3 April

Alcide De Gasperi - prime minister who rebuilt Italy

Christian Democrat founder was jailed by Mussolini

Born on this day in 1881, Alcide De Gasperi was the Italian prime minister who founded the Christian Democrat party and led the rebuilding of the country after World War II.  An opponent of Benito Mussolini who survived being locked up by the Fascist dictator, he was the head of eight consecutive governments between 1945 and 1953, a record for longevity in post-War Italian politics.  Although Silvio Berlusconi has spent more time in office - nine years and 53 days compared with De Gasperi's seven years and 238 days - the media tycoon's time in power was fragmented, whereas De Gasperi served continuously until his resignation in 1953.  As prime minister, De Gasperi was largely responsible for Italy's post-War economic salvation and for helping to hold the line between East and West as the Soviet Union established its border on Italy's doorstep.  Read more…

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Alessandro Stradella – violinist and composer

Talented musician lived for romance and adventure

Baroque composer Alessandro Stradella, who led a colourful life courting danger while producing more than 300 highly regarded musical works, was born on this day in 1639 at Nepi in the province of Viterbo, north of Rome in the Lazio region.  After an affair with the mistress of a Venetian nobleman he was attacked in the street and left for dead by two hired assassins, but he lived on for another few years to compose more music.  Five years later he was stabbed to death in Genoa, but the identity of his killers was never confirmed.  Stradella was born into an aristocratic family and by the age of 20 was making a name for himself as a composer.  He moved to Rome where he composed sacred music for Queen Christina of Sweden, who had abdicated her throne to go to live there.  It is believed he tried to embezzle money from the Roman Catholic Church. Read more…

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Maria de’ Medici – the tragic daughter of Cosimo I

Grand Duke grief stricken after death of clever child

Maria de’ Medici, the beautiful eldest child of Cosimo I de’ Medici was born on this day in 1540 in Florence. The apple of her father’s eye, she was one of the brightest of the Grand Duke of Tuscany’s children, but she was destined to lead a very short life.  Maria was the daughter of Cosimo I and Eleonora di Toledo and was Cosimo’s first legitimate child. He had fathered an illegitimate daughter, Bia de’ Medici before his marriage to Eleonora but she had died young.   Maria was educated with her brothers and was reputed to have been so clever that when her  brother, Francesco, didn’t understand his Greek lesson, his tutors would ask Maria to explain it to him.  She grew up to be an elegant, highly educated, and decorous young woman according to contemporary accounts and a marriage was arranged for her with Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara. Read more… 

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – composer

Versatile musician wrote for stringed instruments and for films

One of the most admired composers of the 20th century, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, was born on this day in 1895 in Florence.  He composed more than 100 pieces of music for the guitar, many of them written for the Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia.  Because of anti-semitism in Europe, Mario emigrated to the United States in 1939 where he went to work for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, composing music for about 200 films.  Mario was descended from a family of bankers that had lived in Siena since the Jews were expelled from Spain in the 16th century.  He was introduced to the piano by his mother and was composing music by the time he was nine years old. His mother recognised his musical talent and encouraged him to study the piano and composition under well-regarded musicians.  Mario came to the attention of the composer and pianist Alfredo Casella, who included some of his work in his repertoire. Read more…

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Maria Redaelli - supercentenarian

Inter fan who was the oldest living person in Europe

Maria Angela Redaelli, a supercentenarian who for 10 months was the oldest living person in Europe and for 14 months the oldest living person in Italy, was born on this day in 1899 in Inzago in Lombardy.  She died in 2013 on the eve of what would have been her 114th birthday, at which point she was the fourth oldest living person in the world, behind the Japanese supercentenarians Jiroemon Kimura and Misao Okawa, and the American Gertrude Weaver.  Kimura died two months later at the age of 116 years and 54 days, which is the most advanced age reached by any male in the history of the human race, according to verifiable records.  Okawa and Weaver survived for another two years, Okawa reaching 117 years and 27 days, which made her the fifth oldest woman in history at the time, although she was later overtaken by the Italian Emma Morano, who lived in Pallanza on Lake Maggiore until she was 117 years and 137 days.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Alcide De Gasperi: European Founding Father, by Daniela Preda

