8 March

Carlo Gesualdo – composer

Madrigal writer was also a murderer

Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa, who composed highly experimental music for his time, was born on this day in 1566 in the principality of Venosa, then part of the Kingdom of Naples.  He was to become known both for his extraordinary music and for the brutal killing of his first wife and her aristocratic lover after he caught them together.  Gesualdo was the nephew of Carlo Borromeo, who later became Saint Charles Borromeo. His mother, Geronima Borromeo, was the niece of Pope Pius IV.  Although Gesualdo was sent to Rome to begin an ecclesiastical career, he became heir to the principality after his older brother died. He married his cousin, Donna Maria D’Avalos, and they had a son, Emanuele.  Gesualdo was devoted to music from an early age and mixed with musicians and composers, learning to play the lute, harpsichord and guitar.  Read more…

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La Festa della Donna – Women’s Day

Bright fragrant mimosa signals respect

La Festa della Donna - Women’s Day - is celebrated in Italy on this day every year and is an occasion for men to show their appreciation for the women in their lives.  In many parts of Italy today, men will be seen carrying bunches of prettily wrapped mimosa to give to women who are special to them.  The flowers might be for their wives, girlfriends, mothers, friends or even employees and are meant as a sign of respect for womanhood.  The custom of men giving mimosa to their ladies began in the 1940s after the date 8 March was chosen as the Festa della Donna in Italy.  The date, which coincides with International Women's Day, has a political significance for campaigners for women's rights in Italy, marking the anniversary of a strike by female textile workers in New York in 1857 and the so-called 'bread and peace' strike by women in Russia in 1917. Read more…

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Antonello Venditti - enduring music star

Roman singer-songwriter's career spans 50 years

Singer-songwriter Antonello Venditti, one of Italy's most popular and enduring stars of contemporary music, was born on this day in 1949 in Rome.   Famous in the 1970s for the strong political and social content of many of his songs, Venditti can look back on a career spanning half a century, in which he has sold more than 30 million records.  Taking into account singles, studio and live albums and compilations, Venditti has released more than 100 recordings.  His biggest success came with the 1988 album In questo mondo di ladri (In This World of Thieves) - which sold 1.5 million copies, making it jointly the eighth best-selling album in Italian music history.  Venditti's music ranges from folk to soft rock, often with classical overtones. He enjoyed sustained success in the 1980s and 90s, when Cuore, Benvenuti in Paradiso and Prendilo tu questo frutto amaro all sold well. Read more…

Walter Chiari - actor

Talented star with taste for high life

The actor Walter Chiari, whose passionate affair with the American superstar Ava Gardner in 1950s Rome is said to have influenced Federico Fellini in the making of his landmark movie La dolce vita, was born on this day in 1924 in Verona.  Chiari was an accomplished stage and film actor when he met Gardner on the set of The Little Hut, a 1957 romantic comedy that was British made and with a Canadian director but was filmed largely at Cinecittà in Rome.  Gardner was still married to Frank Sinatra at the time but the pair were estranged and she was open to romance. She developed a taste for the Rome nightlife around the Via Veneto and her relationship with Chiari soon began to dominate the gossip columns. They were constantly harassed by photographers, some of whom felt the rough edge of Chiari’s temper.  Read more… 

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Gianni Baget Bozzo – priest and politician

Theologian moved from party to party

Prolific writer, ordained Catholic priest and political activist Gianni Baget Bozzo - often referred to as Don Gianni - was born on this day in 1925 in Savona in the northern Italian region of Liguria.  He took the name Baget from his mother, who was of Catalan origin but died when he was five, and Bozzo from the two uncles who raised him.  Baget Bozzo was known for supporting parties from both ends of the political spectrum at different times.  At one time a Christian Democrat activist, Baget Bozzo was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for the Italian Socialist party in 1984, which led to him being suspended from the priesthood. He was a member of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia party from 1994.  He wrote many books about Christianity and as a theologian was a follower of the theories of Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Gesualdo Hex - Music, Myth, and Memory, by Glenn Watkins

