30 June

NEW - Urbano Rattazzi – prime minister

Unpopular politician had anticlerical views

Urbano Pio Francesco Rattazzi, the third prime minister of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy, who is remembered for his clashes with the Italian people’s hero, Giuseppe Garibaldi, was born on this day in 1808 in Alessandria in the region of Piedmont.  Rattazzi became prime minister in 1862, succeeding Bettino Ricasoli, and he held the office for nine months until his behaviour towards Garibaldi led to him being driven from office.  He served as prime minister again in 1867 from April to October, but was forced by King Victor Emmanuel II to resign again because of the Italian people’s reaction to his treatment of Garibaldi.  Rattazzi was married to the French novelist, Laetitia Marie Wyse Bonaparte, who was the great niece of the Emperor Napoleon I, and they had one daughter, Romana, who was born in 1871. Read more…

______________________________________

Allegra Versace – heiress

‘Favourite niece’ who inherited Gianni fortune

The heiress Allegra Versace, owner of half the Versace fashion empire, was born on this day in 1986 in Milan.  The daughter of Donatella Versace, the company’s chief designer and vice-president, she was the favourite niece of Gianni Versace, who founded the fashion house in 1978.  When Gianni was shot dead outside his mansion in Miami in July 1997, Allegra was just 11 years old but could look forward to becoming immensely rich after it was announced that her uncle had willed his share of the business, amounting to 50 per cent, to her when she reached her 18th birthday.  By the most recent valuation of the Versace group, this means Allegra has a personal fortune worth $800 million. The remainder of the empire is owned by her mother, who has 20 per cent, and Gianni’s older brother, Santo Versace, who has 30 per cent.  Yet the promise of wealth and privilege did not bring her happiness. Read more...

_______________________________________

Mario Carotenuto - actor

Roman from theatrical family made more than 100 films

The actor Mario Carotenuto, who became one of the most familiar faces in the commedia all’italiana genre of Italian film, was born on this day in 1916 in Rome.  Carotenuto, who was active in the movie industry for more than 30 years having started in the theatre and on radio, played alongside some of the greats of Italian cinema, including Totò, Alberto Sordi, Vittorio De Sica, Sophia Loren and Monica Vitti.  More often than not, he was cast in supporting roles rather than as the star, yet became respected as one of Italy’s finest character actors in comedy, winning a Nastro d'argento award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of The Professor in Luigi Comencini’s 1973 comedy-drama Lo scopone scientifico - The Scientific Card Player - which starred Sordi, Silvana Mangano and the American Bette Davis.  Carotenuto was born into an acting family. Read more... 

Gianrico Carofiglio - novelist

Ex anti-Mafia judge now bestselling author

The novelist Gianrico Carofiglio, whose books have sold more than five million copies, was born on this day in 1961 in Bari.  Carofiglio is best known for a series of thrillers featuring the character of lawyer Guido Guerrieri but he has also written a number of novels featuring other characters, still mainly in the crime thriller genre.  One of them, his 2004 novel Il passato è una terra straniera (The Past is a Foreign Country), was made into an acclaimed film, directed by Daniele Vicari and starring Elio Germano, who appeared in the multi award-winning TV series Romanzo Criminale, and Michele Riondino, who played Andrea Camilleri’s most famous detective in the TV series The Young Montalbano.  Carofiglio drew inspiration and much technical knowledge from his career as a magistrate. Read more…

________________________________________

First Martyrs' Day

Nero blamed Christians for his own crimes

Christians martyred in Rome during the reign of Nero in AD 64 are remembered every year on this day in Italy.  The Catholic Church celebrates the lives of the many men and women put to death by Nero, who are now known as i Primi Martiri, first martyrs of the Church of Rome, with a feast day every year on 30 June.  In the summer of AD 64, Rome was devastated by fire. The unpopular emperor Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace, was suspected of setting fire to the city himself but he accused the early Christians then living in Rome and had them executed.  Some were fed to wild animals, some crucified, while others were burnt to death to illuminate the sky and provide evening entertainment.  The feast of the First Martyrs came into the Church calendar in 1969 as a general celebration day for the early Roman martyrs.  Read more…

______________________________________

Book of the Day: Garibaldi: Hero of Italian Unification, by Christopher Hibbert

Giuseppe Garibaldi was praised for his military genius, his courage, and his charisma. Known as the "Hero of Two Worlds," Garibaldi's military prowess extended to the Americas, where he played a major role in the Brazilian struggle for independence. During his fight for Italian unification Garibaldi personally led an army of local untrained rebels to victory in Palermo, Naples, and Sicily. His forces suffered from lack of equipment, food, and money, and yet Garibaldi commanded their fierce loyalty. In Garibaldi: Hero of Italian Unification, Christopher Hibbert reveals how this iconic figure earned the adulation of not only his fellow Italians, but people across the globe. As well as presenting a vivid account of Garibaldi's successes and misfortunes, the book paints a picture of his personality which, though never unsympathetic, is notable for its realism and candour.

