17 April

NEW - Giovanni Scalfarotto - architect

Grandiose church renovation is one of Venice’s best-known sights

Giovanni Scalfarotto, a Venetian architect remembered essentially for just one project, was born on this day in 1672.  The son of a bricklayer, Scalfarotto spent much of his career as a site foreman or supervisor around Venice and nearby towns, usually involved with relatively minor restoration work, although he advised on the domes of  San Giorgio Maggiore and San Marco as a consultant.  The exception was his work on the church of Saints Simeone and Giuda Apostoli, also known as San Simeon Piccolo, on the Grand Canal, in a restoration project that spanned 20 years between 1718 and 1738 and created what is today arguably one of Venice’s most recognisable visual symbols.  Likely originally to have been a three-nave basilica built parallel to the canal, the church was transformed under Scalfarotto. Read more… 

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Graziella Sciutti - operatic soprano

Vivacious performer who became a successful director

The operatic soprano Graziella Sciutti, a singer known for a vivacious stage presence and engaging personality who excelled in the work of Mozart, Puccini and Verdi, was born on this day in 1927 in Turin.  The daughter of an organist and pianist, she grew up in a bilingual household, speaking both Italian and her mother’s native tongue, French. Her early childhood was spent in Geneva in Switzerland before the family moved to Rome, so that she could attend the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, which is one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious musical institutions.  Sciutti wanted to play the piano like her father but it became clear she had a notable voice and she caught the eye as a soloist when she was still a student.  She was asked at the last moment to appear in a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Read more…

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Riccardo Patrese - racing driver

Former Williams ace was first in Formula One to start 250 races

The racing driver Riccardo Patrese, who for 15 years was the only Formula One driver to have started more than 250 Grand Prix races, was born on this day in 1954 in Padua.  The former Williams driver reached the milestone in the German Grand Prix of 1993, having three years earlier been the first to make 200 starts.  Patrese retired at the end of the 1993 season with his total on 256 and his record of longevity was not surpassed until 2008, when the Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello made his 257th start at the Turkish Grand Prix.  Ferrari ace Michael Schumacher passed 250 two years later and Patrese’s total has now been exceeded by six drivers, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa having all joined the 250 club.  Patrese also became famous for an unwanted record. Read more… 

Giovanni Riccioli – astronomer

Jesuit priest had a crater on the moon named after him

Giovanni Battista Riccioli, a Jesuit priest who became one of the principal astronomers of the 17th century, was born on this day in 1598 in Ferrara.  He was renowned for his experiments with pendulums and falling bodies and for his studies of the motion of the earth and the surface of the moon. Riccioli entered the Society of Jesus when he was 16 and after completing his training began studying the humanities.  Between 1620 and 1628 he studied philosophy and theology at the Jesuit College in Parma, where he was taught by Giuseppe Biancani, who had accepted new ideas such as the existence of lunar mountains.  After Riccioli was ordained he taught physics and metaphysics at Parma and engaged in experiments with falling bodies and pendulums. He is believed to be the first scientist to measure the rate of acceleration of a freely falling body.  Read more…

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Gianni Raimondi – tenor

Brilliant performer left few recordings of his voice

Opera singer Gianni Raimondo, who on his first appearance at La Scala in Milan sang opposite Maria Callas in a production by Luchino Visconti, was born on this day in 1923 in Bologna.  Raimondi was admired for his brilliant top notes and exquisite phrasing when he performed. Opera fans have been disappointed that more recordings of his performances were not made at the time.  After studying voice in Bologna and Mantua, the tenor made his stage debut at the Teatro Consorziale in Budrio a small town near Bologna, in 1977 as the Duke in Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto. The following year in Bologna he sang the part of Ernesto in Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and was then chosen for the premiere of Il contrabasso by Valentino Bucchi at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence.  In 1956 he made his La Scala debut opposite Callas in Verdi’s La traviata. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Architectural History of Venice, by Deborah Howard

Deborah Howard’s The Architectural History of Venice has been described as the indispensable guide to the history of architecture in Venice, encompassing the city's fascinating variety of buildings from ancient times to the present day. Completely updated and filled with splendid new illustrations, this edition invites all visitors to Venice, armchair travelers, and students of Renaissance art and architecture to a fuller appreciation of the buildings of this uniquely beautiful city. The Times Literary Supplement called it: "The best concise introduction to Venetian architecture in English" while the Society of Architectural Historians said it is: "Compact and manageable . . . an excellent introduction to the novice preparing for a first Venetian experience."

