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The author discusses the politics during which the storyline of Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel "Il Gattopardo" is set, namely the Italian Unification or the Risorgimento. The author also takes into account, the political setting of when the story was published (posthumously) in 1958. ; N/A

The author writes in detail about the Knights of the Order of St. John in the 16th century- addressing their military operations and their undying allegiance to Christianity. ; N/A

Cassar unveils the life story of a surgeon from Modena, Italy, called Paolo Fabrizi. He visited Malta twice in the 19th century, performing forty operations as well as being the first on the island to perform plastic surgery. The author discusses the political circumstances under which Fabrizi decided to leave Italy, albeit for a limited amount of time. ; N/A

The probIem of religious instruction in public schooIs is one of the central themes of the cultural and judicial controversyconcerning relations between the civil and religious realms in modern·day Italy. This controversy is pIaced within the generalframework of poIemics which have arisen as a consequence of the revision of the Concordat of Latran and, more precisely, concerning Article 36 o~ the Concordat. From a judicial point of view the author points out the difference that exists between Article 36 which presendy regulates the teaching of religion in State schools, and Article 9 of the «ProposaIs prior to Agreement on the Revision of the Concordab -the so-called«Casaroli·Gonella Joint Projecb. After explaining the different historica1 and cultural backgrounds that have given rise to the two articles, the author interprets Article 9 of the «Joint Project» on the basis of religious freedom, which is a basic principIe of the democratic ltalian State and which can be manifested by the possibility of asking to be exempted from having to attend religion class. Theauthor also analyzes possibIe declarations of principIes which may justify the presence of religious instruction in public schools, and then proceeds to consider the fact that these declarations of principIes are useful in orienting course content and programS. He also examines the norms proposed in 1977 in a preliminary paper drawn up after the «Joint Project»; this «Draft», as it is called, has as its main aim the improvement of the «Joint Jroject» and merits, in the author's view, a positive appraisal, as does the mention made to «religious culture» in Article 9, insofar as we are to understand that culture is a factor that constitutes part of the individual's formation of personality. Finally, the author foresees that the final draft of the new Concordat will consider that religious instruction in public schooIs has to be based upon the fundaments of religious liberty understood in its most ampIe sense. This includes, at the same time, the freedom of remaining indifferent: the author reminds us of the different technica1 ruses that can be depIoyed to this effect. On the other hand, everything is in harmony regarding both the dec1srations of Vatiean Council II and the constitutional framework of the ltalian State. Therefore, the situation adapts itself to the view that the Concordat is an instrument of freedom for individuaIs as well as for groups, and can not be interpreted as an exchange of privileges.

