The physical and mental capacity of having emotions is universal. The methods through which these emotions are perceived, expressed, and shared are always depending by the codified rules imposed by the society and the personal background. Emotions depend on language, cultural practices, expectations, and moral beliefs. This means that every culture has its rules for feelings and behavior; every culture thus exerts certain restraints while favoring certain forms of expressivity. Hate, fear, cruelty, and love are always turning history into the history of passion and lust, because emotional life is always ready to overflow intellectual life.

This fascinating study of emotion in Renaissance Italy shows that emotions are built and created by the society in which they are expressed and conditioned. The contributors examine, among others, the emotional language of the court, around public execution, religious practices and during outbreaks of disease.