19 September

Italo Calvino – writer

One of 20th century Italy's most important authors

Novelist and journalist Italo Calvino died on this day in 1985 in Siena in Tuscany.  Calvino was regarded as one of the most important Italian writers of fiction of the 20th century.  His best known works are the Our Ancestors trilogy, written in the 1950s, the Cosmicomics collection of short stories, published in 1965, and the novels, Invisible Cities, published in 1972 and If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller, published in 1979.  Both of Calvino’s parents were Italian, but he was born in Santiago de Las Vegas, a suburb of Havana in Cuba, in 1923, where his father, Mario, an agronomist and botanist, was conducting scientific experiments. Calvino’s mother, Eva, was also a botanist and a university professor. It is believed she gave Calvino the first name of Italo to remind him of his heritage.  Calvino and his parents left Cuba for Italy in 1925 and settled permanently in Sanremo. Read more… 

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Umberto Bossi - politician

Fiery leader of separatist Lega Nord

Controversial politician Umberto Bossi was born on this day in 1941 in the town of Cassano Magnago in Lombardy.  Until 2012, Bossi was leader of Lega Nord (Northern League), a political party whose goal was to achieve autonomy for northern Italy and establish a new independent state, to be called Padania.  With his distinctive, gravelly voice and penchant for fiery, sometimes provocative rhetoric, Bossi won a place in the Senate in 1987 representing his original party, Lega Lombarda. He was dismissed as an eccentric by some in the political mainstream but under his charismatic leadership Lega Nord became a force almost overnight.  Launched as Alleanza Nord in 1989, bringing together a number of regional parties including Bossi’s own Lega Lombarda, it was renamed Lega Nord in 1991 and fought the 1992 general election with stunning results.  Read more…

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Giuseppe Saragat – fifth President of Italy

Socialist politician opposed Fascism and Communism

Giuseppe Saragat, who was President of the Italian Republic from 1964 to 1971, was born on this day in 1898 in Turin.  As a Socialist, he was exiled from Italy by the Fascists in 1926.  When he returned to Italy in 1943 to join the partisans, he was arrested and imprisoned by the Nazi forces occupying Rome, but managed to escape and resume clandestine activity. Saragat was born in Turin to Sardinian parents and graduated from the University of Turin in economics and commerce. He joined the Socialist party in 1922.  During his years in exile he did various jobs in Austria and France.  After returning to Italy, he was minister without portfolio in the first post-liberation cabinet of Ivanoe Bonomi in 1944.  He was sent as ambassador to Paris and was then elected president of the Constitutional Assembly that drafted postwar Italy’s new constitution.  Read more…

Mariangela Melato - actress

Versatile star excelled on stage and screen

Mariangela Melato, who won acclaim for her work with the brilliant director Lina Wertmüller, played a camp villain in the comic book send-up Flash Gordon, and later excelled as a classical stage actress, was born on this day in 1941 in Milan.  She enjoyed her peak years on screen in the 1970s, most notably in Wertmuller’s The Seduction of Mimi, Love and Anarchy and Swept Away.  From the mid-80s onwards, Melato was based at the Teatro Stabile in Genoa, where she played many of the great classical parts in works by authors such as Pirandello, Euripides and Shakespeare.  She made her mark in television, notably winning praise for her portrayal of Mrs Danvers in an Italian adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca in 2008.  Melato’s father emigrated to Italy from Nazi Germany, changed his name from Honing to Melato and became a traffic policeman in Trieste. Read more…

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Festival of San Gennaro

Worldwide celebrations for patron saint of Naples

Local worshippers, civic dignitaries and visitors meet together in the Duomo in Naples every year on this day to remember the martyrdom of the patron saint of the city, San Gennaro.  Each year a service is held to enable the congregation to witness the dried blood of the saint, which is kept in a glass phial, miraculously turn to liquid.  The practice of gathering blood to be kept as a relic was common at the time of the decapitation of San Gennaro in 305.  The ritual of praying for the miracle of liquefaction of the blood on the anniversary of his death dates back to the 13th century.  Gennaro is said to have been the Bishop of Benevento and was martyred during the Great Persecution led by the Roman Emperor Diocletian for trying to protect other Christians.  His decapitation is believed to have taken place in Pozzuoli but his remains were transferred to the Duomo in Naples in the 15th century.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Italo Calvino Vintage Classics Collection: Invisible Cities & If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller (2‑Book Set), by Italo Calvino

