Emotions, Passions, and Power in Renaissance Italy ─ Proceedings of the International Conference Georgetown University at Billa Le Balze, 5-8 May 2012

The physical and mental capacity of having emotions is universal. However, the ways in which emotions are perceived, expressed, and shared are historically determined by the codified rules imposed by the society of the time and the personal background. Emotions depend on language, cultural practices, expectations, and moral beliefs. This means that every culture has its rules for feelings and behavior; every culture thus exerts certain restraints while favoring certain forms of expressivity. Hate, fear, cruelty, and love are always turning history into the history of passion and lust, because emotional life is always ready to overflow into intellectual life. This fascinating study of emotion in Renaissance Italy shows that emotions are built and created by the society in which they are expressed and conditioned. The contributors examine, among others, the emotional language of the court, around public execution and during outbreaks of disease.

Fabrizio Ricciardelli is director and professor of Renaissance European history at Kent State University in Ohio.Andrea Zorzi is professor of medieval history at the University of Florence, Italy.