In this vivid tale of adultery and intrigue, witchcraft and murder, Glenn Watkins explores the fascinating life of the Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo - a life suffused with scandal and bordering on the fantastical. An isolated prince, Gesualdo had a personal life that was no less eccentric and bewildering than the music he composed; his biography has often clouded our perception of his oeuvre, which music scholars have periodically dismissed as a late Renaissance deformation of little consequence. Today, however, Gesualdo’s music, once deemed so strange as to be unperformable, stands as one of the most vibrant legacies of the late Italian Renaissance with an undeniable impact on a host of 20th-century musicians and artists. The incendiary details of Gesualdo’s life recede, and his grip on our musical imagination comes to the fore. Watkins challenges our preconceptions of what has become a nearly mythic persona, weaving together the cumulative experience of some of the most vibrant artists of the past century from Stravinsky and Schoenberg to Abbado and Herzog. Beyond questions of mere influence, however, In The Gesualdo Hex, the author examines how Gesualdo’s life, music, myth, and memory intertwine with one another to reveal an uncanny affinity with our own time. 

Glenn E Watkins was a distinguished musicologist and Professor Emeritus of Music History and Musicology at the University of Michigan. 

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7 March

Baldassare Peruzzi - architect and painter

Pupil of Bramante who left mark on Rome

The architect and painter Baldassare Peruzzi, who trained under Donato Bramante and was a contemporary of Raphael, was born on this day in 1481 in a small town near Siena.   Peruzzi worked in his home city and in Rome, where he spent many years as one of the architects of the St Peter’s Basilica project but where he was also responsible for two outstanding buildings in his own right - the Villa Farnesina and the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne.  The Villa Farnesina, a summer house commissioned by the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi in the Trastevere district, is unusual for its U-shaped floor plan, with a five-bay loggia between the arms.  Raphael and Sebastiano del Piombo were among those who helped decorate the villa with frescoes, but Peruzzi is acknowledged as the chief designer.  Read more…

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Alessandro Manzoni – novelist

Writer who produced the greatest novel in Italian literature

Italy’s most famous novelist, Alessandro Manzoni, was born on this day in 1785 in Milan.  Manzoni was the author of I promessi sposi (The Betrothed), the first novel to be written in modern Italian, a language that could be understood by everyone.  The novel caused a sensation when it was first published in 1825. It looked at Italian history through the eyes of the ordinary citizen and sparked pro-unification feelings in many Italians who read it, becoming a symbol of the Risorgimento movement.  I promessi sposi is now considered to be the most important novel in Italian literature and is still required reading for many Italian schoolchildren.  Manzoni spent a lot of his childhood in Lecco, on Lago di Lecco, where his father’s family originated, and he chose to set his great work there.  Lago di Lecco is an arm of Lago di Como and is surrounded by dramatic mountain scenery. Read more…

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Luciano Spalletti - football manager

National coach has long record of success

The football manager Luciano Spalletti, who led Napoli to their first Serie A title since the Diego Maradona era before being appointed head coach to Italy’s national team, was born on this day in 1959 in the Tuscan town of Certaldo, just under 50km (31 miles) southwest of Florence.  A late starter as a professional player, at 64 Spalletti became the oldest winning coach in the history of the Italian championship when Napoli won the 2022-23 scudetto.  The achievement turned him into a hero in Naples, where fans celebrated in scenes not witnessed in the southern Italian city since Napoli won two titles in four years with the late Maradona as captain and talisman, the second of which was 33 years earlier in the 1989-90 campaign.  Having hinted before the season finished that he was thinking about taking time out of football, Spalletti confirmed ahead of the final fixture that he would be leaving the club.  Read more…

Filippo Juvarra – architect

Baroque designer influenced the look of ‘royal Turin’

