Giuseppe Tartini – composer and violinist

Baroque musician also contributed to science

As well as composing for violin, Tartini
established a new technique for playing

Giuseppe Tartini, who was influential in the development of music by establishing the modern style of violin bowing, was born on this day in 1692 in Pirano in the Republic of Venice.

A violinist, baroque composer, and theorist, Tartini also formulated the principles of musical ornamentation and harmony.

His birthplace of Pirano was part of Venetian territory in the 17th century but is now named Piran and is part of Slovenia.

Tartini spent most of his career in Padua, where he went to study divinity and law and became an expert at fencing. Before he reached the age of 20, he had secretly married Elisabetta Premazore, a protégée of the Archbishop of Padua, but this led to him being arrested on charges of  abduction. He disguised himself as a monk and fled the city, taking refuge in a monastery in Assisi.

Later, Tartini was allowed to return to his wife by the archbishop after news that his violin playing had attracted favourable attention had reached him.

Tartini became principal violinist and maestro di cappella at the Basilica of Sant’Antonio in 1721 and he was invited to Prague in 1723 to direct the orchestra of the Chancellor of Bohemia.

After his return to Padua in 1728 he founded a school of violin playing and composition there.

Tartini composed more than 100 violin concertos and many sonatas, including the Trillo del Diavolo (Devil’s Trill). He also composed music for trios and quartets and religious works.

His playing was said to be remarkable because of its combination of technical and poetic qualities, and his bowing technique became a model for later violinists. He was invited to go on a concert tour of Italy in 1740.

Tartini contributed to the science of acoustics with his discovery of the Tartini tone, which was a third note, heard when two notes are played steadily and with intensity.

He wrote a treatise on music, Trattato di musica, in 1754 as well as a dissertation on the principles of music harmony and a treatise on ornamentation in music.

Tartini died in Padua in 1770 at the age of 77.

Giotto's frescoes lining the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua
considered among the world's great artworks

Travel tip:

The elegant city of Padua, where Tartini was principal violinist and maestro di cappella at the Basilica di Sant'Antonio, is an important centre for pilgrims. The Scrovegni Chapel contains frescoes by Giotto, considered to be among the greatest works of art in the world. Dedicated to Santa Maria della Carita (Saint Mary of the Charity), the chapel was decorated with frescoes by Giotto between 1303 and 1305. He was commissioned to paint the frescoes by Enrico degli Scrovegni, who was hoping to atone for the sins of usury committed by himself and his dead father. The frescoes narrate events in the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ and the stunning scenes cover the interior walls of the chapel. On the wall opposite the altar is Giotto’s magnificent Universal Judgment, which tells the story of human salvation and includes the figure of Enrico degli Scrovegni offering up a model of the chapel to the Virgin Mary in a desperate bid to save his father from hell. For more information visit www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it

The Basilica di Sant'Antonio in Padua is
visited by some five million pilgrims each year

Travel tip:

The enormous Basilica di Sant’Antonio di Padova, sometimes known as the Basilica del Santo, where Tartini was principal violinist and maestro di cappella, is one of the most important places of Christian worship in the world. An estimated five million pilgrims visit the basilica every year to file past and touch the tomb of their beloved Sant’Antonio, a Franciscan monk who became famous for his miracles. The magnificent church, in Piazza del Santo, is an architectural masterpiece created between the 13th and 14th centuries, but it was later enriched with works of art by masters such as Titian, Tiepolo and the sculptor Donatello. 

Also on this day:

1492: The death of Medici ruler Lorenzo the Magnificent

1848: The death of composer Gaetano Donizetti

1868: The birth of equestrian pioneer Federico Caprilli

1929: The birth of historian Renzo De Felice

(The portrait of Giuseppe Tartini, by an anonymous artist, is housed in the Museo del Castello Sforzesco in Milan)

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Giovanni Antonio Magini – astronomer and cartographer

Scientist laboured to produce a comprehensive atlas of Italy

The cover of Magini's great work, which
was published by his son in 1620

Giovanni Antonio Magini, who dedicated his life to producing a detailed atlas of Italy, was born on this day in 1555 in Padua.

He also devised his own planetary theory consisting of 11 rotating spheres and invented calculating devices to help him work on the geometry of the sphere.

