Sant’Eustachio – Roman saint

Christian convert martyred by Hadrian celebrated across world

 Tommaso Cagnola's Vision of Saint Eustace in the
Oratorio di Santa Maria in Garbagna Novarese, Piedmont

The feast day of Saint Eustace, Sant’Eustachio as he is known in Italian, is celebrated on this day every year in Rome, as well as throughout Italy, and elsewhere in the world.

Eustace is revered as a Christian martyr because he was killed by the Emperor Hadrian in AD 118 for refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods. He was thrown to the lions initially but the animals are said to have refused to eat him, so Hadrian ordered another unpleasant death for him and his family, using a brazen bull, a lifesize model of a bull cast in bronze, which was a particularly cruel torture and execution device of the day. 

After Eustace and his family’s deaths, their bodies were secretly recovered and buried by Christians in Rome.

A church and minor basilica in Italy’s capital city is named after Eustace in Rione Sant’Eustachio, an area between Piazza Navona and the Pantheon.

Sant’Eustachio is also honoured on this day in Tocco da Casauria in the province of Pescara in the Abruzzo region, where the 12th century church is dedicated to him, and on an island in the Caribbean belonging to the Netherlands, which is named Sint’Eustatius after the saint. There are also two churches in India dedicated to him and a church bearing his name in County Kildare in Ireland.

Eustace was a pagan Roman general who converted to Christianity after he had a vision of the cross while out hunting. As a result, he lost all his wealth, was separated from his wife and sons and went into exile in Egypt.

But he was called back to lead the Roman army by a subsequent emperor, Trajan, and he was happily reunited with his family and restored to high social standing.

Under the regime of Hadrian, who came afterwards, however, Eustace and his family were martyred for refusing to adhere to paganism.

The Chiesa di Sant'Eustachio in Tocco da Casauria,
in the shadow of the Maiella massif in Abruzzo

Many versions of the legend of Saint Eustace were written in verse and prose in medieval times in France and in Italy. In one French version, Eustace became a Christian after he is awestruck by a deer when he was out hunting. When the deer turned to look at him, Eustace saw the deer had a cross between its antlers

In Italy, a church dedicated to Saint Eustace in Rome is mentioned in a letter by Pope Gregory II who was pontiff from 731 to 741.

An early depiction of Eustace in Europe was carved on a Romanesque capital at an abbey in Burgundy, and Philip II of France rededicated a church to Saint Eustace in the 12th century.

Because Eustace is reputed to have converted to Christianity while out stag hunting, there are depictions of him kneeling before a stag in a wall painting in Canterbury Cathedral, and in stained glass windows at the Cathedral of Chartres in France.

Eustace became known as a patron saint of hunters and firefighters, and also of anyone facing adversity. He is the patron saint of hunters in Bavaria and Austria, and one of the patron saints of Madrid in Spain.

His feast day of September 20 is remembered by both the Roman Catholic church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. It was removed from the Roman calendar in 1969 because of the lack of definite information about the saint, but it is still observed around the world by Roman Catholics who follow the pre-1970 Roman Calendar.

The Basilica Sant'Eustachio
dates back to the 8th century

Travel tip:

The Basilica of Saint Eustace, (Basilica Sant’Eustachio) is in Via di Sant’Eustachio to the west of the Pantheon. It had been founded by the end of the eighth century as it was mentioned in documents as being a centre for helping the poor and the sick during the reign of Pope Gregory II, which ended in 731. The church was restored and had a new campanile added by Celestine III, who was Pope between 1191 and 1198, and who ordered the relics of Eustace and his family to be placed in the church. The church was almost completely rebuilt in Roman baroque style during the 17th and 18th centuries, with only the campanile from the old structure remaining. On top of the pediment on the façade of the church there is a deer head with a cross between the antlers, which is a reference to one of the legends about how Saint Eustace became a Christian. 

