Revolt in Padua
When students and citizens joined forces against their oppressors
An uprising against the Austrian occupying forces, when students and ordinary citizens fought side by side, took place on this day in Padua in 1848. A street is now named Via VIII Febbraio to commemorate the location of the struggle between the Austrian soldiers and the students and citizens of Padua, when both the University of Padua and the Caffè Pedrocchi briefly became battlegrounds. The Padua rebellion was one of a series of revolts in Italy during 1848, which had started with the Sicilian uprising in January of that year. The Austrians were seen as arrogant and aggressive by ordinary citizens and the ideas of Giuseppe Mazzini and Camillo Benso Cavour about a united Italy were becoming popular with progressive thinkers. Students and professors at Padua University had been meeting in rooms at the University and in Caffè Pedrocchi to discuss their discontent. Read more…
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Italo Santelli - fencer
Olympic medallist famous for real ‘duel’
The Olympic fencer Italo Santelli, who famously fought a duel with his former team captain over a matter of honour, died on this day in 1945 in Livorno, Tuscany. Santelli won a silver medal at the 1900 Olympics in Paris with a new style of sabre fencing of his own invention. Originally from Carrodano in Liguria, he fought for Italy but spent a large part of his career coaching Hungary, who he helped become a formidable power in fencing. It was this conflict of interests that sparked an incident at the 1924 Olympics, also in Paris, that led to Santelli and Adolfo Cotronei, who was Italy’s team captain, engaging in the infamous duel. It happened during a match between the Italians and the host nation France in the team foil event when Italy’s Aldo Boni was facing off against Lucien Gaudin. With the match tied at four touches each, the Hungarian judge György Kovacs awarded the winning fifth touch to Gaudin. Read more…
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Nicola Salvi – architect
Creator of Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain
The architect Nicola Salvi, notable as the designer of the Fontana di Trevi – known in English as the Trevi Fountain and one of the most famous and most visited monuments in Rome – died on this day in 1751. He was working on the Trevi when he passed away, having been engaged on the project since 1732. It had to be finished by Giuseppe Pannini and the giant statue of Oceanus – the Titan God of the Sea in Greek mythology – set in the central niche, was completed by Pietro Bracci, yet Salvi takes credit as the lead architect. Salvi ran a workshop in Rome that he had taken over when his master, Antonio Canevari, left the city in 1727 to take up a position working as architectural consultant to the king of Portugal in Lisbon. He completed a number of commissions on behalf of Canevari but spent a good deal of his time tutoring others. Read more…
Guercino - Bolognese master
Self-taught artist amassed fortune from his work
The artist known as Guercino was born Giovanni Francesco Barbieri on this day in 1591 in Cento, a town between Bologna and Ferrara in what is now the Emilia-Romagna region. His professional name began as a nickname on account of his squint - guercino means little squinter in Italian. After the death of Guido Reni in 1642, he became established as the leading painter in Bologna. Guercino painted in the Baroque and classical styles. His best known works include The Arcadian Shepherds (Et in Arcadia Ego - I too am in Arcadia), showing two shepherds who have discovered a skull, which is now on display at the Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica in Rome, and The Flaying of Marsyas by Apollo, which can be found in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, both of which were painted in 1618. Guercino's frescoes were notable for the technique of creating an illusionist ceiling. Read more…
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Giuseppe Torelli – violinist and composer
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Brilliant musician could both perform and write beautiful music
Talented musician Giuseppe Torelli, who played the viola and violin and was a composer during the late Baroque era, died on this day in 1709 in Bologna in Emilia-Romagna. He is remembered for contributing to the development of the instrumental concerto and for being the most prolific Baroque composer for trumpets and he is ranked with Arcangelo Corelli as a developer of the Baroque concerto and concerto grosso. Torelli was born in Verona in 1658. He learnt to play the violin and studied composition with Giacomo Antonio Perti. At the age of 26 it is known that he was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica as a violinist. Two years later he was employed as a viola player at the Basilica di San Petronio in Bologna. He stayed there for about ten years until the orchestra was disbanded because of financial constraints. Read more…
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Book of the Day: The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy, by Derek Beales and Eugenio F Biagini
Derek Beales was a British historian. A former Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University, his books include the definitive work on the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. Eugenio F Biagini is an Italian historian, specialising in democracy and liberalism in 19th and 20th-century Britain, Ireland and Italy.
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