Discover visionary narratives in this 2‑Book Vintage Classics set, showcasing the imaginative brilliance of Italo Calvino. Journey through realms where the boundaries of reality and fiction blur, and storytelling becomes an art of infinite possibility.  Invisible Cities – In this poetic masterpiece, Marco Polo describes a series of fantastical cities to Emperor Kublai Khan. Each imagined metropolis serves as a meditation on memory, desire and the fragile architecture of human thought, blending lyrical prose with deep philosophical insight.  If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller – A daring meta‑fictional experiment that alternates between your perspective as a reader and the opening chapters of ten different tales. Calvino’s playful structure challenges conventional narrative, exploring themes of identity, authorship and the elusive quest for meaning.  Perfect for lovers of literary innovation and intellectual exploration, this collection honours Calvino’s genius and invites you to experience the endless possibilities of fiction. Each volume is a gateway to new ways of seeing language, narrative and the world itself.

Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. Admired in Britain and the United States, he was the most-translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death.

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18 September

Domitian – Roman emperor

Efficient tyrant rebuilt parts of Rome

The Emperor Domitian, who kept the Roman upper classes under control by subjecting them to a 15-year reign of terror, died on this day in 96 AD in Rome.  He has been described as ‘a ruthless, but efficient, autocrat,’ who clashed with the Senate and drastically reduced their powers. But he strengthened the Roman economy and started a massive building programme to restore the city of Rome, which had been damaged by successive wars and fires.  The last member of the Flavian dynasty, Domitian was the son of Vespasian, and the brother of Titus, who were his two predecessors as Emperor.  He played only a minor role during their reigns, but after the death of his brother, Titus, who had no children, Domitian was declared Emperor by the Praetorian Guard.  Domitian revalued the Roman coinage and strengthened border defences. Read more…

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Rossano Brazzi - Hollywood star

Actor quit as a lawyer for career on the big screen

The movie actor Rossano Brazzi, whose credits include The Barefoot Contessa, Three Coins in the Fountain and South Pacific, was born on this day in 1916 in Bologna.  Brazzi gave up a promising career as a lawyer in order to act and went on to appear in more than 200 films, more often than not cast as a handsome heartbreaker or romantic aristocrat.  He was at his peak in the 50s and 60s but continued to accept parts until the late 80s. His last major role was as Father DeCarlo in Omen III: The Final Conflict in 1981.  Brazzi's family moved to Florence when he was aged four. His father Adelmo, a shoemaker, opened a leather factory in which Rossano, his brother Oscar and his sister, Franca, would all eventually work.  Adelmo had ambitions for Rossano, however, helping him win a place at the University of Florence, where he obtained a law degree. Read more…

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Alberto Franchetti - opera composer

Caruso sang his arias on first commercial record in 1902

The opera composer Alberto Franchetti, some of whose works were performed by the great tenor Enrico Caruso for his first commercial recording, was born on this day in 1860 in Turin.  Caruso had been taken with Franchetti’s opera, Germania, when he sang the male lead role in the opera’s premiere at Teatro alla Scala in Milan in March 1902.  A month later, Caruso famously made his first recording on a phonograph in a Milan hotel room and chose a number of arias from Germania and critics noted that he sang the aria Ah vieni qui… No, non chiuder gli occhi vaghi with a particular sweetness of voice.  A friend and rival of Giacomo Puccini, Franchetti had a style said to have been influenced by the German composers Wagner and Meyerbeer. He was sometimes described as the "Meyerbeer of modern Italy."  Read more…

Francesca Caccini – singer and composer

Court musician composed oldest surviving opera by a woman

Prolific composer and talented singer Francesca Caccini was born on this day in 1587 in Florence.  Sometimes referred to by the nickname La Cecchina, she composed what is widely considered to be the oldest surviving opera by a woman composer, La Liberazione di Ruggiero, which was adapted from the epic poem, Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto.  Caccini was the daughter of the composer and musician, Giulio Caccini, and she received her early musical training from him. Like her father, she regularly sang at the Medici court.  She was part of an ensemble of singers referred to as le donne di Giulio Romano, which included her sister, Settimia, and other unnamed pupils.  After her sister married and moved to Mantua, the ensemble broke up, but Caccini continued to serve the court as a teacher, singer and composer. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Chronicle of the Roman Emperors: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial Rome, by Chris Scarre

