Giorgio Chiellini - footballer
Juventus star renowned for defensive excellence
The footballer Giorgio Chiellini - captain of the Italy team that won the 2020 European Championships and renowned as one of the world’s best defenders - was born on this day in 1984 in Pisa. Chiellini, who retired as a player in 2023, spent much of his career at Juventus, winning an incredible nine consecutive Serie A titles from 2012 to 2020, as well as numerous other trophies. He was Serie A Defender of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and in 2017 was named in Juventus’s Greatest XI of All Time. He also earned 117 caps for the Italy national team - 20 after he had announced his retirement from international football in 2017 only to change his mind. He established himself as an automatic choice in a back three or four under seven different coaches. Until he captained the national team to success in the 2020 Euros, all of Chiellini’s successes were in domestic football. Read more…
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The Martyrs of Otranto
Victims of massacre made saints
More than 800 male inhabitants of the southern Italian city of Otranto were beheaded on this day in 1480 by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire. Legend has it that these men - 813 in total from the age of 15 upwards - were the only male survivors after Otranto, a port city some 35km (22 miles) southeast of Lecce, was captured by the Ottomans at the end of a 15-day siege. According to some accounts, a total of 12,000 people were killed and 5,000 mainly women and children were enslaved, including victims from the territories of the Salentine peninsula around the city. The 813 were supposedly offered clemency in return for their conversion to Islam but all refused, taking their lead from a tailor called Antonio Primaldi, who is said to have proclaimed: "Now it is time for us to fight to save our souls for the Lord. And since he died on the cross for us, it is fitting that we should die for him." Read more…
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Enzo Ferrari – car maker
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Entrepreneur turned Ferrari into world’s most famous marque
Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari motor racing team and later the Ferrari sports car factory, died on this day in 1988 at the age of 90. Known widely as Il commendatore, he passed away in Maranello, a town in Emilia-Romagna a few kilometres from Modena, where he had a house, the Villa Rosa, literally opposite Ferrari’s headquarters, where he continued to supervise operations almost to his death. He had reportedly been suffering from kidney disease. Since the first Ferrari racing car was built in 1947 and the Scuderia Ferrari team’s famous prancing stallion symbol has been carried to victory in 228 Formula One Grand Prix races and brought home 15 drivers’ championships and 16 manufacturers’ championship. Always an exclusive marque, the number of Ferraris produced for road use since the company began to build cars for sale rather than simply to race is in excess of 150,000. Read more…
Benito Carbone - footballer and coach
Gifted forward sparkled in English Premier League
The footballer and coach Benito Carbone, whose partnership with fellow Italian Paolo di Canio in the colours of Sheffield Wednesday was the highlight of a six-year stay in England’s Premier League, was born on this day in 1971 in Bagnara Calabra, a seaside village in Calabria. Carbone signed for Sheffield Wednesday from Inter-Milan in 1996 as Italian players arrived in England in large numbers for the first time. The influx included other star names, such as Gianluca Vialli, Gianfranco Zola, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Roberto Di Matteo and Stefano Eranio. Wednesday paid £3 million for Carbone, spending a further £4.2 million on Di Canio the following year. Between them, they scored 43 goals for the Yorkshire club, Carbone netting 26. They both enjoyed enormous popularity with supporters. Read more…
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Pope Pius VII
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Compromise candidate elected by conclave-in-exile in Venice
Pope Pius VII was born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti on this day in 1742 in Cesena in Emilia-Romagna. He was elected Pope in a conclave that was forced to meet on the island of San Giorgio in Venice in 1799 because Rome was occupied by the French. He was crowned with a papier mâché version of the Papal tiara in 1800 because the French had seized the original. It was the last conclave to be held outside Rome. Chiaramonti was a monk of the order of Saint Benedict as well as being a distinguished theologian. He was granted the title, Servant of God, by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. Chiaramonti had joined the order of Saint Benedict at the age of 14. He was later ordained as a priest and went on to teach at Benedictine colleges in Parma and Rome. After one of his relatives was elected Pope Pius VI, Chiaramonti had a series of promotions that resulted in him becoming a Cardinal. Read more…
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Book of the Day: Cinque Anni: The Story of the Italian National Football Team: 2017-2022, by Rob Carless
Rob Carless has written extensively about football and collaborated with former players on their autobiographies. Rob's books include Three Games in May: And a 20-year odyssey that defined Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, Under the Floodlights!: Sixty Years of the Football League Cup and Sunshine After the Rain: The Story of Aston Villa 2009-2023.
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