6 April

The L’Aquila Earthquake

Shock measuring 6.3 magnitude killed more than 300

The central Italy region of Abruzzo suffered a major disaster on this day in 2009 when an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 caused extensive damage and considerable loss of life in the city of L’Aquila and surrounding villages.  The main shock struck at 3.32am, when many of the victims would have been asleep, although there had been two smaller tremors the day before in an area with a long history of seismic turbulence, giving rise to speculation that a major quake was imminent.  The epicentre was only a little outside L’Aquila, a city with a population of about 70,000, damaging up to 11,000 buildings in the 13th century city.  A total of 309 people lost their lives and such was the scale of devastation that up to 65,000 people were left homeless in the city and neighbouring villages.  It was the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the Irpinia quake in Campania killed almost 2,500 people in 1980. Read more…

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Sergio Franchi – tenor

Budding opera star became popular for singing romantic ballads

The tenor and actor Sergio Franchi was born Sergio Franci Galli on this day in 1926 in Codogno in the province of Lodi in northern Italy.  Franchi earned recognition as a performer in Britain in the 1960s and subsequently went to America where he became such a success he was once invited by John F Kennedy to sing the US national anthem at a rally.  Franchi was born to a Neapolitan father and a Ligurian mother who were living in Codogno in the Lombardy region. As a child he sang with his father who played the piano and guitar.  When he was 16, Franchi formed a band to earn extra money and went on to sing with a male group in jazz clubs.  Franchi’s father was a successful businessman but he lost all his assets during the German occupation of Italy in World War II.  After the war a family friend suggested to Franchi’s father that he should emigrate. Read more…

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Raphael - Renaissance painter and architect

Precocious genius from Urbino famous for Vatican frescoes

The Renaissance painter and architect commonly known as Raphael was born Raffaello Sanzio in Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, on this day in 1483.  Raphael is regarded as one of the masters of the Renaissance, along with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.  He was more prolific than Da Vinci and, some argue, more versatile than Michelangelo, and was certainly influenced by both.  The young Raphael was taught to paint by his father, Giovanni Santi, who was a painter for the Duke of Urbino, Federico da Montefeltro, but his talents surpassed those of his father, who died when he was just 11 years old.  He was soon considered one of Urbino's finest painters and was commissioned to paint for a church in a neighbouring town while still a teenager.  In 1500, Raphael moved to Perugia in Umbria to become assistant to Pietro Vannucci, otherwise known as Perugino. Read more…

Maurizio and Giorgio Damilano – race walkers

Maurizio won Olympic gold in Moscow

Twins Maurizio and Giorgio Damilano, both former race walkers, were born on this day in 1957 in Scarnafigi in the province of Cuneo in Piedmont.  Maurizio won the gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics in the 20km race walk, while his brother, Giorgio, finished 11th.  In sympathy with the American-led boycott of the Moscow Games following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Italian athletes competed under the Olympic flag rather than the Italian tricolore.  Damilano was one of eight Italians to win gold medals in Moscow.  Giorgio was less successful than Maurizio, but did win the 20km race walk at the 1979 Italian Athletics Championships.  Maurizio was also the 1987 and 1991 World Champion in the 20km race walk. He had 60 caps for representing the national team between 1977 and 1992. He was supported through much of his career by the Italian car manufacturer, Fiat.  Read more…

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Pier Giorgio Frassati – social activist

Brave Catholic has inspired youth of the world

Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was dedicated to social justice issues and spent his brief life helping the poor, was born on this day in 1901 in Turin.  He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1990, who dubbed him ‘the Man of the Eight Beatitudes,’ alluding to a passage in the Gospel According to Matthew.  Frassati’s father, Alfredo, owned the newspaper La Stampa, and his mother, Adelaide, was a painter, whose works were purchased by King Victor Emmanuel III.  Although he was from a wealthy background, even as a child Frassati showed compassion for the poor. He was educated at a school run by Jesuits and grew up to become dedicated to social action as a means of combating inequalities.  He was an ardent opponent of Fascism and was arrested in Rome for protesting with the Young Catholic Workers Congress, continuing to hold his banner aloft while being attacked by the police.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Fault Lines: Earthquakes and Urbanism in Modern Italy, by Giacomo Parrinello

Earth's fractured geology is visible in its fault lines. It is along these lines that earthquakes occur, sometimes with disastrous effects. These disturbances can significantly influence urban development, as seen in the aftermath of two earthquakes in Messina, Italy, in 1908 and in the Belice Valley, Sicily, in 1968. Following the history of these places before and after their destruction, Fault Lines explores plans and developments that preceded the disasters and the urbanism that emerged from the ruins. These stories explore fault lines between "rural" and "urban," "backwardness" and "development," and "before" and "after," shedding light on the role of environmental forces in the history of human habitats.  In his review, Professor John Foot, of the University of Bristol, described Fault Lines as ‘an extremely interesting and well-written book, which takes two major Italian disasters in detail and uses them to tell a series of stories about urban change, the state, national identity, and other issues.’ 

