1. Standards for text submission

1.1 Text

The text, in its final version, should be sent by e-mail in separate files (a text file, a file for image captions, a file for any documentary appendices). Files with a .doc or .rtf extension are recommended. In the text, notes should appear as endnotes at the end of the document.

1.2 Format

Text should be free, as much as possible, from formatting. It is especially requested to refrain from the use of tabs, indents, spacing, bold, underlined. Italics and small caps are allowed only in the cases stipulated in the following paragraphs.

1.3 Images

Images in .tiff or .jpg format with a resolution of not less than 300 dpi and a minimum size of 9x13 cm are accepted.

The name of the author of the essay and the sequential number must be written on each original image. The same number will identify the relevant captions.

2. Spelling standards

2.1 Capital letters

It is recommended to use capital letters sparingly. It is, however, necessary for names indicating historical epochs or events: the 15th century, the Renaissance, the 1930s, the French Revolution (in the latter case the adjective must be written in lower case), and for the names of buildings, streets, squares, etc., which nevertheless retain the noun indicating their type in lower case (palazzo Farnese, theatre of Marcellus, ponte Vecchio, via dei Librai, addizione Erculea, etc.).

In the names of saints, the capital S is used when designating the name of a church, the lower case when referring to the person ('the church of St. Andrew in Mantua', but 'the cross of St. Andrew').
Noble, ecclesiastical, military and academic titles (count, bishop, colonel, professor, etc.), and nouns indicating public offices (mayor, prefect, etc.) should not be capitalised.

2.2 Quotes

A moderate use of inverted commas is also recommended, reserving them for quotations of others' texts and for highlighting terms to which a specific meaning is to be assigned. In the former case, double English inverted commas (" ") should be used, in the latter, simple English ones (' '). Quotations must be written in the same body of the text, without using italics and without indentation. Any omissions within quoted texts should be highlighted with three suspension points enclosed in square brackets.

2.3 Italics

Titles of works of art and literary works, words, and expressions in languages other than Italian that have not become commonplace, as well as parts of the text intended for special emphasis, should be italicized within bibliographic citations. This practice extends beyond book titles, essays, and articles. It is advised not to italicize footnote numbers or punctuation marks following italicized text, specifically commas within bibliographic citations used to delineate various pieces of information (see Chapter 3).

2.4 Numbers

Numbers should be written in letters, except for those indicating technical data and references to pages and figures. It is recommended that centuries and decades also be written in letters ('the 16th century' and not 'the 16th century'). For dates, the day and year should be written in Arabic numerals (but avoid using the notation 'the 1st of June', preferring 'the 1st of June'), and the month in lower case letters ('the 4th of May 1821').

2.5 Abbreviations

The use of abbreviations should be kept to a minimum, being generally only permitted for units of measurement (but only in technical contexts), for certain information within bibliographic or archival citations, and in the other cases listed at the end. It is particularly recommended not to abuse abbreviations such as 'cf.' and 'vd. when introducing bibliographic or archival citations, so as not to unnecessarily burden the notes. Acronyms that identify archives, libraries and other institutions frequently cited in the text or in the notes, or abbreviations that replace the full name of archival collections, may be established by attaching an appropriate list to the text, or by indicating, at the first citation, the abbreviated form in brackets after the full name: Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Firenze (henceforth BNCF). In these cases acronyms must not be punctuated. Within the text, illustrations should be referred to by inserting the abbreviation "fig." or "figg." in round brackets followed by the respective number.

 

3. Conventions for bibliographic citations in footnotes

Bibliographical references are normally made in the notes; the information serves to simply and unambiguously identify the text to which reference is to be made, and for this reason must be clear and complete. For each new bibliographical reference, the following information must be provided in full, as appropriate, in the sequence indicated.

3.1 Autonomous works

a) Author: dotted initial of first name and surname in upper/lower case, followed by comma. If the authors are more than one and up to three, they are all mentioned, separating them with commas; if they are more than three, they are omitted altogether, making the bibliographical citation begin with the indication of the title, avoiding the use of the diction "AA.VV.". If the author does not appear on the title page, but is nevertheless known, it is indicated by placing it in square brackets. In the case of a collective work with one or more editors, or of a work whose title page does not indicate authors but one or more editors, the latter should be cited after the title (see point c).

b) Title: top/bottom italics, followed by comma. It is recommended to cite the title appearing on the title page of the work and not the title printed on the cover, where it is sometimes given with variations.

