Showing posts with label Bari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bari. Show all posts

27 July 2024

Mauro Giuliani – virtuoso guitarist

Maestro who perfected his technique so that his instrument seemed to sing

Mauri Giuliani was a 19th century
pioneer of guitar music
Leading 19th century guitarist and composer Mauro Giuliani was born on this day in 1781 in Bisceglie, a small town on the Adriatic coast near Bari in Puglia.

Growing up to become an accomplished cellist, singer and composer, Giuliani toured Europe playing in concerts and he became a musical celebrity while he was living in Vienna. He was  invited to play in chamber concerts in the botanical gardens of Schönbrunn Palace - the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers - with other top musicians.

Giuliani moved to live in Barletta, also on the Adriatic coast when he was very young, where he learnt to play the cello, an instrument he never completely abandoned. But he began to devote himself to learning the six-string guitar, becoming a skilled performer on it very quickly.

Although he married Maria Guiseppe del Monaco and they had a son while he was living in Barletta, Giuliani moved abroad and settled in Vienna without his family, where he learnt the classical instrumental style and began to publish his own compositions. He went on to play in concerts all over Europe, defining a new role for the guitar in music.

He got to know Rossini and Beethoven and in 1814 he was appointed guitar virtuoso di camera to Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon’s second wife. In 1815, Giuliani appeared alongside a famous violinist and cellist in a series of concerts in the botanical gardens of Schönbrunn Palace, which were named the Dukaten Concerte, reflecting the price of the tickets, which was one ducat. He was also the official concert artist for the celebrations of the congress of Vienna in the same year.

The Schönbrunn Palace, summer residence of the Habsburgs in Vienna, where Giuliani performed
The Schönbrunn Palace, summer residence of the
Habsburgs in Vienna, where Giuliani performed
Giuliani played the cello in the orchestra that gave the first performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. He had many of his compositions published in Vienna, which all showed a marked Italian influence, in particular, that of the music of Rossini. Giuliani also developed a teaching career while he was in the city. 

During his time in Vienna, he had a relationship with Anna Wiesenberger, with whom he had four daughters. After he left Vienna in 1819, he went on a concert tour of Bohemia and Bavaria before returning to Italy. He spent time in Venice and Trieste but finally settled in Rome.

In 1822, he brought one of his daughters, Emilia, over from Vienna to live with him, and she was educated in a nunnery in Rome. 

Giuliani travelled to Naples regularly to be with his father, who by then was seriously ill. In Naples there was a good reception for his artistry on the guitar and he was able to publish some of his compositions with Neapolitan publishers.

Giuliani's solo pieces are still widely performed today
Giuliani's solo pieces are
still widely performed today
In 1826, he performed in Portici in Naples before Francesco I and the Bourbon court. He frequently appeared on stage playing duets with his daughter, Emilia, who had also become a skilled performer on the guitar.  

Guliani died in Naples in 1829. According to contemporary accounts, people who had heard Giuliani play the guitar were said to have found his expression and tone astonishing, and felt that he made the instrument seem to sing. Some said the sound he produced called to mind the lute players that had gone before.

Giuliani produced 150 compositions for the guitar and he also composed music for the guitar with an orchestra, and for guitar duets with a violin, or flute.

His concertos and solo pieces are still widely performed by professional guitarists today. Although, he did not publish a Method, the studies and exercises he left behind are still used in the training for a guitarist.

The bust of Giuliani in central Bisceglie
The bust of Giuliani
in central Bisceglie

Travel tip: 

Bisceglie, where Giuliani was born, is in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani in Puglia, in southern Italy. The city looks out over the Adriatic and lies between Trani and Molfetta. A centre for agriculture and textiles, it dates back to prehistoric times and there are Bronze Age remains to be seen.  Its name is thought likely to be a derivation from the Latin word vigilae, meaning watchtowers. It was awarded Blue Flag beach certification in 2001 for high environmental and quality standards. An historic old city and a pleasant harbour area have made it a destination for tourists. There is a bronze bust of Mauro Giuliani, in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. There is also a small museum celebrating his life and achievements in Via Cardinale Dell'Olio.


