Showing posts with label Bologna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bologna. Show all posts

4 October 2023

The Gregorian Calendar

Why a 16th century Pope decreed that 10 days would not happen

The cover page of the first printed edition of the calendar, in 1582
The cover page of the first printed
edition of the calendar, in 1582
The Gregorian Calendar, which is used today by every country in the world with just four exceptions, was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII on this day in 1582.

The calendar replaced the Julian calendar, which had been implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 BC but which was based on a miscalculation of the length of the solar year and had gradually fallen out of sync with the seasons.

The Catholic Church wanted to make the change because the actual spring equinox - one of the two days in each year when the sun appears directly above the equator - was drifting further away from the ecclesiastical date of the equinox, which in turn determines the date of Easter. 

In Christian tradition, Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus three days after his crucifixion, which historical evidence suggests occurred around the time of the spring equinox, nominally dated as March 21. 

The miscalculation in the Julian calendar seems tiny, an assumption that the average solar year was exactly 365.25 days when the reality is 365.2422 days. Yet even after the inclusion of the supposedly corrective leap year every four years, the error meant that over the 1,628 years of the calendar’s use, the gap between the actual equinox and the date of the equinox in the ecclesiastical year had grown to 12.7 days.

Aloysus Lilius, one of a number of Italian scientists invited by Pope Gregory XIII to submit proposals for how the calendar might be reformed, realised that the addition of a leap year on an unvarying four-year cycle still made the calendar slightly too long. 

Lilius - sometimes called Luigi Lilio or Luigi Giglio - came up with a variation that adds leap days in years divisible by four, unless the year is also divisible by 100. If the year is also divisible by 400, a leap day is added regardless. 

A bust of the scientist Aloysus Lilius
A bust of the scientist
Aloysus Lilius
The German mathematician, Christopher Clavius, described as the architect of the Gregorian calendar, made slight modifications but largely adopted the Lilius formula as presented.

The formula did not completely correct the problem, but reduced the drifting apart of the solar equinox and the ecclesiastical equinox to just a few seconds per year, which means it will take until 4909 for the solar year and the Gregorian calendar year to be just one day out of sync. 

The more dramatic part of the change came in correcting the cumulative effect of the Julian calendar’s miscalculation so that re-alignment could happen immediately. To make this happen, 1582 was shortened by 10 days.

Thus when midnight was reached on Thursday, October 4, the date of the next day was changed to Friday, October 15.

The Gregorian calendar also renumbered the leap day as February 29, ending the practice in the Julian Calendar by which every four years February 24 lasted 48 hours rather than 24.

Nowadays, only four countries in the world - Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia and Nepal - do not use the Gregorian calendar, although its acceptance when first introduced was by no means universal and it was several hundred years before it became recognised as the world’s calendar.

Pope Gregory XIII had a reputation as a reformer
Pope Gregory XIII had a
reputation as a reformer
The countries and colonies of Spain, Portugal, France, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Italy, the Catholic Low Countries and Luxembourg instituted it immediately.

However, the Protestant countries largely rejected the change at first because of its introduction by a Catholic pontiff. It was not until 1700 that Protestant Germany switched over, while Great Britain and its colonies - including at that time much of what would become the United States of America - remained faithful to the Julian calendar until 1752.

Another 121 years had passed before Japan made the change in 1873, China did not come on board until 1912 and Saudi Arabia - the last country to make the switch - not until just seven years ago, in 2016.

Many countries - including most of Western Europe - also agreed to standardise New Year’s Day as January 1 with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. Until 1752, the start of a new year in Great Britain had been March 25 - the Feast of the Annunciation, also known as Lady Day.

The Piazza Maggiore, pictured at dusk, is the heart of the city of Bologna
The Piazza Maggiore, pictured at dusk, is the
heart of the city of Bologna
Travel tip:

Pope Gregory XIII was born Ugo Boncompagni in Bologna in 1502. Bologna is one of Italy's oldest cities, with a history that can be traced back to 1,000BC or possibly earlier, with a settlement that was developed into an urban area by the Etruscans, the Celts and the Romans.  The University of Bologna, the oldest in the world, was founded in 1088.  Bologna's city centre, which has undergone substantial restoration since the 1970s, is one of the largest and best preserved historical centres in Italy, characterised by 38km (24 miles) of walkways protected by porticoes.  At the heart of the city is the beautiful Piazza Maggiore, dominated by the Gothic Basilica of San Petronio, which at 132m long, 66m wide and with a facade that touches 51m at its tallest, is the 10th largest church in the world and the largest built in brick.

The rugged hill-top town of Cirò in Calabria. the birthplace of Aloysius Lilius
The rugged hill-top town of Cirò in Calabria.
the birthplace of Aloysius Lilius
Travel tip:

Aloysius Lilius, a doctor, astronomer, philosopher and chronologist, was born in Cirò, in Calabria, a rugged hill town about 40km (25 miles) north of the port city of Crotone, on the Ionian Sea coast, of which it offers commanding views. The site of a settlement since the Bronze Age, the town became an important regional centre between about 1300 and 1500, with a castle that has now fallen into disrepair. The town’s economy is based on agriculture, with the production of oil, wine, cereals and citruses as well as cattle breeding. Cirò is famous for the production of Calabria's most important wine, marketed simply as Cirò, a red wine made from Gaglioppo grapes, sometimes described as ‘Calabria’s Barolo’. On the coast below, Cirò Marina is a town of 14,000 inhabitants that has become a popular resort which has been awarded Blue Flag status for the quality of its sea water. Archaeological finds unearthed locally provide evidence of the area’s importance at the time of Magna Graecia.

