In his research, Alessandro Testa emerges as an anthropologist and ethnographer, analysing festivals, festivity, and rituals in their current form in European societies. He transcends the boundaries of previously established categories of what is traditional, indigenous, and archaic, focusing on contemporary societies' and political authorities' adaptations of ritual mechanisms. The monograph (Testa, 2023) is divided into two main parts: a theoretical first part and a practical second part, which is based on the author's own field research. The first chapter precedes both these parts and can be described as an introduction. As the author notes at the outset, the book is a collection of essays, some previously published as chapters or articles. In this book, these texts have been enhanced with up-to-date research data and the author's reflections, summarizing a decade of gathering research materials and analysis of the topic.
