Carlo Ginzburg | |
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 Ginzburg in 2013 | |
| Born | (1939-04-15)15 April 1939 (age 86) Turin, Italy |
| Education | University of Pisa (PhD) |
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| Years active | 1966–present |
| Spouse | Anna Rossi-Doria (divorced) |
| Children | 2, includingLisa |
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| Awards | Balzan Prize (2010) |
Carlo Ginzburg (Italian:[ˈkarloˈɡintsburɡ,-ˈɡin(d)zburɡ]; born 15 April 1939) is an Italian historian and a proponent of the field ofmicrohistory. He is best known forIl formaggio e i vermi (1976, English title:The Cheese and the Worms), which examined the beliefs of an Italian heretic,Menocchio, fromMontereale Valcellina.
In 1966, he publishedThe Night Battles, an examination of thebenandanti visionary folk tradition found in sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuryFriuli in northeastern Italy. He returned to looking at the visionary traditions of early modern Europe for his 1989 bookEcstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath.
The son ofNatalia Ginzburg, a novelist, andLeone Ginzburg, a philologist, historian, and literary critic, Carlo Ginzburg was born on 15 April 1939 inTurin, Italy.[1] His interest for history was influenced by the works of historiansDelio Cantimori andMarc Bloch. He received a PhD from theUniversity of Pisa in 1961.
He subsequently held teaching positions at theUniversity of Bologna, theUniversity of California, Los Angeles (1988–2006), and theScuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. His fields of interest range from theItalian Renaissance to early modernEuropean history, with contributions toart history,literary studies, and the theory ofhistoriography.[2]
In 1979, Ginzburg formally requested thatPope John Paul II open theInquisition Archives. While the immediate response of theVatican has not yet come to light, a limited group of scholars had been granted access by 1991. In January 1998 the archives were formally opened to "qualified researchers." Cardinal Ratzinger (who later becamePope Benedict XVI) credited Ginzburg, and his 1979 letter, as having been instrumental in the Vatican's decision to open these archives.[3] Ginzburg had his doubts about using statistics to reach a judgment about the period. “In many cases, we don’t have the evidence, the evidence has been lost,” said Ginzburg.[4]
Along withPaul Ginsborg, Marcello Flores, Sergio Luzzatto,Claudio Pavone,Enzo Traverso, etc., Ginzburg called, in January 2007, for the rejection of a bill, presented by Justice MinisterClemente Mastella, that would have outlawedHolocaust denial. They argued that Italy's legislation was sufficient to cope with such acts. The amended bill finally restricted itself to reinforcing sentences concerninghate speech.[5]
He was awarded the 2010Balzan Prize[6] and was elected an International Member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in 2013.[7]
InThe Night Battles andEcstasies, Ginzburg traced a complex path from certain Europeanwitch persecutions to thebenandanti and a wide variety of practices which he describes as evidence of a substrate ofshamanic cults in Europe. His 1999 work,The Judge and the Historian, sought to expose injustice in the trial ofAdriano Sofri, but failed to win a new trial. His book was not only about Sofri but was also a general reflection on the scientific methods used by a historian, and their similarity to the work of a judge, who also has to correlate testimonies with material evidence in order to deduce what really happened. Thus, he explains how the judicial model of early historiography made it focus on easily verifiable facts, resulting in studies that centred on individuals or on whatLucien Febvre andMarc Bloch called in theAnnales d'histoire économique et sociale an "evenemential history". In his bookHistory, Rhetoric, and Proof (1999), he contrasts the ancient rhetoric of Aristotle with the modern rhetoric of Nietzsche.[2]
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