Also on this day:

1633: The birth of physician Bernardino Ramazzini

1657: The birth of painter Francesco Solimena 

1720: The birth of printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi

1994: The birth of tenor Ignazio Boschetto

The Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi 


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11 August 2022

Lavinia Fontana – artist

Mother of 11 was Italy’s first female professional painter

A detail from Fontana's Self-Portrait at the Clavichord with a Servant, painted in 1577
A detail from Fontana's Self-Portrait at the
Clavichord with a Servant,
painted in 1577
Bolognese Mannerist artist Lavinia Fontana, who became famous for her portraits, died on this day in 1614 in Rome. She has come to be regarded as the first female professional painter in both Italy and throughout western Europe because her family lived on her income from commissioned works. Her husband worked as her assistant and agent and helped her bring up their 11 children.

Lavinia was born in Bologna in 1552 and baptised at the Basilica di San Petronio in the city. Her father, Prospero, was a prominent artist of the Bolognese school and trained Lavinia to follow in his footsteps. This allowed her to become an artist at a time when women were not widely accepted in the profession.

Her earliest known work, Child of the Monkey, was painted in 1575 when she was 23, but is now lost. Another early painting, Christ with the Symbols of the Passion, which was painted in 1576, is now in the El Paso Museum of Art in Texas.

Bologna society was largely supportive of Lavinia’s career, providing opportunities that were not given to women artists in other areas of Italy. She is thought to be the first woman artist working within the same sphere as her male counterparts to live outside a court or a convent.

Lavinia began working professionally by painting small devotional pictures on copper, which had popular appeal as papal and diplomatic gifts. By the 1580s she was in demand as a portrait painter of Bolognese noblewomen, who competed for her services and paid large sums of money for her work because of her close attention to detail. 

Mancini's Christ with the Symbols of Passion, at the El Paso Museum of Art
Mancini's Christ with the Symbols of
Passion,
at the El Paso Museum of Art
She displayed the wealth of the sitter by not neglecting any fashionable detail and by using bright colours for their clothes and jewellery. She also painted portraits of important people connected with the University of Bologna. As her career developed, she began creating large-scale paintings with religious or mythological themes. Among her most famous works are her large altarpieces for churches in Bologna.

Lavinia married another painter, Gian Paolo Zappi, in 1577, at the age of 26, and continued to paint professionally, adding the name Zappi to her signature.

Her husband helped her take care of the household and worked as her painting assistant and agent. He would paint minor elements of her canvases, such as draperies. Lavinia attended Bologna University and was listed as one of the city’s ‘donne addotrinate’, women with doctorates, in 1580.

In 1589, Lavinia painted the altarpiece Holy Family with the Sleeping Christ Child for El Escorial in Madrid.

At the invitation of Pope Clement VIII, Lavinia and her family moved to Rome in 1604 and she was appointed Portraitist in Ordinary at the Vatican. Pope Paul V was later among her sitters.

In 1604, Lavinia painted her largest work, The Martyrdom of St Stephen, an altarpiece for San Paolo Fuori le Mura - Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls - in Rome.

Among the honours she received was a bronze portrait medallion of herself cast by sculptor and architect Felice Antonio Casoni in 1611. She was also elected into the Accademia di San Luca of Rome, which was rare for a woman.

Minerva Dressing (1613), thought to be
the first female nude painted by a woman 
Lavinia died in Rome on 11 August 1614 and was later buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, one of the major Dominican churches in the capital.

One of Lavinia’s masterpieces is considered to be the Self-Portrait at the Clavichord with a Servant, which she painted as a gift to the Zappi family before her wedding, describing herself as a virgin in the signature. She also stated that she painted it while looking at herself in a mirror as a testament to it being an accurate depiction of her.

Over 100 of her works have been documented, but only 32 signed and dated are still known today. Another 25 have been attributed to her, giving her the largest collection of works by any female artist before 1700.

Lavinia’s religious and mythological paintings sometimes featured nude figures. Her painting, Minerva Dressing, for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew to Pope Paul V, is believed to be the first female nude executed by a woman in Italy.  This can be seen in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. It has also been claimed Lavinia was the first female artist to paint mythological subjects.

Lavinia was immortalised by being the subject of Portrait of a Woman by Paolo Veronese, painted in 1595, when she was 43. She was the only woman to be featured in the 17th century book Considerazioni sulla pittura - Considerations on Painting - written by the physician and art collector Giulio Mancini, where the beauty of her paintings was likened to her own physical attractions by the writer.

It was rare for a woman painter to achieve such success and to profit from her talent during the Renaissance period. Some experts would argue that, to this day, Lavinia Fontana remains insufficiently appreciated as an artist.

The Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna is the sixth largest church in Europe
The Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna
is the sixth largest church in Europe
Travel tip:

The Basilica di San Petronio, where Lavinia Fontana was baptised, dominates Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore. Standing 47m (154ft) tall, 132m (144yds) long and 60m (66yds) wide, it is the sixth largest church in Europe and is seen as a symbol of the city. Strangely,  it was not consecrated as a church until 1954 - 574 years after it was built. It was constructed as a civic temple and not transferred from the city to the diocese until 1929.  It is notable for its unfinished facade, the red and brick marble of Domenico da Varignana’s design abandoned when it had barely reached one third of the building’s height, following the intervention of Pope Pius IV, who considered the project too expensive and ambitious.

The Basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls is one of Rome's four major Papal Basilicas
The Basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls is
one of Rome's four major Papal Basilicas
Travel tip:

St Paul Outside-the-Walls is one of the four major Papal Basilicas in Rome, along with St John in the Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterano), St Peter’s (San Pietro in Vaticano) and St Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore). Originally built in the fourth century, it was founded by the Roman emperor Constantine I over the burial place of St Paul. It was damaged and rebuilt after Saracen raids in the ninth century and an earthquake in the 14th century and almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1823, after which Pope Leo XII ordered it to be reconstructed to exactly resemble the original, consecrated in 324, although this turned out to be an unrealistic ambition. The new basilica bears only a general resemblance to the original. The tomb of St Paul is below a marble tombstone in the basilica’s crypt.

