7 June

NEW - Lateran Treaty comes into effect

When the Vatican became an independent state

Benito Mussolini was helped to gain more power and any public opinion against him was effectively neutralised by the Lateran Treaty when it came into effect in Italy on this day in 1929.  The Catholic Church had effectively given legitimacy to fascism when the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See had signed the treaty earlier in the year, recognising the Vatican as an independent state within Italy. The Church was perceived as openly inviting Catholics to support the Fascist regime.  When the Treaty was ratified by the Italian Parliament on June 7, 1929, it finally settled what had been known as ‘The Roman Question’, a dispute regarding the power of the popes as rulers of civil territory within a united Italy.  Although Italy was then under a Fascist government, the Lateran Treaty was incorporated into the new, democratic Italian constitution in 1947. Read more…

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Pippo Baudo - TV presenter

Record-breaking host of Sanremo festival

The television presenter Pippo Baudo, who became one of the most recognisable personalities on Italian television in a broadcasting career spanning six decades, was born on this day in 1936 in Militello in Val di Catania, in Sicily.  Baudo, who died in 2025, presented numerous shows for the national broadcaster Rai and for private networks but is probably best known as the host of the annual Sanremo Music Festival and the presenter of the immensely popular Sunday afternoon magazine show Domenica In.  He was the face of Sanremo a record 13 times between 1968 and 2008, eclipsing another much-loved TV host, Mike Bongiorno, who presented the prestigious song contest on 11 occasions.  Baudo anchored or co-hosted Domenica In for 13 seasons.  His appearance in the 2016-17 edition of the show came 37 years after he presented the programme for the first time in 1979.  Read more…

Federico da Montefeltro – condottiero

Patron of the arts made money through war

Federico da Montefeltro, one of the most successful of the Italian condottieri, was born on this day in 1422 in Gubbio.  He has been immortalised by the famous portrait painted of him by Piero della Francesca, where he was dressed in red and showing his formidable profile.  Federico ruled Urbino from 1444 until his death, commissioning the building of a large library where he employed his own team of scribes to copy texts.  He was the illegitimate son of Guidantonio da Montefeltro but he was legitimised by the Pope with the consent of Guidantonio’s wife.  Federico began his career as a condottiero - a kind of mercenary military leader - at the age of 16. When his half-brother, who had recently become Duke of Urbino, was assassinated in 1444, Federico seized the city of Urbino.  To bring in money he continued to wage war as a condottiero. Read more…

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Gaetano Berenstadt – operatic castrato

Italian-born performer who specialised in roles created by Handel

Gaetano Berenstadt, an alto castrato who sang many roles in George Frideric Handel’s operas, was born on this day in 1687 in Florence.  His parents were German and his father played the timpani - kettle drums - for the Grand Duke of Tuscany.  Berenstadt was sent to be a pupil of Francesco Pistocchi, a singer, composer and librettist who founded a singing school in Bologna.  After performing in Bologna and Naples, Berenstadt visited London where he performed the role of Argante in a revival of Handel’s Rinaldo. The composer created three new arias especially for Berenstadt’s voice.  On a later visit to London, Berenstadt sang for the composers of the Royal Academy of Music. On this visit he created the roles of Tolomeo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, the title role in Flavio, and the role of Adalberto in Ottone.  Read more…

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Book of the Day:  The Vatican and Italian Fascism, 1929-32: A Study in Conflict, by John F Pollard

The Vatican and Italian Fascism is a study of relations between the Vatican and the Fascist regime in Italy in the most troubled and crucial phase of their relationship, the period 1929–32. It is the first time that any historian, either in Italy or elsewhere, has carried out a detailed and comprehensive study of the conflicts between the Vatican and Italian Fascism in these years; nor has there been any detailed analysis of the causes and the consequences of the crisis of 1931. As well as considering the various causes of conflict in this period, the author sets out what he believes to be the long-term consequences of the 1931 crisis, and in so doing challenges a number of previously accepted interpretations.

John Francis Pollard is a British historian specialising in the political and religious history of modern Italy, with a particular focus on Fascism, the Papacy, and the interaction between Church and state. He is a former Professor of Modern European History at Anglia Polytechnic University (later Anglia Ruskin University).

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Lateran Treaty comes into effect

When the Vatican became an independent state

A map of the territory of the Vatican City, as 
defined by the Lateran Treaty of 1929

Benito Mussolini was helped to gain more power and any public opinion against him was effectively neutralised by the Lateran Treaty when it came into effect in Italy on this day in 1929.

