Clio, Mars, and Wine: Tracking Down Military Documents in Italy

As historians opt ever more for the easy path of abstract theorization, Niccolò Capponi remains an unrepentant advocate of factual reconstruction. In this short piece he gives some tongue-in-cheek (akin to when one has a toothache) advice to those bona fide historians brave enough to try their hand with Italian archives and libraries, also believing it to be his duty to save as many as possible from committing suicide or living a life of permanent mental derangement.