Acknowledgements
It feels very surreal to write these acknowledgements. It is the final touch, the cherry on top. Once these are done, so will be my first â I hope of many â book.
Looking back to the journey that brought me here, I relish in the opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to the many people that help me reached this point.
First and foremost, I want to thank Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen and my editor at Brill for giving me this opportunity and believing in my work enough to actually publish it. I want to thank Simon Ditchfield for the stimulating questions and suggestions during my Viva, which helped me turning my dissertation into a book.
I am exceptionally grateful to the archivist and librarians from the various institutions in Naples, Rome, Simancas, Venice and Florence for their assistance in navigating their collections. Without their help, this research would have taken thrice as long. Particularly I want to thank Paola Milone at the Società Napoletana di Storia Patria for always making sure to save a spot for me, Padre Gerardo Imbriani from the Archivio Storico Diocesano for his invaluable insights and Simona Mammana from the National Library of Florence for her kindness in providing me reference material while away from Italy.
I have many friends that I want to thank. Without their support and companionship this book would not exist: Veronica Angeli, Alberto Josè Campillo, Jacob Baxter, Basil Bowdler, Zachary Brookman, Elena Cassi, Francesca Comelli, Barnaby Cullen, Nora Epstein, Jessica Farrell-Jobst, Panos Georgakakis, Hanna de Lange, Jessica Purdy, Simone Ricci, Chelsea Reutcke, Luigi Veneruso, Jacopo Di Vito, Elise Grace Watson, Alexa Zildjian, Maria Zukovs.
And of course the biggest thanks of all goes to my family. To my mother and sister, who encouraged and supported me in every way possible every step of the way. To my family in Naples, Silvana e Piero for housing and feeding me during my archival research, and Paolo, Sabrina, Maria Elena and Natascia for providing much needed distraction, love and laughter and for walking countless times with me among the streets of Naples, looking at churches and street signs.
Thanks to Leonardo Anatrini, my partner and biggest supporter. Thanks for being my sounding board, for listening to my complaints against archival restriction post COVID, for being always there to provide food, love, and support.