphy, whether Byzantine or not? The issue of how cultural transmission occurs definition maniera greca arrived only at all. once a new maniera – that of Giotto – had At the Academy, I explored the topic of prevailed. Comparing images and their maniera greca, that is of paintings from iconography with direct observation of Western Europe that show a degree of three-dimensional reality – and not only assimilation of Byzantine art. I examined with visual memory and linear drawings – the topic through both a close reading of made the difference. It also made the ear- visual evidence from the thirteenth centu- lier practice look antiquated and foreign ry and a historiographic study of the use in comparison to the new one: the of the expression maniera greca. The term maniera moderna prevailed over the old is first found in the fourteenth century, but style, now seen as Greek and termed its meaning and interpretation are sanc- maniera greca. But a close reading of the tioned in the Introduction to and the first visual evidence indicates that maniera few Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari greca was not all that Byzantine. (1511–1574). The negative connotation of From Vasari’s time up to the latest dig- the expression as used by Vasari – mean- ital technology, the ease with which we ing a rough and stiff style imported from compare different images has been essen- abroad to be quickly abandoned by native tial to the practice of art history. This artists from Tuscany – has long endured, brings with it, however, the risk of seeing reaching well into the twentieth century. what was never there. In the thirteenth

report on the academic year 2005–2006 39 century, did artists and patrons have a related to the weight of visual evidence as range of stylistic and iconographic possi- opposed to documentary evidence and the bilities to choose from, and did they con- role of connoisseurship in the study of sistently pick what looked most Byzantine medieval painting. in cultural emulation of the ancient The facilities offered by Avery Library Greek-speaking Empire? Or was the and by the Department of Art History and repertory simply a product of the training Archaeology at Columbia University, as of the artists’ minds and hands with, at well as the intellectual community of the most, a few sketchy drawings? During my Italian Academy, provided the ideal cir- stay at the Academy, I tried to offer cumstances in which to undertake this answers to this kind of question. One project. The weekly meetings with the thing seems certain: imagination and other Fellows have been both challenging visual memory have the power to trans- and enjoyable. This pleasant atmosphere form, assimilate and internalize the most provided a rare and profitable context in diverse images and iconography, whatev- which I was able to form an impression of er their origin. how research is conducted in other fields. During my second semester at the This induced me to rethink my own Academy, I also looked into the evidence work’s goals and methodologies. Fresh from another interesting example of from the specialized research that I had to maniera greca, the vast painted cycle for- do for my dissertation, I found it extraor- merly in the chapterhouse at Sigena, in dinary to have the opportunity to present Spain, dating from the first half of the my work and research to an audience that thirteenth century. In my study of the was at the same time highly accomplished cycle at Sigena, I also explored issues and of wide-ranging interests.

40 italian academy for advanced studies in america Sergius Kodera

During my stay at the Italian Academy, the light of a magical lamp that (as he I worked on a book project on Giambat- explains) exhaled special drugs. Yet della tista della Porta (1535-1615). A fascinat- Porta had always been anxious to uphold ing personality, and renowned polymath his social distinction from the crowd of in his lifetime, this Neapolitan nobleman common tricksters who were normally pro- published numerous scholarly works, ducing such dubious spectacles. Rather, most of them connected to natural magic, della Porta’s tactics consisted in a policy of optics, physiognomy, ciphers, the art of expropriation of these and similar ticks memory: all topics that are characteristic from the lower classes. for the sciences of the Italian Renaissance. His artful production of miraculous I became interested in della Porta par- events focuses on the physicality of the ticularly because of his emphasis on non- body and its portentous properties; in metaphysical, natural explanations of such ways, della Porta’s approach is events that many contemporary scholars markedly different from his Renaissance and theologians would have perceived as Neoplatonic predecessors as well as from being caused by supernatural or as the use of experiments in later scientific demonic agents; and his fascination with approaches; his scienza also seems to be seemingly extraordinary and hence inex- equally removed from the speculative plicable events. Aristotelian science taught at the Italian Less than the metaphysical aspects of universities. Indeed, della Porta’s insis- natural magic, della Porta therefore rather tence on the categorically sensual and emphasizes practical instructions, recipes, somatic foundation of experience seems to remedies, devices of various kinds, some me a cohesive line along which his work of which seem (evidently) more or less can be understood. obscure to the modern reader. According- Strikingly for the modern reader, della ly, della Porta claimed that his magic was Porta was often looking for his meraviglia founded on the natural properties of phys- in the demimonde of prostitutes, pander- ical substances or bodies. ers, criminals and necromancers. Far For instance, he was notorious for being from being the romantic caprice of a a specialist at creating such meraviglia as Neapolitan nobleman, I think that for del- women willing to strip in male company in la Porta (as well as for some of his read-

report on the academic year 2005–2006 41 ers) the dubious sources of these segreti of a complex agenda centering on the per- enhanced belief in their effectiveness. son of the natural magus and his power to After all, these methods had been tried by describe and interfere in the social and meretici, ruffiani, furfanti e nigromanti, political sphere. Apart from clear structural and such people were frequently and references and affinities to classical and spectacularly punished for their crimes; contemporary literary traditions (which obviously they were crafty practitioners in della Porta claims to have surpassed any- their mestiere. Their inborn astuteness – a way) these plays betray constant and (some- true ingenium – was so thoroughly times highly ironic) references to the most imprinted and represented in these indi- important agenda of della Porta’s scienza. viduals that their bodies and their belong- In fact, on stage della Porta often ings may become powerful materia magi- mocks the secret recipes and sciences he ca; for instance the brains of executed discusses in his more serious scholarly criminals was an ingredient for various books. Viewed from this perspective, magical concoctions. Again, as in his these comedies are important sources for magic, della Porta’s physiognomy has a understanding fundamental concepts of distinctly naturalistic twist. della Porta’s general perspectives on his Apart from his scholarly books on nat- natural philosophy, negotiations between ural philosophy, della Porta was also a a purportedly unserious genre and scien- prolific writer for the stage. The Edizione za, between texts written “in the heat of Nazionale of his works reproduces four- the summer,” as a pastime and the dread- teen comedies and three tragedies; it ed reality of the censors. seems that the author started to write for His function as a mastermind, both in the stage while in his twenties. Della Por- the laboratory and in the theatre, is read ta did not think of his plays as something by me as a remarkable aspect of an other- important or worthy to be remembered: wise repressive situation: in religious as or at least that was what he said in public. well as in political terms. For, from 1573 Yet these plays provide a kaleidoscopic on, della Porta remained in lifelong trou- and highly contrived view of the social and ble with the Inquisition. Opting out of political realities of sixteenth-century metaphysical debates allowed the Neapoli- Naples: after all, if the characters in these tans to reconstitute a sphere of intellectual plays had been utterly foreign to a dreary discourse that was independent not only of reality of everyday Naples, who could have politics and theology, but also of tradition- laughed at them, who would have been a al Renaissance Aristotelian and Platonic possible audience? I perceive della Porta’s perspectives, which were still dangerously comedies as anamorphotic representations close to religious affairs. Hence the bid to

