The Senate Sine Fine

This paper opens by examining the demise of the Roman Senate between Justinian’s
reconquest and the early seventh century, when the assembly gradually lost its role within
the res publica until it disappeared altogether. The article then turns to later continuist
interpretations of the Senate’s history, developed mainly in Italy between the eighteenth
and twentieth centuries. This tradition imagined the Senate’s survival into the Middle Ages
as a means of legitimising papal authority or a secular civic heritage. Under Fascism, these
ideas acquired new political resonances: Pietro Fedele and Arrigo Solmi wove the Senate’s
supposed continuity into a narrative of uninterrupted Roman identity, while the recovery of
the Curia Iulia provided symbolic staging. In this light, the Senate appears less as a vanished
institution than as a lasting emblem of national identity and historical destiny.

Keywords: Roman Senate, Continuity thesis, National identity, Political use of history,
Fascism.

Parole chiave: Senato romano, Continuismo, Identità nazionale, Uso politico della storia,
Fascismo.

Between the Iberian Empires and the Roman Curia: Missionaries against Slavery (17th-18th
Centuries)

The essay deals with the conduct of the Congregation de Propaganda fide during two crises
(1679-86 and 1794-95) provoked by four apostolic missionaries due to their anti-slavery
positions: the four Capuchin missionaries doubted the doctrine of «just title servitude»,
preached, and acted – while giving no absolutions to slaves’ owners – against the slave trade
and against the exploitation of Native Americans and Africans in the Americas, the Antilles
and on the coasts of West-Central Africa. The Capuchins were silenced by various players
in the overseas empires and in Europe. Their questioning of slavery provoked divergent
and opposing reactions in Rome, as the Congregation of the Holy Office, Propaganda fide,
and the popes had different and uneven reactions, taking different decisions for or against
slavery.

Keywords: Padroado, Curial congregations, Evangelization, Anti-slavery positions, Capuchin
missionaries.

Parole chiave: Padroado, Congregazioni curiali, Evangelizzazione, Antischiavismo,
Cappuccini missionari.

A Long-term Karst Phenomenon: The «Hidden Catholics» in Albania and Kosovo

In 1924, the parish priest of Letnica/Letnicë (Kosovo) reported to the Congregatio de Propaganda
fide the persistence of crypto-Catholicism in the Archdiocese of Skopje: many adults who had
been baptised as infants publicly professed Islam, relegating their Catholic faith to the private
sphere. This form of dissimulation had survived the end of Ottoman rule and continued to
exist even though the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes officially recognized the free
exercise of Catholicism in the Vidovdan Constitution (1921). Recent studies have interpreted
this phenomenon as a hybrid cult (Shen Zefi), the initial phase of a mass conversion to Islam
(Peter Bartl), or as a consciously «amphibious» devotional system (Noel Malcolm). Through
the analysis of missionary sources, this study aims to reconstruct the long-term evolution of the
phenomenon, the positions of Roman Congregations, and the mechanisms that contributed to
the survival of crypto-Catholicism in the post-Ottoman Balkans.

Keywords: Crypto-Catholicism, Balkans, Ottoman Empire, Kingdom of Serbs Croats and
Slovenes, Catholic missions.

Parole chiave: Cripto-cattolicesimo, Balcani, Impero ottomano, Regno dei Serbi Croati e
Sloveni, Missioni cattoliche.

Bonaparte’s Expedition to Egypt and French Ambitions in South Asia: India’s Strategic Centrality
according to Charles-Stanislas Lefebvre

Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt was fundamental for the change in relations between
Europe, the Middle East and South Asia at the end of the 18th century; moreover, it is
proof of Bonaparte’s colonial dream: to expel the British from the Indian subcontinent.
This article examines the controversial question of continuity of the French policy in South
Asia, a major theatre of the French-British global rivalry throughout the 18th century. In
this regard, Charles-Stanislas Lefebvre (1770-1849), nephew of the famous Pierre Pigneau
de Béhaine and aide-de-camp to General Decaen, writes some intelligent and original
considerations about the strategic importance of India in the global struggle between France
and Great Britain. He witnesses France’s «Indian dream», a dream that lives on despite the
failure of Bonaparte’s adventure in Egypt.

