6 January

Baldassare Verazzi - painter

Piedmontese artist famous for image of uprising in Milan

The painter Baldassare Verazzi, whose most famous work depicts a scene from the anti-Austrian uprising known as The Five Days of Milan, was born on this day in 1819 in Caprezzo, a tiny village in Piedmont, 120km (75 miles) from Turin in the hills above Lake Maggiore.  Something of a revolutionary in that he was an active supporter of the Risorgimento, it is supposed that he was in Milan in 1848 when citizens rose up against the ruling forces of the Austrian Empire, which controlled much of northern Italy.  The Cinque Giornate di Milano, in March of that year, comprised five days of street fighting that eventually resulted in the Austrian garrison being expelled from the city, marking the start of the First Italian War of Independence.  Verazzi’s painting is today on display at the Museum of the Risorgimento in the Castello Sforza in Milan. Read more…

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First Montessori school opens in Rome

Educationalist Maria Montessori launches Casa dei Bambini

The first of what would become recognised across the world as Montessori schools opened its doors in Rome on this day in 1907.  The Casa dei Bambini, in the working class neighbourhood of San Lorenzo, was launched by the physician and educationalist Maria Montessori.  Montessori - the first woman in Italy to qualify as a physician - had enjoyed success with her teaching methods while working with children as a volunteer at Rome University's psychiatric clinic.  She was convinced that the techniques she had used to help children with learning difficulties and more serious mental health issues could be adapted for the benefit of all children.  The Casa dei Bambini came into being after Montessori had been invited to work on a housing project in San Lorenzo, where her responsibility was to oversee the care and education of the project's children while their parents were at work.  Read more…

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Silvana Pampanini - actress and singer

Postwar pin-up who preceded Loren and Lollobrigida

The actress and singer Silvana Pampanini, who starred in more than 50 films and was Italian cinema’s biggest box office draw in the 1950s, died on this day in 2016 in Rome.  She was 90 years old and had been hospitalised for some weeks following abdominal surgery. Her funeral took place at the Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, in the Esquilino district to the southeast of the city centre.  Born in Rome into a family of Venetian heritage in 1925, she had ambitions to become an opera singer, inspired by the career of her aunt, Rosetta Pampanini, a noted soprano who sang at many of the world’s great opera houses.  She enrolled at the renowned Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome, where her male teacher was so struck by her physical beauty that without her knowledge he entered her for the 1946 Miss Italy contest, the first to be staged after World War Two. Read more…

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Piersanti Mattarella - assassination victim

President’s brother assumed to have been killed by Mafia

The politician Piersanti Mattarella, whose brother, Sergio, is the current President of Italy, was shot dead on this day in 1980.  The 44-year-old Christian Democrat, who was president of the regional government of Sicily, was about to drive to Epiphany mass from his home in Via della Libertà in Palermo when a gunman or gunmen appeared at the side of his car.  Mattarella was shot at point blank range in front of his wife, Irma, their daughter Maria, and his wife’s mother, who were passengers in his Fiat 132. Sergio, at that time a lecturer at the University of Palermo, was called by his nephew, Bernardo, who had not been in the car. He was one of the first on the scene after the shooting and took his brother to hospital. His efforts were in vain; Piersanti was already dead.  Yet the identity of his killers was never established.  Read more…

Adriano Celentano – singer and actor

Italy’s biggest-selling recording artist of all time

The pop singer and movie actor Adriano Celentano, who is estimated to have sold in the region of 200 million records in a career spanning 60 years, was born on this day in 1938 in Milan.  One of the most influential figures in Italian pop culture, Celentano enjoys such enduring popularity that when he gave his first live performance for 18 years at the Arena di Verona in 2012, screened on the Canale 5 television channel, it attracted an audience of more than nine million.  He has recorded more than 40 albums, among which, Tutti le migliori (All The Best) reviving his collaboration with another veteran Italian star, Mina, was released in 2017 and included new material.  Celentano’s biggest individual hits include Stai lontana di me (Stay away from me, 1962), Si è spento il sole (The sun has gone out, 1962), Pregherò (I will pray, 1962) and Il ragazzo della via Gluck (The boy from Gluck Street, 1966). Read more…

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Giuseppe Sammartini – oboe player and composer

Musician could make oboe sound like the human voice

Giuseppe Sammartini, a brilliant oboist and composer during the late Baroque and early classical era, was born on this day in 1695 in Milan.  The musician - named Giuseppe Francesco Gaspare Melchiorre Baldassare Sammartini in full - spent many years living and working in London, where he was hailed as ‘the greatest oboist the world had ever known.’ He also worked as a music master for Frederick, Prince of Wales and his wife Augusta, when Frederick was heir to the British throne. Frederick was the eldest son of King George II, but he died before his father. Frederick’s own eldest son later became King George III.  Giuseppe’s younger brother, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, also became a well-known composer and oboe player. The brothers had both been given oboe lessons by their French father, Alexis Saint-Martin.  Read more…

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Befana - Italy’s January 6 tradition

A good witch who traditionally sweeps away problems

Children in Italy will be waking up on this day hoping to find that Befana has left them some presents while they have been sleeping.  Although Christmas is almost over, the eve of January 6 is when a kind witch is supposed to visit the good children in Italy and leave them presents.  Traditionally, children who have been naughty are supposed to receive only a lump of coal and those who have been stupid are supposed to receive only a carrot.  But in reality, many children throughout Italy will expect good presents from Befana today.  Befana is also sometimes referred to as La Vecchia (the old woman) and La Strega (the witch). But she is supposed to be a similar character to Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus.  It is believed her name derives from La Festa dell’Epifania (the feast of the Epiphany).  Befana is usually portrayed in illustrations as an old lady riding a broomstick. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Modern Italy: A Political History, by Denis Mack Smith

With Count Camillo Cavour's proclamation of a united Italian kingdom in 1861, the history of modern Italy began. But for this country, once at the centre of western culture and now promising to become a prosperous, liberal new European power, this late entry to nationhood and rapid reach for influence would bring frequent crises. In the decades following the Risorgimento, Italy lurched from liberal oligarchy to fascist dictatorship, through civil war to a new democratic regime still riddled with corruption and instability. First published in 1958 as 'Italy: A Modern History', Denis Mack Smith's classic work has been fully revised and updated, providing a new and penetrating analysis of the country's development from 1945 to the present. Stylish, clearly written, deeply informed, and often controversial, Modern Italy: A Political History remains the definitive account.

Denis Mack Smith was an English historian who specialised in the history of Italy from the Risorgimento onwards. He is best known for his biographies of Garibaldi, Cavour and Mussolini, and for his single-volume Modern Italy: A Political History. He was granted Italy's highest civilian honour - Commendatore of the Italian Order of Merit - in 1996.

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