Showing posts with label Elba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elba. Show all posts

27 January 2024

Marco Malvaldi – crime writer and chemist

Author has mastered the science of detective fiction

Marco Malvadi began his writing career with La briscola in cinque
Marco Malvadi began his writing
career with La briscola in cinque
Novelist Marco Malvaldi, who has written a prize-winning mystery featuring the real-life 19th century Italian culinary expert Pellegrino Artuso as his fictional sleuth, was born on this day in 1974 in Pisa.

Malvaldi, who is a graduate in chemistry from Pisa University, has also written a travel guide about his home town with the title Scacco alle Torre (Checkmate to the Tower), which has been presented at the Pisa Book Festival. In the book, he writes a story about a nocturnal walk through the city entitled Finalmente soli (Finally Alone), which was inspired by an image taken by a professional photographer, Nicola Ughi, a fellow Pisan, who has become his official portraitist. 

He began his writing career in 2007 with a mystery novel, La briscola in cinque (Game for Five), published by Sellerio Editore. The novel’s protagonist, Massimo, a barista, and the owner of a bar named BarLume, which is a play on the Italian word barlume, which means 'flicker of light', is forced into the role of investigator in the fictional seaside resort town of Pineta on the Tuscan coast.  

Other books in the series followed and three have been translated into English: Il gioco delle tre carte (Three-card Monte), Il re dei giochi (The King of Games) and La carta più alta (The Highest Card).

In 2011, Malvaldi’s novel, Odore di chiuso (The Scent of Must) was published by Sellerio Editore and later published in English under the title, The Art of Killing Well. It featured Pellegrino Artusi, a renowned 19th century gastronomist from the Romagna region, as his fictional detective. The novel was awarded the Isola d’Elba Award and the Castiglioncello Prize. 

Malvadi's novel The Art of Killing Well
Malvadi's novel The
Art of Killing Well
Malvaldi published a thriller in 2012, Milioni di milioni (Millions of Millions), which is set in the fictional Tuscan town of Montesodi Marittimo, and features a university geneticist and an archivist, who form an unusual team of amateur investigators. In 2013, Malvaldi was awarded the literary prize, Premio Letterario La Tore Isola d’Elba - two of five literary honours his books have won.

After graduating, Malvaldi also did research in the department of pharmacy at Pisa University and he has written several books about science. His book, Le due teste del tiranno: metodi matematici per la Libertà (The Two Heads of the Tyrant: Mathematic Methods for Freedom), published in 2017, won a 2018 Asimov award, for the best book in scientific dissemination published in Italy.

Malvaldi, whose birthday today is his 50th, has also co-authored books with Roberto Vacca, Dino Leporini, journalist and poet Ernesto Ragazzoni among many others. 

Malvaldi’s partner is Samantha Bruzzone, who is also a chemist and passionate about detective fiction. Together, they have written two children’s books and in 2022 the novel, Chi si ferma e perduto (Who Stops is Lost).


Pisa's leaning tower began to  tilt soon after it was built
Pisa's leaning tower began to 
tilt soon after it was built
Travel tip:

Pisa is world famous for its leaning tower, which Malvaldi writes about in his book Scacco alle Torre (Checkmate to the Tower). Work began on the construction of a freestanding bell tower for the Cathedral in Pisa in 1173. The tower’s famous tilt began during the building process and is believed to have been caused by the laying of inadequate foundations on ground that was too soft on one side to support the weight of the structure. The tilt got worse over the years until work had to be carried out to correct it in the 20th century. At its most extreme, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees but since the restoration work carried out between 1990 and 2001 the tower leans at about 3.99 degrees. The tower was reopened to the public in 2001, when it was declared that it would be stable for another 300 years.

The picturesque harbour at the port of Portoferraio on the island of Elba off the Tuscan coast
The picturesque harbour at the port of Portoferraio
on the island of Elba off the Tuscan coast
Travel tip:

The Tuscan coast, which Malvaldi fictionalises in some of his books, has a long stretch of sandy beaches that include holiday destinations such as Viareggio, Forte dei Marmi, Catiglioncello, Follonica, Castiglione della Pescaia, Porto Ercole, Talamone, and many others. Off the coast is the island of Elba, a popular destination for holidaymakers who arrive by ferry at Portoferraio, where there is an old port and a modern seafront with hotels. The west coast of the island has sandy beaches, but the east coast is more rugged with high cliffs. Inland there are olive groves and vineyards producing the wine, Elba DOC. You can visit Napoleon’s two residences while he was in exile on the island, Palazzina Naopleonica, a modest house built around two windmills in Portoferraio, and Villa San Martino, his country house, further inland at San Martino and decorated inside with Egyptian-style frescoes.