Giacomo Parrinello is a Marie Curie Fellow in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University and the Institute of Social Ecology in Vienna. He has published in the fields of environmental history, history of urban planning, and modern Italian history.

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5 April

Giovanni dalle Bande Nere - condottiero

Medici soldier who fathered Cosimo I de' Medici

Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, the military leader regarded as the last of the great Italian condottieri, was born on this day in 1498 in Forlì, in what is now the Emilia-Romagna region.  The condottieri were professional soldiers, mercenaries who hired themselves out to lead the armies of the Italian city-states and the Papacy in the frequent wars that ensued from the Middle Ages through to the Renaissance.  Giovanni spent the greater part of his military career in the service of Pope Leo X, the Medici pope. Indeed, he was a Medici himself, albeit from a then secondary branch of the family. Baptised Ludovico, he was the son of Giovanni de’ Medici, also known as Il Popolano and a great-nephew of Cosimo the Elder, the founder of the dynasty.  It was his mother, Caterina Sforza, the powerful daughter of the Duke of Milan, who renamed him Giovanni in memory of his father. Read more…

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Vincenzo Gioberti - philosopher and politician

Writings helped bring about unification of Italy

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

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Anna Antonacci – soprano

Acclaimed performer has perfected her portrayal of Rossini heroines

Italian opera singer Anna Caterina Antonacci, who is considered one of the finest sopranos of her generation, was born on this day in 1961 in Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna.   Particularly known for her roles in Rossini’s operas, Antonacci has been awarded many prizes and honours during her career. In 2021, she was elected as one of the ‘Accademici Effettivi’, by the panellists of the General Assembly of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, one of the oldest, and most prestigious, musical institutions in the world. After studying in Bologna, Antonacci entered the chorus at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in 1981. She made her solo debut in 1984 in Pistoia as the Contessa di Ceprano, in Rigoletto, by Giuseppe Verdi. In 1986, in Arezzo in Tuscany, she sang the role of Rosina, the heroine of Giacchino Rossini’s comic opera The Barber of Seville.  Read more…

Vincenzo Viviani – mathematician and scientist

Galileo follower's name lives on as moon crater

Forward-thinking scientist Vincenzo Viviani was born on this day in 1622 in Florence.  Viviani worked as an assistant to Galileo Galilei and after his mentor's death continued his experimental work in the field of mathematics and physics. This work was considered so important that Viviani has had a small crater on the moon named after him.  While at school in Florence, Viviani was given a scholarship to buy mathematical books by the Grand Duke Ferdinando II de' Medici. He later became a pupil of Evangelista Torricelli and worked with him on physics and geometry.  By the time he was 17 he was working as an assistant to Galileo Galilei. After Galileo’s death in 1642, Viviani edited the first edition of his teacher’s collected works.  Viviani was appointed to fill Torricelli’s position at the Accademia dell’Arte del Disegno in Florence after his death in 1647.  Read more…

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Francesco Laparelli - architect and military engineer

Italian who designed Valletta, the fortified capital of Malta

The architect Francesco Laparelli da Cortona, who worked as assistant to Michelangelo Buonarroti at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome but is chiefly renowned for the design of Valletta, the fortified capital city of Malta, was born on this day in 1521 in the hilltop city of Cortona in what is now Tuscany.  Laparelli designed the bell tower for Cortona’s cathedral but turned his talents towards military engineering after serving as an officer under Cosimo de’ Medici during the battle for control of the Republic of Siena in the 1550s. He went on to serve on Cortona’s city council and worked with other engineers on the Fortezza del Girifalco above the city. The cost of the fortress and other work on the city walls eventually bankrupted the city but Laparelli’s reputation was established.  He was summoned to Rome by Pope Pius IV in 1560.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Mercenaries and Their Masters: Warfare in Renaissance Italy, by Michael Mallett 

Michael Mallett's classic study of Renaissance warfare in Italy is as relevant today as it was when it was first published a generation ago. His lucid account of the age of the condottieri - the mercenary captains of fortune - and of the soldiers who fought under them is set in the wider context of the Italian society of the time and of the warring city-states who employed them. A fascinating picture emerges of the mercenaries themselves, of their commanders and their campaigns, but also of the way in which war was organized and practised in the Renaissance world. The book concentrates on the 15th century, a confused period of turbulence and transition when standing armies were formed in Italy and more modern types of military organisation took hold across Europe. But it also looks back to the middle ages and the 14th century, and forward to the Italian wars of the 16th century when foreign armies disputed the European balance of power on Italian soil. Mercenaries and Their Masters: Warfare in Renaissance Italy, which embodies much scholarly research into this neglected, often misunderstood subject, is essential reading for any one who is keen to understand the history of warfare in the late medieval period and the Renaissance.

