Execution of four Carbonari in Ravenna

The day the city was draped in black

Tancredi Scarpelli's depiction of the 
scene following the executions

Four members of the secret society known as I Carbonari (the charcoal burners) were executed by hanging in a public square in Ravenna on this day in 1828.

The executions, thought to have taken place in one of the main squares in the centre of the city, possibly Piazza del Popolo, were carried out by the notorious papal executioner, Giovanni Battista Bugatti, who was nicknamed Mastro Titta, a slang version of maestro di giustizia, master of justice.

The four victims were found guilty of plotting to kidnap and assassinate Cardinal Agostino Rivarola, who had been sent to Ravenna to defend papal authority and clamp down on revolutionaries. 

Bugatti was the official executioner for the Papal States from 1796 to 1865. While working for six different popes, he executed 516 people by either beating, beheading or hanging them.

On this occasion in Ravenna, acting on behalf of the Papal Legate, he conducted the executions of Luigi Zanoli, Ortolani Angiolo, Gaetano Montanari, and Gaetano Rambelli.

The four unfortunate men were all believed to be members of the anticlerical Carbonari society.

The Vatican’s enforcer in the Romagna, Cardinal Rivarola, had issued mass condemnations against I Carbonari, and as a result, in 1826, shots had been fired at his carriage and a member of his entourage had died, although Rivarola had escaped unhurt.

Following an investigation into the incident ordered by Pope Leo XII, the death penalty had been dealt out to the four people accused of carrying out the shooting.

On the day of the execution, the square where it took place was completely occupied by the military to prevent anyone from getting near the gallows.

All shops, and the windows and doors of houses were closed, and many of them were draped in black. The streets were completely empty, reflecting the mood of the population, as the wagon containing the prisoners made its way through the deserted city surrounded by soldiers.

Agostino Rivarola, the cardinal who
survived an attempted assassination

The prisoners all refused the offer of confessing to two friars who were present at the gallows before they were put to death. As they mounted the steps to the gallows the four men shouted: ‘Viva Italia! Down with the papacy,’ before they were hanged.

The Carbonari was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. They were a focus for people who were unhappy with the repressive political situation in Italy. The secret societies played their part in the process leading to the Risorgimento and eventually to Italian unification.

They adopted the name 'Carbonari' because they used the charcoal-burning trade in the forested, mountainous regions of the Apennines, where the group originated, as cover for their clandestine meetings.

The English poet Lord Byron lived for two of the six years he spent in Italy in Ravenna, to be near Teresa Guiccioli, the young, beautiful wife of Count Alessandro Guiccioli, who he had been introduced to at a social gathering in Venice. During his time in Ravenna, he enjoyed the excitement of being part of I Carbonari, after being introduced to the society by Teresa’s father, Ruggiero Gamba, and her brother, Pietro Gamba.

Byron relished the secret meetings in pine forests outside Ravenna and even allowed members of the group to hide weapons and ammunition in his apartment. If Byron had been found to be housing the weapons, he would have been arrested and almost certainly imprisoned, or expelled from Austrian-controlled territory, but his fellow Carbonari believed he was less likely to be condemned to death because he was an English Lord.

The poet believed in the cause of fighting for a free Italy, but he left Ravenna to follow Teresa and her father and brother, after they had been exiled  to Florence, without ever having the chance to take part in a revolt against the Austrians. 

Giovanni Battista Bugatti had become the official executioner of the Papal States at the age of 17 and served the popes Pius VI, Pius VII, Leo XII, Pius VIII, Gregory XVI and Pius IX. Charles Dickens wrote about Bugatti in Pictures of Italy, after watching one of his executions in 1845. 

When Bugatti retired from his work, he was given a residence and a pension by the Pope and he wrote his memoirs. He died in 1869 in Senigallia in Le Marche, the town where he had been born. A book claiming to be his memoirs was published in 1891. The memoirs devoted an entire chapter to the execution of Leonida Montanari in Ravenna in 1825, who was the brother of Gaetano Montanari, one of the four men executed in Ravenna on 13 May 1828.