The Colossus of Barletta
The Colossus
of Barletta
Travel tip:

Barletta, where Giuliani grew up and learnt to play the cello, is a city with around 95,000 inhabitants on the Adriatic coast to the north of Trani. The area includes part of the battlefield of Cannae, an important archaeological site famous for the battle in 216 BC between the Romans and the Carthaginians, won by Hannibal. Barletta is home to the Colossus of Barletta, a bronze statue representing a Roman Emperor - thought to be Theodosius II - which stands at about 4m (13 feet) tall and is the largest surviving statue from the late Roman Empire.  According to folklore, the statue - known as Eraclio - once saved the city from a Saracen attack by convincing the Saracens that Barletta’s inhabitants were giants.  Barletta was recognised as Città d’Arte of Puglia in 2005 because of its beautiful architecture. 



Also on this day:

1835: The birth of Nobel Prize-winning poet Giosuè Carducci

1915: The birth of tenor Mario Del Monaco

1922: The birth of actor and director Adolfo Celi

1939: The birth of singer Peppino di Capri


Home





24 December 2018

Domenico Sarro – composer

Court choirmaster wrote several important operas


Domenico Sarro, as depicted by Nicolò Maria Rossi
Domenico Sarro, as depicted
by Nicolò Maria Rossi
Opera composer Domenico Sarro was born on this day in 1679 in Trani, a seaport north of Bari in Apulia.

He was given the middle name, Natale, which is the Italian word for Christmas.

Sarro is famous for being the composer of Achille in Sciro, the opera chosen for the opening night of the new Teatro San Carlo in Naples in 1737.

He studied music from the age of six at Sant’Onofrio, a church near Porta Capuana, one of the ancient city gates of Naples, which at the time was the location of the city’s music conservatory. His first opera, L’opera d’amore, was performed in Naples in 1702.

He was appointed assistant choirmaster to the Neapolitan court in 1702 and by 1706 was having his religious music performed in churches in Naples. He wrote several of what were then referred to as three-act musical dramas, which were performed in theatres and private palaces throughout the city.

Sarro’s opera, Didone abbandonata, was premiered on February 1, 1724 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples. It was the first setting of a major libretto by the writer Pietro Metastasio, who would become the most celebrated librettist of the 18th century. The intermezzo, Dorina e Nibbio or L’impresario delle canarie, has been performed extensively by orchestras since then, right up to the present day. It has also been imitated by composers such as Tomaso Albinoni, Francesco Gasparini, Leonardo Leo and Martini il Tedesco.

The title page of Sarro's opera Didone Abbandonata
The title page of Sarro's opera
Didone Abbandonata
Sarro’s 1726 opera, Valdemaro, is considered important because it demonstrates Sarro’s interest in the upper voice, as in this opera the melodic lines are dominant in the upper voices.

Sarro, sometimes called Sarri, also wrote many vocal cantatas, which have been admired by music experts for their charm and inventiveness.

The only known portrait of Domenico Sarro is part of a painting called The Viceroy at the Festa of the Quattro Altari by Nicolò Maria Rossi. Sarro is one of the many composers depicted by the artist as part of the Neapolitan Court.

Domenico Sarro died in Naples in 1744, aged 65.

Trani's 12th century duomo - the Cattedrale di San Nicola Pellegrino - stands on a platform on the sea
Trani's 12th century duomo - the Cattedrale di San Nicola
Pellegrino - stands on a platform on the sea
Travel tip:

The port of Trani, where Domenico Sarro was born, is about 40km (25 miles) to the northwest of Bari. It was a flourishing port as early as the 11th century because of its location on the Adriatic Sea. In 1063 Trani issued a maritime law code, believed now to be the oldest in western Europe. Trani has lost its old walls and bastions but still has a 13th century fort,  which has been restored as a museum and performance venue. The 12th century Cathedral on a raised site over the sea is dedicated to St Nicholas the pilgrim, a Greek who died there in 1094 while on the way to Rome.