42 italian academy for advanced studies in america stay away from metaphysical speculation Porta’s works became the rage all over and to emphasize the undeniable evidence Europe confirms that he, as a colonized of the senses and the marvellous, that was subject, anticipated the pressure of abso- to leave a silenced and stunned crowd of lutist power in his colonial situation earlier. spectators, was generated by a complex In conclusion, I would like to empha- field of tension (and negotiation) between size that my working conditions at church authorities and natural philoso- Columbia University differed vastly and pher, each eager to get out of the other’s in every respect from the social and politi- way and to leave their respective territo- cal realities of my protagonist; the Italian ries untouched. Academy offered me a prodigious infra- Far from being an eccentric perspec- structure, such as a lavish office and tive on natural phenomena, della Porta access to the myriad books in the designed his scienza as a means to regain Libraries of Ivy League Universities. Also, an authority for his kind. Under Spanish and most importantly, the Director, staff domination, political power had become and Fellows made up a most stimulating permanently out of reach for the Neapoli- and highly supportive social environment tan landed gentry. for my research. I would like to express By the mid sixteenth century, della Por- my gratitude to all of them. I love to ta and his kind had lost virtually all politi- remember their gentle presence, as well as cal power to the Spanish. The Italian land- their patience and interest to discuss lofty ed gentry lacked legitimacy in exerting its topics (for instance the question if della often brutal rule. One might say that the Porta would understand the expression function of the Neapolitan Noblemen was succo di cervello in literal or metaphorical more ‘auratic’ than founded on real politi- ways) and their willingness to help me cal power that had carefully and slowly with vital issues of daily life in the US ousted them from power by the foreign (such as the acquisition of a social securi- rulers. The performance of meraviglia was ty number). For the Fellows, our regular probably the only means to re-establish a Wednesday meetings became an eagerly new and symbolic form of authority for awaited and distinguished forum to dis- della Porta and his kind. For them, cuss and develop ongoing research. For appearances had become more deceiving the fall term 2005 I was presented with than ever, it was necessary to take recourse an environment that allowed me to carry to judge from the physical evidence of the out my research and to develop my ideas body, the only safeguard for truth in a in unprecedented ways; the result is a colonial place where dissimulation had draft book manuscript which I hope to become vital. I think the fact that della finish in the course of the coming year.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 43 Fiorella Kostoris Padoa Schioppa

While monetary policy benefits from a increasing number of criticisms in the two large space in the existing (consolidated following years. Three of them were par- version of the) Treaty Establishing the ticularly strong. European Communities (TEC) and in the (A) It was thought to be too stability- future, still potential, Treaty Establishing oriented and too little growth-oriented, as a Constitution for Europe (CON), it is if there existed a clear trade-off between hard to find even the location of fiscal pol- the two targets, a trade-off precisely icy both in the current and in the possibly denied by the approach underpinning the future primary norms of the European Treaty (Protocol included) and the Pact. Union. Many majority parties with different This does not mean that budgetary political inspirations (from Social-demo- policies are literally ignored by the Euro- crats to Conservatives) joined that view, pean Union norms for two reasons. First, particularly in large European countries because the most important component of experiencing a scarce growth, probably the European fiscal policy is discussed because they wished to please their elec- both in TEC (Article 104) and, almost torates through deficit spending, while identically, in CON (Article III-184) and opposition parties, as usual, were much in their annexed Protocol on «excessive more rigorous for similar and opposite deficit procedure», but it is hidden in the reasons of political economy. This com- Treaties under the too general label of posite group asked «to lisbonize» the «economic policy;» second, because there Pact. Admittedly, the 1997/2003 Pact is exist secondary norms beyond primary the expression of a supply-side approach, ones in the Union and they contain a very where the structural rigidities of the sys- significant part of the European fiscal pol- tem, the insufficient accumulation, the icy, i.e. the Stability and Growth Pact excessive presence of the State on the (SGP), formally born in 1997 through a market cause at the same time inadequate European Council Resolution (in Amster- growth and some propensity for inflation, dam) and two Council’s Regulations so that fighting in favour of a higher nom- (1466/97, 1467/97). inal stability would also lead to boost The strictness of the 1997 SGP’s rules, growth. The Lisbon Agenda, on the con- later reinforced in 2003, has provoked an trary, stems from a compromise between a

44 italian academy for advanced studies in america supply- and a demand-management connection had gone lost in the following approach. decade, owing to the slowdown of the (B) Other forms of criticism focussed European economies combined with an on the differences between the Treaty inflation decrease and to a reduction in (Protocol included) and the 1997 Pact. public capital accumulation. Further- They pointed out that Article 104, unlike more, the economic logic was completely the Council’s Regulations of 1997, illus- missing in the 1997 SGP (and in its 2003 trates the awareness of the important reinterpretation), because – given the qualitative distinction between public steady state solution of the differential expenditure in current and in capital equation mentioned above – it is simply account along the lines of the golden rule. impossible to obtain a balanced budget in Moreover, some experts and policy-mak- the medium run together with a constant ers rightly recalled that the TEC and its debt/GDP ratio equalling 60%, unless the Protocol (but not the SGP) create a con- unlikely and unfavourable hypothesis of a sistent link between the deficit/GDP and zero growth rate is assumed. Therefore, the debt/GDP ratios, which was missing growing countries with debt/GDP ratio in the 1997 SGP: as it is well known, in below 60% should register a deficit in the steady state, if no variation occurs in order to obtain that medium run target, the financial assets and liabilities (which while countries above 60% with the same play a role in the debt and not in the objective should develop and maintain a deficit creation), the debt/GDP ratio budget close to balance or in surplus. In equals the deficit/GDP ratio divided by any case, the sacredness of a the nominal GDP growth rate. Thus, a medium–term balanced budget had to be numerical coherence between the two questioned, as it is incomprehensible. public finance parameters (3% and 60%) (C) Another type of critical comment existed in the Maastricht Treaty, because of the European fiscal policy concerned in 1992 the nominal GDP growth rate of the effective enforceability of the Euro- the Union ( EU 12 at that time, as Aus- pean fiscal policy: there exists an intrinsic tria, Finland and Sweden joined in 1995 mechanism in the Treaty and in the and the latest accession of 10 new coun- 1997/2003 SGP governance making tries happened in 2004) was about 5%. unlikely the adoption of the excessive Moreover, the golden rule was numerical- deficit procedures for two kinds of com- ly satisfied at the time, as the average plementary reasons; moreover, a third ele- European public investment to GDP ratio ment tends to soften the effectiveness of was in the beginning of the 90’s approxi- those procedures, even if they were firmly mately equal to 3%. That close numerical adopted. This is firstly because it is the

report on the academic year 2005–2006 45 Council who decides whether to assess dures, deciding that an excessive deficit that an excessive deficit exists and pro- exists and needs to be corrected and even- poses to reduce countries’ deficit eventu- tually sanctioned, the Council, according ally sanctioning cicada-States on the basis to Art. 104, could only «make recommen- of a recommendation by the Commission, dations to the Member States concerned»: the «recommendation» being in the Euro- the latter are not a strong instrument for pean jargon, unlike the «decision,» not the SPG’s effectiveness, as they essentially more than a non-binding opinion; the consist in a form of moral suasion, Council itself consists of national politi- obtaining the desired results only to the cians and is not a technical body free extent that the preaching institution has a from the «tyranny of the democracy,» as charisma. the Commission is at present. Secondly, as In evaluating whether the SGP reform a matter of fact, the majority of euro introduced last year by the Brussels Euro- countries is more and more often in one of pean Council on March 22-23, and made the three following situations: either the operational by the new Council’s Regula- country has already overcome some tions 1055/2005 and 1056/2005, satisfies parameters of the Pact (such as Ireland or those three-fold criticisms (A,B,C), it Portugal, who received an early warning appears that the amendments introduced in 2001 and 2002 respectively); or the in 2005 are not only consistent with the country is presently exceeding the Treaty, but are somehow closer to its spirit deficit/GDP ceiling (among others, in than the 1997 Pact itself, as they reach a 2004-2005 France, Germany and Italy); good compromise between two of the three or the country is about to exceed that ceil- requests for revision (A and B but not C), ing (such as the United Kingdom). And if emerged in the previous two years. On this is the situation, the SGP governance short-term objectives, the new SGP has is highly imperfect, because, as Juvenalis introduced a more dynamic approach, on used to say, «quis custodiet ipsos cus- the basis of a cyclically adjusted budget, todes» (who watches the watchmen)? net of one-offs and other temporary meas- Obviously, policy coordination – tradi- ures. On the medium- and long-term tionally encouraged and considered a plus objectives (MTOs), due account is taken of in the European Treaties – becomes on the connection between public deficit and the contrary, in this context, an instru- debt and of the growing economic and fis- ment for weakening the enforcement of cal heterogeneity within the EU 25. Thus, policy procedures concerning the Euro- MTOs should be differentiated and may pean fiscal policy. Thirdly, even if the diverge from positions of close to balance Council were willing to adopt those proce- or in surplus for individual Member States

