Giovanni Romeo


Giovanni Romeo is an Italian historian.

Short biography

Romeo was born in Procida. He is a full professor of early modern history at the University of Naples, and a specialist in social and religious history.
His monograph Inquisitori, esorcisti e streghe nell'Italia della Controriforma was considered pioneering and marked an important step forward in inquisitorial and witchcraft studies.
The themes of history of Inquisition and sacramental confession have been developed in two small books of interpretative synthesis: Ricerche su confessione dei peccati e Inquisizione nell’Italia del Cinquecento and L’Inquisizione nell’Italia moderna. Romeo focus on the ecclesiastical strategies of control of sexual behaviours in his large monographs Esorcisti, confessori e sessualità femminile nell’Italia della Controriforma and Amori proibiti. I concubini tra Chiesa e Inquisizione.
In his works dealing with the history of Inquisition and sacramental confession, he has strongly criticised the new leading historiographical trends in inquisitorial history represented especially by John Tedeschi and Adriano Prosperi, focusing on their empirical and documental lacunas.

Academic webpages

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