2012 Program
Event #23
Alessandro Barbero
How did women think in the Middle Ages? Christine de Pizan
The first feminist writer in history was Italian, thug she wrote in French. She was the daughter of Tommaso da Pizzano, the court physician and astrologer of Charles V, King of France. When her father became aware of her talent he encouraged her to study and to write against her mother’s opposition. Christine was no rebel: she married one of the king’s secretaries and had children. When she was widowed, she was 30 years old and had young children to raise. So she decided that she was like a man and try to achieve success by writing. Her books were enthusiastically welcomed by princes, philosophers and poets and won her fame and wealth. But she was not content: now that her voice was heard, she attacked macho stereotypes by writing that if all women had been allowed to study as she had, men’s alleged superiority would have been destroyed.
Alessandro Barberois 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), published by Sellerio.
Event #3
Anna Salvo
Sorrow is like a telescope that helps us look into the distance: creatività and suffering
Event #4
Andrea Moro
I speak, therefore I am Like the starry sky: visions of language across the centuries
Event #28
Mauro Agnoletti, Ilaria Borletti Buitoni
Culture, environment, landscape. For a possible, sustainable future
