6 December

NEW - Il sorpasso - commedia all’italiana classic

Film regarded as director Dino Risi’s masterpiece

Il sorpasso, which has come to be seen as one of the most influential Italian films of the 20th century and a defining example of the commedia all’italiana genre, was released for Italian cinema audiences on this day in 1963.  Directed by Dino Risi, produced by Mario Cecchi Gori and with Vittorio Gassman outstanding as one of the film’s male lead characters, made its debut in the United States in December of the following year under the title The Easy Life, it was also a pioneer for the so-called “road movie” in Italy. It has been judged as such a significant contribution to Italian culture that in 2008, Il sorpasso was included in the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage's 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."  Read more…

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Luigi Lablache – opera star

19th century giant was Queen Victoria’s singing coach

The singer Luigi Lablache, whose powerful but agile bass-baritone voice and wide-ranging acting skills made him a superstar of 19th century opera, was born in Naples on this day in 1794.  Lablache was considered one of the greatest singers of his generation; for his interpretation of characters such as Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Geronimo in Domenico Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto, Gottardo the Podestà in Gioachino Rossini’s La gazza ladra, Henry VIII in Gaetano Donizetti’s Anna Bolena and Oroveso in Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma he had few peers.  Donizetti created the role of Don Pasquale in his comic opera of the same name specifically for Lablache.  Lablache performed in all of Italy’s major opera houses and was a star too in Vienna, London, St Petersburg and Paris, which he adopted as his home in later life. Read more…

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Baldassare Castiglione – courtier and diplomat

Writer left a definitive account of life at court in Renaissance Italy

Baldassare Castiglione, the author of the Italian classic, The Book of the Courtier, was born on this day in 1478 near Mantua in Lombardy.  His book about etiquette at court and the ideal of the Renaissance gentleman has been widely read over the years and was even a source of material for Shakespeare after it was translated into English.  Castiglione was born into a noble household and was related on his mother’s side to the powerful Gonzaga family of Mantua. After studying in Milan he succeeded his father as head of the family and was soon representing the Gonzaga family diplomatically.  As a result he met Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, and later took up residence in his court, which was regarded as the most refined and elegant in Italy at the time and received many distinguished guests.  Read more…

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Piero Piccioni – film music composer and lawyer

Politician’s son gave up legal practice to write movie scores

Pianist, conductor and prolific composer Piero Piccioni was born on this day in 1921 in Turin in the northern region of Piedmont.  A self-taught musician, Piccioni became  a composer of film soundtracks, writing more than 300 scores, themes and songs for top directors such as Francesco Rosi, Luchino Visconti, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Rossellini and Vittoria De Sica.  Piccioni had come into contact with the film industry during the 1950s while practising as a lawyer in Rome and working to secure movie rights for Italian distributors such as Titanus and  De Laurentiis.  His interest in music had started as a result of being taken to concerts by his father, Attillio Piccioni, who was a prominent Christian Democrat politician.  Although Piccioni never studied music formally, he became a talented musician by teaching himself. Read more…

Niccolò Zucchi – astronomer

Jesuit's invention gave him a clear view of the planets

Niccolò Zucchi, who designed one of the earliest reflecting telescopes, was born on this day in 1586 in Parma.  His invention enabled him to be the first to discover the belts on the planet Jupiter and to examine the spots on the planet Mars. This was before the telescopes designed by James Gregory and Sir Isaac Newton, which, it has been claimed, were inspired by Zucchi’s book, Optica philosophia.  Zucchi studied rhetoric in Piacenza and philosophy and theology in Parma before entering the Jesuit order in Padua at the age of 16.  He taught mathematics, rhetoric and theology at the Collegio Romano in Rome and was then appointed rector of a new Jesuit college in Ravenna. He then served as apostolic preacher (the preacher to the Papal household) for about seven years.  Zucchi published several books about mechanics, magnetism, barometers and astronomy. Read more…

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Saint Nicholas of Bari

The secret gift maker who has become known as Santa Claus

The feast of Saint Nicholas is held throughout the world every year on this day and is marked particularly in the city of Bari on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Puglia.  Saint Nicholas, who is believed to have died on this day in 343, is always remembered in Bari, because some of his remains are held in the Basilica of San Nicola, which has become an important pilgrimage site.  An early Christian bishop of Greek descent, Nicholas was born in Patara in Anatolia, which was then part of the Roman Empire, in about 270.  Because of the many miracles attributed to him, Nicholas is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He has become the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, toymakers, brewers, and pawnbrokers.  His legendary habit of secretly making gifts also gave rise to the folklore about the character of Santa Claus.  Read more...

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Andrea Agnelli - businessman

Fourth member of famous dynasty to run Juventus

The businessman Andrea Agnelli, who from 2010 until 2022 was chairman and president of Italy’s leading football club, Juventus, was born on this day in 1975 in Turin.  He was the fourth Agnelli to take the helm of the famous club since 1923, when his grandfather, Edoardo, took over as president and presided over the club’s run of five consecutive Serie A titles in the 1930s.  Andrea’s father, Umberto, and his uncle, the flamboyant entrepreneur Gianni Agnelli, also had spells running the club, which has been controlled by the Agnelli family for 88 years, with the exception of a four-year period between 1943 and 1947. The family still owns 64 per cent of the club.  As well as being chief operating officer of Fiat, which was founded by Andrea’s great-grandfather, Giovanni, Umberto was a Senator of the Italian Republic.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Comedy Italian Style: The Golden Age of Italian Film Comedies, by Remi Fournier Lanzoni

Comedy Italian Style is an essential guide to the glorious works and filmmakers of commedia all'italiana, which entertained and amused Italian cinema audiences with its wittily satirical outlook on Italy’s economic postwar boom years.  For a period, the genre became the principal economic engine of the Italian-film industry. The landmark comedies are those of the 1960s and 1970s, when the political soil helped germinate a new society. But this tradition is not contained within two decades: it started in the days before Neorealism and has continued well into the 21st century.  The book covers the work of Dino Risi, Mario Monicelli and Pietro Germi as well as filmmakers as disparate as Federico Fellini, Ettore Scola, Lina Wertmueller, Roberto Benigni and many others. 

Remi Fournier Lanzoni, author of French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present, is associate professor of French and Italian at Elon University, North Carolina.

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