the first European festival on creativity

2013 Programme

EVENT #7

Alessandro Barbero

Incredible Middle Ages: the Terror of the Year 1000

 

Fears of the year 1000 fascinated the Romantics. In the 19th century, the great French historian Michelet—and the Italian poet Carducci—wrote stunning accounts of the anguish of crowds awaiting the end of the world and their tears of relief when they saw that life went on after all. When historians realized that Europe experienced its decisive turning point just around that time, leaving behind the stagnation of the Dark Ages to give rise of the extraordinary civilization of the Early Middle Ages, it seemed natural to connect that recovery to the beneficial psychological shock at the failed prediction. But did people in the year 999 really know what year they lived in? Had the man who signed a 25-year lease on a house in 999 never heard about the end of the world?

X

barbero-350x233

Alessandro Barbero is a historian and a writer and a tenured professor of Medieval History at Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale e Vercelli. He writes for La Stampa and Tuttolibri. He is a contributor on the television program Superquark and the shows Il tempo e la storia and a.C.d.C., broadcast by Rai Storia. His publications include: Benedette guerre. Crociate e jihad («i Libri del Festival della Mente», 2009), Lepanto. La battaglia dei tre imperi («i Libri del Festival della Mente», 2010), Donne, madonne, mercanti e cavalieri. Sei storie medievali («i Libri del Festival della Mente», 2013), published by Laterza; Gli occhi di Venezia (Mondadori, 2011); Il divano di Istanbul (Sellerio, 2011); Dietro le quinte della Storia. La vita quotidiana attraverso il tempo, written with P. Angela (Rizzoli, 2012); Le Ateniesi (Mondadori, 2015); Costantino il vincitore (Salerno Editrice, 2016); Le parole del papa (2016) and Caporetto (2017), published by Laterza. Il divano di Istanbul (2011), Alabama (2021) and Poeta al comando (2022) and Brick for stone (2023), published by Sellerio.


All theevents2013


   

EVENT #1

Guido Rossi

Ideas and their responsibility in good and evil

EVENT #2

Paolo Giordano

Crossing the shadow line

EVENT #3

Alessandra Lemma

The body as a canvas: depicting/defacing the body

EVENT #4

Piergiorgio Odifreddi

What will change our future. Artificial man

EVENT #6

Ramin Bahrami

Italian Journey. Grand Tour with Bach and Scarlatti

EVENT #7

Alessandro Barbero

Incredible Middle Ages: the Terror of the Year 1000

EVENT #8

Cristina Baldacci, Andrea Pinotti

Archives in art: a new contemporary genre?

EVENT #10

Massimo Cirri, Jonathan Coe

Sense of humour: a lifestyle

EVENT #11

Carlo Freccero

Has TV killed creativity and culture?

EVENT #12

Nicla Vassallo

Woman is an invention

EVENT #13

Massimo Montanari

Speaking of food in times of crisis

EVENT #14

Chandra Livia Candiani

Apprentices of the moon in the meditation room

EVENT #15

Emanuele Trevi

On the other side of things: The Initiation Journey

EVENT #17

Bernard-Henri Lévy

Between art, philosophy and science: the adventures of truth

EVENT #18

Stefano Bartezzaghi, Massimo Recalcati

To inherit or to be creative? Art in the time of disoriented generations

EVENT #19

Gabriella Caramore

Imperfect knowledge

EVENT #21

Ilvo Diamanti

The future? It is past

EVENT #23

Alessandro Barbero

Incredible Middle Ages: The ius primae noctis

EVENT #24

Luca Barcellona

Calligraphy: creativity in writing

EVENT #26

Silvio Garattini

Brain aging: a 3rd millennium epidemic

EVENT #28

Lella Costa

What we talk about when we talk about irony

EVENT #29

Tim Parks

In conversation with literary creativity

EVENT #31

Laura Boella

Empathy, sympathy and compassion: resources for a threatened world?

EVENT #32

Francesca Alfano Miglietti, Antonio Marras

Nulla dies sine linea-Not a day without a line

EVENT #35

Edoardo Boncinelli

What will change our future. The secret brain

EVENT #36

Virgilio Sieni

Before other people’s eyes

EVENT #37

Alessandro Bergonzoni

Stop the geniuscide!

EVENT #38

Alessandro Barbero

Incredible Middle Ages: The flat Earth

X Download podcast

LISTEN TO FESTIVAL PODCASTS

SpotifySpreakerApple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsAmazon Music