9 May

Victor Emmanuel III abdicates

Last ditch bid to save the monarchy fails

Italy’s longest-reigning King, Victor Emmanuel III (Vittorio Emanuele III di Savoia), abdicated from the throne on this day in 1946.  To try to save the monarchy, Victor Emmanuel III had earlier transferred his powers to his son, Umberto. When he formally abdicated he hoped the new King, Umberto II, would be able to strengthen support for the monarchy.  Victor Emmanuel III went to live in Alexandria in Egypt. where he died, after just 18 months in exile, in December 1947.  In contrast with his father, who had been King of Italy for nearly 46 years, Umberto reigned for just over a month, from 9 May to 12 June. The country had voted in a referendum to abolish the monarchy and Italy was declared a republic. Umberto went into exile and was later nicknamed re di maggio, the May King.  Victor Emmanuel III had at one time been a popular King of Italy. Read more…

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Ottavio Missoni - fashion designer

Former prisoner of war was also an Olympic hurdler

The fashion designer Ottavio Missoni died on this day in 2013 at the age of 92 following an extraordinary life.  He passed away at his home in Sumirago, 55km (34 miles) north-west of Milan, having requested his release from hospital in order to spend his last days with his family.  Missoni was the co-founder of the Italian fashion brand Missoni, which he set up in 1953 with his wife, Rosita. The company became known around the world for its brightly coloured geometric knits and zigzag patterns and were among the pioneers of Italian ready-to-wear clothing lines.  Earlier, he had been an infantryman during the Second World War, fighting at the Battle of El Alamein in 1942. He was captured by the 7th Armoured Division of the British Army, popularly known as the Desert Rats, and spent the remainder of the war in an English prisoner-of-war camp in Egypt.  Read more…

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Giovanni Paisiello - composer

Audience favourite with a jealous streak

The composer Giovanni Paisiello, who wrote more than 90 operas and much other music and was enormously popular in the 18th century, was born on this day in 1740 in Taranto.  Paisiello was talented, versatile and had a big influence on other composers of his day and later, yet he was jealous of the success of rivals and is remembered today primarily as the composer whose passionate fans wrecked the premiere of Gioachino Rossini’s opera Almaviva, which was based on the same French play as Paisiello’s Il barbiere di siviglia, which was regarded as his masterpiece.  Rossini’s opera would eventually be more commonly known as Il barbiere di siviglia, but not until after Paisiello had died.  Nonetheless, Paisiello’s supporters still felt Rossini was attempting to steal their favourite’s thunder and disrupted Almaviva’s opening night in Rome with jeers and catcalls.  Read more…

Carlo Maria Giulini - conductor

Boy violinist who became a maestro of the baton

Carlo Maria Giulini, who conducted many of the world’s great orchestras in a career spanning 54 years, was born on this day in 1914 in Barletta, a town on the Adriatic coast 66km (41 miles) north of the port city of Bari.  Appointed musical director of Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1953, he went on to become one of the most celebrated conductors of orchestral performances, developing long associations with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia of London in particular, as well as the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  He became renowned for projecting serene authority from the podium, as well as his selfless devotion to the score. A handsome man who was always impeccably tailored, he had a magisterial presence. Read more…

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Zita of Bourbon-Parma

The long life of the last Habsburg Empress

Zita of Bourbon-Parma, the last Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, was born Zita Maria delle Grazie Adelgonda Micaela Raffaella Gabriella Giuseppina Antonia Luisa Agnese on this day in 1892 on the family estate, the Villa Le Pianore, near Viareggio in the province of Lucca in Tuscany. Zita was the 17th child of the Duke of Parma, Robert I, and his second wife, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal, but her family was poor, even if it did claim descent from Louis X of France. The family villa was situated between Pietrasanta and Viareggio, from which they occasionally moved to stay in Robert’s other property, Schwarzau Castle in Austria.  After her father’s death, Zita was sent to a convent on the Isle of Wight in England to complete her education.  For a time, Zita considered following the lead of  three of her sisters and becoming a nun. Read more…

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Book of the Day: A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics: 1943-1980, by Paul Ginsborg

From a war-torn and poverty-stricken country, regional and predominantly agrarian, to the success story of recent years, Italy has witnessed the most profound transformation - economic, social and demographic - in its entire history. Yet the other recurrent theme of the period has been the overwhelming need for political reform - and the repeated failure to achieve it. Paul Ginsborg's authoritative work - the first to combine social and political perspectives - is concerned with both the tremendous achievements of contemporary Italy and the continuities of its history that have not been easily set aside. A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics: 1943-1980, a major bestseller in Italy, is a fascinating, sophisticated and definitive account of Italy’s history in that period. Contemporary Italy strongly mirrors Britain - the countries have roughly the same extent, population size and GNP - and yet they are fantastically different. Ginsborg saw this difference as most fundamentally clear in the role of the family and explained how it is the family which is at the heart of Italian politics and business. Anyone wishing to understand contemporary Italy will find it essential to have this enormously attractive and intelligent book.

