12 September

NEW - Elisabetta Canalis – Sardinian actress

Star who once dated American actor George Clooney

Actress and TV personality Elisabetta Canalis was born on this day in 1978 in Sassari in Sardinia. She has had roles in several films and taken part in many long-running television programmes for Italian channels. While Canalis was the girlfriend of the American actor, George Clooney in 2011, she and Clooney were both witnesses in the two-year trial of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in Milan, who was alleged to have paid for sex with an underage prostitute.  Her father, Cesare Canalis, was a clinical radiologist at the University of Sassari, and her mother, Bruna, was a teacher. Educated at the liceo classico Domenico Alberto Azuni in Sassari, Canalis went on to study foreign languages at the University of Milan, but left the course without graduating when she was 21, to work as a dancer for Canale 5, a TV Channel owned by Berlusconi. Read more…

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Nazis free captive Mussolini

Extraordinary daring of Gran Sasso Raid

One of the most dramatic events of the Second World War in Italy took place on this day in 1943 when Benito Mussolini, the deposed and imprisoned Fascist dictator, was freed by the Germans.  The former leader was being held in a remote mountain ski resort when 12 gliders, each carrying paratroopers and SS officers, landed on the mountainside and took control of the hotel where Mussolini was being held.  They forced his guards to surrender before summoning a small aircraft to fly Mussolini to Rome, from where another plane flew him to Austria.  Even Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime prime minister, professed his admiration for the daring nature of the daylight rescue.  Known as the Gran Sasso Raid or Operation Oak, the rescue was ordered by Adolf Hitler himself after learning that Mussolini's government had passed a resolution that he be replaced as leader. Read more…

Eugenio Montale - poet and translator

Influential writer one of six Italians to win Nobel Prize in Literature

Eugenio Montale, who became one of the most influential Italian writers of the 20th century and was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975, died on this day in 1981 in Milan at the age of 84.  Montale's most famous work is often considered to be his first, a collection of poems he published in 1925 under the title Ossi di seppia - Cuttlefish Bones. These poems established his use of stark imagery, his introspective tone and his fascination with themes such as desolation, alienation and mortality, and the search for elusive meaning in a fragmented world.  Later collections such as Le occasioni (1939) - The Occasions - and La bufera e altro (1956) - The Storm and Other Things - reinforced his reputation as one of Italian literature’s 20th century greats.  Montale was born in 1896 in a building overlooking the botanical gardens of the University of Genoa. Read more…

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Lorenzo II de’ Medici – Duke of Urbino

Short rule of the grandson of Lorenzo Il Magnifico

Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, was born on this day in 1492 in Florence.  The grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Lorenzo II ruled Florence from 1513 to 1519.  Niccolò Machiavelli addressed his work, The Prince, to Lorenzo II, advising him to accomplish the unification of Italy under Florentine rule by arming the whole nation and expelling its foreign invaders.  When Lorenzo was two years old, his father, who became known as Piero the Unfortunate, was driven out of Florence by Republicans with the help of the French.  The Papal-led Holy League, aided by the Spanish, finally defeated the rebels in 1512 and the Medici family was restored to Florence.  Lorenzo II’s uncle, Giuliano, ruled Florence for a year and then made way for his nephew. Another uncle, Pope Leo X, made Lorenzo the Duke of Urbino after expelling the legitimate ruler of the duchy, Francesco Maria della Rovere.  Read more…

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Daniela Rocca – actress

Tragic star shunned after breakdown

The actress Daniela Rocca, who starred in the hit big-screen comedy Divorce, Italian Style, was born on this day in 1937 in Sicily.  The movie, in which she starred opposite Marcello Mastroianni, won an Academy Award for its writers and acclaim for former beauty queen Rocca, who revealed a notable acting talent.  Yet this zenith in her short career would in some ways also prove to be its nadir after she fell in love with the director, Pietro Germi.  The relationship she hoped for did not materialise and she subsequently suffered a mental breakdown, which had damaging consequences for her career and her life.  Born in Acireale, a coastal city in eastern Sicily in the shadow of the Mount Etna volcano, Rocca came from poor, working class roots but her looks became a passport to a new life. She entered and won the Miss Catania beauty contest before she was 16. Read more… 