Magini was born in Padua and went to study philosophy in Bologna, receiving his doctorate in 1579. He then dedicated himself to astronomy and in 1582 wrote his Ephemerides coelestium motuum, a major treatise on the subject, which was translated into Italian the following year.

In 1588 Magini joined in the competition for the chair of mathematics at Bologna University and was chosen over Galileo because he was older and had more moderate views. He held the position for the rest of his life.

But his greatest achievement was the preparation of Italia, or the Atlante geografico d’Italia, which was printed posthumously by Magini’s son in 1620.

Although Italy as a state has existed only since 1861, the name Italia, referring to the southern part of the peninsula, may go back to the ancient Greeks. It appeared on coins thought to have been produced in the 1st century BC and was eventually applied to the whole of the peninsula. Magini’s atlas set out to include maps of every Italian region with exact names and historical notes.

Giovanni Antonio Magini

It proved expensive to produce and Magini took on extra posts in order to fund it. These included working as mathematics tutor to the sons of Vincenzo I of Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua.

The atlas is dedicated to the duke, who assisted him with the project by arranging for maps of the many states of Italy to be brought to Magini.

The governments of Messina and Genoa also assisted him financially to help him produce the atlas.

Magini died in Bologna in 1617 and the lunar crater maginus was later named after him.

Giotto's brilliant frescoes cover the walls of the Scrovegni
Chapel, one of the Italy's great artistic treasures

Travel tip:

Padua in the Veneto, where Magini was born, is one of the most important centres for art in Italy and home to the country’s second oldest university. Padua has become acknowledged as the birthplace of modern art because of the Scrovegni Chapel, the inside of which is covered with frescoes by Giotto, an artistic genius who was the first to paint people with realistic facial expressions showing emotion. At Palazzo Bo in the centre of the city, where Padua’s university was founded in 1222, you can still see the original lectern used by Galileo and the world’s first anatomy theatre, where dissections were secretly carried out from 1594.

The courtyard of the Archiginnasio, the oldest surviving
building of the University of Bologna

Travel tip:

Bologna University, where Magini occupied the chair in Mathematics, was founded in 1088 and is the oldest university in the world. The oldest surviving building, the Archiginnasio, is now a library and is open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 7 pm, and on Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm. It is a short walk away from Piazza Maggiore and the Basilica di San Petronio in the centre of the city.

Also on this day:

The feast of St Anthony of Padua

2000: Mehmet Ali Agca, the gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II, is granted a state pardon by the Italian government

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Luke the Evangelist

Scientists believe Saint is buried in Padua

A modern representation of St Luke by the
Russian artist Andrei Mironov

The feast day of St Luke the Evangelist - la festa di San Luca - is celebrated in Padua and throughout Italy on this day every year.

Luke the Evangelist is believed to be one of the four authors of the Gospels in the New Testament. Both the Gospel according to St Luke and the book of Acts of the Apostles have been ascribed to him.

Luke is believed to have been a doctor who was also a disciple of St Paul. It has been claimed he was martyred by being hung from an olive tree, although other sources say he worked as a doctor until his death at the age of 84.

He is regarded as the patron saint of artists, physicians, surgeons, students and butchers and it is strongly believed that his body lies in the Basilica of Santa Giustina in Prato della Valle in Padua.

It is thought that Luke was a Greek physician who lived and worked in the city of Antioch in ancient Syria.

He is mentioned in some of St Paul’s Epistles and he is believed to have been with Paul in Rome near the end of his life.

The tomb of St Luke in the Basilica of Santa Giustina in Padua
is thought to contain his remains apart from the skull

After Luke’s death it is believed he was buried in Thebes but his remains were later transferred to Constantin- ople.

They are thought to have been bought by a Serb who later sold them on to the Venetian Republic. The remains were buried in Padua in a lead coffin inside a marble sarcophagus in 1172.

In 1992 the Greek Orthodox Church requested the return of ‘a significant fragment’ of the remains of St Luke so they could be placed in his tomb at Thebes.

This led to a detailed scientific examination of the remains buried in Padua. Inside the lead coffin within the sarcophagus in the Basilica, scientists found a skeleton without a skull of a man aged between 70 and 84 who was about five feet four inches tall. Tests confirmed that they were the remains of an individual of Syrian descent who died between 416 BC and AD72.

