22 May

Giulia Grisi - operatic soprano

Officer’s daughter became a star on three continents

The opera singer Giulia Grisi, one of the leading sopranos of the 19th century, was born on this day in 1811 in Milan.  Renowned for the smooth sweetness of her voice, Grisi sang to full houses in Europe, the United States and South America during a career spanning 30 years in which composers such as Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti created roles especially for her.  These included Elvira in Bellini’s final opera, I puritani, in which Grisi appeared alongside the great tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, the bass Luigi Lablache and the baritone Antonio Tamburini when the work premiered in Paris in 1835.  The opera was such a success that whenever the four singers performed together subsequently they were known as the “Puritani quartet”.  Grisi was also the first soprano cast in the role of Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma in Milan in 1831, playing opposite Giuditta Pasta in the title role.  Donizetti wrote the parts of Norina and Ernesto in his 1843 work Don Pasquale for Grisi and her future husband, the tenor Giovanni Matteo De Candia, usually known by his stage name of Giovanni Mario. Lablache and Tamburini again starred with her in the Paris premiere.  Read more…

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Trevi Fountain inaugurated

Famous fountain now helps raise money for the poor

Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain - Fontana di Trevi - was officially opened by Pope Clement XIII on this day in 1762.  Standing at more than 26m (85ft) high and 49m (161ft) wide it is the largest Baroque fountain in Rome and probably the most famous fountain in the world.  It has featured in films such as La dolce vita and Three Coins in the Fountain.  For more than 400 years a fountain served Rome at the junction of three roads, tre vie, using water from one of Ancient Rome’s aqueducts.  In 1629 Pope Urban VIII asked Gian Lorenzo Bernini to draw up possible renovations but the project was abandoned when the pope died.  In 1730 Pope Clement XII organised a contest to design a new fountain. The Florentine Alessandro Galilei originally won but there was such an outcry in Rome that the commission was eventually awarded to a Roman, Nicola Salvi.  Work on the fountain began in 1732 but Salvi died in 1751 when it was only half finished. Made from Travertine stone quarried in Tivoli near Rome, the fountain was completed by Giuseppe Pannini, with Oceanus (god of all water), designed by Pietro Bracci, set in the central niche.  Read more…

José João Altafini - footballer who made history

Forward tamed Eusebio to give Italy first European Cup

Supporters of AC Milan took to the streets to celebrate on this day in 1963 after José João Altafini's goals secured an historic victory in the European Cup.  Milan beat Benfica at Wembley Stadium in London to become the first Italian team to win the trophy.  Until then the European Cup had been dominated by Real Madrid, who were champions for five years in a row after the competition was launched in 1955-56, with the great Eusebio's Benfica winning in 1961 and 1962.  At half-time at Wembley in 1963, Milan looked set to provide another near-miss story for Italy, trailing to a Eusebio goal as Benfica closed on a third successive title.  The rossoneri had lost to Real Madrid five years earlier, 12 months after the Spanish giants brushed aside Fiorentina in the final.  But 24-year-old Altafini, who became one of Serie A’s most prolific all-time goalscorers, refused to be cowed.  He netted in the 58th and 66th minutes, sparking joyous scenes in Milan and starting a period of European dominance for the city, with AC’s rivals Internazionale winning the next two tournaments.  The Milan team that night in London boasted two future Italy managers in Cesare Maldini and Giovanni Trapattoni, as well as the great Gianni Rivera, but Altafini was the star.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Italian Opera, by David Kimbell

Italy was the birthplace of opera. In this authoritative and accessible account of Italian Opera, David Kimbell introduces the composers and dramatists, the singers and audiences who, over three hundred years, have created not only a national tradition but the central tradition from which others have drawn their inspiration. He traces the history of Italian opera from its origins in the humanism of the Renaissance to Puccini in the early twentieth century, drawing attention not only to musical issues but also to the social, literary, and philosophical ideas that have shaped modern Italian civilisation. Each part is illustrated by a detailed critical discussion of a key work.

David Kimbell was a lecturer in the Faculty of Music at the University of Edinburgh from October 1965 before taking up Chair of Music at the University of St Andrews in the late 1970s.  He returned to University of Edinburgh as Professor of Music in 1988.

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21 May

NEW - Cardinal Giulio Alberoni – statesman and gourmet

Priest loved power, wealth...and his local pasta

Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, who gained money and high position through representing the interests of France and Spain, and was also known for his love of good food, was born on this day in 1664 in Fiorenzuola D’Arda near Piacenza in the Duchy of Parma in Emilia-Romagna. Alberoni had a career punctuated by highs and lows, but he accumulated vast personal wealth and his memory lives on because of two dishes that are still served in Piacenza. The son of a gardener, Alberoni rose to become a statesman responsible for the revival of Spain’s fortunes during the War of the Spanish Succession, and he was made the papal legate of Ravenna and Bologna.  After being educated by the Jesuits, Alberoni took holy orders and was appointed a canon at Parma in 1698.  In 1702, the government of Parma sent him on a diplomatic mission to Louis-Joseph, Duc de Vendôme, commander of French forces in Italy during the War of the Spanish Succession. He was then taken by Vendôme to France as his secretary in 1706, and to Spain a few years later, although he continued to act as an agent of Parma.  Read more…

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Angelo Bruno - Mafia boss

Sicilian head of Philadelphia mob known as 'the Gentle Don'

