23 May

NEW - Ancona comes under attack as Italy enters World War I

The day the capital of Le Marche was bombarded from the sea

The port city of Ancona on the Adriatic Sea became an immediate target for naval ships deployed by Austria-Hungary on this day in 1915, after Italy entered World War I.  The Austrian fleet were quick to react after Italy declared that it was joining the war on the side of the Allies, having initially remained neutral.  Destroyers immediately set sail from their base in Pola - modern-day Pula in Croatia - heading towards Ancona to attack both military and civilian targets under the cover of darkness.  The rest of the Austrian fleet set off to join in the bombardment the following day and the enemy ships attacked several other coastal cities in the province of Ancona, destroying a train and a railway station while they were firing on Senigallia.  Two destroyers and a torpedo boat bombarded Ancona’s harbour for about an hour and 15 minutes. Read more…

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Sergio Gonella - football referee

First Italian to referee a World Cup final

Sergio Gonella, the first Italian football referee to take charge of a World Cup final, was born on this day in 1933 in Asti, a city in Piedmont best known for its wine production.  Gonella was appointed to officiate in the 1978 final between the Netherlands and the hosts Argentina in Buenos Aires and although he was criticised by many journalists and football historians for what they perceived as a weak performance lacking authority, few matches in the history of the competition can have presented a tougher challenge.  Against a backcloth of political turmoil in a country that had suffered a military coup only two years earlier and where opponents of the regime were routinely kidnapped and tortured, or simply disappeared, this was Argentina’s chance to build prestige by winning the biggest sporting event in the world, outside the Olympics.  Read more…

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Girolamo Savonarola executed

Death of the friar who was to inspire best-selling novel by Tom Wolfe

The hellfire preacher Girolamo Savonarola was hanged and burned on this day in 1498 in Piazza della Signoria in Florence.  By sheer force of personality, Savonarola had convinced rich people to burn their worldly goods in spectacular bonfires in Florence during 1497, but within a year it was Savonarola’s burning corpse that the crowds turned out to see.  Savonarola had become famous for his outspoken sermons against vice and corruption in the Catholic Church in Italy and he encouraged wealthy people to burn their valuable goods, paintings and books in what have become known as ‘bonfires of the vanities.’  This phrase inspired the author Tom Wolfe to write The Bonfire of the Vanities, a novel about ambition and politics in 1980s New York.  Savonarola was born in 1452 in Ferrara. He became a Dominican friar and entered the convent of Saint Mark in Florence in 1482. Read more…

Ferdinando II de’ Medici – Grand Duke of Tuscany

Technology fan who supported scientist Galileo

Inventor and patron of science Ferdinando II de’ Medici died on this day in 1670 in Florence.  Like his grandmother, the dowager Grand Duchess Christina, Ferdinando II was a loyal friend to Galileo and he welcomed the scientist back to Florence after the prison sentence imposed on him for ‘vehement suspicion of heresy’ was commuted to house arrest.  Ferdinando II was reputed to be obsessed with new technology and had hygrometers, barometers, thermometers and telescopes installed at his home in the Pitti Palace.  He has also been credited with the invention of the sealed glass thermometer in 1654.  Ferdinando II was born in 1610, the eldest son of Cosimo II de’ Medici and Maria Maddalena of Austria.  He became Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1621 when he was just 10 years old after the death of his father.  Read more…

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Giuseppe Parini – writer

Satirist avenged bad treatment though his poetry

Poet and satirist Giuseppe Parini was born on this day in 1729 in Bosisio in Lombardy.  A writer associated with the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, he is remembered for his series of Horatian odes and for Il giorno - The Day - a satirical poem in four books about the selfishness and superficiality of the aristocracy in Milan.  The son of a silk trader, Parini was sent to Milan to study under the religious order, the Barnabites. In 1752 his first volume of verse introduced him to literary circles and the following year he joined the Milanese Accademia dei Trasformati - Academy of the Transformed - which was located at the Palazzo Imbonati in the Porta Nuova district.  He was ordained a priest in 1754 - a condition of a legacy made to him by a great aunt - and entered the household of Duke Gabrio Serbelloni at Tremezzo on Lake Como to be tutor to his eldest son.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Italy: Umbria & The Marche (Bradt Travel Guides), by Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls

Bradt's Umbria & the Marche is the most detailed guide to combine these two small central Italian regions, which offer all the beauty, history and culture of neighbouring Tuscany only without the crowds, the traffic or eye-popping prices.  Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls, authors of the original Cadogan guide to the area, lived in Umbria in the 1980s and have been returning regularly and writing about it ever since. They are the perfect guides to the region's landscapes, hill towns, food and wine, and art and architecture.  The superb art cities of Umbria and Le Marche steal the limelight - Perugia, Orvieto, Urbino, Loreto, Todi, where art fills every church and palazzo. There is a dedicated chapter on Assisi, the rose-tinted pilgrim destination, and Spoleto, medieval capital of the Lombards and home of the famous arts festival. But never far from these centres wait unspoiled countryside of rolling olive groves, forests and meadows, long walks and towns and tiny villages, nearly all with a masterpiece or two to show off and a great little family-run restaurant.  The Bradt guide covers them all, along with the republic of San Marino. Le Marche's geography is dominated by a series of east-west river valleys - the Metauro, Esino, and Tronto etc - twisting down to Adriatic and often ending in long sandy beaches, from the historic towns of Senigallia and Fano through Ancona's Cornero Riviera to the Riviera delle Palme at San Benedetto del Tronto. Landlocked Umbria, where rivers flow into the mighty Tiber, has exceptional water features as well: Italy's fourth largest lake, Trasimeno; the Tiber Valley; Clitunno springs; and Italy's most beautiful waterfall, the Cascata delle Marmore.  Featuring superb photography and expert recommendations, Umbria & the Marche is a timely guide to a more authentic corner of Italy.

Long-time travel authors Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls have been tramping over Italy for decades with notebook in hand, in an unending search for the next double espresso. The two spent years living in a tiny village in the Apennines with their small children, and since then they have written over 20 regional and city guides covering every corner of Italy.

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Ancona comes under attack as Italy enters World War I

The day the capital of Le Marche was bombarded from the sea

A painting, by an unknown artist, depicting battleships
of the Austria-Hungary fleet bombarding Ancona

The port city of Ancona on the Adriatic Sea became an immediate target for naval ships deployed by Austria-Hungary on this day in 1915 after Italy entered World War I.

The Austrian fleet were quick to react after Italy declared that it was joining the war on the side of the Allies, having initially remained neutral. 

Destroyers immediately set sail from their base in Pola - modern-day Pula in Croatia - heading towards Ancona to attack both military and civilian targets under the cover of darkness.

The rest of the Austrian fleet set off to join in the bombardment the following day and the enemy ships attacked several other coastal cities in the province of Ancona, destroying a train and a railway station while they were firing on Senigallia. 

Two destroyers and a torpedo boat bombarded Ancona’s harbour for about an hour and 15 minutes, and an Italian destroyer, which was trying to defend the city, was badly damaged. 

There were two enemy aircraft in the sky above Ancona signalling the targets that had been chosen to be hit by the ships. The city’s military hospital, penal colony, orphanage, the Bank of Italy building, and some shipyard workshops in Ancona were all selected and many ended up badly damaged as a result.

The primary objective of Austria-Hungary was to hinder Italian mobilisation by attacking the key naval, industrial, and logistical infrastructure along the Adriatic coast.

Ancona's cathedral sits on top of a hill above the
harbour, making it an obvious target

The Austria-Hungary navy managed to inflict heavy damage on the whole area and 63 people, including some civilians, were killed in Ancona alone. 

The dome and a chapel inside Ancona’s cathedral - the Cattedrale di San Ciriaco - were seriously damaged by eight Austrian cannon shots.

This major onslaught on the Adriatic coast culminated in a bombing raid on Venice by Austrian seaplanes.

It was the largest and most ambitious naval operation carried out by the Austro-Hungarian navy during World War I. But eventually, a large Allied blockade was set up to prevent the enemy fleet from leaving the Adriatic.  

There had been widespread public support after King Victor Emmanuel III had formally declared war, siding with the Allies, at 15.00 on 23 May. Many Italians were hoping it would give them the chance to regain lost territory, such as areas of present-day Trentino alto Adige and the South Tyrol, as well as parts of Istria and the Dalmatian coast. 