Also on this day:

98: Trajan becomes Emperor of Rome 

1861: Italy elects its first parliament

1881: The birth of mobster Frank Nitti

1901: The death of composer Giuseppe Verdi

1927: The birth of writer and novelist Giovanni Arpino

1962: The birth of musician Roberto Paci Dalò


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5 June 2018

Carmine Crocco - soldier and brigand

Bandit seen by peasants as Italy’s ‘Robin Hood’


Carmine Crocco nurtured a hatred for people of wealth and nobility
Carmine Crocco nurtured a hatred
for people of wealth and nobility
Carmine Crocco, whose life of brigandry was driven by a hatred of what he saw as the bourgeois oppressors of the poor, was born on this day in 1830 in the town of Rionero in Vulture, in Basilicata.

Crocco fought in the service of Giuseppe Garibaldi in the Expedition of the Thousand but was no supporter of Italian Unification and spent much of his life thereafter fighting on the side of the ousted Bourbons and of the peasant people of the south, many of whom were as poor after unification as they had been before, if not poorer.

He assembled his own private ‘army’, including many other fearsome brigands, which at one point numbered more than 2,000 men.

For this reason, he is regarded as something of a folk hero in southern Italy, where there is a popular belief that he robbed the rich to give to the poor in the manner of the legendary English outlaw, Robin Hood.

Nonetheless, when he was arrested for the final time he was tried and convicted of 67 murders and seven attempted murders among many crimes, having led a life of violence.

After his initial death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment with hard labour, which he served partly on the island of Santo Stefano, off the coast between Naples and Rome, and later on the island of Elba, off the Tuscan coast, Crocco wrote his memoirs.

He described how his hatred for the wealthy upper classes stemmed from an incident he witnessed as a boy, when his brother, Donato, killed a dog that was attacking the family’s chickens and was then beaten by the dog’s owner, a young lord called Don Vincenzo. When his pregnant mother tried to defend her son, she too was violently attacked, losing her unborn child as a result.

An 1864 arrest warrant for Crocco and two of his accomplices
An 1864 arrest warrant for Crocco
and two of his accomplices
Soon afterwards, after Don Vincenzo was threatened with a shotgun, Crocco’s father was arrested and convicted of his attempted murder. Some years later, it was proved that he was not the person with the gun, although by the time his father was released he was old and sick.

Carmine's antipathy towards the privileged classes was hardened further by an incident that occurred when he was an adult. He had been serving in the army of Francis II, the bourbon King of The Two Sicilies, but deserted after killing another soldier in a brawl.

Returning to Rionero, he found that his sister, Rosina, was the subject of slanderous stories spread by a nobleman, Don Peppino, whose advances she had declined. He sought out Don Peppino, who responded to Crocco’s questioning by hitting him with a whip, at which Crocco drew a knife and killed him.

He hid in nearby woods, where he met other outlaws. They formed a gang and began to carry out robberies. Crocco was caught and sentenced to 19 years in prison in 1855 but escaped from the jail, in Bari, four years later.

His decision to join up with Garibaldi was purely out of self-interest, inspired by the Sardinian general’s promise to grant amnesty to any deserter who joined his cause.  Crocco fought bravely, taking part in the important Battle of Volturno, but was denied his pardon. He was arrested and imprisoned again.

He was released after intervention by a noble family from Rionero in Vulture who argued his case, but felt badly betrayed by the Sardinians driving the push for unification. When the new Kingdom of Italy imposed heavy taxes on the peasants while maintaining the privileges of the elite, who had switched their loyalty from the Bourbons to the new country, Crocco called on other former soldiers and fellow outlaws and was able to form an army of 2,000 men, their goal to support Francis II and to aid and encourage peasant uprisings.

Telemaco Signorini's painting of a visit to the prison at  Portoferraio on Elba. Crocco is on the end of the right-hand row
Telemaco Signorini's painting of a visit to the prison at
 Portoferraio on Elba. Crocco is on the end of the right-hand row
With the help of the Spanish general José Borjes, sent by the exiled Bourbon government to provide tactical input, they enjoyed considerable success, recapturing many towns across Basilicata and conquering parts of Campania and Apulia. Many noblemen and some politicians were killed, quite a few by Crocco himself.  This gave him a reputation as “a liberator” but his motives were those rooted in his own past.

The ultimate target was to recapture the city of Potenza, which had become an Italian army stronghold. But it was here that the campaign began to go wrong. First, Crocco broke his alliance with Borjes, distrustful of his promise of Spanish reinforcements. Then Borjes, en route to see Francis II in Rome, was captured and killed by Piedmontese soldiers.

