Bernhard Schimmelpfennig chronicles the institution of the papacy and its influence on the culture, politics, and economy throughout the decline of the Roman emparie, Byzantine rule, and the Middle Ages in his book, "The Papacy." The full spectrum of the institutional Medieval Church is examined as Schimmelpfennig presents its evolution through liturgical, political, artistic, cultural, and economic developments, as well as social changes that occurred under the papacy's influence such as a revamping of marriage laws, housing construction, and food distribution.

Chapters cover the Roman congregation of the apostolic and post-apostolic eras (110-113 CE) through the time of Constantine the Great (r. 310-337), onto the papacy at the peak of its power (1198-1303), and finally ending with the papacy of the Renaissance (1447-1534). A salient feature of the book is the new light shed on Rome as the physical setting of the Vatican and the marked influence it has had on the papacy. For example, the vast papal construction projects of the late fifteenth century demonstrate the papal power exerted over the Roman civic administration.

Between 1880 and the outbreak of World War One, a large movement for landscape and nature protection flourished in Europe, driven primarily by a nationalist culture, but also featuring a strong international outlook. In contrast to the post-World War Two period, the lines in the movement's objectives between wilderness, landscape and cultural and artistic heritage were very blurred, and scientific and humanistic knowledge both played an equally important role. In Italy, a network of associations and institutions was built up and then eventually faded between 1885 and the beginning of the 1930s. Although this network did not succeed in deeply influencing the scientific and civic culture of the country, it achieved important successes and placed Italy at the forefront of Europe in terms of environmental and landscape protection. Among the most significant results of this mobilisation was the law of 1923 for the defence of natural beauty, which later formed the basis of Article 9 of the Constitution of 1948, and the creation of the national parks of Gran Paradiso and Abruzzo, among the first to be established in Europe. This book analytically reconstructs the events of the nature protection movement, contextualising them in the cultural and political-institutional climate of the time; highlights the movement's full inclusion in contemporary European protectionist initiatives; and attempts to take stock of its significance and historical legacy.

Cliches about Italy are numerous. Henry James once wrote that Italy was tired of being admired for its eyelashes and its pose. Nowadays the country is trying to shake off a do-nothing image regarding nature conservation. But an environmental movement has existed in Italy for more than a century. In 1924, the chief naturalist of the U.S. National Park Service said that Italy was far ahead of the rest of Europe in protecting nature. By the outbreak of World War II, Italy had four national parks covering over five hundred thousand acres. Of course, a lot went wrong with Italian nature protection, too. Fascism, war, and the unbridled consumerism of the economic miracle sent conservation into a tailspin from which it only began recovering in the 1990s. This book is the first effort in English to document the rise, fall, and recovery of nature conservation in Italy. Part one covers the environmental degradation of Italy's wetlands, mountains, and forests due to unification, industrialization, and the rush toward modernization. Part two looks at the ups and downs of Italy's conservation movement in the 1900s: who were the players, what were their motives, where were they active, why did they succeed and sometimes fail?