Focusing on the succession of the rulers of imperial Rome, Chronicle of the Roman Emperors uses timelines with at-a-glance visual guides to each reign and its main events. Biographical portraits of the 56 principal emperors from Augustus to Constantine, together with a concluding section on the later emperors, build into a single-volume history of imperial Rome. Biographical information is illustrated with busts of each emperor, coin portraits, battle plans and cutaway diagrams of imperial monuments. Supporting datafiles for every emperor list key information such as name at birth, wives and children, full imperial titles and place and manner of death. Genealogical trees and over 90 sidebars and special features on subjects ranging from Nero’s Golden House to Diocletian’s Palace allow the reader to delve deeper. Colourful contemporary judgments by such writers as Suetonius and Tacitus are balanced by judicious character assessments made in the light of modern research. The famous and the infamous – Caligula and Claudius, Trajan and Caracalla – receive their due, while lesser names emerge from the shadows for the first time. It is at once a book to be enjoyed as popular history, an essential work of reference, and a source of visual inspiration, bringing to life one of the most powerful and influential empires the world has ever known.

Chris Scarre is an academic and writer in the fields of archaeology, prehistory and ancient history. He is Emeritus Professor at the University of Durham and was head of its archaeology department from 2010–2013.

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17 September

NEW - Teresa Casati – revolutionary

Brave and beautiful noblewoman who fought for a free Italy

Teresa Casati, who has gone down in history as a heroine of the Risorgimento, was born into a noble family in Milan on this day in 1787.  She was the older sister of Gabrio Casati, who was a Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia and twice served as President of the Italian Senate. She married the revolutionary Federico Confalonieri, who became one of the leaders of the Italian National Party. Eventually she had to plead with Empress Carolina Augusta of Bavaria to spare her husband’s life, after he had been sentenced to death for his part in the Risorgimento movement. Teresa was the eldest daughter of Count Gaspare Casati and his wife Maria Orrigoni of Ello. Her mother died when she was six, and her father married again. Although she was described as ‘withdrawn’ as a child, Teresa grew up to be very beautiful.  Read more… 

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Nives Meroi - mountaineer

One of history’s greatest female climbers 

The climber Nives Meroi, widely regarded as one of history’s finest female mountaineers, was born on this day in 1961 in Bonate Sotto, a small town in the province of Bergamo, about 40km (25 miles) northeast of Milan.  One half of a renowned husband-and-wife climbing team with Romano Benet, Meroi is one of only three women to have reached the peak of all 14 of the so-called eight-thousanders, the only mountains in the world that tower about 8,000m, topped by Everest (8,848m), which she conquered in 2007, and K2 (8,611), which she had scaled in 2006.  Meroi completed the full set of 14 when she reached the summit of Annapurna (8,091m) in the Himalayas in 2017.  She and Benet, born in Italy but who has Slovenian nationality, are the first married couple to have climbed all 14 together.  The two first met more than 40 years ago in Tarvisio in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Read more… 

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Ranuccio II Farnese – Duke of Parma

Feuding with the Popes led to the destruction of a city

Ranuccio II Farnese, who angered Innocent X so much that the Pope had part of his territory razed to the ground, was born on this day in 1630 in Parma.  Ranuccio II was the eldest son of Odoardo Farnese, the fifth sovereign duke of Parma, and his wife, Margherita de’ Medici.  Odoardo died while Ranuccio was still a minor and, although he succeeded him as Duke of Parma, he had to rule for the first two years of his reign under the regency of both his uncle, Francesco Maria Farnese, and his mother.  The House of Farnese had been founded by Ranuccio’s paternal ancestor, Alessandro Farnese, who became Pope Paul III. The Farnese family had been ruling Parma and Piacenza ever since Paul III gave it to his illegitimate son, Pier Luigi Farnese. He also made Pier Luigi the Duke of Castro.  Read more… 