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Book of the Day: The Italian Cinema Book, edited by Peter Bondanella

The Italian Cinema Book is an essential guide to the most important historical, aesthetic and cultural aspects of Italian cinema, from 1895 to the present day. With contributions from 39 leading international scholars, the book is structured around six chronologically organised sections: The Silent Era (1895-1922); The Birth of the Talkies and The Fascist Era (1922-45); Postwar Cinematic Culture (1945-59); The Golden Age of Italian Cinema (1960-80); An Age of Crisis, Transition and Consolidation (1981-present); and New Directions in Critical Approaches to Italian Cinema.  Acutely aware of the contemporary 'rethinking' of Italian cinema history, Peter Bondanella has brought together a diverse range of essays which represent the cutting edge of Italian film theory and criticism. This provocative collection will provide the film student, scholar or enthusiast with a comprehensive understanding of the major developments in what might be called 20th-century Italy's greatest and most original art form.

Peter Bondanella, who was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Italian, Comparative Literature and Film Studies at Indiana University, wrote a number of groundbreaking books, including Hollywood Italians, The Cinema of Federico Fellini, and The Films of Roberto Rossellini. He also won acclaim for his translations of Italian literary classics.

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Elisabetta Canalis – Sardinian actress

Star who once dated American actor George Clooney

Elisabetta Canalis has enjoyed a successful
career in films and television

Actress and TV personality Elisabetta Canalis was born on this day in 1978 in Sassari in Sardinia. She has had roles in several films and taken part in many long-running television programmes for Italian channels.

While Canalis was the girlfriend of the American actor, George Clooney in 2011, she and Clooney were both witnesses in the two-year trial of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in Milan, who was alleged to have paid for sex with an underage prostitute.

Her father, Cesare Canalis, was a clinical radiologist at the University of Sassari, and her mother, Bruna, was a teacher. Educated at the liceo classico Domenico Alberto Azuni in Sassari, Canalis went on to study foreign languages at the University of Milan, but left the course without graduating when she was 21, to work as a dancer for Canale 5, a TV Channel owned by Berlusconi.

She worked on the show, Striscia la notizia, for three years and then had some minor parts in films. In 2005, she was chosen to replace the actress Michelle Hunziker in the television sitcom Love Bugs.

Canalis was a co-host on a variety of TV programmes before being picked to host the Trofeo Birra Moretti 2008, a summer football competition for Italian teams.

She played a character in the TV series, Leverage, and then co-hosted the 2011 San Remo Song Festival with Gianni Morandi and Maria Belen Rodriguez, during which she interviewed Robert De Niro.

Canalis appeared on the 13th season of Dancing with the Stars in America, but she and her professional partner were the second couple to be eliminated. Afterwards, she was interviewed on the Ellen De Generes Show.

Also in demand as a model, Canalis has been photographed for many calendars and magazines. She appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair for the third time in 2010 and was voted the fourth most beautiful woman in the world by the magazine's readers that year. 

In 2012, she was invited to model for the German designer, Philip Plein, during Milan Fashion Week.

Elisabetta Canalis with the American actor George
Clooney, with whom she had a two-year romance

Canalis has been engaged to the footballer Christian Vieri and has had short relationships with film director Gabriele Muccino and Brazilian-born footballer, Reginaldo Ferreira da Silva, who spent much of his career in Italy.

After her relationship with George Clooney broke up after two years in 2011, Canalis met Brian Perri an American orthopaedic surgeon. When they married in Alghero in Sardinia in 2014, the Italian singer Bianca Atzei sang the traditional Sardinian version of Ave Maria, Deus ti salvet Maria, during the wedding ceremony. The couple had a daughter together one year later.

Canalis was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Italy in March 2015.