Christopher Hibbert, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and one of the most widely read historians of his time, wrote many highly acclaimed books, including biographies of Disraeli, Edward VII and George VI, The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, and Cavaliers and Roundheads. 

Buy from Amazon

Home

Urbano Rattazzi – prime minister

Unpopular politician had anticlerical views

Urbano Rattazzi twice served
as prime minister of the new Italy

Urbano Pio Francesco Rattazzi, the third prime minister of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy, who is remembered for his clashes with the Italian people’s hero, Giuseppe Garibaldi, was born on this day in 1808 in Alessandria in the region of Piedmont.

Rattazzi became prime minister in 1862, succeeding Bettino Ricasoli, and he held the office for nine months until his behaviour towards Garibaldi led to him being driven from office. 

He served as prime minister again in 1867 from April to October, but was forced by King Victor Emmanuel II to resign again because of the Italian people’s reaction to his treatment of Garibaldi.

Rattazzi was married to the French novelist, Laetitia Marie Wyse Bonaparte, who was the great niece of the Emperor Napoleon I, and they had one daughter, Romana, who was born in 1871. He also had a nephew, Urbano Rattazzi Iuniore, who was appointed Minister of the Royal House during the reign of Umberto I.

As a young man, Urbano Rattazzi studied law in Turin and ran a successful legal practice in Turin and in Casale, in Piedmont.

From 1848, he represented Alessandria in the Sardinian Chamber of Deputies in Turin. He had allied himself to the Liberals, and using his debating powers, he contributed to the defeat of Cesare Balbo, who was then prime minister of Sardinia.

Under Sardinian Prime Minister Vincenzo Gioberti, Rattazzi became Minister of the Interior and his first act was to send a ministerial circular to all the bishops of the Kingdom, threatening them with arrest if they did not stop preaching against the new institutions. 

Garibaldi, whose popularity with the 
people was not shared by Rattazzi

After the fall of Gioberti, Rattazzi was asked to form a new cabinet, but he lasted in office for only a few weeks because the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia was beaten by the Austrians at the Battle of Novara in 1849 and he had to resign.

With the Moderate Liberals, Rattazzi formed a coalition with the centre right, who were backed by Count Camillo Cavour, which brought about the fall of the cabinet led by Massimo d’Azeglio in 1852.

Rattazzi benefited from his alliance with Cavour and became Minister of Justice and Minister of the Interior. He suppressed monastic orders and restricted the influence of religious associations, demonstrating his anticlerical views. He had to resign in 1858 because of public opinion, but he later served in the cabinet of Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora before retiring in 1860.

After Italian unification in 1861, Rattazzi became president of the lower chamber in the first parliament of the newly unified kingdom. He then succeeded Ricasoli as prime minister, retaining for himself the portfolios of foreign affairs and the interior. He delivered the funeral eulogy for Cavour, after he died in 1861.

Rattazzi's government experience lasted a few months during which emerged the ‘Roman question’ - the conflict between the Papacy and the Italian government over the status of Rome and the Papal States following unification. 

In the summer of 1862, Garibaldi tried to promote an expedition of volunteers to occupy Rome and put an end to the power of the Pope. Rattazzi, who was initially in favour of Garibaldi's action, changed his mind and called in the army. 

In the resulting Battle of Aspromonte, the army dispersed the volunteers and arrested Garibaldi, who had been wounded during the clashes. Rattazzi was condemned by public opinion, which was on the side of Garibaldi and he was forced to resign. He was succeeded by Luigi Carlo Farini. 

Rattazzi held the office of prime minister again for a few months in 1867. But then Garibaldi penetrated the Papal States with a contingent of volunteers and was later defeated by the Pope’s troops and a French expeditionary force. This led to the collapse of Rattazzi's majority, and Rattazzi was forced by King Victor Emmanuel II to resign. He was succeeded by Luigi Federico Menabrea. 

Urbano Rattazzi died of liver cancer at his villa at Frosinone in Lazio in 1873. He was 64 years old. After ceremonies in Rome and Alessandria, Rattazzi's embalmed body was buried in the monumental cemetery in his home town.

The commemorative plaque that marks Urbano
Rattazzi's place of birth in Alessandria

Travel tip:

Alessandria, where Rattazzi was born and is buried, is an historic city in Piedmont, situated about 90km (56 miles) to the southeast of Turin. There is a plaque above the entrance door to Rattazzi’s birthplace in the street now called Via Urbano Rattazzi, at number 43. After Napoleon won the Battle of Marengo in 1800, Alessandria became part of French territory and was made the capital of the area by the French. It became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia again in 1814 and later part of the Kingdom of Italy. One of its most important buildings is the Cittadella di Alessandria, a star fort and citadel built in the 18th century. Today it is one of the best preserved fortifications of that era and one of the few fortifications in Europe still in their original environment, with no buildings blocking the views of the ramparts, or a road that surrounds the ditches.  Alessandria suffered extensive Allied bombing in World War Two but many areas have been rebuilt. The city is now a major Italian railway hub. 