46 italian academy for advanced studies in america on the basis of their current debt ratio and public finance disequilibria, that is also potential growth, while preserving suffi- the moment where the policy design con- cient margin below the reference value of cerning the governance of the Pact should 3% of GDP. The novelties introduced in improve and become good enough to the area of derogations to the excessive address the new major problems; howev- deficit procedure are equally important, as er, this is not the case, as the decision- the new definition of a “severe economic making mechanisms of the European fis- downturn” considers as exceptional sim- cal policy have not been modified by the ply a negative growth rate. With reference 2005 reform along the lines indicated by to the mitigating factors which the Com- the third (C) set of criticisms. Unfortu- mission should consider in evaluating nately the internal conflict of interests, budgetary positions, special attention stemming from the overlapping between should be paid to structural reforms with controllers and controlled within the gov- long run implications different from short ernance body responsible for the budget- run, in particular to pension reforms ary surveillance, has not been solved introducing a multi-pillar system: Member either through a transfer of powers from States implementing such reforms should the Council to the Commission or to any be allowed to deviate from the adjustment other possible future independent Author- path towards the MTO, or from the MTO ity, nor through a better balance of pow- itself. Finally, dealing with the timing and ers between the different European insti- modalities of sanctions, the reformed Pact tutions involved in the European fiscal postpones deadlines and softens sanctions. policy implementation. What stated so far clearly shows how In this situation, one would be tempted the 2005 reform of the SGP has met some to propose to further complete the 2005 of the needs expressed both by the revision of the SGP, following the critical demand- and by the supply-side advo- comments described in (C). However, that cates, but it also indicates both the would turn out to be not only politically strength and the weakness of the new unfeasible, given that the Pact can be SGP: when the Pact becomes a more changed exclusively through the unani- «intelligent» and balanced mix between mous consensus precisely of the national rules and discretion and, ultimately, more Governments that do not want to give up discretionary and soft than in its original to their power; it would also prove to be 1997 formulation (and in its 2003 rein- probably useless. The modification of the terpretation), so as to take into account governance of the Pact, even if it were the different Member States’ situations, possible, is a necessary not a sufficient cyclical conditions, growth potentials and condition to restore the effectiveness of

report on the academic year 2005–2006 47 European policy rules constraining the elimination, as their charisma to make Member States’ fiscal policy. The enforce- moral suasion on Member States effective ment and the effectiveness of the kinds of is necessary but partly lost. procedure indicated in the new SGP The question then arises: do we still require not only new forms of decision- have an effective European fiscal policy? making concerning the Pact; more gener- Will we have a different one in the near ally they also require the restoration of future may be through a further reform of the credibility of all the European institu- the Stability and Growth Pact? My likely tions involved in the excessive deficit answers tend to be both negative.

48 italian academy for advanced studies in america Simon Levis Sullam

My research at the Italian Academy has ticularly of the connection between and explored the mobilization of religious cate- intertwining of religion and politics, gave gories within political thought in Italy and rise to diverse and often opposed political Germany, in the 1920s and 1930s, at the theologies, which envisioned the estab- time of the rise of Fascism and Nazism. It lishment of new regimes or new social and has considered in particular the recovery even new anthropological conditions, all of counterrevolutionary, prophetic, with some degree of utopistic expectation. nationalist and romantic tendencies, The religious dimension and categories which aimed at the imagination and con- evoked were rooted in the Christian and struction of liberal, socialist and conserva- often the Catholic tradition, but also in a tive political projects. I thus intend, broader humanitarian religion, or even in through time, to consider in this perspec- the Jewish tradition. They usually envi- tive on the one hand the development of sioned a secularized and politicized civil fascist totalitarian ideologies, on the other religion, which would transform society antifascist reactions, liberal and marxist. and the world at its foundations. These In the 1920s and 1930s political tendencies and efforts were in large part thinkers, philosophers and intellectuals in the development of a general crisis of the Italy and Germany resorted to Romanti- European society after the First World cism, the Counterrevolution, Catholic War, the massification of life and death as reaction and Catholic liberalism, but also a consequence of the conflict, the rise of Jewish mysticism, in the development of irrationialistic tendencies which character- political theologies which gave space to ized Western culture since the end of the the irrational, the mystical, to a monistic nineteenth century. They also represented and holistic dimension, to authoritarian- attempts to face and control phenomena of ism and, in the end, to totalitarianism. On cultural despair, social instability and anxi- the other side of the political arena these ety, political radicalization and violence, tendencies produced political ideals and through a collective but culturally and projects which aimed at popular sover- politically prepared escape from freedom. eignty, the rights of free nations, and the During my stay at the Italian Academy rights of the people. Different interpreta- I have focused in particular on the rise of tions of the religious experience, and par- two different political theologies: that of

report on the academic year 2005–2006 49 Giovanni Gentile in Italy and that of Carl diplomat, Catholic and ultra-conservative, Schmitt in Germany. In the 1920s these seeing him as one of the inspiring forces of two influential political thinkers, which in his own theoretical proposal of a dictator- different ways would rise to prominence ship in the “state of exception” of the cri- in the Fascist and Nazi regimes, reflected sis of the Weimar Republic. on the relationship of religious and politi- In my research I have looked more in cal experiences, its relevance for the poli- particular at the attitudes of Gentile and tics of their times, and the possibility of Schmitt toward one of the major nine- mobilizing political-religious categories teenth-century European experiences in and concepts in the new political order of the mobilization of political religious cat- post-war Europe. Both looked back to the egories and ideals: that of Giuseppe Mazz- first decades of the nineteenth century, to ini. Mazzini came to represent one of the thinkers reacting to the French Revolu- premises of the political religion of Fas- tion, to the thought of the Restoration, cism in Italy, particularly, as I mentioned, and to the recovery of, and reactions to, through the interpretation of Gentile. A religious experience in the early phase of further major strain within Italy’s political secularization. Gentile and Schmitt religion was represented by the persisting thought that in that post-revolutionary role of Catholicism and the Church dur- period major shifts had taken place in the ing Facism. However, I have also ana- philosophical and political arena, which lyzed Mazzini’s political religion in the had shaped elements of modern political light of Schmitt’s interpretation of what experience, and that there lay thoughts he called “Political Romanticism” and of and expressions which could be a source his theory of “Political Theology,” of inspiration for current politics. although Schmitt did not work at length Giovanni Gentile rediscovered the on Mazzini. And I also kept in mind that thought and personality of Giuseppe Schmitt as well looked at the role of the Mazzini, one of Italy’s founding fathers (as Church and certainly at the Catholic roots well as that of the catholic liberal Vincen- and streams of modern politics. I finally zo Gioberti), and seeing him as a religious tried to compare the different outcomes of thinker and a patriot, placed him at the Gentile’s and Schmitt’s interpretations center of his own adhesion to and inter- and reflections in the context of Italian pretation of Italian Fascism. Carl Schmitt fascism and of the rise of Nazism, to shed reflected on the thinkers of the Counter- light on the similarities and differences of revolution, such as Edmund Burke, De the two totalitarian political religions. Bonald and De Maistre, and discovered In Giovanni Gentile’s conception of the figure of Donoso Cortes, a Spanish secularization a higher Spirit survived.