The imposing Basilica of Santa Giustina in Padua,
where St Luke's tomb is contained

The remains also fitted anatomically with a skull being kept in a church in Prague, which was claimed to be that of St Luke.

The Bishop of Padua ordered that the rib of Saint Luke that was closest to his heart should be sent to Greece to be kept in his tomb in Thebes.

The skull of Saint Luke is still in St Vitus Cathedral in Prague, but the rest of his body remains in Padua.

Travel tip:

The tomb of St Luke is housed in the splendour of the Basilica of Santa Giustina, which is at the south east corner of Prato della Valle, one of the principal squares in Padua. Admission to the Basilica is free and it is open daily from 7.30 am until noon and from 3 pm until 6.30 pm (7.30 pm on Sundays).

Giotto's beautiful frescoes adorn the walls of the
Scrovegni Chapel in Padua

Travel tip:

Padua in the Veneto is one of the most important centres for art in Italy and home to the country’s second oldest university. Padua has become acknowledged as the birthplace of modern art because of the Scrovegni Chapel, the inside of which is covered with frescoes by Giotto, an artistic genius who was the first to paint people with realistic facial expressions showing emotion. His scenes depicting the lives of Mary and Joseph, painted between 1303 and 1305, are considered his greatest achievement and one of the world’s most important works of art. At Palazzo Bo, where Padua’s university was founded in 1222, you can still see the original lectern used by Galileo and the world’s first anatomy theatre, where dissections were secretly carried out from 1594.

More reading:

Santa Giustina - murdered in Roman purge of Christians

The genius of the artist Giotto di Bondone

Padua's Saint Anthony - patron saint of the lost



(Photo of St Luke portrait by Andrei Mironov CC BY-SA 4.0)
(Photo of St Luke's tomb by Didier Descouens CC BY-SA 4.0)
(Photo of interior of the Scrovegni Chapel by Rastaman3000 CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Saint Anthony of Padua

Pilgrims honour the saint famous for his miracles

The Basilica di Sant'Antonio in Padua

The feast of Saint Anthony of Padua (Sant’Antonio da Padova) will be celebrated  by thousands of pilgrims visiting the northern Italian city today.

Special services will be held in the Basilica di Sant’Antonio and a statue of the saint will be carried through the streets of Padua.

Over the next few days pilgrims from all over the world will visit the Basilica, to see the saint’s tomb and relics.

Anthony was born in Portugal where he became a Catholic priest and a friar of the Franciscan order. He died on 13 June, 1231 in Padova and was declared a saint by the Vatican a year after his death, which is considered a remarkably short space of time.

Anthony is one of the most loved of all the saints and his name is regularly invoked by Italians to help them recover lost items.

It is estimated that about five million pilgrims visit the Basilica every year in order to file past and touch the tomb of the Franciscan monk, who became famous for his miracles, particularly relating to lost people or things.

The magnificent basilica in Piazza del Santo is an architectural masterpiece created between the 13th and 14th centuries, but it was later enriched with works of art by masters such as Titian, Tiepolo and the sculptor Donatello.

Saint Anthony’s Basilica is an imposing sight in Padova’s skyline even from a distance as it has seven domes around a cupola, two campanili (towers) and tapering spires like the minarets of a mosque.

Inside, the church is in the plan of a Latin cross with a nave and aisles in the gothic tradition. The Saint’s body lies in a marble tomb in the area known as the Chapel of the Tomb in the left transept.

The walls around the tomb are decorated with large 16th century marble reliefs that depict scenes from Saint Anthony’s life. These are overshadowed by the impressive amount of offerings and photographs on display from people wishing to give thanks after surviving car crashes or serious illnesses thanks to what they believe was the intervention of Sant’Antonio.

In a separate chapel, visitors can see relics of Saint Anthony and other important objects, such as a tunic believed to have been worn by the saint.

The Scrovegni Chapel is home to magnificent
frescoes by Giotto

Travel tip:

Padova in the Veneto is also one of the most important centres for art in Italy and home to the country’s second oldest university. Padova has become acknowledged as the birthplace of modern art because it is home to the Scrovegni Chapel, the inside of which is covered with frescoes by Giotto, a genius who was the first to paint people with realistic facial expressions showing emotion. His scenes depicting the lives of Mary and Joseph, painted between 1303 and 1305, are acknowledged as his greatest achievement and are one of the world’s most important works of art. At Palazzo Bò, Padova’s university founded in 1222, you can still see the original lectern used by Galileo and the world’s first anatomy theatre, where dissections were secretly carried out from 1594.

