Nick Gentile - mafioso

Sicilian mobster defied code of silence by publishing memoirs

Nick Gentile was
rarely photographed

The mafioso Nicola Gentile, known in the United States as Nick, who became notorious for publishing a book of memoirs that revealed the inner workings of the American Mafia as well as secrets of the Sicilian underworld, was born on this day in 1885 in Siculiana, a small town on the south coast of the Sicily, in the province of Agrigento.

Gentile’s book, Vita di Capomafia, which he wrote in conjunction with a journalist, was published in 1963 and provided much assistance to the American authorities in their fight against organized crime.

As a result Gentile was sentenced to death by the mafia council in Sicily for having broken the code of omertà, a vow of silence to which all mafiosi are expected to adhere to protect their criminal activities.  Siculiana, in fact, was a mafia stronghold, where the code was usually enforced with particular rigour.

Yet the mobsters from the city of Catania who were tasked with carrying out the sentence declined to do so, for reasons that have not been explained. In the event, Gentile died in Siculiana in 1966 of natural causes, having spent his last years as an old, sick man who appeared to have very little money and was kept alive by the kindliness of neighbours.

The file the American FBI kept on Gentile's
criminal activity and personal details

The book was also a source of embarrassment for the American government, revealing how US forces collaborated with criminals across Sicily to help facilitate the invasion of the island in 1943 and the subsequent push up the Italian peninsula, helping the Sicilian Mafia rebuild after the damage it suffered during the Fascist era.

Gentile - known in his home country as 'Zio' or 'Zu Cola' (Uncle Nicola) - went to America as an illegal immigrant at the age of 19, having been invited there by a small crime clan made up of Sicilians from Siculiana, acting in New York as well as Philadelphia and Kansas City.

He developed a reputation for being able to mediate in disagreements between rival Mafia families and subsequently travelled regularly from state to state as a peacemaker, while at the same time capitalising on the respect he gained from others by forming strategic alliances.

In the 1920s. Gentile was the head of criminal smuggling cartels plus the mafia families of Kansas City, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Gentile returned frequently to Sicily, sometimes to visit relatives, at other times to escape his enemies and the law. Ultimately, his criminal activities in America were based in New York, where he became involved with narcotics operations headed by Charles 'Lucky' Luciano.

He returned to Sicily permanently after being arrested in New Orleans in 1937 on drug charges, fleeing the country on $15,000 bail.

Charles "Lucky" Luciano was an associate of Gentile
both in the United States and in Sicily

Gentile then rose to a top-level position in the Sicilian Mafia and was one of the mob figures who collaborated with the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, helping the military set up a new civil administration in return for being appointed to prominent positions in local government.

He became involved with a Sicilian separatist movement and claimed to have been approached by a US special agent to rally support for the monarchy in the referendum on June 2, 1946.

When Lucky Luciano was extradited to Italy in 1946, he also is said to have been a collaborator with the US military. In Sicily he was again able to team up with Gentile and questions have been raised since over how he and Gentile had the freedom to organise drug trafficking routes to the US.

Quite why, in 1963, Gentile decided to write his memoirs, with the help of Italian journalist Felice Chilanti, is not clear.  In describing the internal organization of the Mafia, or l'onorata società - the Honoured Society - as Gentile called it, he ignored the code of omertà in a way not seen until the pentito Tommaso Buscetta began to reveal secrets more than 20 years later.

Ultimately, the American law enforcement agencies used the detail in Gentile’s book to corroborate the evidence of another repentant mobster, Joe Valachi, who told them that Gentile’s descriptions were accurate.

The marina area at Siculiana is part of an unspoilt stretch
of Sicilian coastline in the southeast of the island

Travel tip:

Siculiana, a town thought to have Greek and Arab roots, is situated on the south-facing coast of the island, about 24km (15 miles) from Agrigento. The Chiaramonte family built a castle, parts of which are still visible, on the ruins of an Arab fortress that was destroyed in 1087 during the conquest of Sicily by the Normans. A 13km (8 miles) stretch of unspoilt coastline northwest of Siculiana is now a protected nature reserve.

