Topographical art, travel accounts and the landscape history of viticulture in 18th and 19th -century Italy
(2023)
Book Chapter
Piana, P., Balzaretti, R., & Watkins, C. (2023). Topographical art, travel accounts and the landscape history of viticulture in 18th and 19th -century Italy. In R. Cevasco, V. Pescini, & R. Hearn (Eds.), Situating foodways and foodscapes: Dalla tavola al terreno (237-260). Genoa, Italy: Genova University Press
All Outputs (24)
Ligurian peasant cooking in English travel books, c. 1840 to c. 1914 (2023)
Book Chapter
BALZARETTI, R. (2023). Ligurian peasant cooking in English travel books, c. 1840 to c. 1914. In R. Cevasco, V. Pescini, & R. Hearn (Eds.), Situating Foodways and Foodscapes. Dalla tavola al terreno (371-405). Genoa, Italy: Genova University Press
Afterword (2021)
Book Chapter
Balzaretti, R. (2021). Afterword. In C. Heath, & R. Houghton (Eds.), Conflict and Violence in Medieval Italy 568-1154 (325-336). Amsterdam University Press
Frederic Lees in Varese Ligure, 1911 (2021)
Book Chapter
Balzaretti, R. (2021). Frederic Lees in Varese Ligure, 1911. In G. Fisher, & D. Robinson (Eds.), Travel Writing in an Age of Global Quarantine. London: Anthem Press
Rediscovering Lost Landscapes: Topographical Art in north-west Italy, 1800-1920 (2021)
Book
Piana, P., Watkins, C., & Balzaretti, R. (2021). Rediscovering Lost Landscapes: Topographical Art in north-west Italy, 1800-1920. Woodbridge: Boydell & BrewerAfter the Napoleonic wars many wealthy British women and men settled along the coast in Liguria and travelled in Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta in search of warmth and health. They established English-speaking colonies of retired clerics, colonial offici... Read More about Rediscovering Lost Landscapes: Topographical Art in north-west Italy, 1800-1920.
Urban Life in Lombard Italy: Genoa and Milan Compared (2021)
Book Chapter
Balzaretti, R. (2021). Urban Life in Lombard Italy: Genoa and Milan Compared. In T. J. MacMaster, & N. S. Matheou (Eds.), Italy and the East Roman World in the Medieval Mediterranean: Empire, Cities and Elites, 476-1204 (304-323). London and New York: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Milan, Genoa and the Alps: early medieval exchanges across a region (2021)
Journal Article
Balzaretti, R. (2021). Milan, Genoa and the Alps: early medieval exchanges across a region. Studi di storia medioevale e di diplomatica - Nuova Serie, 4, 201-230. https://doi.org/10.54103/2611-318x/15766In this contribution I consider how Milan and its inhabitants were connected both north and south in the early medieval period. I focus on exchanges understood as giving and receiving, buying and selling, leasing and renting, but also encompassing th... Read More about Milan, Genoa and the Alps: early medieval exchanges across a region.
Re-reading The Lands of Saint Ambrose (2021)
Journal Article
Balzaretti, R. (2021). Re-reading The Lands of Saint Ambrose. Reti Medievali - Rivista, 22(1), 41-49. https://doi.org/10.6092/1593-2214/8041This paper reflects on the observations made by Giuseppe Albertoni, Gianmarco De Angelis, Anna Rapetti and Igor Santos Salazar in their discussion of the book The Lands of Saint Ambrose. Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan (2019).
The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan (2019)
Book
Balzaretti, R. (2019). The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.5.106307This book is a history of Milan in the early medieval period. It investigates the political, social, and economic aspects of the transformation of the Roman world in one of its major centres. Its main theme is the role of monastic communities in this... Read More about The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan.
Crossing the River Magra in the “land of broken bridges”: risk in early nineteenth-century travel narratives (2019)
Journal Article
Balzaretti, R. (2019). Crossing the River Magra in the “land of broken bridges”: risk in early nineteenth-century travel narratives. Journal of Risk Research, 22(9), 1101-1115. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2019.1569101On the 25 October 2011 the River Magra in the far east of the Italian region of Liguria flooded with catastrophic effects, killing thirteen people and causing millions of euros in damage. Managing such an extreme episode is very hard, as local policy... Read More about Crossing the River Magra in the “land of broken bridges”: risk in early nineteenth-century travel narratives.
Art and landscape history: British artists in nineteenth-century Val d’Aosta (NW Italy) (2018)
Journal Article
Piana, P., Watkins, C., & Balzaretti, R. (2018). Art and landscape history: British artists in nineteenth-century Val d’Aosta (NW Italy). Landscape History, 39(2), 91-108. https://doi.org/10.1080/01433768.2018.1534460This paper explores the value of landscape and topographical art for understanding contemporary landscapes of the Val d’Aosta, NW Italy. The region became very popular with British tourists in the early nineteenth-century and several amateur and prof... Read More about Art and landscape history: British artists in nineteenth-century Val d’Aosta (NW Italy).
