30 March

Ignazio Gardella – architect

Modernist who created Venetian classic

The engineer and architect Ignazio Gardella, considered one of the great talents of modern urban design in Italy, was born on this day in 1905 in Milan.  He represented the fourth generation in a family of architects and his destiny was determined at an early age. He graduated in civil engineering in Milan in 1931 and architecture in Venice in 1949.  Gardella designed numerous buildings during an active career that spanned almost six decades, including the Antituberculosis Dispensary in Alessandria, which is considered one of the purest examples of Italian Rationalism, and the Casa alle Zattere on the Giudecca Canal in Venice, in which he blended modernism with classical style in a way that has been heralded as genius.  During his university years, he made friends with many young architects from the Milan area and together they created the Modern Italian Movement.  Read more…

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Fortunato Depero - artist

Futurist who designed iconic Campari bottle

The Futurist painter, sculptor and graphic artist Fortunato Depero, who left a famous mark on Italian culture by designing the conical bottle in which Campari Soda is still sold today, was born on this day in 1892 in the Trentino region.  Depero had a wide breadth of artistic talent, which encompassed painting, sculpture, architecture and graphic design. He designed magazine covers for the New Yorker, Vogue and Vanity Fair among others, created stage sets and costumes for the theatre, made sculptures and paintings and some consider his masterpiece to be the trade fair pavilion he designed for the 1927 Monza Biennale Internazionale delle Arti Decorative, which had giant block letters for walls.  Yet it is the distinctive Campari bottle that has endured longest of all his creations, having gone into production in 1932.  Read more…

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Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Naples

Programme of reform launched to improve lives of citizens

People took to the streets to celebrate in Naples on this day in 1806 after Napoleon’s older brother, Joseph Bonaparte, was declared to be their new king. Joseph had been welcomed when he first arrived in Naples and was eager to be a popular monarch with his subjects. He kept most of the people who had held office under the Bourbons in their posts because he was anxious not to appear as a foreign oppressor.  Once he had established a provisional government in the capital of his new kingdom, he set off on a tour of inspection of his territory.  His immediate objective was to assess the feasibility of an invasion of Sicily to expel King Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina, who had fled to Palermo from Naples. But once he arrived at the Strait of Messina, he realized this was going to be impossible as the Bourbon monarchs had taken away all the boats and transport. Read more…

The Sicilian Vespers

How the French lost control of the island they were ruling

As the citizens of Palermo walked to vespers - evening prayers - in the church of Santo Spirito on this day in 1282, a French soldier grossly insulted a pretty young Sicilian woman.  The girl’s enraged fiancé immediately drew his dagger and stabbed the soldier through the heart.  The violence was contagious and the local people exploded in fury against the French occupying forces. More than 200 French soldiers were killed at the outset and the violence spread to other parts of Sicily the next day resulting in a full-scale rebellion against French rule. This bloody event, which led to Charles of Anjou losing control of Sicily, became known in history as the Sicilian Vespers.  King Charles was detested for his cold-blooded cruelty and his officials had made the lives of the ordinary Sicilians miserable.  After he was overthrown, Sicily enjoyed almost a century of independence.  Read more…

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Faustina Bordoni - mezzo-soprano

Brilliant career overshadowed by infamous on-stage fight

Faustina Bordoni, a fêted mezzo-soprano ranked as one of the finest opera singers of the 18th century, was born on this day in 1697 in Venice.  Such was her popularity that when she joined her husband, the German composer Johann Adolf Hasse, in the employment of the Court of Saxony, where Hasse was maestro di cappella, her salary was double his.  Yet for all her acting talent and vocal brilliance, Bordoni is more often remembered as one half of the so-called ‘rival queens’ engaged by George Frideric Handel to join the company of the booming Royal Academy of Music in London in the 1720s, where she and the Italian soprano Francesca Cuzzoni allegedly came to blows on stage.  Born into a respected Venetian family, Bordoni’s musical talent was nurtured by the composers Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello and by her singing teacher, Michelangelo Gasparini.  Read more…