The late Michael Mallett was professor of history at the University of Warwick. He is best known for his outstanding books on Renaissance Italy, in particular The Florentine Galleys in the Fifteenth Century and The Borgias.

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4 April

NEW - Benedict the Moor – Saint

Devout son of slaves was canonised by a Pope

An Afro-Sicilian Franciscan friar known as Benedict the Moor, who was made a saint nearly 300 years after his birth, was born on this day in 1526 in San Fratello in Sicily.  Benedict was the son of African slaves who had been captured and taken to work in San Fratello, which is a small town in the province of Messina. His parents were given Italian names, Cristoforo and Diana Massaneri, and were converted to Christianity. They were granted freedom for their son before his birth because of what was then described as their loyal service to their master.  Benedict is also sometimes referred to as Benedict of Palermo, Benedict the Black, or Benedict the African. He worked as a shepherd during his youth and often gave the money he had earned to the poor.  Although Benedict did not attend school and was illiterate, he became well known for his charity.  Read more…

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Francesco De Gregori - singer-songwriter

Performer inspired by songs of hero Bob Dylan

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

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Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli - composer

Neapolitan who snubbed Napoleon wrote 37 operas

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

Daniela Riccardi - businesswoman

Head of upmarket stationery company trained as a ballet dancer

Born on this day in 1960, Daniela Riccardi in 2013 became chief executive of Baccarat, the luxury glass and crystal manufacturer that originated in the town of the same name in the Lorraine region of France in the 18th century, taking up the same position with the upmarket stationery company Moleskine in 2020.  Formerly CEO of the Italian clothing company Diesel, she is one of Italy's most successful businesswomen, yet might easily have forged alternative careers as a dancer or a diplomat.  Born in Rome, she began dancing when she was five and studied ballet for 12 years at the National Dance Academy in Rome, with the aim of becoming a professional dancer.  When it became clear that she would not quite be good enough to grace the world's great stages, she remained determined to have a career that would satisfy her desire to experience many countries and cultures. Read more…

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Irene Pivetti – journalist and politician

From top political office to TV presenter

Irene Pivetti, who was only the second woman to become president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, was born on this day in 1963 in Milan.  Once a key figure in Italy’s Lega Nord party, Pivetti quit politics for a career as a television presenter.  Pivetti obtained an honours degree in Italian literature from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and afterwards worked in publishing, editing books on the Italian language. In this she was following in the footsteps of her maternal grandfather, Aldo, a renowned linguist.  While working as a journalist, she became involved with the Lega Lombardia (Lombard League), which later became the Lega Nord (Northern League) and in 1992 was elected as a deputy, the Italian equivalent of a Member of Parliament.  Two years later, after the vote had gone to a fourth ballot, Pivetti was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Traveling With The Saints In Italy: Contemporary Pilgrimages On Ancient Paths, by Lucinda Vardey

Pilgrimages have long been a vital part of Italy's heritage. Yet visiting its sacred sites seems an overwhelming challenge for the modern traveller: what to see, where to go, how much time to spend in each place?  In her new book, Lucinda Vardey provides solutions and guidance. In recognizing the genius of many of Italy's well-known - and some lesser-known - saints, she offers ten pilgrimages (to all parts of the country), for one or two days or a week, in a unique format of biography of early masters such as St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Catherine of Siena and more contemporary teachers, Blessed Pope John 23rd and St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio). After learning of the life of each saint, Traveling With The Saints In Italy provides a summary of their spiritual teaching, a pilgrim prayer and suggestions for intention, itinerary, maps and detailed directions to the prime places to visit in that person's life (many documented for the first time). Also provided are sidebars on religious art and artists and a four-day retreat in Rome. The book was reissued in a Jubilee edition in 2015.

Lucinda Vardey is a teacher, retreat guide and writer of spiritual subjects. Born in England, she now lives in Canada with her husband, John Dalla Costa, and in Italy where they run a retreat house in Tuscany. She lives part of the year in Tuscany and has led Italian pilgrimages for over six years.

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Benedict the Moor – Saint

Devout son of slaves was canonised by a Pope

Benedict the Moor was recognised for his
compassion towards the poor and his forbearance

An Afro-Sicilian Franciscan friar known as Benedict the Moor, who was made a saint nearly 300 years after his birth, was born on this day in 1526 in San Fratello in Sicily.

