8 April

Renzo De Felice - historian

Mussolini biographer whose views on fascism aroused anger

The controversial historian Renzo De Felice, best known for his 6,000-word four-volume biography of Benito Mussolini, was born on this day in 1929 in Rieti, the northernmost city in Lazio. Although De Felice was Jewish and his other major work described in detail the persecution of Jews in Italy under Mussolini’s rule, he sparked considerable anger by arguing that the postwar world view of Fascism should be revised to recognise that the ideology in itself was not inherently evil. De Felice contended that fascism as a political movement in Italy was not the same as Fascism as a regime, arguing that the former was a revolutionary middle-class ideology that had its roots in the progressive thinking of the Age of Enlightenment. He argued that the ideology was effectively hijacked by Mussolini to provide the superstructure for his dictatorship and personal ambition. Read more...

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Lorenzo the Magnificent - Renaissance ruler

Patron of the arts who sponsored Michelangelo and Botticelli

Lorenzo de’ Medici, the ruler of Florence usually known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, died on this day in 1492 in the Medici villa at Careggi, just to the north of the city. He was only 43.  He had survived an assassination attempt 14 years earlier in what became known as the Pazzi Conspiracy, in which his brother, Giuliano, was killed. The grandson of Cosimo de’ Medici, Lorenzo was a strict ruler but history has judged him as a benevolent despot, whose reign coincided with a period of stability and peace in relations between the Italian states. He helped maintain the Peace of Lodi, a treaty agreed in 1454 between Milan, Naples and Florence which was signed by his grandfather. However, he is most remembered as an enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture, providing support for poets, scholars and artists, notably Michelangelo and Botticelli. Read more…

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Gaetano Donizetti - operatic genius

The day the music died

A prolific composer of operas in the first half of the 19th century, Gaetano Donizetti died on this day in 1848 in Bergamo in Lombardy. Donizetti had returned to his native city after a brilliant international career to spend his last days in the Palazzo Scotti in the Città Alta, the upper town. By then seriously ill, he was looked after by friends in the gracious surroundings of the palazzo until his death. His tomb is in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, where it is marked by a white, marble monument. Donizetti has since become acknowledged as the greatest composer of lyrical opera of all time. He was a major influence on Verdi, Puccini and other composers who came after him. Read more…

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Federico Caprilli - equestrian pioneer

Study of horses revolutionised jumping techniques

Federico Caprilli, the Italian cavalry officer who revolutionised the way horse riders jump fences, was born on this day in 1868 in Livorno. Federico was bent on an army career from an early age. He enrolled as a cadet at military college in Florence at 13 years old, subsequently transferring to Rome and then Modena. Later, he was assigned to the Royal Piedmont cavalry regiment, where his job, at a time when the introduction of weapons such as the Gatling Gun was negating any battlefield advantage a soldier had from being mounted, was to train horses for new combat roles, such as springing surprise attacks in difficult terrain. It was there that he observed the way horses jumped obstacles and concluded that conventional beliefs about the way a horse should be ridden over jumps were entirely wrong. Read more...

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Renzo De Felice - historian

Renzo De Felice was accused of trying
to generate sympathy for Fascism

Mussolini biographer whose views on fascism aroused anger

The controversial historian Renzo De Felice, best known for his 6,000-word four-volume biography of Benito Mussolini, was born on this day in 1929 in Rieti, the northernmost city in Lazio.

Although De Felice was Jewish and his other major work described in detail the persecution of Jews in Italy under Mussolini’s rule, he sparked considerable anger by arguing that the postwar world view of Fascism should be revised to recognise that the ideology in itself was not inherently evil.

De Felice contended that fascism as a political movement in Italy was not the same as Fascism as a regime, arguing that the former was a revolutionary middle-class ideology that had its roots in the progressive thinking of the Age of Enlightenment.

He argued that the ideology was effectively hijacked by Mussolini to provide the superstructure for his dictatorship and personal ambition and that fascism itself, as distinct from Mussolini’s interpretation, was a valid political concept, not just something to be demonized and dismissed in simplistic terms.

Renzo De Felice spent more than 30 years writing a
6,000-page biography of Mussolini

It was an argument that was respected by many intellectuals, even some who were staunchly anti-Fascist, but when De Felice’s magnum opus, which took him more than 30 years to write, seemed to challenge the established postwar view of Fascism as a criminal regime imposed by Mussolini and his squads of Black Shirts, there was considerable anger.

