Working within a broad theoretical and disciplinary framework this dissertation explores a range of programmes of cultural and religious enterprise in which Medici women in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries were engaged. I seek to examine the ways in which patronage activities and the wider entrepreneurial, aesthetic and devotional acts of the Florentine grand duchesses of this period worked to position them culturally, spiritually, politically and dynastically. Drawing on existing scholarship in the fields of art and architectural patronage, public festivals and rituals, pilgrimage and collecting practice, I offer new analyses based on empirical research and documentary evidence, which retrieve and assess aspects of the cultural activities of Giovanna of Austria, wife of Francesco de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany; Cristina of Lorraine, wife of Francesco's successor, Ferdinando I; and Maria Maddalena of Austria, wife of Cosimo II. Where appropriate, these activities are read in relation to those of Maria de' Medici, their relative and queen of France. The project opens with the arrival in Florence in 1565 of Giovanna of Austria, an event celebrated as a triumphal entry. Developing themes of display, spectacle and women's representation in public space, I move on to consider the roles of the later grand duchesses by tracing the activities which made them visible, and exploring how the rituals in which they participated fashioned and projected their identities as brides, mothers, grand duchesses and, eventually, regentesses. I examine the grand duchesses' pilgrimages to Loreto, identifying these as spectacular processional rituals with special spiritual and political resonances. I consider the concealed spaces of female Medicean devotion: the convents which they visited, supported and adapted to their own needs, and Maria Maddalena of Austria's private chapel in Palazzo Pitti in which she preserved a vast collection of valuable relics and reliquaries. Questions on devotional and secular activities, on public and private space, on propagandistic display and religious observance, that link the diverse studies of this dissertation, are addressed in the final chapter in relation to Maria Maddalena's lavish programme of rebuilding and decoration at the suburban palace she bought in the 1620s, the Villa del Poggio Imperiale. This project seeks broadly to draw out, delineate and contextualise the limits and possibilities of Medici women's cultural activities in the period to bring more clearly into focus their social, political and gendered dimensions.

This thesis examines the production of discursive visions of Italy and the Italians in England (and later Britain) during the period spanning approximately 1450 to the present day. Taking as its analytical starting point the sociologically problematic issue of why Italy and the Italians are imagined and represented in the ways they are in the present day, the study examines various discursive visions of Italy and the Italians which it explicates with reference to changes in the social organisation of cultural production in England during the designated timeframe. The main theoretical apparatus utilised are Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and field. The data considered include primary and secondary literary sources, documents of various kinds, film texts and lifestyle magazines, among other relevant sources. The thesis begins with a survey of the events of the 15th and 16th centuries leading to the installation of Italian humanistic and classical knowledges within the English education system and the role that this played in the production of the earliest Italianate visions. The significance of classical knowledge in re-instigating upper- class travel to Italy in the 18th century, and in turn influencing what were largely negative perceptions of the Italians, is the subject of the following chapter. Turning to the period spanning the later 18th and earlier 19 th centuries, the focus shifts to the production of more favourable Italianate visions particularly those formulated by the romantic poets. During the period spanning 1830 to 1914 and the onset of World War One, the continuing tendency towards the production of positive depictions of Italy and the Italians is depicted. Finally, I describe how and why economic forces acting upon the field of cultural production have come to play such a powerful role, not only in determining the extent and ways in which the past informs the present, but more broadly how we think about Italy and the Italians in the ways that we do today.

