25 May

Enrico Berlinguer - communist politician

Popular leader turned left-wing party into political force

Enrico Berlinguer, who for more than a decade was Western Europe's most powerful and influential communist politician, was born on this day in 1922 in the Sardinian city of Sassari.  As secretary-general of the Italian Communist Party from March 1972 until his death in 1984, he led the largest communist movement outside the Eastern Bloc, coming close to winning a general election in 1976.  He achieved popularity by striving to establish the Italian Communists as a political force that was not controlled from Moscow, pledging a commitment to democracy, a parliamentary system, a mixed economy, and Italian membership of the Common Market and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  At its peak, Berlinguer's Westernised brand of communism appealed to nearly a third of Italian voters.  His policies were adopted by other left-wing parties in Europe under what became known as Eurocommunism.  Read more…

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Stefano Baldini - Olympic marathon champion

Won gold medal over historic course in Athens

Stefano Baldini, the marathon runner who was Olympic champion in Athens in 2004 and twice won the European marathon title, was born on this day in 1971 in Castelnovo di Sotto, about 14km (nine miles) north-west of the city of Reggio Emilia.  Although Baldini’s class was not doubted, his Olympic gold was slightly tarnished by an incident seven kilometres from the finish when a spectator broke through the barriers and attacked the Brazilian runner, Vanderlei de Lima, who was leading the field.  The spectator, an Irishman called Cornelius Horan who had disrupted the British Grand Prix motor race the previous year, was wrestled off de Lima by another spectator but the incident cost the Brazilian 15 to 20 seconds. He was passed by Baldini and finished third.  Baldini finished the race, which followed the historic route from Marathon to Athens, in two hours 10 minutes and 55 seconds. Read more…

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Padre Pio – Saint

Capuchin friar is claimed to have cured cancer

Padre Pio, who has become one of the world’s most famous and popular saints, was born on this day in 1887 in Pietrelcina in Campania.  He was well-known for exhibiting stigmata, marks corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, constantly making him the subject of controversy.  Padre Pio has said that at five years old he decided to dedicate his life to God and as a youth he reported experiencing heavenly visions and ecstasies. At the age of 15 he was admitted to the novitiate of the Capuchin Order, taking the name of Fra Pio, in honour of Pope Pius I.  He suffered from poor health for most of his life and fellow friars say he often appeared to be in a stupor during prayers. One claimed to have seen him in ecstasy, levitating above the ground.  In 1910 he was ordained a priest and moved to a friary in San Giovanni Rotondo in Foggia.  Read more…

Gaetano Scirea - footballer

Multiple champion who died tragically young

The World Cup-winning footballer Gaetano Scirea, one of the most accomplished players in the history of the game, was born on this day in 1953 in the town of Cernusco sul Naviglio in Lombardy.  Scirea, who became an outstanding performer in the so-called libero role, was a key member of the Italy team that won the 1982 World Cup in Spain and enjoyed huge success also in club football.  In a career spent mostly with Juventus, he won every medal that was available to a club player in Italy, some several times over.  During his time there, the Turin club won the scudetto - the popular name for the Serie A championship - seven times and the Coppa Italia twice.  He also won the UEFA Cup, the European Cup-Winners’ Cup, the European Cup (forerunner of the Champions League), the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup.  Read more...

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Book of the Day:  Eurocommunism: From the Communist to the Radical European Left (The Routledge Global 1960s and 1970s Series), by Ioannis Balampanidis

Eurocommunism constitutes a "moment" of great transformation connecting the past and the present of the European Left, a political project by means of which left-wing politics in Europe effected a definitive transition to a thoroughly different paradigm. It rose in the wake of 1968 – that pivotal year of social revolt and rethinking that caused a divide between radical, progressive and socialist thinking in western and southern Europe and the Soviet model. Eurocommunism: From the Communist to the Radical European Left describes how Communist parties in Italy, France, Spain and Greece changed tack, drew on the dynamics of social radicalism of the time and came to be associated with political moderation, liberal democracy and negotiation rather than contentious politics, forging a movement that would hold influence until the early 1980s. Eurocommunism thus wove an original political synthesis delineated against both the revolutionary Left and the social democracy: "party of struggle and party of governance".