c) Curator: if the work has a curator, this must be indicated by quoting the dotted initial of the first name and the surname in upper/lower case, preceded by "by" and followed by a comma. If there are more than one and up to three editors, all are quoted separating them with commas; if there are more than three, only the first is quoted followed by the italicised phrase "et al.".

d) City and date of edition: top/bottom round, no comma in between. The name of the city must be indicated in the language used on the title page. If the indication of place and/or year is missing, replace them with 's.l.' and 's.d.' respectively. If the work cited consists of several volumes published in different years, the dates of the first and last volumes are given, separated by a hyphen.

e) Edition and translation: in the case of citing a later edition than the first, the number of the edition cited must be placed, in superscript, after the indication of the year. If you wish to indicate the place and year of the first edition, write them below, in round brackets and preceded by the words "first ed.". When citing the Italian translation of a work published in a foreign language, indicate the information from a) to d) of the original edition, placing after a comma and the diction "trad. it." the indication of the title, the editors (if any), the city and the date of the Italian edition.

f) Pages: at the end, following a comma, the indication of the specific pages referred to in the note may be placed; pages are preceded by the abbreviation 'pp.' and separated by a hyphen.

3.2 Essays in collected works, entries in encyclopedic dictionaries, etc.

The indications and the sequence contained in points a) and b) of the previous paragraph do not change, but after the title of the essay or the entry, the title of the collective volume is indicated, in upper/lower italics, preceded by "in" and followed by a comma. Following this, the editor is indicated according to point c), and then, in Roman numerals, the number of the volume in which the essay is contained, followed by a comma; then the place and date of edition of the volume containing the essay in question, followed by a comma; finally, the beginning and end pages of the essay, preceded by the abbreviation "pp." and separated by a dash. If precise reference is to be made to a particular passage of the essay, after the indication of the beginning and end pages, preceded by a colon (:) the pages in question are indicated.

 

3.3 Proceedings of conferences, congresses, etc.

 

The indications and sequence contained in points a) to d) of section 3.1 do not change, but after the title, the nature of the proceedings (proceedings of the conference, congress, study day, etc.) is indicated in round brackets and the place and date of the conference, separated by commas, is placed in brackets; this information is followed, again separated by commas, by the indication of the editor or editors of the proceedings. In the event that one wishes to cite a single intervention within a volume of proceedings, these indications will be combined with those contained in 3.2.

3.4 Journal paper

After the indication of the author and title, drafted according to the requirements of points a) and b) of paragraph 3. 1, the name of the journal is indicated in double inverted commas (" "), in upper/lower case, taking care to capitalize the first letter of each noun and adjective; after a comma, the indication of the series (if any), the volume or year (in Roman numerals), the year of edition (in Arabic numerals), the issue (in Arabic numerals), the beginning and end pages of the article (respecting the type of numbering used in the article) preceded by the abbreviation "pp. ' and separated by a hyphen; each of these must be separated from the others by commas.

3.5 Abbreviated bibliographic citations

When two bibliographic references with the same author occur in succession, in the second one the dotted initial of the first name and the surname will be replaced by the abbreviation "ID". On the other hand, when a bibliographical reference is repeated several times, an abbreviated formula will be used for citations following the first one, consisting only of the author's surname in small capitals followed by a comma (if any), the first significant words of the title, in italics, followed without spaces by three suspension dots, and then the diction "cit." in round letters, possibly followed by the indication of the page or pages to which the reference is to be made, after a comma.

 

4. Conventions for Illustration Captions

Illustration captions, entirely in italics, must be preceded by their progressive number, immediately followed by a dot. It is therefore necessary to indicate:

(a) in the case of photographs of subjects without a clearly identifiable author (landscapes, urban passages, anonymous or strongly stratified monuments or architecture), the name of the subject top/bottom, followed by a comma and the place, also top/bottom.

b) in the case of subjects with one or more clearly identifiable authors (architectures, works of sculpture, paintings, prints, etc.), the dotted initial of the name and surname of the authors (possibly separated by commas) up/down, followed by a comma and the name of the work. In the case of architectural subjects the place will follow, separated by a comma; in the case of artistic subjects possibly, in round brackets, the place of conservation. The date, if present, shall be placed, separated by a comma, before the indication of the place. In the case of prints contained in volumes, bibliographical information on the volume itself should be provided after the title of the image, according to the rules already indicated, preceded by a comma and the words "from" in round brackets.

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