4 June

NEW - The Siege of Mantua

Eight-month blockade gave Napoleon control of northern Italy

Troops led by one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s top generals laid siege to the city of Mantua on this day in 1796 in what would unfold as the defining hub of the French military leader’s victorious First Italian Campaign. Following two months of lightning aggressive actions by Napoleon’s forces,  Austria’s allies in Piedmont were forced to surrender, the Austrians themselves were driven out of Milan and then fled into the mountains of Tyrol to the north. But a garrison of 14,000 remained in Mantua, a fortress city largely surrounded by water that was key to control of northern Italy.  The Austrian retreat meant Mantua was isolated, at which point French divisions under General Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier moved to force Austrian outposts to withdraw into the city, which on June 4 was completely surrounded. The Mantua garrison had been Austria’s insurance against invasion by Napoleon from Italy, meaning any attempt to do so was a risk he could not take. But isolating it proved to be an act of strategic genius on his part. Read more…

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Dino Grandi - politician

Fascist who ultimately turned against Mussolini

The Fascist politician Dino Grandi was born on this day in 1895 in Mordano, a small town near Imola in Emilia-Romagna.  Although Grandi was an active member of Benito Mussolini’s Blackshirts and a staunch advocate of using violence to suppress opponents of Mussolini’s National Fascist Party, he ultimately became central to the Italian dictator’s downfall.  During his time as the Italian Ambassador in London, Grandi tried to forge a pact between Italy and Britain that would have prevented Italy entering World War Two.  Under pressure from the German leader Adolf Hitler, Mussolini removed him from the post of ambassador and appointed him Minister of Justice.  Grandi had also opposed the antisemitic Italian racial laws of 1938. He enjoyed a good relationship with the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel III, who gave him the title Count of Mordano.  Read more…

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Cecilia Bartoli – opera singer

Soprano put the spotlight back on ‘forgotten’ composers and singers

Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli was born on this day in 1966 in Rome. Bartoli is renowned for her interpretations of the music of Mozart and Rossini and for her performances of music by some of the lesser-known Baroque and 19th century composers.  Her parents were both professional singers and gave her music lessons themselves and her first public performance was at the age of eight when she appeared as the shepherd boy in Tosca.  Bartoli studied at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome and made her professional opera debut in 1987 at the Arena di Verona.  The following year she earned rave reviews for her portrayal of Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville in Germany and Switzerland.  Bartoli made her debut at La Scala in 1996, followed by the Metropolitan Opera in 1997 and the Royal Opera House in 2001.  Read more…

Flavio Biondo – historian and archaeologist

Writer reconstructed ancient Roman topography

Flavio Biondo, the first historian to write about the concept of the Middle Ages, died on this day in 1463 in Rome.  Biondo, who is also sometimes referred to as Flavius Biondus, his Latin name, wrote Historiarum, which ran to 32 volumes. It was a comprehensive treatment of both Europe and Christendom from the sack of Rome by the Goths in AD 410 to the rise of Italian cities in the 15th century.  His work provided a definite chronological scheme, from ancient Rome up to his own time, which started the idea of the 1000 year period we now refer to as the Middle Ages. It is known that the writer Niccolò Machiavelli often consulted this work.  Biondo was born in 1392 in Forlì in Romagna, which is now part of the region of Emilia-Romagna. He was educated well and during a brief stay in Milan he discovered, and was able to transcribe, the only existing manuscript of Cicero’s dialogue, Brutus.  Read more…

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Claudia de’ Medici – Archduchess of Tyrol

Medici daughter who was born to rule

Claudia de’ Medici, who ruled the Tyrol region of Austria while her son was still a minor, was born on this day in 1604 in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence.  Claudia was the daughter of Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his wife Christina of Lorraine.  She was destined for a marital alliance with someone equally aristocratic and became engaged at just four years old to Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, Duke of Urbino.  She was educated in a convent where, in addition to piety, she learned to play the harp and paint pictures.  At the age of 16, she married Federico, Duke of Urbino and was initially disappointed when she found out he had his mistress installed in the ducal palace.  But two years later she had a daughter with him, Vittoria della Rovere. Her husband died a year later in 1623 leaving her a widow at the age of 19.  Read more…

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Deborah Compagnoni - Olympic skiing champion

Alpine ace won gold medals in 1992, 1994 and 1998

The three-times Olympic skiing champion Deborah Compagnoni was born on this day in 1970 in Bormio, northern Lombardy.  Regarded as the greatest Italian female skier of all-time, she won gold medals at the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.  Despite suffering two serious cruciate ligament injuries, she also won multiple events at the Alpine Skiing World Cup between 1992 and 1998.  Born in Bormio but raised in Santa Caterina di Valfurva, in Valtellina, Compagnoni’s talent became obvious at a young age but she began suffering injuries also at an early age.  At just 16 years old she won the bronze medal in the downhill at the World junior championships in 1987, and the following year won the junior title in giant slalom and achieved her first podium in the World Cup.  However, shortly afterwards she broke her right knee at Val d'Isére downhill. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Napoleon in Italy: The Sieges of Mantua, 1796–1799, by Phillip R Cuccia

In the centre of Mantua, in northern Italy, a covered bridge stretches over the narrow Rio canal where vendors sell fish from pushcarts just as locals did more than two hundred years ago when Napoleon Bonaparte laid siege to the city. Four cannon balls protruding out of an adjacent wall offer a tacit monument to the sufferings of townspeople during the 1796-1797 siege, when the city, held by Austrian troops, finally fell under French control. Two years later, Mantua was again barraged, this time by a combined Austrian and Russian army, which took it back after four months. In Napoleon in Italy, Phillip R Cuccia brings to light two understudied aspects of these trying periods in Mantua's history: siege warfare and the conditions it created inside the city.  Drawing on underutilized military records in Austrian, French, and Italian archives, Cuccia delves into these important conflicts to integrate political and social issues with a campaign study. Napoleon in Italy is not only the story of Mantua's strategic importance. Mantua also symbolized Napoleon's voracious determination to win and Austria's desperation to retain its possessions. By placing the sieges of Mantua in an eighteenth-century international context, Cuccia introduces readers to a broader understanding of siege warfare and of how the global impacts the local. 

A graduate of the United States Military Academy West Point, retired US Army Colonel Phillip Cuccia has taught Military History at his alma mater, as well as the US Army War College (Carlisle, Pennsylvania) and Liberty University (Lynchburg, Virginia).

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