Angelo Bruno, a mobster who ran the Philadelphia Mafia for two decades, was born Angelo Annaloro in Villalba, in the province of Caltanissetta, in Sicily, on this day in 1910.  Bruno was known as “the Gentle Don” because he preferred to solve problems and consolidate his power through non-violent means, such as bribery, and commissioned murders only as a last resort.  The son of a grocer, he emigrated to the United States in his teens and settled in Philadelphia. He became a close associate of New York crime family boss Carlo Gambino. Bruno dropped the name Annaloro and replaced it with his paternal grandmother's maiden name, Bruno.  Bruno’s dislike of violence was not driven by any compassion for his fellow man.  During his early days in Philadelphia, he worked for a series of bosses and did not shirk the tasks he had to perform in order to rise through the ranks, which included carrying out killings himself.  But in 1959, when he succeeded Joseph Ida as boss of the Philadelphia crime family, he decided it was in his interests and those of his criminal organisation to operate in a way that avoided attracting unwanted attention.  Read more…

Michelangelo’s Pietà damaged

Work of art deliberately vandalised

Michelangelo’s beautiful Pietà, a marble sculpture of the Virgin Mary with the dead body of Jesus lying across her knees, was damaged by a man wielding a hammer on this day in 1972 in Rome.  A mentally disturbed man walked into St Peter’s Basilica and attacked the sculpture in an act of deliberate vandalism.  He struck it 15 times, removing Mary’s arm at the elbow, knocking off a chunk of her nose and chipping one of her eyelids.  Some of the pieces of marble that flew off were taken by some of the people who were in the church at the time and Mary’s nose had to be reconstructed from a block cut out of her back.  The man who carried out the attack was said to be suffering from a delusion that he was Jesus Christ risen from the dead. He was not charged with any crime but spent two years in a psychiatric hospital.  After the restoration work was completed the sculpture was returned to its place in St Peter’s, just to the right of the entrance, and it is now protected by a bulletproof acrylic glass panel.  Michelangelo carved this sculpture from a single piece of Carrara marble in 1499 when he was only 24 and it is the only work he ever signed.  Read more…

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Propaganda Due suspects named

Italy horrified as list reveals alleged members of ‘secret state’ 

Ordinary Italians were stunned and the country’s elite rocked to the core on this day in 1981 when a list was made public of alleged members of Propaganda Due, a secret Masonic lodge which sought to run the country as a ‘state within the state’.  A staggering 962 names were on the list, including 44 members of parliament, three of whom were cabinet ministers, 49 bankers, numerous industrialists, a number of newspaper editors and other high-profile journalists, the heads of all three of Italy’s secret services and more than 200 military and police officers, including 12 generals of the Carabinieri, five of the Guardia di Finanza, 22 of the army and four from the air force.  The existence of the illegal, underground lodge, known as P2, had been rumoured for several years but there had been little concrete evidence until magistrates investigating the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in Milan raided the home in Tuscany of Licio Gelli, the former Fascist financier who turned out to be the Grandmaster.  The list of alleged members, which was made public by Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani on the advice of the prosecuting team, was found among paperwork seized in the raid.  Read more…

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Pandolfo Petrucci – ruler of Siena

Ruthless tyrant who encouraged art

Pandolfo Petrucci, who during his time ruling Siena was one of the most powerful men in Italy, died on this day in 1512 in San Quirico d’Orcia in Tuscany.  Although he had been a tyrannical ruler, Petrucci had also done a great deal to increase the artistic splendour of his native city.  Petrucci was born into an aristocratic family in Siena in 1452. He had to go into exile in 1483 for being a member of the Noveschi political faction, which had fallen out of favour with the rulers of Siena.  After he returned to Siena in 1487, he began to take advantage of the struggles between the different political factions.  He married Aurelia Borghese, who was the daughter of Niccolò Borghese, an important figure in Siena at the time. After entering public office himself, Petrucci acquired so much authority and wealth that he became the ruling despot of Siena with the title of signore - lord.  His rapid rise to power alienated his father-in-law, who conspired with other influential citizens in Siena to assassinate him. However, Petrucci uncovered the plot and in 1500 had Borghese murdered. This act terrified his other enemies, which left Petrucci in complete control.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Cooking of Emilia-Romagna: Culinary Treasures from Northern Italy (Illustrated Edition), by Giovanna Bellia La Marca 

The Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy is home to several of the world’s most renowned gastronomic cities - the capital, Bologna, has given its name to the famed Bolognese sauce; from Parma comes exquisite prosciutto, the best-known pork product of Italy; Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese has been made in Parma and Reggio-Emilia for over 700 years; and Modena has been producing unrivalled balsamic vinegar for centuries. This culinary heartland is also well-known for its delicate homemade pastas. The Cooking of Emilia-Romagna takes readers on a personally-guided tour through the culinary landscape of this beautiful Italian region. From homemade tagliatelle with a rich, hearty Bolognese ragú, to unique desserts like Torta Ferrarese, a confection made with fresh egg noodles layered with almonds, sugar, and butter that hails from the town of Ferrara, home chefs will fall in love with the classic Italian fare presented in these 140 recipes. A section on cooking techniques teaches the correct way to peel chestnuts, clean leeks, soak dried beans, and much more. Also included are guides to the wines of the region and Italian ingredients, a resource section with specialty retailers, and a bibliography. Along the way, La Marca reminisces about her favorite meals, people, and places in Emilia-Romagna, sharing a true taste of the region with readers.

Giovanna Bellia La Marca was born in Italy and moved to the United States at the age of 10, but kept her love for Sicilian and Italian cooking alive through many trips to Italy. She hosts a popular YouTube cooking show Kitchen on the Cliff and is the author of Sicilian Feasts and Language and Travel Guide to Sicily.