In agreement with the title of this article, the essay is divided into two basic parts: one which is historical and the other philosophical. In the first part, the author examines at the beginning the classical latin etyma of the term uiolentia (uis, uiolare, uiolator, etc . . ). After that comes the acclaration of the philosophical concept of «violence» in Aristotle and Saint Thomas, and in continuation an indication of the application of the same concept to the field of ethics, and finally to the juridical field within classical roman law. In another sphere of considerations -ethical and political- the author points out the opinions of some characters which Plato introduces in his dialogues Gorgias and The Republic, due aboye all to the resonance which these works hace had in the history of the Western World until the present time. The subject of bloody violence, which is inherent to the action of the tyrannicide, is treated here briefly with references to the works of Cicero, John of Salisbury, Saint Thomas, Marsilius of Padua, Coluccio Salutati, Juan de Mariana, etc. Phenomena of midieval history suchaas the Crusades and the trials of the Inquisition could not be silenced in this case because both phenomena legitimized morally the use of violence directed towards infidels and heretics. The historical excursus on the topic of the legitimacy of violence in the hands of those who govern passes in successive orden, through Machiavelli, to the political literature on the areasson of state», jusnaturalism, etc . To be underlined is the fact that since the end of the Eighteenth Century -and in an even much more important way in the realm of hegelian Idealism- the concept of violence has undergone a process of amplification as much within the field of Philosophy as within the experimental sciences: Darwin, Malthus and Hegel form the framework. This concept, which in Hegel's dialectic transformed itself into the dynamic principie of the antithesis, and which, therefore, affirmed the structure of the metaphysical movement of history, was passed on as a legacy to the successive hegelian trend, which was in itself so complex and so full of ramifications. The figure of Marx stands out in these pages not so much for his ties with the hegelian left, and with Feuerbach in particular, but rather because of one of the basic concepts of historical materialism -the struggle of the classes- which Marx underlined in his Communist Manifesto as the motivating force of history. The author then considers on the one hand the relationships which exist between the different european nationalisms of the last Century and the ones actually existing today, and, on the other, the Marxist ideology; he analyzes in passing the profound influence exercised by the Aufk/arung of the Eighteenth Century upon the deChristianization of man wrapped up first in his rationalism, and, later on, as a compensation, in new forms of religion and the cult of the world. From here on several names appear: Lenin, Stalin, Sorel, Mussolini, Hitler, etc., men who were very different one from the other and even opposed with regard to their respective political philosophies , but who set the pace for violence of a revolutionary and counter-revolutionary nature during short years or lasting decades. After a few more considerations, the first part of this essay ends with the author underlining the interest which experimental psychology and psycho-analysis have dedicated to the study of human aggressiveness and its mechanisms. In the second part of this work the author tries to establish gUidelines for the study of the relationships between the multiple phenomena of individual and collective violence in the present, and the mass civilization of our time. In the first place, the author makes a series of admonitions with relation to the words used: «violence-, .mass civilization- instead of «tnass society-, «civilization- instead ot «culture-, etc. He also recommends the need for not classifying en masse as a result of a reactionary mentality, the discontent which the intellectual contemplation of the present times produces in the observer, because if our state of animation could be termed as nothing else but «reactionary», then the same could be said to define a great part of the best literature of this Century, as well as the figurative arts of this modem age. The expression «mentality of violence- is applied in the historical context of cultural regression, from Friedrich Nietzsche to our day. After this, the author makes a summary description of the mental coordinates of massified man, as well as of certain particular features of the actual «organization- of culture, which is increasingly impregnated by political and economical ideas, in agreement with the fundamental methodology of historical materialism. The nucleus of these considerations is made up of a philosophical definition of the actual conditions of culture in Europe. This definition rests upon the conviction that the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, although it may by in a stage of partial historical modification, directs not only the political evolution of important sectors of , occidental society, but also that it has known how to model. thanks again to the coming-together of circunstances, the forma mentis of the contemporary intellectual. In the final part of the essay, the author dedicates special emphasis on the influence of Marxism upon wide sectors of modem Catholicism. He then adds several wamings in order to avoid , on the part of the reader, interpretations which might be inopportune or false.

The author talks about the repercussions of the Italian Risorgimento with regard to the Italian refugees that sought asylum in the islands of Malta. He talks about the impact that the refugees had on the island's culture and way of life. Schiavone also gives a general and historical background of Malta at the time (19th century). He talks about the island's capital city and its exports among other topics. ; N/A

Since Malta was governed by foreigners for years, laws and legislation among other aspects of life were influenced by multiple cultures. Ever since the 16th century we find printed copies such as Codice di Manoel de Vilhena o Leggi e Costituzioni Prammaticali nel 1724, and Codice de Rohan o Diritto Municipale di Malta. The author studies recorded cases of forensic psychiatry related to criminal matters committed by people suffering from mental illness over a period of 3 centuries ; peer-reviewed

TOMMASINI IN THE CIVIL AND POLITICAL LIFE OF TRIESTE. At the end of the XVIII century Trieste was a small town with a population of about 30.000 inhabitans. The father of Tommasini came to Trieste in 1781 as a consul of the granducate of Tuscany and Muzio Tommasini was born in Trieste in 1794. He studied in Trieste, Ljubljana (as a pupil of the well known botanist Hladnik) and Vienna where he was in contact whith Host (the Author of the fundamental Flora Austriaca, 1827-1831) but finally he became a doctor in law and performed his civil career as a magistrate. Appointed to the government in 1827, Tommasini was particularly for two decades; concerned with the sanitary problems of the impetuously growing town at the same time he explored throroughly the local flora, collected an important herbarium and published the results of several botanical investigations. After the introduction of the constitution in 1850 Tommasini was elected as the first Mayor of the town and occupied this role until 1861. In these years the town developed as the principal trade centre of the Austrian Empire and the population grew to 100.000 people; otherwise the political success hindered Tommasini from elaborating a synthetic work about the flora and vegetation of the Illyrian region.