Deborah Howard is a British art historian and academic. Her principal research interests are the art and architecture of Venice and the Veneto; the relationship between Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean; and music and architecture in the Renaissance. She is professor emerita of architectural history in the Faculty of Architecture and History of Art, University of Cambridge. 

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Giovanni Scalfarotto - architect

Grandiose church renovation is one of Venice’s best-known sights

The church of San Simeon Piccolo is situated
opposite Venice's Santa Lucia railway station

Giovanni Scalfarotto, a Venetian architect remembered essentially for just one project, was born on this day in 1672.

The son of a bricklayer, Scalfarotto spent much of his career as a site foreman or supervisor around Venice and nearby towns, usually involved with relatively minor restoration work, although he advised on the domes of San Giorgio Maggiore and San Marco as a consultant.

The exception was his work on the church of Saints Simeone and Giuda Apostoli, also known as San Simeon Piccolo, on the Grand Canal, in a restoration project that spanned 20 years between 1718 and 1738 and created what is today arguably one of Venice’s most recognisable visual symbols. 

Likely originally to have been a three-nave basilica built parallel to the canal, the church was transformed under Scalfarotto, who created a central rotunda beneath an enormous oval dome in green copper topped by a temple-shaped lantern, accessed through a Corinthian portico mounted on a flight of steps leading to the water’s edge.

The design had echoes of the Pantheon in Rome, of Antonio Palladio’s Redentore in Venice and his Tempietto in Maser, Baldassare Longhena’s Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute in Venice and the twin churches of Piazza del Popolo in Rome, designed by Carlo Rainaldi.

When the age of the railways reached Venice with the construction of Santa Lucia railway station in the 1860s, the position of San Simeon Piccolo on the Grand Canal, directly opposite the entrance to the station, meant that for hundreds, and ultimately thousands of tourists who arrive in Venice by train every day, it was the first thing their eyes were drawn to as they stepped out into the sunshine.

Given that he was in his 40s when he began work on the church and had only a relatively modest career behind him, many experts have cast doubt on whether the design can be reliably attributed to Scalfarotto.

The twin churches of Piazza del Popolo in Rome
possibly influenced the design of San Simeon Piccolo

But even if he had been merely executing ideas put forward by others, the successful completion of a project of such complexity was a notable achievement in itself.

Scalfarotto - sometimes spelled Scalferotto or Scalfurotto - was born in the parish of San Pantalon, the second son of Tommaso, a bricklayer originally from Valmarino, about 80km (48 miles) north of Venice, in the province of Treviso.

By his early 20s, Giovanni Scalfarotto was himself working in Venice as a bricklayer or mason. His training was probably provided by his father and his older brother, Bartolomeo. He is thought likely to have become interested in architecture and design through his friendship with Andrea Musalo, a Greek mathematician, engineer and architectural theorist who was based in Venice.

His career appeared to move to another level after he had travelled to Rome in 1711 with a group of Baroque artists and craftsmen that included Domenico Rossi, a Swiss‑Italian architect whose major designs included the magnificent, sculpturally theatrical façade of the church of San Stae, the Jesuit church of Santa Maria Assunta and Ca’ Corner della Regina.

On his return to Venice, Scalfarotto began to take on bigger projects involving his own designs, although few of them saw fruition. He also married Domenico Rossi’s daughter, Caterina, with whom he had three children. When Caterina died, he was married for a second time to Marina, daughter of the architect Andrea Tirali, who recommended him to be elected as ‘proto’ of the monasteries - a kind of master builder or chief engineer in charge of appraisals and reports on the state of churches and monasteries in Venice.

Scalfarotto’s name is engraved on the internal architrave of the portico in front of church of San Simeon Piccolo, which remains known as such even though the nearby church of San Simeone Grande was dwarfed by the 'smaller' church's rebuild. 

It is known that, in 1721, he was appointed foreman of the restoration project at San Simeon Piccolo by the church chapter, raising doubts about his role as an independent designer of the building. There are suggestions that, as foreman, he may have received suggestions about design from his client and drafted the project based on those ideas, rather than executing his own original ideas. 

Information about Scalfarotto in later life became sparse, although it is known that, between 1748 and 1750, after having lived in the parish of Sant’ Agnese in a house possibly owned by Andrea Musalo’s brother, he moved to Santa Maria Formosa, where he lived comfortably until his death in October, 1764. He was buried in the church of Santa Maria Formosa.