A view across the port of Porto Empedocle, where
Andrea Camilleri based his Montalbano novels

Travel tip:

Only 13km (8 miles) from Siculiana along the coast in the other direction, on the way to Agrigento, is Porto Empedocle, the birthplace of the author Andrea Camilleri and the port town on which he based Vigàta, the fictional home of his famous detective, Inspector Montalbano. Camilleri’s Montalbano books have become international best-sellers, with many of them turned into episodes of the crime drama TV series starring Luca Zingaretti as Montalbano. Many scenes from the TV series were filmed around Porto Empedocle, which has now changed its name to Porto Empedocle Vigàta to encourage Camilleri fans to visit the area.

More reading:

How Charles 'Lucky' Luciano became one of organised crime's most powerful figures

Andrea Camilleri - the creator of Inspector Montalbano

The story of anti-mafia crusader Giovanni Falcone


Also on this day:

1675: The death of Charles Emmanuel II, notorious Duke of Savoy

1922: The birth of astrophysicist Margherita Hack

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Giovanni Antonio Giay – composer

Opera composer also wrote religious music for the Savoy family

Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy, who invited Giay
 to become maestro di cappella at the royal chapel

Opera and music composer Giovanni Antonio Giay was born on this day in 1690 in Turin.

A protégée of Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy, Giay sometimes spelt Giai or Giaj, wrote 15 operas, five symphonies and a large quantity of sacred music for the royal chapel of Turin Cathedral.

Giay’s father, Stefano Giuseppe Giay, who was a chemist, died when Giovanni Antonio was just five years old.

At the age of ten, Giovanni Antonio became the first member of his family to study music when he entered the Collegio degli Innocenti at Turin Cathedral to study under Francesco Fasoli.

Giay’s first opera, Il trionfo d’amore o sia La Fillide, was premiered at the original Teatro Carignano during the Carnival of 1715.

At the invitation of Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy, Giay became maestro di cappella at the royal chapel in Turin in 1732, succeeding Andrea Stefano Fiore.

Charles Emmanuel III liked art and music and reintroduced feasting and celebrations in Turin that had previously been abolished by his predecessors.

Giay's son, Francesco Saverio, took
over his father's role in Turin

The composer produced a great deal of religious music for the chapel but continued to write opera as well.

His intermezzo, Don Chisciotte in Venezia, which was written in about 1748, had lyrics by Giuseppe Baretti, a controversial poet and writer from Turin, who was later tried for murder in London.

The lyrics feature Miguel Cervantes’ characters Don Quixote and Dulcinea, with the action taking place during the carnival of Venice.

Giay remained in the post of maestro di cappella for 26 years until his death in 1764 in Turin.

He was succeeded as maestro by his son, Francesco Saverio Giay, who went on to hold the post for the next 34 years.

Turin Cathedral, where Giay studied and was later
appointed maestro di cappella

Travel tip:

Turin Cathedral, where Giay studied music and was maestro di cappella, was built between 1491 and 1498 in Piazza San Giovanni in Turin. The Chapel of the Holy Shroud, where the Turin Shroud is kept, was added in 1668. Some members of the House of Savoy are buried in the Duomo while others are buried in the Basilica di Superga on the outskirts of the city.

Teatro Carignano is believed to be
 more than 300 years old

Travel tip:

Teatro Carignano in Turin, where Giay’s first opera had its premiere, is one of the oldest and most important theatres in Italy and is believed to date back to 1711, although it has been rebuilt several times over the centuries. Today it is owned by the city of Turin and is used mainly to stage plays. The main entrance is in Piazza Carignano in the heart of ‘royal’ Turin.

Also on this day:

1611: The birth of Baroque artist Antonio Cifrondi

1956: The death of Corrado Alvaro, award-winning writer and journalist

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Carlo Ancelotti - football manager

Four-times winner of the Champions League

Carlo Ancelotti in the Milan colours in which he twice won
European football's top prize as both a player and a manager

Carlo Ancelotti, a former top-level player who has become one of football’s most accomplished managers, was born on this day in 1959 in Reggiolo, a small town in Emilia-Romagna.