Travel tip:

The enormous Basilica di Sant’Antonio da Padova, or Basilica del Santo as it is known to local people, is one of the most important places of Christian worship in the world. To reach it from the railway station in Piazzale Stazione, take the tram and get off at the stop called simply, Santo. Buses also run between the station and the Basilica. If you are on foot, walk down Corso del Popolo, Corso Garibaldi, Via Eremitani, Via Zabarella and Via del Santo. The Basilica is open from 06.20 to 19.00 in the winter and 06.20 to 19.45 in the summer. Admission is free.

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Giotto – Renaissance artist

Realistic figures were first painted by Florentine genius Giotto

The brilliant 14th century painter Giotto di Bondone, who was known simply as Giotto, died on this day in 1337 in Florence.

The Scrovegni Chapel in Padova, home of
Giotto's stunning cycle of frescoes

Although much of his work is no longer in existence, he is remembered as one of the greatest artists of the early Renaissance period.

It is believed Giotto was born in about 1267 in Florence but it is not known how he learned to paint with such a sense of space, naturalism and drama. His work represented a crucial turning point in the history of art because he painted lifelike, solid figures and put in fascinating background details.

He is believed to be the first artist to make a decisive break with the Byzantine style of painting and draw figures accurately from life.

Giotto’s revolutionary style was followed by many other painters later in the 14th century and it is said that he was actually paid a salary by the commune of Florence because of his excellence.
Some of his work can be seen in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, such as his altarpiece, The Ognissanti Madonna, painted in 1310, which is a good example of his ability to paint lifelike people.

But Giotto’s most stunning surviving work is the interior of the Scrovegni chapel in Padova. His cycle of frescoes is considered to be one of the greatest works of art in the world.

Dedicated to Santa Maria della Carita (Saint Mary of the Charity), the chapel was decorated by Giotto between 1303 and 1305. The work was commissioned by Enrico degli Scrovegni, who was hoping to atone for the sins of usury committed by himself and his dead father.

The frescoes narrate events in the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ and cover the side walls of the chapel. On the wall opposite the altar is Giotto’s magnificent Universal Judgment, which tells the story of human salvation and includes the figure of Enrico degli Scrovegni offering up a model of the chapel to the Virgin Mary in a desperate bid to save his father from hell.

Under a bright blue sky, the realistic figures with their powerful facial expressions and colourful clothes tell the bible stories in a way they had never been told before.

In later life, Giotto was made ‘first court painter', with a yearly pension, by King Robert of Anjou in Naples. He lived in Naples till 1333 but none of his work there has survived.

Giotto's Campanile in Florence
Photo: Sailko (CC BY-SA 3.0)

On his return to Florence he was asked to design the new Campanile for the Cathedral in 1334 and his last known work was the decoration of a chapel in the Bargello.

It is thought Giotto was about 70 years of age when he died on 8 January 1337. Some sources say he was buried in Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence’s Duomo, while others believe he was buried in the earlier church on the site, Santa Reparata.

In the 1970s, bones were discovered beneath the paving of Santa Reparata and forensic examination confirmed they were those of a painter. The bones were reburied with honour near the grave of Brunelleschi in the church, but it is still not certain that they are actually the remains of Giotto.
  
Travel tip:

It is a miracle Giotto’s frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel have survived for 700 years. The chapel was acquired by the city of Padova in 1880 and specialised restoration operations have been carried out since. The state of the building, the quality of air, and the conservation of the frescoes have all been carefully studied. The chapel can be accessed from Giardini dell’Arena off Piazza Eremitani. There is a separate building where visitors can watch a video to prepare them for seeing the frescoes. Visits are carefully organised so people can enter the chapel and look at the frescoes without jeopardising their condition. Tickets should be booked in advance and collected an hour before the visit. For details visit www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it.

The interior of the Scrovegni Chapel is lined with
Giotto's extraordinary frescoes
Photo: Rastaman3000 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Travel tip:

The Campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore was designed by Giotto in 1334, but it was not completed till 1359, 22 years after his death. The bell tower is clad in white, pink and green Tuscan marble. In the 1870s, a marble façade was added to the Duomo to echo Giotto’s design for the Campanile.

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