Showing posts with label Capri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Capri. Show all posts

27 July 2021

Peppino di Capri – singer and song writer

Performer ushered Italy into the rock ‘n roll era


Peppino di Capri was dubbed the 'Buddy Holly of Italy'
Peppino di Capri was dubbed
the 'Buddy Holly of Italy'
Pop legend Peppino di Capri was born Giuseppe Faiella on this day in 1939 on the island of Capri in southern Italy.

A hugely successful singer, songwriter and pianist in Italy and throughout Europe, Di Capri, affectionately known as the Italian Buddy Holly, has had many international hits.

He began singing and playing the piano, by instinct, at the age of four, following in his father’s footsteps, and he provided entertainment for the American troops stationed on Capri during World War II.  His father owned a record shop and also sold musical instruments.  

Di Capri studied classical music for five years until he discovered rock music in the 1950s. He recorded his first album in 1958 with his band, The Rockers, including some Neapolitan songs, and he had instant success.

For the next few years, Di Capri recorded some of his biggest hits, such as Voce e Notte, Luna Caprese, Let’s Twist Again and Roberta. He introduced the twist to Italy with his song, St Tropez Twist.

In 1965 he was the opening act at the concerts of The Beatles, during the only Italian tour they ever made, and he then went on to found his own record label and recording studio.

Peppino di Capri has been  singing for more than 60 years
Peppino di Capri has been
 singing for more than 60 years 
Di Capri won the Festival of Sanremo in 1973 and 1976 and took part in 15 editions of the  Italian song contest.

In 1998, Di Capri celebrated his first 40 years in the music business with a show in the famous Piazzetta of Capri, which was broadcast on Rai Uno, the national TV station.

Since 2003, Di Capri has recorded several albums, including some of his best songs and some traditional Neapolitan songs. He topped the charts with a collection of his songs in 2009 and later launched a DVD set with a live concert at the Parco della Musica in Rome.

In 2013, Di Capri toured theatres with a concert, in which the orchestra was conducted by his son, Edoardo. He toured Brazil in 2015 and then appeared in the comedy film, Natale col Boss, playing the role of a mob boss.

In 2018, Di Capri celebrated the first 60 years of his singing career with a concert at the oldest opera theatre in the world, the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, which was sold out soon after the tickets went on sale.

Eternally youthful and popular, Di Capri celebrates his 82nd birthday today.

Piazza Umberto I in Capri, better known locally as La Piazzetta
Piazza Umberto I in Capri, better
known locally as La Piazzetta
Travel tip:

Capri has been a popular resort since Roman times and the remains exist of a number of Imperial Roman villas.  Although its first known tourist was a French antiques dealer who visited in the 17th century, recording his impressions in diaries, it was not until the 1950s that the island began to attract visitors in anything like the numbers of today.   Tourists arrive at the island by ferry or hydrofoil from Naples, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and other ports around the Gulf of Naples.  Attractions include the Blue Grotto, the picturesque Marina Piccola, the limestone Faraglioni sea stacks, and the towns of Capri and Anacapri.

The Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, opened in 1737, predates even La Scala in Milan
The Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, opened
in 1737, predates even La Scala in Milan
Travel tip:

Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, where Di Capri celebrated 60 years in the music business, is in Via San Carlo close to Piazza Plebiscito, the main square in Naples. The theatre was designed by Giovanni Antonio Medrano for the Bourbon King of Naples, Charles I, and opened in 1737, some 41 years before Teatro alla Scala in Milan and 55 years before La Fenice in Venice. San Carlo is now believed to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, functioning opera houses in the world. Both Gaetano Donizetti and Gioachino Rossini served as artistic directors at San Carlo and the world premieres of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Rossini’s Mosè were performed there.

