25 October

NEW - San Miniato – Christian martyr

Romans struggled to kill devout young man

The feast of San Miniato, who is venerated as the first Christian martyr of Florence, is celebrated on this day throughout Italy, marking the anniversary of his execution in 250AD by the Romans.  According to legend, Miniato was an Armenian king, or prince, who had decided to become a religious hermit on a hill near Florence. It is believed that he had either been serving in the Roman army at the time, or was in the process of making a penitential pilgrimage to Rome.  Miniato was denounced as a Christian and captured and brought before the Roman Emperor Decius, who was notorious for persecuting Christians. The unfortunate young man was put through a series of torments because he refused to bow to and worship the Roman gods. He was said to have been thrown into a furnace, stoned, and afterwards thrown to a wild animal in an amphitheatre, which was reputed to have been either a lion or a panther, but did not harm him. Read more…

__________________________________________

Camillo Sivori – virtuoso violinist

Paganini’s successor was also a talented composer

Ernesto Camillo Sivori, a virtuoso violinist and composer, was born on this day in 1815 in Genoa.  Remembered as the only pupil of the great virtuoso violinist Niccolò Paganini, Sivori began his career as a travelling virtuoso at the age of 12, having by then also studied with other violin teachers.  He was acclaimed as ‘Paganini reincarnated’, or even, ‘Paganini without the flaws’, by music critics during a lengthy tour of Europe that he made between 1841 and 1845.  During his travels he met some of the best-known composers of the day, such as Mendelssohn, Schumann and Berlioz and he took part in hundreds of concerts.  After being compared to other celebrated violinists, his status as Paganini’s successor was confirmed, even though the great man had died in 1840 and was still remembered in the musical world.  Read more…

_________________________________________

Emma Gramatica – actress

Celebrating the long career of a seasoned stage and film performer

The theatre and cinema actress Emma Gramattica was born Aida Laura Argia Gramatica on this day in 1874 in Borgo San Donnino, which is today known as Fidenza, in the province of Parma in Emilia Romagna.  Emma appeared in 29 films between 1919 and 1962 and was also a principal actress in the Italian theatre in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her sisters, Irma and Anna Gramatica, were also actresses. Her sister, Anna, married the actor Ruggero Capodaglio and therefore became the sister-in-law of the famous actress, Wanda Capodaglio.  While still a teenager, Emma Gramatica made her stage debut next to the celebrated actress Eleonora Duse in La Gioconda by Gabriele D’Annunzio.  Emma became the primattrice (first actress) in the stage companies led by some of the most prestigious names in the Italian theatre.  Read more… 

Evangelista Torricelli – inventor of the barometer

Physicist's name lives on in scientific terminology

The inventor of the barometer, Evangelista Torricelli, died on this day in 1647 in Florence at the age of just 39.  A disciple of Galileo, Torricelli made many mathematical and scientific advances during his short life and had an asteroid and a crater on the moon named after him.  Torricelli was born into a poor family from Faenza in the province of Ravenna.  He studied science under the Benedictine monk, Benedetto Castelli, a professor of Mathematics at the Collegio della Sapienza, now known as the Sapienza University of Rome, who had been a student of Galileo Galilei.  After Galileo’s death the Grand Duke Ferdinand II de’ Medici asked Torricelli to succeed Galileo as Chair of Mathematics at the University of Pisa.  Torricelli was also interested in optics and designed and built telescopes and microscopes.  Read more…

_________________________________________

Carlo Gnocchi – military chaplain

Remembering a protector of the sick and the mutilated

Carlo Gnocchi, a brave priest who was chaplain to Italy’s alpine troops during the Second World War, was born on this day in 1902 in San Colombano al Lambro, near Lodi in Lombardy.  In recognition of his life, which was dedicated to easing the wounds of suffering and misery created by war, his birthday was made into his feast day when he was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on October 25, 2009 in Milan.  Gnocchi was the youngest of three boys born to Henry and Clementine Gnocchi. His father died when he was five years old and his two brothers died of tuberculosis before he was 13.  He was ordained a priest in 1925 in the archdiocese of Milan and afterwards worked as a teacher.  When war broke out he joined up as a voluntary priest and departed first for the front line between Greece and Albania and then for the tragic campaign in Russia. Read more…