Search tripadvisor for a hotel in Trani

The church of San Pietro a Majella, looking along Via dei Tribunali
The church of San Pietro a Majella, looking
along Via dei Tribunali
Travel tip:

Sarro studied at the Music Conservatory when it was in Sant’Onofrio in Naples. Today, the Music Conservatory is in the complex of San Pietro a Majella, close to Via dei Tribunali, one of the main thoroughfares in the heart of the centro storico in Naples. It is the last of a string of establishments that were once music conservatories in Naples, dating back to when the Spanish ruled the city in the 16th century. One of the earliest, I Poveri di Gesù Cristo, was founded in 1589 by Marcello Fossataro, a Franciscan monk. It was next to the Church of Santa Maria a Colonna on Via dei Tribunale, but in 1743 it was converted into a church seminary.

More reading:

Tomaso Albinoni, the Venetian most famous for his haunting Adagio in G Minor

How Pietro Metastasio progressed from street entertainer to great librettist

Francesco Gasparini, the musical director who gave Vivaldi a job

Also on this day:

Vigilia di Natale - Christmas Eve

1836: The birth of food canning pioneer Francesco Cirio

1897: The birth of Lazzaro Ponticelli, the longest surviving veteran of World War One


Home


7 July 2018

1990 World Cup - Italy’s consolation prize

Azzurri beat England for third place


The Italian team that faced England in Bari to decide which nation finished third at the 1990 World Cup
The Italian team that faced England in Bari to decide
which nation finished third at the 1990 World Cup
Italy beat England 2-1 in Bari to claim third place in the World Cup finals, of which they were the host nation, on this day in 1990.

It was a small consolation for the team, managed by Azeglio Vicini, who had played some of the best football of all the competing nations to reach the semi-finals, only to be held to a 1-1 draw by Argentina in Naples and then lose the match on a penalty shoot-out.

Their heartbreak mirrored that suffered by England, who had also suffered a defeat on penalties in their semi-final against West Germany in Turin.

Many neutrals believed that Italy and England would have been more worthy finalists, particularly in retrospect after West Germany had beaten Argentina by a penalty five minutes from the end of 90 minutes in a match of cynical fouls and attritional football that is seen as the poorest World Cup final in the competition’s history.

Azeglio Vicini was Italy's head coach for the 1990 World Cup on home soil
Azeglio Vicini was Italy's head coach for the
1990 World Cup on home soil
The play-off for third place lacked the intensity of a final, reflecting the heavy weight of disappointment each set of players was carrying.

Yet it was important to the Azzurri to finish on a high note and a crowd of 51,426 inside the Stadio San Nicola - a new stadium built specially for Italia ‘90 - saw the game decided with three goals in the final quarter.

The decider was particularly significant - a penalty converted by Salvatore ‘Toto’ Schillaci in the 86th minute.

The goal gave the Sicilian striker, an inspired choice for Vicini’s team who had been the revelation of the tournament, his sixth goal in Italia ‘90, earning him the coveted Golden Boot as the highest goalscorer, ahead of the Czechoslovakia forward Tomáš Skuhravý, whose tally of five included a hat-trick against Costa Rica in the round of 16 but whose team did not progress beyond the quarter-finals.

Italy’s first goal had been scored by Roberto Baggio, then with Fiorentina, who had been another of Italy’s stars. The brilliant playmaker had scored one of the best goals of the tournament against Czechoslovakia in the group stages.

Vicini’s team, in fact, was packed with exciting talent.  With one of the best defences in international football - comprising the AC Milan players Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini, and the Internazionale duo Giuseppe Bergomi and Riccardo Ferri - the coach could afford to attack with gusto and in addition to Baggio and Schillaci, he told the likes of Giuseppe Giannini, Roberto Donadoni and Gianluca Vialli to express their creative instincts whenever there was opportunity.

The Azzurri's brilliant playmaker, Roberto Baggio, scored against England
The Azzurri's brilliant playmaker, Roberto
Baggio, scored against England
The match was the first between Italy and England at a World Cup finals. The second, at the Brazil 2014 tournament, also ended in a 2-1 win for the Azzurri, although in the event neither qualified for the round of 16.

Of 27 international meetings in total, eight of them in competitive championship matches, Italy have 10 wins to England’s eight.

Today, England play Sweden in the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, hoping to reach the semi-finals for the first time since Italia ‘90.