However, Italy had been unprepared for immediate offensive operations, particularly along the Adriatic coast where fortifications were inadequate. 

The Allies were able to subsequently blockade the Strait of Otranto between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu in Greece to prevent the Austro-Hungarian navy from escaping into the Mediterranean and threatening any more of their operations.

Although the attackers did not suffer many casualties themselves, after this raid on Ancona, the major Austro-Hungarian battleships rarely left their bases.

The previous year, when General Luigi Cadorna had been preparing for war, his attention had been focused on Italy’s western border with France. For many people, trench warfare remains a lasting image of World War I, which makes them think of the conflict as principally a land war.

But the sea and air operations that were also carried out during World War I foreshadowed the important part the sea and air were to play during World War II, just 25 years later.

Pope Clement XIII's statue looks over
Ancona's pretty Piazza del Plebiscito

Travel tip:

Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy and is the capital of both the province and the region. The city is 280km (170 miles) northeast of Rome and is one of the main ports on the Adriatic Sea for passenger traffic. Ferries link Ancona with ports in Greece, Turkey and Croatia. The name Ancona derives from the shape of the harbour that the Greek founders of the city referred to as ‘ankon’, meaning elbow. Thanks to this unusual configuration, Ancona is the only city in Italy, and one of the few in the world, where it is possible to see the sun both rise and set over the sea. A famous site near the harbour is the towering Trajan’s Arch, built in AD115 overlooking the port in honour of the Roman Emperor, Trajan. Near to it is the smaller Clementine’s Arch, built by architect Luigi Vanvitelli in 1733 on the orders of Pope Clement XII, who wanted to be remembered for the work he had commissioned to modernise the port in order to revive the city’s maritime trade. A large statue of Clement XII also stands in front of the 13th century Church of San Domenico in Piazza del Plebiscito, which is a lively square, just off the seafront, with plenty of bars and restaurants.

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The cathedral's Gothic porch,
flanked by red marble lions

Travel tip:

High above Ancona on Monte Guasco stands the Cattedrale di San Ciriaco in Piazza del Duomo, which was damaged during the bombardment by Austria-Hungary. It is a short bus ride from the centre of Ancona. The cathedral was founded during the fourth century but was later rebuilt and consecrated in 1017. It has a Gothic porch flanked by red marble lions that was added in about 1200. The body of Ancona’s patron saint, San Ciriaco (Saint Cyriacus) is kept in the crypt, but it is no longer on public view.  There, you can also see the remains of the original Greek temple that stood on the site, and some early frescoes. The grounds surrounding Ancona’s Duomo have panoramic views of the harbour below and provide a good opportunity for taking photographs on a clear day. On the road just below the Duomo can be found a site with the remains of a Roman amphitheatre, which was  built towards the end of the first century BC, and nearby is a lift that will carry you down to the Lungomare Luigi Vanvitelli, a road that overlooks the port and leads into the centre of the city.

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More reading:

The World War I flying ace who became physician to Italy’s Chamber of Deputies

The army commander who was one of first to see the potential of air power

The general who masterminded Italy's decisive World War 1 victory

Also on this day:

1498: The execution of hellfire preacher Girolamo Savonarola

1670: The death of Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

1729: The birth of poet and satirist Giuseppe Parini

1933: The birth of football referee Sergio Gonella 

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22 May

José João Altafini - footballer who made history

Forward tamed Eusebio to give Italy first European Cup

Supporters of AC Milan took to the streets to celebrate on this day in 1963 after José João Altafini's goals secured an historic victory in the European Cup.  Milan beat Benfica at Wembley Stadium in London to become the first Italian team to win the trophy.  Until then the European Cup had been dominated by Real Madrid, who were champions for five years in a row after the competition was launched in 1955-56, with the great Eusebio's Benfica winning in 1961 and 1962.  At half-time at Wembley in 1963, Milan looked set to provide another near-miss story for Italy, trailing to a Eusebio goal as Benfica closed on a third successive title.  The rossoneri had lost to Real Madrid five years earlier, 12 months after the Spanish giants brushed aside Fiorentina in the final.  But 24-year-old Altafini, who became one of Serie A’s most prolific all-time goalscorers, refused to be cowed.  Read more…