The Catholic Church had effectively given legitimacy to fascism when the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See had signed the treaty earlier in the year, recognising the Vatican as an independent state within Italy. The Church was perceived as openly inviting Catholics to support the Fascist regime.

When the Treaty was ratified by the Italian Parliament on June 7, 1929, it finally settled what had been known as ‘The Roman Question’, a dispute regarding the power of the popes as rulers of civil territory within a united Italy. 

Although Italy was then under a Fascist government, the Lateran Treaty was incorporated into the new, democratic Italian constitution in 1947 and all the succeeding democratic Italian governments have upheld the treaty since.

Mussolini had agreed to give the church financial support in return for public support from the Pope, Pius XI. He paid the Vatican 1.75 billion lira to compensate for the seizures of church property since 1860. 

Pius XI invested the money in the stock markets and real estate. To manage these investments, he appointed Bernardino Nogara, who, through shrewd investing in stocks, gold, and futures markets, significantly increased the Catholic Church's financial holdings. 

The income largely paid for the upkeep of the expensive-to-maintain stock of historic buildings in the Vatican, which until 1870 had been maintained through funds raised from the Papal States.

The signing of the Treaty in the Lateran Palace, by
Cardinal Pietro Gasparri (left) and Benito Mussolini

 As part of the treaty, the youth organisation Catholic Action granted the unique status of being the only non-Fascist organisation in Italy that was not banned. It was allowed to continue by Mussolini, but its role was restricted to religious and educational activity. Later, Mussolini tried to absorb Catholic Action into his Fascist youth groups.

From this day in 1929, the Vatican was officially an independent state occupying 40 hectares (100 acres) of land within Italy, with the Pope as an independent sovereign ruling within Vatican City. 

The papacy had recognised the state of Italy, with Rome as its capital, giving the city a special character as ‘the centre of the Catholic world and a place of pilgrimage.’

During the Risorgimento, the struggle to unite Italy in the 19th century, the Papal States had resisted being incorporated into the new nation. Italian troops had invaded the Romagna, then part of the Papal States, in 1860, and the rest of the territory, including Rome, was occupied by the army in 1870. 

After the ratification of the Lateran Treaty, the Papacy formally relinquished any claim over its former territories. 

Via della Conciliazione, the wide boulevard built
after the Lateran Treaty was ratified

The treaty is named after the Lateran Palace where the agreement was signed by King Victor Emanuel III and Pope Pius XI.

The Lateran Palace was the main papal residence in Rome between the fourth and 14th centuries. It is in Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, next to the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, the first Christian basilica in Rome and now the Cathedral Church of the city. Some distance away from the Vatican, the palace is now an extraterritorial property of the Holy See, with similar rights to a foreign embassy.

Via della Conciliazione, the wide avenue along which visitors approach Saint Peter’s Basilica from Castel Sant’Angelo, was built on the orders of Mussolini as a symbol of reconciliation between the Holy See and the Italian state after the Lateran Treaty was ratified. 

Roughly 500 metres long, the vast colonnaded street designed by Marcello Piacentino was intended to link the Vatican to the heart of Rome. At the time it had the opposite effect symbolically, as many buildings were demolished and residents had to be displaced.

The Papal Palace sits at the top of the main street in
pretty Castel Gandolfo, which overlooks Lake Albano

Travel tip:

Under the 1929 Lateran Treaty, the Papal Palace and surrounding villas of Castel Gandolfo became the extraterritorial property of the Holy See. The site resumed its historical role as the papal summer residence, underwent major expansions, and hosted thousands of refugees during World War II. Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope still has his summer residence, overlooks Lake Albano from its wonderful position in the hills south of Rome. The Pope spends every summer in the Apostolic Palace. Although his villa lies within the town’s boundaries, it is one of the properties of the Holy See. The palace is not under Italian jurisdiction and is policed by the Swiss Guard. The whole area is part of the regional park of Castelli Romani, which has many places of historic and artistic interest to visit.