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Rimini Proclamation

Opening statement of the Risorgimento came from a Frenchman

The first political proclamation calling for all Italians to unite into a single people and drive out foreigners was issued on this day in 1815 in Rimini.  But the stirring words: ‘Italians! The hour has come to engage in your highest destiny…’ came from a Frenchman, Gioacchino (Joachim) Murat, who was at the time occupying the throne of Naples, which he had been given by his brother-in-law, Napoleon.  Murat had just declared war on Austria and used the Proclamation to call on Italians to revolt against the Austrians occupying Italy. He was trying to show himself as a backer of Italian independence in an attempt to find allies in his desperate battle to hang on to his own throne.  Although Murat was acting out of self-interest at the time, the Proclamation is often seen as the opening statement of the Risorgimento, the movement that helped to arouse the national consciousness of the Italian people. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Stones of Venice, by John Ruskin. Edited by William McKeown (Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library)

In the early 1850s, John Ruskin published The Stones of Venice, a history of Venetian architecture. He asserted the moral and aesthetic superiority of Venice’s medieval buildings over structures from the Renaissance period. Ruskin’s engaging and beautifully crafted prose inspired his Anglo-American readers to travel to Venice, to construct Gothic Revival buildings in their own cities, and to critically examine the moral virtues of modern society and how those principles are reflected in modern architecture.  Since 1904, only abridged editions of The Stones of Venice have been published – all of which sacrifice Ruskin’s didacticism in favour of the aestheticism of a few select passages. As the first unabridged edition in over a century, this book restores the context for those selections. It retains Ruskin’s tripartite history of Venice and includes material omitted from abridged versions, including Ruskin’s supplementary folio. It features reproductions of many of Ruskin’s original sketches, which in previous editions appeared only as engraved copies. This edition includes his list of Venice’s most important buildings, with endnotes updating their contemporary status, as well as an appendix with selections from other Venetian-themed texts by Ruskin. 

John Ruskin was an English polymath - a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He visited Venice for the first time in 1835 at the age of 16 and returned to the city 10 times subsequently.  William McKeown is an assistant professor of art history at the University of Memphis, Tennessee. 

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29 March

The Ghetto - Venice’s Jewish quarter

District began as area of enforced segregation

The Doge of Venice, Leonardo Loredan, pronounced a decree creating Venice’s historic Ghetto on this day in 1516.  It meant that the Jewish population of the city, who were already obliged to live under restrictions in place since the 13th century, were forced to move to an island in the northwestern part of the Cannaregio sestiere and could not live in any other district.  There are a number of theories about how it came to be known as the ghetto, the most plausible of which is that the area was known to Venetians by the dialect word geto - foundry - as it used to be home to a factory making heavy iron cannons for the Venetian fleet. The word may have acquired an ‘h’ in its spelling to reflect its mispronunciation by the early inhabitants, mainly German Jews, who incorrectly gave it a hard ‘g’ rather than the soft one of the dialect.  Read more…

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Enea Bossi - aviation pioneer

Claimed first pedal-powered flight in 1936

Enea Bossi, the aviator credited - albeit disputedly - with building the world's first human-powered aeroplane, was born on this day in 1888 in Milan.  It was claimed that in 1936 Bossi's Pedaliante aircraft flew for approximately 300 feet (91.4m) under pedal power alone.  Piloted by Emilio Casco, a robustly built major in the Italian army and an experienced cyclist, the Pedaliante - or pedal glider - is said to have taken off and covered the distance while remaining a few feet off the ground, although in the absence of independent verification it is not counted as the first authenticated human-powered flight, which did not take place until 1961 in Southampton, England.  The following year, as Bossi attempted to win a competition in Italy offering a prize of 100,000 lire for a successful human-powered flight, Casco succeeded in completing the required 1km (0.62 miles) distance at a height of 30 feet (9m) off the ground.  Read more…

