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Sibyl cycles in Northern and Central Italy, in the Early Renaissance. Previous published scholarship listed twenty-two sites. I now know of forty. Twenty-three of these may be considered Early Renaissance works of art and are the subject of this study. This study is not primarily engaged with history of Art but with the history of Ideas. That is, it is not a study of the painters. their methods and status but rather with the study of the development of the genre. its textual sources, the content of the inscribed oracles. the development of the pictorial conventions and symbolism. the transmission of these and the cultural significance of the genre. The dissertation is concerned with artistic styles and techniques only in so far as they illuminate the pictorial origin of the works and their iconographic significance in terms of the ideas conveyed. It describes and defines regional sub-genres. each with clear rules and conventions. These have not previously been identified and no comprehensive national conspectus exists. Structure of the Dissertation The dissertation is in three parts. The first part addresses the nature and origin of Sibyls (who and what they were) and their significance in cultural history until the Renaissance. Part Two is concerned with the origins and transmission of text and iconographic conventions in the Renaissance Sibyl cyeles. Pari three is a catalogue and survey of each Sibyl cycle site in Central and Northern Italy, along with a comprehensive photographic record. Great destruction of some cycles has taken place since the 1960s and the compilation of a complete photographic record is urgent and a significant aim of the present work. There are few published coloured photographs of the full cycles. none complete except for Siena. This dissertation is wide in scope and is in large part a catalogue and survey of all known Italian Sibyl cycles. Because of the limitations of a Doctoral dissertation. at times the transition from one site to another may appear abrupt and disjunct. Nonetheless, the structure is logical and careful. Sites are arranged chronologically, according to genre. The reader is directed to the detailed table of contents, if a review of structure and order be required. Research Method The method of research was to form a comprehensive list of Sibyl sites in Italy by consulting published English and Continental books. journals and locally produced historical papers as well as word of mouth advice in Italy. I visited all the sites and made a photographic record. Origin and transmission of text was established by consulting contemporary manuscripts that either specify the oracle text or describe the original Orsini. and other, frescos. These manuscripts are widely scattered in Europe and difficult of access so, where possible, a significant example of each kind of manuscript is reproduced in photographs or photocopy, transcribed and translated in the Appendices to the dissertation.

This thesis seeks to interrogate the mutual relationship between representations of organized crime and commitment in Italian film (cinema d’impegno). Since the Second World War, images of bandits, mafiosi and criminal rackets have been central to some of the most important political films released, including In nome della legge (Pietro Germi, 1949), Salvatore Giuliano (Francesco Rosi, 1961) and A ciascuno il suo (Elio Petri, 1967). The ‘mafia film’ in Italy thus has a rich heritage of powerfully engaged cinema that remains a far cry from its glamourized international counterpart. Yet this ‘filone’, like cinema d’impegno widely, has suffered from the endemic political apathy that accompanied advance of postmodernity. Drawing on recent scholarship on postmodern impegno, as well as on some of the most important contemporary mafia films that have led critics to announce a ‘return’ to this heritage of engaged cinema, this thesis will interrogate the image of organized crime today and its problematic mimicry of this past. It will employ a historically comparative approach, beginning with an analysis of the important waves of committed cinema in the post-War years. It then turns to the social role of the cinema since the 1990s, when, despite the disintegration of political ‘grand narratives’, the constant renewal of the trauma of organized crime has continued to produce boldly political cinematic denunciations. A secondary aim of the thesis is to bring into question the very notion of impegno. As the discourses that are analysed in the first half show, the Marxist core of many of the political mafia films has led to a narrow understanding of the organized crime imagery. Building on Marxist theorists, from Lukács to Jameson, and extending a better critical appreciation of the spectator, this discussion seeks to bring into focus the importance of genre cinema in the dialectical creation of a political mafia image.