Paul Ginsborg was a British-born Italian historian. In the 1980s, he was Professor at the University of Siena; from 1992, he was Professor of Contemporary European History at the University of Florence.

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8 May

Victor Amadeus I of Savoy

Duke’s French connection may have proved fatal

Victor Amadeus I, who during his seven-year reign over Savoy was forced to give strategic territory to France, was born on this day in 1587 in Turin.  He was the son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, and Catherine Micaela of Spain, daughter of Philip II of Spain.  Victor Amadeus spent much of his childhood in Madrid at the court of his grandfather.  He became heir-apparent to the Duchy of Savoy, when his brother, Filippo Emanuele, died in 1605 and he succeeded to the Dukedom after his father’s death in 1630.  Charles Emmanuel’s policies had made relationships with France and Spain unstable and troops were needed to defend the Duchy.  But as there was no money to recruit mercenaries or train local soldiers, Victor Amadeus signed a peace treaty with Spain.  In 1619 he married Christine Marie of France, the daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de Medici. Read more…

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Angelo Italia - architect

Friar who advanced development of Sicilian Baroque

The architect and Jesuit friar Angelo Italia, who was an important protagonist in the development of Sicilian Baroque as an architectural style, was born on this day in 1628 in Licata, a town on the southern coast of Sicily, about 45km (28 miles) east of Agrigento.  In later life, Italia was one of the architects commissioned to work on the rebuilding of cities in the south-eastern corner of the island, following the devastating earthquake of 1693.  He was particularly influential in the design of the reconstructed cities of Avola and Noto, where the beauty of the architecture still attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.  Individual buildings attributed to Italia include the Chiesa di San Francesco Saverio in Palermo, the Chapel of the Crucifix in the cathedral at Monreale, and the Chiesa Madre Maria Santissima del Rosario in Palma di Montechiaro, not far from Licata. Read more…

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Franco Baresi - AC Milan great

Defender voted club's 'player of the century'

The great AC Milan and Italy footballer Franco Baresi was born on this day in 1960 in Travagliato, a town in Lombardy about 13km (8 miles) south-west of Brescia.  Baresi, a central defender who was at his most effective playing in the libero – sweeper – role, made 719 competitive appearances for the rossoneri, with whom he spent his entire playing career, spanning 20 years.  During that time he won the Italian championship – known as the scudetto – six times and the European Cup three times, as well as many other trophies. He was made captain of the team at just 22 years old.  At Milan he was part of one of the most formidable defences of all time, alongside Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Mauro Tassotti, and later Christian Panucci, with Giovanni Galli in goal.  He and Maldini shared the extraordinary record that in 196 matches they played together, AC Milan conceded only 23 goals.  Read more…

Giovanni Battista Gaulli – artist

Baroque painter decorated leading Jesuit church in Rome

Painter Giovanni Battista Gaulli, whose nickname was Baciccio, was born on this day in 1639 in Genoa.  He became a leading baroque painter whose work was influenced by the sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He is most remembered for his beautiful frescoes in the Church of Gesù in Rome, which are considered a masterpiece of quadratura, or architectural illusionism.  Gaulli was born in Genoa and his parents died when he was just a teenager in an outbreak of plague in the city.  He was apprenticed with the painter Luciano Borzone but would also have been influenced by some of the foreign artists who were working in Genoa in the mid 17th century.  Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck were in Genoa at the time but it is also said that Gaulli adopted the warm palette of Genoese artist Bernardo Strozzi.  Read more…

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Italy's first football championship