Italy, meanwhile, have been absent from the finals for the first time since 1958, their 60-year run of qualifying ended coincidentally by Sweden, who beat them in a two-leg play off last November.

Their new coach is Roberto Mancini, who was a member of Vicini’s squad at Italia ‘90 but did not play.

Renzo Piano's Stadio San Nicola, built especially for the  1990 World Cup finals, is now the home of FC Bari
Renzo Piano's Stadio San Nicola, built especially for the
1990 World Cup finals, is now the home of FC Bari
Travel tip:

The Stadio San Nicola in Bari was designed by the award-winning Italian architect Renzo Piano, whose other creations include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City and the Shard in London.  He saw the stadium as resembling an open flower, with spectators housed in 26 petals separated from one another by eight-metre wide void spaces. Purpose-built for the 1990 World Cup, it has a capacity of more than 58,000. After the World Cup it was the venue for the 1991 European Cup final between Marseille and Red Star Belgrade and became the home of FC Bari, who currently play in Serie B, the second tier of Italian domestic football.

The Stadio delle Alpi in Turin was unpopular with fans for a variety of reasons
The Stadio delle Alpi in Turin was unpopular with fans
for a variety of reasons
Travel tip:

Work on the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin began in 1988 and was completed in time for the World Cup.  Apart from hosting matches in the Italia ‘90 tournament it was to be the new home of Juventus and FC Torino following the closure of the Stadio Olimpico. But it was never popular. Apart from its out-of-town location - 8km (5 miles) from the city centre - compared with the Olimpico, fans disliked the stadium for giving them a poor viewing experience, mainly because of the distance between the stands and the pitch, with an athletics track surrounding the playing area. Advertising hoardings also affected the view.  Many fans boycotted it. One Coppa Italia match between Juventus and Sampdoria attracted just 237 spectators. It was demolished in 2006. Torino moved to a redeveloped Stadio Olimpico, which they shared with Juve until a purpose-built Juventus Stadium, with no running track, was built on the site of the Stadio delle Alpi.

More reading:

Was Roberto Baggio Italy's greatest player?

Azeglio Vicini and the heartbreak of Italia '90

The golden moment of Salvatore Schillaci

Also on this day:

1573: The death of architect Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola

1901: The birth of film director Vittorio De Sica

Home

30 June 2018

Gianrico Carofiglio - novelist

Ex anti-Mafia judge now bestselling author


Gianrico Carofiglio was a prominent figure in the fight against the Mafia in Bari
Gianrico Carofiglio was a prominent figure
in the fight against the Mafia in Bari
The novelist Gianrico Carofiglio, whose books have sold more than five million copies, was born on this day in 1961 in Bari.

Carofiglio is best known for a series of thrillers featuring the character of lawyer Guido Guerrieri but he has also written a number of novels featuring other characters, still mainly in the crime thriller genre.

One of them, his 2004 novel Il passato è una terra straniera (The Past is a Foreign Country), was made into an acclaimed film, directed by Daniele Vicari and starring Elio Germano, who appeared in the multi award-winning TV series Romanzo Criminale, and Michele Riondino, who played Andrea Camilleri’s most famous detective in the TV series The Young Montalbano.

Carofiglio drew inspiration and much technical knowledge from his career as a magistrate, which culminated in him becoming deputy prosecutor in the Anti-Mafia Directorate of his home town, Bari.

He was an advisor to the anti-Mafia committee in the Italian parliament in 2007 and served as senator between 2008 and 2013. For many years, he was provided with a police bodyguard.

Carofiglio’s interest in writing was passed on by his mother, Enza Buono, a novelist from Sicily, but he chose a career in law, becoming a magistrate in Prato, in Tuscany, at the age of 25. From there he moved to Foggia, a little to the north of Bari, where he was public prosecutor.

Carofiglio's Guido Guerrieri novels have been  bestsellers in Italy and abroad
Carofiglio's Guido Guerrieri novels have been
bestsellers in Italy and abroad
He made his debut as a published writer in 2002 with Testimone inconsapevole (Involuntary Witness), the novel that introduces the character of lawyer Guido Guerrieri, who also featured in Ad occhi chiusi (A Walk in the Dark, 2003), Ragionevoli dubbi (Reasonable Doubts, 2006), Le perfezioni provvisorie (Temporary Perfections, 2010) and La regola dell’equilibro (A Fine Line, 2014), all of which have been published in English.