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Cardinal Giulio Alberoni – statesman and gourmet

Priest loved power, wealth...and his local pasta

As a diplomat, Cardinal Alberoni became
the equivalent of prime minister of Spain

Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, who gained money and high position through representing the interests of France and Spain, and was also known for his love of good food, was born on this day in 1664 in Fiorenzuola D’Arda near Piacenza in the Duchy of Parma in Emilia-Romagna.

Alberoni had a career punctuated by highs and lows, but he accumulated vast personal wealth and his memory lives on because of two dishes that are still served in Piacenza.

The son of a gardener, Alberoni rose to become a statesman responsible for the revival of Spain’s fortunes during the War of the Spanish Succession, and he was made the papal legate of Ravenna and Bologna.

After being educated by the Jesuits, Alberoni took holy orders and was appointed a canon at Parma in 1698.

In 1702, the government of Parma sent him on a diplomatic mission to Louis-Joseph, Duc de Vendôme, commander of French forces in Italy during the War of the Spanish Succession. He was then taken by Vendôme to France as his secretary in 1706, and to Spain a few years later, although he continued to act as an agent of Parma.

After Vendôme’s death, Alberoni remained in Madrid as the official representative of Parma. His influence at the Spanish court increased and he negotiated the marriage of Philip V of Spain to Isabella Farnese, the daughter of the Duke of Parma.

Alberoni became the equivalent of a prime minister for Philip V, and he carried out administrative and fiscal reforms at the Spanish court. He brought in foreign craftsmen to boost industry, while reducing the powers of the councils made up of aristocrats who were against his reforms.

Pier Leone Ghezzi's painting of Pope Clement XI
conferring the cardinal's hat to Giulio Alberoni

His foreign policy was designed to drive the Austrians from Italy and to safeguard Spanish trade with the American colonies. But Spanish military expeditions to Sicily and Sardinia led to Spain having to go to war, and the defeat of Spanish forces during a French and British invasion of Spain, resulted in Alberoni being banished from the country in 1719.

Alberoni fled from Spain to Italy, but charges were laid against him by Spain in a bid to persuade the Pope to depose him as a Cardinal. However, he managed to avoid being arrested and took refuge in Austrian territory in Lombardy.

After Pope Clement XI died in 1721, Alberoni went to take part in the conclave that elected Pope Innocent XIII. He was briefly imprisoned in a monastery by the new pontiff to satisfy Spain, who had accused Alberoni of sodomy, but he was later cleared of the charges by his fellow cardinals.

When Pope Benedict XIII was elected in 1724, Alberoni was made a cardinal deacon and given the church of Sant’ Adriano al Foro. He was later made the cardinal priest of San Crisogono.

After he was named legate of Ravenna, Alberoni had Porta Alberoni built in the city as a gateway to the dockyards, but this has since been moved.

He later retired to live in Piacenza and the Pope named him administrator of the hospital of San Lazzaro, an institution originally founded for lepers. 

Coppa del Cardinale, named after Alberoni,
is a popular cured pork in Emilia-Romagna

As leprosy had almost disappeared in Italy by then, Alberoni obtained the Pope’s permission to suppress the hospital and use it as a seminary for the priestly education of poor boys, which he named Collegio Alberoni.

After his death in 1752, he left money to the seminary and the rest of his fortune to his nephew. The huge collection of art he had accumulated is now on show to the public in a gallery inside Collegio Alberoni.

His private correspondence was to reveal his love of food, as among his letters there are requests for local delicacies to be sent to him, such as truffles, salame, robiola cheeses, and a type of local pasta known as anolini.

At least two Piacenza dishes are named after him, the cured pork dish, Coppa del Cardinale, and the pasta dish Timballo Alberoni, which contains macaroni, shrimp sauce, mushrooms, butter and cheese.

Alberoni was buried inside the Church of Collegio Alberoni, to which he had bequeathed the sum of 600,000 ducati, a fortune at the time.

The 14th century Collegiata di San Fiorenzo
in Fiorenzuola D'Arda's Piazza Molinari

Travel tip:

Fiorenzuola D’Arda, where Alberoni was born into a humble family,  is a city in the province of Piacenza, which dates back to prehistoric times. One of its main sights is the 14th century church of Collegiata di San Fiorenzo in Piazza Molinari. The former Church of San Giovanni, which over the centuries has been used as a courthouse, barracks, and prison, now houses the town hall and municipal library. There is also a theatre named after the opera composer Giuseppe Verdi. Typical local dishes include anolini pasta in broth with cheese, and cold cuts served with ‘gnocco fritto’ (fried dumplings). Fiorenzuola sits in Val d’Arda, which is home to some of the most beautiful castles in the whole of Emilia-Romagna, set against a backdrop of gently rolling hills.

Antonello da Messina's masterpiece
Ecco Homo in the Galleria Alberoni

Travel tip:

Piacenza is a city about 75km (45 miles) to the north east of Parma in Emilia-Romagna.  The main square in Piacenza is named Piazza Cavalli because of its two bronze equestrian monuments featuring Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, and his son Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma, who succeeded him. The statues are masterpieces by the sculptor Francesco Mochi. Collegio Alberoni still stands in Via Emilia Parmense in Piacenza. It is now a library, an historical and natural museum, and a seismological and weather observatory. Among the many works of art in Galleria Alberoni, which is inside the Collegio, is the masterpiece Ecce Homo by Antonello da Messina, and there are also many church furnishing objects and tapestries, which belonged to Cardinal Alberoni.