50 italian academy for advanced studies in america His Hegelian approach denied a true the- my. According to the Israeli historian Uriel ological transcendence, but considered Tal the structure of the political religion of reality and history as the product of Nazism consisted of two basic forms: the “thought as a pure act,” and saw the secularization and politicization of the State as the highest ethical expression of theological roots on the one hand, and the the Spirit. The Risorgimento patriot sacralization of politics on the other. Cer- Giuseppe Mazzini, through his slogan tainly, in his theory of the “political theol- “thought and action” and his religious ogy” Schmitt thought that: “All the most theory of the “duties of man,” became the significant concepts of the modern doc- hero of Gentile’s philosophical and politi- trine of the State are secularized theologi- cal vision. He was the precursor and cal concepts. . . . They have moved to the inspirer of Gentile’s totalitarian doctrine doctrine of the State from theology.” of Fascism, incarnated in the “ethical Among these was dictatorship, which State,” to which the religious devotion of Schmitt considered as developing from a a new political religion was attributed. At secularized infallible decision coming from the same time, the Christian and Catholic above, and thus as modeled on the Christ- faith remained at the basis of Gentile’s ian conception of the infallibility of the theory of education: together with the religious order. new political religion of the ethical state, The intellectual paths of Giovanni a historical religion, founded in the tradi- Gentile and Carl Schmitt thus show how a tion and in national history, coexisted as a recovery, in the first decades of the Twen- means of inspiration and orientation for tieth century, of counterrevolutionary, the individual and the collectivity. romantic and nationalist thought, togeth- In the political religion of Nazism we er with a new consideration of the possibly find the development of what Catholic tradition and of the role of the Schmitt intuited as a more radical secular- Church, gave rise and shaped the totali- ization. We can perhaps refer to one of the tarian political religions of Fascism and first theorists of political religions in the Nazism. A careful historical exploration Twentieth century, Eric Voegelin, and con- of the transformation of religious thought sider Nazism an “inner-worldly religion.” in the age of secularization, and of what It was opposed to the “trans-worldly reli- has been called the “transfer of the gions” of Judaism and Christianity and sacred” from traditional faith to secular was founded on “innerworldly” symbols civic religions, may therefore shed light and myths turned into what the Nazi ide- on profound and dark aspects and ologist Alfred Rosenberg called “organic changes in modern ideologies and in mass truth”: the Volk, the race, the racial ene- politics in the Twentieth century.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 51 Linda Pagli

In this year spent as a Fellow at the nents able to return, after the specification Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at of one or more keywords, the Web pages Columbia I worked on writing a book on containing those keywords. The most the mathematical aspects of computer famous is Google after which Internet networks and, in particular, the Internet. I searches became more effective. (2) The enjoyed two very favorable situations: the Dissemination of Information: If the Inter- proximity of the computer science depart- net allows immediate communications ment of Columbia, where seminars on the and dissemination of information, what theoretical aspects of the more advanced happened before? How was information topics in computer science are regularly circulated in ancient times and what kind held, and the constantly stimulating intel- of interconnection networks were formed lectual exchange with the group of Fel- by humans? (3) The Internet and the lows at the Academy in everyday life and World Wide Web: History and fundamen- during the seminars guided by the two tal protocols for the functioning of a com- directors. Writing a book aimed at non- puter network. Basic characteristics of the specialists, it was extremely important for Internet. The World Wide Web as a hyper- me to discuss how the mathematical text of Web pages forming another net- aspects of the book can be explained and work of links interlaced to the Internet. to find relationships, comparisons and (4) Cryptography: A secret manner of applications between the network and the writing used since antiquity mainly for other disciplines represented at the Acad- military and recreational purposes. Cryp- emy such as, for instance, history, litera- tographic techniques have become more ture, anthropology and art history. Sug- and more sophisticated after the develop- gestions and observations from the semi- ment of the Internet and the need to nars have been included in the book, exchange secret or private information. which I hope will be for this reason more (5) The Distributed Computation: A set of complete and interesting. computing entities, communicating by During my time at the Academy I wrote means of messages, achieve a common goal, several chapters of the book on the follow- e.g. to perform a given task, to compute the ing topics: (1) Search Engines: Complex solution of a problem, to satisfy a request systems of hardware and software compo- either from the user or from other entities.

52 italian academy for advanced studies in america The chapters on search engines and research collaboration with Sean Cleary on cryptography were the subjects of my of the Mathematics Department of two seminars. While at Italian Academy CUNY on some theoretical properties of I had the time to continue my research tree structures. on fault tolerant networks and to begin a

report on the academic year 2005–2006 53 Bina Santoro

I am studying the functional character- so on). The art of measuring the minus- ization of TRIP8b, a new protein that reg- cule currents that are produced by a neu- ulates the activity of ion channels. Nerve ron’s ion channels is called electrophysiol- cells, or neurons, are able to communicate ogy, and it equates to listening to very ani- with each other in an extremely rapid mated conversations among a large group fashion, by using miniature electrical sig- of individuals all speaking at the same nals (currents). The flow of these electri- time – in a complex foreign language of cal currents is controlled by a class of spe- which we understand only the basics. cialized proteins, which are called “ion Despite the fact that an individual channels.” Quite literally, ion channels class of ion channels might represent only form channels (or tunnels) that run a word (in the form of the unique current through the outer membrane of the cell, that it expresses) within an otherwise vast and allow for ions (e.g. sodium, potassi- and articulate vocabulary, it can have a um or calcium ions) to enter or exit the very profound impact on the overall cell. Since ions are charged particles, their workings of the brain. As a neuroscience movement creates an electrical current. laboratory, interested primarily in the cel- What is critical, in the context of neuronal lular mechanisms that underlie learning function, is that each channel opens (and and memory, a few years ago we set out to closes) only in response to specific physio- explore this notion by creating a geneti- logical stimuli. Thus, the movement of cally modified mouse in which one class ions –i.e. the production of electrical cur- of ion channels (called HCN1) is entirely rents across the cell membrane– is very prevented from functioning. This is tech- tightly regulated, and highly “significant” nically achievable, since ion channels are in terms of the cells’ language. proteins, and proteins are encoded by There are hundreds of different types of genes, which can be readily manipulated ion channels, which can be distinguished through the use of genetic engineering by the type of stimulus that they respond methods. Thus, we were able to target the to, by the ions that they conduct, and by HCN1 gene and essentially delete it from the nature of the current that they produce the mouse genome (this is called a (e.g. positive or negative, fast or slow, and “knock-out”). Our founder animal and its