Alcide De Gasperi is universally recognized as a Founding Father of Europe, but his enlightened action in favour of European unification is little known outside of Italy.  At the beginning of the 1950s, he became one of the most steadfast advocates of a European federation as a response to the problems of peace in Europe and Franco-German reconciliation. Foreseeing the limits of functional integration, he strongly supported the creation of a European political community as a framework in which to insert the nascent communities. After retracing the fundamental stages in the Europeanist education of the political leader from Trentino, Alcide De Gasperi: European Founding Father focuses on his determination in fighting to give constituent power to the European Defence Community (EDC) Assembly, to convene the ad hoc Assembly, charged with studying and drawing up a treaty for the European Political Community, and to gain approval for the treaty.

Daniela Preda is a full professor at the University of Genoa, where she teaches contemporary history and history of European integration.

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2 April

Giacomo Casanova – adventurer

Romantic figure escaped from prison in a gondola 

Author and adventurer Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was born on this day in 1725 in Venice.  He is so well known for his affairs with women that his surname is now used as an alternative word for ‘womaniser’.  Yet Casanova’s autobiography, The Story of My Life, has come to be regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about European social life produced during the 18th century.  Casanova was widely travelled, had several different professions and was a prolific writer but he spent a lot of his time having romantic liaisons and gambling.  The Venice into which he was born was the pleasure capital of Europe, a required stop on the Grand Tour for young men coming of age, because of the attractions of the Carnival, the gambling houses and the courtesans.  Read more…

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Francesca Cuzzoni - operatic soprano

Diva who came to blows with rival on stage

Francesca Cuzzoni, an 18th century star whose fiery temper earned her a reputation as one of opera’s great divas, was born on this day in 1696 in Parma.  Described rather unkindly by one opera historian of the era as “short and squat, with a doughy face” she was nonetheless possessed of a beautiful soprano voice, which became her passport to stardom.  However, she was also notoriously temperamental and jealous of rival singers, as was illustrated by several incidents that took place while she was in the employment of George Frederick Handel, the German composer who spent much of his working life in London.  Already established as one of the finest sopranos in Europe, Cuzzoni was hired by Handel in 1722.  Handel at that time was Master of the Orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music, the company set up by a group of English aristocrats to stage Baroque opera. Read more…

Gelindo Bordin - marathon champion

First Italian to win Olympic gold in ultimate endurance test

Gelindo Bordin, the first Italian to win the gold medal in the Olympic Marathon, was born on this day in 1959 in Longare, a small town about 10km (six miles) south-east of Vicenza.  Twice European marathon champion, in 1986 and 1990, he won the Olympic competition in Seoul, South Korea in 1988.  Until Stefano Baldini matched his achievements by winning the marathon at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and claiming his second European title in Gothenburg in 2006, Bordin was Italy’s greatest long-distance runner.  He attained that status somewhat against the odds, too, having suffered a serious intestinal illness at the age of 20 and then being hit by a car.  Bordin’s victory in Seoul at last made up for the disappointment the Italy team had suffered 80 years earlier when Dorando Pietri crossed the line first in the marathon at the London Olympics of 1908 only to be disqualified. Read more…

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Achille Vianelli - painter and printmaker

Artist from Liguria who captured scenes of Naples

The painter and printmaker Achille Vianelli, whose specialities were landscapes and genre pictures, notably in his adopted city of Naples, died on this day in 1894 in Benevento in Campania.  For a while he worked at the French court, giving painting lessons to King Louis Philippe. Some of his works have sold for thousands of euros.  Vianelli was born in 1803 in Porto Maurizio in Liguria. When he was a child, his family moved more than 1,200km (750 miles) to the other end of the Italian peninsula to the coastal town of Otranto in the province of Lecce, where his father, Giovan Battista Vianelli, Venetian-born but a French national, had been posted as a Napoleonic consular agent.  Achille spent his youth in Otranto before, in 1819, he moved to Naples. His father and sister moved to France, although they would return to Naples in 1826. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Story of My Life, by Giacomo Casanova. Introduced by Gilberto Pizzamiglio

Seducer, gambler, necromancer, swindler, swashbuckler, poet, self-made gentleman, bon vivant, Giacomo Casanova was not only the most notorious lover of the Western world, but a supreme storyteller. He lived a life stranger than most fictions, and the tale of his own adventures is his most compelling story, and one that remained unfinished at the time of his death. The Story of My Life is a selection of stories that contains all the highlights of Casanova's life: his youth in Venice as a precocious ecclesiastic; his dabbling in the occult; his imprisonment and thrilling escape; and his amorous conquests, ranging from noblewomen to nuns.

Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798) was born in Venice, the son of actors who wanted him to become a priest. Instead he had numerous occupations, and is remembered as one of history's great lovers.  Gilberto Pizzamiglio is Professor of Italian Literature at the University of Venice.

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1 April

NEW - Simona Ventura - TV presenter

Star of sports and entertainment shows

The presenter Simona Ventura, whose career spanning forty years has showcased an outstanding versatility and made her one of Italian television’s most familiar faces, was born on this day in 1965 in Bentivoglio, a small town about 15km (nine miles) northeast of Bologna in Emilia-Romagna.  Ventura has made her mark in entertainment and reality TV but has also enjoyed a high-profile presence in sports broadcasting, especially football.  Her career highlights include hosting the live Sunday afternoon football show Quelli che il Calcio for a decade and leading L’isola dei famosi - an Italian reality show similar to Survivor and the UK’s I’m a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here - for eight editions.  Ventura also has the distinction of being one of only three women to be granted the role of main host of the Sanremo Music Festival. Read more… 

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Arrigo Sacchi - football coach

AC Milan manager's tactics revolutionised football in Italy

Arrigo Sacchi, the football coach who led AC Milan to back-to-back European Cups and steered Italy to a World Cup final, was born on this day in 1946 in Fusignano, a small town not far from Ravenna in Emilia-Romagna.  Unusually among top coaches, Sacchi never played football as a professional.  Aware of his limited ability, he quickly decided he would concentrate instead on becoming a manager, taking charge of a local amateur team, Baracca Lugo, when he was just 26.  Literally, he worked his way up from the bottom, making a living as a shoe salesman while training his players in his spare time.  Yet step by step he ascended to the very top of the game, landing jobs on the coaching staffs at Cesena, Rimini and Fiorentina before Parma, then in the third tier of the Italian football pyramid, made him head coach in 1985.  Read more…

April Fools' Day - Italian style

What lies behind the tradition of Pesce d'Aprile?

Playing practical jokes on April 1 is a tradition in Italy in the same way as many other countries, although in Italy the day is called Pesce d’Aprile – April’s Fish – rather than April Fools’ Day.  It is said to have become popular in Italy between 1860 and 1880, especially in Genoa, where families in the wealthier social circles embraced the idea, already popular in France, of marking the day by playing tricks on one another.  The most simple trick involves sticking a cut-out picture of a fish on the back of an unsuspecting ‘victim’ and watching how long it takes for him or her to discover he had been pranked, but over the years there have been many much more elaborate tricks played.  Often these have involved spoof announcements or false stories in the newspapers or on TV or radio shows, aimed at embarrassing large numbers of gullible readers, viewers or listeners. Read more…

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Giancarlo Antognoni - footballer

Midfield star recovered from horrific injury to win World Cup

The footballer Giancarlo Antognoni, who won 73 international caps for his country and was a member of the Italy team that won the 1982 World Cup in Spain, was born on this day in 1954 in Marsciano, a medieval town in Umbria, some 25km (16 miles) south of the regional capital, Perugia.  Antognoni, who spent most of his club career with Fiorentina and still works for the club today, was regarded as one of the most talented midfield players of his generation, but had the misfortune to miss Italy’s triumph against West Germany in the 1982 final, having suffered a broken foot in the semi-final against Poland.  Nonetheless, he made a major contribution to the performances that carried the azzurri through to the final, including the victories over holders Argentina and tournament favourites Brazil in the second phase. Read more…

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Alberto Zaccheroni - football coach