This thesis examines virtually unstudied sources, the ricordanze of a wage-earner, Piero Puro di Francesco da Vicchio of Florence, and the account book of a small tradesman, a rigattiere, Taddeo di Chello of Prato. It also expands the framework of the information available in these sources using records of property assets, taxes and commercial transactions in the Florentine Catasto and Estimo. The thesis exploits the vast amount of data available from and through these books of account to approach the theme of clothing consumption in its various aspects – cultural and social as well as economic. It also argues that clothing was one of the foremost indicators of one‟s improved status, and that social mobility could be achieved through networking, and by projecting the best image of oneself to the outer world. The thesis is structured in three parts. The first reconstructs the clientele of a Pratese rigattiere, Taddeo, outlining the clothing, materials and accessories sold, their cost and diffusion, primarily in an attempt to establish their destination and use. The second part of the thesis is then dedicated to the social and, especially, the economic significance of the accessories purchased. This was possible thanks to the wealth of data provided by the case of Piero, whose consumption practices are exceptionally well-documented in his extant books. The third part, a comparative analysis of the cases of Piero and Taddeo‟s customers, demonstrates, as we might expect, that different individual financial capacities determined different patterns of consumption, but that these also depended on the individual‟s access to different payment facilities, such as credit. Piero, thanks to his active, gradual and astute penetration into a system of patronage and power relations, alongside a dense social network – which played a fundamental role in his life – ultimately managed to improve his and his family‟s living standards. Taddeo on the contrary, because of his inability fully to develop a social network, ultimately compromised his professional achievements.

Isabella d'Este (marches a of Mantua, 1490-1539) has traditionally been studied for her importance as a female patron of art, music, and literature, in research often focussed on one discipline alone. In contrast the patronage of her husband, Francesco Gonzaga (fourth marchese of Mantua, 1484-1519), was largely dismissed until recently. Francesco has also been disadvantaged by the important studies of the late nineteenth-/ early twentieth-century historians Luzio and Renier, who saw the marches a as a talented stateswomen working in contrast to a politically inept husband. Although Francesco's significant cultural contributions have lately been proven, his diplomatic collaboration with Isabella has yet to be reassessed, and their power sharing relationship explored. This study addresses two key needs in Isabellian studies. In analysing Isabella's multifaceted patronage as a political activity, it demonstrates for the first time her comprehensive exploitation of a range of cultural products to promote her authority, projecting virility along with female virtue and fortifying her co-rule. It also shows power sharing in action, with shared human, material, and cultural resources, joint administration and exercise of authority and justice, and common diplomatic policy. In revealing or re-evaluating the Gonzaga response to domestic and international threats, a characteristic strategy emerges: the marchesi apparently dividing fronts, Francesco and Isabella appearing to back different factions in order to regroup behind the strongest. The bias against Francesco's political contribution is rebalanced, and a blueprint for the power sharing of ruling couples is provided, in what future research may reveal to be a far from rare scenario. This study quotes a considerable amount of unpublished archival material, also made accessible to an English-speaking readership through translation of key passages. It sheds light on episodes of intrigue, seduction, and masking, simulation and dissimulation, in court life and diplomacy. Chapter 1 provides a brief biography of the marchesi before giving an introduction to letter writing and epistolary networks. Isabella's self-presentation, projecting an authoritative right to co-rule in an image campaign for dynasty as well as self, is analysed in Chapter 2. In this context are re-evaluated her widespread cultural patronage, and her image making in visual and literary portraiture, through imprese, music, costume, and jewellery. The couple's power sharing is then illustrated. Chapter 3 shows that rather than being isolated the marchesi's activities and resources were to a great extent shared. The three opening chapters give an overview of trends and the remainder of the Thesis shows teamwork in action. Chapters 4 and 5 examine the influence of outsiders on the couple's relationship, including Francesco's possible sexual liaisons. Chapter 4 questions Isabella's role in the elimination of threats to her authority; Chapter 5 provides evidence of the marchesi dividing fronts, with each placating courtiers the other had offended. The final two chapters reveal cooperation in response to international threats. Chapter 6 shows Francesco and Isabella working together against the machinations of the Borgia. Chapter 7 considers the later years of the couple's co-rule and demonstrates continued power sharing despite periods of strain, as when Francesco was a prisoner of the Venetians or when Gonzaga/Este family interests clashed.