Ioannis Balampanidis holds a PhD in Comparative Politics and is a researcher at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens. He has studied Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Political Theory at the University Paris 8, and has also been visiting researcher at the Institut d’Études Politiques in Paris.

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24 May

Gian Gastone de' Medici - Grand Duke of Tuscany

The last Medici to rule Florence

Gian Gastone de' Medici, the seventh and last Grand Duke of Tuscany, was born on this day in 1671 in the Pitti Palace in Florence.  He was the second son of Grand Duke Cosimo III and Marguerite Louise d’Orleans.  Because his elder brother predeceased him he succeeded his father to the title in 1723.  He had an unhappy arranged marriage and the couple had no children so when he died in 1737 it was the end of 300 years of Medici rule over Florence.  He spent the last few years of his reign confined to bed, looked after by his entourage.  One of his final acts was to order the erection of a statue to Galileo in the Basilica of Santa Croce.  He was buried in the Basilica of San Lorenzo and Francis Stephen of Lorraine succeeded to the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany.  The Palazzo Pitti, known to English visitors as the Pitti Palace, is on the south side of the River Arno. Read more…

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Alessandro Cruto - inventor

Produced light bulb hailed as better than Edison’s

The inventor Alessandro Cruto, whose attempts to create artificial diamonds instead led him to develop a light bulb that outperformed that of his contemporary, Thomas Edison, was born on this day in 1847 in Piossasco, a village near Turin.  Younger than his American counterpart by just three months, Cruto hit upon his idea after attending a conference held by Galileo Ferraris, the pioneer of alternating current, where Edison’s attempts to find a suitable filament for incandescent light bulbs were discussed.  Cruto eventually opened a factory that eventually made up to 1,000 light bulbs per day but quit the company after seven years to return to his first love, inventing.  The son of a construction foreman, Cruto enrolled at the University of Turin to study architecture but was more interested in attending physics and chemistry lectures. Read more…

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Ilaria Alpi - investigative journalist

TV reporter murdered in Somalia ambush

The TV journalist Ilaria Alpi, who with her Italian cameraman Miran Hrovatin was murdered while reporting from war-torn Somalia in the early 1990s, was born on this day in 1961 in Rome.  Alpi, who was in Somalia for Italy’s national broadcaster Rai as the United Nations attempted to end a three-year long civil war in the country, was killed near the Hotel Sahafi, which was the international media base in the Somali capital Mogadishu.  The white Toyota pick-up in which she and Hrovatin were travelling was at a crossroads about 4.5km (2.8 miles) from the Sahafi when a Land Rover pulled across their path, forcing their vehicle to stop. At this point a gunman or several gunmen - as many as seven, some reports said - began shooting. Alpi and Hrovatin died at the scene, although their driver and three armed bodyguards escaped unhurt.  Read more…

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Aurelio De Laurentiis - entrepreneur

Film producer who owns SSC Napoli

The film producer and football club owner Aurelio De Laurentiis was born on this day in 1949 in Rome.  The nephew of Dino De Laurentiis, the producer credited with giving Italian cinema an international platform with his backing for Federico Fellini’s Oscar-winning 1954 movie La strada, Aurelio teamed up with his father, Luigi, to form the production company Filmauro in 1975.  The company has produced or distributed more than 400 films in Italy and around the world, working with directors such as Mario Monicelli, Ettore Scola, Pupi Avati, Damiano Damiani and Roberto Benigni among the greats of Italian cinema, as well as internationally acclaimed names such as Blake Edwards, Peter Weir, Luc Besson, Eduardo Sanchez and Ridley Scott.  Aurelio has won numerous honours for his achievements in the film industry. Read more...