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Castruccio Castracani - condottiero

Mercenary soldier who ruled Lucca 

Castruccio Castracani, a condottiero who ruled his home city of Lucca from 1316 to 1328, was born on this day in 1281.  His relatively short life - he died at the age of 47 - was taken up with a series of battles, some fought on behalf of others, but latterly for his own ends in the conflict between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines that dominated medieval Italy as part of the power struggle between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire.  Castruccio's story inspired a biography by Niccolò Machiavelli and later a novel by Mary Shelley.  Born Castruccio Castracani degli Antelminelli, he was from a Ghibelline family and therefore a supporter of the Holy Roman Emperor in opposition to the Guelphs. He was exiled from Lucca at an early age with his parents and others by the Guelphs, then in the ascendancy.  Read more…

Edoardo De Martino – painter

Naval officer who painted battle scenes was royal favourite 

Edoardo Federico De Martino, an artist who became famous for his paintings of warships and naval battles, was born on this day in 1838 in Meta, just outside Sorrento.  At the height of his success, De Martino worked in London, where his paintings of ships and famous British naval victories were held in high regard by Queen Victoria.  He went on to work as a painter for Queen Victoria’s son, King Edward VII, and he often accompanied the King on naval tours.  De Martino was born in the small town of Meta, to the northeast of Sorrento, which had a long history of boat building.  He served as an officer in the Italian Navy but by the time he was 30 his main interest was painting.  He became associated with the School of Resina, a group of artists who painted landscapes and contemporary scenes that gathered in Resina, a seaside resort south of Naples. Read more…

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Terence Hill – actor

Film star progressed from cowboy roles to popular parish priest

Terence Hill was born as Mario Girotti on this day in 1939 in Venice.  He became an actor as a child and went on to have many starring roles in films, particularly spaghetti westerns.  He took up the stage name Terence Hill after it was suggested as a publicity stunt by the producers of one of his films. It is said he had to pick from a list of names and chose one with his mother’s initials.  Terence Hill later became a household name in Italy as the actor who played the lead character in the long-running television series, Don Matteo.  Hill lived in Germany as a child but then his family moved to Rome, the capital of Italy’s film industry. When he was 12 years old, Hill was spotted by director Dino Risi and given a part in Vacanze col gangster, an adventure movie in which five youngsters help a dangerous gangster escape from prison.  Read more…

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Francesco Faà di Bruno - advocate for poor

Entered priesthood after appeal to Pope

The blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno, a talented academic from a wealthy family who devoted much energy to helping the poor, disadvantaged and elderly, was born on this day in 1825 near Alessandria in Piedmont.  He was a supporter of Italian unification and was wounded in the cause as a commissioned lieutenant in the Piedmontese Army during the First Italian War of Independence. Yet he could not accept the anti-Catholic sentiments of many of the movement’s leaders.  At the age of 51 he became a priest, although only after the intervention of Pope Pius IX, who stepped in to overrule the Archbishop of Turin, who had rejected Francesco’s credentials on the grounds of age. He was beatified 100 years after his death by Pope John Paul II.  Francesco was the youngest of 12 children born to Lady Carolina Sappa de' Milanesi by her husband, Luigi, a wealthy landowner with various titles. Read more…

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Book of the Day:  The First Ghetto: Venice and the Jews, by Alexander Lee

In the early 16th century, amidst the ruins of war, and in an atmosphere of religious hatred, the world’s first Jewish ‘ghetto’ was established in Venice. Constrained in cramped, often insanitary conditions, the Jews who were forced to live there were extorted, abused and subjected to countless humiliating restrictions. Before long, Venice’s Ghetto became the prototype for ghettos throughout Europe, paving the way for a more vicious and enduring form of antisemitism.  Yet the Ghetto’s story is also a testament of hope. Despite all they faced through the centuries, its residents thrived, creating a flourishing literary, musical and religious community. They sustained Venice’s economy - and, as more migrants arrived, the Ghetto became a microcosm of the Jewish world.  Historian Alexander Lee traces this vivid story from the first Jewish arrivals in the early fourteenth century to the present day, reconstructing the Ghetto through the eyes of its inhabitants - from the domestic squabbles of a 16th-century rabbi to the agonising wait of a family bound for Auschwitz. Authoritative, detailed and incomparably intimate, The First Ghetto offers a fitting monument to the Ghetto’s past – and powerful lessons for the future.