The Basilica di Sant Vitale is
famous for its stunning mosaics

Travel tip:

Ravenna in Emilia-Romagna, was the capital city of the western Roman empire in the fifth century. It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture and has eight UNESCO world heritage sites. The Basilica of San Vitale is one of the most important examples of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture in Europe. Ravenna also houses the tomb of the poet Dante Alighieri, who lived and died there after he was exiled from Florence. Byron was said to have found the tomb of the poet inspirational and would sit writing his poetry close to it while he was living in the city. Florence has repeatedly asked for Dante’s remains to be sent back to them, but Ravenna has always refused to relinquish them.  Ravenna’s cuisine reflects Romagna’s rustic traditions. Signature dishes include piadina, the region’s soft flatbread, cappelletti in broth or ragù, and passatelli, made from breadcrumbs, cheese, and nutmeg. Local grills feature castrato (mutton), which is highly prized in the region for its bright red colour, white fat, and intense flavour.  Mussels from Marina di Ravenna feature on menus as well. 

Piazza del Popolo was the site of
Ravenna's public executions

Travel tip:

Piazza del Popolo, where public executions took place, is at the heart of the city of Ravenna and for more than 700 years has been home to the palaces of power, such as the town hall and the prefecture building, which was once home to the Papal Legation. Now a lively square with open-air cafés and bars, it is the convergence point of many streets. It has a Venetian feel because Venice added twin columns similar to the pair in Piazzetta San Marco during the period they ruled over Ravenna. The Venetian authorities governed the city from the Palazzetta Veneziana between 1441 and 1509.  The origin of the square dates back to the late 13th century, when the Da Polenta family became masters of the city. The palatial residence of Bernardino da Polenta became the political hub of the city and remained so until it was demolished in 1681, when it was replaced by the current Town Hall.

More reading:

How Lord Byron became a Ravenna revolutionary

Gabriele Rossetti, the poet and academic who became a key Carbonari figure

The strange life of Mastro Titta, souvenir seller and executioner

Also on this day:

1726: The death of composer and singer Francesco Pistocchi

1804: The birth of Venetian patriot Daniele Manin

1909: The first Giro d’Italia

1935: The birth of entrepreneur Luciano Benetton

1938: The birth of politician Giuliano Amato

Home

  

12 May

Cosimo II de' Medici - patron of Galileo

Grand Duke of Tuscany maintained family tradition

Born on this day in Florence in 1590, Cosimo II de' Medici, who was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1609 until his premature death in 1621, was largely a figurehead ruler during his 12-year reign, delegating administrative powers to his ministers.  His health was never good and he died from tuberculosis aged only 30 yet made his mark by maintaining the Medici family tradition for patronage by supporting the astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei.  Galileo, from Pisa, had been Cosimo's childhood tutor during the time that he was Professor of Mathematics at the University of Padua.  From the beginnings of the Medici dynasty, with Cosimo the Elder's rise to power in 1434, the family supported the arts and humanities. Florence became known as the cradle of the Renaissance, the family giving patronage to artists such as Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Read more…

________________________________________

Giovanni Battista Viotti – violinist and composer

Brilliant musician wrote the melody for the Marseillaise

Violinist Giovanni Battista Viotti, who was to become court musician to Marie-Antoinette and composed 29 violin concertos, was born on this day in 1755 in Fontanetto Po in the region of Piedmont.  Among Viotti’s many compositions for the violin, string quartets and the piano, his violin concerto No. 22 in A Minor became particularly well known.  He is also credited with having composed the original music of La Marseillaise, the national anthem of France, 11 years before it was officially published by another composer.  Viotti’s musical talent was spotted early and he was taken into the household of Principe Alfonso dal Pozzo della Cisterna in Turin, where he received a musical education.  This prepared him to become a pupil of the virtuoso violinist and composer Gaetano Pugnani, while still a teenager, funded by the prince.  Viotti served at the Savoy court in Turin from 1773 to 1780. Read more…

________________________________________

Silvio Scaroni - fighter pilot

World War I ace was air force commander in World War II

Silvio Scaroni, a fighter pilot whose tally of aerial victories in the First World War was bettered only by Francesco Baracca among Italian flying aces, was born on this day in 1893 in Brescia.  Flying mainly the French-designed Hanriot HD.1 single-seater biplane, Scaroni had 26 confirmed successes out of 30 claimed.  Baracca, who was shot down and killed only a few months before the war ended, was credited with 34 victories.  Recalled to service, Scaroni became commander of the Italian air forces in Sicily during the Second World War, in which role he clashed with Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering, who claimed Scaroni did not provide enough support to Germany’s attempts to destroy strategically vital British bases on Malta.  Scaroni enlisted first with the Italian Army as a corporal in the 2nd Field Artillery. Read more…

