Marco Aime is professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Genoa. He has conducted research on the Alps and in West Africa. Aime has authored a number of books: Le radici nella sabbia (EDT, 1999); La macchia della razza (Ponte alle Grazie, 2009); Una bella differenza (2009), Il dono al tempo di Internet (with A. Cossetta, 2010), L’altro e l’altrove (with D. Papotti, 2012) published by Einaudi; Verdi tribù del Nord (Editori Laterza, 2012); African graffiti (Stampa alternativa, 2012); Il diverso come icona del male (with E. Severino, 2009), Cultura (2013) published by Bollati Boringhieri.

Laura Boella is a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the Università Statale of Milan. She has studied the major 20th-century female thinkers and is an expert on Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, Maria Zambrano and Edith Stein. She has focussed on interpersonal relationships and on the feelings of sympathy, empathy, compassion. Among her most recent books are: Sentire l’altro. Conoscere e praticare l’empatia (2006), Neuroetica. La morale prima della morale (2008), all published by Raffaello Cortina; Credere oggi (with Enzo Bianchi, Il Margine, 2012). Gherardo Colombo is a retired judge, has led a number of major investigations by the Italian authorities on organized crime, corruption, terrorism and mafia. He is vice-president of Garzanti Publishers. His books include: Il vizio della memoria (Feltrinelli, 1998); Sulle regole (Feltrinelli, 2008); Sei Stato tu? La Costituzione attraverso le domande dei bambini (with A. Sarfatti, Salani, 2009); Democrazia (Bollati Boringhieri, 2011); Educare alla legalità (Salani, 2011); Il perdono responsabile (Ponte alle Grazie, 2011); Farla Franca (with Franco Marzoli, Longanesi, 2012).

Gherardo Colombo is a retired judge, has led a number of major investigations by the Italian authorities on organized crime, corruption, terrorism and mafia. He is vice-president of Garzanti Publishers. His books include: Il vizio della memoria (Feltrinelli, 1998); Sulle regole (Feltrinelli, 2008); Sei Stato tu? La Costituzione attraverso le domande dei bambini (with A. Sarfatti, Salani, 2009); Democrazia (Bollati Boringhieri, 2011); Educare alla legalità (Salani, 2011); Il perdono responsabile (Ponte alle Grazie, 2011); Farla Franca (with Franco Marzoli, Longanesi, 2012).

Salvatore Natoli, teaches Theoretical Philosophy at the Università Statale di Milano-Bicocca and the History of Ideas at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan. He has contributed to many journals such as Prospettive settanta, Il centauro, Democrazia e diritto, Religione e società, Leggere, Bailamme and Metaxù. His books include: L’esperienza del dolore. Le forme del patire nella cultura occidentale (1986); La felicità (1994); Dizionario dei vizi e delle virtù (1996); Parole della filosofia o dell’arte di meditare (2004); La salvezza senza fede (2007) all published by Feltrinelli; La felicità di questa vita (Mondadori, 2001); Sul male assoluto. Nichilismo e idoli del Novecento (Morcelliana, 2006); La mia filosofia. Forme del mondo e saggezza del vivere (Ets, 2008); Il buon uso del mondo (Mondadori, 2010); and L’edificazione di sé. Istruzioni sulla vita interiore (i Libri del Festival della Mente, Laterza, September 2010); I comandamenti. Non ti farai idolo né immagine (with Pierangelo Sequeri, il Mulino, 2011).

Mark Anspach, the anthropologist, is originally from California but lives in France and in Italy. He works at the Paris Centre de recherche en épistémologie appliquée, and has studied economy and social science at Harvard before obtaining a Ph.D. in anthropology in Paris and in Literature in Stanford under René Girard, whose writing he has edited. Anspach’s research focus is on the ritual aspects of violence and of exchange, and on social and cognitive mechanisms. Anspach contributes to the journal of MAUSS, the Anti-Utilitarian Movement in Social Science, and keeps a blog on the U.S. Website www.imitatio.org. He has written A buon rendere. La reciprocità nella vendetta, nel dono e nel mercato (2007), and co-authored Che cos’è il religioso? Religione e politica (published by Bollati Boringhieri in 2006) and Cosa significa donare? (with E. Sarnelli, D. Falcioni), published by Guida Editori in 2011.