Campo Santa Maria Formosa, with its church
of the same name, offers a taste of Venetian life

Travel tip:

Campo Santa Maria Formosa, at the heart of the parish where Giovanni Scalfarotto spent his later years, is one of Venice’s most atmospheric squares, one in which the city’s layers of history bump into daily life in a generous open space. It is rare among squares in Venice, often tight and enclosed, in that it opens out in multiple directions, creating a sense of breadth and light that feels unexpected in the dense fabric of Castello. Palaces sit shoulder to shoulder with humbler residential buildings amid the commanding presence of the church that gives the square its name. The church of Santa Maria Formosa, where Scalfarotto is buried, is said to have been founded in the seventh century and rebuilt in the 15th century as a landmark of early Renaissance architecture in Venice. The church is unusual in having two façades, each addressing a different side of the square, one serene and classical, the other more theatrical, adorned with sculptural flourishes.  The Campo feels like a crossroads of Venetian life, with children playing, local people going about their daily business and visitors enjoying a break from the crowds of Piazza San Marco, which is barely five minutes’ walk away. 

Venice hotels by Hotels.com

Castelbrando, which now contains a luxury hotel,
stands guard over the village of Cison di Valmarino

Travel tip:

Valmarino - Cison di Valmarino to give its full name - is a village about 40km (24 miles) north of Treviso in the characterised by arcaded streets, stone houses, and a landscape shaped by vineyards and wooded hills. It sits at the foot of the Prealps along the Strada del Prosecco, and today is recognised as one of I Borghi più belli d’Italia and a Touring Club Bandiera Arancione destination. Its position gives it a distinctive blend of Venetian, Alpine, and agricultural character. The village was once the seat of the historic County of Valmareno, which included two castles and 20 villages. From 1439 it belonged to the Brandolini family, who shaped the area’s political and architectural identity for centuries. Part of their legacy is perched above the village on a limestone ridge in the shape of Castelbrando, one of Veneto’s most imposing castles, enclosing nearly 2,000 years of history. Today it functions as a hotel, museum complex, and cultural venue, accessible by funicular. The village lies in the heart of the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG zone, with numerous cellars offering tastings. Local food specialities include spiedo, a traditional slow‑roasted meat dish cooked for at least seven hours, and local speciality biscuits called Buzholà.

Stay in Cison di Valmarino with Expedia

More reading:

Andrea Palladio, the stonecutter who became a giant of architecture

How Giorgio Massari built on Palladio’s legacy in Venice

The magnificent Venetian church built to commemorate deliverance from the plague

Also on this day:

1598: The birth of astronomer Giovanni Riccioli

1923: The birth of tenor Gianni Raimondi

1927: The birth of soprano Graziella Sciutti

1954: The birth of racing driver Riccardo Patrese

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16 April

Fortunino Matania - artist and illustrator

War artist famous also for images of British history

Chevalier Fortunino Matania, a prodigiously talented artist who became known as one of the greatest magazine illustrators in publishing history, was born on this day in 1881 in Naples.  Matania made his name largely in England, where in 1904 he joined the staff of The Sphere, the illustrated news magazine that was founded in London in 1900 in competition with The Graphic and the Illustrated London News.  The use of photography on a commercial scale was in its infancy and artists who could work under deadline pressure to produce high-quality, realistic images to accompany news stories were in big demand.  Matania’s best known work was from the battlegrounds of the First World War but he also covered every major event - marriages, christenings, funerals and state occasions - from the coronation of Edward VII in 1902 to that of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.  Read more…

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Leo Nucci – operatic baritone

Singer renowned for his interpretation of Rigoletto

One of the most famous baritones in the world, Leo Nucci, was born on this day in 1942 in Castiglione dei Pepoli, a small town south of Bologna and, since making his stage debut in 1967, has been delighting opera audiences for more than 50 years.  The singer has performed his signature role of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto more than 500 times all over the world. He had planned to retire in 2020, but changed his mind during the first Covid-19 lockdown when the area around his home near the city of Lodi was declared a red zone and subject to the toughest restrictions imposed by the Italian government.  He has said that he lost colleagues and friends to Covid and had the opportunity for reflection while he remained at his home, listening to the sounds of nature, broken only by the sirens of hundreds of ambulances taking victims of the virus to hospital. Read more…

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Adelaide del Vasto – Countess of Sicily