Also on this day:

1835: The birth of Nobel prize-winning poet Giosuè Carducci

1915: The birth of tenor Mario Del Monaco

1922: The birth of actor and director Adolfo Celi


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1 January 2019

Cesare Paciotti - shoe designer

Exclusive brand worn by many celebrities


Cesare Paciotti has been designing shoes full time since 1980
Cesare Paciotti has been designing shoes
full time since 1980
The shoe designer Cesare Paciotti, whose chic collections have attracted a celebrity clientele, was born on New Year’s Day in 1958 in Civitanova Marche, a town on the Adriatic coast.

His company, Paciotti SpA, is still headquartered in Civitanova Marche, as it has been since his parents, Giuseppe and Cecilia, founded their craft shoe-making business in 1948, producing a range of shoes in classical designs made entirely by hand.

Today, the company, which trades as Cesare Paciotti, has major showrooms in Milan, Rome and New York and many boutique stores in cities across the world. The business, which also sells watches, belts, others accessories and some clothing lines, has an annual turnover estimated at more than $500 million (€437 million).

Cesare Paciotti inherited the family firm in 1980 at the age of 22, having spent his late teenage years and early adulthood pursuing his interest in the arts by studying Drama, Art and Music at the University of Bologna, and then travelling to London, the United States and the Far East.

When he returned home, he already had solid shoemaking skills, having learned from his parents in their workshop as he grew up.

Paciotti's shoes are known for their elegant design, with particular emphasis on the heel
Paciotti's shoes are known for their elegant design, with
particular emphasis on the heel
He and his sister, Paola, were entrusted with running the business between them, Cesare focusing on creativity and design with Paola in charge of operational matters. They established Pariotti SpA in 1980 and launched their first collection in the same year.

Most of the workers employed by their parents were retained but Cesare nonetheless was able to drive the company forward. Thanks to Paola's astute management and Cesare's originality of design, the name quickly acquired a high profile and prestigious fashion houses such as Gianni Versace, Romeo Gigli and Dolce & Gabbana began to approach them to craft shoes for their labels.

Versace, in fact, had worn some handmade shoes created by Cesare’s father, so he was familiar with their workshop’s use of high quality materials and attention to detail.

In 1990, Cesare turned his attention in particular to the image of the Paciotti women's collection. It had traditionally produced shoes with a rather masculine appearance but Cesare was determined to change this and introduced a tall stiletto heel that soon became highly recognisable as a Paciotti trademark, synonymous with extremely feminine shoes.

In recent years, celebrities such as as Rihanna, Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, supermodels Bar Refaeli and Miranda Kerr, actresses Anne Hathaway and Sienna Miller and singer-songwriter Taylor Swift have become clients.

Paciotti not only produces luxury shoes but other items such as watches and jewellery.  The company is famous for a dagger illustrated in its logo.

The port of Civitanova Marche, where Paciott's parents established the family business in 1948
The port of Civitanova Marche, where Paciott's parents
established the family business in 1948
Travel tip:

Civitanova Marche, where Cesare Paciotto was born, is a port and resort on the Adriatic coast, about 50km (37 miles) south of Ancona. Now with a population of more than 42,000 inhabitants, the town developed in the 16th century under the Sforza and Cesarini families, the legacy of which is the Palazzo Cesarini-Sforza, the interior of which conserves some 16th-century frescoes by Pellegrino Tibaldi.  The 15th century walls commissioned by the Sforza family remain intact. The town also has some interesting Liberty-style architecture, including the Villa Conti, originally built in 1910, destroyed during the Second World War and subsequently rebuilt.



I faraglioni are a familiar landmark off the coast of Capri
I faraglioni are a familiar landmark off the coast of Capri
Travel tip:

Among Cesare Paciotti’s many boutiques is one on Via Vittorio Emanuele III on Capri, the street that links the quaint Piazzetta with the exclusive Grand Hotel Quisisana.  The area brims with designer shops. Among Paciotti’s neighbours on Via Vittorio Emanuele III and the adjoining Via Camerelle are branches of Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, Moschino and Dolce & Gabbana. A short walk beyond Via Camerelle along Via Tragara leads to the Belvedere Tragara, which offers views of Capri’s famous offshore rock formation i faraglioni.