In 2023,  Canalis revealed that she and Perri were separated pending a divorce and that she was at the time romantically involved with Romanian kickboxer Georgian Cimpeanu.

Canalis returned to acting in 2024, when she played the character of Amalia in the film comedy, Come far litigare Mamma e Papá, which was directed by Gianluca Ansanelli. 

The elegant Piazza d'Italia, surrounded by many
neoclassical buildings, is at the centre of Sassari

Travel tip:

Sassari, where Elisabetta Canalis was born, is rich in art, culture and history. It is a city well known for its beautiful palazzi, for the Fountain of the Rosello, and for the elegant neoclassical architecture that can be found around the central Piazza d'Italia and the Teatro Civico. The city, situated in the northwest corner of the island, is second in size only to Cagliari on Sardinia and it is not heavily industrialised. Its economy relies mainly on tourism. Although Sassari was founded early in the Middle Ages, the surrounding area has been inhabited since the Neolithic age, and later by the Nuragics and the Romans. There are many archaeological sites and ancient ruins in or around the town and the ruins of a Roman aqueduct. A Roman villa was discovered under San Nicholas Cathedral, and a section of an ancient road has been unearthed.

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The historic Castello district of Cagliari is one
of the city's most popular areas for tourists

Travel tip:

Sardinia is a large island off the coast of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea, with sandy beaches and a mountainous landscape and it is a popular holiday destination, welcoming millions of visitors every year. Alghero, where Elisabetta Canalis married Brian Perri, is a town on the north-west side of the island, with a delightful historic centre and a sandy beach. It has excellent seafood restaurants and plenty of bars. The wedding ceremony took place at the Duomo, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Immacolata, which was built in the 16th century in Catalan Gothic style in the historic centre of the city. The reception was held at a vineyard estate about 15 minutes’ drive from Alghero, where the famous Sardinian wine Vermentino is produced. Cagliari is Sardinia's capital, its main port and industrial centre, as well as a popular tourist destination, especially loved for the tree-lined boulevards and elegant arcades of the marina area and the charm of its historical centre, known as Castello, with limestone buildings that prompted DH Lawrence to call it 'the white Jerusalem', which take on beautiful pastel hues at sunset.

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More reading:

Luisa Ranieri, Naples-born star who married Luca Zingaretti

Manuela Arcuri - actress chosen as 'model' for controversial statue

Pier Angeli, il-fated Hollywood star from Cagliari

Also on this day:

1492: The birth of Lorenzo II de' Medici

1937: The birth of tragic actress Daniela Rocca

1943: Germans free Mussolini in Gran Sasso Raid

1981: The death of Nobel Prize-winning writer Eugenio Montale

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11 September

Manrico Ducceschi - partisan

Brave freedom fighter whose death is unsolved mystery

Manrico ‘Pippo’ Ducceschi, who led one of the most successful brigades of Italian partisans fighting against the Fascists and the Nazis in the Second World War, was born on this day in 1920 in Capua, a town in Campania about 25km (16 miles) north of Naples.  Ducceschi’s battalion, known as the XI Zona Patrioti, are credited with killing 140 enemy soldiers and capturing more than 8,000. They operated essentially in the western Tuscan Apennines, between the Garfagnana area north of Lucca, the Valdinievole southwest of Pistoia, and the Pistoiese mountains.  He operated under the name of Pippo in honour of his hero, the patriot and revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini.  Ducceschi's success in partisan operations led to him being placed at the top of the Germans' ‘most wanted’ list. Even his relatives were forced to go into hiding.  Read more…

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Scipione Borghese - adventurer

Nobleman from Ferrara won Peking to Paris car race

The Italian adventurer Prince Scipione Borghese, who won a car race that has since been described as the most incredible of all time, was born on this day in 1871 in Migliarino in Emilia-Romagna.  Borghese was a nobleman, the eldest son of Paolo, ninth Prince of Sulmona.  He was described as an industrialist and politician but he was also a mountaineer and a keen participant in the revolution in transport that began when the first petrol-powered motor vehicles appeared in the late 19th century.  In 1907 the French newspaper, Le Matin, challenged readers to prove their theory that the car would open up the world's horizons, enabling man to travel anywhere on the planet.  When it asked for volunteers to take part in a drive from Peking (Beijing) to Paris - a 5,000-mile journey - Borghese's taste for the daring was immediately excited.   Read more…