Also on this day:

1512: The death of tyrant ruler Pandolfo Petrucci

1910: The birth of Mafia boss Angelo Bruno

1972: Michelangelo’s Pietà damaged

1981: Propaganda Due suspects named

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20 May

Gabriele Muccino - film director

Enjoyed box office success in US after partnering with Will Smith

The film director Gabriele Muccino, whose best-known work so far has been the Oscar-nominated 2006 Will Smith movie The Pursuit of Happyness, was born on this day in 1967 in Rome.  He is the older brother of the actor, Silvio Muccino.  Muccino, who also directed Smith in Seven Pounds (2008), spent several years in Hollywood following his success in Italy with L’ultimo bacio (The Last Kiss), which won him a David Di Donatello award as Best Director and for Best Screenplay.  His most recent work has been in Italy, with his latest film, Gli anni più belli (The Most Beautiful Years) released in February 2020.  The son of Luigi Muccino, an executive at the state television company Rai, and painter and costume designer Antonella Cappuccio, Gabriele enrolled at Rome’s Sapienza University to study literature, but was already fascinated with the cinema. Indeed, he abandoned his studies soon after he began them, choosing instead to attend Rome’s renowned Centro sperimentale di cinematografia, where he worked unpaid as a director’s assistant, working with the highly-regarded Pupi Avati and Marco Risi.  Read more…

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Ondina Valla - ground-breaking athlete

Italy’s first female Olympic champion

Trebisonda ‘Ondina’ Valla, the first Italian woman to win an Olympic gold medal, was born on this day in 1916 in Bologna.  Known as Ondina reputedly after a journalist misspelled her unusual name, Valla won the 80m at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where she also set a world record time in the semi-final.  The victory established Valla as an icon for Italy’s Fascist regime and as a heroine for Italian girls with sporting ambitions, her success breaking new ground for women in the face of considerable opposition to female participation in sport.  The Catholic Church’s attitude was that sport was not compatible with the standards of morality, modesty and domesticity they expected of women, while the view of Italy’s medical profession was that women should take only basic physical exercise if they wanted to maintain the level of health required for motherhood.  Benito Mussolini initially saw women as occupying a traditional role in the society he envisaged for the fascist ideal, supporting their husbands and caring for their children within the family unit.  But he seized upon Valla’s success as a political opportunity, keen to portray her as an example of Italian Fascism’s dynamism and the potential for Italians to make their mark internationally.  Read more…

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Hieronymus Fabricius - anatomist and surgeon

Research pioneer known as “Father of Embryology”

The pioneering anatomist and physiologist known in academic history as Hieronymus Fabricius, whose Italian name was Girolamo Fabrizio, was born on this day in 1537 in Acquapendente, in Lazio.  Fabrizio, who designed the first permanent theatre for public anatomical dissections, advanced the knowledge of the make-up of the human body in many areas, including the digestive system, the eyes and ears, and the veins.  But his most significant discoveries were in embryology.  He investigated the foetal development of many animals and humans and produced the first detailed description of the placenta. For this he became known as the "Father of Embryology".  Fabrizio spent most of his life at the University of Padua, where he was a student under the guidance of Gabriele Falloppio, who discovered the tube connecting the ovaries with the uterus that became known as the Fallopian tube.  He succeeded Falloppio as chair of surgery and anatomy, holding the post from 1562 to 1613 and building a reputation that attracted students from all of Europe.  Among his pupils were the English anatomist William Harvey, as well as Giulio Casseri and Adriaan van den Spiegel, both of whom went on to become significant anatomists.  Read more…

Pietro Bembo – poet and scholar

Lucrezia Borgia’s lover helped with the development of modern Italian

Pietro Bembo, a writer who was influential in the development of the Italian language, was born on this day in 1470 in Venice.  He is probably most remembered for having an affair with Lucrezia Borgia while she was married to the Duke of Ferrara and he was living at the Este Court with them. His love letters to her were described by the English poet, Lord Byron, centuries later, as ‘the prettiest love letters in the world.’  As a boy, Bembo visited Florence with his father where he acquired a love for the Tuscan form of Italian which he was later to use as his literary medium. He later learnt Greek and went to study at the University of Padua.  He spent two years at the Este Court in Ferrara where he wrote poetry that was reminiscent of Boccaccio and Petrarch.  It was when he returned to the court at Ferrara a few years later that he had an affair with Lucrezia Borgia, the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, who was at that time the wife of Alfonso I d’Este. The love letters between the pair to which Byron referred are now in the collection of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.  Byron greatly admired them when he saw them there in 1816.  Read more…

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Giovanni Paolo Cavagna – artist

Prolific painter left a rich legacy of religious canvases

Late Renaissance painter Giovanni Paolo Cavagna, who became famous for his religious scenes, died on this day in 1627 in his native city of Bergamo.  Cavagna was mainly active in Bergamo and Brescia, another historic city in the Lombardy region, for most of his career, although he is believed to have spent some time training in Venice in the studio of Titian. The artist was born in Borgo di San Leonardo in Bergamo’s Città Bassa in about 1550. The painter Cristoforo Baschenis Il Vecchio is believed to have taken him as an apprentice from the age of 12. Cavagna is also thought to have spent time as a pupil of the famous Bergamo portrait painter Giovanni Battista Moroni.  Cavagna’s work can still be seen in many churches in Bergamo and villages in the surrounding area. In the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo’s Città Alta there are paintings by him of the Assumption of the Virgin, the Nativity, and Esther and Ahasuerus.  In the Church of Santa Spirito in Bergamo’s Città Bassa, there are his paintings of Santa Lucia and the Crucifixion with Saints. He painted a Coronation of the Virgin for the Church of San Giovanni Battista in the province of Casnigo. Read more…