With Real Madrid's defeat of Liverpool in the 2022 final, he became the only manager to have won the UEFA Champions League four times - twice with AC Milan and twice with Real Madrid. He is also the only coach to have managed teams in five finals.

Ancelotti, who has managed title-winning teams in four countries, is also one of only seven to have won the European Cup or Champions League as a player and gone on to do so as a manager too.

As a boy, Ancelotti often helped his father, Giuseppe, who made and sold cheese for a living, in the fields on the family farm, which is where he claims he acquired his appreciation of hard work.

But despite the cheeses of Emilia-Romagna having international renown, especially the famous Parmigiana-Reggiano, he saw how his father struggled to make enough money to feed his family and vowed to make more of his own life.

Ancelotti is one of the most accomplished
coaches in world football

His talent for football, allied to that work ethic, enabled him to fulfil that promise.

After playing for his local youth team in Reggiolo, Ancelotti was snapped up as a teenager by Parma, making his debut in Serie C - the third tier in Italian football - in the 1976–77 season, at the age of 18. His two goals in the decisive play-off earned the gialloblu promotion to Serie B the following year.

He joined Roma in 1979, staying in the capital for eight trophy-laden seasons, winning the Coppa Italia four times and his first Serie A title in 1983, under the great Swedish coach Nils Liedholm.

Then came six seasons with Arrigo Sacchi’s magnificent AC Milan team, which won the Scudetto - the Serie A title - in 1988, and the European Cup in both 1989 and 1990. He won his third Scudetto when Fabio Capello replaced Sacchi as manager.

An efficient and assiduous midfield player, he could create goals and score them, which earned him a place in the Italian national team, although injuries restricted him to 26 senior caps and caused him to miss the 1982 and 1986 World Cups as well as the Olympics in Seoul in 1988.  He did win a bronze medal as part of the Azzurri squad at the 1990 World Cup on home soil.

As a mentor to several future top-class players, including Giuseppe Giannini, Demetrio Albertini and Andrea Pirlo, Ancelotti displayed burgeoning man-management skills even while still a player.

Ancelotti with the Champions League trophy after winning
it for the third time with Real Madrid in 2014

Persistent knee injuries forced him to quit at the age of 33. He moved immediately into coaching with the Italian Football Federation at the national training headquarters at Coverciano, near Florence, where he rose to be assistant to his former Milan manager Arrigo Sacchi on the Azzurri coaching staff as Italy reached the final of the 1994 World Cup.

Ancelotti stepped on to the club management ladder in familiar territory with Reggiana in Serie B in 1995. He had to wait seven years for his first major trophy, but claimed the biggest prize first as AC Milan, his fourth club after Reggiana, Parma and Juventus, won the 2002-03 Champions League final, defeating Juventus in the final on penalties.

Now major trophies came thick and fast: a Serie A title with Milan in 2004 and a second Champions League in 2007, when victory over Liverpool in the final in Athens made up for the catastrophe of losing the 2005 final to the same opponents in Istanbul after being 3-0 up at half-time.

The Stadio San Paolo in Naples, where Ancelotti takes
up his next management position in July

Moving to England, he led Chelsea to a Premier League-FA Cup double in 2009-10, won the French Ligue 1 title with Paris St Germain in 2013, followed by a third Champions League with Spanish giants Real Madrid in 2014.

After taking some time off for a back operation, Ancelotti resurfaced at Bayern Munich, where he succeeded Pep Guardiola and led the German giants to their fifth consecutive Bundesliga title. But lack of success in the Champions League led to his dismissal in September 2017.

He later had spells with Napoli back in Italy and Everton in England, before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.

Having been with his first wife, Luisa, for 25 years before they divorced in 2008, Ancelotti is now married to the Canadian businesswoman Barrena McClay, whom he met while they were both working in London. He has two children, Katia and Davide, from his first marriage. Davide was on his father’s coaching staff at Bayern Munich.