Also on this day:

1492: The election of Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI

1902: The birth of cycling champion Alfredo Binda

1967: The birth of football coach Massimiliano Allegri 


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16 February 2022

The death of Giosuè Carducci – poet

National poet’s work inspired the fight for a united Italy

Carducci's funeral procession drew huge crowds on to the streets of Bologna
Carducci's funeral procession drew
huge crowds on to the streets of Bologna
The poet Giosuè Carducci, who was the first Italian to win the Nobel prize in Literature, died on this day in 1907 in Bologna.

Aged 71, he passed away at his home, Casa Carducci, near Porta Maggiore, a kilometre and a half from the centre of the Emilia-Romagna city. He had been in ill health for some time and was not well enough to travel to Stockholm to receive his prize, awarded in 1906, which was instead presented to him at his home.

His funeral at the Basilica di San Petronio in Piazza Maggiore followed a procession through the streets that attracted a huge crowd.

Carducci had been one of the most influential literary figures of his age and was professor of Italian literature at Bologna University, where he lectured for more than 40 years.

The Italian people revered Carducci as their national poet and he was made a senator for life by the King of Italy in 1890.

Carducci was born in 1835 in the hamlet of Val di Castello, part of Pietrasanta, in the province of Lucca in Tuscany and he spent his childhood in the wild Maremma area of the region.

After studying at the University of Pisa, Carducci was at the centre of a group of young men determined to overthrow the prevailing Romanticism in literature and return to classical models.

Carducci's poetry became an inspiration to patriots fighting for a united Italy
Carducci's poetry became an inspiration
to patriots fighting for a united Italy
Carducci was attracted to Greek and Roman authors and also studied the works of Italian classical writers such as Dante, Torquato Tasso and Vittorio Alfieri.

The poets Giuseppe Parini, Vincenzo Monti and Ugo Foscolo were influences on him, as is evident from his first book of poems, Rime, produced in 1857.

In 1863, Carducci showed both his great power as a poet and the strength of his republican, anticlerical feelings in his Inno a Satana - Hymn to Satan - and, in 1867, in his Giambi ed epode - Iambics and Epodes - inspired by the politics of the time.

The best of Carducci’s poetry came in 1887 with Rime nuove - New Rhymes - and Odi Barbare - Barbarian Odes - which evoke the landscape of the Maremma and his childhood memories, the loss of his only son, and also recall the glory of Roman history.

Carducci’s enthusiasm for the classical led him to adapt Latin prosody to Italian verse and to imitate Horace and Virgil. His poetry was to inspire many Italians fighting for independence and for a united Italy.

The poet became the first Italian to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1906. According to the Swedish Academy this was awarded ‘not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style and lyrical force, which characterise his poetic masterpieces’.

Carducci also wrote prose prolifically in the form of literary criticism. biographies, speeches and essays and he translated works by Goethe and Heine into Italian.

After his funeral on 19 February he was laid to rest at the Certosa di Bologna, the city’s monumental cemetery.

Pietrasanta's Cattedrale di San Martino
Pietrasanta's Cattedrale
di San Martino
Travel tip:


Pietrasanta, the town where Carducci was born, is on the coast of northern Tuscany, to the north of Viareggio. It had Roman origins and part of a Roman wall still exists. The medieval town was built in 1255 upon the pre-existing Rocca di Sala fortress of the Lombards and the Duomo (Cathedral of San Martino) dates back to the 13th century. Pietrasanta grew in importance in the 15th century due to its marble, the beauty of which was first recognised by the sculptor, Michelangelo.

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Leonardo Bistolfi's monument to Giosuè Carducci in the garden of the Casa Carducci in Bologna
Leonardo Bistolfi's monument to Giosuè Carducci
in the garden of the Casa Carducci in Bologna
Travel tip:

The Museum of the Risorgimento in Bologna is now housed on the ground floor of the house where Carducci died in Piazza Carducci in the centre of the city. The museum has exhibits and documents that chronicle the history of the Risorgimento from the Napoleonic invasions of Italy to the end of the First World War. The museum was first inaugurated in 1893 and moved to Casa Carducci, the last home of the poet, in 1990.  In the garden, there is an imposing monument to Carducci by the sculptor Leonardo Bistolfi.

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More reading:

How the revolutionary Ugo Foscolo expressed Italian sentiment in verse

Why Dante Alighieri remains in exile from his native Florence

The nobleman whose poetry inspired the oppressed

Also on this day:

1740: The birth of type designer Giambattista Bodoni

1918: The birth of designer Achille Castiglioni

1935: The birth of vocalist Edda Dell’Orso

1970: The birth of footballer Angelo Peruzzi

1979: The birth of motorcycle world champion Valentino Rossi

(Picture credits: Pietrasanta cathedral by Stephencdickson; Bologna monument by Nicola Quirico; via Wikimedia Commons)



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21 January 2022

Giuseppe Savoldi - footballer

The world’s first £1 million player

Savoldi scored 168 goals in  405 matches for Bologna
Savoldi scored 168 goals in 
405 matches for Bologna
Giuseppe Savoldi, whose transfer from Bologna to Napoli in 1975 made him the first footballer in the world to be bought for £1 million, was born on this day in 1947 in Gorlago, a municipality a short distance from the city of Bergamo in Lombardy.

A prolific striker, Savoldi’s big-money deal came four years ahead of the much heralded £1 million transfer of another striker, Trevor Francis, from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest, which made him the first player in Britain to move for a seven-figure sum.

Napoli, who saw Savoldi as the last component in what they hoped would be a title-winning team, paid 1.4 billion lire in cash, plus two players, Sergio Clerici and Romario Rampanti, to secure his signature. The two players were valued at 600 million lire in total, which valued Savoldi at 2 billion lire, the equivalent at the time of about £1.2 million.