Four teams played three matches - all in one day

Genoa became the first football champions of Italy on this day in 1898, winning a four-team tournament that took place in Turin in the space of a single day.  The event was organised by the newly-formed Italian Football Federation, set up earlier in the year after Genoa and FC Torinese had met in the first organised match played on Italian soil.  The two other teams invited to take part were also from Turin, namely Internazionale di Torino and Ginnastica Torino.  They assembled at the Velodromo Umberto I, where there was space for a pitch at the centre of a cycle track, with the first match kicking off at 9am.  Internazionale beat FC Torinese 1-0 in the opening game, after which Genoa defeated Ginnastica 2-1. After a break for lunch, the final kicked off at 3pm, Genoa winning again by a 2-1 scoreline, reportedly after playing extra time.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Royal House of Savoy: Unifiers of Italy, by Gino Neil Lupini

For generations, the Italian peninsula was Europe’s fragmented battlefield. The Royal House of Savoy: Unifiers of Italy is the definitive account of how the House of Savoy ended that chaos and forged a modern nation. It is a story of how ruthless realpolitik prevailed over romantic zeal. Through access to private archives and meticulous research, this saga of a dynasty is told one life at a time, revealing successes, failures, and profound humanity. The story chronicles the Savoys’ relentless ascent from their origins as rulers of a shrewd Alpine realm that used dynastic marriages, military genius, and calculated diplomacy to European kings. Stripping away the simple myths of the Risorgimento, this account reveals the complex, often brutal political engine behind Italian unity. From the contested Alpine passes to the triumphant entry into Rome, this is the astonishing, dramatic saga of the family that sacrificed everything to make Italy a reality.

Gino Neil Lupini was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, to an Italian father and British mother. Upon completing his schooling, Lupini embarked on a professional rugby career that led him to Italy, where he proudly represented the national team.

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7 May

NEW - Pietro Nardini – violinist

Brilliant musician inspired the young Mozart

Pietro Nardini, who was one of the most celebrated violinists of the 18th century and was also a talented composer of violin music, died on this day in 1793 in Florence.  Nardini’s playing was praised by his contemporaries for its beauty and emotional power and his violin and flute compositions are still valued for their melodious qualities and technical skill.  He was a friend of Johann Georg Leopold Mozart, the father and teacher of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. When the young composer first visited Italy with his father, he performed alongside Nardini in Tuscany.  Pietro Nardini was born in Livorno in 1722. At the age of 12 he became a pupil of the violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini. By the time he was 14, he was already playing the violin at festivals in Lucca, but he continued working with Tartini until 1740, when he became head instrumentalist in Lucca. Read more…

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Raimondo Vianello - actor and TV host

Big-screen star who conquered television too

Raimondo Vianello, who enjoyed a career that brought success on the big screen and small screen in equal measure, was born on this day in 1922 in Rome.   Vianello first rose to fame in the 1950s through a satirical TV show in which he starred with the great commedia all’italiana actor Ugo Tognazzi, which was eventually banned.  From television he moved into movies, appearing in no fewer than 79 films in the space of just 21 years, between 1947 and 1968, some with Tognazzi, but also alongside other stars such as Totò and Virna Lisi.  His notable successes included his portrayal alongside Raffaella Carrà of a hopeless secret agent in Mariano Laurenti’s 1966 film Il vostro superagente Flit - a parody of Our Man Flint, an American production that was in itself a parody of the James Bond movies - and Michele Lupo’s comedy Sette volte sette (Seven Times Seven) in 1968. Read more…

Marco Galiazzo - Olympic champion

First to win gold medal for Italy in archery

Marco Galiazzo, the first Italian to win an Olympic gold medal in archery, was born on this day in 1983 in Ponte San Nicolò, just outside Padua.  He won the men’s individual competition at the 2004 Games in Athens at the age of 21, defeating Great Britain’s Larry Godfrey 110-108 in the semi-finals before winning the gold medal match 111-109 against 42-year-old Hiroshi Yamamoto, of Japan. Galiazzo was only one when the veteran Yamamoto competed at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.  Galiazzo was one of 10 Italian gold medal winners at the 2004 Olympics, in which Paolo Bettini won the men’s road race in the cycling competition and Stefano Baldini the men’s marathon.  Eight years later, at the London Games of 2012, Galiazzo won his second Olympic gold as part of the Italian team, alongside Michele Frangilli and Mauro Nespoli, that defeated the United States in the final of the team event at Lord’s Cricket Ground. Read more…

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Andrea Lo Cicero - rugby star 