(Updated on 09-06-22)

The Rocca di Reggiolo in Ancelotti's home town

Travel tip:

Ancelotti’s home town of Reggiolo is close to the border of Emilia-Romagna and Veneto, about 32km (20 miles) north of Reggio Emilia in the Padana plain. It is the same distance from Mantua in the Veneto and was the frequent target of attacks between the 12th and 14th centuries, when Mantua and Reggio disputed possession. This led to the construction of the impressive walled castle that remains the town’s main feature.

Piazza San Prospero in Reggio Emilia often hosts a market

Travel tip:

Although the city of Reggio Emilia is often described as the home of Italy's world famous hard cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano - known in English as Parmesan - is thought to have originated in the commune of Bibbiano, in the Reggio Emilia province, about 15km (9 miles) to the southeast.  The province is also believed to have given Italy its tricolore national flag, with evidence that a short-lived 18th century republic, the Repubblica Cispadana, had a flag of red, white and green.  The city lacks the cultural wealth of neighbouring Parma and is consequently less visited but it has an attractive historic centre with a number of notable buildings, including the Basilica della Ghiara and the 10th century Basilica di San Prospero, which overlooks the elegant Piazza of the same name.

More reading:

How Arrigo Sacchi started a tactical and technical revolution in Italian football

The genius of Andrea Pirlo

Coaching veteran Fabio Capello has won Serie A five times

Also on this day:

1918: The death of writer and composer Arrigo Boito

1940: Italy enters the Second World War

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The death of Nero

Brutal emperor killed himself with help of aide

The bust of Nero in the Capitoline
Museum in Rome

The Roman emperor Nero, whose rule was associated with extravagance and brutality, died on this day in 68 AD in what would now be described as an assisted suicide.

Effectively deposed as emperor when simultaneous revolts in the Gallic and Spanish legions coincided with the Praetorian Guard rising against him, with Galba named as his successor, Nero fled Rome, seeking refuge from one of his few remaining loyalists.

Phaon, an imperial freedman, gave him the use of a villa four miles outside Rome along Via Salaria, where he hastened, under disguise, along with Phaon and three other freedmen, Epaphroditos, Neophytus, and Sporus.

Nero had hoped to escape to Egypt but realised there was no one left to provide the means and asked the four freedmen to begin digging his grave, in readiness for his death by suicide.

In the meantime, the Senate had declared Nero a public enemy. As well as ordering the executions of numerous rivals, real or perceived, and even having his mother and two wives killed, Nero made many enemies through unpopular policies and confiscation of property.

He was suspected of starting the great fire that destroyed much of Rome in 64 AD in order to create space to build the vast Domus Aurea - a complex of palaces and pavilions in a landscaped park with an artificial lake and a gigantic bronze statue of himself. Nero blamed the fire on the small community of Christians, many of whom were put to death.

This bust of Nero can be found in the
Summer Garden in St Petersburg, Russia

Nero had been unable to keep his hiding place a secret and soon a courier arrived with news of the Senate’s declaration and their intention to have him beaten to death in the Forum. Armed men had been despatched to apprehend him.

Nero was famous for his love of the theatre, which largely involved him performing on the stage quite literally in front of a captive audience, with the doors of the theatre locking the audience in.  But, according to legend, when it came to the ultimate drama of taking his own life he was found wanting and begged one of his freedmen to help. Out of loyalty, Epaphroditos obliged and plunged a knife into the emperor’s chest.

It had the desired effect. When soldiers arrived, Nero was dying and attempts to stop his bleeding so that he could be returned alive to meet his fate failed.

Ironically, after the soldiers had been despatched, the debate in the Senate had continued and Nero might have been spared.

He was the last member of the revered Julio-Claudian dynasty and many of the senators felt a loyalty to the bloodline, if not to Nero himself, who had no heir. There was talk of a compromise that would preserve Nero's life, at least so a future heir to the dynasty could be produced.

Thus the line ended after 95 years. In the interests of maintaining public order, the Senate did posthumously declare Nero a public enemy.

Galba was proclaimed the new emperor, precipitating the chaos of what became known as the year of the Four Emperors.

Nero was buried in the Mausoleum of the Domitii Ahenobarbi, in what is now the Pincian Hill area of Rome, where the Villa Borghese stands.