Reinhold Messner - mountaineer

Climber from Dolomites who conquered Everest

Reinhold Messner, the Italian mountaineer who was the first climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and the first to reach the peak on a solo climb, was born on this day in 1944 in Bressanone, a town in Italy's most northerly region of Alto Adige, which is also known as South Tyrol.  Messner was also the first man to ascend every one of the world's 14 peaks that rise to more than 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) above sea level.  His 1976 ascent of Everest with the Austrian climber Peter Habeler defied numerous doctors and other specialists in the effects of altitude who insisted that scaling the world's highest mountain without extra oxygen was not possible.  Born only 45km (28 miles) from Italy's border with Austria, Messner grew up speaking German and Italian and has also become fluent in English.  Read more…

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Maria Luisa of Savoy

Girl from Turin ruled Spain while a teenager

Maria Luisa of Savoy, who grew up to become a queen consort of Spain with a lot of influence over her husband, King Philip V, was born on this day in 1688 at the Royal Palace in Turin.  She was the daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, and his French wife, Anne Marie d’Orleans.  Philip V of Spain wanted to maintain his ties with Victor Amadeus II and therefore asked for Maria Luisa’s hand in marriage. She was wed by proxy to Philip V in 1701 when she was still only 13.  Maria Luisa was escorted to Nice and from there sailed to Antibes en route to Barcelona. The official marriage took place in November of the same year.  Maria Luisa was both beautiful and intelligent and Phillip V was deeply in love with her right from the start.  In 1702 when Philip V left Spain to fight in the War of the Spanish Succession, Maria Luisa acted as Regent in his absence.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Italian Risorgimento: State, Society and National Unification, by Lucy Riall

The Risorgimento was a turbulent and decisive period in the history of Italy. Lucy Riall's engaging account is the first book of its kind on the upheavals of the years between 1815 and 1860, when a series of crises destabilised the states of Restoration Italy and led to the creation of a troubled nation state in 1860. Comprehensive, yet original, The Italian Risorgimento: State, Society and National Unification examines the social history of 19th century Italy and the social context of political action;   offers a critical overview of the historiography of the topic; takes account of the most recent literature, especially literature in Italian not normally accessible to students; adopts a broad thematic approach; places the Italian experience in a European context.

Lucy Riall is an Irish historian. She was a professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London, and is currently a professor in the Department of History and Civilisation at the European University Institute in Florence. She has written or edited several books on Italian history.

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Teresa Casati – revolutionary

Brave and beautiful noblewoman who fought for a free Italy

Teresa Casati was inspired by her
husband to fight for a united Italy

Teresa Casati, who has gone down in history as a heroine of the Risorgimento, was born into a noble family in Milan on this day in 1787. 

She was the older sister of Gabrio Casati, who was a Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia and twice served as President of the Italian Senate.

She married the revolutionary Federico Confalonieri, who became one of the leaders of the Italian National Party. Eventually she had to plead with Empress Carolina Augusta of Bavaria to spare her husband’s life, after he had been sentenced to death for his part in the Risorgimento, the 19th century political and social movement formed with the goal of creating a united, independent Italy.

Teresa was the eldest daughter of Count Gaspare Casati and his wife Maria Orrigoni of Ello. Her mother died when she was six, and her father married again. Although she was described as ‘withdrawn’ as a child, Teresa grew up to be very beautiful.

Her looks were praised by the poet Ugo Foscolo who wrote that she was a ‘young, holy and beautiful girl.’ The politician Giovanni Arravabene described her as ‘a woman in whom beauty, grace and gentle manners harmonised wonderfully together.’

Teresa received a proposal from the Duke of Pasquier, a French statesman, but her father talked her out of marrying him. However, after she met Confalonieri at a ball, and fell in love with him, her father agreed to let them marry. The couple had one child, who died when he was six years old.

Teresa often acted as Confalonieri’s go-between with other revolutionaries when her husband was away from Milan, passing on information to them from the letters he sent to her. She also became part of the Carbonari, a secret society associated with the Risorgimento.  

Anonymous informants told the Austrians that she had offered to kill one of their high-ranking officers with her own stiletto, but this was never proved against her.