Prudent ruler who looked after Sicily for her young sons

Adelaide del Vasto, who served as regent of Sicily during the 12th century, died on this day in 1118 in Sicily.  One historian described her as ‘a prudent woman’ and a Greek and Arab document listed Adelaide – known in Italian as Adelasia - as ‘a great female ruler and protector of the Christian faith’.  Born in Piedmont, Adelaide was from an important family with branches that ruled Liguria and Turin. She became the third wife of Roger I of Sicily in 1089. When he died in 1101 she became regent of Sicily for her young sons, Simon and Roger II, when she was about 26.  After rebellions broke out in parts of Calabria and Sicily, Adelaide dealt with them severely, but this did not tarnish her reputation as a good ruler.  Adelaide’s eldest son, Simon, was enthroned at about the age of nine but he died in 1105 leaving her as regent again until Roger II became old enough to take control of the kingdom in 1112. Read more…

Felice Pedroni - prospector

Italian’s discovery sparked Fairbanks Gold Rush

The gold prospector known as Felix Pedro was born Felice Pedroni on this day in 1858 in the village of Trignano, near the small Apennine town of Fanano in Emilia-Romagna.  In July 1902, on or around the 22nd, Pedroni discovered gold in the Tanana Hills northeast of the fledgling town of Fairbanks, Alaska in a small, then unnamed stream (later to be called Pedro Creek).  Some claim that Pedroni was the prospector who, on his return to Fairbanks from his prospecting mission, uttered the famous words "There's gold in them there hills", although there are other accounts of where the phrase originated.  What does not seem to be disputed is that Pedroni’s discovery triggered what became known as the Fairbanks Gold Rush as more than 1,000 other gold diggers flooded the area.  Brought up in a family of subsistence farmers in Trignano, Pedroni was the youngest of six brothers. Read more…

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Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudini – Prime Minister

Bloodshed in Milan marred liberal premier’s time in office

Political leader Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudini, who twice served as prime minister of Italy, was born on this day in 1839 in Palermo in Sicily.  During his second term in office, Di Rudini’s Government passed social legislation to create an obligatory workmen’s compensation scheme and a fund for disability and old age pensions but they were also blamed for the army’s brutal treatment of rioters in Milan.  Di Rudini was born into an aristocratic but liberal Sicilian family and grew up to join the revolutionaries in Sicily.  He became Mayor of Palermo and successfully resisted the opponents of national unity. He was then promoted to Prefect and given the task of suppressing the brigands in Sicily.  After entering parliament, Di Rudini became leader of the right wing but when he became premier in 1891 he formed a coalition with the left and began economic reforms.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: 1914 - 1918 Through the Eyes of Fortunino Matania, edited by Peter Richardson

In August 1914 much of Europe was pitched into a war that would eclipse all others in terms of its industrial ferocity. In an era when photography and film recording were still in their infancy, much of the news was relayed through the work of reportage artists.  Pre-eminent amongst such artists was Fortunino Matania who was The Sphere's artist-on-the-spot for events ranging from coronations to colliery disasters.  Sent to a variety of Fronts to cover the conflict, his illustrations created a gripping and, at times, life-affirming testimony to those traumatic times, drawn from the personal visits he made and interviews he conducted with survivors.  1914 - 1918 Through the Eyes of Fortunino Matania collects those images in large format so that they can be viewed as they were intended. More than 150 paintings and drawings on the World War 1 conflict depict all its horrors and special moments.  Matania’s work inspired many contemporary artists: Annigoni and Russell Flint both visited his studio, and many comic strip artists collected his work including Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel, Frank Frazetta, John Bolton and Bernie Wrightson as well as film directors such as Cecil B DeMille and Alfred Hitchcock.

Peter Richardson is a noted editor and researcher specializing in illustrators, particularly known for his work with Book Palace Books on the Italian artist Fortunino Matania.

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15 April

Filippo Brunelleschi – architect

Genius who designed the largest brick dome ever constructed

One of the founding fathers of the Renaissance, Filippo Brunelleschi died on this day in 1446 in Florence.  He is remembered for developing a technique for linear perspective in art and for building the dome of Florence Cathedral.  However, his achievements also included sculpture, mathematics, engineering and ship design.  Brunelleschi was born in 1377 in Florence. According to his biographer, Antonio Manetti, and the historian Giorgio Vasari, his father was Brunellesco di Lippo, a notary. Filippo’s education would have equipped him to follow in his father’s footsteps but because he was artistically inclined he was enrolled in the silk merchants guild, which also included goldsmiths and metal workers, and he became a master goldsmith in 1398.  In 1401 he entered a competition to design a new set of bronze doors for the Baptistery in Florence. Read more…

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Giovanni Amendola - journalist and politician