The thesis focuses on the response of Venice province population to the rise of Fascism and to the regime’s attempts to fascistise Italian society. This thesis is developed around analysis of popular opinion and the way in which limited local consensus for the Fascist regime contributed to Fascism’s downfall. The thesis begins with a discussion of the Party, and to provides a clear picture of how ‘national’ and ‘local’ interacted alongside the establishment of the structures. The focus then shifts to the working class and the way it came to terms with the Fascist regime. The third chapter deals with two groups that provided a particular challenge to the regime’s totalitarian aspirations: Venetian Youth and the Catholic Church with its attempts to resist and to jeopardize the regime’s intention to monopolise every aspect of social life. The fourth chapter is a case-study of the Venetian Jewish community, of how the Race Laws affected the life of Venetian Jews. Lastly, the fifth chapter, by way of a conclusion, studies the ‘Fascist War’ (1940-1943) as a microcosm that explains for the local Venetian context how the lack of popular consent enhanced the regime’s inability to survive war-induced challenges.

This thesis details the development of fora in Rome and Pompeii in order that our understanding of these spaces as 'centres' accounts for their changing relationship with the city, between the third century B.C. and the second century A.D. It is a diachronic study of spatial practice and the representation of space, based on archaeological evidence for infrastructures of movement and textual evidence for the articulation of spatial concepts. Having asserted the importance of movement in shaping the perception of space in antiquity, this thesis details the changes to the physical disposition, the management of access, and the representation of fora. It concludes that while the centrality of the Forum Romanum was related to its potential for through movement, access was increasingly restricted in the late-first century B.C. This changing disposition of public space informed the development of the imperial fora, which in turn informed the development of fora outside of the city of Rome. Fora changed from shortcuts to obstacles in the city; from spaces of movement through to spaces of movement to. This represents a fundamental redefinition of their relationship with the city of which they were a part, and of their 'centrality' in both practice and representation.

My thesis explores the construction of the New World mythology as it appears in early modern Italian epic poems. It focuses on how Italian writers engage with and contribute to this process of myth-creation; how the newly created mythology relates to the political, social and cultural context of the time; and investigates extent to which it was affected by the personal agendas of the poets. By analysing three New World myths (Brazilian Amazons, Patagonian giants and Canadian pygmies), it provides insights into the perception that Italians had of the newly discovered lands in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, as well as providing a greater understanding of the role that early modern Italy had in the ‘invention’ of the Americas. Italian epic poets domesticated New World myths for their own purposes, using written, visual and material sources as an anchor for their agendas. The study of these myths changes, in some cases completely, our reading of the poems. New World myths are at once an exercise in ekphrasis of the maps, cartouches, engravings and collectible objects they derived from, and a record of the impact the Americas had on the early modern Italians.

This thesis explores how Venice's church architecture was shaped by the Counter Reformation between 1550-1700. It provides a snapshot of the situation with four pertinent case studies representing the broad spectrum of Venice's churches. Chapter One focuses on San Nicolo di Ldo, a church that was part of the proactive Cassinese Congregation. The church was rebuilt entirely and represents an almost ideal response to the Counter Reformation. Chapter Two looks at the rebuilt parish church of San Moise and it tackles the compromises that inevitably came with many competing factors. Chapters Three and Four look at how older churches were renewed and retrofitted with new features, adapting their existing structures to cater for new requirements as stipulated by the Council of Trent decrees or pamphlets such as Carlo Borromeo's Instructiones. Chapter Three hones in on Santo Stefano, a large monastic Gothic church, while Chapter Four looks at the considerably smaller Byzantine parish church of San Nicolo dei Mendicoli. This thesis highlights many similarities between the four buildings (and others in Venice), which exemplify key facets of the reform movement and the pluralistic and complex challenges faced by each church.