_______________________________________

Zeno Colò - Olympic skiing champion

Downhill ace reached speeds of almost 100mph with no helmet

Zeno Colò, the first Italian to win an Olympic alpine skiing title when he took the downhill gold at the 1952 Oslo Winter Games, died on this day in 1993, aged 72.  The winner, too, of the downhill and giant slalom World championship titles in Aspen in 1950, Colò achieved his success during a brief window in a life spent on skis.  Deprived of prime competitive years by the Second World War, part of which he spent as a prisoner of war, he began his career late, in 1947 at the age of 27, only to be banned for life in 1954 under the strict rules defining amateur status after he endorsed a brand of ski boots and a ski jacket.  Colò was born in Tuscany but in a mountainous part of the region in the village of Cutigliano, which is 678m (2,044ft) above sea level and is just 14km (9 miles) from Abetone, one of the largest ski resorts in the Apennines. Read more…

________________________________________

Book of the Day: The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, by Christopher Hibbert 

At its height, Renaissance Florence was a centre of enormous wealth, power and influence. A Republican city-state funded by trade and banking, its often bloody political scene was dominated by rich mercantile families, the most famous of which were the Medici. The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici charts the family’s huge influence on the political, economic and cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the near-legendary Cosimo de Medici, it moves through their golden era as patrons of some of the most remarkable artists and architects of the Renaissance, to the era of the Medici Popes and Grand Dukes, Florence’s slide into decay and bankruptcy, and the end, in 1737, of the Medici line.

Christopher Hibbert was an English writer, historian and biographer. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was the author of many books, including The Story of England, Disraeli, Edward VII, George IV, The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, and Cavaliers and Roundheads.

Buy from Amazon

Home

11 May

Valentino Garavani - fashion icon

Designer favoured by the world's best dressed women

The fashion designer best known simply as Valentino was born in Voghera, a town about 70km (43 miles) south of Milan in the province of Pavia, on this day in 1932.  The favourite designer of the world’s best dressed women from the 1960s onwards, he built up a business that he eventually sold for $300 million.  Born Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani, he became interested in fashion while still in primary school. After working initially for his aunt Rosa, with the financial support of his parents he moved to Paris to pursue his interest, studying at the École des Beaux-Arts and at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne.  His first taste of working life came in the salons of Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche.  Armed with the knowledge and experience he gained at the feet of two French masters, he left Paris in 1959 to set up his first fashion house in Rome. Read more…

_______________________________________

Ignazio Fiorillo – composer

Talented Neapolitan influenced music in Germany

Ignazio Fiorillo, who is remembered as an opera seria composer, was born in Naples on this day in 1715.  Fiorillo often composed music for the libretti of the acclaimed writer, Pietro Metastasio, creating the type of noble and serious operas that were fashionable in Europe in the 18th century.  After studying music at the Naples Conservatory, Fiorillo composed the opera L’egeste, which premiered in Trieste in 1733.  Another of his operas, Mandane, was first performed at the Teatro Sant’Angelo in Venice in 1736.  Fiorillo was later engaged as a composer for an ensemble specialising in performances for children and toured Europe with them.  In 1749 they stayed in Braunschweig in Germany at the court of Carl I von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. Fiorillo was appointed court composer the following year and during his remaining time at Braunschweig composed most of his operas.  Read more…

Filippo De Pisis - painter and poet

Artist known for extravagant lifestyle

The painter and poet Filippo De Pisis, whose works grace the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and the Palazzo Ruspoli in Rome among other galleries, was born Luigi Filippo Tibertelli De Pisis in Ferrara on this day in 1896.  A close associate for a while of Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà, De Pisis is best known for his cityscapes, metaphysically-inspired maritime scenes, and still life pictures, especially depicting flowers.  De Pisis, who was homosexual, also made many homoerotic sketches of the male nude. Later in life, he lived in Venice and became somewhat eccentric, travelling everywhere in his personal gondola.  Born into a noble family, as a boy he was known as Gigi. He was educated at home and was strongly influenced by his sister, Ernesta Tibertelli, who was a distinguished illustrator with libertarian views. Read more…

