Italy 
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
9/26/2022
Do the Italian Elections Reflect a Turn to Fascism or Cynicism?
Giorgio Meloni's electoral success may simply reflect Italians' frustrations with national leadership more than a permanent shift, argues political analyst Yascha Mounk.
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SOURCE: The New Republic
12/8/2021
The Cinematic Sainthood of Diego Maradona
"The passionate relationship between a legendary soccer player and an Italian city lies at the heart of The Hand of God, the new movie from Paolo Sorrentino."
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SOURCE: New York Times
10/16/2021
In the Land of Godfathers, the Church Pushes the Tradition Aside
Church authorities in Sicily have grown concerned that the naming of baptismal godparents has been subordinated to secular concerns of social networking, in extreme cases tied to organized crime.
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12/6/2020
How Venetians Invented Health Care
by Meredith F. Small
It's been widely discussed during this pandemic year that Venetians invented the quarantine. But the author of a new book on Venice's history of innovation argues that it was just one of the public health measures for which we can thank them.
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SOURCE: Vinepair
Florence Revives Medieval Plague-Era ‘Wine Windows’ for Contactless Service
In Florence, the need for bars and restaurants to serve food and drinks in a socially distanced manner has seen a medieval architectural oddity revived.
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5/17/2020
A Mathematical Duel in 16th Century Venice (Excerpt)
by Fabio Toscano translated Arturo Sangalli
The advancement of mathematics in renaissance Italy was complicated by a context of secrecy, jealousy, and competitive dueling governed by implicit codes of honor.
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4/19/2020
Has Italy Fallen, Again, to Dictatorship?
by Christopher Binetti
As a result of several factors--a tradition of temporary strongman leaders, a history of disguised dictatorship, and a unitary government for a regionally divided people--Italy has been more susceptible than other liberal democracies of falling into autocracy in the current COVID crisis.
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4/12/2020
HNN's Robin Lindley Interviews Medical Historian Frank Snowden
by Robin Lindley
Professor Frank Snowden discusses the situation in Italy, the progress of COVID-19 and governments' responses to it, and his career researching the history of epidemics.
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SOURCE: The Pantagraph
3/31/2020
Illinois State University Professor in Italy: "It Got Real Bad Real Fast"
"I didn't take this thing as seriously as I should have. No one here really did," said Jasper. "It got real bad, real fast."
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3/29/2020
Getting Medieval on COVID? The Risks of Periodizing Public Health
by G. Geltner
Pundits have described fighting the pandemic in terms of “medieval” or “modern” approaches. A historian of late medieval public health explains that dichotomy is a false one, and dangerous as well.
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SOURCE: New York Times
3/1/2020
What the Plague Can Teach Us about the Coronavirus
by Hannah Marcus
The distant past is not our best source of advice for pathogen containment. But it does offer clear lessons about human responses to outbreaks of infectious disease.
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SOURCE: NY Times
11/16/19
New Statue Unsettles Italian City: Is It Celebrating a Poet or a Nationalist?
Boasting a proud literary pedigree, Trieste is populated with statues. But none has provoked passions like that of Gabriele d’Annunzio, who inspired Fascism and briefly ruled his own state last century.
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SOURCE: The Guardian
November 14, 2019
A House in the Mountains by Caroline Moorehead review – a riveting tale of resistance in Turin
by Tobias Jones
A gripping narrative within A House in the Mountains by Caroline Moorehead of four extraordinary women who delivered intelligence, letters and weaponry in the cause of resisting the German occupation of Italy
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10/13/19
The Original War on Terror
by Eric Laursen
A review of Nunzio Pernicone and Fraser M. Ottanelli, Assassins against the Old Order: Italian Anarchist Violence in Fin de Siècle Europe.
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SOURCE: The Guardian
9/25/19
Beware, Democrats. Impeaching Trump will backfire
by Carlo Invernizzi-Accetti
From a legal point of view, the case for impeaching Trump may well be difficult to resist. Politically, though, it’s a different story.
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9/15/19
Autocrats do not need a majority to destroy democracy. A divided opposition helps them.
by Claudia Koonz
Trump is not a despot. But neither were Mussolini and Hitler early on.
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6/2/19
Remembering Rome's Liberation
by Gregory Sumner
Amid the anniversary of the D-Day invasion, it is important to note, too, the anniversary of an event that unfolded just two days earlier: the Allied liberation of Rome.
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SOURCE: The Conversation
3/12/19
After 100 years, Mussolini’s fascist party is a reminder of the fragility of freedom
by Richard Gunderman
People all over the world need to remember that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
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SOURCE: NYT
12-27-2018
For Italy’s Populists, Everything Is a Nationalist Cause. Even Leonardo.
The hard-right government has accused the French of disrespect and of trying to culturally appropriate the artist in a dispute over loaning his works.
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SOURCE: Newsweek
8-13-18
Italians Played Active Role in Holocaust, Professor Claims in "Historiographical Counterblast"
A recently translated book about the Holocaust has claimed that Italian citizens played a crucial and enthusiastic role in the Nazi genocide during World War II.