____________________________________________

Book of the Day:  The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Saints: An Authoritative Guide to the Lives and Works of over 300 Christian Saints, by Tessa Paul

This beautiful book chronicles the fascinating history of sainthood and the lives of more than 300 saints. A concise introduction outlines the religious and social history of Christian saints from stigmata and martyrdom to feast days and patron saints. Then, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Saints outlines the work of each saint, listed in chronological order, from the Apostles and early medieval martyrs, through to 21st-century saints. Well-known saints such as St Francis of Assisi and St Teresa of Avila sit alongside 1st-century martyrs and African saints of the 19th century. Special themed pages explore subjects such as Celtic Saints, the Holy Family, and Saints in Art. Illustrated with more than 500 images, this expert guide will inform every reader interested in learning more about Christianity and the lives of the saints.

Tessa Paul co-edited and co-wrote 'Fiesta!', a series of 32 volumes on the religious festivals of Christianity and other major world religions. 

Buy from Amazon

Home

San Miniato – Christian martyr

Romans struggled to kill devout young man

San Miniato may have been a soldier who
tried to spread Christianity in the Roman army 

The feast of San Miniato, who is venerated as the first Christian martyr of Florence, is celebrated on this day throughout Italy, marking the anniversary of his execution in 250AD by the Romans.

According to legend, Miniato was an Armenian king, or prince, who had decided to become a religious hermit on a hill near Florence. It is believed that he had either been serving in the Roman army at the time, or was in the process of making a penitential pilgrimage to Rome.

Miniato was denounced as a Christian and captured and brought before the Roman Emperor Decius, who was notorious for persecuting Christians. The unfortunate young man was put through a series of torments because he refused to bow to and worship the Roman gods. He was said to have been thrown into a furnace, stoned, and afterwards thrown to a wild animal in an amphitheatre, which was reputed to have been either a lion or a panther, but did not harm him.

After he emerged unscathed from these ordeals, Miniato was beheaded on a site near the present-day Piazza della Signoria in Florence, which has become one of the most important sites in the history of the city.

According to the legend, Miniato picked up his own head and then crossed the River Arno and returned to his hermitage, which was on a nearby hill known as Monte di Firenze, before he died in the cave where he had lived as a hermit.

The relics of San Miniato have been conserved in the crypt of the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte in Florence, which has been built over his original burial site and dedicated to him.

Work on the church began in the 11th century, at the instigation of the Bishop of Florence at the time and it was paid for by the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry II, who was also later made a Saint. 

The background to San Miniato’s life is uncertain and it is possible that he may have been simply a soldier who was executed for spreading Christianity in the Roman army. 

San Miniato is thought to have been
executed in Florence in 250AD

His cult may have developed because it became known that a relic from a country in the east had been brought to the Church of San Miniato in Florence. 

The story of him picking up his own severed head after his own execution was first recorded in the 14th century by Giovanni Villani, a Florentine banker and diplomat, who wrote Nuova Cronica (New Chronicles) about the history of Florence.

In paintings, San Miniato is often portrayed as a young prince carrying a crown, or as a figure carrying his own severed head.

A town and comune about 41km (25 miles) to the west of Florence, in the province of Pisa, is named San Miniato. Archaeological evidence indicates that the site and its surrounding area would have been a settlement since the Paleolithic era and it would have been well known to the Etruscans as well as the Romans, for whom it was a military post called Quarto. 

The first mention of it in historical documents is of a small village organised around a chapel dedicated to San Miniato, which was built by the Lombards in 783. By the end of the 10th century, San Miniato had a sizeable population enclosed behind a moat and protected by a castle. 

