5 February

Cesare Maldini - footballer and coach

Enjoyed success with AC Milan as player and manager

The footballer and coach Cesare Maldini, who won four Serie A titles and an historic European Cup as a centre half with AC Milan and later coached the club with success in domestic and European football and took the Italian national team to a World Cup quarter-final, was born on this day in 1932 in Trieste.  When Maldini’s Milan beat Benfica 2–1 in London in May 1963, they became the first Italian club to win the European Cup. Read more...

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Saint Agatha of Sicily – Christian martyr

Huge crowds turn out for feast day in Catania

One of the largest festivals in the Roman Catholic calendar takes place on February 5 every year to celebrate the life of the Christian martyr Saint Agatha of Sicily.  In Catania, which adopted her as the patron saint of the city, hundreds of thousands of people line the streets to watch up to 5,000 citizens hauling a silver carriage said to weigh 20 tons (18,140kg), bearing a huge statue and containing the relics of the saint, who died in 251AD. Read more…

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Carolina Morace - footballer and coach

Prolific goalscorer first woman in Italian Football Hall of Fame

Footballer and coach Carolina Morace, the first woman to be inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame, was born on this day in 1964 in Venice. Morace played for 20 years for 10 different clubs and was the leading goalscorer in the Women's Serie A on 12 occasions, including a run of 11 consecutive seasons from 1987 to 1998. She also scored 105 goals in 153 appearances for the Italy national team. Read more…

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Giovanni Battista Moroni – artist

Portrait painter left visual record of a changing society

Giovanni Battista Moroni, who was considered one of the greatest portrait painters of the 16th century, died on this day in 1578 while working on a painting at a church near Bergamo in Lombardy.  His legacy of portraits provides an illuminating insight into life in Italy in the 16th century, as he received commissions from merchants trying to climb the social ladder as well as from rich noblemen.  Read more…

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