The facade of the Cathedral of
Santa Maria Assunta in Frosinone

Travel tip:

Frosinone, where Urbano Rattazzi died, is about 75 kilometres (47 miles) southeast of Rome in Lazio. It is the main city of the Valle Latina that extends from south of Rome to Cassino, the site of the Abbey of Monte Cassino and the famous battle in World War II. The city of Frosinone remained part of the Papal States and did not become part of the new Kingdom of Italy until as late as September 1870, three days before Italian troops were finally able to enter Rome at Porta Pia and install Victor Emanuel II in the Quirinale Palace. The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, located at the highest point of the hill on which the historic centre of the city stands, is the most important church in Frosinone. With a marble facade, it has a 63m (207ft) bell tower which has been adopted as an emblem of the city.

Also on this day:

First Martyrs’ Day

1916: The birth of actor Mario Carotenuto

1932: The laying of the first stone of the Fascist city of Latina

1961: The birth of novelist Gianrico Carofiglio

1986: The birth of Allegra Versace, niece of Gianni

Home

 .

29 June

Oriana Fallaci - journalist

Writer known for exhaustively probing interviews

Oriana Fallaci, who was at different times in her career one of Italy’s most respected journalists and also one of the most controversial, was born in Florence on June 29, 1929.  As a foreign correspondent, often reporting from the world’s most hazardous regions in times of war and revolution, Fallaci interviewed most of the key figures on both sides of conflicts.  Many of these were assembled in her book Interview with History, in which she published accounts of lengthy conversations, often lasting six or seven hours, with such personalities as Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Yasser Arafat, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Willy Brandt, Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Henry Kissinger and the presidents of both South and North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.  Others she interviewed included Deng Xiaoping, Lech Wałęsa, Muammar Gaddafi and the Ayatollah Khomeini.  Read more… 

______________________________________

Masaniello - insurgent

Fisherman who led Naples revolt 

The 17th century insurgent known as Masaniello was born on June 29, 1620 in Naples.  A humble fishmonger’s son, Masaniello was the unlikely leader of a revolt against the Spanish rulers of his home city in 1647, which was successful in that it led to the formation of a Neapolitan Republic, even though Spain regained control within less than a year.  The uprising, which followed years of oppression and discontent among the 300,000 inhabitants of Naples, was sparked by the imposition of taxes on fruit and other basic provisions. Masaniello - real name Tommaso Aniello - was a charismatic character, well known among the traders of Piazza Mercato, the expansive square that had been a centre of commerce in the city since the 14th century.  Born in a house in Vico Rotto al Mercato, situated close to the city’s main port, he followed his father into fish trading. Read more…

_______________________________________

Elizabeth Barrett Browning dies in Florence

Romantic poet produced some of her best work after fleeing to Italy

English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning died on June 29, 1861 in Florence.  She had spent 15 years living in Italy with her husband, the poet Robert Browning, after being disinherited by her father who disapproved of their marriage.  The Brownings’ home in Florence, Casa Guidi, is now a memorial to the two poets.  Their only child, Robert Weidemann Barrett Browning, who became known as Pen, was born there in 1849.  Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era and was popular in both Britain and the United States during her lifetime.  From about the age of 15 she had suffered health problems and therefore lived a quiet life in her father’s house, concentrating on her writing.  A volume of her poems, published in 1844, inspired another writer, Robert Browning, to send her a letter praising her work.  Read more…

Giorgio Napolitano – 11th President of Italy

Neapolitan was concerned about the development of southern Italy

Giorgio Napolitano, who served as the 11th President of the Republic of Italy, was born on June 29, 1925 in Naples. He was the longest serving president in the history of the republic and the only Italian president to have been re-elected.  He graduated in law from Naples University in 1947, having joined a group of young anti-fascists while he was an undergraduate.  At the age of 20, Napolitano joined the Italian Communist Party. He was a militant and then became one of the leaders, staying with the party until 1991 when it was dissolved. He then joined the Democratic Party of the Left.  Napolitano was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time in 1953 and continued to be re-elected by the Naples constituency until 1996.  His parliamentary activity focused on the issue of southern Italy’s development and on national economic policy.  Read more…

_______________________________________

Federico Peliti - catering entrepreneur and photographer

Italian became important figure in British Colonial India

Federico Peliti, whose skills as a chef and pastry-maker led him to spend a large part of his life in India under British colonial rule, was born on June 29, 1844 in Carignano, a town in Piedmont about 20km (12 miles) south of Turin.  He was also an accomplished photographer and collections of his work made an important contribution to the documentary history of the early years of British rule in India.  The restaurant Peliti opened in Shimla, the so-called summer capital of the British Empire in India, became a favourite with colonial high society and was mentioned in the writings of Rudyard Kipling and others.  Peliti’s family hailed from Valganna, near Varese in Lombardy. They had mainly been surveyors and Peliti initially studied sculpture in Turin before being diverted by the Third Italian War of Independence, in which he participated as a cavalryman. Read more…