54 italian academy for advanced studies in america offspring consequently are not able to sion and experimental investigation. Yet, produce any HCN1 channels within their in a rather reductionist reading of the brains, and are not able to express the problem, I decided to skip all higher order type of electrical signals that HCN1 nor- issues of behavioral or cognitive/function- mally generates. al nature and simply focus on the molecu- A number of considerations allowed us lar side of the question: how is HCN1 to predict that this channel would have a channel activity up- and down-regulated significant impact on the mice’s ability to in neurons, and what are the biochemical perform specific learning and memory pathways involved in this regulation? behavioral tasks. Nonetheless, the funda- Since ion channels perform their role mental result of our analysis was a bit of a by sitting in the outer membrane of the surprise: HCN1 knock-out mice are actu- cell, and controlling the flux of ions in and ally “smarter.” They learn and remember out of the membrane, a very fundamental better than their wild-type counterparts, way of reducing the activity of a particu- demonstrating that an individual class of lar class of channels is to remove them ion channels can affect specific brain from the outer membrane and relocate functions (while sparing others) and them to the interior of the cell. The mov- establishing a negative correlation ing of proteins from one location to between HCN1 activity and spatial learn- another, within a cell, is generally referred ing (or memory formation). to as “intracellular trafficking.” Thus, Since obtaining this result, we have very frequently channel activity is regu- been very interested in the questions of lated by their interaction with the cell’s why would we have a gene that makes us trafficking machinery: this is also the case more “stupid” (humans have HCN1 chan- for HCN1 channels, which have been nels too . . .); of whether the brain can up- shown to move very rapidly in and out of and down-regulate the activity of such a the membrane in response to specific elec- gene depending on the circumstances (in trophysiological stimuli. The present other words, are there “intelligent” or challenge is to reconstruct the individual “memory-competent” states, and “non- steps of the biochemical pathway that intelligent” or “forgetful” states); and leads from stimulus (incoming electrical what would be the mechanisms underlying current) to response (removal, or inser- such up- and down-regulation (i.e. how do tion, of HCN1 channels into the mem- we switch from one state to the other). brane), and to identify the specific cellu- Embedded in these very questions are lar proteins that are involved. a significant number of assumptions, all In an initial phase of the study, I had of which could be the subject of discus- been able to demonstrate that a key com-

report on the academic year 2005–2006 55 ponent in the regulation of HCN1 channel since we know that the modulation of trafficking is a protein called TRIP8b, HCN1 channel expression in response to which is found in close association with electrical activity is not always necessarily HCN1 channels in the brain. During my “healthy.” Thus, while down-regulation 2005-2006 residence at the Italian Acad- of HCN1 might very well make mice emy in New York, I carried out the muta- smarter, there is also increasing evidence genesis and functional analysis work that that HCN1 activity is down-regulated in now provides the proof that TRIP8b various animal models of epilepsy, sug- indeed acts as a bridge, by binding on one gesting that there are fine differences in end to HCN1 channels and on the other the mode of HCN1 regulation that can end to one of the factors in the cellular precipitate a physiological response (e.g., trafficking machinery. This factor, called local and transient suppression of HCN1 AP-2, is known to promote the removal of activity during learning) into a patho- proteins from the outer membrane, and physiological response (e.g. widespread their accumulation in intracellular organ- and persistent suppression of HCN1 elles called endosomes. From endosomes, activity during epileptogenesis). proteins can be either reinserted onto the If we are interested in understanding, outer membrane or targeted for destruc- let alone intervening on, the cellular tion, providing a very dynamic mecha- processes that underlie learning and nism for the ongoing regulation of HCN1 memory formation, it is imperative that channel activity. we unravel the full meaning of the molec- In the course of this analysis, I have ular changes involved. With this perspec- also been able to demonstrate that some tive in mind, the dynamic interaction naturally occurring isoforms of TRIP8b between HCN1 and TRIP8b provides a lack the sequences required for the inter- unique opportunity to explore the balance action with AP-2, pointing to the exis- between function and dysfunction in the tence of additional roles for TRIP8b brain. (what would be the use of such alterna- I am truly grateful to all my Fellow tive isoforms, if they are incapable of pro- colleagues, and very especially to Prof. moting channel internalization?). Fur- Freedberg and Prof. Varzi, for having ther, this finding suggests that changing instigated some of the most enriching and the relative abundance of one TRIP8b challenging discussions of the problems isoform vs the other within the brain that are the focus of my work. I believe could be a way of altering the mode of the time I spent at the Italian Academy expression and regulation of HCN1 chan- will leave a mark in my scientific produc- nels. This is an important observation, tion for a long time to come.

56 italian academy for advanced studies in america William Stenhouse

During my Fellowship at the Academy, seemed to me that whereas scholars had I set out to investigate the links between shown brilliantly and effectively how col- two intellectual developments in Early lecting practices were an essential compo- Modern Italy. The first of these was a nent of the rise of the seventeenth-century change in ideas about what historical “new science,” no one had yet done the scholarship involved. Theorists and prac- same for historical scholarship. Perhaps titioners in the late sixteenth century that was too obvious, or perhaps the argued that historians should involve momentous changes in scientific practice themselves with a wider range of subject were much more interesting than changes matter than their predecessors, and that in how people wrote about the distant they should not limit themselves to politi- past, but to me at least, and particularly cal and military history. To do this, they in an institution so devoted to ideas of should cease simply to mimic the great cultural memory, here was a lead worth narrative historians of antiquity – Livy following. I am particularly interested in and the rest – and they should expand the the study of classical Roman antiquities, types of sources they used, to include and so I focused on antiquity collections objects as well as texts and chronicles. and writing about the ancient Roman The second, better-known phenomenon world. The men involved in these under- was the rise of the museum. Through the takings are usually called antiquarians. sixteenth century and into the seven- I have found information on how peo- teenth, Italian cities became studded with ple visited museums, how they discussed collections to which proud owners offered objects with their colleagues, and how their visitors access. These museums they wrote about their encounters with ranged from the famous and grand, like objects. Although the changes in histori- the Capitoline or Papal collections at cal practice were less revolutionary and Rome or the Medici collections in Flo- more subtle than those in scientific rence, to the small collections made by research, I also think that a good case can otherwise unknown erudites and be made for the argument that museums eccentrics whose objects won them a have a similarly transformative effect. In small degree of fame and renown among the course of the year I became particu- their contemporaries across Europe. It larly interested in the role of representa-

report on the academic year 2005–2006 57 tion of antiquities in the understanding of educational and social background such the classical world, and this presents a competence suggested, was essential to useful example of the sort of research that writing about antiquity. I have been doing. Within the antiquarian Agustín’s statements are relatively well movement from the mid-fifteenth century known to historians of antiquarianism, right through until the eighteenth century, but they have usually been seen as some- there was a division between those schol- thing of a dead end. The archetypal ars who demonstrated their knowledge of philologist pulls rank (fairly successfully, antiquity by relying on texts, and those given the subsequent persistence of the who dealt primarily with buildings, division between the artist and the anti- objects, and images. On one side of the quarian) to defend his turf against poorly- divide lay great philologists like Flavio trained people who presumed to bring Biondo or Scipione Maffei, on the other different skills to the study of antiquity artists like Raffaello and Piranesi. The than the ones he possessed. I have been difference between the two groups was trying to qualify that position, and to made very clear by the sixteenth-century show how scholars in Italy dealt with the Spanish lawyer, churchman and scholar division between philological and artistic of antiquity, Antonio Agustín. He antiquarians; figures on both sides visited described his contemporary Pirro Ligorio collections and discussed their contents. as “very well known as an antiquarian One example is Vico, the target of and painter, who, without knowing Latin, Agustín’s scorn, who illustrated and dis- has written more than forty books about cussed Roman coins. He began his career coins, buildings, and other things.” When as an engraver, working for publishers of his interlocutor asked how on earth Ligo- books and prints. He then decided to rio could produce his books without that write about coins himself, and in 1560 he knowledge, Agustín referred to others like published a commentary in Latin on the him, including Enea Vico, and claimed: coins of Julius Caesar. In this work he “If you read their books, you’d think they claimed that his artistic expertise allowed had seen and read all the Latin and Greek him to illustrate the coins properly, and so books written. But they have used the he then combined the role of artisan work of others, and while they have (artifex) with commentator (interpres). In drawn competently with the pencil, a contemporary unpublished note they’ve done otherwise with the pen.” responding to his scholarly rival, Sebas- Agustín’s point was clear. Elsewhere he tiano Erizzo, he went further, and claimed described Ligorio as simply an “artifice.” that knowledge of disegno was necessary In Agustín’s view, knowing Latin, with the for the interpretation of coins. Another

