NEW - Battle of Rivoli
Napoleon defeats the Austrians and boosts his reputation
Napoleon won an important victory on Italian soil on this day in 1797 when, despite his troops being outnumbered, they defeated an attacking Austrian army. He triumphed in the Battle of Rivoli near the village of Rivoli Veronese, in what was then part of the Republic of Venice. Austrian soldiers were attempting to move south to relieve a garrison of their men who were under siege from the French in Mantua. But their defeat at the Battle of Rivoli led to them having to surrender Mantua to their enemy a few weeks later. Napoleon’s victory in the Battle of Rivoli effectively consolidated the position of the French in northern Italy and enhanced his reputation as a capable military commander. Under the command of General Jozsef Alvinczi, the Austrian troops had planned to overwhelm the French soldiers serving under General Barthelemy Joubert when they encountered them in the mountains to the east of Lake Garda. They deployed 28,000 men in five columns against the French to gain access to the open country north of Mantua, planning to march to the city and complete their mission. Read more…
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Nina Ricci – designer
Creative flair of Italian-born founder of famous fashion house
The prestigious fashion designer Nina Ricci was born Maria Nielli in Turin on this day in 1883. Her designs enabled her to build a reputation for graceful, feminine clothes. Ricci was a near-contemporary of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel but in many ways they were polar opposites in that Ricci was neither a public personality nor a headline‐making designer. Maria moved with her family to live in Florence at the age of five and then went to live with them in France when she was 12. Her interest in fashion had begun in childhood, when she would dress her dolls. At the age of 13, having acquired the nickname Nina, she began working as a dressmaker’s apprentice. She continued working in fashion, eventually joining the house of Raffin as a designer. In 1904 she married an Italian jeweller named Luigi Ricci and they later had a son, Robert. The house of Nina Ricci was founded in Paris in 1932. Nina became famous for her romantic, feminine, creations, which she created with the help of "live" models rather than mannequins. Her son, Robert, later joined her in the venture, helping her manage the business side. She was one of the first Paris designers to produce versions of her creations to sell through her boutique at prices that made them more accessible to ordinary women. Read more…
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Franchino Gaffurio – composer
Musician whose name has lived on for centuries in Milan
Renaissance composer Franchino Gaffurio was born on this day in 1451 in Lodi, a city in Lombardy some 40km (25 miles) southeast of Milan. He was to become a friend of Leonardo da Vinci later in life and may have been the person depicted in Leonardo’s famous painting, Portrait of a Musician. The oil on wood painting, which Da Vinci is thought to have completed in around 1490, is housed in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. Gaffurio was born into an aristocratic family, who sent him to a Benedictine monastery, where he acquired musical training. He later became a priest and lived in Mantua and Verona before settling in Milan, where he became maestro di cappella (choirmaster) at the Duomo in 1484. He was to retain the post for the rest of his life. Gaffurio was one of Italy’s most famous musicians in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and as such met composers from all over Europe while working in Milan and wrote books of instruction for young composers. One of his most famous comments was that the tactus, the tempo of a semibreve, is equal to the pulse of a man who is breathing quietly, at about 72 beats per minute. Read more…
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Leonardo Servadio - entrepreneur
Tailor from Perugia whose Ellesse brand found global success
The tailor and businessman Leonardo Servadio, who founded the Italian sportswear company Ellesse, was born on this day in 1925 in Perugia. Ellesse - the name is taken from Servadio’s initials as they are spelled in the Italian alphabet, elle and esse - was a groundbreaker in its field, the first manufacturer to display its brand name on the outside of a garment. Under Leonardo’s management, it grew to become one of the best known names in sportswear, particularly in the worlds of tennis and skiing, and acquired a glamorous image that enabled it to expand successfully into the leisurewear market. Now owned by the Pentland Group, a British company with a large portfolio of sportswear brands, at its peak Ellesse sponsored tennis stars such as Chris Evert and Boris Becker, the skier Alberto Tomba and the racing driver Alain Prost, as well as the New York Cosmos football team. Leonardo, whose parents owned a textile business in Perugia, became interested in making clothes as a young man. He learned tailoring skills at the age of 14 so that he could work in the family shop. In 1959, after 20 years working for his father, he struck out on his own. Read more…
Giulio Andreotti - political survivor
Christian Democrat spent 45 years in government
Giulio Andreotti, who was Italy's most powerful politician for a period lasting almost half a century, was born on this day in 1919 in Rome. He was a member of almost every Italian government from 1947 until 1992, leading seven of them. He would have certainly gone on to be president were it not for the scandals in which he became embroiled in the 1990s, when his Christian Democrat party collapsed as a result of the mani pulite - clean hands - bribery investigations. Andreotti himself was accused of an historic association with the Mafia and of commissioning the murder of a journalist, although he was acquitted of the latter charge on appeal. The youngest of three children, Andreotti was brought up in difficult circumstances by his mother after his father, who had taught at a junior school in Segni, about 60km (37 miles) south-east of the capital in Lazio, had died when he was only two years old. In contrast with the unassuming, mild-mannered persona for which he became known as an adult, the young Andreotti had a fiery temper. On one occasion, in church, he attacked another altar boy, stubbing out a lit taper in his eye after feeling he had been ridiculed. Read more…
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Alberico Gentili – international lawyer
Academic gave the world its first system of jurisprudence
Alberico Gentili, who is regarded as one of the founders of the science of international law, was born on this day in 1552 in San Ginesio in the province of Macerata in Marche. He was the first European academic to separate secular law from Roman Catholic theology and canon law and the earliest to write about public international law. He became Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford in England and taught there for 21 years. Gentili graduated as a doctor of civil law in 1572 from the University of Perugia but was exiled from Italy in 1579 and eventually went to live in England because he became a Protestant. He taught at Oxford from 1581 until his death in 1608 and became well-known for his lectures on Roman law and his writing on legal topics. In 1588 Gentili published De jure belli commentatio prima - First Commentary on the Law of War. This was revised in 1598 to become Three Books on the Law of War, which contained a comprehensive discussion on the laws of war and treaties. Gentili believed international law should comprise the actual practices of civilised nations, tempered by moral, but not specifically religious, considerations. Read more…
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Luca Longhi - artist
‘Quiet’ painter trained his children to follow in his footsteps
Luca Longhi, a portrait painter also known for his beautiful religious paintings who was working during the late Renaissance and Mannerist periods, was born on this day in 1507 in Ravenna in Emilia-Romagna. He was the father of the painters Francesco Longhi and Barbara Longhi, who were both trained by him and worked in his workshop. Little is known about Luca Longhi’s own artistic training, but it is thought he probably attended the Ravenna workshops of local artists Francesco Zaganelli and his brother, Bernardino Zaganelli. The painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari visited Ravenna in 1548 and wrote about "Master Luca de Longhi" in his book, The Lives of the Artists. He says: “Luca de Longhi is a man of good nature, quiet and (a) scholar (who) has done in his homeland Ravenna, and outside, many beautiful oil pictures and portraits. He has done and still works with patience and study.” Longhi painted the portraits of many famous and important people of his time, including Giovanni Guidiccione, Bishop of Fossombrone; Giulio della Rovere, Cardinal of Urbino; Alessandro Sforza, Cardinal legate of Romagna; and Cristoforo Boncompagni, Archbishop of Ravenna. Read more…
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Book of the Day: Napoleon: A Life, by Andrew Roberts
Andrew Roberts is the bestselling author of The Storm of War, Masters and Commanders, Napoleon and Wellington, and Waterloo. A Fellow of the Napoleonic Institute, he has won many prizes, including the Wolfson History Prize and the British Army Military Book Award.
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