8 August

Ugo Bassi - priest and patriot

Unarmed chaplain was a follower of Garibaldi

Catholic priest Ugo Bassi was executed by firing squad on this day in 1849 in Bologna.  Bassi had been a preacher of eloquent sermons that attracted large crowds and had travelled all over Italy helping the poor, often himself not having enough food to eat.  He was also strongly patriotic and had been a follower of Giuseppe Garibaldi in his fight for a united, independent kingdom of Italy. It was while he was with Garibaldi’s army battling French troops loyal to the Pope in Rome that he was captured and sentenced to death on a false charge of carrying a weapon.  His execution was said to have enraged Liberals all over Europe.  Bassi was born in 1801 in Cento, a small town in the province of Ferrara, in what is now Emilia-Romagna. Although he was baptised as Giuseppe Bassi, he later changed his name to Ugo in honour of the patriotic and revolutionary poet, Ugo Foscolo.  Read more… Read more…

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Danilo Gallinari - basketball player

Giant from Lodi province who played in America’s NBA

Danilo Gallinari, one of only 12 Italian-born athletes to have played in America’s National Basketball Association, was born on this day in 1988 in Sant’Angelo Lodigiani in Lombardy.  Gallinari, who stands 6ft 10ins tall, played for nine NBA teams over a 16-year period before announcing his retirement  He turned out for the New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks.  He had a reputation for quiet leadership and his calmness in putting away three-pointers - field goals scored from outside the three-point arc surrounding the basket - earned him the nickname 'The Silent Sniper'. Although he never won an NBA title, Gallinari earned more than $200 million in the course of his career. Read more…

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Dino De Laurentiis – film producer

Campanian pasta seller helped make Italian cinema famous 

The producer of hundreds of hit films, Agostino ‘Dino’ De Laurentiis was born on this day in 1919 at Torre Annunziata, near Naples in Campania.  He made Italian cinema famous internationally, producing Federico Fellini’s Oscar- winning La strada in 1954 in Rome.  After moving to the US he enjoyed further success with the film Serpico in 1973.  De Laurentiis was the son of a pasta maker for whom he worked as a salesman during his teens.  While selling pasta in Rome in the 1930s he decided on impulse to enrol at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in the city as an actor.  He quickly realised he had more talent for producing and made his first film, L’amore canta - Love Song - in 1941 when he was just 22.  After serving in the army during the Second World War, De Laurentiis became an executive producer at one of Rome’s emerging film companies, Lux.  Read more…

Leo Chiosso – songwriter

Writer of lyrics and scripts was inspired by crime fiction

Prolific songwriter Leo Chiosso was born on this day in 1920 in Chieri, a town to the south of Turin in Piedmont.  He became well known for the songs he wrote in partnership with Fred Buscaglione, a singer and musician, but Chiosso also wrote many scripts for television and cinema.  Chiosso met Buscaglione in 1938 in the nightclubs of Turin, where Buscaglione was a jazz singer. They formed a songwriting duo that produced more than 40 songs.  However, their friendship was interrupted by the Second World War.  Chiosso was taken prisoner and deported to Poland, where he became friends with the writer Giovanni Guareschi, while Buscaglione was sent to a US internment camp in Sardinia.  It was only when Chiosso heard Buscaglione playing in a musical broadcast by the Allied radio station in Cagliari that he knew his friend was alive.  Read more…

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Giuseppe Conte – politician and academic

Lawyer who led Italy despite having no political experience

Former prime minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte was born on this day in 1964 in the town of Volturara Appula in the province of Foggia in Puglia.  Conte served as Italian prime minister between 2018 and 2021, becoming the longest serving independent prime minister in the history of Italy.  He was the fifth technocrat Italian prime minister - defined as being appointed without any previous political experience - and the first from southern Italy since Ciriaco De Mita in 1989.  A law professor for a large part of his career, Conte is often referred to as ‘the people’s lawyer’ (l’avvocato del popolo), as this is how he described himself during his first speech as prime minister. He subsequently became president of the Italian political party, the Five Star Movement (M5S).  Conte’s father, Nicola, was an employee of the local authority, and his mother, Lillina, was a school teacher.  Read more…

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Book of the Day:  Via Garibaldi: On the Trail of Italy's Hero, by Jim Holden  

Che Guevara once observed that ‘the only hero the world has ever needed is Giuseppe Garibaldi.’ Italy’s greatest national hero, Garibaldi is the man most responsible for creating the modern, unified country we know today. In Via Garibaldi, Jim Holden tells his incredible story by means of a journey to cities and towns that were central to Garibaldi’s life. The path across Italy follows his actions in chronological order, recounting his immense courage amid bloody battles, his often turbulent private affairs, and the clashes with authority that put him in jail several times.  The story, however, begins in London, to which he travelled 160 years ago and was feted by an astonishing half a million people in the streets around Trafalgar Square. Via Garibaldi is for history lovers, travellers, Italophiles, and anyone who relishes an adventure story. It is also an excellent travel companion for people visiting Italy.

Jim Holden was chief sports writer on the Sunday Express newspaper in the United Kingdom for 20 years. He now lives in Italy, where he is an adjunct professor at the American University of Rome in the Communications and English departments. He continues to contribute a regular column for 'World Soccer' magazine.

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