58 italian academy for advanced studies in america figure is Onofrio Panvinio. Panvinio, like way of representing antiquity. There is Agustín, was an accomplished philologist evidence that Vico and Panvinio were and a brilliant gatherer of information inspired by visits to particular museums, from classical texts. Early in his career, he and their activities can be seen as one showed very little interest in visual evi- facet of the growing interest in objects as dence for antiquity. In the 1560s, though, historical sources, and the challenges he started working with the engraver Eti- involved in interpreting them and in com- enne Du Pérac to create elaborate, and municating details of them. beautiful, scenes of Roman life, including My work falls in the gaps between the sacrifices, triumphal processions, and 21st-century disciplines of history, clas- gladiatorial games. Panvinio designed sics and art history, and so for me the these illustrations to accompany his greatest benefit, and pleasure, of the Ital- essays on Roman civilization. He claimed ian Academy was the presence of a gen- to have drawn the evidence for his recon- uinely interdisciplinary group of structions from a range of sources: texts, researchers. They included a classicist, an certainly, but also, and vitally from my historian of science, a renaissance philolo- point of view, collections of statues, coins gist, a historian of philosophy, an art his- and relief sculpture. He also claimed that torian, and a scholar of historiography, all the illustrations were his own work; but in of whom I could turn to when I wanted to fact, he stole most of his information and try out an idea. Then when I presented the designs for the reconstructions them- my work to the whole group, I had to selves from Ligorio. Here, then, we see a learn how to communicate to a penetrat- philologist and friend of Agustín freely ing and inquisitive group of non-special- appropriating, and endorsing, the work of ists. This atmosphere of free intellectual an artist. It is true that Agustín acknowl- enquiry and discussion is both unusual edged the skill in drawing of Ligorio and and marvelously inspiring, and I am others, but Panvinio seems to take hugely grateful to the director and staff acknowledgment a step further, and has for fostering such an environment in seen how visual reconstruction can go which I could spend such a productive hand in hand with textual description as a year.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 59 Nick Wilding

The project I have undertaken at the his former teacher and friend. But he also Academy is a biography of Gianfrancesco performed stranger roles: in the sunspot Sagredo (1571–1620). Sagredo’s name is debate (1611–1613), he not only copied familiar to us as one of the three protago- out and circulated Galileo’s texts while nists of Galileo Galilei’s two controversial they passed through Venice on their way classics, the Dialogo sopra i due massimi from Florence to Augsburg and Ingol- sistemi del mondo (1632) and the Discorsi stadt, but also made vicious, independent e dimostrazioni (1638). Galileo used the attacks on Galileo’s opponent “Apelles,” posthumous persona of his friend to take accusing the pseudonymous Jesuit of apart the world of unexamined common- hypocrisy and stupidity. His zealous loy- sense experience and pedantic Aris- alty to Venice led him to invent his own totelianism and build a new cosmos based pseudonyms in his epistolary attacks on on mathematical principles under the Jesuits after their expulsion from the tutelage of another friend, Filippo Salviati Veneto in 1606. His letters to Galileo dis- (1582–1614). play the witty and informal tone punctu- While Galileo’s depiction of Sagredo is ated with precise acuity celebrated in the an important source for reconstructing his Dialogo. But there are many other ver- friend’s life, it masks as much as it sions of Sagredo also revealed in this cor- reveals. The real Sagredo, as presented in respondence: his instinctive sense of polit- his one-sided extant correspondence with ical satire, his refreshingly explicit Galileo and other documentation, was a accounts of his libidinal economy, his self- complex and mutable figure. His inter- conscious experimentation in finding out ventions in natural philosophical matters his tastes and desires. were varied and complex: he negotiated The only attempt to provide a brief with glass-makers to produce lenses for biographical sketch of Sagredo was made Galileo, he sent his own experimental over a century ago, by the great Galileo results and descriptions of instrumental scholar Antonio Favaro. My own archival innovations (in magnetism and ther- research undertaken in Venice, Florence moscopy, especially) to his former and Rome has unearthed a large number teacher, he read Galileo’s works in manu- of previously unknown documents which script and print, and often disagreed with help us understand Sagredo’s interven-

60 italian academy for advanced studies in america tions in politics and science. government. But they could also be worn During my Fellowship at the Italian by ambassadors and consuls. The sitter Academy, I made a further important dis- held a book in one hand, which turned covery: Sagredo’s letters to Galileo out to be a very specific kind of book, the describe two portraits he had had done by commissione dogale, or beautifully illumi- the artist Gerolamo Bassano, brother of nated manuscript book of orders given by the more famous Leandro. One of these, the Doge to outgoing ambassadors, mili- executed the year before Sagredo’s death, tary captains and local governors. These was sent to Galileo as a token of their commissioni were not, however, given to friendship. Its existence was attested until Procurators of St. Mark, so the sitter had the mid-eighteenth century, but then it to be an ambassador. In Sagredo’s letters disappeared. By chance, I came across a to Galileo, he describes his outfit in the review of a catalogue of paintings in painting as being the official uniform he Ukraine, which included a portrait attrib- was allowed to wear as a Venetian consul uted to Leandro Bassano that bore an to Aleppo, Syria (1608–1611). inscription on the back of Sagredo’s The sitter’s other hand gestured name. I was immediately struck by the towards a sumptuous carpet draped over close facial and stylistic resemblance of a table. Upon closer inspection, this the Ukrainian portrait with another more proved to be a very early example of a famous picture, the so-called “Procurator new kind of carpet, a silk kilim produced of St. Mark” in the Ashmolean Museum, in Persia, of which there were only a Oxford, which had also been attributed to handful of examples in Europe. Sagredo’s Leandro Bassano. correspondence again helped explain the By unlocking a series of iconographic clue: while on duty in Aleppo, he had clues hidden in the painting, I was able to exchanged letters with the great leader of demonstrate that this was the long-lost the Persian Empire, Shah ‘Abbas I. When portrait of Sagredo which had been given Sagredo returned to Venice in 1611, he as a gift to Galileo, and had hung on his told Galileo, he had sent the Shah his living-room wall while he wrote his entire collection of scientific instruments deceased friend into the Dialogo. (including, I suspect, the newest and most There were a series of peculiar details exciting device to be invented, a Galileian in the painting whose decipherment grad- telescope). In return, ‘Abbas had sent him ually restored the sitter’s faded identity: a carpet, probably woven in his new and the robes he wore had previously been fabulous capital of Esfahan. thought to be those of the Procurators of Over the sitter’s shoulder, there was a St. Mark, a senior role in the Venetian harbor scene, which included a strange

report on the academic year 2005–2006 61 domed lighthouse. Comparisons with con- deal of detective work, and I am much temporary depictions of such buildings indebted not only to the Fellows, Director showed that this was meant to represent and staff of the Italian Academy for their one of the lost Wonders of the World, the help and expertise, but also to other indi- Pharos of Alexandria. Venetians at this viduals and institutions in New York and time claimed that the famous and myste- elsewhere, without whose generosity these rious mirrors of the Pharos might have images of Sagredo would have remained been used not only to project a beam of obscure. An article discussing the works light to help guide incoming ships, but and reproducing them for the first time also as a huge telescope that would serve together will be published in the journal as a surveillance device, protecting Galilæana: Journal of Galilean Studies. Alexandria from enemy fleets by giving This research will also be described in my advance warning of attacks. Galileo’s forthcoming biography of Sagredo. astronomical telescope was thus trans- In addition, I am writing an article on formed into a military instrument pro- the vicissitudes of the newly rediscovered tecting the Venetian Empire and making unique copy of Thomas Salusbury’s Life Venice the natural heir to Alexandrian of Galileo (1664) and also producing a science. new translation of Galileo’s Dialogo for Decoding these clues involved a great Penguin Classics.

