Krakowskie tradycje badań dziejów powszechnych epoki nowożytnej. Zarys problematyki: Półwysep Apeniński

The Italian issues, especially in relation to the modern era in the context of historical research, poses an extremely interdisciplinary character. Therefore, the outline of these issues must include research related not only to the political or military history of the countries located on the Apennine Peninsula but also to the concerns of the history of culture and science as well as the history of legal and political doctrines or historiographic reflection. These examinations should be also conducted in the areas of history of culture, legal and political history, and the history of the Church, and to a much lesser extent in the area of socio‑economic history and the history of wars. In the research carried out in all these fields, one also finds issues concerning Italy and Poland’s relations with the Italian states with particular emphasis put on the Holy See and the Republic of Venice. Józef Andrzej Gierowski was the author of the only Polish synthesis of Italian history. This scholar and his academic output discussing the Italian issues (including the issue of an “early Enlightenment”) held a high position in the traditions of the research on the general history of the Apennine Peninsula in the modern era. The conclusions presented in his writings indicate research perspectives which still remain valid.