Alessandro Bonora - cricketer

All-rounder played for Italy in almost 100 matches 

The cricketer Alessandro Bonora, who made 99 appearances for Italy’s national team between 2000 and 2016, was born on this day in 1978 in Bordighera, a small town on the coast of Liguria.  Bonara, a right-handed batter and medium-fast bowler, captained Italy on 37 occasions, notably in a 2011 World Cricket League event when he was the tournament’s top scorer and achieved his career-best innings of 124 not out against Oman.  He was also part of the Italian team that took part in the 2013 World Twenty20 qualifying competition in the United Arab Emirates, the highest level of competition in which the team has taken part.  Bonara also played some club cricket in Italy, living in Rome for more than five years and turning out for Lazio Cricket Club.  Although born in Italy, Bonara grew up and learned to play cricket in South Africa.  Read more…

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Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo – artist

Painter’s expressive style was the start of Mannerism

Painter Jacopo Carucci, often referred to simply as Pontormo, was born on this day in 1494 in Pontorme near Empoli in Tuscany.  Pontormo is considered to be the founder of the Mannerist style of painting in the later years of the Italian high renaissance, as he was capable of blending Michelangelo’s use of colour and monumental figures with the metallic rigidity of northern painters such as Albrecht Dürer. His work represents a distinct stylistic shift from the art typical of the Florentine Renaissance.  According to Giorgio Vasari in his book, The Lives of the Artists, Pontormo’s father was also a painter but he became an orphan at the age of ten. As a young art apprentice he moved around a lot, staying with Leonardo da Vinci, Mariotto Albertinelli, Piero di Cosimo and Andrea del Sarto.  Pope Leo X commissioned the young Pontormo to fresco the Pope’s Chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella.  Read more…

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Simone Rugiati - celebrity chef

Popular presenter found fame early in career

The chef and TV presenter Simone Rugiati was born on this day in 1981 in Santa Croce sull’ Arno, midway between Pisa and Florence in Tuscany.  He became a famous face on TV in Italy with a seven-year run on the hit cookery show La prova del cuoco (the Test of the Cook) - a hugely popular daytime programme on Rai Uno based on the BBC show Ready Steady Cook, fronted by Antonella Clerici.  Rugiati has also presented numerous programmes on the satellite TV food channel Gambero Rosso and since 2010 he has been the face of Cuochi e fiamme (Cooks and Flames) - a cookery contest on the La7 network in which two non-professional chefs cook the same dish and see their efforts marked by a panel of judges.  He has also taken part in reality TV shows, including the 2010 edition of L’isola dei famosi, an Italian version of the American show Survivor.  Read more…

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Charles Emmanuel IV – King of Sardinia

Monarch who was descended from Charles I of England

Charles Emmanuel IV, who was King of Sardinia from 1796 until he abdicated in 1802 and might once have had a claim to the throne of England, was born on this day in 1751 in Turin.  Born Carlo Emanuele Ferdinando Maria di Savoia, he was the eldest son of Victor Amadeus III, King of Sardinia, and of his wife Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain. From his birth he was known as the Prince of Piedmont.  In 1775, he married Marie Clotilde of France, the daughter of Louis, Dauphin of France, and Princess Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, and sister of King Louis XVI of France.  Although it was essentially a political marriage over which they had little choice, the couple became devoted to one another.  With the death of his father in October 1796, Charles Emmanuel inherited the throne of Sardinia, a kingdom that included not only the island of Sardinia, but also the whole of Piedmont and other parts of north-west Italy.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, by Paul Strathern

A dazzling account of the infamous family that became one of the most powerful in Europe, weaving its history with Renaissance greats from Leonardo da Vinci to Galileo.  Against the background of an age which saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance is a remarkably modern story of power, money and ambition. Strathern paints a vivid narrative of the dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence, as well as the Italian Renaissance which they did so much to sponsor and encourage.  Strathern also follows the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello; as well as scientists such as Galileo and Pico della Mirandola; and the fortunes of those members of the Medici family who achieved success away from Florence, including the two Medici popes and Catherine de' Médicis, who became Queen of France and played a major role in that country through three turbulent reigns.

Paul Strathern studied philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin. He has lectured in philosophy and mathematics. He is a Somerset Maugham Prize-winning novelist and a prolific author of non-fiction books, mostly on popular history.

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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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