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Albano Carrisi - singer

Performer best known as Al Bano has sold 165 million records

The singer Albano Carrisi, better known as Al Bano, was born on this day in 1943 in Cellino San Marco, a town in Puglia about 30km (19 miles) from Lecce.  He enjoyed considerable success as a solo artist in the late 1960s but became more famous still in Italy and across mainland Europe for his collaboration with the American singer Romina Power – daughter of the actor Tyrone Power.  They met during the shooting of a film - one of several, mainly romantic comedies and a vehicle for his songs, in which he starred during the 1970s.  They not only formed a professional partnership but were married for almost 30 years.  They twice performed as Italy’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, finishing seventh on both occasions, and appeared several times at Italy’s prestigious Sanremo Music Festival, winning the top prize in 1984.  They divorced in 1999 but reunited on a professional basis in 2013 and when they performed at the Arena di Verona in 2015 before a sell-out crowd of 11,000 the show was broadcast by the Italian TV network Rai and shown in seven other countries, with a combined audience estimated at 51 million.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Transatlantic Gaze: Italian Cinema, American Film, by Mary Ann McDonald Carolan

In The Transatlantic Gaze, Mary Ann McDonald Carolan documents the sustained and profound artistic impact of Italian directors, actors, and screenwriters on American film. Working across a variety of genres, including neorealism, comedy, the Western, and the art film, Carolan explores how and why American directors from Woody Allen to Quentin Tarantino have adapted certain Italian trademark techniques and motifs. Allen’s To Rome with Love (2012), for example, is an homage to the genius of Italian filmmakers, and to Federico Fellini in particular, whose Lo sceicco bianco/The White Sheik (1952) also resonates with Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) as well as with Neil LaBute’s Nurse Betty (2000). Tarantino’s Kill Bill saga (2003, 2004) plays off elements of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Western C’era una volta il West/Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), a transatlantic conversation about the Western that continues in Tarantino’s Oscar-winning Django Unchained (2012). Lee Daniels’s Precious (2009) and Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna (2008), meanwhile, demonstrate that the neorealism of Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, which arose from the political and economic exigencies of postwar Italy, is an effective vehicle for critiquing social issues such as poverty and racism in a contemporary American context. The book concludes with an examination of American remakes of popular Italian films, a comparison that offers insight into the similarities and differences between the two cultures and the transformations in genre, both subtle and obvious, that underlie this form of cross-cultural exchange.

Mary Ann McDonald Carolan is Professor of Italian and Director of the Italian Studies programme at Fairfield University in Connecticut. 

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19 May

Andrea Pirlo - footballer and winemaker

Midfielder who won multiple honours now focused on vineyard

The footballer Andrea Pirlo, who some commentators bracket with Roberto Baggio as one of the two best Italian footballers of the last 30 years, was born on this day in 1979.  The midfielder won the Italian Serie A championship six times with two clubs, and is double winner of the Champions League.  In international football he has a World Cup winner’s medal as a member of the 2006 Italian national team that lifted the trophy in Germany.  In 2019, he was recognized by the Italian Football Hall of Fame.  Pirlo has also enjoyed success as a coach but lately has also been focusing on his sustainable wine company, Pratum Coller, which aims for eco-friendly wine production with minimal environmental impact.  As a strong advocate for protecting nature, Pirlo has helped spark environmental discussions around popular Italian passions, such as wine and football. Artificial football pitches have also attracted ire for their contribution to PFAS, chemicals that harm the ecosystem.  In the United States, the AFFF lawsuit has been raising awareness about how PFAS in firefighting foam has contributed to cancer.  Read more…

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Vittorio Orlando - politician

Prime minister humiliated at First World War peace talks

Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, the Italian prime minister best known for being humiliated by his supposed allies at the Paris peace talks following the First World War, was born on this day in 1860 in Palermo.  Elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time in 1897, Orlando had held a number of positions in government and became prime minister in 1917 following Italy’s disastrous defeat to the Austro-Hungarian army at Caporetto, which saw 40,000 Italian soldiers killed or wounded and 265,000 captured. The government of Orlando’s predecessor, Paolo Boselli, collapsed as a result.  Orlando, who had been a supporter of Italy’s entry into the war on the side of the Allies, rebuilt shattered Italian morale and the military victory at Vittorio Veneto, which ended the war on the Italian front and contributed to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire, saw him hailed as Italy’s ‘premier of victory’.  However, his reputation was left in tatters when he and Sidney Sonnino, his half-Welsh foreign secretary, when to Paris to participate in peace talks but left humiliated after the territorial gains they were promised in return for entering the war on the side of Britain, France and the United States were not delivered.  Read more…

Baccio d’Agnolo - architect and woodcarver

Florentine who influenced the look of his home city

The woodcarver, sculptor and architect Baccio d'Agnolo, whose work significantly influenced the architectural landscape of his home city in the Renaissance period, was born in Florence on this day in 1462.  His birth name was Bartolomeo Baglioni but he came to be referred to as d’Agnolo in a reference to the name of his father, Angelo, while Baccio was a popular short form for Bartolomeo. His father was also a woodcarver, which explains the direction of his early career.  Between 1491 and 1502, Baccio executed much of the decorative carving in the church of Santa Maria Novella and the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence before turning to architecture.  He worked alongside Simone del Pollaiolo in restoring the Palazzo Vecchio, and in 1506 was commissioned to complete the drum of the cupola of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, although the project was ultimately abandoned after criticism from Michelangelo.  Among the notable buildings attributed to Baccio d’Agnolo are the Palazzo Borgherini-Rosselli del Turco and the Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni, while his design for the campanile of the church of Santo Spirito has also been praised.  Read more…