Critics of De Felice, a professor at the Sapienza University of Rome, interpreted his favourable assessment of some of social and economic reforms introduced by Mussolini, and his argument that he was largely a popular leader until the outbreak of the Second World War, as an attempt to rehabilitate fascism. Some accused him of being an apologist for the self-styled Duce.

Denis Mack Smith, an Oxford historian and the author of several histories of Italy, denounced De Felice for minimizing the uglier side of Fascism, such as Mussolini's personal responsibility for killing political opponents and leading Italy to ruin in his unwavering support for Hitler, while Nicola Tranfaglia, a professor of history at the University of Turin, argued that De Felice overstated Il Duce's popular support, pointing out that while Mussolini enjoyed a measure of popularity with ordinary Italians, he would not risk free elections.

From Italy’s political Left came complaints that De Felice was too sympathetic to Italian Fascism, even that he supported it. A few months before he died, two incendiary devices were thrown at his house in Rome, although no one claimed responsibility for the attack.

De Felice (right) with his publisher, Vito Laterza

However, Italy’s intellectual Communist leader Giorgio Amendola defended De Felice, rejecting many of the criticisms and even endorsing some of De Felice's ideas, agreeing with his assessment that the movement had a revolutionary aspect in its infancy and that Mussolini's Fascism did attract support among the population.

De Felice himself was a former member of the Italian Communist Party, which he had joined as a student.  He left after the party declared its support for the Soviet repression of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and joined the Italian Socialist Party.

He died in Rome in 1996 at the age of 67, having been ill for several years. In accordance with his wishes, he was given a small, private funeral, devoid of ceremony.

When news of his death emerged, there were tributes from many political figures, including the President of the Republic, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, while many newspapers described him as one of the greatest Italian historians of the 20th century.

Beyond Italy, his death brought praise for De Felice for his independent spirit, his intellectual courage and the thoroughness of his research.

The Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, with the Fontana dei Delfini,
is the central square of Rieti

Travel tip:

Situated about 80km (50 miles) northeast of Rome, the city of Rieti sits in the far northeastern corner of the Lazio region, near the borders with Abruzzo, Le Marche and Umbria. The ancient capital of the area once known as Sabina, Rieti has a population of around 47,000 people and is a popular destination for visitors from Rome, who enjoy the peaceful nature of the city and the surrounding area. Although it was once the site of a Roman city on the Via Salaria - the “salt road” linking Rome with the Adriatic coast - only a few remains are visible, although the remnants of a third-century bridge are a point of interest. At the heart of the present city is Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, with the Fontana dei Delfini at the centre. The nearby 13th century Palazzo Comunale houses the Civic Museum, which houses artifacts from the 9th BC through to the Roman era, along with paintings from the 14th century onwards. Some famous architects worked in the city, including Carlo Maderno, who designed the Renaissance-style Palazzo Vecchiarelli in the late 16th century.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana originates from Amatrice, a town
not from from Rieti famed for its food

Travel tip:

Rieti is known for its hill cuisine, with hearty stews and meat dishes and handmade pasta dishes. Potatoes, mushrooms, truffles, and wild berries grow in the area and figure into the regional cuisine, as does homemade Pecorino cheese and sausages. The nearby town of Amatrice, which suffered considerable damage in an earthquake in 2016, is home to the famed pasta dish Spaghetti all'Amatriciana. The Rieti area has its own DOC wines, too - Colli della Sabina, in white and red varieties.

Also on this day:

1492: The death of Renaissance ruler Lorenzo the Magnificent

1848: The death of composer Gaetano Donizetti

1868: The birth of equestrian pioneer Federico Caprilli



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7 April

Giovanni Battista Rubini - opera singer

Tenor was as famous in his day as Caruso

Giovanni Battista Rubini, born on this day in 1794, was a tenor as famous in his day as Enrico Caruso would be almost a century later, his voice having contributed to the popularity of opera composers Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti. He was the first 19th-century non-castrati singer to become a major international star after two centuries in which audiences and composers were obsessed with the castrati.  Rubini's exceptionally high voice could match the coloratura of the castrati and he effectively launched the era of the bel canto tenor, which signalled the end of the dominance of the castrati. A genuine international star, Rubini alternated during his peak years between the Théâtre-Italien in Paris and His Majesty’s Theatre in the Haymarket, London. Read more...