More reading:

How Salvatore Ferragamo rose from humble beginnings to be a fashion giant

The meteoric rise of Gianni Versace

Guccio Gucci - from carrying bags to making them

Also on this day:

Capodanno - New Year - in Italy

1803: The birth of Guglielmo Libri, notorious book thief

1926: The birth of singing star Claudio Villa


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16 July 2017

Vincenzo Gemito - sculptor

Neapolitan who preserved figures from local street life


Gemito's statue, Il giocatore di carte, so impressed Vittorio  Emanuele II he placed it on permanent display in a museum
Gemito's statue, Il giocatore di carte, so impressed Vittorio
Emanuele II he placed it on permanent display in a museum
Vincenzo Gemito, one of the sculptors responsible for eight statues of former kings that adorn the western façade of the Royal Palace in Naples, was born on this day in 1852.

The statues are in niches along the side of the palace that fronts on to the Piazza del Plebiscito, displayed in chronological order beginning with Roger the Norman, also known as Roger II of Sicily, who ruled in the 12th century, and ends with Vittorio Emanuele II, who was on the throne when his kingdom became part of the united Italy in 1861.

Gemito sculpted the fifth statue in the sequence, that of Charles V, who was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to 1556 and, by virtue of being king of Spain from 1516 to 1556, also the king of Naples.

Born in Naples, Gemito’s first steps in life were difficult ones.  The son of a poor woodcutter, he was taken by his mother the day after his birth to the orphanage attached to the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata Maggiore in the centre of the city and left on the steps.

He was brought up by a family who adopted him after two weeks at the orphanage. It is thought that his adoptive father, an artisan, encouraged him to work with his hands and even before the age of 10 he was working as an apprentice in the studio of Emanuele Caggiano.  He was enrolled into the Naples Academy of Fine Arts when he was 12.

Gemito's Il pescatorello
Gemito's Il pescatorello
Gemito was known for the outstanding realism in his work, as can be seen in his sculpture Il giocatore di carte – the Card Player - which he created when he was only 16, which depicts a boy seated with one leg crossed, the other bent so that the knee is level with his chin, scratching the side of his head with one hand while he contemplates the cards he holds in the other.

It was such an impressive piece of work that after it has been exhibited for the first time in Naples, the King, Vittorio Emanuele II, purchased it and had it placed on permanent display in the Museo di Capodimonte.

Where many other sculptors created romanticised figures or works of fantasy, Gemito was fascinated by what he saw around him, on the streets of Naples, and it was everyday scenes that were his inspiration.  Another brilliant example of his eye for detail, especially for facial expression and natural poses, was Il pescatorello – the Fisherboy – which shows a boy, his fishing rod tucked under his arm, looking down at the fish he has just caught, which he clutches to his chest with both hands.

Gemito moved to Paris in 1877, where he forged a friendship with the French artist Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier and created new works in various media, exhibiting in major salons and galleries, and at the Universal Exposition of 1878. It was at the Paris Salon - the official exhibition of the Paris Academy of Fine Arts – that his Fisherboy was unveiled, a work greeted with such acclaim that he won widespread fame, as well as lucrative commissions for portraits.

He remained in Paris for three years before returning to Naples. He settled on the island of Capri for a short time, where he married.

The Royal Palace in Naples, with the eight statues inset in niches along the frontage overlooking Piazza del Plebiscito
The Royal Palace in Naples, with the eight statues inset in
niches along the frontage overlooking Piazza del Plebiscito
Back in Italy, Gemito constructed his own foundry on Via Mergellina in Naples, where he revived a Renaissance process for using wax for bronze casting.

The commission to create a marble statue of Charles V, to be erected as part of the changes made by Umberto I of Savoy to the frontage of the Royal Palace, came in 1888.

It caused Gemito much anxiety. He did not like working with marble and suffered a crisis of confidence, doubting his ability to produce a statue that would meet expectations. He finished the job but became so depressed he suffered a mental breakdown. He became a virtual recluse, living in a one-room apartment and several times being admitted to a mental hospital.

