Comete nell’Italia antica e medievale

In ancient times, comets, according to Aristotle’s ideas, were considered exhalations coming from the bowels of the Earth. These, once they reached the upper part of the air, finally became visible taking the shape of a star (the head) followed by a more or less long trail (the tail). A quite sinister image that, recalling figures of spears, scimitars and daggers, could only foretell the coming of sad and dark times. Wars, famines, plagues, deaths of Kings and Princes, were the typical effects that comets brought with their sudden appearance. A belief common to all cultures, as our Giacomo Leopardi recalls: “there will be no nation where they were considered to announce anything but evil”. This book, if on the one hand aims to highlight the oracular and symbolic aspect of comets, on the other tries to investigate what our ancestors knew about this phenomenon. Thanks to a rich documentation and its careful analysis, the theme is treated following a diligent historical reconstruction and a rigorous scientific research. A modus operandi that finds few examples in both national and international publications. For various reasons, it was decided to limit the study to the testimonies that concern our peninsula. In this sense, therefore, more than a point of arrival, the text is proposed as a starting point for undertaking further research.