The Roman ability to project their power and defend their empire was based on the empire having the capability to maintain a standing army. This thesis is an examination of the commissariat that supplied this army since without logistical support such an army could not survive. The basic question under consideration is how well the commissariat functioned in late antiquity, the period when it was in its most developed and best documented state. When considering the commissariat of late antiquity it is important to understand what came before and how this system came into being. Of particular importance is the office of praetorian prefect, which went from being an imperial deputy with both military and judicial functions during the Principate to the chief administrative office in the late Roman state. Once this question has been addressed it is possible to look at the late Roman commissariat. The process of supply had several different stages, from raising supplies to their storage, transport, and distribution. All of these elements must be addressed separately. The system of supply in late antiquity was not static and there were several modifications to the system over the three centuries covered, most notably the creation of new positions at the top of the supply system. Determining the quality of the commissariat from this requires contrasting the twin considerations of effectiveness and efficiency – the ability to reliably provide supplies for the army and the expenditure of the minimum amount of resources necessary towards that goal. The detailed analysis provided in this thesis supports the conclusion that the late Roman army was, in general, effectively supplied. The issue of efficiency is more difficult to assess, but it is clear that there were many areas of great inefficiency within the Roman system. This in turn implies that the emperors prioritized effectiveness over efficiency – a conclusion consistent with the importance of the army to the emperors’ position.

The bishops of the 11th-14th centuries were key figures both within the church hierarchy and within state organisation across Europe. In addition to being the primary religious authorities within their dioceses they were also local or national potentates in their own right, judges, feudal lords, warriors and advisers to kings and other rulers. And yet their nature and extent of their local power is often elusive. Moreover the nature of their power changed over time making their role and their authority extremely fluid. One can hardly study the history of the medieval church without understanding how their control was exercised in the diocese, and in the city. This thesis will assess the differences, the shift and the changes in the power of the bishop in the city and the diocese of Lincoln and Cremona from mid 11th century to mid 14th century. Understanding how their power and their role changed in time is important to understand the role of the church and medieval society as a whole. Lincoln, with the biggest medieval diocese in England and with its unique series of bishops such as Hugh of Wells, Hugh of Avalon, Robert Grosseteste and Oliver Sutton, represents a substantial example to study in order to understand why and how the power of the bishop changed. On the other hand Cremona, with its unique political role during the central medieval centuries and with bishops of the calibre of Oberto and Sicardo, epitomizes the struggle for power and authority the bishops had to face in a communal Italian city. The comparison between the bishop’s powers offers us similarities and the differences between the roles and functions of the prelates in the two cities, as indicated by the available evidence and by the questions asked by historians. This study allows me to suggest a broader and more satisfying picture. The thesis uses a series of sources ranging from the bishops’ records, registers, and Episcopal Acta, manuscript and parchment sources, the Latin chronicles of the period, as well as architectural evidence.

The histories of particular cities and states within that myriad-faceted slice of civilisation, the Renaissance in Italy, have received more scholarly attention than have the diplomatic, ecclesiastical and cultural connections between them. This study is part of a balance-redressing process. Senior clerics traversed frontiers, owing allegiance to their native state, their benefices and, above all, to the Papacy. The purpose of this exploration of the curial careers of four later quattrocento Venetian cardinals is essentially twofold : to account for relations between Venice and the Papacy with reference to individuals who were at once Venetian patricians and princes of the Church; and to examine the cardinals' responses to this situation in terms of political, ecclesiastical and cultural patronage. Where did their loyalty lie? To Venice, with its perennial suspicion of the Church and peculiar notion of the characteristics of a Venetian cardinal? Or to the Pope, expressing overt hostility towards the Republic in the War of Ferrara and placing it under an interdict? Chapter one sets Merco Barbo, Pietro Foscari, Giovanni Michiel and Giovanni Battista Zeno in a Venetian context. Chapters two and three chart relations between the two powers, from the exposure of Cardinal Zeno's involvement in a scheme to transmit Venetian state secrets to Rome in exchange for ecclesiastical preferment, through to Ermolao Barbaro's controversial appointment to the patriarchate of Aquileia, via the short-lived Papal-Venetian league negotiated by Cardinal Foscari in 1480. The fourth chapter considers their proximity to the Supreme Pontiff and how their material fortunes varied under popes Sixtus and Innocent, after which an assessment of the nature, extent and effectiveness of their patronage is divided between chapters five and six, focussing pa.rticularly on Venetian connections. Despite diverging careers, it is concluded that all were bound by variations of the Venetian inheritance.