For the next 21 years he produced only drawings and did not resume his sculpting career until 1909. 

In 1911, by which time he had turned to using gold and silver, he created another masterpiece, a severed head of Medusa in partial gilt silver, which again was notable for the realism of expression and the intricacy of detail.

In 1952, Gemito’s life was commemorated in an Italian postage stamp issued to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth.

The waterfront at Mergellina, with Vesuvius in the distance
The waterfront at Mergellina, with Vesuvius in the distance
Travel tip:

Mergellina is a coastal area of city of Naples, technically in the district of Chiaia, standing at the foot of Posillipo Hill and facing Castel dell'Ovo.  It was once a fishing village entirely separate from Naples but was incorporated into the Naples metropolitan area in the early 20th century.  Today it has an important tourist harbour for ferries from the islands of Ischia, Capri and Procida and points on the Campania mainland. It is also a popular area for seafood restaurants.

Almost always thronged with tourists, the  bustling Piazzetta is at the heart of Capri town
Almost always thronged with tourists, the
bustling Piazzetta is at the heart of Capri town
Travel tip:

Capri, an island situated off the Sorrentine peninsula on the south side of the Bay of Naples, has been a popular resort since Roman times.  In the 19th and early 20th century, it was a place to which many wealthy intellectuals and authors were drawn. Norman Douglas, Maxim Gorky, Graham Greene and Axel Munthe were among the authors who chose to live there for parts of their careers.  It has been a magnet, too, for figures from the entertainment world. The English singer and actress Gracie Fields spent many years at her villa there; today, the American singer Mariah Carey has a property on the island.  Tourists are drawn to Capri town, the pretty harbour Marina Piccola, the Belvedere of Tragara  - a panoramic promenade lined with villas - the limestone sea stacks known as the Faraglioni, the Blue Grotto and the ruins of Roman villas.


20 November 2016

Emilio Pucci – fashion designer

The heroic, sporting, creative genius behind the Pucci label



Emilio Pucci
Emilio Pucci
Don Emilio Pucci, Marchese di Barsento, who became a top fashion designer and politician, was born on this day in 1914 in Florence.

Pucci was born into one of the oldest families in Florence and lived and worked in the Pucci Palace in Florence for most of his life. His fashion creations were worn by such famous women as Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and Jackie Kennedy.

A keen sportsman who swam, skied, fenced, played tennis and raced cars, Pucci was part of the Italian team at the 1932 Winter Olympics in New York, although he did not compete.

He studied at the University of Milan, the University of Georgia, and Reed College in Oregon, where he designed the clothes for the college skiing team.

Pucci was awarded an MA in social science from Reed, where he was known to be a staunch defender of the Fascist regime in Italy. He was also awarded a doctorate in political science from the University of Florence.

It was his success as a fashion designer that would in time make his name but before that came some wartime experiences that were extraordinary to say the least.

In 1938 Pucci joined the Italian air force and served as a torpedo bomber, rising to the rank of captain and being decorated for valour.

Mussolini's daughter, Edda, who was helped by Pucci in her bid to secure clemency for her husband, Ciano
Mussolini's daughter, Edda, who was helped by Pucci
in her bid to secure clemency for her husband, Ciano
He became a confidant of Mussolini’s eldest daughter, Edda, whom he had known as a child and met again by chance on the island of Capri, where he was sent to recuperate after being struck down with a tropical fever.

He played a key role in a plan to save her husband, Mussolini’s former foreign minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, who was put on trial for his part in removing Mussolini from power in 1943.

Pucci and Edda planned to deliver some of Ciano’s papers, which were highly critical of Mussolini, to the Gestapo, so that they could be bartered for Ciano’s life. After Hitler vetoed the scheme, Pucci drove Edda to the Swiss border in January 1944 and helped her to escape.

Edda had written last-minute pleas to Hitler, Mussolini and General Willhelm Harstner, the German commander in Italy, to spare her husband.

