Lady Blessington’s Neapolitan Journals

Irish aristocrat fell in love with Naples

Lady Blessington, depicted here by Thomas
Lawrence, settled in Naples after touring Europe

Marguerite, Lady Blessington, an Irish-born writer who married into the British aristocracy, arrived in Naples on this day in 1823 and began writing her Neapolitan Journals.

She was to stay in the city for nearly three years and her detailed account of what she saw and who she met has left us with a unique insight into life in Naples nearly 200 years ago.

Lady Blessington made herself at home in Naples and thoroughly embraced the culture, attending local events, making what at the time were adventurous excursions, and entertaining Neapolitan aristocrats and intellectuals at the former royal palace that became her home.

Those who know Naples today will recognise in her vivid descriptions many places that have remained unchanged for the last two centuries.

She also provides a valuable insight into what life was like at the time for ordinary people as well as for the rich and privileged.

A society beauty, she came to Naples during a long European tour after her marriage to Charles Gardiner, the first Earl of Blessington, and immediately became fascinated by the local customs, food and traditions. She also visited Ercolano, Paestum, Capri, Ischia and Sorrento and made an ascent of Vesuvius on an ass.

The Vomero hill offers spectacular views over Naples

She describes her first sight of the city on her arrival on 17 July in 1823. “Naples burst upon us from the steep hill above the Campo Santo, and never did aught so bright and dazzling meet my gaze. Innumerable towers, domes and steeples, rose above palaces, intermingled with terraces and verdant foliage. The bay, with its placid waters, lay stretched before us, bounded on the left by a chain of mountains, with Vesuvius, sending up its blue incense to the Cloudless sky.”

She was so impressed with her first view of the city that she ordered the postilions to pause on the brow of the hill so that she might fully appreciate the panorama in front of her.

She recalls: “… as our eyes dwelt on it, we were ready to acknowledge that the old Neapolitan phrase of ‘Vedi Napoli e poi mori’ - 'see Naples and die' - had a meaning, for they who die without having seen Naples, have missed one of the most enchanting views in the world.”

Three days later, having looked at half the palaces in Naples, she arranges to rent the Palazzo Belvedere at Vomero, describing it as: “…one of the most beautiful residences I ever beheld, in the midst of gardens and overlooking the Bay. The view it commands is unrivalled; and the gardens boast every rare and fragrant plant and flower that this delicious climate can produce.”

In February 1826 she writes with sadness about her planned departure from Naples. “As the time approaches for quitting Naples, my regret increases. A residence of nearly three years has attached me to the country and the people by ties that cannot be rent asunder without pain.”

Lady Blessington’s Neapolitan Journals are fascinating and endearing and have inspired many people to visit the city over the years. There is an abridged version of the journals in Edith Clay’s book Lady Blessington at Naples published by Hamish Hamilton.

The Royal Palace, once home to the Kings of Naples

Travel tip:

Lady Blessington mingled in royal and aristocratic circles while in Naples and would have visited the Royal Palace (Palazzo Reale), one of the magnificent residences of the Kings of Naples. The palace is at the eastern end of Piazza del Plebiscito and dates back to 1600. It now houses a 30-room museum and the largest library in southern Italy, which are both open to the public.

Travel tip:

You can take the funicular railway up the hill to Vomero, where Lady Blessington lived for a while, to see the fine views over the city and the bay of Naples. It is well worth visiting the 14th century Castel Sant’Elmo for for what you can see from its vantage point.

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St Clare of Assisi

Birth of the founder of the Poor Clares

This fresco depicting Clare of Assisi was
painted by the Italian artist Giotto in 1325

St Clare was born on this day in 1194 in Assisi as Chiara Offreduccio, the beautiful daughter of a Count.

As a young girl Clare was extremely devout and at the age of 18 she was inspired by hearing Francis of Assisi preach and went to see him to ask for help to live her life according to the Gospel.

In 1212, Clare left her father’s home and went to the chapel of Porziuncula to meet Francis. Her hair was cut off and she was given a plain robe and veil in exchange for her rich gown.

Clare joined a convent of Benedictine nuns and when her father tracked her down refused to leave it to return home.

Francis sent her to another monastery, where she was later joined by her sister. Over the years other women came to be with them who also wanted to serve Jesus and live with no money. They became known as the Poor Ladies of San Damiano because of the austere lifestyle they lived.