Architect and stage set designer Filippo Juvarra was born on this day in 1678 in Messina in Sicily.  Some of his best work can be seen in Turin today as he worked for Victor Amadeus II of Savoy from 1714 onwards. The buildings Juvarra designed for Turin made him famous and he was subsequently invited to work in Portugal, Spain, London and Paris.  Juvarra was born into a family of goldsmiths and engravers but moved to Rome in 1704 to study architecture with Carlo and Francesco Fontana.  He was commissioned to design stage sets to begin with, but in 1706 he won a contest to design the new sacristy at St Peter’s Basilica.  He then designed the small Antamoro Chapel for the church of San Girolamo della Carità with his friend, the French sculptor, Pierre Le Gros. He was later to design the main altar for the Duomo in Bergamo in Lombardy.   Read more…

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Saint Thomas Aquinas - philosopher

Theologian who synthesised Aristotle’s ideas with principles of Christianity

Saint Thomas Aquinas, known in Italian as Tommaso d’Aquino, died on this day in 1274 at Fossanova near Terracina in Lazio.  A Dominican friar who became a respected theologian and philosopher, D’Aquino was canonised in 1323, less than 50 years after his death.  He was responsible for two masterpieces of theology, Summa theologiae and Summa contra gentiles. The first sought to explain the Christian faith to students setting out to study theology, the second to explain the Christian faith and defend it in the face of hostile attacks.  As a poet, D'Aquino wrote some of the most beautiful hymns in the church’s liturgy, which are still sung today.  D’Aquino is recognised by the Roman Catholic Church as its foremost philosopher and theologian and he had a considerable influence on the development of Western thought and ideas.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Not Built in a Day: Exploring the Architecture of Rome, by George Sullivan

Not Built in a Day: Exploring the Architecture of Rome is a unique, unconventional guide and a deeply felt homage to Rome and its extraordinary 2,500-year history. Moving beyond the names, dates, and statistics of ordinary guidebooks, George Sullivan's eye-opening essays celebrate the special character of Rome's buildings, fountains, piazzas, streets, and ruins. From the largest landmark down to the smallest hidden gem, Not Built in a Day explores the city in comprehensive detail, offering detailed visual and historical analyses that enable readers to see and understand exactly what makes the architecture of Rome so important, influential, and fascinating. 

George H Sullivan is a veteran travel writer whose work includes walking tours of both Florence and Vienna for Fodor’s Travel Guides. A lecturer on Roman architecture at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, he spent 15 years researching and writing the essays that became Not Built in a Day.

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6 March

NEW - Guarino Guarini - architect

Baroque master who shaped the identity of Turin

Guarino Guarini, an architect regarded as one of the most transformative figures in the architectural history of Turin, died on this day in 1683 at the age of 59.  Guarini enjoyed the patronage of the House of Savoy from 1666 until his death, during which time he is said to have built or submitted designs for as many as six churches and chapels and five palaces in Turin. He reportedly designed a gate to replace the existing Porta di Pio, although it was never actually built.  Of those projects that progressed beyond the drawing board, his church of San Lorenzo, with its structurally daring dome, the Chapel of the Holy Shroud and the Palazzo Carignano, notable for the rhythmic curves of its facade, are regarded as his most notable achievements.  The circumstances of Guarini’s death are not documented beyond his being in Milan at the time.  Read more…

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Francesco Guicciardini - writer and diplomat

Friend of Machiavelli among first to record history in context

The historian and statesman Francesco Guicciardini, best known for writing Storia d'Italia, a book that came to be regarded as a classic history of Italy, was born on this day in 1483 in Florence.  Along with his contemporary Niccolò Machiavelli, Guicciardini is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance.  Guicciardini was an adviser and confidant to three popes, the governor of several central Italian states, ambassador, administrator and military captain.  He had a long association with the Medici family, rulers of Florence.  Storia d'Italia - originally titled 'La historia di Italia' - was notable for Guicciardini's skilful analysis of interrelating political movements in different states and his ability to set in context and with objectivity events in which sometimes he was a direct participant.  Read more…

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La traviata - the world's favourite opera