The small side arches of the Ponte Salario are thought to
be part of the original Roman structure

Travel tip:

The Via Salaria ran from Porta Salaria in Rome’s Aurelian Walls to what was then Castrum Truentinum - Porto d'Ascoli today - on the Adriatic coast, a distance of 242 km (150 miles), passing through Reate (Rieti) and Asculum (Ascoli Piceno). It was originally built for the transportation of salt. Today, Via Salaria (SS4) is a state highway that runs more or less on the same path from Rome to the Adriatic sea. The remains of a number of Roman bridges along the route still exist, including the Ponte Salario, which crosses the Aniene, a tributary of the Tiber, just outside Rome. The bridge has been rebuilt and altered over the years but there are visible side arches which are thought to be from the original structure, built in the first century BC.

Hotels in Rome by Booking.com

One of the rooms in the rediscovered and
partially restored Domus Aurea

Travel tip:

After Nero’s death, the Domus Aurea - Golden House - was stripped of its treasures, with its marble, jewels and ivory removed. The vast complex was filled with earth and built over. The Baths of Titus, the Flavian Amphitheatre, the Colossus Neronis, the Baths of Trajan and the Temple of Venus and Rome were all built on the site, obliterating all visible trace of the Golden House. It was rediscovered during the Renaissance, when a young man fell down a hole on the site and found himself in the cavernous, subterranean rooms of Nero’s palace. It was discovered that beautiful, intricate frescoes remained, preserved from dampness by the buildings above. Since then, various restoration projects have taken place and are ongoing, with guided tours of parts of the complex now available.

Also on this day:

1311: Duccio's Maestà altarpiece in the Cathedral of Siena is unveiled

1898: The birth of Luigi Fagioli, the oldest driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix

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Guido Banti – physician

Doctor was the first to define leukaemia

Guido Banti was among the first doctors to
understand the disease process in leukaemia

The innovative physician and pathologist Guido Banti was born on this day in 1852 in Montebicchieri in Tuscany.

His work on the spleen led him to discover that a chronic congestive enlargement of the spleen resulted in the premature destruction of red blood cells. Closely related to leukaemia, this was later named 'Banti’s disease' in his honour.

Banti’s father was a physician and sent him to study medicine at the University of Pisa and the Medical School in Florence.

He graduated in 1877 and was appointed an assistant at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova and also as an assistant in the laboratory of Pathological Anatomy.

The ability to observe patients in bed and then carry out post mortem examinations was to prove fundamental to his work.

Within five years he had become chief of medical services. In 1895, after a five year spell in a temporary post he was appointed Ordinary Professor of Pathological Anatomy in the medical school in Florence. He remained in this post for 25 years.

Banti published the first textbook in Italy on the techniques of bacteriology in 1885.

Banti worked for a while at the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital,
the oldest still-active medical institution in Florence

He studied and also wrote about heart enlargement, the causes of aphasia and hyperplastic gastritis. He spent three years studying cancer cells and published a study of typhoid fever.

In 1895 he wrote about endocarditis and nephritis and atherosclerosis of the kidney.

He studied enlargement of the spleen and wrote a paper describing the condition that would become known as Banti’s disease. He proposed that the enlarged spleen was the cause of red cell destruction which led to anaemia and that only removal of the spleen could stop this process. On his advice, the first splenectomy for haemolytic jaundice was carried out in Florence in 1903.

Banti’s name is still primarily connected with leukaemia and he opposed the views of other scientists about the disease. In 1913 Banti decided that leukaemias are systemic diseases arising from the haematopoietic structures, bone marrow and lymph glands and are the result of the uncontrolled proliferation of staminal blood cells. This accords closely with the modern definition of leukaemia.

Banti died in Florence in 1935 aged 72.

The Church of Santa Lucia in Montebichieri

Travel tip:

Montebichieri, where Guido Banti was born, is a village to the southwest of San Miniato in the province of Pisa in Tuscany. In the centre of the village is the 14th century Church of Santa Lucia and a tower and parts of the original walls still survive from the medieval fortifications. Many of the houses are now empty and abandoned.

