NEW - Elena of Montenegro
Loving mother of five looked every inch a Queen
A young princess from the Balkans became the Queen of Italy on this day in 1900 while she was enjoying a Mediterranean cruise. Elena of Montenegro and her husband, who became Victor Emmanuel III, had to land at the port of Reggio Calabria after learning that King Umberto I of Italy had been shot dead. Elena was to carry out her duties as the Queen of Italy for 46 years, until her husband abdicated in favour of his son, who became King Umberto II of Italy in May 1946. She was the daughter of King Nicholas I and Queen Milena of the Principality of Montenegro. Brought up to speak French, Elena was educated in Saint Petersburg in Russia until the age of 18. When Victor Emmanuel’s mother, Queen Margherita, was looking for a suitable bride for her only son, she was encouraged to consider Elena by Francesco Crispi, the Italian Prime Minister. Read more…
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Benito Mussolini - Fascist leader
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Future dictator inspired by his father's politics
Benito Mussolini, who would become Italy's notorious Fascist dictator during the 1920s, was born on this day in 1883 in a small town in Emilia-Romagna known then as Dovia di Predappio, about 17km (11 miles) south of the city of Forlì. His father, Alessandro, worked as a blacksmith while his mother, Rosa was a devout Catholic schoolteacher. Benito was the eldest of his parents' three children. He would later have a brother, Arnaldo, and a sister, Edvige. It could be said that Alessandro's political leanings influenced his son from birth. Benito was named after the Mexican reformist President, Benito Juárez, while his middle names - Andrea and Amilcare - were those of the Italian socialists Andrea Costa and Amilcare Cipriani. Working in his father's smithy as a boy growing up, Mussolini would listen to Alessandro's admiration for the protagonists of the Italian unification movement, such as the nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini, and the military leader Giuseppe Garibaldi. Read more…
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Teresa Noce - activist and partisan
Anti-Fascist who became union leader and parliamentary deputy
Teresa Noce, who became one of the most important female campaigners for workers’ rights in 20th century Italy, was born on this day in 1900. A trade union activist as young as 12 years old, Noce spent almost 20 years in exile after the Fascists outlawed her political activity, during which time she became involved with the labour movement and in Paris and subsequently led a French partisan unit under the code name Estella. After she returned to Italy in 1945 she was elected to the Camera dei Deputati (Chamber of Deputies) as a member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI). Working with the Unione Donne Italiane (Italian Women’s Union), she secured changes to the law to protect working mothers and provide paid maternity leave. Born in one of the poorest districts of Turin, she and her older brother were brought up in a one-parent family. Read more…
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Pope Urban VIII
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Pontiff whose extravagance led to disgrace
The controversial Pope Urban VIII died on this day in 1644 in Rome. Urban VIII – born Maffeo Barberini – was a significant patron of the arts, the sponsor of the brilliant sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini, whose work had a major influence on the look of Rome. But in his ambitions to strengthen and expand the Papal States, he overreached himself in a disastrous war against Odoardo Farnese, the Duke of Parma, and the expenses incurred in that and other conflicts, combined with extravagant spending on himself and his family, left the papacy seriously weakened. Indeed, so unpopular was Urban VIII that after news spread of his death there was rioting in Rome and a bust of him on Capitoline Hill was destroyed by an angry mob. His time in office was also notable for the conviction in 1633 for heresy of the physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei. Read more…
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Agostino Depretis – politician
Premier stayed in power by creating coalitions
One of the longest serving Prime Ministers in the history of Italy, Agostino Depretis died on this day in 1887 in Stradella in the Lombardy region. He had been the founder and main proponent of trasformismo, a method of making a flexible centrist coalition that isolated the extremists on the right and the left. Depretis served as Prime Minister three times between 1876 and his death. He was born in 1813 in Mezzana Corti, a hamlet that is now part of Cava Manara, a municipality in the province of Pavia. After graduating from law school in Pavia, Depretis ran his family’s estate. In 1848, the year of revolutions in Europe, he was elected as a member of the first parliament in Piedmont. He consistently opposed Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, the Prime Minister of Piedmont Sardinia. Read more…
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Book of the Day: The Royal House of Savoy: Unifiers of Italy, by Gino Neil Lupini
Gino Neil Lupini, born in Cape Town, South Africa, to an Italian father and British mother, represented Italy as a professional rugby player. He began writing after transitioning to a career in education. This book followed a meeting with Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, grandson of Umberto II, the last King of Italy.
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