Benedict was the son of African slaves who had been captured and taken to work in San Fratello, which is a small town in the province of Messina.

His parents were given Italian names, Cristoforo and Diana Massaneri, and were converted to Christianity. They were granted freedom for their son before his birth because of what was then described as their loyal service to their master.

Benedict is also sometimes referred to as Benedict of Palermo, Benedict the Black, or Benedict the African. He worked as a shepherd during his youth and often gave the money he had earned to the poor.

Although Benedict did not attend school and was illiterate, he became well known for his charity.

As an adult he was publicly insulted because of his colour and his forbearance at the time was noticed by the leader of an independent group of hermits. They were living on Monte Pellegrino, an isolated rocky promontory on the northern coast of Palermo, following rules that had been written by St Francis of Assisi.

Benedict was invited to join the community and he gave up all his earthly possessions. He worked as the cook for the community and went on to become their leader when he had reached the age of 28.

A statue of Benedict the Moor at the
Minneapolis Institute of Art 

In 1564, Pope Pius IV disbanded all independent groups of hermits, ordering them to join established religious orders. Benedict was assigned to the Franciscan Friary of St Mary of Jesus in Palermo.

He started as a cook, but was soon appointed as a master of novices and later as a guardian of the community, although he was a lay brother rather than a priest. He helped the order to adopt a stricter version of Franciscan rule and became respected for his intuitive knowledge of theology and scripture.

It is claimed that he kept seven 40-day fasts throughout the year and slept for only a few hours each night. 

He was often sought after for counselling and developed a reputation for being able to heal the sick.

When Benedict died at the age of 65 it was claimed he had passed away at the very hour, and on the very day, that he had himself predicted. 

At the entrance to his cell in the Franciscan friary there is a plaque inscribed with the words: ‘This is the cell where Saint Benedict lived,’ which gives the dates of his birth and death.

After his death, King Philip III of Spain ordered a magnificent tomb to be built to house Benedict’s remains in the friary church in Palermo.

Benedict was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1743 and canonised by Pope Pius VII in 1807. It is claimed his body was found incorrupt upon exhumation at the time. His major shrine was in Palermo, but the church and his relics were almost completely destroyed during wildfires in 2023.

He is remembered for his patience and understanding when confronted with racial abuse and taunts and, because of this, he has been declared a patron saint of African Americans. Several Catholic parishes in the United States are named after him.

San Fratello sits on a spectacular rocky outcrop in
countryside from which many emigrated to the US

Travel tip:

San Fratello, where Saint Benedict was born, is a municipality in the Nebrodi mountains in the northeast corner of Sicily. It was founded by the Normans in the 11th century. Their Gallo-Italic dialect is still spoken in the area. Situated about 110km (68 miles) east of Palermo and about 90km (56 miles) west of Messina, it takes its name from three pious brothers: Alfio, Cirino and Filadelfo, in whose honour a festival is held annually on May 10. It is said that the village sits on the site of the ancient Greek city of Apollonia, exactly on the summit of Monte Vecchio where the ruins are visible. The area has become increasingly prone to landslides, with more than one third of the population forced to evacuate the village in 2010, when extensive damage occurred. The village currently has just under 4,000 inhabitants but was once home to more than 10,000, its numbers diminishing in the early part of the 20th century when many residents left the area to emigrate, especially to the United States, where it is estimated there are 5,000 people who can trace their roots back to San Fratello. These include the ancestors of the American actor Al Pacino, whose father, Salvatore, returned to visit the area in 2002.

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The Monte Pellegrino promontory seen across
the harbour at Palermo in western Sicily

Travel tip:

Monte Pellegrino, where Saint Benedict once lived with other hermits,  is an isolated carbonate rock promontory on the northern coast of Palermo. It is 606 meters above sea level, making it the highest peak in the area, and it has become one of Palermo’s most  frequently represented symbols. It was described by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German writer and polymath, as the most beautiful promontory in the world and is seen by many Palermitani as giving protection to their city. The mountain is home to the Sanctuary of Santa Rosalia, a pilgrim hermitage named in honour of Rosalia, patron saint of Palermo.  Called Monti Piddirinu in Sicilian dialect, the mountain range is characterised by steep slopes over whose surfaces the water does not flow, but instead filters through numerous cracks and crevices.

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More reading:

Saint Rosalia, the Norman noblewoman credited with saving Palermo from plague

Why hundreds of thousands take to the streets of Catania to celebrate Saint Agatha

The Caravaggio masterpiece depicting the burial of Santa Lucia

Also on this day:

1752: The birth of composer Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli

1951: The birth of singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori

1960: The birth of businesswoman Daniela Riccardi

1963: The birth of journalist and politician Irene Pivetti

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