Italy has long been defined by its contradictions. From the irreligious popes of the Middle Ages to the modern nation’s patchwork union, Italy has been seen as a nation of paradoxes and polarities. To better understand these contrasts, Carte Italiane is pleased to publish “Italian Polarities: Integrity and Corruption, Morality and Transgression.”

This issue seeks to explore the ways in which certain opposing notions – integrity versus corruption, morality versus transgression – have shaped Italy, and how Italians have lived, negotiated, and investigated these dichotomies. Specifically, this issue examines how these conflicting ideas have coexisted in the minds of Italians throughout history. How were poets like Petrarch and Dante able to reconcile their transcendent faith with their earthly desires? What effect did the decadence of the medieval Church have on Italian religiosity? Why did Italians so readily accept the limits of Mussolini’s totalitarian moral system? And what have marginalized authors done to transgress these boundaries? How is Italy still struggling to reconcile its history of domineering patriarchy with feminist and student movements? The papers in this issue seek to address the intersections of integrity/corruption and morality/transgression in the Italian context from the Middle Ages to today.