Pucci delivered these letters to an intermediary and then attempted to flee to Switzerland himself but was arrested by the Germans. The Gestapo tortured him to extract information about the location of the rest of Ciano’s papers in Italy.

They then sent Pucci to Switzerland to tell Edda that she would be killed if she published any part of the diaries. After he had delivered the message he remained in Switzerland for the rest of the war.

Pucci made ends meet after the war by teaching Italian and giving ski lessons in Zermatt. He designed ski wear for himself and his friends and in 1947 one of his female friends was photographed wearing his ski wear by the magazine, Harper’s Bazaar.

He was then asked to design ski wear for a spread on European fashion which was featured in the 1948 winter edition of the magazine.

Marilyn Monroe was a fan of Pucci's designs
Marilyn Monroe was a fan
of Pucci's designs
Pucci set up his first boutique on Capri. He used his knowledge of stretch fabrics to produce a swimwear line, but moved on to design boldly-patterned silk scarves in bright colours, later using the designs for blouses and dresses.

He opened a boutique in Rome and by the 1950s was getting international recognition and winning awards.

Marilyn Monroe became a fan of his designs in the 1960s and was wearing his creations in some of the last photographs ever taken of her.

Subsequently, his designs were worn by celebrities such as Sophia Loren and Jackie Kennedy and, even Madonna, by the early 1990s.

Pucci designed six complete collections for Braniff Airways, to be worn by their air hostesses, pilots and ground crew, between 1965 and 1974.

In 1959 he was introduced to Baronessa Cristina Nannini at his boutique on Capri and they were later married.

Still keenly interested in politics, in the elections of 1963 Pucci contested the Florence-Pistoia district for the Liberal party. He came second on that occasion but won a seat in parliament later in the same year.  He retained his seat in 1968 but lost it in 1972.

Pucci set up his first workshop in the family's ancestral home in Florence's San Lorenzo district
Pucci set up his first workshop in the family's
ancestral home in Florence's San Lorenzo district
After his death in Florence in 1992 at the age of 78, his daughter, Laudomia Pucci, continued to design under the Pucci label.

The French Louis Vuitton-Moet Hennessy Group acquired 67 per cent of Pucci in 2000, with Laudomia becoming Image Director for the company.

Emilio Pucci clothes and accessories, featuring the designer’s distinctive colourful prints, are still being sold in Pucci boutiques and high-end department stores around the world.

Travel tip:

Palazzo Pucci, the ancestral home of Emilio Pucci, is in Via dè Pucci in the San Lorenzo district of Florence. The Pucci family were friends and allies of the Medici family and their palace, designed by Bartolomeo Ammannati, was built in the 16th century.


The Via Camerelle on Capri, where a  new Pucci boutique opened this year
The Via Camerelle on Capri, where a
new Pucci boutique opened this year
Travel tip:

A new Pucci boutique opened earlier this year in Via Camerelle on the island of Capri. The cobblestone street in the centre of the fashionable shopping district is where Emilio Pucci himself used to stroll with his friends while living on Capri in the 1950s. He set up his first boutique, La Canzone del Mare, in 1951 at Marina Piccola, the bay opposite the huge pointed rocks known as I Faraglioni, which have become an iconic symbol of the island.

More reading:


Giorgio Armani - former army medic who forged brilliant career

Guccio Gucci - from equestrian leather shop to fashion 
empire

Salvatore Ferragamo - shoemaker to the stars

Also on this day:


1851: Birth of a Queen who had a pizza created in her honour

(Photo of Via Camerelle by Averain by Wikimedia Commons; workshop picture from emiliopucci.com)

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13 October 2016

Execution of former King of Naples

Joachim Murat, key aide of Napoleon, shot by firing squad


Joachim Murat, King of Naples, depicted by Francois Gerard
Joachim Murat, King of Naples,
depicted by Francois Gerard
Joachim Murat, the French cavalry leader who was a key military strategist in Napoleon's rise to power in France and his subsequent creation of an empire in continental Europe, was executed on this day in 1815 in Pizzo in Calabria.

