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The present paper explores domestic devotional practices in Ragusa (modern day Dubrovnik) from the late-thirteenth through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Considering that important advancements in the understanding of domestic devotions in major Mediterranean cities have recently been made—particularly in Venice—the scrutiny of Ragusan sources enables further reflections on the same phenomena in minor Adriatic centres. Considering the paucity of preserved objects, and the fact that no late medieval domestic space of that time has survived in Dubrovnik, one must turn to archival sources to answer questions pertaining to the arrangements and uses of spaces of domestic worship. Three aspects are analysed here: privately owned chapels—adjoined to the dwellings of urban nobility, prayer areas and holy images inside the houses, and relics in the possession of individuals. In light of its source-driven approach, a significant part of this paper is devoted to the issue of the terminology of devotional props in contemporary documents. On a more general level, the paper aims at showing how, although no direct evidence of domestic devotional practices survives (such as in-depth textual evidence), all indications suggest that it was a deeply family-centred matter. Accordingly, particular attention is paid to the city’s most prominent families, such as Volcassio, Volzio and Sorgo. Finally, the evidence presented in this paper, gathered from both published and unpublished sources, offers valuable material for reflections on the spatial arrangements of domestic devotional spaces, not necessarily confined to the members of a single household, but, through hereditary rights, tied to specific lineages. Full article

Increasing environmental, social and economic problems, born by unceasing economic growth, have transformed our approach to the development concept. The 1980s saw the appearance of the sustainable development term and, during the 1990s, sustainability notion was implicitly framed as an integrated concept, frequently, termed as the ‘triple bottom line’ approach. Among several initiatives and efforts to balance our economic and societal pursuits with environmental challenges the, lately, introduced United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) refer to a remarkable evolution, which came to strengthen and establish sustainability conception as an integrated social, economic and environmental triptych. International shipping, as the major carrier of world trade and significant contributor to environmental degradation has, definitely, a vital role to play in facilitating the UN’s sustainability venture. Although there is a great amount of legislative instruments, codes and guidance to address sustainability in shipping, though, limited research has been devoted to identify how the tanker and dry bulk maritime sector has responded to such recent cohesive attitude to sustainable maritime development. Through a quantitative research approach this empirical study aimed to investigate maritime industry’s insights and attitudes in relation to the, newly, introduced triple bottom line approach to global sustainable development. Research data were collected via a questionnaire survey conducted to 50 tanker and/or dry bulk shipping companies. Pearson’s chi-square test of independence and Spearman’s correlation coefficient measures were utilized to test our three formulated hypotheses. Findings highlighted increasing awareness and adaptation of the maritime sector to the triple bottom line approach and, subsequent, sustainability absorption under the auspices of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) business model. Introduction of sustainable development in an integrated manner appears to have influenced the extent that statutory maritime regulations occupy to the formulation of marine safety management systems. To sum up, the integrated management system model turned out to be the most rated tactic to manage sustainability and, as such, a conceptual CSR framework was proposed to facilitate such an objective. Full article