Verdi's masterpiece performed for the first time

Giuseppe Verdi's opera, La traviata, was performed in front of a paying audience for the first time on this day in 1853.  The premiere took place at Teatro La Fenice, the opera house in Venice with which Verdi had a long relationship, one that saw him establish his fame as a composer.  La traviata would ultimately cement his reputation as a master of opera after the success of Rigoletto and Il trovatore.  La traviata has become the world's favourite opera, inasmuch as no work has been performed more often, yet the reception for the opening performance was mixed, to say the least.  Reportedly there was applause and cheering at the end of the first act but a much changed atmosphere in the theatre in the second act, during which some members of the audience jeered.  Their displeasure was said to be aimed in part at the two male principals, the baritone Felice Varesi and the tenor Lodovico Graziani. Read more…

Giovanni Battista Bugatti - executioner

‘Mastro Titta’ ended 516 lives in long career

Giovanni Battista Bugatti, who served as the official executioner for the Papal States from 1796 to 1864, was born on this day in 1779 in Senigallia, a port town on the Adriatic coast about 30km (19 miles) northwest of the city of Ancona.  Bugatti, who became known by the nickname Mastro Titta - a corruption of the Italian maestro di giustizia - master of justice - in Roman dialect, carried out 516 executions in his 68-year career.  He was the longest-serving executioner in the history of the Papal States.  The circumstances of him being granted such an important role in Roman life at the age of just 17 are not known.  What is documented is that while not carrying out his grim official duties he kept a shop selling painted umbrellas and other souvenirs next to his home in the Borgo district, in Vicolo del Campanile, a short distance from Castel Sant’Angelo, which served as a prison during the time of the Papal States.  Read more…

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Augusto Odone – medical pioneer

Father who invented ‘Lorenzo’s Oil’ for sick son

Augusto Odone, the father who invented a medicine to treat his incurably ill son despite having no medical training, was born on this day in 1933 in Rome.  Odone’s son, Lorenzo, was diagnosed with the rare metabolic condition ALD (Adrenoleukodystrophy) at the age of six. Augusto and his American-born wife, Michaela, were told that little could be done and that Lorenzo would suffer from increasing paralysis and probably die within two years.  Refusing simply to do nothing, the Odones, who lived in Washington, where Augusto was an economist working for the World Bank, threw themselves into discovering everything that was known about the condition and the biochemistry of the nervous system, contacting every doctor, biologist and researcher they could find who had researched the condition and assembled them for a symposium.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Rough Guides Snapshot Turin, Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta, by Ros Belford

Snapshot Turin, Piemonte and Valle d’Aosta (extracted from The Rough Guide to Italy) gives you everything you need to know about just these regions – focused, expert coverage where you need it most.   Discover the best of northwest Italy with this expert travel guide – explore royal Turin, the wine hills of Alba, Langhe Roero and Asti, medieval Saluzzo, and the Alpine landscapes of Aosta, Gran Paradiso National Park and the Mont Blanc region.  Inside this Snapshot Travel Guide, find expert picks on what to see and where to stay, eat and shop. Covers top sights such as the Museo Egizio, Sacra di San Michele, Aosta’s Roman ruins, royal Turin and the Gran Paradiso National Park, as well as regional highlights including the Barolo and Barbaresco vineyards, truffle markets in Alba, castles of the Valle d’Aosta and mountain routes around Mont Blanc. 

Writer and journalist Ros Belford spends her time between Salina, Siracusa and Cambridge and is the author of numerous guidebooks to Italy, Sicily and the Mediterranean. She has written articles on travel and food for many magazines and newspapers and is the Telegraph's Sicilian travel expert.

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Guarino Guarini - architect

Baroque master who shaped the identity of Turin

Guarini's daring geometrics brought a
new dimension to the architecture of Turin

Guarino Guarini, an architect regarded as one of the most transformative figures in the architectural history of Turin, died on this day in 1683 at the age of 59.

Guarini enjoyed the patronage of the House of Savoy from 1666 until his death, during which time he is said to have built or submitted designs for as many as six churches and chapels and five palaces in the city. He reportedly designed a gate to replace the existing Porta di Pio, although it was never actually built.