The charismatic Marshal was captured by Bourbon forces in the coastal town in Italy's deep south as he tried to gather support for an attempt to regain control of Naples, where he had been King until the fall of Napoleon saw the throne returned to the Bourbon king Ferdinand IV in May 1815.

Murat was held prisoner in the Castello di Pizzo before a tribunal found him guilty of insurrection and sentenced him to death by firing squad.

The 48-year-old soldier from Lot in south-west France had been an important figure in the French Revolutionary Wars and gained recognition from Napoleon as one of his best generals, his influence vital in the success of Napoleon's campaigns in Egypt and Italy and in victories against the numerically superior Prussians and Russians.

He was a flamboyant dresser, going into battle with his uniform bedecked in medals, gold tassels, feathers and shiny buttons.  Yet for all his peacock tendencies, he was renowned as a bold, brave and decisive leader, often securing victory through daring cavalry charges.  In all he is thought to have fought around 200 battles.

A defiant Murat faces his executioners
A defiant Murat faces his executioners
Napoleon rewarded him with the hand of his sister, Caroline, and promotion to the rank of Marshal and Admiral of France. He made him King of Naples in 1808, although it was something of a consolation prize to Murat, who had hoped to be given the throne of Spain, which went instead to Napoleon's brother, Joseph.

Murat moved into the Royal Palace and indulged himself in a life of luxury, entertaining lavishly and surrounding himself with expensive acquisitions.  He had portraits of himself, his wife and other family members commissioned by celebrated artists as well as numerous scenes depicting his victories on the battlefield.

Nonetheless, he was an effective ruler of Naples, where he broke up the large landed estates, introduced workable laws and established the Napoleonic Code, under which class privilege and hereditary nobility were abolished and all male citizens deemed as equal. He also cracked down on the many gangs who made their living through robbery and pillage.

He foresaw and supported the potential unification of Italy, attempting to position himself to take control beyond Naples by encouraging the secret societies that eventually were central to the Risorgimento.

When it became clear, however, that Napoleon's grip on Europe was weakening, Murat's thoughts became focussed on self-preservation.

A room at the Murat museum in Pizzo imagines the scene as Murat appears before the Bourbon tribunal
A room at the Murat museum in Pizzo imagines the scene
as Murat appears before the Bourbon tribunal
Desperate to retain power in Naples and the lifestyle that went with it, he entered into an alliance with Austria after France’s defeat at the Battle of Leipzig in October of 1813. However, the summit of European powers that met at the Congress of Vienna after Napoleon's defeat had other ideas, planning to return Naples to the Bourbons.

Murat fled, declared himself in support of Italian independence and fought the Austrians in northern Italy. He was defeated, then attempted to regain favour with Napoleon, who had escaped his exile on Elba, only to be turned away without even speaking to him. The emperor would later regret shunning his former trusted aide, claiming that with Murat at his side he would have won the Battle of Waterloo,

In a last throw of the dice, Murat then assembled an expedition force on Corsica and set out to recapture Naples himself. With only 250 men, however, he was never likely to succeed. In the event, bad weather blew his three ships of course and his landed in Pizzo, more than 350km south of Naples, almost at the toe of the boot, where he was soon arrested.

He faced death in the same way as he had gone into battle, extravagantly dressed and fearless. Having been granted his last wish for a perfumed bath and the opportunity to write to his wife and children, he refused the offer of a blindfold and a stool to sit on, and instead stood before the firing squad, eyes wide open.  His final words, or so the story goes, were: “Soldiers, do your duty. Aim for my heart, but spare my face. Fire!”

Travel tip:

Pizzo has made the most of its connection with Joachim Murat, who was buried in the town's Baroque Church of St George. The Aragonese castle has been renamed Castello Murat and contains a Murat museum.  Each year celebrations take place on the anniversary of his death, sometimes with historical re-enactments.  Pizzo is also notable for tuna fishing and for its speciality tartufo ice cream, which features a ball of ice cream encasing molten chocolate.

