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Self-assembled structures built from amphiphilic molecules find application in different fields. a The synthetic versatility of calixarene macrocycles, whose skeleton can be differently functionalized with a variety of hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties, allows the development of amphiphilic derivatives able to aggregate in different higher order supramolecular architectures. b, c Here we describe the capability of an amphiphilic calix[4]arene derivative, bearing four carboxylic acid groups at the calixarene upper rim and four dodecyl chains at the lower rim, to form discrete and stable multilamellar vesicles in aqueous medium by using an emulsion/solvent evaporation method. Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) measurements, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images provided information about size, size distribution and morphology of the nanostructured assemblies. The vesicular nature was confirmed by entrapment of a hydrophilic dye such as rodhamine B in aqueous lumen. A preliminary study showed that the self-assembled structures of the carboxy-calix[4]arene can entrap also a hydrophobic drug such as curcumin. The amphiphilic carboxy-calix[4]arene represents the first example of calix[4]arene derivative assembling in very stable multilamellar vesicles in aqueous medium with a narrow polydispersity. Suitable nanometer-size, very size narrow distribution, well-defined spherical shape, negatively charged hydrophilic multilamellar wall, high size stability (more than two years), and guest encapsulation ability make the vesicles of the carboxy-calix[4]arene derivative appealing in the research of drug delivery systems. Acknowledgment: Research funded by PON R&C 02_00355_2964193 (MIUR, Rome). References: a) Hill, J. P.; Shrestha, L. K.; Ishihara, S.; Ji, Q.; Ariga, K. Molecules 2014, 19, 8589-8609. b) Helttunen, K.; Shahgaldian, P. New J. Chem. 2010, 34, 2704-2714. c) Consoli, G. M. L.; Granata, G.; Lo Nigro, R.; Malandrino, G.; Geraci, C. Langmuir 2008, 24, 6194-6200.

Le pratiche di questua sono azioni rituali che caratterizzano diversi periodi festivi di tutta l’area euro-mediterranea. Si tratta di richieste di dazione e prelievi di beni (generalmente alimenti) eseguite, secondo diverse modalità e entro precisi segmenti spazio-temporali, da soggetti tradizionalmente demandati a rivestire il ruolo di postulanti (comitati, confratrie, compagnie di adulti, giovani, bambini/e; spesso ma non sempre connotati da speciali costumi e/o maschere e da altri simboli materiali nonché da specifici e peculiari comportamenti). L’auspicata e prefigurata (nelle formule di questua) dazione degli offerenti presuppone un dono da parte dei questuanti che assume spesso, ma non necessariamente, una dimensione performativa: esecuzioni musicali e coreutiche, drammatizzazioni, canti, recite di testi si accompagnano e aggiungono infatti, in diverse circostanze, al semplice scambio tra beni e formule/gesti di contenuto augurale. Clemente le definisce, pertanto, questue-cerimonie e, sottolineando il rapporto prestazione (performance dei questuanti)–controprestazione (dazione dei riceventi), le ascrive entro la categoria delle azioni cerimoniali itineranti con scambio. Va osservato, tuttavia, che ciò che caratterizza e qualifica inequivocabilmente le questue a carattere rituale è lo scambio tra beni immateriali (l’augurio di benessere e prosperità) e beni materiali (gli alimenti, il denaro), restando l’eventuale prestazione performativa solo funzionale e non determinante rispetto alla definizione del rito. Ciò in ragione del fatto che i postulanti sempre e comunque rappresentano nel contesto cerimoniale delle autentiche “figure dell’alterità”, proponendosi (esplicitamente o implicitamente) come rappresentanti e/o emissari di potenze extraumane da cui ci si attendono benevolente attenzione e protezione, ossia un contro-dono diffuso e differito nel tempo. Sulla base di queste considerazioni quanto viene offerto ai questuanti non può essere semplicisticamente inteso come retribuzione di una qualsivoglia prestazione ovvero come parte di un meccanismo redistributivo sostenuto da istanze di ordine sociale o di pietas religiosa, e conferma come questi riti vadano complessivamente considerati, almeno da un punto di vista genetico, come occasioni in cui offrire il dono periodicamente dovuto alle forze e alle entità che garantiscono l’equilibrio cosmico e microcosmico, i cicli della natura e della vita sociale. THE FATE IN WORDS. ALMS-GIVING, MASKINGS AND WELL-WISHING FORMULAS Alms-giving is a ritual practice which characterizes several festivities in the whole Euro-Mediterranean area. It consists in requests for offers or collection of goods (usually food) performed following different modalities and within precise space-time segments, by subjects traditionally appointed to assume the role of postulants (associations, confraternities, groups of adults, youths, children; often but not always connoted by special costumes and/or masks and by material symbols as well as by specific and peculiar behaviours). The offerers' donation desired and prefigured in alms formulas presupposes a gift given by the collectors of alms; this gift often assumes a performative dimension, although it is not necessarily so: music and choreutic performances, dramatizations, songs, recital of texts accompany them and, as a matter of fact, they join the simple exchange of goods and well-wishing gestures or formulas, in several circumstances. Clemente thus defines them as alms-cerimonies and, underlining the nexus performance (the postulants' one)-counterperformance (donation of the receivers), he ascribes them within the category of cerimonial itinerant actions with exchange. However, we must remark that what characterizes and qualifies unequivocally ritual alms-giving is the exchange of immaterial goods (the wish for wealth and prosperity) and material goods (food, money), while the possible performance remains merely functional and it is not decisive with respect to the definition of the rite. This because postulants in any case always represent some authentic "figures of otherness" in the ceremonial context (explicitly or implicitly) proposing themselves as representatives and/or emissaries of extra-human powers from whom benevolent care and protection are expected, that is a counter-gift diffused and deffered in time. On the basis of such observations, what is offered to the collectors of alms cannot be simplistically understood as payment for any performance whatsoever or as part of a redistribution mechanism supported by demands of social order or of religious pietas, and it confirms that on the whole, at least from a genetic point of view, such rites are to be considered as occasions upon which to offer the gift periodically due to the forces and entities which guarantee the cosmic and microcosmic balance, the cycles of nature and of social life.