Clare took care of St Francis when he became old and after his death continued to lead her Order of Poor Women in the Franciscan tradition, which later became known as the Order of St Clare, also often referred to as The Poor Clares.

Another work by Giotto showing
St Francis and St Clare

In 1224, the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, sent an army of soldiers to attack Assisi and, although she was very sick at the time, Clare went out to meet them carrying the Blessed Sacrament and placed it by the wall of the convent where they could see it. Then on her knees she begged God to save the Sisters in her Order.

At that moment a sudden fright seemed to strike the soldiers and they fled without harming anyone in Assisi.

Just before Clare’s death in 1253, Pope Innocent IV declared the Rule of Life that she had written for her women would serve as the governing rule for Clare’s Order. It is believed to be the first set of monastic guidelines known to have been drawn up by a woman.

After Clare died at the age of 59, her remains were placed in the Chapel of San Giorgio while a new church dedicated to her was being built. Two years later in 1255 she was made a saint, St Clare of Assisi, by Pope Alexander IV.

The Basilica of St Clare was finished in 1260 and her remains were buried beneath the high altar there. Six centuries later her remains were transferred to a newly constructed shrine in the crypt of the Basilica.

St Clare’s feast day is celebrated every year on August 11.

The façade of the Basilica of St Clare in Assisi

Travel tip:

The Basilica of St Clare (Basilica di Santa Chiara) is in Piazza Santa Chiara in Assisi. It was built in the 13th century in Gothic style to contain the remains of St Clare. These were transferred to a shrine in the basilica in the 19th century. The church is open daily from 06.30 to 12.00 and from 14.00 to 19.00. Outside the church there is a terrace with lovely views of the surrounding Umbrian countryside.

Travel tip:

The Papal Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, the mother church of the Franciscan Order, is in Piazza Inferiore di San Francesco in Assisi. Built into the side of a hill, it consists of two churches, a lower Basilica and an upper Basilica, and a crypt that contains the remains of St Francis. The Basilica is one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy and has been a Unesco World Heritage site since 2000.

(Photo of Basilica of St Clare by Geobia CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Fire damages St Paul Outside-the-Walls

Beautiful Basilica was faithfully rebuilt and restored

A painting at the National Gallery of Modern Art
 in Rome shows the Basilica after the fire

A blaze nearly destroyed the ancient Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls (Basilica Papale San Paolo Fuori Le Mura) in Rome on this day in 1823. 

A workman repairing the lead in the church roof accidentally started a fire that burnt down the Basilica, which dated back to the third century and was unique in Rome, having retained its primitive style.

St Paul Outside-the-Walls is one of 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).

After the fire, Pope Leo XII appealed for donations to help rebuild the church in exactly the same style.

The Basilica was reopened in 1840 and reconsecrated in 1855 in the presence of Pope Pius IX.

The redecoration was helped by contributions from all over the world, including pillars of alabaster from Egypt and malachite and lapis lazuli from Russia.

The Italian Government funded the work on the façade and declared the Church a national monument.

The façade of the reconstructed Basilica pictured today

The Basilica had been founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine over the burial place of St Paul. In the sixth century the building was modified to enable the altar to be placed directly over Paul’s tomb.

The Basilica, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is outside the territory belonging to the Vatican although it is owned by them.

Travel tip:

St Paul Outside-The-Walls is in Piazzale San Paolo, close to the Tiber in the south of the city. It is open daily from 07.00 to 19.00. If travelling by Metro get off at San Paolo. The number 23 bus will take you to the Ostiense/San Paolo stop close to the Basilica.

Travel tip:

Vatican City is an independent state inside Italy policed by its own security force, the Swiss Guard. Within it is St Peter’s Basilica, built over the place where St Peter is believed to have been crucified and buried. A few minutes walk from the Basilica you will come to the entrance to the Vatican museums where you can see the Sistine Chapel, which was decorated by Michelangelo. The Pope holds audiences in the Vatican every Wednesday and blesses the crowds in St Peter’s Square every Sunday.

(Photo of painting by Lalupa CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Collapse of St Mark’s Campanile

Dramatic fall of instantly recognisable symbol of Venice

An enormous pile of rubble was left after the collapse
of the Campanile in July 1902

The bell tower (Campanile) in St Mark’s Square in Venice collapsed on this day in 1902.

No one was killed but the Biblioteca Marciana nearby was partially damaged by its fall.