________________________________________

Fanny Cerrito - ballerina

Neapolitan star thrilled audiences across Europe

One of the most famous ballerinas of the Romantic era, Francesca 'Fanny' Cerrito was born on this day in 1817, in Naples.  Her talent for dancing emerged early and after training in the ballet school of the famed Naples opera house Teatro di San Carlo she made her debut there in 1832, aged only 15.  She quickly became the darling of San Carlo and wowed dance audiences in many Italian cities. By the age of 21 she had obtained the position of prima ballerina at La Scala in Milan, working under the direction of Carlo Blasis, another Neapolitan, who was renowned for his rigorous and exacting classes.  When Cerrito and the Swedish-born ballerina, Marie Taglioni, who had Italian heritage, danced in the same programme in Milan, the event caused considerable excitement in the city, with audiences divided in their support for one or the other.  Read more…

_______________________________________

Book of the Day: Valentino: A Grand Italian Epic, by Suzy Menkes and Matt Tyrnauer

For almost half a century Valentino dominated Italian haute couture, dressing the world’s wealthiest and most glamorous women. Only a few years after opening his fashion house in Rome in 1959, he could already count Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, and Audrey Hepburn among his devotees. Despite his retirement in 2008 and death in 2026, little has changed – his brand continues to thrive and prosper, worn by celebrities such as Emma Roberts, Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, and Lady Gaga. Valentino consistently designed magnificent gowns, never wavering from his signature style, despite such trends as grunge, deconstruction, and minimalism, or the unstoppable rise of athleisure. Valentino: A Grand Italian Epic traces his illustrious career through copious images from his personal archives, including drawings, editorial shoots for magazines, advertisements, portraits, and documentary photography. Presented chronologically, the sumptuous visual archive is accompanied by a vast array of newspaper and magazine articles about Valentino throughout the years. Combined, they provide a richly detailed portrait of the man, his milieu, and his enduring creative legacy.

Suzy Menkes is a British journalist and fashion critic. Formerly fashion editor for the International Herald Tribune, Menkes also edited Vogue International. Matt Tyrnauer is an American film director who directed the documentary feature Valentino: The Last Emperor (2009), which was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination.

Buy from Amazon

Home

10 May

William II - Sicily’s last Norman king

Young monarch who enjoyed prosperous reign

William II, the last Norman king of Sicily, succeeded his father, William I, as the island’s monarch on this day in 1166.  The succession was brought about by the death of his father. William II was only 12 years old at the time and was placed under the regency of his mother before ruling in person from his 18th birthday in 1171.  History does not remember him as a particularly effective ruler, certainly not able to arrest the decline of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, but he became known posthumously as William the Good on account of the peace and prosperity that the kingdom enjoyed during his 23-year reign.  This was largely a result of his policy of clemency and justice toward the towns and the barons, in contrast with his father’s time, when the rebellious barons across Sicily grew more powerful and demanded greater autonomy from the crown.  Read more…

_______________________________________

Ettore Scola - screenwriter and film director

Master of dark comedy and social drama

The screenwriter and director Ettore Scola, whose films encompassed elements of commedia all’italiana and neorealism, was born on this day in 1931 in Trevico, a mountainous village in Campania.  Scola, regarded by some as the last in the line of brilliant postwar Italian filmmakers, is best remembered for his 1977 drama Una giornata particolare (A Special Day), starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, which won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1978.  A Special Day was also nominated for an Academy Award as were three other films that Scola directed or co-directed during a career that spanned more than 60 years.  Scola made his first movie as a director in 1964 with the comedy Se permettete parliamo di donne - Let’s Talk About Women - which starred Vittorio Gassman. Read more…