The Guerrieri novels also formed the basis for a TV series in Italy.

Carofiglio enjoyed success immediately, winning several awards for best debut novel. The Past is a Foreign Country won the prestigious Premio Bancarella in 2005.

However, he did not devote himself to writing full time until he had completed his term in the Senate, after which he also resigned from the judiciary.

Other novels by Carofiglio translated into English include Il silenzio dell’onda (The Silence of the Wave, 2011) and L’estate fredda (The Cold Summer, 2016), the latter featuring a new character, the Carabinieri marshall Pietro Fenoglio.

For several years president of the Petruzzelli Theatre in Bari, he is also honorary president of The Edinburgh Gadda Prize which celebrates the work of writer and poet Carlo Emilio Gadda.

Carofiglio still lives in Bari with his wife and two children.

The Teatro Petruzzelli was once one of Italy's leading theatres and opera houses
The Teatro Petruzzelli was once one of Italy's leading
theatres and opera houses 
Travel tip:

The Teatro Petruzzelli is the largest theatre in Bari and the fourth biggest in Italy by size. Built between 1898 and 1903, it became a major venue for opera and ballet and for concerts. A long list of stars who performed there included Italian operatic greats from Tito Schipa to Luciano Pavarotti, Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan, Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev and international singing stars such as Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Liza Minnelli. The theatre was completely destroyed by fire in 1991 as a result of a suspected arson attack and rebuilt, but did not reopen until 2009 following protracted legal battles over ownership.

The cathedral of Santa Maria de Fovea in Foggia
The cathedral of Santa Maria de Fovea in Foggia
Travel tip:

The city of Foggia was once known as the ‘granary of Italy’, thanks to its proximity to a large plain, known as the Tavoliere delle Puglie, which enabled the growing of wheat and other grain plants on a large scale. There are many pasta factories, although productivity in the area is not limited to grains, being a significant producer of olives, grapes and cheeses too.  The old centre of the city is a network of narrow streets, at the heart of which is the part-Romanic, part-Baroque cathedral of Santa Maria de Fovea.

Home






16 January 2018

Niccolò Piccinni – opera composer

Writer drawn into 18th century Paris rivalry


Niccolò Piccinni was one of Italy's most  popular composers in the 18th century
Niccolò Piccinni was one of Italy's most
popular composers in the 18th century
The composer Niccolò Piccinni, one of the most popular writers of opera in 18th century Europe, was born on this day in 1728 in Bari.

Piccinni, who lived mainly in Naples while he was in Italy, had the misfortune to be placed under house arrest for four years in his 60s, when he was accused of being a republican revolutionary.

He is primarily remembered, though, for having been invited to Paris at the height of his popularity to be drawn unwittingly into a battle between supporters of traditional opera, with its emphasis on catchy melodies and show-stopping arias, and those of the German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, who favoured solemnly serious storytelling more akin to Greek tragedy.

Piccinni’s father was a musician but tried to discourage his son from following the same career. However, the Bishop of Bari, recognising Niccolò’s talent, arranged for him to attend the Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio in Capuana in Naples.

He was a prolific writer. His first opera, a comedy entitled Le donne dispettose (The mischievous women) was staged at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples in 1755 and after he had formed a working partnership with the acclaimed librettist Pietro Metastasio his catalogue of works was already well into double figures when the success of one particular composition won him popularity across Europe.

La buona figliuola (The good daughter), also known as La Cecchina, was essentially an opera buffa – a light-hearted comedy – for which the libretto was written by the famous playwright Carlo Goldoni.

Carlo Goldoni, the Venetian playwright, wrote the libretto for Piccinni's first major success
Carlo Goldoni, the Venetian playwright, wrote
the libretto for Piccinni's first major success
It premiered at the Teatro delle Dame in Rome in 1760 and was so popular it enjoyed a two-year run, acquiring such a reputation as a crowd pleaser that it was soon attracting packed houses in every capital city in Europe.  What set it apart was that it was a comedy with dramatic elements and a soft sentimentality designed to touch the emotions of the audience.