_______________________________________

Book of the Day: Interviews With History and Power, by Oriana Fallaci

Interviews with History and Power is a posthumous compilation of this award-winning and best-selling writer and journalist's seminal, historic interviews. Oriana Fallaci was granted access to countless world leaders and politicians throughout her remarkable career. Considering herself a writer rather than a journalist, she was never shy about sharing her opinions of her interview subjects. Her most memorable interviews - some translated into English for the first time - appear in this collection, including those with Ariel Sharon, Yassir Arafat, the former Shah of Iran, Lech Walesa, the Dalai Lama, Robert Kennedy, and many others. Also featured is the famous 1972 interview in which she succeeded in getting Henry Kissinger to call Vietnam a "useless war" and to describe himself as "a cowboy." To this day he calls the Fallaci interview "the most disastrous conversation I ever had with the press."

Oriana Fallaci was an Italian journalist and author. A member of the Italian resistance movement during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. She became famous worldwide for her coverage of war and revolution, and her "long, aggressive and revealing interviews" with many world leaders during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Buy from Amazon

Home

28 June

Lorenzo Amoruso - footballer

Defender was most successful Italian in British football

Lorenzo Amoruso, a defender who played for teams in Italy, San Marino, England and Scotland during a career spanning almost two decades, was born on June 28, 1971 in Bari.  Formerly the captain of Fiorentina, Amoruso signed for Glasgow Rangers for £4 million in 1997 and remained at the Scottish club for six seasons, during which time he won nine major trophies, which makes him the most successful Italian player in British football.  The first Catholic player to captain Rangers - traditionally the club supported by Glasgow’s Protestant community - Amoruso won the Scottish Premier League title three times, the Scottish Cup three times and the Scottish League Cup three times.  His total of winners’ medals dwarfs those of much higher profile Italian stars in England, including the illustrious Chelsea trio of Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Vialli and Roberto di Matteo. Read more… 

_______________________________________

Giovanni della Casa - advocate of good manners

Bishop and poet remembered for his manual on etiquette

Giovanni della Casa, the Tuscan bishop whose witty book on behaviour in polite society became a handbook for generations long after he had passed away, was born on June 28, 1503 in Borgo San Lorenzo, 30km (19 miles) north-east of Florence.  Born into a wealthy family, Della Casa was educated in Bologna and followed his friend, the scholar and poet Pietro Bembo, into the church.  He became Archbishop of Benevento in 1544 and was nominated by Pope Paul III as Papal nuncio to Venice. Disappointed at not having been elevated to Cardinal, however, he retired to a life of writing and reading.  At some point between 1551 and 1555, living at an abbey near Treviso, he wrote Galateo: The Rules of Polite Behaviour, a witty treatise on good manners intended for the amusement of a favourite nephew.  Read more… 

Pietro Mennea – Olympic sprint champion

200m specialist won gold at Moscow in 1980

Pietro Mennea, one of only two Italian sprinters to win an Olympic gold, was born on June 28, 1952 in the coastal city of Barletta in Apulia.  Mennea won the 200m final at the Moscow Olympics in 1980, depriving Britain's Allan Wells of a sprint double. In doing so, Mennea emulated his compatriot, Livio Berruti, 20 years earlier in Rome.  He held the world record at 200m for almost 17 years, from 1979 until 1996.  His time of 19.72 seconds remains the European record.  It would stand as the world record for 16 years, nine months and 11 days, until Michael Johnson ran 19.66 at the US Olympic trials in 1996.  As well as winning his gold medal, outrunning Britain’s Allan Wells in the last 50m, Mennea’s other great Olympic feat was to reach the 200m final at four consecutive Games, the first track athlete to do so at any distance. Read more… 

_____________________________________

Walter Audisio - partisan and politician

Claimed to be the man who killed Mussolini

The partisan and later politician Walter Audisio, whose claim to be the man who executed Italy’s Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in April 1945 is generally accepted as likely to be true, was born on June 28, 1909 in Alessandria in Piedmont.  Mussolini was captured in the town of Dongo on the shore of Lake Como as he tried to flee from Italy to Switzerland, having accepted that the Axis powers were facing near-certain defeat to the Allies as the Second World War moved into its final phase.  He was taken along with his entourage to the village of Giulino di Mezzegra, 20km (12 miles) south of Dongo along the lakeside road, and after spending the night under guard in a remote farmhouse was taken back into the village, where he and his mistress, Claretta Petacci, were ordered to stand against a wall.  There they were shot dead by a partisan who went under the nom de guerre of "Colonnello Valerio". Read more…

______________________________________

Book of the Day: The Italian Job: A Journey to the Heart of Two Great Footballing Cultures, by Gianluca Vialli and Gabriele Marcotti

Football lies at the heart of popular culture in both England and Italy. It is played, watched, written about and talked to death by millions virtually every day of the year. But how do the characteristics of England and Italy affect the game in these two footballing nations? Do the national stereotypes of Italians as passionate, stylish lotharios and the English as cold-hearted eccentrics still hold true when they kick a ball around?  In The Italian Job, for the first time, a footballer of the first rank, the late Gianluca Vialli, in conjunction with sportswriter and broadcaster Gabriele Marcotti, tackled this debate head on, providing a fascinating and highly controversial commentary on where football is now and where it's headed. They invited some of the biggest names in the sport to join in their discussion, including Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Sven Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi among others. Read more…

Gianluca Vialli, who died from pancreatic cancer in January 2023, played for Cremona, Sampdoria and Juventus in his native Italy, for Chelsea in England, and 59 times for the Italian national team, before managing Chelsea and Watford. Milan-born Gabriele Marcotti has written and broadcast about football in Italy, the United States and England.