Alexander Lee is a fellow in the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at the University of Warwick, having previously held positions at the universities of Oxford, Bergamo, Luxembourg, Lyon 2 and Lyon 3. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including Ghetto: The Jews of Venice, Machiavelli: His Life and Times, and Humanism and Empire: The Imperial Ideal in Fourteenth-Century Italy.

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28 March

NEW - Premiere of Andrea Chénier

Giordano’s masterpiece is still stirring emotions

Andrea Chénier, the greatest and most enduring opera to be written by the composer Umberto Giordano, was performed for the first time on this day in 1896 in Milan.  It was immediately acknowledged as a triumph and many members of the audience at Teatro La Scala on the first night were moved by the emotional intensity of Giordano’s music.  The four act opera was based on the life story of the French poet Andrea Chénier who was executed by guillotine in Paris in 1794, during the French revolution, at the age of just 31. He was accused of being a counter revolutionary in the final days of the so called ‘reign of terror.’  Ironically, just three days after Chénier’s horrific death, France’s radical Jacobin leader, Robespierre, one of the main architects of ‘the terror’, was himself arrested and sent to the guillotine.  Giordano’s music, in particular the arias he wrote for the tenor who sings the title role, captured the turmoil and poignancy of this dangerous time in France’s history.  Read more...

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Alberto Grimaldi - film producer

Spaghetti Western trilogy gave Naples producer his big break

Film producer Alberto Grimaldi, who boasts an extraordinary list of credits that includes Last Tango in Paris, The Canterbury Tales, Man of La Mancha, Fellini's Casanova, 1900, Ginger and Fred and Gangs of New York, was born in Naples on this day in 1925. Grimaldi trained as a lawyer and it was in that capacity that he initially found work in the cinema industry in the 1950s.  However, he could see the money-making potential in production and in the early 1960s set up his own company, Produzioni Europee Associate (PEA).  His first three productions, cashing in on the popularity in Italy of westerns, enjoyed some success but it was a meeting with Sergio Leone, the Italian director, that earned him his big break. Leone’s first venture into the western genre, A Fistful of Dollars, had been an unexpected hit both for him and the young American actor, Clint Eastwood. Read more…

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Anselmo Colzani - opera star

Baritone who had 16 seasons at the New York Met

Anselmo Colzani, an operatic baritone who was a fixture at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as La Scala in his home country, was born on this day in 1918 in Budrio, a town not far from Bologna.  His stage career continued until 1980, when he made his final stage appearance in one of his signature roles as Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca.  Although his repertoire was much wider, his reputation became strongly associated with the works of Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi, with Jack Rance in Puccini's Fanciulla del West and the title role of Verdi's Falstaff, as well as Amonasro in Aida and Iago in Otello among his most famous roles.  Colzani’s association with the Met began in March 1960 after he was approached by Rudolf Bing, the opera house’s general manager. Read more…

Vincenzo Capone - prohibition agent

'War hero'-turned-lawman hid his family identity

Vincenzo Capone, older brother of the notorious mobster Al Capone, was born on this day in 1892 in Angri, a town in Campania located between Salerno and Naples.  While Al drifted into crime as a teenager, Vincenzo wanted a different life. After running away to join a circus, he changed his name and invented a new background to conceal his true identity. He acquired a reputation as a war hero before forging a career in law enforcement, notably pitting himself against the criminal gangs of his brother’s world as an agent for the Bureau of Prohibition.  The first in a family of nine children, Vincenzo had just one sibling, his brother Ralph, when his father, Gabriele, a barber, and his mother, Teresa, emigrated to the United States in 1895. His father continued to work as a hairdresser, while Teresa’s skills as a seamstress enabled her to find a job. Read more…