A crack had appeared in one of the walls of the bell tower a few days before and at approximately 9.45 am on Monday, 14 July, the entire structure collapsed into a heap of rubble.

Venetians regarded the event as a tragedy. The bell tower, just short of 100 metres tall, had stood for around 1,000 years and was seen as symbolic of the city.  Built on foundations of wood and mud, however, there was always the danger it would become unstable over time.

On the evening of the day of the collapse, the Venice authorities approved funding for the reconstruction of the Campanile in exactly the same place in the piazza, to be built to resemble how it looked after 16th century improvements to the original ninth century design.

The rubble was painstakingly removed from the square, loaded on to barges and dumped in the sea about five miles offshore from Venice Lido.

The new tower was designed with internal reinforcement to prevent a future collapse, and a lift.

The rebuilding of the Campanile took nearly ten years and the new bell tower was finally inaugurated on 25 April, 1912 on St Mark’s feast day.

The Campanile today

Travel tip:

Magnificent panoramic views across Venice and the lagoon can be enjoyed from the top of the Campanile, which is open to the public every day from 09.30 to 19.00. Galileo would have seen these views when he demonstrated his telescope to the Doge of Venice from the top of the previous bell tower in 1609.

Travel tip:

St Mark’s Square (Piazza San Marco) has been the scene of countless pageants, processions, political activities and Carnival festivities during its long history. Thousands of tourists flock to it every day to visit the Basilica and the Doge’s Palace, or to listen to the musicians playing outside the elegant cafes on each side.

Situated close to the lagoon, the Piazza is usually one of the first points in the city to suffer from flooding when there is a high tide (aqua alta).

More about Venice:

The composer Albinoni

The painter Tintoretto

The adventurer Casinova




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The founding of the Carabinieri

Italy’s stylish ‘First Force’

Carabinieri officers still wear
elaborate dress uniform

The Carabinieri Corps was created on this day in 1814 in Italy by a resolution passed by Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy.

He established an army of mounted and foot soldiers to provide a police force, to be called Royal Carabinieri (Carabinieri Reali). The soldiers were rigorously selected ‘for their distinguished good conduct and judiciousness.’

Their task was defined as ‘to contribute to the necessary happiness of the State, which cannot be separated from protection and defence of all good subjects.’

Their functions were specified in the royal licence issued at the time, which underlined the importance of the personal skills required by the soldiers selected. It also affirmed their dual military and civil roles.

The sense of duty and high level of conduct displayed by the Carabinieri went on to win the respect of the Italian people.

They were called Carabinieri to avoid any comparisons with the former Napoleonic gendarmerie, and because they were equipped with carbines as weapons.

Their dress uniform was designed to reflect the solemn image of the sovereign state, with a two cornered hat, known as the lucerna, and dark blue dress coat. Their uniform is still in use today, with only slight changes made to it over the last 200 years.

After Italian unification in 1861 under Victor Emmanuel II, the Carabinieri were named ‘First Force’ of the new kingdom.

Carabinieri patrols use vehicles of all shapes and sizes

It was Carabinieri officers who arrested and imprisoned Mussolini on the orders of the King in 1943. Afterwards, the Germans ordered them to be disbanded and a large number of them joined the Italian resistance movement.

The Carabinieri have seen action in all battles involving Italian armies since 1815 and have fought against crime and terrorism at home, helping to promote respect for law and social order in Italy.

In recent years they have been dispatched on peace keeping missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq and they have also helped during natural catastrophes in Italy, such as floods and earthquakes.

Travel tip:

The headquarters (Comando Generale) of the Carabinieri in Rome is in Piazza Bligny, just to the north of the Villa Borghese. There is access for the public from 08:00 to 16.30 Monday to Friday and from 08:30 to 13:00 on Saturdays.

The monument to the Carabinieri Corps in the grounds of
the Royal Palace in Turin

Travel tip:

The Carabinieri Corps was formed in Turin in northern Italy after French soldiers had occupied the city at the end of the 18th century and then abandoned it to the Kingdom of Piedmont. Turin, which is in the region of Piedmont (Piemonte), was the capital of the Duchy of Savoy from 1563, then of the Kingdom of Sardinia ruled by the Royal House of Savoy, and finally became the first capital of the new unified Italy.  There is a monument to the Carabinieri in the grounds of the Royal Palace.