The Basilica sits on one of the
highest points in Florence

Travel tip:

The Bishop of Florence had the present Basilica of San Miniato built in 1018 on the site of a fourth century chapel. The lower part of the facade is decorative but the upper part is simpler and has a 12th-century mosaic of Christ between the Madonna and San Miniato. The basilica has an unfinished 15th century campanile that was damaged during the siege of Florence in 1530. The Bishop's Palace, the fortifications, the monumental cemetery and the basilica all stand at the top of a hill called Monte alle Croci, one of the highest points of the city, which overlooks Piazzale Michelangelo and the city of Florence. The interior of this magnificent example of Florentine Romanesque architecture has a trussed timber roof and the walls retain fragments of 13th and 14th century frescoes. In the crypt, the altar preserves the bones of San Miniato.  Among the artworks in the basilica are the beautiful freestanding Cappella del Crocefisso - Chapel of the Crucifix - designed by Michelozzo in 1448. The terracotta decoration of the vault is by Luca della Robbia, who is also thought to be responsible for the crucifix above the high altar.

Check Expedia for hotels in Florence

Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus is one
of the statues in Piazza della Signoria

Travel tip:

San Miniato’s execution in Florence on this day in 250AD is said to have taken place close to the present-day Piazza della Signoria, which is an L-shaped square in the centre of the city. The piazza is important as the location of the 14th century Palazzo Vecchio, the focal point for the government in Florence. Citizens would gather here for public meetings and the religious leader, Girolamo Savonarola, was burned at the stake in the piazza in 1498. Nowadays it is a unique outdoor sculpture gallery filled with statues, some of them copies, commemorating major events in the city’s history.  They include Giambologna’s equestrian monument of Cosimo I, the Fountain of Neptune by Bartolomeo Ammannati, Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes and Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus. There is a copy of Michelangelo's David at the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio, the original being housed in the Galleria dell'Accademia. Within the Loggia dei Lanzi is Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Cellini and The Abduction of the Sabine Women by Giambologna.

Hotels in Florence from Hotels.com

More reading:

San Vito, victim of Diocletian persecution 

Sant’Eustachio, Christian martyred by Hadrian

Filippo Brunelleschi, architect of the dome of Florence cathedral

Also on this day:

1647: The birth of physicist Evangelista Torricelli

1815: The birth of violinist Camillo Sivori

1874: The birth of actress Emma Gramatica

1902: The birth of military chaplain Carlo Gnocchi

Home

 

24 October

Sir Moses Montefiore - businessman

Italian-born philanthropist who made his fortune in London

The businessman and philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore, who made his fortune in England and became a prominent supporter of Jewish rights, was born in Livorno on this day in 1784.  Born into a Sephardic Jewish family, his grandfather, Moses Vita (Haim) Montefiore, had emigrated from Livorno to London in the 1740s, but regularly returned to Italy, as did other members of the family.  Moses Montefiore was born while his parents, Joseph Elias and Rachel - whose father, Abraham Mocatta, was a powerful bullion broker in London - were in Livorno on business.  Their son was to amass considerable wealth in his working life, accumulating such a fortune on the London stock exchange he was able to retire at 40, but in his youth his family’s situation was so perilous he had to abandon his education without qualifications in order to find a job.  Read more…

________________________________________

Luciano Berio – composer

War casualty who became significant figure in Italian music

The avant-garde composer Luciano Berio, whose substantial catalogue of diverse work made him one of the most significant figures in music in Italy in the modern era, was born on this day in 1925 in Oneglia, on the Ligurian coast.  Noted for his innovative combining of voices and instruments and his pioneering of electronic music, Berio composed more than 170 pieces between 1937 and his death in 2003.  His most famous works are Sinfonia, a composition for orchestra and eight voices in five movements commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1968, and dedicated to the conductor Leonard Bernstein, and his Sequenza series of 18 virtuoso solo works that each featured a different instrument, or in one case a female voice alone.  Berio's musical fascinations included Italian opera, particularly Monteverdi and Verdi.  Read more… 

