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She carried out research projects on Costa Rican and Nicaraguan archaeology and ethnology, as well as on Mesoamerican and Andean archaeology and ethnohistory. Joining this information with additional descriptions of another gift that Betanzos had given to the Pope the previous year in Rome, we attempt to track the history of some outstanding ancient Mexican objects and codices that pertained to Italian collections, museums and libraries during 16 th and 17 th centuries.

In a recent paper Laurencich Minelli , the senior author discussed the importance of a passage wrote by the Bolognese Dominican Leandro Alberti in his historical work Historie di Bologna The text, whose relevance for the early Bolognese history of Codex Cospi had been stressed by Massimo Donattini in an article unnoticed by Mesoamericanist scholars, 1 describes a gift that a Dominican friar named "Domingo" coming from the "New Indies" brought to Clement VII Giulio de' Medici when the Pope went to Bologna to meet the Emperor Charles V in The passage is so interesting that it is worth repeating in its entirety: We arrive then to the month of March, on day 3 rd [], when the Spanish Brother Domingo of the Order of Preachers, who was coming from the New Indies, that is from the New World, as it was called, paid a visit to the Pope and offered him many things brought from there.

Among them there were two coverlets made and weaved out of blue, green, black, yellow parrot-feathers, which looked like velvet. Hence it seems to recognize what is said in the Scriptures about the God's shrine which is recommended to be embellished with feather materials. Afterwards he gave the Pope stoles, maniples and granite textiles for chemises made in a similar way and gracefully worked with the said feathers, as well as other ornaments for priests. He also presented him with some nicely painted books that looked like hieroglyphs by which they understand each other as we do by letters.

Afterwards he gave him some very thick masks furnished with turquoises, through which he said the demons were speaking to those peoples. Then a two fingers-wide and two ounces-long knife made of yellow stone with the handle entirely covered by turquoises. Then some stone knives that cut like razors, which they used for shaving. By these knives we knew the kind of those knives of which the Bible speaks when the Lord says: He also presented him with a piece of extremely fine alabaster worked in the likeness of a small hill above which was a half foot-high cross made of one single piece of chalcedony very nicely worked, with many pieces of chalcedony as ornaments on it.

Many other similar objects he presented to the Pope which very much pleased him and his retainers. Among these things, I received some books, knives, and the big knife used to kill men to sacrifice them to their idols, which I gave to Mr. Giovanni Achillino to decorate his museum together with a book and a stone knife similar to a razor. As discussed in detail by L. Laurencich Minelli , it is clear that Alberti's text is of primary importance to shed light on the early arrival in Italy of some of the outstanding Mexican objects whose history is intertwined with that of Bolognese collectionism.

Foremost among these objects are the Codex Cospi and the turquoise masks and knives today housed in the Pigorini Museum in Rome. In order to better understand the relevance of the aforementioned passage and to put it in a wider meaningful context, it is first necessary to identify the main character of the story: Despite the fact that Alberti wrote only his first name, an analysis of the historical chronicles of the Dominican order in Mexico allows the identification of the mysterious friar as Domingo de Betanzos , founder of the Dominican Order in New Spain and one of the most renown and controversial characters of 16 th century Mexico.

Seriously ill, the General died on October 9 th , some time after having met the two friars. In his chronicle completed in , Antonio de Remesal, although describing very briefly the first meeting in Rome without any mention of the gift , stated that Betanzos was unsatisfied by the long duration of the prelates' charges as defined in the Pastoralis Officii and that he informed the Pope of his doubts, so that the Pope reduced the durations in a bulla emitted in Bologna on March 8 th , Remesal I, , and he also described the meeting in Bologna Cruz y Moya Moreover, the cited Dominican texts imply that Betanzos gave two different gifts of Mexican items to the Pope.

We cannot suppose that the items described by Alberti as composing the second gift could have been offered in Rome because Alberti describes in detail the daily events occurred only in Bologna and not in Rome ; moreover, the comparison of the two presents' content confirms the existence of two different lots of items: Despite this shortcoming, the objects whose Early European history is related with places somehow linked to the Haubsburg royal house e.

Vienna, Stuttgart, Braunschweig, Ambras, Bruges, Madrid can be reasonably attributed to various shipments from Mexico or to gift exchanges involving the Spanish Court and the Church Heikamp ; Feest , ; Carmichael On the other hand, the early history of many important objects shows a clear "Italian connection" whose relationship with the shipments to the Spanish court is, at best, elusive. Most of the Mexican objects that arrived in Early Modern Italy were in some way linked with the Medici family of Florence, whose interests in objects coming from the recently discovered Mexico has been the subject of a good deal of scholarly research e.