Crocco went back to robbery and extortion to raise funds but his army had been weakened by numerous battles.  He was invited to surrender by the Italian Army but refused, going into hiding with the aim of using guerilla tactics.  Ultimately, though, his whereabouts were betrayed by a traitor within his own ranks, the Italian Army brought in reinforcements and he was defeated. Many of his lieutenants were captured and executed.

His own reaction was to flee to Rome, hoping for help from Pope Pius IX, whom he knew had expressed his support for the southern uprisings and his opposition to unification.  But he was detained by papal troops at Veroli, 100km (62 miles) southeast of Rome and handed over to the Italian authorities. This time there would be no escape.

The natural amphitheatre of the Grancia forest park
The natural amphitheatre of the Grancia forest park
Travel tip:

The life of Carmine Crocco is celebrated each year in the village of Brindisi Montagna, in the province of Potenza, with an open-air musical drama entitled La Storia Bandita, staged in the natural amphitheatre of the Grancia forest, featuring more than 400 actors and dancers, plus horses, donkeys, oxen and ducks among other animals and multiple special effects, including the illusion of lightning created by more than 600 reflectors.  Among a number of famous actors who have taken part is Michele Placido, who claims to be descended from Crocco through his father, who was born in Rionero in Vulture.

The Palazzo Fortunato in Rionero in Vulture
The Palazzo Fortunato in Rionero in Vulture
Travel tip:

The most important building in Rionero in Vulture is undoubtedly the Palazzo Fortunato, built in the early 18th century, when Carmelo Fortunato, an ancestor of the anti-Fascist politician Giustino Fortunato, moved to the area. It was subsequently extended by other members of the family.  Notable people to have stayed in the palace include, in April 1807, the sovereign Giuseppe Bonaparte - brother of Napoleon - Ferdinand II of Bourbon in 1846 and prime minister Giuseppe Zanardelli in 1902. The building currently houses the municipal library.

Also on this day:

1412: The birth of condottiero Ludovico Gonzaga

1898: The birth of shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo

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26 February 2016

Napoleon escapes from Elba

Emperor leaves idyllic island to face his Waterloo



The French painter Joseph Baume's 1836 picture of  Napoleon about to depart from Elba for mainland France
The French painter Joseph Baume's 1836 picture of
Napoleon about to depart from Elba for mainland France
French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the Italian island of Elba, where he had been living in exile, on this day in 1815.

Less than a year before, he had arrived in Elba, an island dotted with attractive hills and scenic bays, following his unconditional abdication from the throne of France.

Several countries had formed an alliance to fight Napoleon’s army and had chosen to send him to live in exile on the small Mediterranean island about 10km (6 miles) off the Tuscan coast.

They gave Napoleon sovereignty over the island and he was allowed to keep a small personal army to guard him. He soon set about developing the iron mines and brought in modern agricultural methods to improve the quality of life of the islanders.

But he began to be worried about being banished still further from France. He had heard through his supporters that the French Government were beginning to question having to pay him an annual salary.


Villa San Martino was Napoleon's country house on Elba
Napoleon's country house on Elba, the Villa San Martino
He had also been told that many European ministers felt Elba was too close to France for comfort.

Napoleon also missed his wife, Marie-Louise, who he believed his captors were preventing from joining him, and he was worried about being moved again to somewhere even more remote.

On the evening of February 26, 1815 Napoleon and a few hundred loyal soldiers boarded small boats and sailed to a tiny fishing village near Cannes, from where they marched north to Paris.

Napoleon seized power again and governed for a period now referred to as 'The Hundred Days,' but his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo was less than four months away.

The picturesque port of Portoferraio is the arrival point for visitors to the island of Elba
The picturesque port of Portoferraio is the arrival
point for visitors to the island of Elba
Travel tip:

Elba is now a popular destination with holidaymakers who arrive by ferry at Portoferraio, which has an old port and a modern seafront with hotels. The west coast of the island has sandy beaches but the east coast is more rugged with high cliffs. Inland there are olive groves and vineyards producing Elba DOC. You can visit Napoleon’s two residences, Palazzina Naopleonica, a modest house built around two windmills in Portoferraio and Villa San Martino, his country house, which is further inland at San Martino and is decorated inside with Egyptian-style frescoes.

Hotels in Portoferraio from Booking.com


Piombino is the mainland point of departure for Piombino
The port of Piombino, the nearest mainland town to Elba
Travel tip:

Piombino is the point on the mainland closest to Elba, from where ferries run back and forth at frequent intervals during the day. The town is on the end of the Masoncello peninsula between the Ligurian and Tyrennian seas. It has an historic centre dating back to when it was a port used by the Etruscans. The main Etruscan city in the area, Populonia, is now a frazione (hamlet) of Piombino. It still has some Etruscan ruins to see and the Museo Etrusco Gasparri, which has important bronze and terracotta works.