62 italian academy for advanced studies in america Winners of the Premio New York Antonio Rovaldi “I Was Fine Before You Came” Film / April 2006

Antonio Rovaldi (born in Parma, 1975) I Was Fine Before You Came. Video made in lives in Milan, where he graduated from the collaboration with the Italian band “Fine NABA Academy of Fine Arts. He has taken Before You Came.” The thirteen-minute piece part in several solo and group shows in Europe has moving pictures and stills set to music, (Milan, Ravenna, Rome, and Kassel), as well making the city of New York the protagonist of as in New York, Buenos Aires (Argentina), a musical score in development. This was a Labin (Croatia), and Bangkok (Thailand). short film in several chapters, a non-narrative story for sound images.

64 italian academy for advanced studies in america Sissi “Suspended” Performance and Painting / December 2005

Sissi (born in Bologna, 1977) lives and Suspended. Performance in the theatre space works in Bologna. A graduate of the Academy and upon the neo-classical facade of the Ital- of Fine Arts, her work has been exhibited in ian Academy. Two large cocoons of plastic group and solo exhibitions in Italy (Rome and material knitted by Sissi hung from the out- Venice) and the USA (Miami, New York, and door flagpoles. These organic shapes grew Washington, D.C.). from within the building like roots and repre- sented a natural extension joining the artist’s body with the architecture of the building. A selection of Sissi’s watercolors was also dis- played.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 65 Ivana Spinelli “Global Sisters” Drawing and Video / December 2005

Ivana Spinelli (born in Ascoli Piceno, Global Sisters. A series of drawings, a video, 1972) is an Italian artist who studied at the and a small canvas depicting the Global Sis- University of Luton (U.K.) after obtaining a ters symbol. This concept is the embodiment degree from the Academy of Fine Art in Mac- of a trademark that represents the first step erata, Italy. Her work has been exhibited in toward a larger project, with the participation solo and group shows in London, Paris, of additional artists, in the creation of serial Bologna, Rome, and elsewhere in Italy. objects, public interactions, and video and media performances.

66 italian academy for advanced studies in america Marcella Vanzo “An Impossible Tour” Performance / April 2006

Marcella Vanzo was born in Milan in An Impossible Tour. Site-specific performance, 1973, where she lives and works. After a 2006. On the opening night, the Fellows and degree in anthropology, she graduated from staffers at the Italian Academy conducted the Accademia di Brera in Milan. Her work guests on a surreal guided tour of the Italian has been shown, among other venues, at Stu- Academy (documented via video), using every dio Guenzani and the Pavilion of Contempo- floor of the building. The performance is an rary Art in Milan, at Galleria Continua in San extension of the artist’s investigation of the Gimignano, at the Fondazione Sandretto Re boundaries between the real and the surreal. Rebaudengo in Turin. It is part of the perma- nent collections of the Pavilion for Contempo- rary Art in Milan, of the Castello di Ama per l’arte contemporanea in Siena and the ACA- CIA fund in Milan.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 67 68 italian academy for advanced studies in america Description of Programs Fellowship Program

n 2005–2006, the Fellowship Italy. Theoretical, monographic, and Program at the Italian Academy positivist approaches were equally Icontinued to focus on issues relating welcomed. Applications dealing with the to cultural identity, cultural transmission, scientific, sociological and technological and cultural memory. It has a twofold aspects of culture and memory were aim: to foster the conservation of the encouraged. Fourteen Fellowships were many aspects of culture that are increas- awarded in 2005–2006, with two reserved ingly being lost, and to forge genuinely for the Academy’s ongoing Art and Neuro- new links between the arts, the sciences sciences Project. and the social sciences. Preference was given to candidates who Applications were therefore invited planned to work with scholars in relevant for Fellowships in all areas relating to the areas at Columbia, but other candidates study of cultural identity, cultural trans- were also considered. In all instances, Fel- mission, and cultural memory, particular- lows were encouraged to work with depart- ly – but not exclusively – with regard to ments and faculty members at Columbia.

70 italian academy for advanced studies in america Premio New York/ New York Prize

n April 2002, the Premio New York/ ter at Columbia. Each artist is given an New York Prize was established on office at the Academy and a studio at the Ithe basis of an agreement signed by Columbia School of the Arts, and holds the Italian Academy and the Italian Min- an exhibition of his or her work at the end istry of Foreign Affairs. The Prize is of their period in New York. The aim of awarded by the Italian Academy and the this distinguished prize is to offer the Directorate General for Cultural most promising young Italian artists the Advancement and Cooperation of the opportunity to develop their work under Foreign Ministry. outstanding artists and in the context of A jury of distinguished experts in the the stimulating contemporary art envi- field of contemporary art choose between ronment of New York City. It also encour- two and four of the most promising young ages the exchange of ideas between con- Italian artists to spend a year or a semes- temporary Italian and American artists.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 71 72 italian academy for advanced studies in america Activities of the Academy Fellows’ Seminars

fall 2005

Who Wrote the Book of Nature? Search Engines: Google’s revolution Gianfrancesco Sagredo, masks and Linda Pagli propaganda in seicento natural philosophy November 9 Nick Wilding September 22 Molecular architecture of signal transduction in living cells Problems of historical methodology in Carlo Antonio Feliciello Ginzburg’s work November 16 Francesco Borghesi September 28 Arnaldo Momigliano between history, politics and autobiography The Magus and the Strippers, or: The Simon Levis Sullam Indiscreet Art of Giambattista Della Porta November 30 Sergius Kodera October 5 The Invention of “Maniera Greca” Ludovico Geymonat A Poetics of Lacuna December 7 Nicola Gardini October 12 Antiquarians, objects and historical scholarship Does the European Union have a fiscal policy? William Stenhouse Fiorella Kostoris Padoa Schioppa December 14 October 19

Where did I leave my keys? (or: How we use mouse genetics to understand memory) Bina Santoro November 2

74 italian academy for advanced studies in america spring 2006

Galileo’s Idol (work in progress) Franz Boas’ grammar of native art Nick Wilding Benedetta Cestelli Guidi February 1 March 8

The functional characterization of Cryptography TRIP8b, a new protein that regulates the Linda Pagli activity of ion channels February 8 Bina Santoro March 22 The Theological and the Political: Italy’s Political Religions between Giovanni Why we cannot be Christian (and Gentile and Carl Schmitt especially not Catholic) Simon Levis Sullam Piergiorgio Odifreddi February 15 March 29