Heikamp , , , ; Turpin ; Markey ; Keating and Markey In this perspective, it is important to stress that some of the items that Clement VII received from Betanzos could well have ended up not only in Bologna and Rome but also in Florence and, maybe, in other Italian places; we must also consider that some objects, beside those explicitly described as in possession of Leandro Alberti, could well have remained in Bologna if donated by the Pope to other individuals.

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Actually Bologna, with its important Early Modern collections, 10 it is the city that beside Florence is most often associated with the early history of Mexican objects in Italy. We will proceed now to an overview of the objects with a known Italian provenance, observing in some instances their possible association with different degrees of reliability with Betanzos' gifts. Even if such an attempt could appear a bit "outmoded" when compared with the recent fine-grained textual readings of early Modern inventories and lists of exotica e.

Turpin ; Markey ; Keating and Markey ; Russo , we still think it is worth the effort in order to evaluate the impact that Betanzos' gifts could have had on early modern Italian collectionism of Mexican items and on the existing Mexican heritage in European museums. Part of this work, namely the one regarding those objects that were part of Bolognese collections, has already been published elsewhere by the senior author Laurencich Minelli and therefore it will be only resumed and reconsidered here in light of some additional data.

Interestingly, the majority of the Mesoamerican objects which in our opinion could be in some way linked to Betanzos' gifts, are of clear Mixtec or Mixteca-Puebla cultural affiliation, a fact that could be a consequence of their origin from the regions where the Dominicans were operating in the years between and Burgoa Leandro Alberti clearly states that he himself received "some books, some knives together with the big knife used to kill men to sacrifice them to their idols", adding that he gave to Giovanni Achillini 11 the big knife, "a book and a stone knife similar to a razor".

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It would be suggestive to identify the two Achillini's knives with the two later owned by Antonio Giganti, 12 who described them as "a stone sacrificial knife with a wooden handle, one foot long" and a "stone razor" Giganti Since Aldrovandi absorbed the Giganti collection between and Aldrovandi If the "razorlike" knife matches Alberti's description, the "big" one poses a length discrepancy 14 that, unless in presence of a measuring error, makes the identification unlikely; moreover, neither Giganti's description nor Aldrovandi's engraving clearly show any mosaic on the wooden handle.

In this sense, it is useful to remark here that Giganti worked as secretary of outstanding Bolognese individuals such as Monsignore Lodovico Beccadelli from to and Archbishop Gabriele Paleotti, from to It is unknown if the two Mexican knives were collected in this way but if this is the case, they could well have been obtained by Beccadelli from the Medici family while in Florence.

Interestingly, the Medici family also possessed, at least since the 17 th century, a knife whose description in an eighteenth-century inventory clearly shows that it was composed by an obsidian prismatic blade with a wooden handle covered in serpent skin Heikamp Two other mosaic-covered knife handles today held in the Pigorini Museum were once part of the 17 th century Bolognese collection of the Marquee Ferdinando Cospi: Both knives passed to the Pigorini Museum in Rome in Pigorini A fourth mosaic-covered knife handle, in the form of an eagle warrior, is today held in the British Museum of London; once part of Henry Christie's collection, it had been purchased in from Mr.

Bram Hertz, who stated that it originally came from a collection in Florence Carmichael Given the formal and stylistic similarity with the knives owned by Aldrovandi and Cospi, a common provenance could be feasible. In sum, it is clear that most of the known sacrificial knives with mosaic-covered handles as well as some "razor-like" ones passed through Bologna, Florence, or both.

In no case a positive firm identification with those described as part of the gifts to Clement VII is possible, nevertheless it is important to stress that Betanzos' Bolognese gift to an extremely important member of the Florentine family appears at least a reasonable explanation of the relationships linking the known knives and the two Italian cities.

Let's consider now the "some" turquoise masks that according to Alberti were given to the Pope in Bologna. For instance, various turquoise masks are known to have been in Italy during the 16 th century. Two such masks were held in the Guardaroba Mediceo in Florence: Both masks were then recorded in various later inventories , until , when one of the two was given to the Armory, whereas the other mask the one with the leather container 17 continued to be recorded in later inventories of , , , Heikamp The absence of both masks in an earlier inventory suggests that also the first one recorded as existing in entered the collection later than ; unfortunately, no information on their origin is given, so that we cannot know if their first recording in the collection's inventories coincided with their arrival in Italy or if they could had been previously held in some other Italian or Florentine collection.

The synthetic descriptions of the masks in the Medici inventories' entries have aroused a plethora of hypotheses regarding their identification with actual mosaic masks today held in European museums. On the basis of Luigi Pigorini's article of , one of the masks today in the Pigorini Museum the one with a human face emerging from animal jaws, with intertwined serpents on the forehead and a stepped fret nose ornament , 18 acquired by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure of Florence in Pigorini It is clear that none of these masks -neither those described in the Guardaroba inventories, nor the abovementioned actual masks- can be firmly linked with Betanzos' gifts to Clement VII.