________________________________________

Domitian - Roman emperor

Authoritarian ruler was last of the Flavian dynasty

The emperor Domitian, the last of three members of the Flavian dynasty to rule Rome, was born on this day in 51AD.  He was the son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, during whose reigns he had a minor role in the government of the empire that was largely ceremonial. Yet when Titus died suddenly only two years after succeeding his father in 79AD, Domitian quickly presented himself to the Praetorian Guard to be proclaimed emperor.  The official record was that Titus, who had spent virtually the whole of his period on the throne dealing with the aftermath of the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD and a devastating fire in Rome, succumbed to a fever on a trip to the Sabine territories north of the city, but there were suspicions that he had been poisoned by his brother, perhaps in revenge for not having been given a position of power. Read more…

Nicola Bombacci - revolutionary

Communist who eventually allied with Mussolini

Nicola Bombacci, who was executed with Fascist leader Benito Mussolini after partisans intercepted their attempt to flee Italy in 1945, was born on this day in 1879 in Civitella di Romagna, a small town about 40 minutes by road from the city of Forlì in Emilia-Romagna.  Although he ended his life as a political ally of the right-wing dictator, Bombacci’s roots were in Marxism. Indeed, he had been a founder-member in 1921 of the Italian Communist Party, alongside among others Antonio Gramsci, the left-wing intellectual who was subsequently arrested by Mussolini and sentenced to 20 years in jail.  He shifted his position during the 1930s, seeing fascism as a form of national socialism that could unify Italy. He embraced Mussolini's Italian Social Republic, the German puppet state in northern Italy created after the Nazis had freed the deposed Mussolini from house arrest in 1943. Read more… 

________________________________________

Tito Gobbi – baritone

Singer found fame on both stage and screen

Opera singer Tito Gobbi was born on this day in 1913 in Bassano del Grappa in the Veneto region.  He had a career that lasted 44 years and sang more than 100 different operatic roles on stages all over the world.  Gobbi also sang in 25 films and towards the end of his career directed opera productions throughout Europe and America.  His singing talent was discovered by a family friend while he was studying law at the University of Padua, who suggested that he studied singing instead. As a result, Gobbi moved to Rome in 1932 to study under the tenor, Giulio Crimi.  At his first audition he was accompanied at the piano by Tilde De Rensis, the daughter of musicologist Raphael De Rensis. She was later to become Gobbi’s wife.  Gobbi made his debut in 1935 in Gubbio, singing the role of Count Rodolfo in Vincenzo Bellini’s La sonnambula. Read more… 

______________________________________

Book of the Day: Moses Montefiore: Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero, by Abigail Green

Humanitarian, philanthropist, and campaigner for Jewish emancipation on a grand scale, Sir Moses Montefiore (1784-1885) was the pre-eminent Jewish figure of the 19th century - and one of the first truly global celebrities. His story, told here in full for the first time, is a remarkable and illuminating tale of diplomacy and adventure. Abigail Green's sweeping biography follows Montefiore through the realms of court and ghetto, tsar and sultan, synagogue and stock exchange. Interweaving the public triumph of Montefiore's foreign missions with the private tragedy of his childless marriage, this book brings the diversity of 19th-century Jewry brilliantly to life - from London to Jerusalem, Rome to St. Petersburg, Morocco to Istanbul. Here we see the origins of Zionism and the rise of international Jewish consciousness, the faltering birth of international human rights, and the making of the modern Middle East. With the globalisation and mobilisation of religious identities now at the top of the political agenda, Montefiore's life story is relevant as never before. Mining materials from 11 countries in nine languages, Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero bridges the East-West divide in modern Jewish history, presenting the transformation of Jewish life in Europe, the Middle East, and the New World as part of a single global phenomenon. 

Abigail Green is Professor of Modern European History and Fellow of Brasenose College at the University of Oxford.