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Domenico Dragonetti - musician

Venetian was best double bass player in Europe

The composer and musician Domenico Dragonetti  - Europe's finest double bass virtuoso - was born on this day in 1763 in Venice. Apart from the fame his talent brought him, Dragonetti is remembered as the musician who opened the eyes of Ludwig van Beethoven and other composers to the potential of the double bass. They met in Vienna in 1799 and experts believe it was Dragonetti’s influence that led Beethoven to include passages for double bass in his Fifth Symphony. From 1794 onwards until his death in 1846 at the age of 83, Dragonetti lived in London but it was in Venice that he established his reputation. In 1787 he was accepted for the orchestra at the Chapel of San Marco, who valued him so highly they twice increased his annual salary to stop him going to Russia. Read more...

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Marco Delvecchio - footballer

Striker who became TV dance show star

The former Roma and Italy striker Marco Delvecchio, who launched a new career in television after finishing runner-up in the Italian equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing, was born on this day in 1973 in Milan. Delvecchio scored 83 goals in exactly 300 appearances for Roma, where he was part of the side that won the Scudetto in 2000-01 and where he became a huge favourite with fans of the giallorossi because of his penchant for scoring against city rivals Lazio. His record of nine goals in the Rome derby between 2002 and 2009 was the best by any player in the club’s history until that mark was overtaken by the Roma great Francesco Totti. Delvecchio also made 22 appearances for the Italy national team, scoring four goals, including one in the final of Euro 2000 against France. Read more...

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6 April

Pier Giorgio Frassati - social activist

Brave Catholic has inspired youth of the world

Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was dedicated to social justice issues and spent his brief life helping the poor, was born on this day in 1901 in Turin. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1990, who dubbed him ‘the Man of the Eight Beatitudes,’ alluding to a passage in the Gospel According to Matthew. Frassati’s father, Alfredo, owned the newspaper La Stampa, and his mother Adelaide, was a painter, whose works were purchased by King Victor Emmanuel III. Although he was from a wealthy background, even as a child Frassati showed compassion for the poor. He was educated at a school run by Jesuits and grew up to become dedicated to social action as a means of combating inequalities. He died tragically young, contracting poliomyelitis at the age of 24. Read more…

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Raphael - Renaissance painter and architect

Precocious genius from Urbino famous for Vatican frescoes

The Renaissance painter and architect commonly known as Raphael was born Raffaello Sanzio in Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, on this day in 1483. Raphael is regarded as one of the masters of the Renaissance, along with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.  He was more prolific than Da Vinci and, some argue, more versatile than Michelangelo, and was certainly influenced by both. The young Raphael was taught to paint by his father, Giovanni Santi, who was a painter for the Duke of Urbino, Federigo da Montefeltro, but his talents surpassed those of his father, who died when he was just 11 years old.  He was soon considered one of Urbino's finest painters and was commissioned to paint for a church in a neighbouring town while still a teenager. Raphael moved to Rome in 1508 under the patronage of Pope Julius II to work in the Vatican and a year later began to paint a fresco cycle on the four walls of the Stanza della Segnatura to depict Philosophy, Poetry, Theology and Law.  Read more...

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The Damilano brothers often
 take part in the same events

Maurizio and Giorgio Damilano – race walkers

Maurizio won Olympic gold in Moscow

Race walking twins Maurizio and Giorgio Damilano were born on this day in 1957 in Scarnafigi in the province of Cuneo in Piedmont. Maurizio won the gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics in the 20km race walk, while his brother, Giorgio, finished 11th.  In sympathy with the American-led boycott of the Moscow Games following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Italian athletes competed under the Olympic flag rather than the Italian tricolore. Damilano was one of eight Italians to win gold medals in Moscow. Giorgio was less successful than Maurizio, but did win the 20km race walk at the 1979 Italian Athletics Championships. Read more…

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Alberto Marvelli - Rimini's Good Samaritan

Heroic deeds helped victims of bombing raids

Alberto Marvelli, who came to be seen as a modern day Good Samaritan after risking his life repeatedly to help the victims of devastating air raids in the Second World War, was born on this day in 1918 in Ferrara. He died in 1946 at the age of only 28 when he was struck by a truck while riding his bicycle but in his short life identified himself to many as a true hero. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004. Marvelli's acts of heroism occurred mainly in Rimini, his adopted home town, which suffered heavy bombing from the Allies due to its proximity to the Gothic or Green Line, a wide belt of German defensive fortifications that ran across the whole peninsula from La Spezia to the Adriatic coast. Read more...

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Pier Giorgio Frassati – social activist

Brave Catholic has inspired youth of the world

Pier Giorgio Frassati came from a wealthy
background but fought for social justice

Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was dedicated to social justice issues and spent his brief life helping the poor, was born on this day in 1901 in Turin.

