Storica. 63 • anno XXI, 2015.

Il mistero della ripetizione: la Rivoluzione francese e le repliche della storia
Francesco Benigno e Daniele Di Bartolomeo

This essay investigates the significance that historical repetition had for people living during the French Revolution. The aim is to assess to what extent the idea that events might repeat themselves in the future influenced the historical actors of the time. After a brief analysis of the two main models used to understand historical repetition, those of Chateaubriand and Marx, and a critical review of how historical repetition has been treated in the historiographical literature, we discuss the sociological category of the self- fulfilling prophecy as a tool to understand the arguments put forward by historical actors. From an analysis of the debates on the likelihood of past events repeating themselves, which took place at crucial times during the French revolutionary process, we reach the conclusion that what these instances are not self-fulfilling prophecies. We show how these arguments may be viewed as attempts to assess the probability of a given event, but also as performative tools capable of influencing the outcome of a situation and in some way, unexpectedly, «constructing» it. We conclude that the concept of historical repetition had a much greater bearing on the French Revolution than it has so far been supposed.

Parole chiave: Rivoluzione francese; Teoria della storia; Usi del passato; Ripetizione storica

Keywords: French Revolution; Theory of history; Uses of the past; Historical repetition

Dalla Chiesa tridentina al mito di Trento. Una rilettura storico-concettuale
Birgit Emich

This article reconstructs how and why the early modern Catholic Church came to be called «the Tridentine Church». The historical legacy of the Council of Trent is no longer seen in setting a standard of reform that was then successfully implemented in the Catholic World. Instead, the long-term impact of the Council was only made possible because the papacy adopted the Council for its own purposes. By appropriating the terms «Trent» and «Tridentine,» Rome was able to establish its authority as interpreter of the Council’s decrees and as the leading force in the respective reform process. As a result, a «Tridentine myth» emerged: the founding myth of a renewed, even stronger Tridentine Church under papal control. This Myth of Trent was created and spread by historiography, normative texts, political discourses, authority structures and procedures, religious rituals and artistic visualizations. It should be taken seriously because as myth and argument «Trent» deeply influenced the history of the Catholic Church.

Parole chiave: Concilio di Trento; Congregazione del Concilio; Papato di prima età moderna; Chiesa tridentina

Keywords: Council of Trent; Congregation of the Council; Early Modern Papacy; Tridentine Church

Storia e neuroscienze
Fernanda Alfieri

The article offers an overview of the reactions to the recent neuroscientific trend that have developed in the fields of history, history of science and sociology of science. Whereas the social sciences highlight a disquieting reductionism in the neuroscientific idea of the human being, there are attemps among historians to borrow concepts, methods and topic from the neuro-field. But how far is it possible to combine cultural-historical perspectives on the individual, conscience, feelings with their biological readings?

Parole chiave: Neuroscienze; Neurostoria; Coscienza; Individuo

Keywords: Neurosciences; Neurohistory; Conscience; Consciousness individual

Anarchismo e terrorismo tra Otto e Novecento: nuove prospettive di ricerca in alcuni studi recenti
Claudio Grasso

This essay reviews four recent studies that relate to the history of anarchism between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, focusing on its development, its terrorist dinghies and its repression. In spite of the diversity of perspectives used these studies appear as essential contributions in the context of the renewed vigor of European studies on anarchism. The monographs of Alex Butterworth, Il mondo che non fu mai. Una storia vera di sognatori, cospiratori, anarchici e agenti segreti, of Ángel Herrerín López, Anarquia, dinamita, y revolucíon social: violencia y represión de la España de entresiglos, 1868-1909, of Erika Diemoz, A morte il tiranno. Anarchia e Violenza da Crispi a Mussolini, of Richard Bach Jensen, The Battle against Anarchist Terrorism: An International History, 1878-1934 discuss new and old issues in the European history of anarchism at the turn of the Twentieth century in an innovative way.

Parole chiave: Anarchismo; Storiografia; Terrorismo; Repressione

Keywords: Anarchism; Historiography; Terrorism; Repression

Maestà lesa e legittimata nell’Italia del Trecento. Della Misericordia legge Cengarle

Vedere i mostri. Lo studio della natura in età moderna. Molino legge Krämer

Risorgimento melodrammatico. Veca legge Sorba

Dalle periferie al centro: l’ibrida storia del diritto internazionale. Fiocchi Malaspina legge Becker Lorca

Aprés nous, le déluge! La parabola wilsoniana. Settis legge Tooze