But where Francis, who later spent five seasons playing in Serie A, won two European Cups with Nottingham Forest, scoring the winning goal in the final in 1979, Savoldi’s move did not yield anything like the same kind of success.

Napoli had finished third and then second in Serie A in the seasons before Savoldi’s arrival but were unable to maintain their momentum. Savoldi was top scorer in each of his four seasons in Campania but i Partenopei - named after the ancient Greek settlement that evolved into Neapolis - could finish no higher than fifth in his time there.

Giuseppe Savoldi (left) with his brother, Gianluigi, who played for Juventus
Giuseppe Savoldi (left) with his brother,
Gianluigi, who played for Juventus
Indeed, although he ended his career as the 13th highest scorer in the history of the Italian championship with 168 goals from 405 matches, his only winners’ medals came in the Coppa Italia, which he won twice with Bologna and once with Napoli, and the Anglo-Italian League Cup, which he won once with each club.

Savoldi was born into a sporting family. His mother, Gloria Guerini, was a top-level volleyball player, winning the first Italian women’s championship in the sport as a member of the Amatori Bergamo club, and his younger brother, Gianluigi, also played professional football.

Giuseppe himself was a talented all-round athlete, excelling at both the high jump and basketball, despite standing only 1.75m (5ft 9ins). His footballing ability was clear, however, and in 1965, at the age of 18, he joined his local Serie A club, Atalanta.

Initially used as a winger, Savoldi took a while to reveal his potential. In his first full season, despite being given the No 9 shirt and a licence to attack through the middle, he managed only five goals. Yet in his second season at centre-forward he was Atalanta’s top scorer with 13 Serie A goals and began to attract attention from other clubs.

At first he was not keen to leave his hometown club but his chances of winning trophies with Atalanta were remote and in 1968 he willingly signed for Bologna, where he would become one of the club’s most successful forwards, his tally of 140 goals in all competitions bettered by only three other players in the club’s history.

Savoldi (back row, third from left) made his first
appearance in the
His tally in Serie A for the rossoblu was 85 from 201 appearances, an outstanding achievement given that Italian football was heavily defensive in the 1970s. It would have been 86 but for an extraordinary incident in a fixture against Ascoli Piceno in the 1974-75, when Savoldi was denied a goal after a ballboy managed to kick the ball back into play after it had crossed the line, without the referee noticing.

Savoldi was capocannoniere - top scorer - for Bologna for six consecutive seasons, winning the Coppa Italia in 1970 and 1974 and the Anglo-Italian League Cup - a short-lived competition that pitched the Coppa Italia winners against the English League Cup winners over two legs - by beating Manchester City.  But Bologna could not finish higher than fifth in Serie A, which persuaded him that he needed to move again.

Napoli looked like a team that could fulfil Savoldi’s dream of becoming a Serie A winner. There was an outcry in some quarters over the price Napoli were willing to pay.  Many Neapolitans lived on the breadline at the time and angry trade unions complained that half of the two billion lire would have paid the city’s refuse collectors what they were owed in unpaid wages by the near-bankrupt city council. Seven goals in his first seven matches by Savoldi quelled some of the discontent, however, and had the city dreaming of a first Serie A title.

Savoldi frequently offers his opinion as a regular Serie A pundit
Savoldi frequently offers his opinion as
a regular Serie A pundit
Sadly for Savoldi, that distinction would not come until the following decade, when a certain Diego Maradona arrived to transform the club’s fortunes. Savoldi had to content himself with his third Coppa Italia and another Anglo-Italian League Cup.

He returned to Bologna in 1979 but a shadow was cast over the end of his career when he became embroiled in the infamous Totonero match-fixing scandal that saw a number of high-profile players, including the future World Cup hero Paolo Rossi, handed lengthy bans.

Savoldi, who earned seven senior caps with the Italian national team, was barred from playing for three and a half years. This was reduced to two years on appeal but effectively ended his career at the top level. He returned for one more season with Atalanta in Serie B before retiring in 1983.

For the next 15 years, he concentrated on coaching but achieved only modest success. Nowadays, he is involved in football largely as pundit, in which role he is often asked his opinion on the current fortunes of his former clubs. He lives in the Bergamo area.


Bergamo's walls have been standing for about four and a half centuries
Bergamo's walls have been standing for
about four and a half centuries
Travel tip:

Bergamo in Lombardy, where Giuseppe Savoldi lives, having been born in nearby Gorlago, is a fascinating, historic city with two distinct centres. The Città Alta, upper town, is a beautiful, walled city with buildings that date back to medieval times, with a good deal of Venetian influence. The walls, which extend to more than six kilometres (3.72 miles) around the Città Alta, with four gates, go back to the mid-16th century. Designed to protect the city from enemies, they remain largely intact. The elegant Città Bassa, lower town, still has some buildings that date back to the 15th century, but more imposing and elaborate architecture was added in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Piazza Maggiore in Bologna; the square is the heart of the well-preserved city centre
Piazza Maggiore in Bologna; the square is the
heart of the well-preserved city centre
Travel tip:

Bologna, where Savoldi made his name as a player, is one of Italy's oldest cities. It can be traced back to 1,000BC or possibly earlier, with a settlement that was developed into an urban area by the Etruscans, the Celts and the Romans.  The University of Bologna, the oldest in the world, was founded in 1088.  Bologna's city centre, which has undergone substantial restoration since the 1970s, is one of the largest and best preserved historical centres in Italy, characterised by 38km (24 miles) of walkways protected by porticoes.  At the heart of the city is the beautiful Piazza Maggiore, dominated by the Gothic Basilica of San Petronio, which at 132m long, 66m wide and with a facade that touches 51m at its tallest, is the 10th largest church in the world and the largest built in brick.

