Streghe e stregoneria nella medievistica italiana degli ultimi decenni

This paper grows out of a body of scholarship on witchcraft during the Middle Ages conducted over the last fifty years. Its purpose is to discuss the increasing emphasis on the transcultural nature of witchcraft practices in order to place them within a broader context. The availability of unpublished sources and the reinterpretation of known testimonies, reveal the many inaccuracies that have characterized the way in which witchcraft was perceived in the past. The paper dwells on a few case studies in order to articulate its analysis and argues that the thirst for knowledge, especially in the case of women, was often liable to witchcraft accusations.