Castel Sant'Angelo, on the banks of the Tiber, was
used by the popes as a fortress, castle and prison

Travel tip:

Castel Sant’Angelo, the towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, on the banks of the Tiber, was originally commissioned by the Roman emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. There is a legend that the Archangel Michael appeared on top of the mausoleum, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, which is how the castle acquired its present name. It was later used by the popes as a fortress, castle and prison, and is now a museum. It was once the tallest building in Rome.  Hadrian also built the Pons Aelius – now Ponte Sant’Angelo – which provided a scenic approach to the mausoleum from the centre of Rome across the Tiber. Baroque statues of angels were later added, lining each side of the bridge. Pope Nicolas III commissioned a covered fortified corridor, the Passetto, to link the castle to the Vatican and Pope Clement VII was able to use it to escape from the Vatican during the siege of Rome by Charles V’s troops in 1527. The elevated passage, mounted on a wall, is approximately 800m (2,600 ft) long and still exists today, running alongside the Borgo Sant’Angelo and Via dei Corridori, the streets that are parallel with Via della Conciliazione.  

More reading:

The February signing of the Lateran Treaty 

Bernardino Nogara, the former engineer appointed to build papal wealth

The archbishop who tried to arrange a truce between Mussolini and the partisans

Also on this day:

1422: The birth of condottiero Federico da Montefeltro 

1687: The birth of castrato singer Gaetano Berenstadt

1936: The birth of TV presenter Pippo Baudo

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6 June

Giotto Bizzarrini - auto engineer

Took part in 1961 rebellion that left Ferrari on brink

The automobile engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, a key figure in the development of Ferrari’s 1960s sports car, the 250 GTO, was born on this day in 1926 in Quercianella, a seaside village on the coast of Tuscany.  Bizzarrini famously joined with two other key engineers and several more employees in quitting Ferrari in October 1961 after a colleague had been sacked by founder Enzo Ferrari following a row over Ferrari’s wife, Laura, interfering in how the company was run.  Their walk-out left Ferrari effectively with no engineers to further develop on-going projects. The marque was already at a low point following the deaths of five of their main drivers in crashes between 1957 and 1961, one of which, at Monza in 1961, saw 15 spectators also lose their lives.  Enzo Ferrari, who was accused of running his company like a dictator, is said to have considered winding it up after Bizzarrini and the others left. Read more…

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Italo Balbo - Fascist commander

Blackshirt thug turned air commander was Mussolini’s ‘heir apparent’

Italo Balbo, who rose to such a position of seniority in the hierarchy of the Italian Fascists that he was considered the man most likely to succeed Benito Mussolini as leader, was born on this day in 1896 in Quartesana, a village on the outskirts of Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna.  After active service in the First World War, Balbo became the leading Fascist organiser in his home region of Ferrara, leading a gang of Blackshirt thugs who became notorious for their attacks on rival political groups and for carrying out vicious reprisals against striking rural workers on behalf of wealthy landlords.  Later, he was one of the leaders of the March on Rome that brought Mussolini and the Fascists to power in 1922.  As Maresciallo dell'Aria - Marshal of the Air Force - he rebuilt Italy’s aerial warfare capability. At the height of his influence, however, he was sent by Mussolini to be Governor of Italian Libya.  Read more…

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Roberto De Zerbi - football coach

Left turmoil in Ukraine to achieve success in England

The football coach Roberto De Zerbi, who helped the English Premier League club Brighton and Hove Albion qualify for a European competition for the first time in their history and was appointed head coach at Tottenham in March, 2026, was born on this day in 1979 in Brescia.  De Zerbi, who was unknown to many British football fans before he arrived on the south coast of England in September, 2022, guided his new team to seventh place in the Premier League table, earning the club a place in the UEFA Europa League for the 2023-24 season.  The club had hired him to succeed Graham Potter, who left Brighton to take over at Chelsea. De Zerbi’s first win as the new man in charge was against Potter’s Chelsea.  De Zerbi, who retired as a player in 2013, did not find significant success as a coach until he took over at Sassuolo. Read more...