Prop nicknamed "il Barone" now bona fide Knight

Former Italian international rugby star Andrea Lo Cicero was born on this day in 1976 in Catania, Sicily.  The 113 kilo (249lb) prop forward played rugby for the Azzurri between 2000 and 2013, retiring with 103 caps.  At the time it was the highest number won by any player and Lo Cicero was only the second player in the history of the national team to win more than 100 caps.  He made his debut against England at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome in March 2000, as the Five Nations Championship became the Six Nations with the inclusion of Italy for the first time, and ended his international career in the capital, although this time at the Stadio Olimpico, in a 22-15 victory over Ireland in the 2013 Championship, in front of a crowd of 80,054.  Highlights along the way included an outstanding performance in the 2004 Championship, when Italy beat Scotland in Rome.  Read more…

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Domenico Bartolucci – composer

Talented musician served under six popes

Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci, director of the Sistine Chapel Choir for 40 years and a talented and prolific composer, was born on this day in 1917 in Borgo San Lorenzo in Tuscany.  Bartolucci was considered one of the most authoritative interpreters of the works of composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and he led the Sistine Chapel Choir in performances all over the world.  His own compositions are said to fill more than 40 volumes and include masses, hymns, madrigals, orchestral music and an opera.  Bartolucci was born in Borgo San Lorenzo near Florence, the son of a brick factory worker who loved the music of Verdi and Donizetti. Bartolucci was recruited as a singer at the seminary in Florence at a young age. After the death of his music master, Bartolucci succeeded him as director of music for the Chapel of the Duomo of Florence and began to compose masses, motets and organ music.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Mozart in Italy: Coming of Age in the Land of Opera, by Jane Glover

At 13 years old, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a child prodigy who had captured the hearts of northern Europe, but his father Leopold was now determined to conquer Italy. Together, they made three visits there, the last when Mozart was 17, all vividly recounted here by acclaimed conductor Jane Glover. Father and son travelled from the theatres and concert salons of Milan to the church-filled streets of Rome to Naples, poorer and more dangerous than the prosperous north, and to Venice, the birthplace of public opera. All the while Mozart was absorbing Italian culture, language, style and art, and honed his craft. He met the challenge of writing Italian opera for Italian singers and audiences and provoked a variety of responses, from triumph and admiration to intrigue and hostility: in a way, these Italian years can be seen as a microcosm of his whole life.  Evocative, beautifully written and with a profound understanding of eighteenth-century classical music, Mozart in Italy reveals how what he experienced during these Italian journeys changed Mozart – and his music – forever.

In Jane Glover’s long and hugely successful career as a conductor, she has been Music Director of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Artistic Director of The London Mozart Players, and, since 2002, is Music Director of Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. Especially known for her interpretations of Mozart, she is a regular broadcaster, with highlights including a television series on Mozart. She is also the author of Mozart’s Women and Handel in London.

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Pietro Nardini – violinist

Brilliant musician inspired the young Mozart

Violinist Pietro Nardini was praised for
the beauty and emotion of his playing

Pietro Nardini, who was one of the most celebrated violinists of the 18th century and was also a talented composer of violin music, died on this day in 1793 in Florence.

Nardini’s playing was praised by his contemporaries for its beauty and emotional power and his violin and flute compositions are still valued for their melodious qualities and technical skill.

He was a friend of Johann Georg Leopold Mozart, the father and teacher of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. When the young composer first visited Italy with his father, he performed alongside Nardini in Tuscany.

Pietro Nardini was born in Livorno in 1722. At the age of 12 he became a pupil of the violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini. 

By the time he was 14, he was already playing the violin at festivals in Lucca, but he continued working with Tartini until 1740, when he became head instrumentalist in Lucca.

In 1762, Nardini moved to Stuttgart, where he joined the court of Charles Eugene, Duke of Wurtemberg as a violinist. He was later appointed orchestra conductor, succeeding Niccolo Jomelli in the post.

After moving back to Italy to support the ailing Tartini, Nardini was appointed as maestro di cappella in Florence and he remained at the court of Leopold II Grand Duke of Tuscany for the rest of his life, although he also sometimes performed in Pisa, Rome and Naples.

Nardini also had many successful pupils, including Thomas Linley Junior, who was a highly talented violinist and is sometimes referred to as ’the English Mozart.’

The young Mozart performed with Nardini
at the Villa Medicea di Poggio Imperiale

When the teenage Mozart visited Tuscany with his father in 1770, he performed alongside Nardini at the Grand Duke Leopold’s summer palace, the Villa Medicea di Poggio Imperiale.