The plaque on the wall of Murat's villa at Santa Maria Annunziata
The plaque on the wall of Murat's
villa at Santa Maria Annunziata
Travel tip:

As well as his home at the Royal Palace in Naples, Joachim Murat kept a villa on the Sorrentine peninsula, just outside the small town of Massa Lubrense at the village of Santa Maria Annunziata. The building, identifiable by a plaque on the wall, has a clear view of the island of Capri and was used as a vantage point by Murat from which, early in his reign as King of Naples, he was able to oversee an operation to recapture the island, which had been garrisoned by a combined force of English and Corsican soldiers in 1806.


Capri as seen from Murat's villa on the Sorrentine peninsula
Capri as seen from Murat's villa on the Sorrentine peninsula

More reading:



How the defeat of Austria at the Battle of Marengo helped Napoleon secure power

Napoleon crowns himself King of Italy

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27 September 2016

Gracie Fields - actress and singer

English-born performer who made Capri her home 


Photo of a young Gracie Fields
Gracie Fields
The English actress, singer and comedian Gracie Fields died on this day in 1979 at her home on Capri, the island on the south side of the Gulf of Naples.

The 81-year-old former forces sweetheart had been in hospital following a bout of pneumonia but appeared to be regaining her health.  The previous day she had walked with her husband, Boris, to the post office on the island to collect her mail.

Some English newspapers reported that Gracie had died in the arms of her husband but that version of events was later corrected. It is now accepted that Boris had already left La Canzone del Mare, the singer's original Capri home overlooking the island's landmark Faraglioni rocks, to work on the central heating at a second property they had bought in Anacapri, on the opposite side of the island, and that Gracie was with her housekeeper, Irena, when she passed away suddenly.

Fields, born Grace Stansfield in Rochdale, England, in 1898, had visited Capri for the first time in the late 1920s or early 30s, with two artists she had befriended in London, where she was becoming an established star in the revue format that was popular with theatregoers in the inter-war years.  She would develop a romance with one of them, John Flanagan.

They stayed in a former British fort overlooking Marina Piccola, named Il Fortino, and Fields was captivated, proclaiming that if she could ever own "one blade of grass" on the island she would be "the happiest woman alive."

Gracie Fields entertaining RAF personnel in France in 1939
Gracie Fields entertaining RAF personnel in France in 1939
The opportunity arose more quickly than she anticipated when Il Fortino came up for sale in 1933 and she bought it, for £11,000.  The only sadness was that Flanagan, with whom she lived in London, declined her offer to move to Capri with her, claiming he would have been too distracted to work.

Nonetheless, she was not deterred from pursuing her dream.  In 1935 she met Mario Bianchi, an actor from Cesena in northern Italy who had starred in a number of silent movies in the United States under the name of Monty Banks.

Together they set about restoring Il Fortino and would eventually turn it into La Canzone del Mare, a restaurant and bathing complex that is still in business today as a luxury hotel. It was a life far removed from Rochdale, the mill town in Lancashire, where Fields was born above a fish and chip shop.

However, the next few years were tough for Gracie.  She made her first movie - Sally in Our Alley - in 1931 and in the next eight years starred in a dozen more.  In 1939 came the devastating news that she had cervical cancer.

She was given only a 50-50 chance of making a recovery but happily, after surviving a major operation, she was given the all-clear.  Soon afterwards, she divorced her first husband, the theatre impresario Archie Pitt, her former manager, and in 1940 married Monty, who had been at her side throughout her illness.

The movie poster for the 1939 Gracie Fields film Shipyard Sally
The movie poster for the 1939 Gracie
Fields film Shipyard Sally
Marriage to an Italian led her into further problems, however.  When Italy formed its alliance with Germany in the Second World War, Monty was classified as an alien and the couple were advised to move to America so that he could avoid internment in Britain.

