11 December

NEW - Giovanni Antonio Medrano - architect and engineer

Designed Teatro di San Carlo and Palace of Capodimonte in Naples

The architect and engineer Giovanni Antonio Medrano, who left a lasting mark on Naples by designing the Teatro di San Carlo and the Royal Palace at Capodimonte while in the service of the Bourbon king Charles VII - later Charles III of Spain - was born on this day in 1703 in Sciacca, a town on the southwestern coast of Sicily.  Teatro di San Carlo, which is recognised as the oldest continuously active opera house in the world, set new standards for European theatre design with Medrano’s horseshoe-shaped layout and attention to acoustics.  His design became known as the Italian-style theatre model and was taken up by architects around the world as the gold standard for new projects. The San Carlo became a symbol of Bourbon prestige and remains one of his most enduring legacies.  Medrano, born into a noble Sicilian-Spanish family, was stationed in Naples as a military engineer. Read more…

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Pope Leo X

Renaissance pope supported art but did not foresee the Reformation

Pope Leo X was born as Giovanni de' Medici, on this day in 1475 in Florence.  The second son of Lorenzo de' Medici - Lorenzo Il Magnifico - who ruled the Florentine Republic, Leo X has gone down in history as one of the leading Renaissance popes, who made Rome a cultural centre during his papacy.  He is also remembered for failing to take the Reformation seriously enough and for excommunicating Martin Luther.  Giovanni was always destined for a religious life and received a good education at his father’s court, where one of his tutors was the philosopher Pico della Mirandolo. Giovanni went on to study theology and canon law at the University of Pisa.  In 1492 he became a member of the Sacred College of Cardinals, but after his father died later that year, he returned to Florence to live with his older brother, Piero.  Read more…

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Gianni Morandi – actor and pop singer

Veteran entertainer has sold 50 million records 

The singer Gianni Morandi, a Sanremo Festival winner and Eurovision Song Contest contestant who has sold more than 50 million records and had a simultaneous career as a successful TV and film actor, was born on this day in 1944 in a mountain village in Emilia-Romagna.  Morandi, whose longevity has brought comparisons with the British singer Sir Cliff Richard, was still performing in his 70s and released new albums in 2023 and 2024. He had an unlikely hit in 2017 when he teamed up with 23-year-old rapper and web star Fabio Rovazzi.  Morandi, whose pop-ballad style still has a big following, showed his versatility and willingness to indulge in self-mocking humour by co-starring with Rovazzi in an electro-pop track and video called Volare that went to No 1 on iTunes Italy and attracted 2.5 million views in less than 24 hours.  Read more…

Carlo Ponti – film producer

The man who married Sophia Loren twice

Carlo Ponti, the producer of many iconic Italian films, was born on this day in 1912 in Magenta near Milan.  He studied law at Milan University and, after joining his father’s law firm in Milan, became involved in the film business through negotiating contracts.  His production of Mario Soldati’s Piccolo Mondo Antico about the Italian struggle against the Austrian occupation was his first success in 1940. But he was briefly jailed for allegedly undermining relations with Nazi Germany.  He went on to produce many of the popular and financially successful films of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Vittorio de Sica's Marriage Italian Style, David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago and Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blowup.  But Ponti also became famous for his love affair and two marriages to the film star Sophia Loren, who was born Sofia Villani Scicolone in Rome.  Read more…

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Fabrizio Ravanelli - footballer

Juventus star who became a favourite at Middlesbrough

The footballer Fabrizio Ravanelli, who won five trophies with Juventus between 1992 and 1996 before stunning the football world by joining unfashionable Middlesbrough in the English Premier League, was born on this day in 1968 in Perugia.  Playing alongside Gianluca Vialli and Alessandro Del Piero in the Juventus forward line, Ravanelli scored in the 1996 Champions League final as the Turin side beat Ajax in Rome before signing for Middlesbrough just six weeks later.  The ambitious club from the northeast of England paid £7 million (€8.5m) for Ravanelli, a club record fee and at the time the third largest sum paid for any player by an English club.  It was part of a huge spending spree by Middlesbrough, managed by former England captain Bryan Robson, that brought a string of high-profile signings to the club's Riverside Stadium. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Illustrated History of the Popes, by Charles Phillips

For 2,000 years the pope has been the acknowledged head of the Roman Catholic Church. As the direct successor of St Peter, he holds a unique position, ruling over millions of Catholics worldwide. The Illustrated History of the Popes is a comprehensive guide to the 266 men who have been pope, providing a timeline of the history of the papacy, and details each pope's life, influence and the way they shaped the church. The book is divided into three historical sections in chronological order: the First Popes; the Crusades and the Reformation; and Into the Modern Era. Lavishly illustrated, it is a reference book that will fascinate and inform anyone interested in the history of Catholicism.

Charles Phillips is an established writer of popular history and the author of The Illustrated History of Knights and the Golden Age of Chivalry, and The Complete Illustrated Guide to Kings and Queens of Britain and Ireland. 

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