This essay can be included in the branches of research on Italian academic geography and the way it changed during the post-WWII period when the economic boom took place and free access to university was introduced. Through the analysis of unpublished documentation, the author highlights the features of the “spread in territory” of Catholic University: the study of the Italian context is provided with interesting elements such as that the “spread” belonged to a large-scale project which aimed to give the word Catholic a civil meaning and national extension. In this essay, the author underlines the issues which were behind the spread of Catholic University in Italy, the broadening of its training programme, the expansion of faculties and universities which took place especially in the post-WWII period, even if it had been decided before 1945. The author focuses on the foundation of the Faculty of Medicine in Rome and the establishment of the university in Piacenza and Brescia.
This essay briefly retraces the history of the Knights of Columbus, one of the main lay Catholic associations which, based on the model of secular confraternities, was founded in the United States and spread out across that country. Starting from an analysis of the particular conditions of Catholics in America, this paper shows how the Order supported Catholic participation in social and economic life. By focusing on the role played by the founder, Fr. Michael McGivney, and the evolution of the organizational and insurance structure of this association, the author highlights that the foundation of this kind of congregation was made possible by the great success of secret societies and the development of the middle class among Catholic immigrants in the late 19th century. Lastly, the author shows how the Knights of Columbus interacted with American society, politics, ecclesial and cultural life along more than a century.
The author examines a series of documents written by the Agricultural Labourers’ Federation which was affiliated to CGIL, later CISL. In these documents, the agrarian and agricultural policies carried out by centrist and centre-left governments are critically analyzed. In particular, the author points out the limits of agrarian reforms and the “green plans”, by recalling the considerations raised by Amos Zanibelli, Giulio Pastore and Feliciano Benvenuti at that time. Paolo Sirtori is also mentioned, as he denounced the incapacity of politicians and leaders of the agricultural associations to understand the implications generated by the European agricultural policy which had been drafted by Sicco Mansholt in the memorandum he wrote in December 1968.