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"No lines sector off the sky so high above, though all the nations of the Earth be bound about with borders."

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  • Lingering in Limbo: Dante’s Inferno

    Limbo, it turns out, isn’t so bad, even if is found in the first level of Dante Alighieri’s hell. As Dante’s allegory of the journey of the soul continues, it will take him to a beautiful castle inhabited by the good and the great. Far from suffering the tortures of hell, although they can never leave, they are surrounded by meadows and hang out in erudite splendour. But before Dante gets there he has more adventures. Beatrice sends Virgil to the Rescue The ghost of Virgil, a long dead Roman poet, has shown up just in time to take on the job as Dante’s guide. But what’s in it for…

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    Commentary – Who am I to Speak to You of Italy

    August 12, 2019

    Matteo Bandello’s Forgotten Tale of the Tragic Lovers Romeo and Juliet

    March 9, 2023
    faith of our mothers

    Our Lady and the Faith of our Mothers

    September 24, 2018
  • Who Am I to Speak to You of Italy?

    Who am I to speak to you of Italy? Chi sono io, per parlarvi dell’Italia? Who, for more than 50 years have lived in silence, far beyond her shores. Chi sono io, per parlarvi dell’Italia? Chi, per più di cinquant’anni ha vissuto in silenzio, lontano dalle sue sponde. Yet, such words do not belong to me alone. “Italian Americans are invisible people.” Fred Gardaphé writes, “Not because people refuse to see them, but because, for the most part, they refuse to be seen.” Even here, across an ocean, truth resonates in his words. And as he knows, being forgotten has a price. A price paid with the coins of self-forgetting.…

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    Cristina in blue dress stands side on looking down and averting her gaze from Peppino Fiorillo who stands watching her intently in the distance. Cristina's hand grips her parasol tightly. She has a hat and her hair is braided down her back. From Matilda Serao's work Cristina

    Matilde Serao and the Life of Cristina

    February 2, 2020

    Il Drago and Luigi Capuana’s search for redemption

    September 17, 2018

    Shakespeare in Love: A Case of Cultural Appropriation?

    December 18, 2022
  • Dante’s New Love Life: the Vita Nuova

    The love poets of Dante’s day told everyone they were in love: but always kept the name of their beloved secret. Dante however, names Beatrice as his love. In telling us of her, he has made her immortal. Gemma di Manetto Donati, Dante’s actual wife, he never once mentions and she is virtually unknown. Before we jump to conclusions about what this might mean let us learn more about Dante’s love life. Vita Nuova Dante’s Vita Nuova (“New Life”), which is Dante’s best known work as an early poet, is all about “love”. Dante recounts for us a love story and he is the lover and Beatrice the beloved. Some…

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    Students and teachers of Tarbiyat Girls school - gender equality

    Women and Men Have Been and Will Always Be Equal

    April 26, 2017

    Laura Terracina: For Who is Enemy to Woman

    May 27, 2019

    Belle

    July 18, 2014
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