________________________________________

Antonio Ghirelli - journalist

Neapolitan writer specialised in football and politics

Antonio Ghirelli, a patriarch of Italian journalism, was born on this day in 1922 in Naples.  As passionate about football as he was about politics, Ghirelli was equally at home writing about both. At different times he edited the three principal Italian sports daily newspapers, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Tuttosport and Corriere dello Sport, but also wrote with distinction in the editorial and opinion pages of such respected titles as L'Unità, Paese Sera, Avanti!, Corriere della Sera, Il Mondo and Il Globo.  Sandro Pertini, who was President of Italy from 1978 to 1985, so respected his wisdom that he invited him to be head of the Quirinale press office. His politics were in line with those of the Socialist Pertini, as they were with Bettino Craxi, Italy’s first Socialist prime minister, for whom he was principal press officer during Craxi’s two spells in office.  Read more…

Miuccia Prada – fashion designer

Talented businesswoman studied politics and mime

Miuccia Prada, the businesswoman behind the fashion label Prada, was born Maria Bianchi on this day in 1949 in Milan.  The youngest granddaughter of the fashion firm’s founder, Mario Prada, she took over the family business in 1978 having previously been a mime student and a member of the Italian Communist Party.  Since then the company, which is famous for its luxury goods, has gone from strength to strength and taken over other labels. Prada has been listed as the 75th most powerful woman in the world, worth an estimated $11 billion.  After graduating with a PhD in political science from the University of Milan, Maria Bianchi trained at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano in mime and was a performer for five years.  As a member of the Italian Communist party she became involved in the women’s rights movement.  Read more…

________________________________________

 

Antonio Priuli - Doge of Venice

Doge clamped down on Spanish ‘spies’

Antonio Priuli, who was the 94th Doge of Venice, was born on this day in 1548 in Venice.  He took office in 1618 in the midst of allegations that the Spanish were conspiring to invade Venice. He immediately began a brutal process of ferreting out individuals suspected of plotting against La Serenissima, the Most Serene Republic of Venice.  The so-called ‘spy war’ did not end until 1622 and resulted in the imprisonment and deaths of many innocent people.  Priuli was the son of Girolamo Priuli and Elisabetta Cappello. He grew up to enjoy a successful career as a sailor and a soldier and married Elena Barbarigo, with whom he had 14 children.  In 1618 Priuli was appointed provveditore, a type of governor, of Veglia, an island in the Adriatic, which now belongs to Croatia.  That same year, following the death of Doge Nicolo Donato, Priuli was recalled from Veglia to become the next Doge.  Read more…

_______________________________________

Carlo Filangieri - military general

Brilliant soldier who served several masters

The military general Carlo Filangieri, who fought for both the Napoleonic and Bourbon leaders of Naples in the 19th century and is best known for his suppression of the Sicilian uprising of 1848, was born on this day in 1784 in Cava de’ Tirreni in Campania.  Filangieri was a key strategist for Joachim Murat, the flamboyant cavalry leader Napoleon had made King of Naples, achieving a major victory at personal cost in Murat’s ultimately failed campaign against Austria in 1815.  When Murat was defeated and the Bourbon monarch Ferdinand IV was reinstated as King of Naples, Filangieri was retained, going on to serve his successor, Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, under whose orders he put down the revolution of 1848.  Filangieri was from a noble family in Naples, the son of Gaetano Filangieri, a celebrated philosopher and jurist who had the title of Prince of Satriano, a town in Calabria, which Carlo would inherit.  Read more…

_______________________________________

Book of the Day: Sicily: A Short History, from the Ancient Greeks to Cosa Nostra, by John Julius Norwich

The stepping stone between Europe and Africa, the gateway between the East and the West, at once a stronghold, clearing-house and observation post, Sicily has been invaded and fought over by Phoenicians and Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans, Goths and Byzantines, Arabs and Normans, Germans, Spaniards and the French for thousands of years. It has belonged to them all - and yet has properly been part of none.  John Julius Norwich was inspired to become a writer by his first visit in 1961 and Sicily: A Short History is the result of a fascination that has lasted over half a century. In tracing its dark story, he attempts to explain the enigma that lies at the heart of the Mediterranean's largest island.  This vivid short history covers everything from erupting volcanoes to the assassination of Byzantine emperors, from Nelson's affair with Emma Hamilton to Garibaldi and the rise of the Mafia. Taking in the key buildings and towns, and packed with fascinating stories and unforgettable characters, Sicily is the book he was born to write.

John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich, CVO, also known as John Julius Norwich, was an English popular historian, writer of widely read travel books, and television personality.

Buy from Amazon

Home