Keywords: Charles-Stanislas Lefebvre, Bonaparte, Egypt, India, Colonialism.

Parole chiave: Charles-Stanislas Lefebvre, Bonaparte, Egitto, India, Colonialismo.

The Crisis Between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Regency of Tunis (1843-44)

Between the autumn of 1843 and the spring of 1844, relations between the Kingdom of
Sardinia and the Regency of Tunis experienced a sharp deterioration. Driven by commercial
disputes and exacerbated by the intransigence of both parties, this crisis had several
repercussions on Tunisian politics and the relations of Tunisia with great powers, such as
France and Great Britain, who were engaged in a fierce contest for influence over the country.
After a paragraph dedicated to the relations between Sardinia and Tunisia from 1816, the
article will present the events of the crisis – its causes, development and final mediation –
through analysis of documents preserved in Italian, French, British and Tunisian archives.
These events also highlight the influence gained by Ligurian merchants in Tunis and their
ability to affect the actions of the consulate and of the Sardinian government.

Keywords: British interests in Tunisia, French interests in Tunisia, Regency of Tunis,
Sardinian foreign policy, Tunisian politics.

Parole chiave: Interessi britannici in Tunisia, Interessi francesi in Tunisia, Reggenza di Tunisi,
Politica estera sarda, Politica tunisina.

A Missed but not Lost Opportunity: The Politics of the United States Regarding the Italo-
Ethiopian Conflict

Roosevelt’s foreign policy has given rise to markedly different interpretations. Those who do
not place sole emphasis on his alleged isolationism see the Quarantine Speech as marking
a turning point towards a greater involvement in the international arena. However, the
true shift in his attitude occurred during the Italo-Ethiopian dispute. While American
policy during the crisis has often been portrayed in a reductionist manner, analysis of
unpublished diplomatic documents reveals the paramount importance the dispute held
for the president; reassessment is equally necessary regarding Mussolini’s presumed lack
of interest in Washington’s decisions. The new framework that emerges significantly alters
some historiographical assumptions and demonstrates that the Ethiopian issue marked the
beginning of a shift in American foreign policy.

Keywords: American foreign policy, Italo-Ethiopian war, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mussolini.

Parole chiave: Politica estera americana, Guerra d’Etiopia, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mussolini.

Toxic Countryside: Pesticides and Health Issues in Italian Agriculture in the Second Half of the
20th Century

Aiming to reconstruct the health issues arising from the increasing use of pesticides in the
Italian countryside in the second half of the 20th century, this article offers an overview of
the history of the harmfulness of agricultural labor in its most intensely industrialized phase,
while delving into the actions undertaken by institutions to reform prevention regulations.
In this perspective, the relations that took place between health institutions and trade unions
in the season of regional decentralization and the establishment of the National Health
Service are analyzed. Looking at the strategies contracted in the health-environment field
by the various actors involved, the research proposes a provisional balance of the initiatives
adopted in the field of prevention of work-related diseases in rural areas.

Keywords: Agriculture, Health, Pesticides, Work, Trade Unions.

Parole chiave: Agricoltura, Salute, Pesticidi, Lavoro, Sindacato.

Echoes of Empire: War Rhetoric and Historiographical Revisionism in a Postcolonial Reimagining
of Venice 

This article reflects on the historiographical and methodological dimensions of the book by
Anastasia Stouraiti War, Communication, and the Politics of Culture in Early Modern Venice,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2023.

Keywords: Venetian empire, Postcolonial historiography, Political culture, War and media.

Parole chiave: Impero veneziano, Storiografia postcoloniale, Cultura politica, Guerra e
media.