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1990, who dubbed him ‘the Man of the Eight Beatitudes,’ alluding to a passage in the Gospel According to Matthew.

Frassati’s father, Alfredo, owned the newspaper La Stampa, and his mother Adelaide, was a painter, whose works were purchased by King Victor Emmanuel III.

Although he was from a wealthy background, even as a child Frassati showed compassion for the poor. He was educated at a school run by Jesuits and grew up to become dedicated to social action as a means of combating inequalities.

He was an ardent opponent of Fascism and was arrested in Rome for protesting with the Young Catholic Workers Congress, continuing to hold his banner aloft while being attacked by the police.

One night a group of Fascists broke into his family’s home to attack him and his father, but Frassati fought them off single-handedly and chased them away down the street.

Frassati in the office of his father, who
owned the newspaper, La Stampa

He joined Catholic Action in 1919 and later became a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. He was devoted to the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena and Paul the Apostle.

He believed charity was not enough and called for social reform, joining the St Vincent de Paul Group so he could help the poor, frequently giving away his own and his family’s money.

After he had obtained a degree in engineering, which he had chosen to study with the intention of improving working conditions for miners, he was offered a gift by his father of either a car or a sum of money. He chose money so that he could give it to the poor rather than keep it himself.

A man of athletic build, he loved swimming and mountaineering and, as a member of Club Alpino Italiano, climbed the Grand Tournalin and Monte Viso, two peaks in northeast Italy.

In June 1925, while boating with friends on the Po River, Frassati complained of sharp pains in his back muscles.

He was diagnosed with poliomyelitis and died four days later, in his mother’s arms, aged just 24. The streets of Turin were lined with thousands of people wishing to pay their respects as his funeral cortege went past on its way to the Frassati plot in the Pollone Cimitero, where he was initially buried.

In 1981 his remains were transferred to Turin Cathedral and were apparently found on inspection to be incorrupt - that is, not having been affected by decomposition, supposedly because of divine intervention.

Frassati's tomb in Turin Cathedral, where his remains
were transferred in 1981, prior to his beatification

The people of Turin had pleaded for him to be canonised and his cause was originally opened in 1932. However, it was suspended in 1941 by Pope Pius XII due to false allegations made about his moral conduct. The cause was eventually resumed and Frassati was made a Servant of God in 1978 and was proclaimed Venerable in 1987. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in St Peter’s Square in 1990.

Frassati is now a patron of students, mountaineers and youth groups. Several schools and colleges in America and Australia have been named after him, where he is seen as an excellent role model for young men.

The Royal Palace - Palazzo Reale - in Turin was built by
the Savoy family in the 16th century

Travel tip:

Frassati was born in Turin the year after King Victor Emmanuel III came to the throne of Italy. The city’s fine architecture illustrates its rich history as the home of the Savoy Kings of Italy. Piazza Castello, with the Royal Palace, Royal Library and Palazzo Madama, which used to house the Italian senate, is at the heart of ‘royal’ Turin. The Royal Palace – the Palazzo Reale – was built on the site of what had been the Bishop’s Palace, built by Emmanuel Philibert, who was Duke of Savoy from 1528 to 1580. He chose the site because it had an open and sunny position close to other court buildings.

Frassati's final resting place was Turin Cathedral, which
is most famous for being the home of the Turin Shroud

Travel tip:

Frassati’s final resting place was in Turin Cathedral, il Duomo di Torino, or Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista, as it is also known. The Cathedral was built between 1491 and 1498 in Piazza San Giovanni in Turin, on the site of an old Roman theatre and adjacent to an earlier campanile built in 1470. 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.

More reading:

How the Blessed Vincent Romano devoted himself to helping the poor of Naples

The inspirational figure of Saint John Bosco

Francesco Faà di Bruno's life as an advocate for poor

Also on this day:

1483: The birth of Renaissance genius Raphael

1726: The birth of Saint Gerard Majella

1957: The birth of the race walking Damilano twins


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5 April

Giovanni dalle Bande Nere - condottiero

Soldier who fathered Cosimo I de' Medici

Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, the military leader regarded as the last of the great Italian condottieri, was born on this day in 1498. The condottieri were professional soldiers who hired themselves out to lead the armies of the Italian city-states and the Papacy in the frequent wars that ensued from the Middle Ages through to the Renaissance. Giovanni spent much of his military career in the service of Pope Leo X, the Medici pope. Indeed, he was a Medici himself. Baptised Ludovico, he was the son of Giovanni de’ Medici. His mother, Caterina Sforza, the powerful daughter of the Duke of Milan, renamed him Giovanni in memory of his father. He became Giovanni dalle Bande Nere much later, when he added black stripes to his military insignia in a show of mourning for Pope Leo X. His son, Cosimo, would go on to be Cosimo I de’ Medici, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. Read more…