The Mozart family had first met Nardini in Augsburg in 1763. Pietro Nardini was intrigued to meet the young Mozart again, because his student,  Thomas Linley, was almost exactly the same age. 

The next days the boys met for the first time at the home of the Medici court’s official poetess, who was known as Corilla Olimpica, and was herself a pupil of Nardini on the violin and often held musical evenings.

In 1768, Thomas Linley, at the age of 12, had been sent to Florence to study with Nardini. The Tommasino, as he was known, and the little Mozart, were both talked of in Italy as the most promising musicians of the age. 

That evening in Tuscany, they performed one after another,  constantly embracing each other between pieces of music

The boys spent the next day together as well and the following evening performed together at the home of the court finance minister. The Mozart family party were to leave Tuscany the next day and plans were discussed for a reunion, but sadly, Linley and Mozart were never to see each other again. 

The Mozart family were unable to go back to Florence, and Linley, who also became a promising composer, returned to England. He died eight years later at the age of 22 in a boating accident in Lincolnshire.

Manuscripts of Nardini’s compositions are preserved in many Italian cities and abroad. Much of his work has been recorded in the 20th and 21st centuries and is available on disc. 

Probably the best known among Nardini’s highly regarded compositions are his Sonata in D Major and Concerto in E Minor.

The canal district in the Quartiere Venezia is
one of Livorno's attractions
(Image by danielmanastireanu from Pixabay)

Travel tip:

Livorno, where Pietro Nardini was born, is a lively Tuscan port city dating back to the Renaissance, which features Medici fortresses and canal districts among its attractions. Planned by the Medici as an ideal Renaissance port, its cosmopolitan past as a free port created a tolerant, multicultural atmosphere that remains part of its identity.  The city’s most elegant promenade is the Terrazza Mascagni, a sweeping checkerboard terrace overlooking the Ligurian Sea.  The Livorno Aquarium sits at one end, while historic bathing establishments line the shore.  At the heart of the older part of the town lies Quartiere Venezia, a 17th‑century canal district of bridges, warehouses, and pastel façades. Nearby stands the city’s emblem, the Monumento dei Quattro Mori, a dramatic 1620s sculpture of four chained bronze figures supporting the statue of Grand Duke Ferdinando I.  Livorno has two major fortresses. The Fortezza Vecchia, guarding the Medici port, preserves medieval towers and later Renaissance additions.  Inland, the Fortezza Nuova rises above a green moat and park, offering peaceful walks amid red‑brick ramparts.  For a taste of daily life, the Mercato Centrale is one of Italy’s largest indoor markets, with stalls selling fish, bread and pastries, and many local specialties. 

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The Villa Medicea di Poggio Imperiale, where Mozart
and Nardini performed, now houses a girls' school
(Picture by Sailko via Wikimedia Commons)

Travel tip:

The Villa Medicea di Poggio Imperiale, where Pietro Nardini performed with the young Mozart, is a grand, predominantly neoclassical Medici residence in Arcetri, in the hills just south of Florence.  The villa was originally the Baroncelli family’s country house and passed to the Pandolfini and Salviati families before being seized in 1565 by Cosimo I de’ Medici, who gave it to his daughter Isabella de’ Medici. Isabella transformed it into a refined retreat, hosting an intellectual court and enriching the interiors with art. In 1622, it was bought by Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena of Austria, who commissioned architect Giulio Parigi to double its size, create the monumental façade, and link the villa to Florence via a long, tree‑lined avenue. It was she who gave it the name Poggio Imperiale, reflecting her imperial Habsburg lineage. After further expansions followed under Vittoria Della Rovere, in the 18th century, Grand Duke Leopold II adopted the villa as a principal residence.  The villa’s present neoclassical appearance is largely down to Maria Luisa of Spain, Elisa Baciocchi (Napoleon’s sister), and Ferdinando III, who refined the façade and interiors into the elegant, symmetrical form seen today.  Today the building houses a prestigious girls’ boarding school, but guided tours can be booked.

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More reading:

Giuseppe Tartini, 18th century composer who changed technique of violin playing

Why Italian composer Antonio Salieri was dogged by Mozart murder rumours 

Opera composer Pietro Mascagni, another of Livorno’s famous musical sons

Also on this day: 

1917: The birth of cardinal and composer Domenico Bartolucci

1922: The birth of actor and TV host Raimondo Vianello

1976: The birth of rugby star Andrea Lo Cicero

1983: The birth of Olympic champion archer Marco Galiazzo

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