Known to Babylonians and many other populations three thousand years before Christ, soaps as we use them today come from the Arabian Peninsula and specifically Alep. Once luxury goods, soaps began to be produced industrially and therefore becamepopular in the XIX century, thanks to the progress in chemistry…
A joke is a serious thing
Jokes have a double reputation. If many people consider them the heritage of a long gone sense of humor, other ones underline their historical and popular value, like any form of culture passed down orally, a sort of collective patrimony made of folk songs, proverbs, traditions, maxims and principles…
Coronavirus, a chance to walk on the other side
When the whole world was looking at Italy with worry, the virus was spreading everywhere else. This is because that worry wasn’t always “genuine”, but more often led by a stereotypical consideration of Italy, (one of) the“open flank” of Europe. With all the lack of controls and weak structures… (allusion by some news from England), being the country of disorganization and slowness “par excellence” (tacit from some French news). And this attitude came also from our debate. Is this disturbing? Yes, because it doesn’t tell the whole story…
The barber and his pivotal role in societies
More than just taking care of style, the figure of the barber – reconsidered thanks to hipsters – historically dealt with a lot of aspects that, apparently, had nothing to do with razors, scissors or shaving foam…
Beard trends through History
The symbolism assumed by the beard affected trends and fashion throughout centuries. Growing one could have been seen as a sign of poverty like in ancient Egypt, of rebellion like during the Italian Risorgimento or of a lack of hygiene like during proto-Christianity. The Roman emperor Julian the Apostate even wrote a satire against the beard detractors (Mispogon)…
The Middle Ages weren’t just “dark”
When you think about the Middle Ages you usually picture dearth and pestilence, violence, tortures and wars, peasants under the rule of a sadistic king or feudatory, creepy monks, scheming popes, inquisitors, ignorance, superstition, the end of the world in the year 1000 a.D. A long period too quickly labeled as “dark”, just a time of passage between the splendor of the classic era and Renaissance. That’s another misinterpretation, because history itself is a constant transition, an ongoing process, not only the Middle Ages. But this is what we learn at school…
You can’t be neutral on a moving train
Historians, such as journalists, focus on the most important people. “What really matters are the countless small deeds of unknown people who lay the basis for the events of human history”, Howard Zinn once said. Why did he write a history book? Because there wasn’t any like it. It’s A people’s history of the United States, published in 1980 and corner stone of this specific sector. Because Zinn was one of those who changed the narration perspective, placing the last ones with the greatest characters…