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Vincenzo Viviani – mathematician and scientist

Galileo follower's name lives on as moon crater

Forward-thinking scientist Vincenzo Viviani was born on this day in 1622 in Florence. Viviani worked as an assistant to Galileo Galilei and after his mentor's death continued his experimental work in the field of mathematics and physics. This work was considered so important that Viviani has had a small crater on the moon named after him. In 1660 Viviani conducted an experiment with another scientist, Giovanni Borelli, to determine the speed of sound by timing the difference between seeing the flash and hearing the noise of a cannon being fired from a distance. As his reputation as a mathematician grew, Viviani started to receive job offers from abroad but stayed in Italy as court mathematician to Grand Duke Ferdinando II de' Medici. He also published a book on engineering. Read more...

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Vincenzo Gioberti - philosopher and politician

Writings helped bring about unification of Italy

Vincenzo Gioberti, a philosopher regarded as one of the key figures in the Italian unification, was born on this day in 1801 in Turin. He became prime minister of Sardinia-Piedmont in December 1848, albeit for only two months. Although he was an associate of the republican revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini - and was arrested and then exiled as a result - he did not agree with Mazzini’s opposition to the monarchy and was not an advocate of violence. However, he was staunchly in favour of a united Italy, particularly because of his conviction that Italians represented a superior race, intellectually and morally, and that by pulling together as one nation they could assert a profound influence on civilisation that would benefit the world. His book, Del Primato civile e morale degli Italiani (The civic and moral primacy of the Italians), is said to have helped give momentum to the unification campaign. Read more...

4 April

Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli - composer

Neapolitan who snubbed Napoleon wrote 37 operas

The composer Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli, who wrote 37 mainly comic operas and more than 500 pieces of sacred music, was born on this day in 1752 in Naples. His success made him one of the principal composers of opera and religious music of his time. At various points in his career, he was maestro di cappella - music director - at Milan Cathedral, choir master at the Sistine Chapel and director of the Naples Conservatory. Many of Zingarelli’s operas were written for Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Early in his career he worked in Paris, which held him in good stead later when he was arrested after refusing to conduct a hymn for the newly-born son of the Emperor Napoleon, who at the time was the self-proclaimed King of Italy. Read more…

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Daniela Riccardi - leading Italian businesswoman

Head of luxury glassware company trained as a ballet dancer

Born on this day in 1960, Daniela Riccardi is chief executive of Baccarat, the luxury glass and crystal manufacturer that originated in the town of the same name in the Lorraine region of France in the 18th century. Formerly CEO of the Italian clothing company Diesel, she is one of Italy's most successful businesswomen, yet might easily have forged alternative careers as a dancer or a diplomat. She studied ballet for 12 years at the National Dance Academy in Rome, went to Rome University to study political science and international studies, with the aim of working in diplomacy, only to switch to a business career after spending a brief period as an intern at Pepsi. Read more…

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Francesco De Gregori - singer-songwriter

Performer inspired by songs of hero Bob Dylan

The singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori - popularly known as "Il Principe dei cantautori" (the prince of the singer-songwriters) – was born on this day in 1951 in Rome. De Gregori has released around 40 albums in a career spanning 45 years, selling more than five million records. Famous for the elegant and often poetic nature of his lyrics, De Gregori was once described by Bob Dylan as an “Italian folk hero”. De Gregori acknowledges Dylan as one if his biggest inspirations and influences, along with Leonard Cohen and the Italian singer Fabrizio de André.  Covers of Dylan songs have regularly featured in his stage performances. He made an album in 2015 entitled Love and Theft: De Gregori Sings Bob Dylan. Read more…

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Irene Pivetti – journalist and politician

From top political office to TV presenter

Irene Pivetti, who was only the second woman to become president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, was born on this day in 1963 in Milan. Once a key figure in Italy’s Lega Nord party, Pivetti has now quit politics for a career as a television presenter. While working as a journalist, she became involved with the Lega Lombardia (Lombard League), which later became the Lega Nord (Northern League) and in 1992 was elected as a deputy, the Italian equivalent of a Member of Parliament. Two years later, Pivetti was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies. At the age of 31, she was the youngest president in the Chamber’s history. She occupied the role from 1994 to 1996. Read more...

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