Buy from Amazon

Home

27 June

Gianluigi Aponte - shipping magnate

Billionaire started with one cargo vessel

Gianluigi Aponte, the billionaire founder of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, which owns the second largest container fleet in the world and a string of luxury cruise liners, was born on June 27, 1940 in Sant’Agnello, the seaside resort that neighbours Sorrento in Campania.  He and his wife, Rafaela, a partner in the business, have an estimated net worth of $11.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.  The Mediterranean Shipping Company has more than 510 container ships, making it the second largest such business in the world, behind the Danish company Maersk. MSC Cruises, meanwhile, is the fourth largest cruise company in the world. With offices in 45 countries, it employs 23,500 people, with a fleet of 17 luxury cruise liners.  The business, which Aponte began in 1970 with one cargo vessel, has more than 60,000 staff in 150 countries. Read more…

__________________________________________

The Ustica Massacre

Mystery plane crash blamed on missile strike

An Italian commercial flight crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between Ponza and Ustica, killing everyone on board on June 27, 1980.  The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC9-15 in the service of Itavia Airlines was en route from Bologna to Palermo, flight number IH870. All 77 passengers and the four members of the crew were killed, making this the deadliest aviation incident involving a DC9-15 or 10-15 series.  The disaster became known in the Italian media as the Ustica massacre - Strage di Ustica - because Ustica, off the coast of Sicily, was a small island near the site of the crash.  After the fragments of the aircraft that were recovered from the sea were re-assembled, the Parliamentary Commission on Terrorism issued a statement in 1989 asserting that the DC9 had been shot down. Read more…

Giorgio Almirante – politician

Leader who tried to make fascism more mainstream

Giorgio Almirante, founder and leader of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, was born on June 27, 1914 at Salsomaggiore Terme in Emilia-Romagna.  He led his political party for long periods from 1946 until he handed over to his protégé, Gianfranco Fini, in 1987.  Almirante trained as a schoolteacher but went to work for the Fascist journal Il Tevere in Rome.  In 1944, he was appointed Chief of Cabinet of the Minister of Culture to the Italian Social Republic, the short-lived German puppet state led by Benito Mussolini after he was thrown out of office as Italy’s prime minister.  After the Fascists were defeated, Almirante was indicted on charges that he had ordered the shooting of partisans, but these were lifted. He set up his own fascist group in 1946, which was soon absorbed into the Italian Social Movement (MSI).  Read more…

________________________________________

Giorgio Vasari - the first art historian

Artist and architect who chronicled lives of Old Masters

Giorgio Vasari, whose 16th century book on the lives of Renaissance artists led to him being described as the world's first art historian, died on June 27, 1574 in Florence.  Born in Arezzo in 1511, Vasari was a brilliant artist and architect who worked for the Medici family in Florence and Rome and amassed a considerable fortune in his career.  But he is remembered as much for Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times, a collection of biographies of all the great artists of his lifetime.  The six-part work is remembered as the first important book on art history.  Had it not been written, much less would be known of the lives of Cimabue, Giotto, Donatello, Botticelli, Da Vinci, Giorgione, Raphael, Boccaccio and Michelangelo among many others from the generation known as the Old Masters.  Read more…

___________________________________________

Book of the Day: Giants of the Sea: The Ships That Transformed Modern Cruising, by Aaron Saunders

The cruise ship market is a multi billion-dollar industry with seven percent annual growth. What keeps the passengers coming in such huge numbers isn't the food, the ports or the entertainment. They come for the magnificent floating palaces themselves. In Giants of the Sea, the author showcases the most influential cruise ships of the last three decades beginning with Royal Caribbean's ground-breaking Sovereign of the Seas. When she was launched in 1988 she was the largest passenger ship constructed since Cunard's Queen Mary entered service some 48 years earlier, and her entry into service sparked a fiercely competitive building boom that continues to this day. The reader is taken aboard 30 of the most spectacular ships to reveal how their innovative designs changed the landscape of modern cruising. A sumptuous and fascinating book for all those drawn to the world of the modern cruise ship.

Aaron Saunders is founder and author of From the Deck Chair, an online site dedicated to cruising and cruise ships. He also writes regularly about travel for the Vancouver Province newspaper, and contributes to the popular Avid Cruiser and River Cruise Advisor sites.

