Postcard from Bertinoro

Bertinoro is famous for its ancient Hospitality Rite: anyone could be hosted for a meal by one of the noble families of the town simply by taking his envelopes tied to a ring of the Hospitality Column (which inside has the name of the hosting family).

Emperor Septimius Severus and inflation

Today Roman Emperor Septimius Severus died at York in 211 during his military campaign to make Britannia's frontier safe.

He was a great soldier, but his many successes unleashed the very one enemy who contributed most significantly to the fall of Roman Empire: inflation. In fact, to finance his military campaigns

Severus for the first time uncoupled intrinsic and nominal value of coins, by halving the quantity of precious metals. 

From Lupercalia to Candlemas

Today Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple otherwise known as the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin or Candlemas. The Italian name is the Candelora. 

It is a purification day which replaced in 492 a.D. the ancient Roman purification rites of the Februatio during the Lupercalia. This superimposition practice has always been very common.