The bust of Guido Banti at
the Florence Institute

Travel tip:

There is a bust of Guido Banti in the Institute of Anatomy and Pathology in Florence.  The Institute, established in 1824, is famous for its collection of wax pathological models created in the 19th century, which were invaluable teaching tools in medical schools, where living examples, cadavers, and other visual aids of many pathologies were often scarce. One of the most famous pieces in the museum is the 1851 “leper” model by artist Luigi Calamai.  The museum, which was originally housed at the University of Florence, was moved to the city’s Careggi Hospital in 1859.

Also on this day:

1671: The birth of Venetian composer Tomaso Albinoni

1823: The birth of Pompeii archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli

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Pippo Baudo - TV presenter

Record-breaking host of Sanremo festival

TV presenter Pippo Baudo has been a
familiar face for decades

The television presenter Pippo Baudo, who became one of the most recognisable personalities on Italian television in a broadcasting career spanning six decades, was born on this day in 1936 in Militello in Val di Catania, in Sicily.

Baudo has presented numerous shows for the national broadcaster Rai and for private networks but is probably best known as the host of the annual Sanremo Music Festival and the presenter of the immensely popular Sunday afternoon magazine show Domenica In.

He was the face of Sanremo a record 13 times between 1968 and 2008, eclipsing another much-loved TV host, Mike Bongiorno, who presented the prestigious song contest on 11 occasions.

Baudo has anchored or co-hosted Domenica In 11 times.  His appearance on the 2016-17 edition of the show came 37 years after he presented the programme for the first time in 1979.

His other major shows include Settevoci, Canzonissima, Fantastico, Serata d'onore and Novecento.

Pippo - short for Giuseppe - is the son of a lawyer, whose father had ambitions for his son to follow a similar career path.

But Pippo was attracted to the idea of performing. While he was a boy he would play the piano and sing songs during the interval at a theatre owned by a family friend and though he duly studied law at the University of Catania, it was not with complete focus.

Pippo Baudo (right) with his predecessors on Domenica
 In (Corrado Montani) and Sanremo (Mike Bongiorno)

A story he has told many times relates to being asked to host the ‘Miss Sicily’ beauty contest in the beautiful town of Chiaramonte Gulfi, in the hills above Ragusa, almost 90km (56 miles) south of Catania. It was a prestigious gig for a young man such as Baudo and he did not want to pass up the opportunity to impress.

The problem was that it was the night before his graduation, he had no car and there was no way using public transport that he could possibly be in Catania in time for the ceremony. In desperation, he rose at dawn and hitched a life on a farmer’s pick-up truck heading for Catania, spending the journey lying on top of boxes of fruit and vegetables but arriving just in time to graduate.

He never practised in law, however. He made his first appearance on television in 1959 as a pianist and singer with a backing orchestra on variety shows. He began fronting the occasional show in the 1960s before his big break came by chance in 1966.

Baudo had made a pilot episode for Rai of a talent contest called Settevoci - Seven Voices. The television company’s bosses had been underwhelmed and had no plans to broadcast it. But one Sunday afternoon, the reel containing the latest episode of the popular American series Rin Tin Tin did not turn up and Rai had a last-minute gap in their schedule.

Pippo Baudo in 1970, at the peak of his popularity

Somehow, the Settevoci pilot was shown instead and was an instant success, gaining significant viewing figures. Rai hurriedly commissioned more and it became part of the Sunday entertainment schedule for the next four years.

It helped launch the careers of many popular Italian singers and other performers, as have many of Baudo's shows.  It is claimed that, to one degree or another, stars such as Al Bano, Beppe Grillo, Tullio Solenghi, Heather Parisi, Eros Ramazzotti, Lorella Cuccarini, Laura Pausini, Giorgia and Andrea Bocelli can all thank Pippo Baudo for giving them the chance to showcase their talents.

Nicknamed “Super Pippo” for his enduring popularity and ability to bounce back from setbacks, Baudo has been married twice, the second time to the opera singer Katia Ricciarelli, from whom he was divorced in 2007. He has two children, Alessandro and Tiziana, and is a grandfather and great-grandfather.

