INTRODUZIONE
only partially explored by the scholars in the emerging field of knowledge of the studies in philanthropy is the articulation between the evolutionary patterns of philanthropy and the shaping of Mediterranean civil societies, through the reconstruction of long – term historical paths. Another focus which needs to be developed – after the pioneering studies of Mark Cohen – are the hybridization’s patterns among cultures and civilizations as well as between traditions and modernity. The hybridization process should be analyzed through different disciplinary approaches (anthropology, history, arts architecture, law, economics) having in mind that several paradoxes are at work in philanthropic institutions’ role and evolutionary patterns. They are universal in scope and aims and path-dependent in role and functions; they are deeply rooted in specific cultural and social tradition and they are agent of social change; they operate in preserving the values and the social identity of a specific society and social groups and they constitute a framework of cultural hybridization, which has deep roots in the past. Murat Cizazcka, analyses the similarity between Islamic waqf and English trust and underlines the fact that under both systems, property is reserved and the usufruct is appropriated for the benefit of specific individuals or for a general charitable purpose. The corpus become inalienable, estates for life in favor of successive beneficiaries can be created at the will of a founder without regard to the law of inheritance or the rights of the heirs and continuity is secured by successive appointment of trustees. Accordingly, philanthropic endowments have roots that are older than Islam. Islamic traditions emerged in a world in which patterns of philanthropic activities already existed. The lands where Islam spread its teachings had been part of great Hellenized societies the Christian Byzantine and the Zoroastrian Sasanian. The Sasanian Law book documents private endowments and 9