Also on this day:

1918: The birth of conductor and cellist Antonio Janigro

1926: The death of neuroscientist Camillo Golgi

1949: The birth of chef Gennaro Contaldo

2006: The death of 1938 World Cup winner Pietro Rava


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17 April 2021

Gianni Raimondi – tenor

Brilliant performer left few recordings of his voice

Raimondi's performances were much admired by opera fans
Raimondi's performances were
much admired by opera fans
Opera singer Gianni Raimondo, who on his first appearance at La Scala in Milan sang opposite Maria Callas in a production by Luchino Visconti, was born on this day in 1923 in Bologna.

Raimondi was admired for his brilliant top notes and exquisite phrasing when he performed. Opera fans have been disappointed that more recordings of his performances were not made at the time.

After studying voice in Bologna and Mantua, the tenor made his stage debut at the Teatro Consorziale in Budrio, a small town near Bologna, in 1977 as the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto. The following year in Bologna he sang the part of Ernesto in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and was then chosen for the premiere of Il Contrabasso by Valentino Bucchi at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence.

In 1956 he made his La Scala debut opposite Callas in Verdi’s La Traviata and the following year sang opposite Callas again in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena.

He was also successful at La Scala in Rossini’s Mose in Egitto and Semiramide and as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème.

Raimondo made his American debut in 1957 in San Francisco and then took part in La bohème at the Staatsoper in Vienna. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli, he then toured with La bohème to Moscow, Monaco and Bavaria.

Maria Callas sang opposite Raimondi in several productions
Maria Callas sang opposite
Raimondi in several productions
He also appeared in the film of La bohème, directed by Zeffirelli, in 1965. 

In the same year he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor singing opposite Mirella Freni. He appeared at La Scala in the same opera in the 1968 to 1969 season and then from 1969 to 1977 Raimondi was engaged in Hamburg by the Staatsoper.

There is a recording of Raimondi in La Traviata with Renata Scotto and of the singer at La Scala performing with Maria Callas in Anna Bolena.

Opera experts say he had a voice of great beauty and that he sang with style and elegance.

He was married to the Italian soprano Gianna Dal Sommo and in later years he gave vocal classes in Budria, the small town where he had made his operatic debut.

In retirement he spent much of his time at his seaside villa in Riccione in Emilia-Romagna.

Raimondi died at his home in Pianoro near Bologna in 2008. His death, at the age of 85, was announced by La Scala.

Budrio's 14th century town hall - the Palazzo Municipale on Piazza Filopanti
Budrio's 14th century town hall - the
Palazzo Municipale on Piazza Filopanti
Travel tip:

Budrio, where Raimondi made his operatic debut and later taught singing, is 15 km (nine miles) east of Bologna. It was founded in the 10th century and the Church of San Lorenzo was known to be active by 1146. The church was rebuilt as a castle in the 14th century, of which two towers can still be seen.  The town is the birthplace of the ocarina, a musical wind-instrument in terracotta, invented in 1853. Budrio’s Museo dell’ocarina in Viale I Maggio has a large collection of historical items and documents that illustrate the evolution of the instrument.

Riccione is renowned for its elegant tree-lined boulevards as well as its wide beaches
Riccione is renowned for its elegant tree-lined
boulevards as well as its wide beaches
Travel tip:

Riccione, where Raimondi owned a seaside villa, is a municipality in the province of Rimini on the Adriatic coast. Sometimes called the ‘green pearl of the Adriatic’, its elegant, tree-lined boulevards carry echoes of the town’s tradition as a resort that was a cut above its brasher neighbours. These days it is no less thronged in the high summer months than its big brother Rimini but the Via Ceccarini, with its smart boutiques, attractive cafés and trendy night spots, is still one of the most famous streets on the Adriatic Riviera. Other attractions are the Museo del Territorio, with exhibits reflecting thousands of years of history in the area, and the Castello degli Agolanti, once owned by the most powerful local family, now an exhibition and conference venue.

Also on this day:

1598: The birth of astronomer Giovanni Riccioli

1927: The birth of soprano Graziella Sciutti

1954: The birth of racing driver Riccardo Patrese


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8 February 2021

Giuseppe Torelli – violinist and composer

Brilliant musician could both perform and write beautiful music

Torelli is ranked alongside Arcangelo Corelli
as a developer of the Baroque concerto
Talented musician Giuseppe Torelli, who played the viola and violin and was a composer during the late Baroque era, died on this day in 1709 in Bologna in Emilia-Romagna.

He is remembered for contributing to the development of the instrumental concerto and for being the most prolific Baroque composer for trumpets and he is ranked with Arcangelo Corelli as a developer of the Baroque concerto and concerto grosso.

Torelli was born in Verona in 1658. He learnt to play the violin and studied composition with Giacomo Antonio Perti.

At the age of 26 it is known that he was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica as a violinist. Two years later he was employed as a viola player at the Basilica di San Petronio in Bologna. He stayed there for about ten years until the orchestra was disbanded because of financial constraints.

His first published works were ten sonatas for violin and basso continuo and 12 concerti da camera for two violins and basso continuo.

Around 1690 Torelli began writing his first trumpet works. It is considered unusual for a strings player to compose works for the trumpet but it is thought Torelli may have been inspired by the virtuoso trumpeter Giovanni Pellegrino Brandi, who occasionally performed with the San Petronio orchestra.

In 1687 it went on record that Torelli’s music was being played at the Sanctuary Maria della Steccata in Parma in Emilia Romagna by Giuseppe Corsi da Celano, a composer and teacher.

Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, with whom Torelli collaborated
Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, with
whom Torelli collaborated
By 1698, Torelli had become maestro di concerto at the court of Georg Friedrich II, Margrave of Brandenburg Ansbach. He conducted the orchestra for Le pazzie d’amore e dell’interesse, an idea drammatica composed by the maestro di cappella, his friend Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, the composer and castrato singer 

After 1701, Torelli was known to be back in Bologna, where he is listed as a violinist in the newly reformed cappella musicale at San Petronio, directed by his former composition teacher, Perti.

Torelli and Pistocchi appeared in a number of concerts together in the early years of the 18th century. At around this time Torelli composed 12 concerti grossi con una pastorale, Op 8, which features one of his most popular pieces, the Christmas Eve concerto No 6.

Torelli died, aged 50, on 8 February 1709 in Bologna. His manuscripts were conserved in the San Petronio archives. He had composed many sonatas, concertos and symphonies, including more than 30 concertos for trumpets.

He had many pupils, the most notable being Francesco Manfredini. His brother, Felice Torelli was a painter with a good reputation in Bologna.

The unfinished facade of the Basilica di San Petronio, one of Europe's largest churches
The unfinished facade of the Basilica di San
Petronio, one of Europe's largest churches
Travel tip:

The Basilica di San Petronio, which dominates Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore, is a huge structure, 132m (144yds) long, 60m (66yds) wide and 47m (154ft) tall, which makes it the sixth largest church in Europe and is seen as a symbol of the city, even if it is not actually Bologna’s cathedral (that being the nearby Duomo di San Pietro). Indeed, despite construction starting in 1380, it was not consecrated as a church until 1954, having been built as a civic temple and not transferred from the city to the diocese until 1929.  It is notable for its unfinished facade, the red and brick marble of Domenico da Varignana’s design abandoned when it had barely reached one third of the building’s height, following the intervention of Pope Pius IV, who considered the project too expensive and ambitious and ordered that the city’s focus switch instead to the building of the Archiginnasio, the official seat of the University of Bologna.

The balcony of the Casa Giulietta, which remains one of Verona's most visited attractions
The balcony of the Casa Giulietta, which remains
one of Verona's most visited attractions
Travel tip:

Verona, where Torelli was born, is now the third largest city in the northeast of Italy, with a population across its whole urban area of more than 700,000. Famous now for its wealth of tourist attractions, of which the Roman amphitheatre known the world over as L’Arena di Verona is just one, the city was also the setting for three plays by Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Taming of the Shrew  - although it is unknown whether the English playwright ever actually set foot in the city.  Nonetheless, Casa Giulietta in Via Cappello, about five minutes’ walk from the Arena, is still promoted as the balcony where Shakespeare’s famous scene with Romeo took place.

Also on this day:

1591: The birth of painter Guercino

1751: The death of Trevi Fountain architect Nicolo Salvi

1848: Uprising in Padua

1945: The death of Olympic fencer Italo Santelli


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7 January 2020

Pope Gregory XIII

Pontiff used his power to change the date overnight


Pope Gregory XIII took his papal name in honour of another reformer, Gregory I
Pope Gregory XIII took his papal name in
honour of another reformer, Gregory I
Pope Gregory XIII was born Ugo Boncompagni on this day in 1502 in Bologna.

Gregory XIII is chiefly remembered for bringing in the Gregorian calendar, which is still the internationally accepted calendar today.

As Ugo Boncompagni, he studied law in Bologna and graduated in 1530. He later taught jurisprudence and among his students were the Cardinals Alessandro Farnese and Carlo Borromeo.

Before he took holy orders, Ugo had an affair with Maddalena Fulchini, who gave birth to his illegitimate son, Giacomo Boncompagni.

Pope Paul III summoned Ugo to Rome in 1538 to work for him in a judicial capacity. He went on to work for Pope Paul IV and Pope Pius IV. Ugo was made Cardinal Priest of San Sisto Vecchio and sent to the Council of Trent by Pius IV.

He was also sent to be legate to Phillip II of Spain and formed a close relationship with the Spanish King.

In 1572, after the death of Pope Pius V, the 70-year-old Cardinal Boncompagni was chosen to be the next pope and assumed the name of Gregory XIII, in homage to Pope Gregory I, who is remembered as a great church reformer.

Mathematician and astronomer Christopher Clavius was co-writer of the calendar
Mathematician and astronomer Christopher
Clavius was co-writer of the calendar
Following in his namesake’s footsteps, Gregory XIII dedicated himself to reforming the Catholic Church and putting into practice the recommendations of the Council of Trent.

The Roman College of the Jesuits grew under his direction and became an important centre of learning. It is now known as the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Gregory XIII is best known for replacing the Julian calendar, which had been in use since 45 BC, with the calendar produced by astronomer Luigi Giglio and the German Jesuit priest, mathematician and astronomer Christopher Clavius, making the year slightly shorter.

In the Julian calendar, each year was too long, meaning that the March equinox had slipped back to an earlier date over the centuries.

The Pope decreed in 1582 that the day after Thursday, 4 October would be Friday, 15 October. The new calendar became known as the Gregorian calendar and is now used universally.

Gregory XIII encouraged Phillip II of Spain in his plans to dethrone Elizabeth I of England, causing English Protestants to regard all Catholics as potential traitors.

Detail of the monument to Pope Gregory VIII in the Basilica of St Peter in Rome
Detail of the monument to Pope Gregory VIII in the
Basilica of St Peter in Rome
He equipped an expedition to Ireland to help the Catholics in their struggle with the Protestants, but all the soldiers, sailors and women and children on board the boat were either beheaded or hanged on landing in Kerry, during what became known as the Smerwick Massacre.

In Rome, Gregory XIII had work completed on the magnificent Gregorian Chapel in the Basilica of Saint Peter and extended the Quirinale palace. He appointed his illegitimate son, Giacomo, as Castellan of Sant’Angelo and Gonfalonier of the Church. Venice enrolled Giacomo among its nobles and Phillip II made him one of his army generals. Gregory also helped his son acquire the Duchy of Sora on the border between the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples.