Stefano Zamagni is an Italian economist and is past president of the Agency for the Third Sector. He is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Bologna and at Johns Hopkins University, Bologna Center, and chairs the Steering Committee of the Higher School of Health Policies at the University of Bologna. He is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna, of the Lombard Institute of Sciences and Humanities in Milan, and of the New York Academy of Sciences. In 2010 he received an honorary degree in Economics from the F. de Vitoria University of Madrid. Also in 2010 he was awarded the ‘Giorgio La Pira Prize for Peace.’ Among his many books are: Microeconomia (with Flavio Delbono, 1999); Economia civile (with Luigino Bruni, 2004); La cooperazione (with Vera Zamagni, 2008); Avarizia. La passione dell’avere (2009), all published by il Mulino; Economia ed Etica (with Nicola Curci), published by La Scuola in 2009; Famiglia e lavoro (with Vera Zamagni), published by San Paolo in 2012.

Corrado Augias is a journalist, an author, and a television host. He regularly contributes to La Repubblica newsdaily, and has been hosting the cultural show ‘Le Storie—Diario italiano’ on RAI channel 3. His books include: I segreti di Roma (2005), Inchiesta su Gesù (with M. Pesce, 2006), Leggere. Perché i libri ci rendono migliori, più allegri e più liberi (2007), Inchiesta sul cristianesimo (with R. Cacitti, 2008), Disputa su Dio e dintorni (with V. Mancuso, 2009), I segreti del Vaticano (2010), all published by Mondadori; Il disagio della libertà (Rizzoli, 2012).

Virginio Colmegna, is a Catholic priest. In 1993 he was appointed by the then archbishop of Milan, Card. C. M. Martini, to head the Milan branch. He held the post until 2004, when he became president of the ‘Casa della carità’ Foundation. His books include: Cristiano di parola (with S. Landra, 2005), È bello per noi stare qui (with M. Mapelli, 2006), published by Centro Ambrosiano; Non per me solo (2011), and Parole nuove per la politica (edited by him and M.G. Guida, 2011) published by il Saggiatore.

Maurizio Ferraris teaches Theoretical Philosophy at Turin University, where he directs the Labont (Ontology Laboratory). He is editor of the magazine Rivista di Estetica, associate editor of Critique and an editorial writer for the newspaper La Repubblica. He is Directeur d’études at the Collège International de Philosophie, a Fellow of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America and of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Foundation, and Visiting Professor at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He has written more than forty books translated in many languages, including: Storia dell’ermeneutica (Bompiani, 1988); Estetica razionale (Cortina, 1997); Dove sei? Ontologia del telefonino (Bompiani, 2005,) winner of the Filosofico Castiglioncello e Documentalità Prize; Perché è necessario lasciar tracce (Laterza, 2009); and Ricostruire la decostruzione (Bompiani, September 2010); Estetica razionale (Raffaello Cortina, 1997); Filosofia per dame (Guanda, 2011); Anima e iPad (Guanda, 2011); Documentalità. Perché è necessario lasciar tracce (Laterza, 2009); Manifesto del nuovo realismo (Laterza, 2012).

Chiara Frugoni has taught Medieval History at the universities of Pisa and Rome Tor Vergata and in Paris. In the teaching of history, she has always made large use of pictures as well as texts. Among her books, which are translated into the main European languages as well as into Japanese and Korean, are: Francesco e l’invenzione delle stimmate (Einaudi, 1993, Premio Viareggio); Storia di un giorno in una città medioevale (Laterza, 1997); Mille e non più mille. Viaggio fra le paure di fine millennio (with G. Duby, Rizzoli, 1999); Medioevo sul naso. Occhiali, bottoni e altre invenzioni medievali (2001), Una solitudine abitata: Chiara d’Assisi (Laterza, 2006); L’affare migliore di Enrico. Giotto e la cappella Scrovegni (2008), La voce delle immagini. Pillole iconografiche dal Medioevo (2010), Le storie di San Francesco. Guida agli affreschi della Basilica Superiore di Assisi (2010), Storia di Chiara e Francesco (2011), all published by Einaudi.

Marino Niola, a well-known anthropologist of contemporary times, is Professor of Anthropology of Symbols at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Naples, where he also heads a research lab on Mediterranean diet. His main research focus is the relationship between tradition and cultural change in contemporary societies and the persistence of myth in the contaminated forms of the present time. He is a member of the steering committee of AISEA, the Italian Association of Ethno-Anthropological Sciences. He is a frequent contributor to the newsdaily La Repubblica and writes a column entitled Today’s Myths in its Friday supplement. He also contributes to Le Nouvel Observateur, Locarno’s il caffè and Naples’ Il Mattino. Among his books are Totem e ragù. Divagazioni napoletane (Pironti, 2003); Don Giovanni o della seduzione (L’Ancora del Mediterraneo, 2005); I Santi patroni (2007), Si fa presto a dire cotto. Un antropologo in cucina (2009), and Non tutto fa brodo (2012) published by il Mulino.