2-1 The Republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice (Italian: Repubblica di Venezia, Venetian: Repùblica Vèneta or Repùblica de Venesia) was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice (Italian: Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia, Venetian: Serenìsima Repùblica Vèneta or Repùblica de Venesia) and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in reference to its title as one of the "Most Serene Republics". Despite its long history of war and conquest, the Republic's modern reputation is chiefly based on its status as an economic and trading power. (Here)

A still（01:29:40）From left: Cardinal Bellarmine, Pope Clemente VIII, Cardinal Sartori. Three personal are disagreement to the treatment of Bruno case, Pope hesitant

Il caso di Giordano Bruno, filosofo e frate domenicano condannato al rogo per eresia, fu un evento che scaturì dalla dura reazione controriformista ai tentativi di modificare i temi della fede religiosa iniziati alcuni decenni prima con la riforma protestante. Il frate domenicano, condannato per le sue idee anche dalla chiesa luterana e da quella calvinista, si era fatto promotore di nuove idee religiose e filosofiche che si ponevano in netta antitesi con quelle della Chiesa, di cui tra l'altro faceva parte integrante. L'istruzione dell'inchiesta e del processo ebbe luogo nel 1593 e la sentenza fu emessa nel 1600: coinvolse Bellarmino dal 1597, da quando cioè fu nominato consultore del Santo Uffizio. Il Bellarmino ebbe alcuni colloqui con il frate domenicano, durante i quali tentò di fargli abiurare le molte tesi considerate eretiche, nel probabile tentativo di salvargli la vita[2], poiché la condanna per eresia era inevitabilmente capitale. La lunga durata del processo fu causata dal fatto che Giordano Bruno non ebbe un comportamento lineare nell'ammettere l'ereticità delle proprie posizioni. Benché gli inquisitori volessero ricorrere, come extrema ratio, alla tortura, Papa Clemente VIII si oppose fermamente.Durante il processo la Congregazione fece esaminare da Bellarmino una dichiarazione di Giordano Bruno su otto proposizioni che gli erano state contestate come eretiche. Il 24 agosto 1599 il cardinale Bellarmino riferì alla Congregazione che, nello scritto, Giordano Bruno aveva ammesso come eretiche sei delle otto proposizioni, mentre sulle altre due la sua posizione non appariva chiara: ??videtur aliquid dicere, si melius se declararet??. La completa ammissione gli avrebbe risparmiato la condanna a morte, ma alla fine Giordano Bruno preferì mantenere le precedenti posizioni decidendo di affrontare la pena. A condanna ormai avvenuta all'imputato venne concesso ancora un qualche compromesso per evitare la morte[4], ma Giordano Bruno preferì affrontare il rogo, che ebbe luogo a Roma in Campo de' Fiori il 17 febbraio 1600.(WIKI-Italian Here)

Founded to preach the Gospel and to combat heresy, the order is famed for its intellectual tradition, having produced many leading theologians and philosophers.[citation needed] The Dominican Order is headed by the Master of the Order, who is currently Father Bruno Cadoré. Members of the order generally carry the letters O.P. standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning of the Order of Preachers, after their names.

In the year 2000, there were 5,171 Dominican friars in solemn vows, 917 student brothers, and 237 novices.[3] By the year 2010 there were 5,906 Dominican friars, including 4,456 priests（Here）

2-7 Holy Inquisition

The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the judicial system of the Roman Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy. It started in 12th-century France to combat the spread of religious sectarianism, in particular the Cathars and the Waldensians. This Medieval Inquisition persisted into the 14th century, from the 1250s associated with the Dominican Order. In the early 14th century, two other movements attracted the attention of the Inquisition, the Knights Templar and the Beguines.At the end of the Middle Ages, the concept and scope of the Inquisition was significantly expanded, now in the historical context of the turmoils of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Its geographic scope was expanded to other European countries, as well as throughout the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the Americas, Asia and Africa. Its focus now came to include the persecution of sorcery (an aspect almost entirely absent from the Medieval

Some assessments suggest that Bruno's ideas about the universe played a smaller role in his trial than his pantheist beliefs, which differed from the interpretations and scope of God held by the Catholic Church.In addition to his cosmological writings, Bruno also wrote extensively on the art of memory, a loosely organized group of mnemonic techniques and principles. The historian Frances Yates argues that Bruno was deeply influenced by Arab astrology, Neoplatonism and Renaissance Hermeticism. Other studies of Bruno have focused on his qualitative approach to mathematics and his application of the spatial paradigms of geometry to language.(Here)

Giordano Bruno was a controversial figure of the Italian Renaissance. Burned at the stake for heresy and pantheism in 1600, Giordano Bruno is viewed by many as a martyr for free thought and modern scientific advancement. His views on infinite worlds, his mnemonic techniques, and his approach to mathematics all make him an important figure. He was very outspoken and led a challenging life full of travel and a rotating list of supporters as well as enemies. Wherever Giordano Bruno went, his passionate opinions found opposition.

Born Filippo Giordano Bruno in 1548 in Nola (in Campania, then part of the Kingdom of Naples), he was the son of a solider, Giovanni Giordano Bruno and his wife Fraulissa Savolino. After studies in Naples and tutoring at the Augustinian monastery there, at the age of 17 he entered the Dominican Order of the monastery of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples (where the infamous Thomas Aquinas had taught). There he was primarily instructed on Aristotelian philosophy and changed his name to Giordano, the name of his metaphysics tutor, and became an ordained priest by the age of twenty-four.