Via Porta della Terra, a typically elegant street in
Militello in Val di Catania

Travel tip:

Militello in Val di Catania is an attractive town on the northern slopes of the Iblean Mountains, about 50km (31 miles) southwest of Catania. It is sometimes known as the Florence of the Iblei because of its wealth of palaces, churches and monasteries. The town had a golden age in the 17th century during the rule of Prince Francesco Branciforte, whose family built the Barresi Branciforte Castle. Although many buildings were destroyed during an earthquake in 1693, considerable work went into rebuilding. In 2002 the town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The main square in Chiaramonte Gulfi

Travel tip:

Nicknamed 'il Balcone della Sicilia' (Sicily's balcony), the town of Chiaramonte Gulfi is perched on a hill 15km (9 miles) north of Ragusa. Its panoramic aspect on a clear day can offer views to the south across the Valley of the Ippari and the towns of Comiso, Vittoria and Acate as far as the Mediterranean sea, and even of Mount Etna in the north. The town is also famed for its olive oil, accredited with the Denominazione d'Origine Protetta (DOP), which means only oil produced within a specific area can be labelled as Chiaramonte oil.

Also on this day:

1422: The birth of condottiero Federico da Montefeltro

1687: The birth of operatic castrato Gatetano Berenstadt

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Battle of Novara 1513

Many lives lost in battle between French and Swiss on Italian soil

Swiss troops defeated a French occupying army on this day in 1513 in a bloody battle near Novara in the Piedmont region of northern Italy.

The Swiss forces mass to celebrate victory at Novara

The French loss forced Louis XII to withdraw from Milan and Italy and after his army were pursued all the way to Dijon by Swiss mercenaries, he had to pay them off to make them leave France.

The battle was part of the War of the League of Cambrai, fought between France, the Papal States and the Republic of Venice in northern Italy, but often involving other powers in Europe.

Louis XII had expelled the Sforza family from Milan and added its territory to France in 1508.

Swiss mercenaries fighting for the Holy League drove the French out of Milan and installed Maximilian Sforza as Duke of Milan in December 1512.

More than 20,000 French troops led by Prince Louis de la Tremoille besieged the city of Novara, which was being held by the Swiss, in June 1513.

Maximilian Sforza was installed
as Duke of Milan 

However, a much smaller Swiss relief army arrived and surprised the French just after dawn on June 6.

German Landsknecht mercenaries, armed with pikes like the Swiss troops, put up some resistance to the attack, enabling the French to deploy some of their artillery.

But the Swiss encircled the French camp, seized their guns and pushed the German infantry back. Caught off guard, the French cavalry fled the field.

There were at least 5,000 casualties on the French side and about 1,500 casualties among the Swiss pikemen.

The Swiss mercenaries caught and executed hundreds of German Landsknecht troops who had fought for the French. They could not pursue the French cavalry, but they later marched into France and got as far as Dijon before they accepted money to leave. It was one of the last, big victories for the infamous Swiss mercenaries of that period.

Novara: The tall cupola of the Basilicata di San Gaudenzio was
designed by Alessandro Antonelli, who designed Turin's Mole 

Travel tip:

Novara is to the west of Milan in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is the second biggest city in the region after Turin. Founded by the Romans, it was later ruled by the Visconti and Sforza families. In the 18th century it was ruled by the House of Savoy. In the 1849 Battle of Novara, the Sardinian army was defeated by the Austrian army, who occupied the city. This led to the abdication of Charles Albert of Sardinia and is seen as the beginning of the Italian unification movement.

The Novara Pyramid was built to hold the ashes of soldiers
who were killed in the 1849 Battle of Novara

Travel tip:

Among the fine old buildings in Novara, which include the Basilica of San Gaudenzio and the Broletto, a collection of buildings showing four distinct architectural styles, is the Novara Pyramid, which is also called the Ossuary of Bicocca. It was built to hold the ashes of fallen soldiers after the 19th century Battle of Novara.

Also on this day:

1772: The birth of Maria Theresa of Naples, the last Holy Roman Empress

1861: The death of Camillo Benso Cavour, Italy's first prime minister

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