Bernardo Accolti – poet and politician

Writer rose to become a duke but died in poverty

One of the most popular and well-known Italian love poets of the late Renaissance, Bernardo di Benedetto degli Accolti, was born on this day in 1458 in Arezzo In Tuscany.  Referred to as ‘Unico Aretino’ because of his noble origins and his ability to express himself in verse, Accolti lived at many of the Italian courts and had platonic relationships with some of the most important noblewomen of his time, including Lucrezia Borgia, Isabella d’Este and Elisabetta Gonzaga.  Although born into a noble family, Accolti always had ambitions to acquire more social status for himself, and he eventually managed to accumulate enough money to purchase a Duchy to rule over. While he was growing up, Accolti had lived with his family in Florence, where he received a humanist education. After moving to Rome when he was a young man, he started writing poetry. Read more… 

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Ulisse Aldrovandi – naturalist

Professor became fascinated with plants while under house arrest

Ulisse Aldrovandi, who is considered to be the father of natural history studies, was born on this day in 1522 in Bologna.  He became renowned for his systematic and accurate observations of animals, plants and minerals and he established the first botanical garden in Bologna, now known as the Orto Botanico dell’Università di Bologna.  Aldrovandi’s gardens were in the grounds of Palazzo Pubblico in Bologna but in 1803 they were moved to their present location in Via Irnerio, where they are run by the University of Bologna but are open to the public every day except Sunday.  The professor was also the first person to extensively document neurofibromatosis disease, which is a type of skin tumour.  Aldrovandi, who is sometimes referred to as Aldrovandus or Aldroandi, was born into a noble family. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Italian Resistance: Fascists, Guerrillas and the Allies, by Tom Behan

One of the enduring myths about World War Two is that only the Allies liberated occupied Europe. Many countries had anti-fascist Resistance movements, and Italy's was one of the biggest and most politically radical yet it remains relatively unknown outside of its own homeland. Within Italy many plaques and streets commemorate the actions of the partisans - a movement from below that grew as Mussolini's dictatorship unravelled. Led by radical left forces, the Resistance trod a thin line between fighting their enemies at home and maintaining an uneasy working relationship with the Allies. The Italian Resistance: Fascists, Guerrillas and the Allies uses unpublished archival material and interviews with surviving partisans to tell an inspiring story of liberation.

Tom Behan was Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies at the University of Kent. His books include The Italian Resistance and See Naples and Die.

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10 September

Liliana Segre - holocaust survivor

Schoolgirl who was spared after family killed

Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre, who was one of only a small number of Italian children to return home after being deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War, was born on this day in 1930 in Milan.  Now a life member of the Italian Senate, Segre was shipped to the notorious camp in Nazi-occupied Poland when she was 13 years old, one of 776 Italians aged 14 and under to be sent to Auschwitz. Only 35 survived.  Forced to work in a munitions factory, she was twice moved to other camps during her time as a prisoner before being freed in May 1945, shortly after the Nazis surrendered to the Allies.  Born into a successful Jewish family involved in the textile and leather goods industry, Liliana grew up in an apartment in Corso Magenta in the centre of Milan, not far from the Castello Sforzesco. Read more…

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Giovanni Gronchi – Italy’s third president

Opponent of Mussolini became head of state in 1955

Christian Democrat politician Giovanni Gronchi, who served as President of Italy from 1955 to 1962, was born on this day in 1887 at Pontedera in Tuscany.  He was elected to the Camera dei Deputati in 1919 and went on to become leader of a group of deputies opposed to Mussolini, but when the Fascist government suppressed this group he put his political career on hold.  Gronchi returned to politics towards the end of the Second World War and helped found the new Christian Democrat party. In 1955 he was chosen as the third President of the Republic of Italy, succeeding Luigi Einaudi.  His presidency was notable for his attempt to open a door into government for the Italian Socialist and Communist parties, which ultimately failed.  As a young man, Gronchi had obtained a degree in Literature and Philosophy at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Read more… 

