Federica Francesconi writes the history of the Jewish merchants who lived and prospered in the northern Italian city of Modena, capital city of the Este Duchy, during the seventeenth and eighteenth ...centuries. Her protagonists are men and women who stood out within their communities but who, despite their cultural and economic prominence, were ghettoized after 1638. Their sociocultural transformation and eventual legal and political integration evolved through a complex dialogue between their Italian and Jewish identities, and without the traumatic ruptures or dramatic divides that led to the assimilation and conversion of many Jews elsewhere in Europe.In Modena, male and female Jewish identities were contoured by both cultural developments internal to the community and engagement with the broader society. The study of Lurianic and Cordoverian Kabbalah, liturgical and nondevotional Hebrew poetry, and Sabbateanism existed alongside interactions with Jesuits, converts, and inquisitors. If Modenese Jewish merchants were absent from the public discourse of the Estes, their businesses lives were nevertheless located at the very geographical and economic center of the city. They lived in an environment that gave rise to unique forms of Renaissance culture, early modern female agency, and Enlightenment practice. New Jewish ways of performing gender emerged in the seventeenth century, giving rise to what could be called an entrepreneurial female community devoted to assisting, employing, and socializing in the ghetto. Indeed, the ghetto leadership prepared both Jewish men and women for the political and legal emancipation they would eventually obtain under Napoleon. It was the cultured Modenese merchants who combined active participation in the political struggle for Italian Jewish emancipation with the creation of a special form of the Enlightenment embedded in scholarly and French-oriented lay culture that emerged within the European context.
The Scandal of Kabbalah is the first book about the origins of a culture war that began in early modern Europe and continues to this day: the debate between kabbalists and their critics on the nature ...of Judaism and the meaning of religious tradition. From its medieval beginnings as an esoteric form of Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah spread throughout the early modern world and became a central feature of Jewish life. Scholars have long studied the revolutionary impact of Kabbalah, but, as Yaacob Dweck argues, they have misunderstood the character and timing of opposition to it.
Geographical origin and authenticity of food are topics of interest for both consumers and producers. Among the different indicators used for traceability studies, n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) isotopic ratio has ...provided excellent results. In this study, the production chains of the balsamic vinegars of the Modena province, the Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (ABTM) and the industrially made Aceto Balsamico di Modena (ABM) were investigated by using the n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) indicator.
The geographical origin of the starting raw materials for the ABM production was investigated, as well as the variability of ABM samples of different production years, namely 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014. The results show no significant variability among ABM samples of different production years and highlight the possibility to distinguish this product from the ABTM. Furthermore, the investigated indicator also confirms an objective link of the food with its starting raw material and the territory of origin of the grapes, assessing the discriminating power of n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) ratio for geographical traceability studies.
•The ratio n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) does not change along the ABTM batteria.•The n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) of ABTM samples are coherent with the soil values of the territory of origin.•The n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) of ABM reflects the mixing ratio between the starting raw materials.•ABTM and ABM can be statistically differentiated on the base of the n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) ratio.
Balsamic vinegar of Modena (BVM) and traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena (TBVM) are highly appreciated typical Italian products. The quality control and authentication assurance of both these ...balsamic vinegars are very important topics. In the recent years, the interest to develop new and standardized analytical procedures, able to further enhance the quality and commercial value of these typical and unique products and to preserve them from possible sophistications and adulterations, is increased. In this work, 76 samples of both BVM and TBVM were analyzed by 1H NMR spectroscopy coupled with multivariate data analysis. The spectral data were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), general discriminant analysis (GDA) and classification tree analysis (CTA). The best and very promising model was obtained by a GDA which shows 98.6% of total variance explained by the first canonical function and a predictive capacity of 98.4% with a good separation between clusters. The signals of 5-HMF, α-glucopyranose, malic acid, succinic and acetic acids and the signal at 3.3 ppm were found to be the most statistically significant variables.
•Balsamic and Traditional Balsamic vinegars of Modena were analyzed by 1H NMR.•Spectral data were analyzed by chemometric techniques.•NMR and statistics are powerful tools in balsamic vinegars characterization.•A model able to classify the samples was obtained.
This work aimed to compare targeted and untargeted approaches based on NMR data for the construction of classification models for Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (TBVM) and Balsamic Vinegar of ...Modena (BVM). Their complexity in terms of composition makes the authentication of these products difficult, which requires the employment of several time-consuming analytical methods. Here, sup.1 H-NMR spectroscopy was selected as the analytical method for the analysis of TVBM and BVM due to its rapidity and efficacy in food authentication. sup.1 H-NMR spectra of old (>12 years) and extra-old (>25 years) TVBM and BVM (>60 days) and aged (>3 years) BVM were acquired, and targeted and untargeted approaches were used for building unsupervised and supervised multivariate statistical modes. Targeted and untargeted approaches were based on quantitative results of peculiar compounds present in vinegar obtained through qNMR, and all spectral variables, respectively. Several classification models were employed, and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) demonstrated sensitivity and specificity percentages higher than 85% for both approaches. The most important discriminating variables were glucose, fructose, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. The untargeted approach proved to be the most promising strategy for the construction of LDA models of authentication for TVBM and BVM due to its easier applicability, rapidity, and slightly higher predictive performance. The proposed method for authenticating TBVM and BVM could be employed by Italian producers for safeguarding their valuable products.
