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Active ageing is the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age (WHO 2002). This article aims at describing the diverse interventions that different actors implemented in a city of Northern Italy for (partially) self-sufficient people aged 65 or over, in order to recognize the different reasonings that oriented them, with reference to the active ageing paradigm. To this aim we conducted semi-structured interviews with representatives of public bodies and third sector associations who offer services for the elderlies. The analysis focused on the risks of exclusion and stigmatization of those who cannot or will not align to the model of active ageing, and the role of this paradigm in increasing those risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that older people should be active agents has dominated policy discourse across health, social care and housing that has a core care function. In the context of ageing population, the active and successful ageing paradigm risks to exacerbate existing inequalities and disadvantages that take shape along the life course and that cross several aspects of everyday life. The covid-19 pandemic shed light on areas of inequalities and social exclusion in old age. This paper, based on interviews with both representatives of services for older adults and people over 65 living in a city of Northern Italy, aims at exploring representations and (self-)perceptions of ageing in the wake of the health emergency, with a focus on the re-definition of everyday life and habits, emerging needs, and on the weakness of services in front of an unprecedented and unpredictable situation. Results will show that public representations of ageing during the pandemic came into tension with older adults' self-perceptions, bringing to light dynamics of social exclusion and even of a "benevolent" ageism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Palaeobotanical specimens in private or public historical collections include important fossils, and modern studies involving taxonomic revisions can renew the scientific value of forgotten records. In Italy, information on past floras can be also obtained through the re-examination of the published drawings and pictures, or survey of the original collections. This paper presents the taxonomic revision of the macrofossils in the palaeobotanical collection, originally from San Venanzio (Modena), collected by Francesco Coppi at the end of the 19th century. Fossils were taken from the Argille Azzurre formation (Lower Pliocene–Lower Pleistocene). Re-sampling was not carried out because the sampling point at present lies under the houses of a village, increasing the importance of the museological collection. Descriptions of 76 fossil leaves are reported. Sporomorphs were extracted from the clayey limestone where three macrofossils had fossilized. Though only scattered information on the past plant cover has been randomly preserved, the plant macro- and microfossils provide a contribution to the research on the Plio–Pleistocene flora of Northern Apennines, and add information which can be useful to improve knowledge on local palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Animal and plant fossils were deposited in a coastal or delta area. Pollen flora mainly reflected the vegetation distributed in the highest belts, far from the site of deposition, while macrofossils prevalently reflected local vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, we focus on the most critical but low-studied Late Roman phase (3rd-6th century AD) of Mutina , an important Roman colony situated in Northern Italy. During this period, partly including the Late Antique, the seasonal variability with inconstant precipitation might have been responsible for devastating flood events. In the Po Plain, lying on four regions of Northern Italy (Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto), an impressive set of flood events occurred that resulted in evident, sometimes thick sediment strata, in between the Roman archaeological layers, and after their full deposition. The research is a key example of integrated archaeobotanical analyses based on five archeological sites (on-site records) excavated within the modern city of Modena and studied for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Plant micro- and macro-remains were analysed in the framework of interdisciplinary archaeological studies, aiming at reconstructing the main floristic, vegetational and palaeoecological features of Mutina and its surroundings. Since early phases of the Roman age, there have been wetlands and thinly scattered mixed oakwoods that together with human environments, i.e. cereal fields and gardens, characterised the plant landscape of the area. Interestingly, during the Late Roman period, the woodland cover increased. Overall, the archaeobotany studies highlighted the effects of the floods on the city of Modena and its surroundings showing that subsequent episodes of floods favoured the expansion or spreading of wetlands with the development of hygrophilous woods in the later phases, after the flood of the 6th century AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]