Historical Studies Seminar Macro-fears and micro-fears

Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
plus May, 0507 2014

Organised by the Fondazione Cini Institute for the History of the Venetian State and Society,
in five half-days this seminar will address the theme of small and big fears, individual and
collective, implicit and explicit, repressed and uncontrollable. Fear is a constant presence in
collective psychology and frequently a disturbing intrusion in the psychology of individuals.
Fear is a monster that underlies all of life: fear of losing, of death, hunger, and illness; fear
of the plague, the arrival of barbarians, or the end of civilisation. Fear as the terror of hell,
systematically conjured up in sermons from pulpits threatening sinners and their indulgence
in carnivalesque follies; while Lent preachers evoke eternal suffering. These fascinating
ideas and points will be focused on by the speakers at the seminar coordinated by Aurelio
Cernigliaro, Franco Angiolini, Marcello Verga, Giorgio Chittolini, Giuseppe Trebbi and Giuseppe
Gullino.