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Pompeo Coppini - sculptor

Italian emigrant famous for Texas monument

The sculptor Pompeo Coppini, best known for the Alamo Cenotaph in San Antonio, Texas, was born on this day in 1870 in Moglia, a village in Lombardy a few kilometres south of the city of Mantua.  Coppini emigrated to the United States at the age of 26 and after initially working in New York moved to Texas, where the majority of his work can be found.  The Alamo Cenotaph, also known as The Spirit of Sacrifice, consists of a 60ft high sloping shaft of grey Georgia marble resting on a base of pink Texas granite. Carved into the sides of the monument, erected near the scene of the siege of the Alamo Mission during the Texas Revolution in 1836, are images of the Alamo defenders including William B Travis, Jim Bowie, David Crockett and James Bonham, while the names of those who died at the Alamo were etched along the base.  It was commissioned to commemorate the centenary of the siege and took two years to complete. It is now the centrepiece of a square known as the Alamo Plaza.  The son of a musician, Pompeo moved with his family from Moglia to Florence in 1880 at the age of 10. Read more…

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Michele Placido – actor and director

Role of anti-Mafia police inspector turned actor into a TV star

Actor and director Michele Placido was born on this day in 1946 in Ascoli Satriano in Apulia.  Placido is best known for his portrayal of the character, Corrado Cattani, in the Italian television series, La piovra.  Cattani, a police inspector investigating the Mafia, was the lead character in the first four series of La piovra (meaning The Octopus, a name that referred to the Mafia). It was popular on television in the 1980s and the first three series were shown in the UK on Channel Four.  Placido’s family were originally from Rionero in Vulture in Basilicata and he is a descendant of the folk hero, Carmine Crocco, sometimes also known as Donatello. Crocco had fought in the service of Garibaldi but, after Italian unification, he became disappointed with the new Government and formed his own army to fight on behalf of the deposed King of the Two Sicilies, Francis II.  Placido moved to Rome to study acting and then began working in films. His first success came with his portrayal of soldier Paolo Passeri in Marcia Trionfale in 1976, directed by Marco Bellocchio, a role for which Placido won an award.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Andrea Pirlo: I Think Therefore I Play, by Andrea Pirlo with Alessandro Alciato

Andrea Pirlo was one of the finest footballers of his generation - a World Cup and Champions League winning playmaker who has redefined his position at the base of midfield, and one of the most deadly free-kick takers the game has known. This is his story, in his words. It is written with a level of humour and insight which confound his image as a dead-eyed assassin on the field of play. All the big names are in there: Lippi, Ancelotti, Conte, Maldini, Shevchenko, Seedorf, Buffon, Kaka, Nesta, Balotelli, Costacurta, Gattuso, Berlusconi and Ronaldo ("the real one"). But they're not always in their work clothes. We hear Berlusconi playing the piano and telling "various types of jokes" at Milan's training ground. We see Pirlo and Daniele De Rossi drawing Alessandro Nesta's ire as they take him on a mystery tour of the German countryside in a hire car days before a World Cup semi-final. And we smell the aftermath of Filippo Inzaghi's graphically-described pre-match routine. I Think Therefore I Play is a salute to a special talent who idolised the brilliant Italian fantasista Roberto Baggio and forged a career in his image.

Andrea Pirlo won 119 caps for the Italian national team and was a Serie A champion many times over. Alessandro Alciato is an Italian television journalist who has ghosted biographies for a number of football players and coaches, including Carlo Ancelotti, Fabio Cannavaro and Andrij Shevchenko.

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Andrea Pirlo - footballer and winemaker

Midfielder who won multiple honours now focused on vineyard

Andrea Pirlo was part of the Italian national
team that won the World Cup in 2006

The footballer Andrea Pirlo, who some commentators bracket with Roberto Baggio as one of the two best Italian footballers of the last 30 years, was born on this day in 1979.

The midfielder won the Italian Serie A championship six times with two clubs, and is double winner of the Champions League.

In international football he has a World Cup winner’s medal as a member of the 2006 Italian national team that lifted the trophy in Germany.  In 2019, he was recognized by the Italian Football Hall of Fame.

Pirlo has also enjoyed success as a coach but lately has also been focusing on growing his sustainable wine company, Pratum Coller, which aims for eco-friendly wine production with minimal environmental impact. 

As a strong advocate for protecting nature, Pirlo has helped spark environmental discussions around popular Italian passions, such as wine and football. Artificial football pitches have also attracted ire for their contribution to PFAS, chemicals that harm the ecosystem. 

In the United States, the AFFF lawsuit has been raising awareness about how PFAS in firefighting foam has contributed to cancer. These chemicals are also present in some football equipment, such as gloves and boots.  

Pirlo opened his Pratum Coller winery in 2007 in a village just outside his home town of Flero, which can be found 8km (five miles) south of the city of Brescia in Lombardy.

Since retiring as a player, Pirlo has devoted more
time to running the winery he launched in 2007

In all, Pirlo won 119 caps for his country, the fourth highest total of all Italian internationals. Fellow players nicknamed him l’architetto – the architect – for his ability to design and construct attacking moves.

The highlight of his international career was undoubtedly the role he played in Italy winning the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The fulcrum of the azzurri midfield, he scored one goal and was credited with the assist for three other goals during the tournament.

One of those assists resulted in the crucial opening goal for Italy scored by Fabio Grosso in the classic semi-final against the host nation.  He was also one of Italy’s successful penalty takers during the shoot-out that decided the final against France.