The public enthusiasm for the story was such that a commercial spin-off industry developed around it almost in the manner of box-office successes of today, with fashion houses and shops trading on the La Cecchina name.

The new sentimental style caught on with other composers, eager to match Piccinni’s success, but at the same time there was a backlash among conservatives, who felt music, and opera in particular, should be about strength and manliness and saw this brand of modern Italian music as rather effete, promoting effeminacy and cowardliness rather than courage and moral virtue.

Among those composers who had their support was Gluck, the German who had found favour with the Hapsburg court in Vienna.  Gluck moved to Paris in the 1770s and when Queen Marie Antoinette invited Piccinni to live and work in the French capital, the directors of the Academie Royale de Musique, as the Paris Opera was then known, saw the commercial potential in pitting the two against one another.

They invited each to compose his own interpretation of the same texts and deliberately encouraged the Parisian public to fall into one or the other of two camps – the Gluckists and the Piccinnists. The antagonism between some factions became quite ugly.

The Piccinni statue in his home city of Bari
The Piccinni statue in his
home city of Bari
The irony was that Piccinni admired Gluck and while in Paris, excited by the chance to compose pieces of greater substance, he collaborated with the celebrated French dramatist Jean-Francois Marmontel on several projects that he hoped would advance the cause of operatic reform that Gluck and his intellectual supporters were proposing.

The French Revolution in 1789 – two years after the death of Gluck - brought to an end Piccinni’s time in Paris and he returned to Naples, where he was given a warm welcome by King Ferdinand IV, whose wife Maria Carolina was the ill-fated Marie Antoinette’s sister, only to fall out of favour when his daughter’s marriage to a French democratic republican brought him under suspicion of connections and sympathies with the revolutionaries whose influence Ferdinand feared.

The king’s attitude towards any suspected republicans in Naples had been uncompromising and many were rounded up and shot. Piccinni was spared that fate but remained under house arrest for four years.

His fame long since faded, he spent the years after his release eking out an uncertain living in Naples, Venice and Rome before returning to Paris in 1798, where he was received with enthusiasm but struggled to make much money, although with the support of friends he was able to settle in the comfortable suburb of Passy, where he died in 1800 at the age of 72.

Piccinni’s life is commemorated with a statue in the Piazza della Prefettura in his home city of Bari in Puglia.

Porta Capuana in Naples used to be part of the city's  ancient Aragonese walls
Porta Capuana in Naples used to be part of the city's
ancient Aragonese walls
Travel tip:

Capuana is the area of Naples close to Porta Capuana, a now free-standing gateway that was once part of the Aragonese walls of the city.  Situated roughly between the city’s main railway station and the Duomo.  The Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio, which was in time absorbed into the Naples Conservatory, used to be close to the Castel Capuano, originally a 12th-century fortress which has been modified several times.  Until recently, the castle was home to the city’s Hall of Justice, also known as the Vicaria, comprising legal offices and a prison.

The pretty Via Margutta in Rome, close to where the Teatro delle Dame stood in the 18th and early 19th centuries
The pretty Via Margutta in Rome, close to where the
Teatro delle Dame stood in the 18th and early 19th centuries
Travel tip:

In the 18th century, Rome’s Teatro delle Dame vied with the Teatro Capranica for the right to be called the city’s leading opera house, staging many premieres of works by the leading composers of the day. Built in 1713 specifically to stage opera seria – as opposed to opera buffa – and remained a major venue until the early 19th century, when it was used more often for public dancing, acrobatic shows and plays in local Roman dialect.  Completely destroyed by fire in 1863, it stood where Via Aliberti joins Via Margutta in an area of pretty, narrow streets close to Piazza di Spagna in the direction of Piazza del Popolo.






14 September 2017

Renzo Piano – architect

Designer of innovative buildings is now an Italian senator


Renzo Piano was born into a family of builders
Renzo Piano was born into a family of builders
Award-winning architect Renzo Piano was born on this day in 1937 in Genoa.

Piano is well-known for his high-tech designs for public spaces and is particularly famous for the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, which he worked on in collaboration with the British architect, Richard Rogers.