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Maria Theresa - the last Holy Roman Empress

Italian noblewoman was first Empress of Austria

Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily, the last Holy Roman Empress and the first Empress of Austria, was born at the Royal Palace of Portici in Naples on this day in 1772.  She was the eldest daughter of Ferdinand IV & III of Naples and Sicily (later Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies) and his wife, Marie Caroline of Austria, through whom she was a niece of the last Queen of France, Marie Antoinette.  Named after her maternal grandmother, Maria Theresa of Austria, she was the eldest of 17 children. Her father was a son of Charles III of Spain and through her father she was a niece of Maria Luisa of Spain and Charles IV of Spain.  Although she had a reputation for pursuing a somewhat frivolous lifestyle, which revolved around balls, carnivals, parties and masquerades, she did have some political influence, advising her husband about the make-up of his government. Read more…

Vecchietta – painter and sculptor

Early Renaissance craftsman left a rich legacy of work in Tuscany

The artist Lorenzo di Pietro di Giovanni, who later became known as Vecchietta, ‘the little old one,’ died on this day in 1480 in Siena.  Vecchietta was a renowned painter, sculptor, goldsmith, and architect of the Renaissance. He was born in Siena and baptised on 11 August, 1410 in the city. He is believed to have become the pupil of a Sienese artist and his name has been linked with those of Sassetta, Taddeo di Bartolo and Jacopo della Quercia.   Much of Vecchietta’s work has remained in Siena, some of it in the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, which caused him to be also known as ‘pittor della spedale', painter of the hospital. With branches in many other towns, the hospital was one of the largest and most famous of its kind in medieval Italy.  He painted a series of frescoes for the Pellegrinaio - Pilgrim Hall - at the hospital. Read more…

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Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour

Prime Minister died after creating a united Italy

The first Prime Minister of Italy, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, died on this day in 1861 in Turin.  A leading figure in the struggle for Italian unification, Cavour died at the age of 50, only three months after taking office as Prime Minister of the new Kingdom of Italy. He did not live to see Venice and Rome become part of the Italian nation.  Cavour was born in 1810 in Turin, the second son of the fourth Marquess of Cavour. He was chosen to be a page to Charles Albert, King of Piedmont, when he was 14. After attending a military academy he served in the Piedmont-Sardinian army but eventually resigned his commission and went to run his family’s estate at Grinzane in the province of Cuneo instead.  He then travelled extensively in Switzerland, France and England before returning to Turin where he became involved in politics.  Read more…

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Battle of Novara 1513

Many lives lost in battle between French and Swiss on Italian soil

Swiss troops defeated a French occupying army on this day in 1513 in a bloody battle near Novara in the Piedmont region of northern Italy.  The French loss forced Louis XII to withdraw from Milan and Italy and after his army were pursued all the way to Dijon by Swiss mercenaries, he had to pay them off to make them leave France.  The battle was part of the War of the League of Cambrai, fought between France, the Papal States and the Republic of Venice in northern Italy, but often involving other powers in Europe.  Louis XII had expelled the Sforza family from Milan and added its territory to France in 1508.  Swiss mercenaries fighting for the Holy League drove the French out of Milan and installed Maximilian Sforza as Duke of Milan in December 1512.  More than 20,000 French troops led by Prince Louis de la Tremoille besieged the city of Novara. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Story of Ferrari: A Tribute to Automotive Excellence, by Stuart Codling 

The Story of Ferrari is an exceptionally-designed, pocket-sized celebration of the legendary manufacturer.  Speed, luxury, excellence and innovation have defined Ferrari as the world's most revered car manufacturer for more than 70 years. In The Story of Ferrari, every key aspect of the Prancing Horse's history is explored and showcased, from the first car built under the Ferrari name in 1947 through to the global giant and cultural force it has become today.  Delving into the design and engineering philosophies instilled by Enzo Ferrari, this book highlights the most iconic models across decades of Ferrari history, including the 125 S, F40, Testarossa and Enzo. Ferrari is also the most successful name in motorsport, with 16 Formula 1 Constructors' Championship titles to its name. The stories of its victories and adversities on the track, as well as the drivers and engineers who helped make it such a success, are covered here as well.  Filled with stunning imagery and insightful commentary, The Story of Ferrari charts the history of this legendary marque in a package worthy of the name.

Stuart Codling is a respected motorsport journalist and broadcaster who covered sports car racing in the United States before joining F1 Racing, the world’s biggest-selling Formula 1 magazine, in 2001. He has appeared as an F1 expert on TV and radio and contributes to multiple publications and has written several books. 