When Confalonieri was eventually arrested and imprisoned by the Austrians, Teresa was not allowed to see him for a year and she would often be seen wearing mourning dress.

Federico Confalonieri spent many
years in a remote prison in Moravia

Eventually, she was granted permission to have short visits to see her husband, but the couple were always kept under guard. In 1823, Teresa travelled to Vienna accompanied by her brother, Gabrio, as well as her husband’s father and brother, to ask for Federico to be pardoned. But the Emperor, Francis I, told them that he had already ordered the death sentence and could not overturn it.

Teresa did not give up. She went to the Empress Carolina and convinced her to help them. The Empress tried to change her husband’s mind and eventually he agreed to have the sentence suspended.

Confalonieri was imprisoned in Spilberk Castle in Southern Moravia and before he was sent away he was allowed to embrace his wife for one last time. 

Teresa asked Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma if she could intercede with Emperor Francis I, who was the Duchess’s father, to give her permission to live in Brunn near the prison, but her request was turned down. 

Occasionally, plans were made by revolutionaries for Confalonieri’s escape from the prison, but none of them succeeded and so he remained behind bars.

Teresa Casati Confalonieri died of consumption - now known as tuberculosis - in September 1830, while in Erba near Lake Como in Lombardy.  Unaware of her death, Confalonieri continued to send her letters for another four and a half months.

Teresa was buried in the Casati family tomb and Alessandro Manzoni, the Milanese author of the classic novel, I Promessi Sposi, who was a supporter of Teresa and her husband, wrote the epitaph inscribed on it.

In 2011, there was an exhibition at the Spazio Oberdan in Milan called Rose d'Italia: "Il Risorgimento invisibile" lombardo (Roses of Italy: The invisible Risorgimento in Lombardy), which celebrated the contribution of Teresa Casati Confalonieri. 

The City of Muggio Theatre Competition created an award named after Teresa Casati Confalonieri in 2024. 

A film, Loyalty of Love, was made about Teresa’s life in 1934. Another, Il conte Aquila, a title Federico Confalonieri was also known by, was made about her husband’s life in 1955. 

Palazzo Confalonieri, where Teresa
and Federico lived in Milan

Travel tip:

Teresa Casati and Federico Confalonieri lived at Palazzo Confalonieri, in Via Monte di Pietà 14 in Milan. There is a plaque on the facade of the palazzo recording their patriotic activity in the cause of the independence of Lombardy-Veneto from the Austrian Empire. Federico was arrested at the house in 1821 and was at first condemned to death, but was later sentenced to life imprisonment in Spilberk Castle in Southern Moravia, which was used as a prison by the Austrian Empire. Via Monte di Pietà is located on the edge of Milan’s fashionable Brera district and just minutes away from some of the city’s most iconic cultural and historical landmarks. Within a short walk are the Pinacoteca di Brera art gallery, the Brera Botanical Garden, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and the Teatro alla Scala opera house.  One of Italy's premier art galleries, housed in a grand palace, the Pinacoteca di Brera has masterpieces by Caravaggio, Raphael, and Mantegna among others.

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The 11th century bell tower
at the church of Sant'Eufemia

Travel tip: 

Erba, where Teresa Casati Confalonieri died, is a comune - municipality - in the province of Como located about 40 kilometres, 25 miles, north of Milan and to the southeast of Lake Como. It has a Romanesque church, Sant’Eufemia, which has an 11th century bell tower. There are also  remains of a medieval castle there. Things to see around Erba include the Eremo San Salvatore, an historic hillside hermitage offering panoramic views of the surrounding Brianza landscape, Borgo di Villincino, a well-preserved medieval hamlet featuring ancient stone walls and narrow cobblestone alleys, and Teatro Licinium, an outdoor open-air stone theatre built into a natural green amphitheatre, hosting performances in the summer months. 

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More reading:

How the poet Lord Byron helped the Carbonari in Ravenna

The revolutionary who became an English knight

The story of Gabriele Rossetti, poet and revolutionary

Also on this day:

1630: The birth of Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma

1688: The birth of Maria Luisa of Savoy

1944: The birth of mountaineer Reinhold Messner

1961: The birth of mountaineer Nives Meroi

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