Among the many awards and prizes Piano has received for his work are the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture in 1995, the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1998 and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 2008.

Piano was born into a family of builders and graduated from the Polytechnic in Milan in 1964. He completed his first building, the IPE factory in Genoa, in 1968 with a roof of steel and reinforced polyester.

He worked with a variety of architects, including his father, Carlo Piano, until he established a partnership with Rogers, which lasted from 1971-1977.

The Shard in London is one of Piano's landmark buildings
The Shard in London is one of
Piano's landmark buildings
They made the Centre Georges Pompidou look like an urban machine with their innovative design and it immediately gained the attention of the international architectural community.

In Italy, Piano designed a new look for the old port of Genoa to transform it from a rundown industrial area into a cultural centre and tourist attraction. Other important commissions in Italy were the San Nicola Stadium in Bari, started in 1987 and completed in time for the 1990 football World Cup, and the Auditorium Parco della Musica, built between 1994 and 2002 in Rome.

One of his most celebrated 21st century projects, notable for its green architecture, was a new building for the California Academy of Science in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, which was completed in 2008.

Piano converted a massive Fiat factory in Turin into a convention centre and venue for the city’s trade fair. His design for the Shard in London made it the tallest building in western Europe when it was completed in 2012 and it now towers above the historical skyline of London.

In 2013 Piano was appointed Senator for Life in the Italian Senate by President Giorgio Napolitano.

Piano currently lives in Paris with his wife, Milly. They have four children.

Piano's harbour development in his native Genoa
Piano's harbour development in his native Genoa
Travel tip:

The old harbour in Genoa, porto antico, is the ancient part of the port which served the city when the main access to it was from the sea. Renzo Piano redeveloped the area for public access, restoring the historic buildings and creating new landmarks such as the Aquarium and the Bolla (Sphere).

The 'armadillo shells' of the Auditorium Parco della Musica
The 'armadillo shells' of the Auditorium Parco della Musica
Travel tip:

The Parco della Musica in Rome is a complex of music venues located in the part of Rome that hosted the 1960 summer Olympics. Piano designed it to have three theatres, covered with what New York Times critic Sam Lubell described as 'weathered, armadillo-like steel shells', and an outdoor theatre set in a park. During construction, excavations uncovered the foundations of a villa and an oil press dating from the sixth century BC. Piano adjusted his design to accommodate the archaeological remains and included a small museum to house the artefacts that were discovered.


9 February 2017

Vito Antuofermo - world champion boxer

Farmer's son from deep south who won title in Monaco


Vito Antuofermo won the European light-middleweight title in 1976 and became world middleweight champion in 1979
Vito Antuofermo won the European light-middleweight title
in 1976 and became world middleweight champion in 1979
Vito Antuofermo, who went from working in the fields as a boy to becoming a world champion in the boxing ring, was born on this day in 1953 in Palo del Colle, a small town in Apulia, about 15km (9 miles) inland from the port of Bari.

He took up boxing after his family emigrated to the United States in the mid-1960s.  After turning professional in 1971, he lost only one of his first 36 fights before becoming European light-middleweight champion in January 1976.

In his 49th fight, in June 1979, he beat Argentina's Hugo Corro in Monaco to become the undisputed world champion in the middleweight division.

Antuofermo's success in the ring, where he won 50 of his 59 fights before retiring in 1985, opened the door to a number of opportunities in film and television and he was able to settle in the upper middle-class neighbourhood of Howard Beach in New York, just along the coast from John F Kennedy Airport.  He and his wife Joan have four children - Lauren, Vito Junior, Pasquale and Anthony.

He grew up in rather less comfort. The second child of Gaetano and Lauretta Antuofermo, who were poor tenant farmers, he was working in the fields from as young as seven years old.

Antuofermo (left) in action against Britain's Alan Minter
Antuofermo (left) in action against Britain's Alan Minter
Often travelling two hours even before starting work, young Vito would help to harvest grapes, olives and almonds, sometimes trudging along behind a mule-drawn plough attempting to break up sun-baked earth to prepare for planting crops.