Their decision led to a backlash against Fields at home, with newspapers accusing her of abandoning her country.  She rebuilt her reputation by performing at home and in Canada and the United States without pay, donating all the proceeds to the war effort.  She also threw herself into entertaining British and Allied servicemen abroad, performing during air raids in France, behind enemy lines in Berlin, and travelling as far away as New Guinea and the South Pacific islands.

She made her last movie in 1945 but continued her career, appearing regularly on television in both entertainment shows and drama. Away from the camerasm she spent much of her life on Capri.  La Canzone del Mare, where she and Monty lived in a house above the restaurant, became a favoured haunt for Hollywood stars including Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Greta Garbo and Noël Coward.  Opera singer Maria Callas and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis are also said to have been visitors.

The Chiesa di Santo Stefano, where Gracie Fields was married in 1952
The Chiesa di Santo Stefano,
where Fields was married in 1952
After Monty Banks died in 1950, Fields was married for a third time, to a Romanian radio repairman called Boris Alperovici. The ceremony took place at the Chiesa di Santo Stefano, the striking white church that overlooks the Piazzetta in Capri town.

She made her last TV appearance in the United States in January 1979 and shortly afterwards, seven months before her death, was invested as a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II.  She is buried in Capri's Protestant Cemetery.

Travel tip:

Capri has been a popular resort since Roman times and the remains exist of a number of Imperial Roman villas.  Although its first known tourist was a French antiques dealer who visited in the 17th century, recording his impressions in diaries, it was not until the 1950s that the island began to attract visitors in anything like the numbers of today.   Tourists arrive at the island by ferry or hydrofoil from Naples, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and other ports around the Gulf of Naples.  Attractions include the Blue Grotto, the picturesque Marina Piccola, the limestone Faraglioni sea stacks, and the towns of Capri and Anacapri.

The view from the terrace of the Villa San Michele
The view from the terrace of the Villa San Michele
Travel tip:

As well as being popular with tourists, Capri was for many years a favourite retreat for writers and can list Axel Munthe, Norman Douglas, Graham Greene, Curzio Malaparte, Mario Soldati and Alberto Moravia and Maxim Gorky as former residents.  Greene spent at least two months of every year at his Villa Rosario in Anacapri, where the Villa San Michele, home to Axel Munthe, the Swedish physician and author, is open to the public and offers outstanding views.

(Photo of Chiesa di Santo Stefano by Berthold Werner CC BY-SA 3.0)
(Photo of view from Villa san Michele by Berthold Werner CC BY-SA 3.0)

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28 November 2015

Alberto Moravia - journalist and writer

Italian novelist recognised as major 20th century literary figure


The novelist Alberto Moravia was born Alberto Pincherle on this day in 1907 in Rome.

The island of Capri in the Bay of Naples

He adopted Moravia, the maiden name of his paternal grandmother, as a pen name and became a prolific writer of short stories and novels. Much of his work has been made into films.

Before the Second World War, he had difficulties with the Fascist regime, which banned the publication of one of his novels. But his anti-Fascist novel Il Conformista later became the basis for the film The Conformist directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

In 1941 he married the novelist Elsa Morante and they went to live first on Capri, and then in the Ciociaria area of Lazio before returning to Rome after it was liberated in 1944.

Moravia was once quoted as comparing a childhood illness, which confined him to bed for a long period, with Fascism. He said they had both made him suffer and do things he otherwise would not have done.

The rugged terrain of the Ciociaria

He died in Rome in 1990 and is remembered today as an important literary figure of the 20th century.

Travel tip

The beautiful island of Capri is a sophisticated holiday resort that has attracted many writers, artists and celebrities over the centuries. It lies in the Bay of Naples and can be reached by boat from Sorrento and Naples. 

Travel tip

The Ciociaria is a remote, hilly part of Lazio, lying south of Rome and north of Naples, dotted with small towns and villages. It is believed the area is named after the ciocie (sandals), traditionally worn by the people living and working in the area.

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