Buy from Amazon

Home

26 June

Claudio Abbado – conductor

The distinguished career of a multi award-winning musician

The internationally acclaimed orchestra conductor Claudio Abbado was born on June 26, 1933 in Milan.  Abbado was musical director at La Scala opera house from 1972 to 1980 and remained affiliated to the theatre until 1986. He was the principal conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra and was appointed director of the Vienna State Opera and the Berlin Philharmonic.  Born into a musical family, Abbado studied the piano with his father, Michelangelo, from being eight years old. His father was a professional violinist and a professor at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory. His mother, Maria Carmela Savagnone, was a pianist and his brother, Marcello, became a concert pianist, composer, and teacher.  After the Nazis jailed his mother for harbouring a Jewish child, Abbado grew up anti-fascist. Read more… 

________________________________________

San Marino is bombed by British

Allies believed the Germans were using rail facilities

The British Royal Air Force bombed the tiny Republic of San Marino on June 26, 1944 as a result of receiving incorrect information.  It was recorded at the time that 63 people were killed as a result of the bombing, which was aimed at rail facilities. The British mistakenly believed that the Germans were using the San Marino rail network to transport weapons.  San Marino had been ruled by Fascists since the 1920s but had managed to remain neutral during the war.  After the bombing, San Marino’s government declared that no military installations or equipment were located on its territory and no belligerent forces had been allowed to enter.  However, by September of the same year San Marino was briefly occupied by German forces, but they were defeated by the Allied forces in the Battle of San Marino.  Read more…

Alberto Rabagliati - singer and actor

Performer found fame through radio

The jazz singer and movie actor Alberto Rabagliati, who became a star of Italian radio in the 1930s and 40s, was born on June 26, 1906 in Milan.  His movie career reached a peak in the post-War years, when he had roles in the Humphrey Bogart-Ava Gardner hit Barefoot Contessa and in The Monte Carlo Story, starring Marlene Dietrich.  The son of parents who had moved to Milan from a village in Piedmont, Rabagliati’s career began when he won a competition in 1927 to find a Rudolph Valentino lookalike.  The prize was to be taken to Hollywood to audition, so his life changed overnight.  Later he recalled: "For someone like me, who had never been beyond Lake Como or Monza Cathedral, finding myself on board a luxury steamer with three cases full of clothes, a few rolls of dollars, grand-duchesses and countesses flirting with me was something extraordinary".  Read more…

_________________________________________

Paolo Maldini - football great

Milan defender's record-breaking career spanned 25 years

Paolo Maldini, the AC Milan defender who won the European Cup and Champions League more times than any other player in the modern era, was born on June 26, 1968 in Milan.  A Milan player for the whole of his 25-year professional career - plus six years as a youth player before that - Maldini won Europe's biggest club prize five times. Only Francisco Gento, a member of the all-conquering Real Madrid side of the 1950s and 60s, has more winner's medals.  Maldini also won seven Serie A championships plus one Coppa Italia and five Supercoppa Italiana titles in domestic competition, as well as five European Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and a World Club Cup.  Only in international football did trophies elude him, although he played in the finals of both the World Cup, in 1994, and the European Championships, in 2000. Read more… 

________________________________________

Book of the Day: A Tale of Four Houses: Opera at Covent Garden, La Scala, Vienna and the Met since 1945, by Susie Gilbert and Jay Shir

A wonderful and hugely entertaining history of the four big opera houses – Milan, Vienna, the New York Met and Covent Garden – A Take of Four Houses illuminates major developments in opera both musically and in terms of stage interpretation. From the post-war reconstruction of opera houses to the influence of colourful personalities such as Karajan and Visconti, Callas and Solti, Domingo, Pavarotti, Price and Sutherland, and finally the wide accessibility and popularity of opera today and the increasing financial pressures it faces.  Along with being a valuable study of opera that is essential reading for all opera enthusiasts, Gilbert introduces enthralling personalities, and through them the scandals, the money, the media skirmishes and the drama that provide fascinating insights into the world of opera behind the scenes. 

Susie Gilbert has worked for many years as an archival researcher and editor on numerous books of 20th century history, including the official biography of Winston Churchill. Jay Shir is a musician, writer and educator. 

Buy from Amazon

Home

25 June

Aldo Serena - footballer

Azzurri striker left field in tears after penalty miss

Aldo Serena, one of the two Italian players who most felt the agony of defeat after the Azzurri suffered the pain of losing at the semi-final stage when the football World Cup last took place on home soil, was born on June 25, 1960 in Montebelluna, in the Veneto.  The match that ended the host nation's participation in the Italia '90 tournament took place in Naples against an Argentina side that included the local hero, Diego Maradona. It was decided on penalties after finishing 1-1 over 120 minutes. Italy converted their opening three penalties, as did Argentina.  Then Roberto Donadoni’s shot was saved by the Argentina goalkeeper, Sergio Goycochea.  Up stepped Maradona, who scored, to the delight of many in the crowd who had divided loyalties.  Suddenly, everything was down to Aldo Serena. Read more… 