Borders of the Nation, Borders of Writing Ancient History with Pictures Citizenship: Italian Repatriation and the William Stenhouse Redefinition of National Identity after April 5 World War II Pamela Ballinger Weighing the Evidence from Sigena: Otto February 22 Pächt, Connoisseurship and the Case for a Date Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s Idea of Ludovico Geymonat Concordia April 12 Francesco Borghesi March 1

report on the academic year 2005–2006 75 The Italian Academy Film Series

ur fall 2005 series entitled “Fas- of speakers, some from our regular roster cism on Film” was an enormous and some new. Noa Steimasky, Associate Osuccess: the Teatro was filled for Professor of Art History at Yale, intro- each film with people of all ages and from duced “La Notte”; Leonard Quart, con- all over the city. The series included such tributing editor of Cineaste, presented classics as Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Il Con- “L’Avventura”; Ivone Margulies of Hunter formista” and Vittorio De Sica’s “Scius- College talked about “Eclisse”; Columbia cia,” as well as more modern films such as Professor of Film Richard Peña presented Gianni Amelio’s “Porte Aperte” and Lil- “Il Deserto Rosso”; Kent Jones, Associate iana Cavani’s “Il Portiere di Notte.” Our Director of Programming at the Film speakers included Columbia Professor of Society of Lincoln Center, discussed History Victoria de Grazia, Ruth Ben- “Blow-up”; and the journalist and Ghiat, Chair of the Department of Italian Columbia Professor in the Graduate Studies at New York University, and Pao- School of Journalism Alexander Stille lo Valesio, who holds the Giuseppe introduced the rarely seen film with Jack Ungaretti Chair in Italian Literature in Nicholson, “The Passenger.” The Italian Columbia’s Italian Department and is edi- Cultural Institute together with BAM tor of the journal Italian Poetry Review, Cinématek continued the Antonioni retro- which has its new home at The Italian spective in June. We continue to be very Academy. impressed by the popularity of classic Equally successful was the spring 2006 Italian film in New York City and are very series of films by Michelangelo Antonioni. glad to be contributing to the continua- Again, the theater was packed for all six tion of its profound cultural significance. of the films we showed by this great Ital- jenny mc phee, curator ian filmmaker. We had an amazing group

76 italian academy for advanced studies in america Fall 2005 Spring 2006 The Films of Fascism on Film Michelangelo Antonioni

Il Conformista by Bernardo Bertolucci La Notte Speaker: Leonard Quart Speaker: Noa Steimatsky

Una Giornata Particolare by Ettore Scola L’Avventura Speaker: Victoria de Grazia Speaker: Leonard Quart

Sciuscia by Vittorio De Sica L’Eclisse Speaker: Ruth Ben-Ghiat Speaker: Ivone Margulies

Porte Aperte by Gianni Amelio Il Deserto Rosso Speaker: Peter Schneider Speaker: Richard Peña

L’Uomo della Croce by Roberto Rossellini Blow-Up Speaker: Paolo Valesio Speaker: Kent Jones

Il Portiere di Notte by Liliana Cavani The Passenger Speaker: Gaetana Morrone-Puglia Speaker: Alexander Stille

report on the academic year 2005–2006 77 The Italian Academy Concert Series

he Italian Academy’s concerts have Da Ponte’s profound influence on com- become, in just a few years, a well- posers and librettists from the late eigh- Tknown and often-praised feature of teenth century right up to the present. the New York music scene. The Spring 2006 series, “Three Italian The Fall 2005 series was in homage to Men,” featured two accomplished virtuosi Lorenzo Da Ponte, the great librettist and from Italy, guitarist Marco Cappelli and poet who once taught Italian at Columbia. pianist Emanuele Arciuli (also in his third The Academy hosted a major conference appearance at the Academy), along with on Da Ponte in October in conjunction Italian-American baritone Thomas with the Da Ponte Institut of Vienna, and Meglioranza. The recitals by Cappelli and our concert series was a fitting supple- Arciuli coincided with releases of new ment to the symposium. Each of the three recordings by these artists on major concerts featured a solo vocalist: mezzo record labels. Krista River, soprano Lucy Shelton (in Of the six recitals, those by Lucy Shel- her third appearance at the Academy), ton in the Fall and Emanuele Arciuli in and tenor James Schaffner. The programs the Spring deserve special mention for were inventive and original in their meth- their excellence. We have been privileged ods of tribute to Da Ponte, ranging from at the Academy to be present for such performances of his texts as set by Mozart outstanding and distinguished for the three great operas to contempo- performances. rary works that referred interestingly to rick whitaker, curator

78 italian academy for advanced studies in america Fall 2005 Spring 2006 Lorenzo Da Ponte: A bridge Three Italian Men from Italy to New York – three vocal recitals

Krista River, mezzo-soprano Marco Cappelli, guitar with pianist Alison D’Amato March 8 October 5 Thomas Meglioranza, baritone Lucy Shelton, soprano with pianist Reiko Uchida with pianist Pedja Musijevic April 5 November 2 Emanuele Arciuli, pianist James Schaffner, tenor May 3 with pianist Lydia Brown December 7

report on the academic year 2005–2006 79 The “Italy at Columbia” Lecture Series

or the ongoing “Italy at Columbia” my’s mission, in our Teatro for both the lecture series, the Italian Academy professor’s students and a public audi- Fasks prominent Columbia profes- ence. Admission for the lectures is free, sors who are teaching lecture courses in a and they have found a large, enthusiastic given semester to present one of their lec- following. tures, on a topic relevant to the Acade- rick whitaker

Fall 2005 Spring 2006 James Beck on Masaccio and the Pictorial David Rosand, “Giorgione, Titian, and Revolution Crisis in Venice” October 12 January 31

Richard Howard on Luigi Pirandello Victoria de Grazia, “How the West was November 1 won for Mass Consumption: the Italian campaign, 1953-1973” James Shapiro on Shakespeare’s February 27 Julius Caesar November 23 Gayatri Spivak, “Dante’s De vulgari eloquentia as a world text” April 3 (canceled due to illness)

80 italian academy for advanced studies in america The First Columbia Forum on Art and the New Biology of Mind

n March 24, 2006 the Italian Academy’s Library, featured rigorous dis- Academy presented the first-ever cussion among all the participants. In OColumbia Forum on Art and the addition to some of the aforementioned, New Biology of Mind. The Academy’s the group included Peter Schjeldahl, Art Teatro was packed with an enthusiastic Spiegelman, Francoise Mouly, Siri crowd eager to learn about the most Hustvedt, Alan Gilchrist, Pietro Perona, recent advances in the neurosciences from and Fortunato Battaglia. the best-known scientists in the world, The Academy’s Art and Neuroscience including Antonio Damasio, V.S. Project is closely related to its concerns Ramachandran, Raymond Dolan, Vittorio with cultural memory. It is intended to Gallese, Joseph LeDoux, Semir Zeki, and expand the historical and sociological Margaret Livingstone, along with investigation of the traces of memory into responses and reflections from world- fields where the operations of memory famous artists including Marina itself can be subjected to analysis and cri- Abramovic, Robert Irwin, Richard Meier, tique. The aim is to move from traditional Lynn Davis, Laurie Anderson, Terry Win- historical approaches to memory, such as ters, Joan Snyder, Philip Taaffe, George those most famously described by Paolo Condo, and David Salle. The conference Rossi and Frances Yates, to modern scien- was led by the Academy’s Director, art tific approaches, such as those currently historian David Freedberg, along with being studied in the neurosciences. Arthur C. Danto and Nobel Laureate Eric Each year, the Academy sponsors a R. Kandel. The Forum was sponsored in Fellowship in Art and Neuroscience, and part by the Louise T. Blouin Foundation. we are proud to have become well-known On June 13, a smaller meeting was as the leading academic institution for the held to follow up on some of the ideas advanced study of this rich interdiscipli- raised in March. This gathering, in the nary field.

report on the academic year 2005–2006 81 Exhibitions

2005–2006 Winners of the Guest artists Premio New York

Antonio Rovaldi Francesco Simeti “I Was Fine BeforeYou Came” “Wood.sy/wóodzee” Film / April 2006 Installation / October 2005

Sissi Silvio Wolf “Suspended” “Scala Zero” Performance and Painting / December Photography and Video / March 2006 2005

Ivana Spinelli “Global Sisters” Drawing and Video / December 2005

Marcella Vanzo “An Impossible Tour” Performance / April 2006

82 italian academy for advanced studies in america report on the academic year 2005–2006 83 photography by iannis delatolas. set in the types of giambattista bodoni. designed by jerry kelly, new york.