The century marking the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern era opens with a feudal legacy stemming from the internal divisions of France and England, still embroiled in the Hundred Years' War.Between mutual betrayals and the mystical figure of Joan of Arc, this historical transition marks the arrival of gunpowder in Europe, marking one of the world's epochal changes.Along with it, the invention of movable type printing and the fall of the Eastern Empire pave the wa...

The relationship between the Papacy and power that marked the period of the Avignon Papacy and the conditions that would spark the Hundred Years' War form the backdrop to the events of a French family of Norman origin torn between the concreteness of money and the revolutionary ideas of William of Ockham.These divergent paths were the seeds of future great rivalries between France and England, which began to emerge in the fourteenth century.The middle of the century was domin...

The first half of the thirteenth century is characterized by the sudden rise of the greatest empire ever.The Mongols of Genghis Khan overwhelm entire civilizations, but their military supremacy will give rise to an ephemeral world, one that a family of horse breeders will understand well, suspended between tradition and the necessary integration with superior cultures defeated in battle.In Europe, the central part of the century is dominated by the intellectual figure of Thom...

With the rise of Constantine to the helm of the Roman Empire, religion became a crucial element, along with civil wars and barbarian invasions, shaping the entire history of the fourth century. This was characterized by a continuous transformation of society, much more concerned with cultural, philosophical, and theological aspects than with military tradition.The Italics were no exception, and generations adapted to these new customs, a clear sign of a decline that was both inevita...

The vain attempt to reconcile knowledge, expressed in philosophical, theological, artistic, and scientific forms, with the harshness of history characterizes the history of the twelfth century.On the one hand, there are magnificent examples, such as the Norman cultural renaissance of Sicily under Roger II, up to the great intellectual peaks of Anselm of Aosta, Peter Abelard, and Averroes. On the other, there are the eternal imperial struggles against the Papacy or the emerging commu...

The sack of Rome by the Visigoths opens the history of the fifth century, which witnesses the definitive decline of the Western Roman Empire and Italy as the central hub of the world known until then.The ensuing decline of society continues for generations until the effective dismemberment of every pre-established order, bringing the history of the Italics to its final conclusion.No longer united, but divided, as would happen to future peoples, their entire tradition crumbles...

The fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire due to internal struggles among Charlemagne's heirs and the arrival of Norman history marked the unfolding of events in the ninth century, through a relentless succession of hopes and immediate disillusionments regarding a past that was not destined to repeat itself.At the same time, the individual families belonging to these peoples tended to follow events, following the decisions of others. The Empire crumbled, and with it, the history of...

Three distinct portraits of tenth-century life unfold chronologically, from the Heian era in Japan, marked by the rise of the Fujiwara clan, to the rebirth of the Holy Roman Empire under Otto I of Saxony, and finally to the Viking spirit of adventure that reached the farthest reaches of northern Iceland and Greenland.Amid these events, several families of middle and lower social standing operate, each with their own desire for greatness and expansion, leveraging the qualities and ta...

As the eleventh century unfolded, the clash of civilizations became increasingly evident.Starting from the great cultural and enlightened era associated with the studies of Ibn Sina, under the Shiite Islamic dynasty of the Buwayhids, destined to succumb to the blows of the Seljuks, the story moves to Normandy, following the vicissitudes of the battles in France and then in England during the reign of William the Conqueror.The century ended with a blaze of violence, unleashed ...

The eternal cycle of Life, made up of births and rebirths, is the protagonist of a series of circular stories, completely detached from a precise spatial and temporal location.Suspended between being unique or connected to other people, the different dialectics, allegorically represented by as many female figures, bring out the evidence of being and becoming, in an endless dance that involves every single person.

Over thirty years of turbulence and violence lacerate Mexican society in the first half of the twentieth century and the life of Benedicta, a nurse by vocation and by choice, with a continuous mixing of thoughts and passions, ideals and aspirations.Winners and losers torn to shreds, only dust will cover the memory of great deeds and small pettiness, as has been in her nature since time immemorial.

The unfathomable dilemma of man faced with choice and a possible turning point in his life and in history is the common background of an instantaneous chronicle of over half a century, relived in different contexts and nuances.Not always aware of the harm they will cause, individual people move in a predetermined pattern, in which however the move is inevitable and totally required.No stalemate is possible, given the looming moment and time that chases every existence and no ...