Giordano Bruno’s abilities in the art of memory were soon recognized Pope Pius V who invited him to give a demonstration. It was also at this time that Giordano Bruno developed his penchant for free thinking and was caught participating against religious doctrine by owning a banned Erasmus book, which he had also notated along with other discrepancies. Unfortunately for Giordano Bruno, an indictment was being prepared against him by the Inquisition causing him to flee Naples in 1576. He traveled for a time in Italy where he was still able to publish his now lost work, On The Signs of the Times, 1577. By 1579 he was in Geneva, a protestant city, but was soon arrested due to a publication he produced that was critical of another professor at the University. For the next seven years he lived in France lecturing on various subjects and attracting the support of powerful patrons.

While still in France Giordano Bruno published his book De Umbris Idearum (the Shadows of Ideas, 1582), and dedicated it to the French King, Henry III. The King took an interest in Giordano Bruno, and specifically in his lectures on the art of memory. The Italian Friar benefitted much from his newfound French patronage and continued to publish: Ars Memoriae (The Art of Memory, 1582), and Cantus Circaeus (Circe's Song, 1582). Both books from 1582 addressed his discussions on mnemonic models. During this time he also wrote Candelaio, an outrageous dramatic comedy centering on the male midlife crisis and incorporating ‘avant-garde’ mannerisms employing ‘proto-Brechtian’ devices, vulgar language and jokes..............

Leaving England in October 1585, Giordano Bruno returned to Paris where the political climate was tense for him. Due to his writings against Aristotelian natural science, and, in particular, a publication against Fabrizio Mordente, the mathematician, Giordano Bruno was becoming controversial and unaccepted. He soon left for Germany and lectured in Wittenberg for two years. He then went to Prague, and then Helmstedt, but continued to run into trouble as his views were becoming increasingly problematic. Though during this time of travel and upheaval, he was still able to complete many works in Latin. These works are known as, De Magia (On Magic), Theses De Magia (Theses On Magic) and De Vinculis In Genere (A General Account of Bonding). He also managed to publish De Imaginum, Signorum, Et Idearum Compositione (On The Composition of Images, Signs and Ideas, 1591). In this same year, 1591, he returned to Italy and eventually became a tutor to Giovanni Mocenigo. Sadly, this tutorship became tragic and traumatic for Giordano Bruno as his apprentice denounced him and his teachings to the Venetian Inquisition. The enigmatic friar recanted while in Venice, yet was still sent to Rome for another trial.

He was imprisoned in Rome in 1592 and died there eight years later. Although many, presumably important, documents are missing from this period, others still exit. The many charges against Giordano Bruno were based on his writings as well as on witness testimonies. Some of these charges included blasphemy, immoral conduct, engaging with magic, and heresy that could be found in the doctrines of his philosophy and cosmology. Giordano Bruno was of course rather controversial as he held many opinions contrary to the Catholic faith, such as his theory of multiple worlds and transubstantiation. He was asked to recant his philosophy but he only attempted a partial recantation so as to retain the basis, and perhaps integrity, of his philosophy. Unfortunately, this was not enough for the Pope who recommended that he be put to death. To be sure, as there was not an official Catholic Church position on the Copernican system in 1600, Bruno’s views on Copernicus were not the ‘sole’ reason he was declared a heretic.

Giordano Bruno was greatly influenced by Bernardino Telesio (1509-1588) who was part of a group of independent philosophers of the late Renaissance who attempted to develop philosophical and scientific ideas outside of the constraints of the Aristotelian-scholastic tradition. Nicholas de Cusa (1401-1464), an ecclesiastical reformer, administrator and cardinal, was also a great influence on Bruno. The idea of evolution appears in Nicholas de Cusa in a somewhat pantheistic form, but is further developed by Giordano Bruno with greater clarity both for physics and metaphysics.

Giordano Bruno’s unitary concept of nature found admiration by very important philosophers/scholars such as, Baruch de Spinoza, Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi and George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. While his overall contribution to the birth of modern science is still open to debate, many believe Giordano Bruno to be much more a philosopher than a scientist. Issac Asimov disregards him as a “philosopher and poet” rather than a scientist, though he sees scientists as dreamers. Scholars such as Frances Yates believe his ideas on an infinite universe without geocentric structure were a critical shift between the old and new modes of thought. Bruno’s concept of multiple worlds is also viewed by some as a forerunner to Everett’s many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Some also believe Giordano Bruno was one of the precursors to Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of place and absolute space. (More see here)

Giuliano Montaldo (born February 22, 1930 in Genoa) is an Italian film director.

While he was still a young student, Montaldo was recruited by the director Carlo Lizzani for the role of leading actor in the film Achtung! Banditi! (1951). Following this experience he began an apprenticeship as an assistant director of Lizzani and Gillo Pontecorvo.

In 1960 he made his debut as a director with Tiro al piccione, a film about the partisan resistance, which entered for a competition in Venice Film Festival in 1961. In 1965 he wrote and directed Una bella grinta, a cynical representation of the economic boom of Italy, winning the Special Prize of the Jury at Berlin Film Festival. He then directed the production Grand Slam (1967) which starred an international cast including Edward G. Robinson, Klaus Kinski, and Janet Leigh. His cinema career continued with Gott mit uns (1969), and Sacco and Vanzetti (1971), a film about the abuses of the military, judicial and religious power.

In 1982 he directed the colossal television miniseries Marco Polo, which won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries.(See here)