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In early modern Italy, lyric poets of spiritual verse experimented with engaging and depicting the divine Word in novel ways. They aestheticized bodies, including that of Christ, and they imagined eroticized encounters between themselves and the Word made flesh. This article examines the sensual spiritual poetry of three early modern Italian women who, between 1530 and 1630, dedicated themselves to crafting and reinvigorating the poetic word and to expressing and (re)presenting the divine Word. Exploring the introspective and subjective spiritual lyrics of Vittoria Colonna (1492–1547), Laura Battiferri (1523–1589), and Francesca Turini Bufalini (1553–1641) in the context of the Italian literary Renaissance and Counter-Reformation, it aims to highlight and to elucidate the conflation of the sacred and the erotic in their verse. In so doing, this article reveals how these early modern female poets deployed the sensual strategically in their verse to elevate the erotic and how they raised the Italian religious lyric to new literary heights by spiritualizing the dominant poetic idiom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Franciscanism, Wheat, and Tares: A Novelistic History of the TOR" is a review of the work written by Salvador Cabot Rosselló about the history of the Third Order Regular (TOR) of the Franciscans. The author shows great knowledge and affection towards the order, trying to be impartial and correcting some excesses of its own historiography. The first volume studies the origins of the Order of Penitence and its legal configuration throughout the centuries, while the second volume focuses on the reform and life of the TOR in Spain and Italy. Overall, the work is recommended for friars and anyone interested in the historical legacy of Franciscanism. [Extracted from the article]

Information on the pre-Lenten holiday of Carnevale in Italy, from a chapter of the book "Frommer's Italy, 2008" is presented. The festival traditionally marked the unbridled celebration that preceded Lent, the period of penitence and abstinence before Easter. It lasts about 5 to 10 days and culminates the Friday to Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. In the 18th-century heyday of Carnevale, well-heeled revelers came from all over Europe to take part in the festivities.