He was named man of the match three times in the tournament, more than any other player.  He matched that achievement six years later at Euro 2012, when Italy were beaten in the final.

Although he began his career as an attacking midfielder or sometimes even a second striker, Pirlo excelled as a deep-lying central midfielder, a playmaker with wonderful vision and the ability to hit accurate passes over any distance.

He also acquired renown as a free kick specialist, capable of curling the ball into the net beyond the reach of the goalkeeper. He claims he honed his technique by watching Roberto Baggio train at Brescia, the club at which Baggio wound down his career and Pirlo began his.

Pirlo in the colours of AC Milan,
where his talent came to the fore

Born in Flero, Pirlo began his career with the Flero youth side. He joined Brescia in 1994 and made his debut in Serie A in May the following year at the age of 16.

He helped Brescia win the Serie B title and promotion to Serie A in 1998. It earned him a move to Internazionale of Milan, who loaned him to Reggina for the 1999-2000 season and then back to Brescia in 2000-01, where he played alongside Baggio, his childhood idol.

Because Baggio occupied the attacking midfield position for Brescia, manager Carlo Mazzone decided to deploy Pirlo in the deep-lying playmaker role that he would make his own. Years later, Pirlo still described the moment he delivered a long pass that enabled Baggio to score against Juventus as one of the high spots of his career.

After three seasons on Inter’s books, Pirlo was sold to city rivals AC Milan for 33 billion Italian lire – just over 17 million euro – in June 2001.

It was at Milan, in particular under Carlo Ancelotti, where Pirlo began to realise his talent and became a world class player.  He was a key player in a period of consistent success as Italian football became dominated by clubs owned by two business giants - Silvio Berlusconi’s AC Milan and Massimo Moratti’s Inter.

Milan won two Champions Leagues (2003 and 2007), two UEFA Super Cups (2003 and 2007), two Serie A titles (2004 and 2011), a FIFA Club World Cup (2007), a Supercoppa Italiana (2004), and a Coppa Italia (2003) during Pirlo’s time.

After Ancelotti left to become Chelsea manager in 2009, Pirlo remained with Milan for a further two seasons, winning the scudetto again in 2011, but new coach Massimiliano Allegri used him differently and his final season was restricted to 17 appearances for Serie A, which prompted him to seek a change of direction - and a move to Juventus.

Pirlo enjoyed more success when
he moved from Milan to Juventus

There, under coach Antonio Conte, he added three more Serie A titles (2012, 2013, 2014), as well as two more Supercoppa Italiana titles (2012 and 2013). When Conte left to become national manager, Pirlo again worked with Allegri but more successfully this time, playing his part in a league and cup double in 2015 before leaving to play Major League Soccer for New York City.

His final appearance was in the Champions League final – his fourth – in which Juventus were beaten 3-1 by Barcelona.

After calling time on his playing career in 2017, Pirlo returned to Juventus in 2020 as Under-23 head coach, taking charge of the Serie A side just a few days later after Maurizio Sarri was sacked. 

He won the Supercoppa Italia and the Coppa Italia in his debut season, as well as qualifying for the Champions League but was replaced the following season nonetheless. He has since coached in Turkey and back in Italy with Sampdoria, but with less success.

One of two children – he has a brother Ivan – Pirlo was married for 13 years to Deborah Roversi, with whom he had two children. He has had two more children with his second wife, Valentina Baldini. In 2013, his autobiography, Penso Quindi Gioco - I Think, Therefore I Play - became a bestseller.

This is an updated version of an article originally published in 2017.

The Chiesa della Coversione di San Paolo
is the parish church of Flero 

Travel tip:

Flero, where Andrea Pirlo was born, is a town in Lombardy of just under 9,000 residents, situated eight kilometres south of Brescia in the flat plain of the Po Valley, although close enough to the Italian pre-Alps for snow-capped mountains to be visible on clear winter days.  Lake Garda and Lake Iseo are a short distance away.  Flero itself is a typical northern Italian commuter town, orderly and clean with a couple of churches and a few modern shops. The grapes for Pirlo’s Pratum Coller winery are grown in a small vineyard in the adjoining village of Coler, where Pirlo’s father was born. 

The Capitoline Temple is part of Brescia's 
extensive Roman archaeological park

Travel tip:

The city of Brescia tends not to attract many tourists compared with nearby Bergamo or Verona, partly because of the counter-attraction of the lakes.  Yet it has plenty of history, going back to Roman times, and many points of interest, including two cathedrals – the Duomo Vecchio and its neighbour, the Duomo Nuovo – and the attractive Piazza della Loggia, with a Renaissance palace, the Palazzo della Loggia, which is the town’s municipal centre.  The Torre dell’Orologio clock tower bears similarities to the one in St Mark’s Square in Venice. Brescia boasts the largest Roman archaeological area in the whole of Northern Italy . A very important historical legacy in the heart of the city, an integral part of the site that has been a World Heritage Site since 2011. Located along Via Musei near Piazza del Foro, one of the oldest in Brescia, you can admire the Capitoline Temple with the statue of the Winged Victory, and the  Roman Theatre.