It was physically hard work from which it was difficult for his family to make a living and after a series of severe droughts in southern Italy, they decided to move to the United States, where Lauretta had an uncle living in Brooklyn, New York.  Leaving Gaetano to follow later, she took her two oldest boys, hoping they would find opportunities for a better life. For Vito, one came along - although not in a way he had planned.

Picked up by the police with two other young men after a fight in the street, he was lucky that his arresting officer was a boxing fan and a friend of Joe LaGuardia, the ex-boxer in charge of the gym at the Police Athletic League. Instead of taking the three into the police station, the officer took them to the gym, instructing LaGuardia to “see if you can do something with them."

Vito Antuofermo in 2006 after his induction to the Boxing Hall of Fame
Vito Antuofermo in 2006 after his
induction to the Boxing Hall of Fame
LaGuardia saw potential in Antuofermo, who lacked physical strength but packed a good punch and never backed off his opponent.  He inspired him by talking about Rocky Marciano, another son of southern Italian immigrants, who was world heavyweight champion from 1952 to 1956, and Antuofermo became fixated with the idea of becoming world champion too.

As an amateur, he won the New York Golden Gloves championship in 1970, turning professional the following year after it became clear his status would not allow him to compete for Italy or the United States in the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

He began to rack up wins and good purses as a professional, even winning the approval of his father, who had initially opposed his ambitions to box.

Victories over former world champions Denny Moyer and Emile Griffith in November 1974 confirmed Antuofermo's potential, and he claimed his first major title by defeating Germany's Eckhard Dagge on his home soil in Berlin to become European champion in January 1976.

His reign was short-lived, the British fighter Maurice Hope taking the crown from him nine months later.  It was another British boxer, Alan Minter, who deprived him of his world title in March 1980, again after only nine months, although Antuofermo did have the satisfaction of making one successful defence, against America's Marvin Hagler, who would go on to beat Minter for the title in 1980 and hold on to it for seven years.

Antuofermo quit the ring after losing to Hagler in 1981 but make a comeback in 1984, winning four more bouts before defeat to Canada's Matthew Hilton in Quebec in October 1985 prompted him to retire for good.

Antuofermo played a bodyguard in The Godfather Part III
Antuofermo played a bodyguard
in The Godfather Part III
After retirement, Antuofermo enjoyed success as an actor. He was picked for a small role in The Godfather Part III as the chief bodyguard of gangster Joey Zasa and was a mobster in the hit television show The Sopranos.  After Godfather star Al Pacino persuaded him to take acting lessons, he also landed a series of parts in theatre plays.

Never afraid of hard work, he was employed by the Port Authority of New York as a crane operator for a sizeable part of his fight career, while his business pursuits included stints working in marketing for Coca-Cola and for an Italian beer company, and running a landscaping company in Long Island.

Travel tip:

Often overlooked in favour of Lecce and Brindisi when tourists venture towards the heel of Italy, Bari is the second largest urban area after Naples in the south of the country. It has a busy port and some expansive industrial areas but plenty of history, too, especially in the old city - Bari Vecchia - which sits on a headland between two harbours.  Fanning out around two Romanesque churches, the Cattedrale di San Sebino and the Basilica of St Nicholas, the area is a maze of medieval streets with many historical buildings and plenty of bars and restaurants.  There is also a castle, the Castello Svevo.

Find a hotel in Bari with Booking.com

Bari's San Sebino cathedral by night
Bari's San Sebino cathedral by night
Travel tip:

Bari's more modern centre is known as the Centro Murattiano, or the Murat quarter, in that it was built during the period in the early 19th century in which Joachim Murat, for a long time Napoleon's most trusted military strategist, ruled the Kingdom of Naples, of which Bari was a part.  Set out in a grid plan between Bari's main railway station and the sea, the area is the commercial heart of the city and the home of the most prestigious shops, but also of a vibrant night life in a city with a large student population.



More reading:

Angelo Siciliano - the Brooklyn Italian who became Charles Atlas

How Bruno Sammartini dodged wolves and Nazis in Abruzzo before finding fame in the wrestling ring

Why charismatic Joachim Murat's life was ended by a firing squad

Also on this day:

1621: Alessandro Ludovisi becomes Pope Gregory XV

1770: The birth of classical guitar composer Ferdinando Carulli