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This study concerns the experiences of Italian digital historians and their implications for historical scholarship. The present and future of the profession of historian, in academia and outside it, are inextricably linked to the digital revolution that is pervading society. How historians face the challenges and take advantage of the affordances of technology will have a strong impact on teaching and researching history in the future. However, the voice of digital historians on these issues does not emerge systematically from the literature. This research uses grounded theory methodology to delineate a theory of being a digital historian in Italy, a country with a rich historiographical tradition and widespread interest in history, but a weak connection with technology in scholarly endeavours. Based on in-depth interviews with digital historians, the analysis presented here highlights their initiatives, evaluations and strategies, in relation to all aspects of scholarship but particularly the education of future historians. This research is motivated and informed by my professional experience as lecturer in digital methodologies for historical research. The emerging theory revolves around the concept of developing digital history: Italian digital historians are pioneers, animated by passion and desire to innovate but working in a challenging, largely unsupportive environment where their initiatives have not translated well into educational provision for future digital historians or, more generally, to provide students with tools and methodology for historiography in the digital age. Through an illuminative comparison with interviews conducted with digital historians in the United Kingdom, differences and similarities are analysed, with a view to creating a general theory of being a digital historian and its implications for the future of scholarship in history.

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In this thesis, I identify a coherent and consistent Italian cultural phenomenon which I call the 'return of the Real'. I claim that this is characterised primarily, but not exclusively, by two aspects: a resurgence of interest by scholars and clinicians in Lacan's teachings (Italian Lacanianism), especially his notion of the 'Real'; and a return of realist trends in the arts, broadly understood, and in the media. I contend that contemporary Italian Lacanianism distinguishes itself from its international counterparts for two reasons: it focuses particularly on Lacan's notion of the Real qua jouissance, and it interweaves clinical work, socio-political criticism, and aesthetic theories. Hence, the notion of the Real, as received by contemporary Italian Lacanians, enables us to understand early twenty-first-century Italian realist trends not only in aesthetic terms, but also as an ethical undertaking, a form of postmodern (Antonello and Mussgnug, 2009) or, better still, postmillennial impegno. I contend that, according to contemporary Italian Lacanianism, the issue at stake in postmillennial realist art is not so much the depiction of reality or its manipulation, but rather the Real of the untamed and pervasive jouissance that no longer encounter limits. The Real qua jouissance as the leitmotiv of postmillennial Italian artistic production, and a realist aesthetic understood as an ethical undertaking are epitomised in the three case studies closely analysed in my thesis: the documentary Videocracy - Basta apparire (Gandini, 2009); the film Reality (Garrone, 2012); and the television series In Treatment (Costanzo, 2013-2016). In this thesis, I thus address the 'return of the Real' as a broad cultural phenomenon, through the analysis of its theoretical background (i.e. contemporary Italian Lacanianism and the Lacanian notion of the Real), and its emergence in the new realist trends of postmillennial Italy.

This study examines the part that Malta played in British military strategy in the period between the mid-1920s and the end of the war in North Africa in May 1943. A well-equipped British naval base had been established at Malta in the nineteenth century, and its importance increased after the end of the First World War. This was because it was chosen as the base for the Royal Navy's 'Main Fleet', largely to allow it to move more rapidly to the Far East in the event of war with Japan. It was essential that such an important base be adequately protected against sea or air attack, especially after Anglo-Italian relations deteriorated during the Abyssinian crisis of 1935-6, but the completion of an effective defence scheme was continually deferred. The reasons for this delay, and its impact on Malta's strategic value, are considered in the first part of this study, and the conclusion is reached that, given Britain's scarce resources, Malta was not unduly neglected. When Italy declared war on 10 June 1940 Malta was immediately bombed, but no attempt was made to capture the island. This allowed the British authorities to strengthen Malta's defensive and offensive capabilities in order, primarily, to reduce the flow of supplies to the Axis forces in North Africa. The second part of this study examines the factors that, at times, limited Malta's offensive operations and weighs these failures against the successes achieved at other times. This analysis concludes that the British derived significant operational advantages from the use of bases at Malta. In particular, during three critical periods when Allied offensives were in progress naval and air forces operating from Malta by sinking and damaging enemy shipping significantly reduced the flow of enemy supplies to North Africa and thereby made a major contribution to reducing Axis strength.