To fund these projects, Gregory XIII confiscated houses and properties belonging to the church.

Pope Gregory XIII became ill with a fever in 1585 and died on 10 April, aged 83. He was succeeded by Pope Sixtus V, who found the papacy had been left considerably impoverished.


The campanile of the Basilica of San Sisto Vecchia, where Gregory XIII was priest
The campanile of the Basilica of San Sisto
Vecchia, where Gregory XIII was priest
Travel tip:

The Basilica of San Sisto Vecchia in Piazzale Numa Pompilo in Rome, where Pope Gregory XIII was Cardinal Priest for seven years, is one of 60 minor basilicas in the city. The basilica was built near the Baths of Caracalla in the fourth century and is dedicated to Pope Sixtus II, who was martyred in 258. His relics were transferred to the church from the Catacomb of Callixtus in the sixth century. San Sisto was rebuilt in the 13th century and restored in the 18th century, preserving only the bell tower, apse and a 13th century fresco cycle from the medieval church.

The dome of the Gregorian Chapel, finished by Giacomo della Porta, in St Peter's Basilica
The dome of the Gregorian Chapel, finished by Giacomo
della Porta, in St Peter's Basilica
Travel tip:

Pope Gregory XIII commissioned the architect Giacomo della Porta to complete the work started by Michelangelo on the chapel in St Peter’s Basilica that was to be named after the pontiff. It has been described as ‘the most beautiful chapel in the world’ because of its marbles, mother-of-pearl, precious stones, gilded bronze, multi-coloured mosaics and stucco ornamentation. The monument to Pope Gregory XIII in white marble, executed by Milanese sculptor Camillo Rusconi, is in the Basilica near the entrance to the Gregorian Chapel. The Pope is portrayed giving his blessing on top of an urn bearing a relief showing the promulgation of the Gregorian calendar in 1852.

Also on this day:

1625: The death of religious composer Ruggiero Giovanelli

1655: The death of Pope Innocent X

1797: The tricolore flag is hoisted for the first time

1920: The birth of actor Vincent Gardenia


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5 November 2019

Attilio Ariosti – composer

Musical friar was once a rival of Handel


Anthoni Schoonjans's portrait of Ariosti hangs in Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin
Anthoni Schoonjans's portrait of Ariosti
hangs in Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin
Baroque composer Attilio Malachia Ariosti, who in later life became a rival of Handel in London musical circles, was born on this day in 1666 in Bologna.

He became a Servite Friar, known as Frate Ottavio, when he was 22, but he quickly obtained permission to leave the order and become a composer at the court of the Duke of Mantua and Monferrato.

During his life, Ariosti composed more than 30 operas and oratorios as well as many cantatas and instrumental works.

Ariosti became a Deacon in 1692 and then obtained the post of organist at the Church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Bologna.

His first opera, Tirsi, was performed in Venice in 1697 and that same year he was invited to travel to Berlin by Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, the Queen of Prussia. She was a great-granddaughter of James I of England and the daughter of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, a committed patron of the arts with a keen interest in music.

The Electress Sophia had been heir presumptive to the throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain and was waiting for the death of her first cousin once removed, Queen Anne, before travelling to Britain to claim her title.

Ariosti shared the directorship of the Royal Academy of Music in London with his rival Handel (above)
Ariosti shared the directorship of the Royal Academy
of Music in London with his rival Handel (above)
But she died herself less than two month before she would have succeeded to the British throne and her eldest son, George Louis, Elector of Hanover, became King on the death of Queen Anne, ascending to the throne as George I on 1 August 1714.

While enjoying the hospitality of Queen Sophia Charlotte, Ariosti wrote the music for a number of stage works performed for the court in Berlin. He was court composer there for six years and a portrait of him by Anthoni Schoonjans still hangs in the Charlottenburg Palace.

When Ariosti was returning to his religious order, he stopped off in Vienna along the way, where he became a protégé of the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, who made the composer his General Agent in Italy.

Ariosti later went on to enjoy success in Paris and London. While in London he shared the directorship of the Royal Academy of Music with George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini. He was a great success when he played his favourite instrument, the viola d’amore, in a performance of Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula.

The viola d’amore is an alto instrument of the old viol family with special strings under the fingerboard and it has a delicate, mysterious sound. It was developed around the middle of the 17th century and was particularly popular in England.

Ariosti was a versatile musician and could  also sing and write drama
Ariosti was a versatile musician and could
also sing and write drama
Ariosti became a virtuoso on this instrument and in 1724 he published A Collection of Cantatas and Lessons for the Viola d’Amour, which he sold by subscription. This publication is thought to have been the most successful sale of music by subscription during the 18th century.

Ariosti could also sing, write drama and play the violoncello and the harpsichord. But his preferred instrument was always the viola d’amore, for which he wrote 21 solo sonatas. These are usually known as the Stockholm Sonatas because the sole surviving sources for most of them are in the Statens Musikbibliotek in Stockholm in Sweden.

Experts say the Sonatas display Ariosti’s penchant for surprising harmonies, his inventive use of silence and his wit.

Ariosti’s last opera, Teuzzone, was performed in London in 1727.

There was a time when Ariosti was in competition with Handel to be the most successful composer, but his popularity did not last as long as the German’s and he eventually disappeared from the musical scene. It is not known with any certainty whether he was still in London when he died in around 1729.

A view of the Mantegna frescoes in the Camera degli Sposi in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua
A view of the Mantegna frescoes in the Camera degli
Sposi in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua
Travel tip:

Ariosti served as court composer to Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Monferrato.  A lover of music, Ferdinando Carlo was the last Gonzaga to rule the Duchy. Mantua is an atmospheric old city, to the southeast of Milan, famous for its Renaissance Palazzo Ducale, where Ariosti would have lived. The Palazzo in Piazza Sordello has a famous room, the Camera degli Sposi, which is decorated with frescoes by Andrea Mantegna.  Musical performances took place in the Galleria degli Specchi, which has the dimensions to accommodate a stage and orchestra and has space for a small audience.

