Teaching physics during the 17th century: some examples from the works of Evangelista Torricelli

This paper is proposing some physics problems from a book, De Motu Gravium Naturaliter Descendentium, written by Evangelista Torricelli, physicist and mathematician best known for his invention of barometer, with the aim of showing how physics was taught in the Italian universities, those of Padua and Pisa for instance, during the 17th Centur

Memories in verse : the travels of Ludwig von Anhalt-Koethen (1579-1650)

In he 1640s the aging Duke Ludwig von Anhalt-Koethen embarked on a project to turn the journal that he kept during his journeys as a young man into a long narrative poem in the vernacular German. In 1617 he had founded the 'Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft', inspired by the Italian academies that he had seen in Florence some 20 years earlier.peer-reviewe

New discoveries with geophysics in the Accademia of Hadrian's Villa near Tivoli (Rome)

The Accademia Pilot Project concerns one of the lesser known buildings of Hadrian's Villa, the Accademia, which is still in private property and is not open to the public. One of the most significant and unique features of this building – and of the whole Villa – is a network of subterranean service corridors, which was seldom studied. <br><br> For the first time we used Geophysics at Hadrian's Villa, to explore the subterranean tunnels of the Accademia and reconstruct their layout. The survey was done by archaeologist Anna Maria Marras for her Master thesis in Geo-technology (Marras, 2008) and gave very interesting results

Grazing impact on soil chemical and biological properties under different plant cover types in a mountain area of Southern Italy.

Grazing can contribute to soil degradation by compaction due to roaming of livestock and loss of herbaceous cover, affecting also soil microbial community. Aim of this study was to assess grazing impact on soil microbial community and nutrient status under different plant cover types (i.e., fernery, chestnut wood, garigue). Grazed and ungrazed soils were analysed for water holding capacity, pH, organic carbon, N, S, K, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu content, microbial biomass, fungal mycelium and potential respiration. Moreover, some ecophysiological indices, as microbial quotient, coefficient of endogenous mineralization (CEM), metabolic quotient (qCO2) and fungal fraction of microbial carbon were calculated. The results of present study showed that a moderate intensity grazing had low or no impact on chemical characteristics of soils and affects microbial community mainly in grazed areas with lower vegetation cover and lower content of nutrient and organic carbon, compared to areas with a thick layer of vegetation

Recovering the sense of sight: Berardino Palumbo’s vision for Italian anthropology’s possible redemption

Comment on Berardino Palumbo, Lo strabismo della DEA: Antropologia, accademia e società in Italia, Palermo, Edizioni Museo Pasqualino, 2018, pp. 289.Commento a Berardino Palumbo, Lo strabismo della DEA: Antropologia, accademia e società in Italia, Palermo, Edizioni Museo Pasqualino, 2018, pp. 289

The Encyclopaedia Aethiopica and Ethiopian Studies

Paper delivered on the occasion of the presentation of the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma, jointly organized by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, ISMEO – Associazione Internazionale di Studi sul Mediterraneo e l’Oriente, Università di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’, and Universität Hamburg, Rome, 19 October 201