Historian Carlo Ginzburg, who wrote about the lives of those usually overlooked, has died

Carlo Ginzburg, February 4, 2026, Bologna. Photo by Roberto Serra — Iguana Press / Getty Images

In Bologna, Italy, historian Carlo Ginzburg, one of the founders of the microhistory movement, died at the age of 88. He came from a Jewish family from Turin, and in 1961 received his PhD from the University of Pisa. After that, he engaged in scientific research, wrote captivatingly, and taught. Among his works are "The Night Battles", "The Cheese and the Worms", and "Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath".

In his book "The Cheese and the Worms" (1976), he explores the story of a 16th-century Friulian miller named Menocchio, who twice faced trial by the Catholic Inquisition: the first time he was sentenced to life imprisonment (later released on pardon due to poor health and his family's dire economic situation), and the second time he was burned at the stake as an unrepentant and stubborn heretic. In this book, Ginzburg, based on an analysis of court documents, highlights various aspects of Menocchio's surprisingly diverse world of cultural, philosophical, political, and religious views, which can only minimally be explained by the influence of "high" culture.

"There are authors with such classical status that you are invariably surprised to learn that they are, in fact, alive and actively writing. That's how it was for me with Carlo Ginzburg: in my school years, his name was included in history faculty programs and listed somewhere alongside Braudel, Foucault, and clearly belonged to history itself.

Later, in more adult years, I was surprised again when I found myself at one of his lectures. The classic continued to be alive and vigorous, and it still seemed to me that I had squeezed through some crack in time and was seeing something that a person of my generation should not see.

Now he is truly gone. What would Menocchio the miller say about this? Probably that both his body and his soul have died, that only the books he wrote remain, and that reading books can bring true joy in life, but also be dangerous. And that there is great pleasure in understanding the world — from the celestial spheres to its simplest and humblest manifestations. And that Professor knew this well and taught others this," historian Siarhiej Hruntoŭ wrote in his farewell message about Ginzburg on Facebook.

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