The portico and facade of the Basilica di Santa Maria dei Servi on Strada Maggiore in Bologna
The portico and facade of the Basilica di Santa Maria
dei Servi on Strada Maggiore in Bologna
Travel tip:

The Basilica di Santa Maria dei Servi, where Ariosti was once the organist, is in Strada Maggiore, one of the most important streets in Bologna. The church was founded in 1346 for the Servite Community of the Blessed Virgin Mary and was designed by Andrea da Faenza, a head friar who was also an architect. It is considered a fine example of Italian Gothic architecture.

Also on this day:

1702: The birth of painter Pietro Longhi

1754: The birth of explorer Alessandro Malaspina

1777: The birth of dancer and choreographer Filippo Taglioni

1898: The birth of Francesco Chiarello, survivor of two world wars



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29 October 2019

Carlo Emanuele Ruspoli – Duke of Morignano

Noble architect is now a prolific writer


Carlo Emanuele Ruspoli became Duke of Morignano in 2003
Carlo Emanuele Ruspoli became
Duke of Morignano in 2003
Carlo Emanuele Maria Ruspoli was born on this day in 1949 in Rome.

He became the third Duke of Morignano in 2003, succeeding his father, Prince Galeazzo Ruspoli.

Carlo had previously graduated as a Doctor of Architecture from the Sapienza University of Rome and he now works as a researcher and writer.

He is a prolific author of works on history and anthropology as well as historical novels, drawing on his own family heritage and his fascination with the East.

The House of Ruspoli is one of the great aristocratic families of Rome and all members hold the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.

The family’s origins can be traced back to their ancestor, Marius Scotus, in the eighth century, the Ruspoli family of Florence in the 13th century, and the Marescotti family of Bologna.

A branch of the Ruspoli family moved to Rome in the 17th century. Their last descendant, Vittoria Ruspoli, Marchioness of Cerveteri, married Sforza Marescotti, Count of Vignanello, a descendant of the Farnese family, but to make sure the House of Ruspoli continued, one of Vittoria’s sons, Francesco Maria Marescotti Ruspoli, took on the name and coat of arms of the House of Ruspoli.

In 1721 Pope Benedict XIII conferred on Francesco Maria the title of Principe Romano for himself and his descendants ad infinitum.

Emanuele Ruspoli, the great grandfather of Carlo Emanuele Ruspoli
Emanuele Ruspoli, the great grandfather
of Carlo Emanuele Ruspoli
One of Francesco’s descendants, Francesco, the third Prince of Cerveteri, was created Prince of the Holy Roman Empire by the Emperor Francis II in 1792, a title for himself and all his male descendants.

His son, Bartolomeo Ruspoli, was a colonel in the Piedmontese army and fought in the battles leading up to Italian unification. He was paralysed from the waist down after a blast from a hand grenade, but continued to participate in the fighting in a wheelchair pushed by his assistant.

His son, Emanuele Ruspoli, also fought for Italian unification and became a Senator and twice served as Mayor of Rome.

Emanuele’s eldest son by his third marriage was Francesco Alvaro Ruspoli, who was educated at Eton College in England for five years. He became the first Duke of Morignano in 1907. His son, Galeazzo Ruspoli, the second Duke of Morignano, was Carlo Emanuele Ruspoli’s father.

In 1975, Carlo Emanuele Ruspoli married Dona Maria de Gracia de Solis-Beaumont y Tellez-Giron. They had a daughter, Donna Maria de Gracia Giacinta Ruspoli, who married Don Javier Isidro Gonzalez de Gregorio y Molina in 2009. Carlo now has a granddaughter, Donna Maria de Gracia Gonzalez de Gregorio y Ruspoli.

Carlo Emanuele Maria Ruspoli, the third Duke of Morignano, celebrates his 70th birthday today.

An 18th century engraving of the Palazzo Ruspoli by the Italian engraver Giuseppe Vasi
An 18th century engraving of the Palazzo Ruspoli by
the Italian engraver Giuseppe Vasi
Travel tip:

Palazzo Ruspoli in Via del Corso in Rome is still owned by the Ruspoli family today. It is a large Renaissance-style palace, situated where the Corso intersects with Largo Carlo Goldoni and Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina in the Campo Marzio area. It was renovated by the architect Bartolomeo Ammanatti in the 16th century and then by the architect Martino Longhi the Younger in the 17th century. The palace was acquired by the Ruspoli family in 1776 and in the 19th century it sheltered the exiled Napoleon III. The palace’s main feature is its great staircase, which has four flights, each made up of 30 marble steps, and is considered one of the four marvels of Rome.

The modern campus of the Sapienza University of Rome was designed in the 1930s by Marcello Piacentini
The modern campus of the Sapienza University of Rome
was designed in the 1930s by Marcello Piacentini
Travel tip:

The Sapienza University of Rome, where Carlo Emanuele Ruspoli studied architecture, was founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII and is now one of the largest universities in Europe. The main campus is in what is now called Piazzale Aldo Moro near Rome’s Termini Railway station. The buildings were designed by the architect Marcello Piacentini in the 1930s. Aldo Moro, who was twice Prime Minister of Italy and was kidnapped and killed by the Red Brigades in 1978, was professor of the Institutions of Law and Criminal Procedure at the University in the 1960s.

Also on this day:

1922: Mussolini is appointed Prime Minister

1960: The birth of particle physicist Fabiola Gianotti

2003: The death of the 'Prince of Tenors' Franco Corelli


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