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Giulia Grisi - operatic soprano

Officer’s daughter became a star on three continents

The opera singer Giulia Grisi, one of the leading sopranos of the 19th century, was born on this day in 1811 in Milan.  Renowned for the smooth sweetness of her voice, Grisi sang to full houses in Europe, the United States and South America during a career spanning 30 years in which composers such as Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti created roles especially for her.  These included Elvira in Bellini’s final opera, I puritani, in which Grisi appeared alongside the great tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, the bass Luigi Lablache and the baritone Antonio Tamburini when the work premiered in Paris in 1835.  The opera was such a success that whenever the four singers performed together subsequently they were known as the “Puritani quartet”.  Grisi was also the first soprano cast in the role of Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma in Milan in 1831, playing opposite Giuditta Pasta in the title role.  Read more…

Trevi Fountain inaugurated

Famous fountain now helps raise money for the poor

Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain - Fontana di Trevi - was officially opened by Pope Clement XIII on this day in 1762.  Standing at more than 26m (85ft) high and 49m (161ft) wide it is the largest Baroque fountain in Rome and probably the most famous fountain in the world.  It has featured in films such as La dolce vita and Three Coins in the Fountain.  For more than 400 years a fountain served Rome at the junction of three roads - tre vie - using water from one of Ancient Rome’s aqueducts.  In 1629 Pope Urban VIII asked Gian Lorenzo Bernini to draw up possible renovations but the project was abandoned when the pope died.  In 1730 Pope Clement XII organised a contest to design a new fountain. The Florentine Alessandro Galilei originally won but there was such an outcry in Rome that the commission was eventually awarded to a Roman, Nicola Salvi.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: European Cup & Champions League: The Illustrated History, by Keir Radnedge

The UEFA Champions League celebrated its diamond jubilee in 2015. The first match - in what was the European Champion Clubs' Cup - was played on 4 September 1955, when Sporting Lisbon played Partizan Belgrade. The Yugoslavs advanced to the next round by winning 8-5 on aggregate, but lost to the eventual champions, Real Madrid, giving the first glimmering of the Spanish club's legendary status. At the time of publication, Real had won the Champion Clubs Cup/UEFA Champions League (the competition was rebranded in 1992) ten times, three more successes than their nearest rival, Milan. European Cup & Champions League: The Illustrated History covers every season's competition with a full report and statistical summary of the Final up to, and including, the 2015 final in Berlin. There are specially commissioned interviews with a football legend from each decade from the 1950s onwards. The book also includes a full statistical section, listing every result and all major record-holders, both club and individual.

Keir Radnedge has been covering football for more than 50 years. He has written countless books on the subject, from tournament guides to comprehensive encyclopedias, aimed at all ages. His journalism career included the Daily Mail for 20 years, as well as The Guardian and other national newspapers and magazines in the UK and abroad. He is also a former editor of World Soccer, generally recognized as the premier English-language magazine on global football.

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21 May

Propaganda Due suspects named

Italy horrified as list reveals alleged members of ‘secret state’ 

Ordinary Italians were stunned and the country’s elite rocked to the core on this day in 1981 when a list was made public of alleged members of Propaganda Due, a secret Masonic lodge which sought to run the country as a ‘state within the state’.  A staggering 962 names were on the list, including 44 members of parliament, three of whom were cabinet ministers, 49 bankers, numerous industrialists, a number of newspaper editors and other high-profile journalists, the heads of all three of Italy’s secret services and more than 200 military and police officers, including 12 generals of the Carabinieri, five of the Guardia di Finanza, 22 of the army and four from the air force.  The existence of the illegal, underground lodge, known as P2, had been rumoured for several years but there had been little concrete evidence.  Read more…

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Michelangelo’s Pietà damaged