Travel, modernity and rural landscapes in nineteenth-century Liguria (2018)
Journal Article
Piana, P., Watkins, C., & Balzaretti, R. (2018). Travel, modernity and rural landscapes in nineteenth-century Liguria. Rural History, 29(2), 167-193. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956793318000079New roads and later railways were essential for the modernisation and rapid economic development of North-western Italy in the early nineteenth century. The new routes also encouraged an increasing number of foreign travellers to visit the region. Th... Read More about Travel, modernity and rural landscapes in nineteenth-century Liguria.
Chestnuts in charters: evidence for specialised production in tenth-century Genoa and Milan (2018)
Book Chapter
Balzaretti, R. (2018). Chestnuts in charters: evidence for specialised production in tenth-century Genoa and Milan. In Italy and Early Medieval Europe : Papers for Chris Wickham (356-371). Oxford: Oxford University Press
Italy and early medieval Europe: papers for Chris Wickham (2018)
Book
R. Balzaretti, J. Barrow, & P. Skinner (Eds.), (2018). Italy and early medieval Europe: papers for Chris WickhamThis volume represents a comprehensive survey of recent work in medieval Italian history and archaeology by an international cast of contributors, arranged within a broader context of studies of other regions and major historical transitions in Europ... Read More about Italy and early medieval Europe: papers for Chris Wickham.
Early Medieval Genoa (2018)
Book Chapter
Balzaretti, R. (in press). Early Medieval Genoa. In C. Beneš (Ed.), A companion to Medieval Genoa. BrillThe earliest coherent written documentation for Genoa in the early medieval period is from the latter part of the tenth century. Charters documenting the property transactions of several local churches (notably San Siro and Santo Stefano) reveal that... Read More about Early Medieval Genoa.
Botanical relics of a lost landscape: herborising ‘upon the Cliffs about the Pharos’ in Genoa, March 1664 (2017)
Journal Article
Bruzzone, R., Watkins, C., Balzaretti, R., & Montanari, C. (2018). Botanical relics of a lost landscape: herborising ‘upon the Cliffs about the Pharos’ in Genoa, March 1664. Landscape Research, 43(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2016.1274966This paper uses approaches derived from historical ecology to show how knowledge can be gained about the historical and cultural value of neglected urban landscapes. We study the area around Genoa’s lighthouse and consider the long-term survival of i... Read More about Botanical relics of a lost landscape: herborising ‘upon the Cliffs about the Pharos’ in Genoa, March 1664.
‘Saved from the sordid axe’: representation and understanding of pine trees by English visitors to Italy in the eighteenth and nineteenth century (2016)
Journal Article
Piana, P., Watkins, C., & Balzaretti, R. (in press). ‘Saved from the sordid axe’: representation and understanding of pine trees by English visitors to Italy in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Landscape History, 37(2), https://doi.org/10.1080/01433768.2016.1249723Pine trees were frequently depicted and celebrated by nineteenth century English artists and travellers in Italy. The amateur artist and connoisseur Sir George Beaumont was horrified to discover in 1821 that many Roman stone pines were being felled a... Read More about ‘Saved from the sordid axe’: representation and understanding of pine trees by English visitors to Italy in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
Narratives of success and narratives of failure: representations of the career of King Hugh of Italy (c.885-948) (2016)
Journal Article
Balzaretti, R. (2016). Narratives of success and narratives of failure: representations of the career of King Hugh of Italy (c.885-948). Early Medieval Europe, 24(2), 185-208. https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12140Hugh of Arles, King of Italy between 926 and 947, has come to be regarded as one of the more successful kings of Italy in the tenth century. The evidence of his charters supports this conclusion, showing how effectively he managed to insert members o... Read More about Narratives of success and narratives of failure: representations of the career of King Hugh of Italy (c.885-948).
Travelling in Italy during Turner's lifetime (2015)
Other
Balzaretti, R., Piana, P., & Watkins, C. (2015). Travelling in Italy during Turner's lifetimeThe number of British travellers to Italy in search of health, education and increasingly leisure grew substantially during Turner’s lifetime. Like Turner, travellers recorded their observations in journals and diaries, and some turned their experien... Read More about Travelling in Italy during Turner's lifetime.
The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria (2015)
Journal Article
Hearn, R., Balzaretti, R., & Watkins, C. (2015). The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria. Rural History, 26(1), https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956793314000193The recent reappearance of wolves in many areas of Europe has stimulated an interest in the past relationships between the species and humans in various different geographical locations and historical epochs. The image of wolves approaching and enter... Read More about The wolf in the landscape: Antonio Cesena and attitudes to wolves in sixteenth century Liguria.