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[German Version] According to a new hypothesis, the first settlement on the island of Rivoalto (Rialto) was a Roman castrum. It seems quite certain that fugitives from neigh…

[German Version] San Marino, the oldest republic in Europe. Located on the eastern side of the Umbrian Apennines, as of 2010 it had an estimated population of 31,830 in an area of 61.2 km2. A 9th- or 10th-century legend associates its beginnings with Marinus and Leo, two Christians sentenced to forced labor near Rimini under Diocletian; after some missionary work in that area, they retreated to Monte Titano. There a group of hermits formed, which grew into a settlement that was organized in the 10th century as a fortified town …

[German Version] ( Monti di pietà). Communal pawnbrokers, founded in Italy from the second half of the 15th century, after an unsuccessful attempt in the 14th, in order to combat widespread usury. They offered to anyone, especially to the poor, a small loan on favorable conditions (sometimes free), in return for an object of equal value as security. Their establishment was promoted by Franciscans (esp. by Bernardino of Feltre and Barnabas of Terni, who also collected funds to ¶ maintain them), and supported by popes (first by Pius II in 1463, with a decree). On the other h…

[German Version] Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean (25,460 km2, population some 5.2 million). Thanks to its central location in the Mediterranean, it has always been a junction and melting-pot of peoples and cultures. The …

[German Version] I. General – II. History and Sociology I. General Since 1861 (the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy), Italy has been the name of the first unified nation on the Italian peninsula since the Lombard invasion in 568. Following a referendum in 1946, Italy became a republic (Repubblica Italiana) with a bicameral parliament. The president is the representative chief of state; the government is headed by the prime minister. Since 1870, with the dissolution of the Papal States, the capital has been Rome (population 2.7 million in 2000). Italy has an area of 187,179 km2, with a population of 57.6 million. It is divided into 20 administrative regions, of which five possess limited autonomy: Sicily, Sardinia, Valle d'Aosta, Trentino-Alto Adige, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The regions are divided into provinces, traditionally made up of communes. The official language is Italian, which, like all Romance languages, evolved from Vulgar Latin. Thanks to the works of the great 14th-century Italian writers Dante, Petrarch (F. Petrarca), and Giovanni Boccaccio, modern I…

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[German Version] In the 9th century bce, merchants from Rhodes founded a trading post named Parthenope near the present site of Naples; in the 7th/6th century, it was settled by colonists from Cumae. In the 4th century, under the influence of Syracuse, the settlement was extended to Neapolis, a center of maritime trade. The economic importance of the city declined under Roman rule, but it remained a focus of Greek culture in Italy. In the Augustan period, it became the favorite tourist destination of the Roman patriciate. The object …

1. Description From the Middle Ages the Waldenses have been a unique historical movement of evangelical protest that has had a changing and painful history right up to our own period (see 4). The movement has been called “a body with two souls.” The medieval history of the Waldenses up to 1532 continues to influence the thinking of the group. For 350 years the Waldenses formed a widespread if scattered community in southern, central, and eastern Europe. Its survival is remarkable when we consider the steps taken to eradicate it as heretical and the severe persecutions it endured, especially in Italy and the Duchy of Savoy, which was so loyal to the papacy. The Waldenses have not forgotten their past, even if their more modern history is determinative for today’s Waldensian c…

[English Version] . Nach einer neueren Hypothese war die erste Ansiedlung auf der Insel Rivoalto (Rialto) ein röm. castrum. Ziemlich sicher fanden im 5. – 7.Jh. Flüchtlinge aus der Nachbarschaft in Rivoalto und Umgebung Zuflucht vor Hunnen, Ostgoten und Langobarden. Liegen die Anfänge V. im dunkeln, so waren seine Gesch. und seine Kultur doch glanzvoll. Vom 12. – 16.Jh. war es die mächtigste Seerepubli…

[English Version] . Stadt an der Nordküste Siziliens (2002 ca.688 000 Einwohner), an der Mündung eines schönen, fruchtbaren Tals gelegen, das schon im 4.Jh. v.Chr. »Garten (Siz…

[English Version] . Die im 9.Jh. v.Chr. unter dem Namen Parthenope von Kaufleuten aus Rhodos gegründete, im 7./6.Jh. von Cumae aus besiedelte Stadt wurde im 4.Jh. unter dem Einfluß von Syrakus erweitert zu Neapolis, einem Zentrum des Seehandels. Unter röm. Herrschaft sank zwar die wirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Stadt; sie war aber weiterhin der Ausgangspunkt griech. Kultur in Italien und wurde in augusteischer Zeit zum bevorzugten touristischen Ziel des röm. Patriziats. Zw. Goten und Byzanz (Konsta…

[English Version] San Marino, älteste Republik Europas am Ostrand des Umbrischen Apennin (61,2 km 2, 28 937 Einwohner [31.5.03]). Die Legende aus dem 9./10.Jh. verbindet ihre Anfänge mit Marinus und Leo, zwei unter Diokletian zur Zwangsarbeit bei Rimini verurteilten Christen, die sich nach einer Missionstätigkeit in jener Umgebung auf den Monte Titano zurückzogen. Hier bildete sich ein Kreis von Eremiten, aus dem eine Siedlung hervorging, die sich im 10.Jh. als Burg, im 11.Jh. als Kommune organisierte (erst…

[English Version] Sizilien, größte Mittelmeerinsel (25 460 km 2, ca.5,195 Mio. Einwohner). Dank seiner zentralen Lage im Mittelmeer war S. immer ein Kreuzungspunkt und Schmelztiegel von Völkern und Kulturen. Erste Siedlungen entstanden im Paläolithikum vor ca.300 000 Jahren. In vorgesch. Zeit blühten verschiedene Kulturen; unter ihnen war um 1400 v.Chr. die ägäisch-mykenische führend. Während die Herrschaft der Phönizier (seit 1000 v.Chr.; Phönizien) eher wirtschaftlichen als polit. Charakter hatte…

[English Version] Vinay, Tullio (13.5.1909 La Spezia – 2.9.1996 Rom). Von 1934 bis 1948 war V. Pfarrer der waldensischen Kirche (Waldenser) von Florenz, wo er vielen Juden half, sich vor der Deportation zu retten. 1948 bis 1951 schuf er in den Valli valdesi das ökum. Jugendzentrum »Agape« als Ort der Begegnung, des Dialogs und der Versöhnung nach den Erfahrungen des 2. Weltkriegs. 1961 begann er in Riesi (Sizilien) mit dem sozialen Werk »Servizio Cristiano«, die Bedeutung des »Evangeliums der Agape…