BOOKS BY FULVIO CONTI

Even Italy, like much of the Western world, has been affected in recent decades by an intense process of secularization. This secularization of private costumes and the desacralization of religion, however, did not produced a decrease in the power of ecclesiastical institutions and in social, cultural and political influence that they have in the public sphere. Indeed, while secular organizations face increasing difficulty in making their voices heard (for example, there are no more political parties that explicitly recognize the secular tradition, both liberal and socialist), the Catholic Church has regained a new centrality. This is demonstrated by the measures approved in recent years on public funding to private schools, on the living will, on the legal recognition of unmarried couples and homosexual couples, on the use of stem cells for scientific research, on artificial insemination, on the removal of symbols religious from public buildings, on the legalization of RU486 (the so called "morning after pill"). In many cases, the Constitutional Court has been forced to intervene. Through various judgments the Court has defended the principle of pluralism in religious matters and has been a mainstay of the secular state and of In many cases, the Constitutional Court has been forced to intervene. Through various judgments the Court has defended the principle of pluralism in religious matters and has been a mainstay of the secular state and the fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter of 1948.

in the historiography about Tuscany in contemporary age The large number of historiografical works between 1781 and 1877 has pointed out Tuscany like a relatively unitary region, coinciding with the State formed in Medici’s age. At the period of Italy’s unity it maybe was the only true regional reality. After 1877 that identity progressively lost weight and historiography didn’t show attention at that case study. In the cultural clash between manifestations of municipal pride and necessity to build a national feeling, region didn’t find attention. From second afterwar historiography shows a new attention toward Tuscany as a region, excited from the request of actual institution of the Region, as provided for Constitution. Public bodies, institutes and associations of different kind have given a new impulse to regional history: prevalently come out the achievement of a long civic tradion and more recent identity based on Resistance’s values.