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5 June

Carmine Crocco - soldier and brigand

Bandit seen by peasants as Italy’s ‘Robin Hood’

Carmine Crocco, whose life of brigandry was driven by a hatred of what he saw as the bourgeois oppressors of the poor, was born on this day in 1830 in the town of Rionero in Vulture, in Basilicata.  Crocco fought in the service of Giuseppe Garibaldi in the Expedition of the Thousand but was no supporter of Italian Unification and spent much of his life thereafter fighting on the side of the ousted Bourbons and of the peasant people of the south, many of whom were as poor after unification as they had been before, if not poorer.  He assembled his own private ‘army’, including many other fearsome brigands, which at one point numbered more than 2,000 men.  For this reason, he is regarded as something of a folk hero in southern Italy, where there is a popular belief that he robbed the rich to give to the poor in the manner of the legendary English outlaw, Robin Hood. Read more…

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Salvatore Ferragamo - shoe designer

From humble beginnings to giant of the fashion industry

Salvatore Ferragamo, the craftsman once dubbed 'Shoemaker to the Stars' after his success in creating made-to-measure footwear for movie stars and celebrities, was born on this day in 1898 in Bonito, a small hill town in Campania, in the province of Avellino.  Although in time he would become a prominent figure in the fashion world of Florence, Ferragamo learned how to make shoes in Naples, around 100km (62 miles) from his home village.  He was apprenticed to a Neapolitan shoemaker at the age of just 11 years and opened his first shop, trading from his parents' house, at 13.  When he was 16 he made the bold decision to move to the United States, joining one of his brothers in Boston, where they both worked in a factory manufacturing cowboy boots.  Salvatore was impressed at how modern production methods enabled the factory to turn out large numbers of boots but was concerned about compromises to quality.  Read more…

Ludovico III Gonzaga – Marquis of Mantua

Condottiero fought to improve the town of his birth

Ludovico III Gonzaga, who ruled his native city for 34 years, was born on this day in 1412 in Mantua.  He grew up to fight as a condottiero - a military leader for hire - and in 1433 he married Barbara of Brandenburg, the niece of the Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund.  After Ludovico entered the service of the Visconti family in Milan, he and his wife were exiled from Mantua by his father, Gianfrancesco I.  But father and son were later reconciled and Ludovico became Marquis of Mantua in 1444, inheriting territory that had been reduced in size and was impoverished after years of war.  He continued to serve as a condottiero, switching his allegiance between Milan, Florence, Venice and Naples, to gain territory and secure peace for Mantua.  The high point of his reign came when Pope Pius II held a Council in Mantua between 1459 and 1460 to plan a crusade against the Ottoman Turks.  Read more…

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Braccio da Montone - condottiero

Soldier of fortune briefly ruled Perugia

Military leader Braccio da Montone, who is considered one of the greatest of the Italian condottieri who fought in the 14th and 15th centuries, died on this day in 1424.  He had a lifelong rivalry with another condottiero, Muzio Attendolo Sforza, and during the first quarter of the 15th century all the major Italian cities either hired Braccio or Sforza to carry out their military action.  The rapid movements of Braccio’s troops became legendary and he founded a military school, which became known as ‘the Braccesca’. This had a major impact on Italian warfare. Braccio’s men employed tactics such as speed, shock and the rapid rotation of small units on the battlefield.  Braccio was born Andrea Fortebraccio into a wealthy family in Perugia in 1368. He began his military career as a page, but after his family were exiled from Perugia and they lost the castle of Montone, he entered the company of the condottiero Alberico da Barbiano. Read more…

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Book of the Day: How I Became a Bandit, by Carmine Crocco and Barbara Luciana Di Fiore

Carmine Crocco, known as Donatello or Donatell, was an Italian brigand. Initially a Bourbon soldier, he deserted and went into hiding. Later, he fought in the ranks of Giuseppe Garibaldi, then with the Bourbon resistance, and finally for himself, distinguishing himself from other brigands of the period with his clear and orderly warfare tactics and unpredictable guerrilla actions, qualities that were praised by the Savoy military themselves. Standing 1.75m (5ft 7in) tall, possessing a robust physique and uncommon intelligence, he was one of the most feared and wanted outlaws of the post-unification period, earning nicknames such as "General of the Brigands," "Generalissimo," and "Napoleone dei Brigandi," and a 20,000 lire reward was placed on his head. Arrested, he was sentenced to death and then to life imprisonment in Portoferraio prison. While in prison, he wrote his memoirs, entitled Come divenni brigante - How I Became a Bandit. The book became a subject of debate among sociologists and linguists. Although, in the 19th and early 20th centuries he was considered primarily a thief and murderer, by the second half of the 20th century, he began to be re-evaluated as a popular hero.

Barbara Luciana Di Fiore is a writer, editor and translator based in Milan.

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