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Elsa Schiaparelli - fashion designer

Clothes inspired by Surrealist art 

The designer Elsa Schiaparelli, who is regarded along with her rival Coco Chanel as one of the key figures in the fashion world between the two World Wars, was born on this day in 1890 in Rome.  Heavily influenced by the Surrealist cultural movement – the artists Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau were among her collaborators – she became a favourite of some of the world’s most recognisable women, including the actresses Greta Garbo and Mae West, the singer and actress Marlene Dietrich, and the socialite and heiress Daisy Fellowes.  Her style shaped the look of fashion in the 1920s and 1930s, often featuring elements of the trompe l’oeil artistic technique to create optical illusions, such as the evening coat she designed with Cocteau that featured two female profiles facing one another which, viewed another way, created the impression of a vase for the fabric roses adorning the shoulders and neck.  Read more…

Historic victory at Rome Olympics

Bikila's golden moment for African athletics

History was made on this day at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome when Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila won the marathon.  Not only did he run the whole 26 mile 385 yards (42.195km) barefoot, he also became the first athlete from sub-Saharan Africa to win an Olympic gold medal.  Bikila retained the marathon title at Tokyo in 1964.  Subsequently, the middle and long-distance running events have become increasingly dominated by sub-Saharan runners, particularly Kenyans and Ethiopians.  The British runner Mo Farah - born in Somalia - continued that domination by winning both the 5,000m and 10,000m gold medals at consecutive summer Olympics in London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.  In total, more than 40 gold medals at distances from 800m to the marathon have been won by sub-Saharan runners since Bikila's breakthrough.  Read more…

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The wedding of Stefano Türr and Adelina Bonaparte

Hungarian General married Napoleon’s beautiful great niece

The wedding of a Hungarian soldier who fought alongside Giuseppe Garibaldi to a woman who was the great niece of Napoleon Bonaparte took place on this day in 1861 in Mantua in Lombardy.  The bridegroom was Stefano Türr - Istvan Türr in Hungarian - a soldier, revolutionary, canal architect and engineer, who is remembered in Italy for the role he played in the battle for the country’s unification.  Türr took a major part in the Expedition of the Thousand and was promoted to General, commanding Italian troops as they moved north from Sicily to Salerno. He was appointed Governor of Salerno by Garibaldi. Victor Emanuel II made him an aide de camp and entrusted him with sensitive diplomatic matters.  The bride was Adelina Bonaparte Wyse, who was a cousin of Napoleon III of France and granddaughter of Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon I’s brother.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism, by Alexander Stille 

In Italy Jews and fascists coexisted as nowhere else - there were even Jewish members of the Italian Fascist Party. Both before and during the war, the experience of Jews in Italy was a strange mixture of sympathy and brutal persecution, benevolence and betrayal. Through the stories of five Jewish families, this book recreates the historical and social background of the period in which Jews confidently believed in their safety and comfort as unimagined disaster approached. Commentary Magazine’s reviewer said: “The strength of this book lies not in any abstract formulations or general truths, whether about Italians, Jews, or human nature. Rather it derives from the voices of human beings, ordinary and extraordinary, as they reach us through deftly handled interviews, letters, and diaries. At its best, Benevolence and Betrayal confirms what Primo Levi said about the ‘sorrowful, cruel, and moving stories’ of himself and his fellow captives at Auschwitz.” Chosen by the Time Literary Supplement as one of the best books of 1992, Benevolence and Betrayal received the Los Angeles Times Book Award for history.

Alexander Stille is an American author and journalist. From 1990 until 1993, he reported on Italy for US News and World Report, The Boston Globe and the Toronto Globe and Mail, while contributing long articles to The New Yorker and The Atlantic. He is also the author of Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic.

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