First Italian coach to lead a foreign nation to success

The football coach Alberto Zaccheroni, who won the Serie A title with AC Milan and steered the Japan national team to success in the Asia Cup, was born on this day in 1953 in Meldola, a town in Emilia-Romagna.  In a long coaching career, Zaccheroni took charge of 13 teams in Italy, a club side in China and two international teams, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.  In common with many coaches in Italy, Zaccheroni began at semi-professional level and worked his way up through the professional leagues.  Before winning the scudetto with Milan in 1999, he had twice won titles at Serie D (fourth tier) level and twice in Serie C.  Zaccheroni played as a fullback, with the youth team at Bologna and the Serie D team Cesenatico in Emilia-Romagna, but his career was hampered by a lung disease he contracted at the age of 17. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Italian Pop Culture: Media, Products, Imageries, edited by Fabio Corsini

What does the expression pop culture mean today? And how does it contribute to understanding a country and a cultural group? Italian Pop Culture: Media, Products, Imageries is a collection of essays, diverse in content, approach and perspective, which tries to answer these questions. It aims at describing and figuring out the texture of Italian pop culture – as a meaningful juxtaposition between high and low, mass and elite, artistic and consumerist – in relation to the Italian mediascape and cultural context.  Through the mosaic of narratives produced by television, music, comics and novels, to name a few, and the mixture of genres and types of cultural products analyzed in every essay, the reader is allowed to further the knowledge of Italian pop culture and to get a glimpse of Italians and ‘Italian-ness’.

Fabio Corsini is an editor, author, and academic co-ordinator known for his work in media studies, Italian pop culture, and communication.  He is the co-ordinator of the communication programme at Kent State University, Florence Center.

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Simona Ventura - TV presenter

Star of sports and entertainment shows

Simona Ventura has been one of 
Italian TV's most familiar faces

The presenter Simona Ventura, whose career spanning forty years has showcased an outstanding versatility and made her one of Italian television’s most familiar faces, was born on this day in 1965 in Bentivoglio, a small town about 15km (nine miles) northeast of Bologna in Emilia-Romagna.

Ventura has made her mark in entertainment and reality TV but has also enjoyed a high-profile presence in sports broadcasting, especially football.

Her career highlights include hosting the live Sunday afternoon football show Quelli che il calcio for a decade and leading L’isola dei famosi - an Italian reality show similar to Survivor and the UK’s I’m a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here - for eight editions.

Ventura also has the distinction of being one of only three women to be granted the role of main host of the Sanremo Music Festival, having fronted the prestigious annual song contest in 2004. 

Other highlights include covering the 1990 FIFA World Cup - hosted by Italy - plus UEFA Euro 1992 and the 1992 Olympics as a TV sports journalist.

At different times, she has been a staple of both national public broadcaster Rai and the commercially-owned Mediaset network, fronting major variety shows such as Mai dire gol, Le Iene, and Festivalbar.  She has also enjoyed a long-running relationship with X-Factor Italia as a judge. 

Although born in Bentivoglio, Ventura moved at an early age to Chivasso, just outside Turin in Piedmont. After studying physical education at high school, she became interested in television as a career. In common with many girls with ambitions in that direction, she found her looks opened doors. She entered and won a beauty pageant in the Liguria resort of Alassio and made her television debut in 1988 as an assistant to the host of a game show on Rai Uno.

With aspirations beyond being merely a showgirl - the term that described the such roles in Italian entertainment programmes - Ventura pursued her passion for sport, joining Telemontecarlo as a trainee sports journalist, which provided the chance to report for the station at the Italia ‘90 World Cup tournament, the European championships in Sweden in 1992 and the Olympic Games in Barcelona the same year. 

By the autumn of 1992, she was reporting on Serie A matches for the Sunday afternoon Rai magazine programme, Domenica In, which in turn persuaded the producers of Rai Due’s long-running Sunday night football highlights show La Domenica Sportiva, traditionally an all-male platform, to give her the role of host. 

Simona Ventura in 1988, at the
start of her media career

Moving to Mediaset in the mid‑1990s broadened her appeal: she became a familiar face on high‑profile variety shows such as Mai dire gol, Scherzi a parte, Festivalbar, Le Iene, Matricole, and Zelig. These programmes showcased her comedic timing and strong rapport with live audiences.