Liberal writer died following attack by Mussolini’s thugs

Giovanni Amendola, a dedicated opponent of Fascism, was born on this day in 1882 in Naples in southern Italy.  As a critic of the right wing extremists in Italy, Amendola had to suffer a series of attacks by hired thugs. He endured a particularly brutal beating in 1925 by 15 Blackshirts armed with clubs near Montecatini Terme in Tuscany and he later died as a result of his injuries, becoming one of the earliest victims of the Fascist regime.  Amendola had obtained a degree in philosophy and contributed to the newspapers, Il Leonardo and La Voce, expressing his philosophical and ideological views. He was given the chair of theoretical philosophy at the University of Pisa but, attracted by politics, he stood for parliament and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies three times to represent Salerno.  He began contributing to Il Resto di Carlino and Corriere della Sera, urging Italy’s entry into World War I in 1915. Read more…

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Leonardo da Vinci – painter and inventor

Artist regarded as most talented individual ever to have lived

Leonardo da Vinci, painter, draughtsman, sculptor, architect and engineer, was born on this day in 1452 near Vinci in Tuscany.  Leonardo’s genius epitomises the Renaissance ideal of possessing all-round accomplishments and his wall painting of The Last Supper and portrait of the Mona Lisa are among the most popular and influential artworks of all time.  His surviving notebooks reveal a spirit of scientific enquiry and a mechanical inventiveness that were centuries ahead of their time.  Leonardo received an elementary education but must have shown early artistic inclinations because his father apprenticed him to Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence when he was 15, in whose workshop he was trained in painting and sculpting. There are many superb pen and pencil drawings still in existence from this period, including sketches of military weapons and apparatus. Read more…

Italy’s first nuclear reactor opens

Facility based on pioneer Enrico Fermi’s historic Chicago-Pile series

The first nuclear reactor to be built on Italian soil was inaugurated on this day in 1959 at Ispra, a small town on the eastern shore of Lago Maggiore.  The facility, which preceded the first generation of nuclear power plants serving the need for clean, reliable and plentiful electricity sources for industrial and domestic use, was built purely for research purposes.  It was opened four years ahead of the country’s first commercial nuclear plant, at Latina in Lazio.  The 5 megawatt Ispra-1 research reactor, as it was titled, was modelled on the latest version of the Chicago-Pile 5 series developed by Enrico Fermi, the Rome-born nuclear physicist who created the world’s first nuclear reactor, the Chicago-Pile 1, following his discovery that if uranium neutrons were emitted into fissioning uranium, they could split other uranium atoms, setting off a chain reaction that would release enormous amounts of energy.  Read more…

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Jacopo Riccati – mathematician

Venetian nobleman who was fascinated by Maths

Respected mathematician Jacopo Francesco Riccati, who had an equation named after him, died on this day in 1754 in Treviso.  He had devoted his life to the study of mathematical analysis, turning down many prestigious academic posts offered to him. He is chiefly remembered for the Riccati differential equation, which he spent many years studying.  Riccati was born in 1676 in Venice. His father, Conte Montino Riccati, was from a noble family of landowners and his mother was from the powerful Colonna family. His father died when Riccati was only ten years old, leaving him a large estate at Castelfranco Veneto.  Riccati was educated first at the Jesuit school for the nobility in Brescia and in 1693 went to the University of Padua to study law.  After receiving a doctorate in law in 1696 he began to study mathematical analysis.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Brunelleschi's Dome: The Story of the Great Cathedral in Florence, by Ross King

This is the story of one of the most magnificent achievements of the Italian Renaissance, and the architect behind it.  Even in an age of soaring skyscrapers and cavernous sports stadiums, the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence still retains a rare power to astonish. Yet the elegance of the building belies the tremendous labour, technical ingenuity and bitter personal strife involved in its creation. For over a century after work on the cathedral began, the proposed dome was regarded as all but impossible to build. The greatest architectural puzzle of its age, when finally completed it was hailed as one of the great wonders of the world.  Brunelleschi's Dome tells the extraordinary story of how the cupola was raised and of the dome's architect, the brilliant and volatile Filippo Brunelleschi. Denounced as a madman at the start of his labours, he was celebrated at their end as a great genius. His life was one of ambition, ingenuity, rivalry and intrigue - a human drama set against the plagues, wars, political feuds and intellectual ferments of Renaissance Florence, the glorious era for which the dome remains the most compelling symbol.

Ross King is a renowned expert in the Italian Renaissance. He is the author of numerous bestselling and acclaimed books including Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling, Leonardo and the Last Supper and The Shortest History of Italy. He has been studying  writing and lecturing about Renaissance Florence for more than 20 years. He lives just outside Oxford.

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