The latter, nevertheless, should be considered as possible sources for masks included in the Guardaroba Mediceo only on a later date or dispersed in other Florentine collections. A long-nosed and mosaic-covered mask was also part of the Bolognese collection of Ulisse Aldrovandi, who depicted it in his Musaeum Metallicum Aldrovandi It has often been assumed that Aldrovandi obtained the mask from the Medici family, 21 adding another element to the entangled problem of associating inventories' entries with actual items; it must be stressed, anyway, that no documentary evidence exists of such an exchange, which remains purely speculative.

In light of the new information regarding the arrival of turquoise-covered masks in Bologna in , we should now consider at least as reasonable and even more "economic" the hypothesis that Aldrovandi's mask never left the city before entering his collection.

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The Copenhagen National Museum houses today two other important mosaic-covered wooden objects, a "rain god" head with a tall headdress Lehmann ; Saville It would be tempting to identify that hypothetic missionary with Domingo de Betanzos, but nevertheless, at least for the moment, we must limit ourselves to note the Roman provenance of the two objects. A Roman origin is also known for the double-headed serpent held at the British Museum, purchased in from Lord Walsingham who received it from the Duchess Massimo di Rignano , member of what is said to be the most ancient Roman noble house see below.

According to the biography of Stefano Borgia written by Father Paolino di San Bartolomeo in , the "classis mexicana" of his collection once included "many wooden and pottery images of idols, strange in form and appearance, and typical of Mexican people" San Bartolomeo Two other mosaic objects at the British Museum are said to be of Italian origin: Both were once owned by Mr.

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Williams Adams, who affirmed that the shield came from Turin and the animal head from an unnamed place in northern Italy, probably Turin as well Carmichael As far as we know, no other data are available on their provenance, but given that Turin was since the seat of the house of Savoy, whose strict relationships with the house of Haubsburg are well known; 24 a provenance through these noble families seems the most reasonable hypothesis.

Of Bolognese origin is also a gilded atlatl, today in the Pigorini Museum, that was donated by Valerio Zani the same donor of the Codex Cospi to the Aldrovandi Museum between and , when the Museum was housed in Palazzo Pubblico Heikamp Two beautiful gilded wooden spearthrowers are also held at the Museum of Anthropology of Florence since Laurencich Minelli ; they are supposed to have been in Italy for a long time and to proceed from the Medici collections Bushnell , but there is no documentary evidence that could allow any serious hypothesis on their arrival in the city. A fourth gilded atlatl with its original shell rings and with a decoration similar to one of the Florentine ones was purchased by the Pigorini Museum in in Florence Heikamp Giganti himself stated that Cardinal Poggi had brought the mitre from Spain, 27 while the origin of the other items remains unknown.

Similarly unknown is the origin of the shields with featherworks owned in Rome by Tommaso dei Cavalieri in the second half of 16 th century and described by Aldrovandi Heikamp The provenance of several other featherworks whose history is linked with Italy -among which one formerly in a private collection in Germany- is also source of speculation Heikamp As early as , the Guardaroba of Cosimo I de' Medici also contained Mexican feather garments and artefacts various kind of vestments, ten shields, two birds' heads, and four flower bouquets Heikamp As summarized by D.

A last group of items to be mentioned are few small semi-precious stone sculptures.

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Antonio Giganti also owned some "stone idols from the New Word", later probably passed to Ulisse Aldrovandi who described them as "nine Indian idols" Aldrovandi Furthermore, at least three animal heads one in amethyst and two in agate were held in the Medici collection, being recorded in the inventory; the three heads -remarkably similar to analogous items today in Vienna- are still preserved in the Museum of Mineralogy in Florence Heikamp Other semi-precious stone sculptures -namely, two Mixtec figurines and an Aztec head mounted in a copper frame today in the Museum of Ethnology of Florence Heikamp The only small Mixtec greenstone idol whose history is partially known is the one that was part of Enrico Hillyer Giglioli's collection together with an obsidian mirror today at the Pigorini Museum.

According to Bushnell Other "Mexican idols" of clear Florentine origin were exhibited in the Botanic garden of Pisa created by Cosimo de Medici in Schupbach In absence of any firm evidence it is impossible to say, but the possibility should be at least taken into consideration Among the most interesting information provided by Leandro Alberti's Historie there is his mention of "some nicely painted books" given to Clement VII by Betanzos in , "some" of which remained in the hands of the Bolognese Dominican who, in his turn, gave one of them to Giovanni Achillini.

Il culmine del prestigio per i Gonzaga si ebbe con Federico II , figlio di Isabella d'Este , che dal divenne Duca di Mantova , titolo concesso dall' Imperatore Carlo V dopo aver ricevuto un'ingente somma. Il Concilio fu annullato e riconvocato ed aperto a Trento nel sotto la presidenza del cardinale Ercole Gonzaga , anch'egli figlio di Francesco e Isabella, che nel conclave del non venne eletto papa per soli cinque voti.