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Fra Bartolommeo - Renaissance great

Friar rated equal of Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo

Fra Bartolommeo, the Renaissance artist recognised as one of the greatest religious painters, was born on this day in 1472 in Savignano di Vaiano, in Tuscany.  Also known as Baccio della Porta, a nickname he acquired because when he lived in Florence his lodgings were near what is now the Porta Romana, Bartolommeo created works that chart the development of artistic styles and fashion in Florence, from the earthly realism of the 15th century to the grandeur of High Renaissance in the 16th century.  His most famous works include Annunciation, Vision of St Bernard, Madonna and Child with Saints, The Holy Family, The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, God the Father with SS Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene and Madonna della Misericordia.  Bartolommeo always prepared for any painting by making sketches, more than 1,000 in total over the years he was active.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Once Upon a Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoers' Guide to Spaghetti Westerns, by Howard Hughes

The ideal popular guide to the key Spaghetti Westerns - mainly the good but also the bad and the ugly - this is an authoritative, entertaining and comprehensive companion to the films that created the mythical Spaghetti West in the most improbable circumstances. Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy is covered, with many more major and minor Spaghetti Westerns, including Sergio Corbucci's Navajo Joe, Carlo Lizzani's The Hills Run Red and Duccio Tessari's A Pistol for Ringo. This popular guide explores the films through the biographies and filmographies of key personnel, stories of the films' making, their locations and sets, sources, musical scores, detailed cast information, box office fortunes internationally, with many illustrations, including original posters and stills. Once Upon a Time in the Italian West is a well-researched, detailed, no-nonsense and above all enthusiastic guide to 20 of the best Italian Westerns.

Howard Hughes is a UK-based film writer and researcher. He is the author of the IBTauris Filmgoers' Guides and Aim for the Heart: The Films of Clint Eastwood.

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Premiere of Andrea Chénier

Giordano’s masterpiece is still stirring emotions

The poster advertising the opening
night of the Giordano masterpiece

Andrea Chénier, the greatest and most enduring opera to be written by the composer Umberto Giordano, was performed for the first time on this day in 1896 in Milan.

It was immediately acknowledged as a triumph and many members of the audience at Teatro alla Scala on the first night were moved by the emotional intensity of Giordano’s music.

The four-act opera was based on the life story of the French poet Andrea Chénier who was executed by guillotine in Paris in 1794, during the French revolution, at the age of just 31. He was accused of being a counter revolutionary in the final days of the so called ‘reign of terror.’ 

Ironically, just three days after Chénier’s horrific death, France’s radical Jacobin leader, Maximilien Robespierre, one of the main architects of ‘the terror’, was himself arrested and sent to the guillotine.

Giordano’s music, in particular the arias he wrote for the tenor who sings the title role, captured the turmoil and poignancy of this dangerous time in France’s history. The quality of the music has enabled the opera to remain popular over the centuries.

Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras are three of the great tenors to have sung Giordano’s emotional arias to great acclaim during the 20th century, often featuring the haunting Un dì all'azzurro spazio from the final act in their concert repertoire. The music remains a favourite with singers today because it provides an opportunity for a talented tenor to demonstrate his skills and the quality of his voice.

Giordano worked with the tenor Alfonso Garulli to create the role of Andrea Chénier, but Garulli became ill at the eleventh hour and his place on the first night in 1896 had to be taken by the young tenor Giuseppe Borgatti.

On the night of the premiere in Milan, Borgatti’s triumph in the role escalated him to the top tier of Italian opera singers and he went on to become acknowledged as Italy’s greatest Wagnerian tenor.

The tenors Giovanni Martinelli and Beniamino Gigli were also famous for their portrayals of the role of Andrea Chénier, and Enrico Caruso sang the part at performances of the opera in London in 1907.