(Photo of monument by IlPassagero CC BY-SA 3.0)
(Photo of Carabinieri smart car by Jollyroger CC BY-SA 2.5)

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Amedeo Modigliani – artist

Illness marred the life of creative genius 

Amedeo Modigliani: A photograph taken in
 about 1918, when the artist was 34 years old

Painter and sculptor Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was born on this day in 1884 in Livorno in Tuscany.

The artist went on to become famous for his portraits and his paintings of nudes, which were characterised by their elongated faces and figures.

Modigliani did not receive much acclaim during his lifetime, but after his death his work became popular and achieved high prices.

He was born into a Jewish family and suffered health problems as a child, but began drawing and painting from an early age and begged his family to take him to see the paintings in the Uffizi in Florence.

His mother enrolled him at the art school of Guglielmo Micheli in Livorno where he received artistic instruction influenced by the style and themes of 19th century Italian art.

In 1902 Modigliani enrolled in the school of nude studies at the Accademia di Belle Art in Florence and then moved on to Venice to continue his studies.

Modigliani's portrait of his lover,
Jeanne Hébuterne

In 1906 he moved to Paris, where he set up a studio with Jacob Epstein.

He lived with a beautiful young French art student, Jeanne Hébuterne, from 1917 until he became ill with tuberculosis and died in 1920, at the age of just 35. She threw herself out of a window the day after his death, killing herself and her unborn child.  The two are buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Travel tip:

Livorno, where Modigliani was born, is a port on the western coast of Tuscany, which deals with thousands of cruise ship passengers each day.  The city used to be known as Leghorn in English and there is an English cemetery in Via Giuseppe Verdi, which houses the graves of many former British residents, including the novelist, Tobias Smollett.

Travel tip:

The Uffizi in Florence, where Modigliani asked to be taken as a child, is one of the oldest and most famous art galleries in the world and houses a wealth of Renaissance art treasures. Located in Piazzale degli Uffizi close to Piazza della Signoria and the famous Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, it was originally built as a suite of offices in 1560, but later became used by the Medici family to display their art treasures. For more information, visit www.uffizi.org. 

More reading:

Giorgio Vasari - art's first historian

The merchant's wife immortalised as the Mona Lisa

The wonderful legacy of Tintoretto


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Giorgio Armani – designer

Former army medic forged brilliant career in fashion

Giorgio Armani

Giorgio Armani, who is considered by many to be Italy's greatest fashion designer, was born on this day in 1934 in Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna.

Known for his menswear and the clean, tailored lines of his collections for women, Armani, who celebrates his 82nd birthday today, has become a multi-billionaire.

His original career plan was to become a doctor and he enrolled in the Department of Medicine at the University of Milan but after three years left to join the army. Due to his medical background he was assigned to the military hospital in Verona.

After he left the army, Armani decided to have a complete career change and got a job as a window dresser for La Rinascente, a Milan department store.

He progressed to become a sales assistant in the menswear department and then moved on to work for Nino Cerruti as a menswear designer.

In 1973 Armani opened a design office in Milan from where he worked as a freelance designer for fashion houses. He founded his own company, Giorgio Armani, in Milan in 1975.

La Rinascente in Milan, with its rooftop garden,
as seen from the roof of the neighbouring Duomo

He began producing designs specifically for the United States and his label soon became one of the leading names in international fashion. He also designed costumes for the film industry and suits for many sports teams, including the England football team.

Armani has built up a network of hundreds of boutiques and stores across nearly 40 countries.

He was also the first designer to ban models who had a BMI of less than 18, following the death of a model from anorexia.

Travel tip:

La Rinascente in Milan, where Giorgio Armani once worked, is right in the centre of the city in Piazza Duomo, close to the entrance to the Duomo metro stop. The store, which sells clothes and cosmetics as well as house wares, was nominated the Best Department Store in the World at a Global Department Store Summit in 2016.

Milan's Via Montenapoleone

Travel tip:

The original Giorgio Armani store in Milan is in Via Montenapoleone in the centre of the city. It reopened in April 2015 after Armani and his team of architects had completely redesigned the store to bring out the original architecture of the building. This was part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the company.

(Photo of Giorgio Armani by GianAngelo Pistoia CC BY-SA 3.0)
(Photo of Via Montenapoleone by Geobia CC BY-SA 4.0)

More on fashion:

Humble beginnings of shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo

Guccio Gucci: the lift boy who designed the world's favourite handbags

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