_______________________________________

Marta Abba - actress

Aspiring star who became Pirandello’s muse

Marta Abba, who as a young actress became the stimulus for the creativity of the great playwright Luigi Pirandello, was born on June 25, 1900 in Milan.  The two met in 1925 when Pirandello, whose most famous works included the plays Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) and Henry IV (1922), asked her to see him, having read an enthusiastic appreciation of her acting talents by Marco Praga, a prominent theatre critic of the day.  Abba had made her stage debut in Milan in 1922 in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull and was noted for the exuberance and passion of her performances. Pirandello was impressed with her and immediately hired her as first actress for his Teatro d’Arte company in Rome.  Over the next nine years until Pirandello’s death in 1936, Abba would become not only his inspiration but his confidante. Read more…

_________________________________________

Luigi Capello – World War I Army Commander

Popular General experienced both glory and shame

General Luigi Capello, who was held in high regard by the Allies during World War I, but was disgraced when his troops suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Caporetto, died on June 15, 1941 in Rome.  His reputation was ruined when he was removed from his command after a disastrous defeat by the Austrian army, which resulted in 13,000 Italians killed and up to 300,000 wounded or captured, and he never resumed his military career.  Capello went on to join the Fascists and took part in the March on Rome in 1922. His fall from grace was complete after he was accused of taking part in a failed conspiracy against Mussolini. Stripped of his military honours, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, although he was released after serving 11.  Born in Intra on the shores of Lake Maggiore in 1859, Capello became a second lieutenant in the Italian Army in 1878. Read more… 

Elena Cornaro Piscopia – philosopher

First woman to graduate from a university

Elena Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman to receive an academic degree from a university on June 25, 1678, it is believed, in Padua.  She was awarded her degree in philosophy at a special ceremony in the Duomo in Padua in the presence of dignitaries from the University of Padua and guests from other Italian universities.  Piscopia was born in a palazzo in Venice in 1646. Her father had an important post at St Mark’s and he was entitled to accommodation in St Mark’s Square.  She was taught Latin and Greek when she was a young child and was proficient in both languages by the time she was seven. She then went on to master other languages as well as mathematics, philosophy and theology.  Her tutor wanted her to study for a degree in theology at Padua University but the Bishop of Padua refused to allow it because she was female. Read more…

__________________________________________

Francesco Domenico Araja - composer

Brilliant musician introduced Italian opera to Russia

Francesco Araja was the first in a long line of Italian composers to work for the Imperial Court in St Petersburg in Russia. Born on June 25, 1709 in Naples, then in the Kingdom of Sicily, Araja received a musical education in his native city and was composing operas by the age of 20.  He made history as the composer of the first Italian opera to be performed in Russia and as the composer of the first opera with a Russian text.  It is thought that Araja was probably taught music by his father Angelo Araja and his grandfather Pietro Aniello Araja, who were both musicians. He was appointed maestro di cappella at the church of Santa Maria La Nova in Naples at the age of just 14.  Araja’s early operas were staged in Naples, Florence, Rome, Milan and Venice. His opera Berenice was performed in Florence in 1730. Read more…

_________________________________________

Book of the Day: Veni, Vidi, Vici: When Italian Football Ruled Europe, by Dominic Hougham

A celebration of the late 1980s and ‘90s, when Italian football dominated Europe, Veni, Vidi, Vici is a must-read for anyone who experienced Italian football through Channel 4’s groundbreaking 1990s coverage.  It was an era when ten different Italian teams played in major European finals, when the greatest players strutted their stuff in Italy’s stadiums, cheered on by colourful fans. Read about: the effect the Heysel disaster had on European football; the turbulent times of Maradona at Napoli, including his and Italy’s experiences at Italia ’90; the influx of foreign talent into Italian football, including the Dutch trio at AC Milan and the three Germans at Inter; the dominance of Italian clubs in Europe; the record of English imports into Italy, with a chapter dedicated to Gascoigne’s adventure at Lazio and Channel 4 coverage; and Italy’s amazing journey through the USA ’94 World Cup, including Baggio’s ups and downs. 

Dominic Hougham is the author of Fifty Great World Cup Matches... and Why You Should Watch Them! and a full-time contributor to These Football Times magazine. He has a deep affection for the Italian lifestyle, country and calcio.

Buy from Amazon

Home

24 June

NEW - Lorenzo Del Boca – journalist and writer

Author of Polentoni says north of Italy was betrayed by the Risorgimento

The author Lorenzo Del Boca, whose books and essays about Italian history and politics have been translated into several languages, was born on this day in 1951 in Romagnano Sesia in the province of Novara in Piedmont.  Del Boca has become known outside Italy following the publication of his book Polentoni in 2011, which puts forward his opinions about how and why the north of the country was betrayed by the unification of Italy in 1861.  But he refutes the idea that Polentoni is in any way a riposte to the book Terroni, published in 2010 by the author and journalist Pino Aprile, who is from Puglia in the south of Italy and expresses the opinion that the south was betrayed by the north as a result of the Risorgimento.  Polentoni argues that Risorgimento was a betrayal of the north as well as the south. Read more…

