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The paper reports the first results of a comparative research on Pentecostalism that involves scholars in Europe, Asia, Africa, South and North America. The author focuses on the characters which, in his opinion, are responsible of the success of this religion in various parts of the world: the internal differentiation that allows Pentecostal churches to intercept different tastes of the public, the doctrinal and liturgical innovations, the role of music in the liturgy, as a factor of seduction, identity and loyalty. The author than raises the issue why in Latin American and in Europe Pentecostalism is spreading especially among the popular and impoverished classes and concludes that its development is linked to the opening of the religious market that has enabled these churches to catch that part of the religious demand that for various reasons, the traditional churches were predisposed to accept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The author examines the history of the wealthy Italian colony of Nicaragua, compared with the other ethnic groups which had migrated there from Europe, and Northern and Southern America. The paper highlights the peculiar aspects of this settlement, the characteristics of the integration and what still remains of the Italian identity. The main sources for this research in Nicaragua come both from local documents and publications and the interviews [of] relatives of Italian immigrants...." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND FRE), (excerpt)