Also on this day: 

1462: The birth of woodcarver and architect Baccio d'Agnolo

1860: The birth of politician Vittorio Orlando

1870: The birth of sculptor Pompeo Coppini

1946: The birth of actor Michele Placido

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18 May

Giuseppe Ayala – politician and magistrate

Judge who was part of struggle against the Mafia

Anti-Mafia prosecutor Giuseppe Ayala was born on this day in 1945 in Caltanissetta in Sicily.  Ayala became well known as an anti-Mafia magistrate and anti-Mafia judge. He was a prosecutor at the so-called Maxi Trial in Palermo in 1987, which resulted in the conviction of 342 Mafiosi.  He has continually raised doubts about whether it was the Mafia working alone who were responsible for the killing of his fellow anti-Mafia investigator Giovanni Falcone in 1992.  The deaths of Falcone and another prominent anti-Mafia magistrate, Paolo Borsellino, also murdered by the Mafia, came a few months after the killing of Christian Democrat politician, Salvatore Lima, who was thought to be the Mafia’s man on the inside in Rome and had close links with Italy’s three-times prime minister, Giulio Andreotti.  There was speculation that it suited senior figures in the Italian government that the two magistrates were killed because they knew too much about corruption at the highest level.  Ayala studied at the University of Palermo and obtained a degree in jurisprudence. Afterwards he worked as a public prosecutor.  Read more…

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Ezio Pinza - opera and Broadway star

Poor boy from Rome who made his home at the Met

The opera star Ezio Pinza, who had 22 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1926 to 1948 and sang to great acclaim at many other of the world’s most famous opera houses, was born on this day in 1892 in Rome.  Pinza, a bass who was blessed with a smooth and rich bass voice and matinee idol looks, also had a successful career in musical theatre on Broadway and appeared in a number of Hollywood films.  Born Fortunio Pinza in relative poverty in Rome, he was the seventh child born to his parents Cesare and Clelia but the first to survive.  He was brought up many miles away in Ravenna, which is close to the Adriatic coast, about 85km (53 miles) from Bologna and 144km (90 miles) from Venice.  He dropped out of Ravenna University but studied singing at Bologna’s Conservatorio Martini and made his opera debut at Cremona in 1914 in Bellini’s Norma.  Pinza signed up to fight for his country in the First World War, after which he resumed his career in 1919. Within a short time he was invited to perform at Italy’s most prestigious opera house, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he came under the baton of the brilliant but demanding conductor, Arturo Toscanini.  Read more…

Giovanni Falcone - anti-Mafia crusader

Sicilian lawyer made life's work of taking on Cosa Nostra 

Giovanni Falcone, who would become known as an anti-Mafia crusader during his career as a judge and prosecuting magistrate, was born on this day in 1939 in Palermo.  The son of a state clerk, he was raised in a poor district of the Sicilian city. Some of the boys with whom he played football in the street would go on to become Mafiosi but Falcone was determined from an early age that he would not be drawn into their world.  Educated at the local high school, he studied law at Palermo University. In 1966, at the age of 27, he was appointed a judge in Trapani, a crime-ridden port on the west coast of Sicily and began his lifelong quest to defeat the criminal organisation.  In time, Falcone became the Mafia's most feared enemy and by 1987, when he was the chief prosecutor at the so-called Maxi Trial in Palermo which convicted 342 members of the so-called Cosa Nostra, the likelihood he would be murdered meant he could not leave home without a heavily armed police escort.  He worked in a bomb-proof bunker underneath the city's law courts. His home was similarly protected and when he travelled between the two it was with a convoy of armoured police cars.  Read more…

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Domenico di Pace Beccafumi – artist

Painter from Siena experimented with rich colour 

Considered one of the last true representatives of the Sienese school of painting, Domenico di Pace Beccafumi died on this day in 1551 in Siena.  He is remembered for his direction of the paving of the Duomo - cathedral - of Siena between 1517 and 1544, when he made ingenious improvements to the technical processes employed for this task, which in the end took more than 150 years to complete.  Domenico was born in Montaperti near Siena in about 1486. His father, Giacomo di Pace, worked on the estate of Lorenzo Beccafumi, whose surname he eventually took.  Seeing his talent for drawing, Lorenzo had taken an interest in him and recommended that he learn painting from the Sienese artist, Mechero.  In 1509 Di Pace Beccafumi travelled to Rome for a short period, where he learnt from artists working on the Vatican.  Back in Siena, he painted religious pieces for churches and was only mildly influenced by the trends dominating the neighbouring Florentine school.  He designed scenes from the Old Testament to decorate the floor of the cathedral and also painted frescoes for Palazzo Pubblico in the city.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Vendetta: The Mafia, Judge Falcone and the Quest for Justice, by John Follain

On May 23, 1992 the Mafia assassinated its 'Number One Enemy', the legendary prosecutor Judge Falcone, with a motorway bomb that also killed his wife Francesca and three bodyguards. Fifty-seven days later, the Mafia killed Falcone's friend and colleague, Judge Paolo Borsellino, with a car bomb outside his mother's home that also killed five bodyguards. These two murders changed forever how Italy viewed the Mafia. Vendetta tells the inside story of the assassination plots and the investigation that followed. Follain reveals Borsellino's desperate race against time to find out who killed his friend while knowing he was next on the list and reveals the daring undercover police mission which unmasked the killers.  Based on new and exclusive interviews and the testimony of investigators, Mafia supergrasses, survivors, relatives and friends, Vendetta recounts the events hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute as the Mafiosi plan and carry out the murders, and as the police hunt them down.

John Follain is an editor for European government news at Bloomberg. He was previously a reporter for Bloomberg, and a correspondent for the Sunday Times based in Paris and in Rome, covering events across Europe. He was also a correspondent for Reuters based in Paris and Rome. As well as Vendetta, he has written eight non-fiction books including the award-winning Zoya's Story, an international bestseller, and Death in Perugia: The Definitive Account of the Meredith Kercher Case.

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