Giuseppe Borgatti was a late
substitute in the title role

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Italian tenors Franco Corelli, Mario del Monaco and Carlo Bergonzi were also acclaimed for their interpretations of the title role.

The libretto for the verismo opera was written by Luigi Illica and on the night of the premiere in 1896 the orchestra was conducted by Rodolfo Ferrari. 

Singing opposite Borgatti, in the role of Chenier’s lover, Maddalena, was the soprano Avelina Carrera, and the part of the servant, Carlo Gérard, was sung by the baritone Mario Sammarco.

As well as the famous arias sung by the tenor playing the title role, Andrea Chénier also contains a beautiful aria for Maddalena, La Mamma Morta. This featured in the 1993 film Philadelphia, when a recording of the aria by Maria Callas was used in the soundtrack.

The final haunting duet, Vicino a te, which is sung by Chénier and Maddalena as they prepare to climb the scaffolding to go to the guillotine together, has also stood the test of time and is regularly performed. Corelli and the Italian soprano Renata Tebaldi were famed for performing this duet.

Teatro alla Scala is among a wealth of theatres
in Milan staging entertainments of many kinds

Travel tip:

Milan has come to be regarded as the opera capital of Italy because it is home to Teatro alla Scala, the theatre where many singers have made their debuts and operas have been premiered. La Scala was built after fire destroyed the Teatro Regio Ducale, previously the home of opera in the city, and a new theatre was built on the site of the former Church of Santa Maria alla Scala. The cost was funded by the owners of the boxes at the former Teatro Regio Ducale and it was designed by neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini, opening on 3 August 1778. Milan went on to have a wealth of theatres staging a variety of entertainment, such as Teatro Dal Verme in San Giovanni sul Muro, which opened in 1872. The Piccolo Teatro in Via Rivoli opened in 1947 and Teatro dell’Arte in Viale Alemagna was redesigned and reopened in 1960. Teatro Litta next to Palazzo Litta in Corso Magenta dates back about 370 years and is believed to be the oldest theatre in the city. La Scala’s museum displays costumes and memorabilia from the history of the theatre and is open every day except the Italian Bank Holidays and a few days in December. 

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Leonardo Da Vinci's wall painting of The Last 
Supper is kept in a climate-controlled conditions

Travel tip:

Milan is also famous as the home of the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, The Last Supper, on the wall of the refectory at the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, Leonardo began work on The Last Supper (known as Il Cenacolo in Italian) in 1495 and completed it four years later. He felt traditional fresco painting techniques would not capture the intensity he wanted so he experimented by painting on to dry plaster on the wall of the refectory. But his new method was not as durable as the traditional one and the painting soon deteriorated. By 1556, the painting was described by one commentator as ‘ruined’. Over the years it suffered from poor restoration techniques, vandalism by French soldiers, having a doorway cut into it to provide a shortcut for monks coming and going for their meals, and wartime bomb damage. By 1978 only a small part of Leonardo’s original work remained. A restoration project was organised to reverse the damage and the refectory was sealed and converted to provide a climate-controlled environment. Using modern techniques, the restoration team slowly removed everything that had been added after Leonardo completed the painting in 1498. The areas that couldn’t be repaired were repainted in subdued colours so they could be distinguished from the original painting. After more than 20 years’ work, longer than it took Leonardo to paint it, The Last Supper was once more revealed in 1999. The refectory has since remained a protected environment and visitor numbers inside at any one time are carefully restricted.

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More reading:

Why Giovanni Martinelli was seen by Americans as the successor to Caruso

How a football World Cup took Luciano Pavarotti's fame to a new level

Umberto Giordano's place among the greats of Italian opera

Also on this day:

1472: The birth of Renaissance painter Fra Bartolommeo 

1892: The birth of prohibition agent Vincenzo Capone

1918: The birth of star baritone Anselmo Colzani

1925: The birth of film producer Alberto Grimaldi

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