Nel dopoguerra modenese l'Istituto Ferrarini inizia la sua fase terminale, e la sua biblioteca popolare non riesce a stare al passo e perde utenti. Contemporaneamente inizia l'attività dell'Istituto ...storico, che darà vita a una biblioteca di storia contemporanea. Le due biblioteche, che hanno carattere molto diverso, si incontrano una prima volta negli anni Ottanta con una cessione di libri di storia, e infine nel 2017 col totale passaggio del patrimonio ex Ferrarini all'Istituto storico.
Leon (Judah Aryeh) Modena was a major intellectual figure of the early modern Italian Jewish community--a complex and intriguing personality who was famous among contemporary European Christians as ...well as Jews. Modena (1571-1648) produced an autobiography that documents in poignant detail the turbulent life of his family in the Jewish ghetto of Venice. The text of this work is well known to Jewish scholars but has never before been translated from the original Hebrew, except in brief excerpts. This complete translation, based on Modena's autograph manuscript, makes available in English a wealth of historical material about Jewish family life of the period, religion in daily life, the plague of 1630-1631, crime and punishment, the influence of kabbalistic mysticism, and a host of other subjects. The translator, Mark R. Cohen, and four other distinguished scholars add commentary that places the work in historical and literary context. Modena describes his fascination with the astrology and alchemy that were important parts of the Jewish and general culture of the seventeenth century. He also portrays his struggle against poverty and against compulsive gambling, which, cleverly punning on a biblical verse, he called the "sin of Judah." In addition, the book contains accounts of Modena's sorrow over his three sons: the death of the eldest from the poisonous fumes of his own alchemical laboratory, the brutal murder of the youngest, and the exile of the remaining son. The introductory essay by Mark R. Cohen and Theodore K. Rabb highlights the significance of the work for early modern Jewish and general European history. Howard E. Adelman presents an up-to-date biographical sketch of the author and points the way toward a new assessment of his place in Jewish history. Natalie Z. Davis places Modena's work in the context of European autobiography, both Christian and Jewish, and especially explores the implications of the Jewish status as outsider for the privileged exploration of the self. A set of historical notes, compiled by Howard Adelman and Benjamin C. I. Ravid, elucidates the text.
•UV–vis spectroscopy was used for grape-must caramel quantification in vinegars.•Balsamic and PDO vinegars’ grape-must caramel content was predicted.•Univariate and multivariate calibration ...approaches were assessed and compared.•Prediction results were compared with those obtained by other spectroscopies.•The results encourage UV–vis as an alternative tool for monitoring caramel addition.
The addition of E-150d caramel, known as grape-must caramel in vinegars, is a legal but without limitation practice in Spanish wine vinegars, as those with a protected designation of origin (PDO), for unifying the final colour of different batches and barrels. It is also used in the production of ‘Balsamic vinegar of Modena’ vinegars, with a maximum addition fixed at 2% v/v by law. Although its quantification in vinegars was studied by other techniques, there is still not any official method for it. Therefore, UV–vis spectroscopy was assessed as a quick analytical method able to quantify grape-must caramel in Balsamic vinegars of Modena and Spanish PDO wine vinegars. Univariate and multivariate calibrations were assessed for this quantification. Results demonstrated the ability of UV–vis spectroscopy coupled with multivariate calibration in the quantification of grape-must caramel, predicting caramel amounts under 2% v/v in both Balsamic and PDO wine vinegars.
On the 14th of April 2022, during a periodic bird monitoring activity in a wetland area located in the municipality of Mirandola (Moedna), Northern Italy, a breeding pair of Pied Avocets ...Recurvirostra avosetta, were recorded along with chicks aged approximately 2/3 days old. This is clearly a case of extremely early breeding seeing as, in Italy, Pied Avocets lay eggs from late April to June, based on adequate weather and environmental conditions. As for this specific case, an estimated cause of such anticipated breeding may be the previous very mild Winter months with little rainfall as well as the breeding ground offering shelter from predators.
Leon (Judah Aryeh) Modena was a major intellectual figure of the early modern Italian Jewish community--a complex and intriguing personality who was famous among contemporary European Christians as ...well as Jews. Modena (1571-1648) produced an autobiography that documents in poignant detail the turbulent life of his family in the Jewish ghetto of Venice. The text of this work is well known to Jewish scholars but has never before been translated from the original Hebrew, except in brief excerpts. This complete translation, based on Modena's autograph manuscript, makes available in English a wealth of historical material about Jewish family life of the period, religion in daily life, the plague of 1630-1631, crime and punishment, the influence of kabbalistic mysticism, and a host of other subjects. The translator, Mark R. Cohen, and four other distinguished scholars add commentary that places the work in historical and literary context. Modena describes his fascination with the astrology and alchemy that were important parts of the Jewish and general culture of the seventeenth century. He also portrays his struggle against poverty and against compulsive gambling, which, cleverly punning on a biblical verse, he called the "sin of Judah." In addition, the book contains accounts of Modena's sorrow over his three sons: the death of the eldest from the poisonous fumes of his own alchemical laboratory, the brutal murder of the youngest, and the exile of the remaining son. The introductory essay by Mark R. Cohen and Theodore K. Rabb highlights the significance of the work for early modern Jewish and general European history. Howard E. Adelman presents an up-to-date biographical sketch of the author and points the way toward a new assessment of his place in Jewish history. Natalie Z. Davis places Modena's work in the context of European autobiography, both Christian and Jewish, and especially explores the implications of the Jewish status as outsider for the privileged exploration of the self. A set of historical notes, compiled by Howard Adelman and Benjamin C. I. Ravid, elucidates the text.
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