About this Event
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Thursday 23 May 2024 at 6.30pm – Italian Institute of Culture, Pavilion Hall
Come and explore what’s happening behind the scene of Italian surnames, from the Middle Ages to the present days, for some always interesting and occasionally funny discoveries. You’ll learn how and when the use of surnames took hold in Italy, what were the most common and what families they were associated with.
Roberto Bizzocchi, Professor of Modern History at University of Pisa and author of the book “I cognomi degli italiani” (Laterza, 2014), will be in Dublin on May 23rd at 6.30 pm for a presentation in Italian, supported by slides in English.
This event is the last one of a cycle of six titled “Stile e Costume in Italia”, which saw Dublin welcoming experts of Italian fashion, art and design.
At the end of the meeting all guests will be invited to a toast.
Free registration on this page.
THE AUTHOR
Roberto Bizzocchi, a professor emeritus at the University of Pisa, has engaged with various themes in the political, cultural, and social history of the early modern period. Among his publications are Chiesa e potere nella Toscana del Quattrocento (Bologna 1987), Genealogie incredibili. Scritti di storia nell’Europa moderna (Bologna 1995, French translation in Paris 2010), and he editedI l carattere degli Italiani by Simonde de Sismondi (Viella 2020). For Laterza, he is the author of In famiglia. Storie di interessi e affetti nell’Italia moderna (2001), Guida allo studio della storia moderna (2002, Romanian translation in Bucharest 2007), Cicisbei. Morale privata e identità nazionale in Italia (2008, English translation in London 2014 and French translation in Paris 2016), and “I cognomi degli Italiani. Una storia lunga 1000 anni (2014).
THE BOOK
This is not just another etymological-linguistic repertoire on the origin of Rossi, Messina, or Parodi, but a book that delves into a thousand-year history and ventures with curiosity into the jungle of Italian surnames. Sergio Luzzatto, “Il Sole 24 Ore” An impassioned investigation across the centuries in search of the birth and affirmation of the social function of surnames. Francesca Bolino, “la Repubblica” Over time, Italians have called each other many names, and what we call a surname has developed very slowly as a result of the interaction of various factors: individuals’ and families’ self-awareness (starting with noble ones), the need to distinguish and recognize oneself within the communities to which they belong, the impetus from the Church and the States towards the regulation of everyone’s onomastic identity… It’s a story that’s not entirely finished and will never end. Everyone has a surname: today it’s taken for granted to the point where it could almost be considered natural. In reality, it’s the outcome of a long history.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 11 Fitzwilliam Square East, Dublin, Ireland
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