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Caravaggio's painting, The Calling of Saint Matthew,
can be seen in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi

Travel tip:

Sant’Eustachio gives his name to the eighth Rione of Rome, whose coat of arms also depicts the head of a stag with a cross between the antlers. The Rione Sant'Eustachio lies between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona and extends to the Largo di Torre Argentina archaeological site. As well as the Basilica of Sant’Eustachio, the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi is within the Rione, its Contarelli Chapel containing a cycle of paintings by the Baroque master Caravaggio, painted in 1599-1600, about the life of Saint Matthew. This includes the three world-renowned canvases of The Calling of Saint Matthew (on the left wall), The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (above the altar), and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (on the right wall). The district is also home to one of Rome’s most famous and popular coffee houses, Sant' Eustachio Il Caffè, in Piazza Sant’Eustachio, opened in 1938 and said to be the oldest coffee roastery in central Rome. It occupies the premises that formerly housed another café, established in 1800 under the name Caffè e Latte. 

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More reading:

The Caravaggio altarpiece on display in a church in Siracusa, Sicily

Nero’s mass slaughter of Christians in Rome

Trajan, the military expansionist with progressive social policies

Also on this day:

1378: Election of Robert of Geneva’s election as Pope Clement VII sparks split in Catholic Church

1870: Capture of Rome completes unification

1934: The birth of Oscar-winning actress Sophia Loren

1975: The birth of actress and director Asia Argento

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Caravaggio masterpiece is unveiled in Siracusa

Great work of art was created by a desperate painter wanted for murder 

Caravaggio's The Burial of Saint Lucy
can be viewed free of charge

A magnificent altarpiece by Caravaggio depicting The Burial of Saint Lucy, was displayed for the first time on this day in 1608 at the Santuario Santa Lucia al Sepolcro in Siracusa - Syracuse - in Sicily.

The largest known work by Caravaggio, The Burial of Saint Lucy was painted by the artist while he was on the run accused of murder and in fear of arrest and execution. He created this important work of art in a few precious weeks while he was afforded some protection from the church authorities who had commissioned it.

The altarpiece measures 408 by 300 centimetres and is his largest known canvas painted in oils. It depicts the fragile body of Santa Lucia - Saint Lucy - bearing the wounds she had suffered during her execution, about to be interred in the Roman catacombs on which the Sanctuary now stands.

After arriving in Sicily from Malta in October 1608, having escaped from prison there,  Caravaggio had taken a circuitous route to Siracusa to seek help from a former apprentice, Mario Minniti, who he knew had a thriving studio in the city.

At the time there was a programme of renovation taking place in churches in Siracusa and the city authorities were commissioning new altarpieces and trying to boost the cults of their local saints.

Minniti succeeded in convincing the church authorities to commission Caravaggio to paint the altarpiece at the Santuario Santa Lucia al Sepolcro, arguing that his former master was considered the best painter In Italy. 

The subject of the painting, Saint Lucy - Santa Lucia - was a young girl who had lived in 4th century Siracusa. She had converted to Christianity during the period of persecution of Christians by the Emperor Diocletian. She had taken a vow of chastity and decided not to marry. But the man lined up to be her future husband had suspected her of being unfaithful rather than devout and had exacted his revenge by denouncing her as a Christian to the authorities. 

Caravaggio was on the run
when he arrived in Sicily

Lucia had been condemned to a terrible death to take place in a brothel, but soldiers had been unable to move her from the spot where she had been arrested. They poured burning oil on her while she was seemingly immobile and set her alight, but she continued to pray even while burning. Therefore, they drove a sword into her throat, but she still did not die immediately. It was only after she had received the sacrament from a priest that she passed away.

A statue had been erected to Saint Lucy in Siracusa and it had been agreed to purchase a silver reliquary to house her remains, which the authorities were hoping to retrieve from Venice who had taken them. An altarpiece depicting her death in the catacombs on which the church was built was to be their next purchase.

Caravaggio’s picture is considered remarkable for the way he shows Santa Lucia’s frail body framed by two burly gravediggers, who tower over her, their veins bulging in their muscly arms. Watching the burial are a group of mourners, whose faces Caravaggio modelled on people he met while he was working on the painting at the church, one of which is believed to have been the sexton of the church. Among the faces in the background, it is also thought there may be a self-portrait of Caravaggio.

Experts think Caravaggio would have seen hasty burials in real life during an outbreak of the plague in Milan in 1576. The background for the painting was modelled on the actual catacombs in Siracusa where Santa Lucia had been put in the ground originally, which had been visited by Caravaggio during his stay in the city.

To complete the painting in time for the deadline of the Saint’s Feast Day on December 13, Caravaggio had to work at a fast pace, despite being distracted by his own problems and having to be armed with a dagger day and night for his own protection.