Il mecenatismo di Isabella non venne meno con i discendenti. Regnante Vincenzo I , il 24 febbraio fu rappresentata la prima opera lirica della storia musicale, L'Orfeo di Claudio Monteverdi su libretto di Alessandro Striggio. Alla corte gonzaghesca era quindi nato il melodramma. Gli abitanti si ridussero a solo 6. La dominazione austriaca ebbe inizio il 2 aprile anche se giuridicamente il ducato di Mantova fu appannaggio della casa d'Austria a partire dall'anno dopo, il Come governatore dello Stato mantovano fu nominato il conte Giovan Battista Castelbarco.

A quest'ultimo succedettero il langravio Filippo d'Assia-Darmstadt , rimasto in carica dal al , e il conte Carlo Stampa. Tale politica fu causa della chiusura di numerosi monasteri e conventi che devoluti al demanio statale, furono in massima parte trasformati in caserme e in altre strutture logistiche a servizio della preponderante funzione militare che Mantova aveva assunto sotto la dominazione austriaca.

Contemporaneamente Maria Teresa d'Austria diede impulso all'istruzione pubblica, istituendo la scuola primaria obbligatoria e fondando a Mantova nel la Reale Accademia di Scienze e Belle Lettere che avrebbe mutato il proprio nome in Accademia Virgiliana nel periodo di governo francese. Il primo periodo di dominazione austriaca si concluse con l'occupazione delle truppe di Napoleone Bonaparte , a seguito di un lungo assedio , durato dal 4 giugno al 2 febbraio Decisiva per l'esito finale dell'assedio fu la battaglia della Favorita del 16 gennaio Tra le clausole previste c'era il reintegro di Mantova e provincia nella Repubblica Cisalpina.

Nel novembre del , in rappresentanza del Dipartimento del Mincio del quale Mantova era il capoluogo, furono inviati ai comizi di Lione , assemblea che avrebbe statuito la nascita della prima Repubblica Italiana , tre deputati, l'avvocato Leopoldo Camillo Volta, Giuseppe Lattanzi , segretario della Accademia Virgiliana e don Alberto Zecchi, vicario del Vescovo [13]. Dal 26 gennaio Mantova divenne parte della Repubblica Italiana. I rivolgimenti istituzionali non si erano ancora conclusi. Infine Napoleone fu incoronato Re d'Italia , il 26 maggio , ponendo fine alla prima Repubblica Italiana.

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Con il Congresso di Vienna del gli austriaci ripresero possesso di Mantova e ne fecero uno dei capisaldi del Quadrilatero difensivo costituito dalle altre tre piazzeforti di Peschiera , Verona , Legnago. Mantova divenne, per la sua posizione strategica, protagonista del Risorgimento italiano. Il territorio della Provincia di Mantova fu investito dal conflitto tra franco-piemontesi e austriaci anche durante la Seconda Guerra di Indipendenza Al plebiscito su una popolazione di Nel corso degli anni della monarchia e del fascismo , furono demolite Porta Cerese , Porta Pusterla , Porta Mulina , Porta Pradella nel e le mura lungo l'attuale viale Risorgimento e fu interrata la parallela fossa Magistrale iniziando l'espansione verso sud.

Anche il centro storico fu interessato da trasformazioni urbanistiche importanti. Furono abbattuti la palazzina della Paleologa che sorgeva davanti al Castello di San Giorgio , e il passaggio sopraelevato che congiungeva Palazzo Ducale al Duomo. Alle demolizioni nel ghetto ebraico , seguirono la costruzione degli edifici della Camera di Commercio, della Banca d'Italia e del Palazzo Gallico e venne ritrovata e restaurata la Rotonda di San Lorenzo. Beacon Press, paper, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara.

Paperback published by Vintage, Finalist, National Book Award for nonfiction, The Popes Against the Jews: Knopf paperback Vintage, Finalist, Mark Lynton Prize for History A History Book Club selection. Italian edition Rizzoli Prigioniero del Vaticano , Italian edition Rizzoli La Sfida di Amalia , Random House, in press, publication date January 28, Romanian edition Editura Rao.

Edited with Michael Kenny. University of Illinois Press, Includes introduction by Kenny and Kertzer. Age and Anthropological Theory. Edited with Jennie Keith. Includes introduction by Keith and Kertzer. Translator from Italian , Age Class Systems: The Family in Life Course Perspective , editor, vol. Age Structuring in Comparative Perspective , edited with K. Italian version published as Storia della Famiglia Italiana Italian edition in press with Le Lettere Florence. Aging in the Past: University of California Press, Italian Politics, , edited with Mario Caciagli.

Italian edition published as Politica in Italia Towards a New Synthesis , edited with Thomas Fricke.