Of those projects that progressed beyond the drawing board, his Church of San Lorenzo, with its structurally daring dome, the Chapel of the Holy Shroud and the Palazzo Carignano, notable for the rhythmic curves of its facade, are regarded as his most notable achievements.

The circumstances of Guarini’s death are not documented beyond his being in Milan at the time. His presence there may have been connected with his Architettura Civile, the treatise which became a reference point for many of his architectural successors, upon which he was still working at the time of his death. 

He also remained active in the Theatine Order - he was ordained a priest in 1648 at the age of 24 - and may have been in Milan to teach or to pursue other Theatine business, the order having a tradition of architectural patronage.

Guarini was born in Modena in 1624. Coming from a religious family, Guarino and his four brothers all became novices in the Theatine Order, Guarino being despatched to serve his novitiate at the monastery of San Silvestro al Quirinale in Rome.

In the event, he stayed in Rome for nine years, learning from the most innovative Baroque architects of the period. Francesco Borromini, whose spatial complexity and elastic geometry left a lasting imprint on Guarini’s imagination, was a major influence, as to a lesser degree was Gian Lorenzo Bernini. 

He returned to Modena in 1648. He combined his duties as a priest and  a lecturer in philosophy at the Theatine College with architectural projects for the Order, beginning with the reconstruction of the Church of San Vincenzo in Modena.

The undulating facade of Guarini's Palazzo Carignano,
a Baroque masterpiece in Savoyard Turin

Guarini also worked in Messina in Sicily, where he built the façade of the Church of Santa Maria Annunziata for his Order, providing early evidence of his willingness to experiment with design. He constructed the façade diagonally to the nave, so that it could conform with the line of the street. The church was destroyed in an earthquake but drawings show plans for complex vaulting and spatial layering. 

From Messina, Guarini moved to Paris, where a number of projects showed the influence of Borromini on his construction methods. Appointed a lecturer in theology at the Theatine School in Paris, he might have stayed much longer but for disagreements over the management of funding for the Church of Sainte-Anne-la-Royale, which he had been invited to design. Instead, he left for Turin.

It was in the capital of the Duchy of Savoy that Guarini produced his greatest work, his buildings there being defined by intricate geometries, interlaced ribs, and dramatic manipulation of light.

Among the most striking examples is the Real Chiesa di San Lorenzo, a Baroque-style church adjacent to the Royal Palace of Turin, which bears influences of Borromini and Bernini. In accordance with Guarini’s ambition ‘to erect buildings that were very strong, but looked so weak as to need a miracle to keep them standing,’ the dome of San Lorenzo was a masterpiece of spatial illusion, its structure appearing to be held up by slender columns, whereas the load-bearing was really down to massive brick arches hidden from view.  Its star-like pattern of interlocking arches dissolves the boundary between structure and ornament.

Guarini's beautiful cupola in Turin's Church of
San Lorenzo seemed to defy the laws of physics

The light that floods the interior creates a luminous quality, something also characteristic of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, a building attached to the Royal Palace, a project started after Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy, impressed with his work on the Church of San Lorenzo, named him Royal Engineer and Mathematician in May 1668.

The chapel uses stacked, progressively narrowing arches to create a soaring vertical ascent, culminating in a lantern that floods the space with symbolic light. It remains one of the most technically daring domes of the Baroque.

Yet some regard the Palazzo Carignano in Turin, which showcased Guarini’s command of undulating façades and dynamic massing, anticipating styles that would become characteristic of later Baroque and Rococo. 

Built for Emmanuel Philibert, Prince of Carignano, heir to Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, it is regarded as one of the finest urban palaces of the second half of the 17th century in Italy.  In addition to its distinctive terracotta façade, the palace stands out for its atrium with double staircases and a double dome in the main salon. 

Guarini wrote prolifically throughout his career, producing treatises on  mathematics and astronomy as well as architecture.  He published books at the rate of one every other year and his major work, Architettura Civile, was published posthumously in 1737, bringing together previously unpublished manuscripts on architecture, surveying and drawing. 