Work of art deliberately vandalised

Michelangelo’s beautiful Pietà, a marble sculpture of the Virgin Mary with the dead body of Jesus lying across her knees, was damaged by a man wielding a hammer on this day in 1972 in Rome.  A mentally disturbed man walked into St Peter’s Basilica and attacked the sculpture in an act of deliberate vandalism.  He struck it 15 times, removing Mary’s arm at the elbow, knocking off a chunk of her nose and chipping one of her eyelids.  Some of the pieces of marble that flew off were taken by some of the people who were in the church at the time and Mary’s nose had to be reconstructed from a block cut out of her back.  The man who carried out the attack was said to be suffering from a delusion that he was Jesus Christ risen from the dead. He was not charged with any crime but spent two years in a psychiatric hospital.  Read more…

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Pandolfo Petrucci – ruler of Siena

Ruthless tyrant who encouraged art

Pandolfo Petrucci, who during his time ruling Siena was one of the most powerful men in Italy, died on this day in 1512 in San Quirico d’Orcia in Tuscany.  Although he had been a tyrannical ruler, Petrucci had also done a great deal to increase the artistic splendour of his native city.  Petrucci was born into an aristocratic family in Siena in 1452. He had to go into exile in 1483 for being a member of the Noveschi political faction, which had fallen out of favour with the rulers of Siena.  After he returned to Siena in 1487, he began to take advantage of the struggles between the different political factions.  He married Aurelia Borghese, who was the daughter of Niccolò Borghese, an important figure in Siena at the time. After entering public office himself, Petrucci acquired so much authority and wealth that he became the ruling despot of Siena with the title of signore - lord.  Read more…

Cardinal Giulio Alberoni – statesman and gourmet

Priest loved power, wealth, and his local pasta

Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, who gained money and high position through representing the interests of France and Spain, and was also known for his love of good food, was born on this day in 1664 in Fiorenzuola D’Arda near Piacenza in the Duchy of Parma in Emilia-Romagna. Alberoni had a career punctuated by highs and lows, but he accumulated vast personal wealth and his memory lives on because of two dishes that are still served by restaurants in Piacenza. The son of a gardener, Alberoni rose to become a statesman responsible for the revival of Spain’s fortunes during the War of the Spanish Succession, and he was made the papal legate of Ravenna and Bologna.  After being educated by the Jesuits, Alberoni took holy orders and was appointed a canon at Parma in 1698.  In 1702, the government of Parma sent him on a diplomatic mission.  Read more…

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Angelo Bruno - Mafia boss

Sicilian head of Philadelphia mob known as 'the Gentle Don'

Angelo Bruno, a mobster who ran the Philadelphia Mafia for two decades, was born Angelo Annaloro in Villalba, in the province of Caltanissetta, in Sicily, on this day in 1910.  Bruno was known as “the Gentle Don” because he preferred to solve problems and consolidate his power through non-violent means, such as bribery, and commissioned murders only as a last resort.  The son of a grocer, he emigrated to the United States in his teens and settled in Philadelphia. He became a close associate of New York crime family boss Carlo Gambino. Bruno dropped the name Annaloro and replaced it with his paternal grandmother's maiden name, Bruno.  Bruno’s dislike of violence was not driven by any compassion for his fellow man.  During his early days in Philadelphia, he worked for a series of bosses and did not shirk the tasks he had to perform in order to rise through the ranks.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Dark Heart of Italy, by Tobias Jones

The Dark Heart of Italy is an essential guide to the strange, sometimes sinister culture of contemporary Italy.  When Tobias Jones first travelled to Italy, he expected to discover the pastoral bliss described by centuries of foreign visitors and famous writers. Instead, he discovered a very different country, besieged by unfathomable terrorism and deep-seated paranoia, where crime is scarcely ever met with punishment.  Now, in this fascinating travelogue, Jones explores not just Italy's familiar delights - art, climate, cuisine - but the livelier and stranger sides of the bel paese: language, football, Catholicism, cinema, television and terrorism. Why, he wonders, do bombs still explode every time politics start getting serious? Why does everyone urge him to go home as soon as possible, saying that Italy is a 'brothel'? And why do people warn him that 'Clean Hands' only disguise 'Dirty Feet'?

Tobias Jones first moved to Italy in 1999 and has published various books on the country’s true-crimes, customs, politics and football. He has written and presented documentaries for the BBC and for RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, and has been a columnist for both the Observer and Internazionale. He is the co-founder of Windsor Hill Wood, a refuge for people in a period of crisis in their lives. He lives in Parma, Italy.

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