Buy from Amazon

Home

23 October

Carlo Caracciolo - newspaper publisher

Left-leaning aristocrat who co-founded L’Espresso and La Repubblica 

The newspaper publisher Carlo Caracciolo, who was the driving force behind the news magazine L’Espresso and the centre-left daily La Repubblica, was born on this day in 1925 in Florence.  Caracciolo aligned himself politically with the Left and spent the last two years of World War Two fighting against the Fascists as a member of a partisan unit he joined at the age of 18.  Yet he was born into Italian aristocracy, inheriting the titles Prince of Castagneto and Duke of Melito with the death of his father in 1965. After his younger sister, Marella, married the Fiat chairman, Gianni Agnelli, in 1953, he became one of the best connected individuals in Italian society. His funeral in 2008 was attended by members of five of Italy’s most powerful dynasties: Agnelli, Caracciolo, Borghese, Visconti and Pasolini.  Handsome and effortlessly elegant, he could not disguise his refined roots but never flaunted them. Read more…

_______________________________________

Francesco Foscari – Doge of Venice

Ignominious ending to a long and glorious reign

After 34 years as Doge of Venice, Francesco Foscari was abruptly forced to leave office on this day in 1457.  Stripped of his honours, he insisted on descending the same staircase from the Doge’s Palace that he had climbed up in triumph more than a third of a century before, rather than leave through a rear entrance.  Eight days later the former Doge was dead. The story behind the downfall of Foscari and his son, Jacopo, fascinated the poet Lord Byron so much during his visit to Venice in 1816 that he later wrote a five-act play about it.  This play, The Two Foscari: An Historical Tragedy, formed the basis of Verdi’s opera, I due Foscari, and ensured that the sad story of the father and son was never forgotten.  Francesco Foscari, who was born in 1373, was the 65th Doge of the Republic of Venice.  Read more…

Alex Zanardi - racing driver and Paralympian

Crash victim who refused to be beaten

Alessandro 'Alex’ Zanardi, a title-winning racing driver who lost both legs in an horrific crash but then reinvented himself as a champion Paralympic athlete, was born on this day in 1966 in the small town of Castel Maggiore, just outside Bologna.  Zanardi was twice winner of the CART series - the forerunner of IndyCar championship of which the marquee event is the Indianapolis 500 - and also had five seasons in Formula One.  But in September 2001, after returning to CART following the loss of his contract with the Williams F1 team, Zanardi was competing in the American Memorial race at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz track in Germany when he lost control of his car emerging from a pit stop and was struck side-on by the car of the Canadian driver Alex Tagliani.  The nose of Zanardi’s car was completely severed as Tagliani's car slammed into Zanardi's cockpit. Read more…

_________________________________________

Saint John of Capistrano

Patron saint of lawyers and chaplains

The feast day of Saint John of Capistrano (San Giovanni da Capestrano) is being celebrated today in Abruzzo and is marked by Catholics in the rest of Italy and the world.  The patron saint of the legal profession and military chaplains, St John is particularly venerated in Austria, Hungary, Poland and Croatia as well as in different parts of America.  St John was born in Capestrano, about halfway between L’Aquila and Pescara in the Abruzzo region of Italy, in 1386.  He studied law at the University of Perugia and was then appointed Governor of Perugia by King Ladislaus of Naples.  When war broke out between Perugia and the Malatesta family in 1416, John was sent to broker peace, but ended up in prison.  While in captivity he decided not to consummate his recent marriage but to study theology instead.  Read more…

_________________________________________

Book of the Day: Media and Politics in Contemporary Italy: From Berlusconi to Grillo, by Alessandro D'Arma

Media and Politics in Contemporary Italy is the first book to provide a comprehensive examination of the media system in Italy during the last twenty years. Seeing the rise of new political actors and the growing role of the Internet and social media, the general elections of February 2013 have symbolically closed a twenty-year period of Italian history dominated by Silvio Berlusconi politically and by television as a channel of political communication. The analysis focuses on change and continuity with past media structures, cultures and practices, and considers the “Berlusconi factor,” namely the impact of one man on the country’s media system, journalism, and political communication.  

Alessandro D’Arma is a senior lecturer at the University of Westminster, where he is Reader in Media and Communication and Director of the Doctoral Programme within that department.

Buy from Amazon

Home