Filippo Juvarra built
on Guarini's legacy

This text circulated widely in 18th‑century Europe and became a key reference for architects seeking alternatives to classical orthodoxy. Guarini’s influence can be seen particularly in the Central European Baroque styles that became prevalent in Bohemia, Austria and southern Germany. 

Nearer to home, Piedmontese architects such as Filippo Juvarra, responsible for the monumental Basilica of Superga and the Palazzo Madama among other great works, and later Bernardo Vittone, who built some of the finest churches not only in Turin but across the whole region,  absorbed and expanded Guarino’s geometric daring.

Guarini sits in a remarkably elevated position among the architects who shaped Turin. The buildings he created can be said to have fundamentally altered the city’s architectural language.

Where Amedeo di Castellamonte planned many of the Savoy projects, giving Turin its ordered urban structure, Guarini reimagined them, introducing spatial complexity and daring geometry.  Juvarra admired Guarini’s work and built on his legacy, while taking fewer risks, yet Vittone’s domes and lanterns would have been unthinkable without Guarini’s precedent.

The Palazzo Madama, designed by Filippo Juvara,
can be found on Turin's Piazza Castello

Travel tip:

Turin became the capital of the House of Savoy in 1562, when Duke Emmanuel‑Philibert transferred his ducal seat from Chambéry to Turin. This move marks the beginning of Turin’s transformation from a provincial stronghold into a consciously designed capital city.  Much of the architecture of Turin illustrates its rich history as the home of the Savoy Kings. In the centre of the city, Piazza Castello, with the royal palace, royal library, and Filippo Juvarra’s Palazzo Madama, which used to be where the Italian senate met, showcases some of the finest buildings in ‘royal’ Turin, including the Palazzo Reale, to which Juvarra and Amedeo di Castellamonte both contributed, and the Teatro Regio, built to Juvarra’s plans after his death. Some members of the House of Savoy are buried in Turin’s Duomo in Piazza San Giovanni, built by Amedeo de Francisco di Settignano. Guarini’s adjoining chapel, of course, is famous for being the home of the Turin shroud, which many people believe was the actual burial shroud of Jesus Christ.  At the centre of the historic city, Piazza Castello is a hub that connects Via Po, Via Roma and Via Garibaldi.

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Luigi Bartolomeo Avanzini's huge Ducal Palace,
built as a home for the Este Dukes of Modena

Travel tip:

Modena, where Guarino Guarini was born, is a city on the south side of the Po Valley in the Emilia-Romagna region.  It is known for its car industry, because Ferrari, De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani and Maserati have all been located there.. One of the main sights in Modena is the huge, Baroque Ducal Palace, begun by Francesco I on the site of a former castle in 1635. His architect, Luigi Bartolomeo Avanzini, created a home for him that few European princes could match at the time. In the Galleria Estense, on the upper floor of the Palazzo dei Musei in Modena, is a one-metre high bust of Francesco I d’Este, Duke of Modena, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.  The Cathedral of Modena and its bell tower, Torre della Ghirlandina, are both UNESCO World heritage sites. The tower stands more than 89 metres (292ft) tall and can be seen outside the city from all directions. Inside, there is the Sala della Secchia room, which has 15th century frescoes, and the tower also houses a copy of the oaken bucket, from the War of the Bucket referred to by Tassoni in his poem, which was fought between Modena and Bologna in 1325. The statue of Alessandro Tassoni, which stands at the foot of the tower, was sculpted by Antonio Cavazza and erected in 1860. Modena is also well known for its balsamic vinegar, while operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti and soprano Mirella Freni were both born in the city.

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More reading:

Filippo Juvarra, the architect behind the magnificent Basilica of Superga

Carlo Mollino, Turin’s 20th century ‘Renaissance man’

Alessandro Antonelli, the creator of Turin’s striking Mole Antonelliana, the tallest unreinforced brick building in the world

Also on this day:

1483: The birth of writer and diplomat Francesco Guicciardini

1779: The birth of Papal executioner Giovanni Battista Bugatti 

1853: The premiere of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La traviata

1933: The birth of Augusto Odone, who invented ‘Lorenzo’s Oil’ for sick son

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