_________________________________________

Battle of Custoza

Austrians thwart Italy’s hopes of unifying the peninsula

An army of the recently unified Kingdom of Italy was driven out of Custoza in the Veneto region by Austrian troops in the Battle of Custoza on this day in 1866.  Although the Italians had twice the number of soldiers, the Austrians were victorious strategically and drove the Italians back across the Mincio river and out of the area then known as Venetia.  King Victor Emmanuel II’s younger son, Amadeo, was severely wounded in the battle but he survived his injuries and went on to reign briefly as King of Spain from 1870 to 1873.  The German Kingdom of Prussia had declared war on the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy seized the opportunity to join forces with Prussia, with the intention of annexing Venetia and uniting the Italian peninsula, in what became known as the Third Italian War of Independence. The Austrian Imperial army joined up with the Venetian army. Read more…

________________________________________

Vittorio Storaro - cinematographer

Triple Oscar winner among best in movie history

Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, whose work has won three Academy Awards, was born on this day in 1940 in Rome.  Storaro won Oscars for Best Cinematography for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, for the Warren Beatty-directed historical drama Reds in 1981, and for The Last Emperor, Bernardo Bertolucci’s story of imperial China, in 1987.  Described as someone for whom cinematography was “not just art and technique but a philosophy as well”, Storaro worked extensively with Bertolucci, for whom he shot the controversial Last Tango in Paris and the extraordinary five-hour epic drama 1900.  He filmed many stories for his cousin, Luigi Bazzoni, collaborated with Coppola on three other movies and more recently has worked with Woody Allen. Storaro inherited his love of the cinema from his father. Read more…

Piero Barone – singer

Young tenor found fame on TV talent show

Piero Barone, one of the three singers who make up the Italian opera and pop group, Il Volo, was born on this day in 1993 in Naro, a town in the province of Agrigento in Sicily.  Il Volo hit the headlines after winning the Sanremo Music Festival in 2015. They came third when they represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest with their hit Grande Amore later that year in Austria and have since acquired growing popularity worldwide.  In 2016, the group, together with tenor Placido Domingo, released Notte Magica – A Tribute to the Three Tenors, a live album featuring many of the songs performed by the Three Tenors (Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras) for their iconic concert held at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome on the eve of the Italia ’90 World Cup.  Piero’s father, Gaetano Barone, is a mechanic. Read more…

_________________________________________

Battle of Solferino

Suffering of soldiers led to the founding of the Red Cross

The Battle of Solferino - part of the Second Italian War of Independence - took place on this day in 1859 south of Lake Garda between Milan and Verona.  It was the last battle in world history where all the armies were under the personal command of their monarchs.  The French army under Napoleon III was allied with the Sardinian army commanded by Victor Emmanuel II. Together, they were victorious against the Austrian army led by Emperor Franz Joseph I.  The battle lasted more than nine hours and resulted in thousands of deaths on both sides.  Jean-Henri Dunant, a Swiss businessman, toured the battlefield afterwards and was so horrified by the suffering of the thousands of wounded and dying soldiers, he wrote a book about what he had seen and set about establishing the International Red Cross.  Read more…

________________________________________

Benedetta Tagliabue - architect

Italian half of an acclaimed design partnership

The architect Benedetta Tagliabue, whose work in partnership with her late husband Enric Miralles included the iconic Scottish Parliament Building at Holyrood in Edinburgh, was born on this day in 1963 in Milan.  Tagliabue formed a close friendship with Barcelona-born Miralles when she was a student and he was teaching at Columbia University in New York.  They became business partners in 1991 and married a year later.  Tragically, Miralles died in 2000 at the age of just 45, having been diagnosed with a brain tumour, but Tagliabue has continued to run the business they created.  Tagliabue studied architecture in Switzerland and Venice, attending the Istituto di Architettura di Venezia (IUAV), which is part of the University of Venice. She fell in love with the city of canals and made it her home for several years. Read more…

____________________________________

Book of the Day: Terroni: All That Has Been Done to Ensure That the Italians of the South Became "Southerners", by Pino Aprile. Translated by Ilaria Marra Rosiglioni

Terroni has not only been a bestseller, but one that has forcefully entered the historical and civil debate. In a passionate and polemical manner, Pino Aprile's book examines the effect that the unification of Italy has had on Southern Italy and analyses what some of the ramifications are today. A bestseller in Italy, the book sold more than 200,000 copies in its first year of print. More than a decade after the original book was released, Aprile has now published - in Italian so far - Nuovo Terroni, a definitive version that re-proposes the original manifesto with important additions, and with three new  parts, completely unpublished, including evidence of a massacre of genocidal proportions. Some commentators have said that the book is destined to become a fundamental document for understanding Italian history. 

Pino Aprile is a journalist and author of numerous books. He has worked in television with Sergio Zavoli on the investigative series Journey South. He lives in the Castelli Romano area, just outside Rome.

Buy from Amazon

Home