In 2001, Ventura returned to Rai to host Quelli che il calcio, a role she held until 2011. The programme blended football culture with entertainment in a format that suited her energetic style. She was chosen as the first host of L’isola dei famosi in 2003, keeping the position for the popular show’s first eight seasons.

Her most prestigious assignment came in 2004 when she became only the third woman to be appointed the main presenter of the Sanremo Music Festival, after Loretta Goggi (1986) and Raffaella Carrà (2001). She was scheduled to return to Sanremo in 2021 as co-host alongside Amadeus but had to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19.

After a decade at Rai, Ventura signed an exclusive contract with Sky in 2011, serving as judge, presenter, and creative lead on projects including X Factor and Simona Goes to Hollywood. She later returned to Mediaset, appearing as a contestant on L’isola dei famosi in 2016.

Away from television, Ventura has appeared in acting roles in a number of films, including Fratelli Coltelli (1997), La fidanzata di papà (2008), and a cameo in Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere (2010). 

In 2023, she was a contestant in both Il Cantante Mascherano (The Masked Singer) and Ballando con le Stelle (Dancing with the Stars), finishing runner-up in the latter with partner Samuel Peron.

The winner of multiple awards in recognition of her longevity and impact on Italian television, Ventura has since 2024 been married to journalist Giovanni Terzi. She has three children - Niccolò, Giacomo, and adopted daughter Caterina - from her previous marriage to footballer Stefano Bettarini. 

The Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta, with its
striking facade, is one of the highlights of Chivasso

Travel tip:

Chivasso, where Simona Ventura grew up, is a town about 20km (12 miles) northeast of the centre of Turin, situated on the left bank of the Po river, close to where it is joined by the Orco. It is known for its medieval centre, late‑Gothic cathedral, and long history as a strategic crossroads in the Canavese region. Inhabited since the Neolithic period, the town is remembered in history for its heroic resistance against French troops during the War of the Spanish Succession. Chivasso’s architectural and cultural highlights include the Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta, a jewel of late Gothic architecture with a richly decorated terracotta façade and an octagonal tower, the last remnant of the town’s medieval castle, and the Palazzo Santa Chiara, originally intended as a convent, later transformed into the town hall. It includes a charming miniature 19th‑century horseshoe‑shaped theatre.  The historic centre features medieval arcades, elegant streets such as Via Torino and a number of lively squares with cafés and pastry shops. Chivasso is famous for its nocciolini - tiny hazelnut meringue biscuits made from Piedmont hazelnuts, sugar and egg white. 

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The remains of the Castello di Bentivoglio still bear
a red cross from its days as a military hospital

Travel tip:

Bentivoglio, northeast of Bologna, is a small town best known for its Renaissance‑era castle, the Navile Canal, and one of Italy’s most important museums of rural culture. Between Bologna and Ferrara, the town has been shaped to a large degree by the Navile Canal, which historically links Bologna with the Adriatic and runs through the town. The aforementioned castle, the Castello di Bentivoglio, was built in the late 15th century by Giovanni II Bentivoglio, lord of Bologna from 1463 to 1506, and incorporates an earlier 1390 fortress. Serving as a hunting and leisure retreat, it was named Domus Jocunditatis, or the House of Joy. During the First World War, it housed a military hospital for the Italian Red Cross. In 1945, during their retreat, the Nazis destroyed the 14th-century castle tower, as part of a policy of removing any elevated point from which the advancing Allies could track their progress. Bentivoglio’s Villa Smeraldi houses the Museo della Civiltà Contadina, one of Italy’s most significant museums of rural culture, set in a 19th‑century villa and English‑style park. The nearby Oasi La Rizza, a wetland area, is famous for the recent return of the white stork, which now nests there after centuries of absence.

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More reading:

Edda “Edy” Campagnoli, fifties showgirl who married a famous footballer

Raffaella Carrà - singer, dancer, television presenter and actress

How the historic Sanremo Music Festival inspired Eurovision

Also on this day:

1946: The birth of football coach Arrigo Sacchi

1953: The birth of football coach Alberto Zaccheroni

1954: The birth of footballer Giancarlo Antognoni

April Fool’s Day - Pesce d’Aprile

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