But he did not feel safe enough to stay in Siracusa for the unveiling of the painting and slipped away before the big day. Within 18 months, he had died himself in mysterious circumstances at Porto Ercole in Tuscany, where it is thought he was buried without ceremony in a mass grave.

The Santuario Santa Lucia al Sepolcro is
the home of Caravaggio's altarpiece

Travel tip

Caravaggio’s magnificent painting of The Burial of Saint Lucy still hangs proudly over the altar of the Santuario Santa Lucia al Sepolcro and can be seen free of charge by visitors to the church - one of just a small number of Caravaggio paintings on free public display in their original settings, rather than in a museum or gallery. Visitors to the Santuario can pay a small amount for a light to come on for a few minutes to illuminate the painting. The church staff and volunteers will explain the history of the painting to visitors and they have information booklets and Santa Lucia souvenirs available. The Santuario is in Piazza Santa Lucia in Siracusa in a part of the city known as Borga Santa Lucia.

The Duomo di Siracusa is one of the main 
attractions of the island of Ortigia

Travel tip

Siracusa is situated on the south east corner of Sicily next to the gulf of Siracusa and beside the Ionian Sea. It is famous for its Greek and Roman ruins and amphitheatres, and as the birthplace of the Greek mathematician and engineer Archimedes. It is now listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The patron saint of Siracusa is Saint Lucy (Santa Lucia) who died there in about 304. She is also the patron saint of virgins. Her feast day is celebrated worldwide on December 13 each year. The historic centre of Siracusa - the Città Vecchia (Old City) - is the part of the city that occupies the island of Ortigia. The central attraction of Ortigia is the magnificent cathedral, built in the seventh century but rebuilt in High Sicilian Baroque style after the 1693 earthquake that destroyed much of Sicily’s southeastern corner.

Also on this day:

1466: The death of sculptor Donatello

1521: The birth of Pope Sixtus V

1720: The birth of playwright Carlo Gozzi

1931: The death of juggler Enrico Rastelli

The Feast of Santa Lucia

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Scipione Borghese – Cardinal and art collector

Pope’s nephew used position to acquire wealth to buy art

Ottavio Leoni's portrait of
Cardinal Scipione Borghese

Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who was a patron of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Caravaggio and established a magnificent art collection during his life, was born on this day in 1576 in Artena, a town to the southeast of Rome

As the nephew of Pope Paul V,  Borghese was given the official title of Cardinal Nephew - cardinale nipote - and he had great power as the effective head of the Vatican government. He amassed an enormous fortune through the papal fees and taxes he gathered and he acquired vast amounts of land. He was able to use his immense wealth to assemble a large and impressive art collection.

Cardinal Borghese was the son of Francesco Caffarelli and Ortensia Borghese. When his father suffered financial difficulties, his uncle, Camillo Borghese, stepped in to pay for his education.

After Camillo Borghese was elected as Pope Paul V, he made his nephew a Cardinal and gave him the right to use the Borghese name and coat of arms.

Borghese was given many honours by his uncle, the Pope, who entrusted him with the management of the papal finances as well as the finances of the Borghese family.

He used money from the papal finances to fund Borghese family investments and, exploiting his power as Cardinal Nephew, he compelled people to sell their land to him at discounted prices.

Caravaggio's Madonna and
Child with Saint Anne

Borghese took a great interest in the development of the extensive gardens at his Roman residences, Palazzo Borghese, and Villa Borghese, and he built up one of the most impressive art collections in Europe. He collected paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael, and Titian, as well as ancient Roman art.

The Pope gave Scipione a collection of 107 paintings that he had confiscated from the artist Cavalier d’Arpino when he did not pay a tax bill. The haul included two important, early works by Caravaggio, a probable self-portrait usually called Bacchino Malato - Sick Bacchus - and A Boy with a Basket of Fruit. He also organised the removal of Raphael’s Deposition from a church in Perugia to be given to his nephew. He was later forced to provide Perugia with two good copies of the painting in order to avoid the population of the city rising up in violent rebellion against him.

Borghese also appropriated Caravaggio’s Madonna and Child with Saint Anne, a large altarpiece which had been commissioned for a chapel in St Peter’s Basilica. It was suspected that he had planned to acquire it for his collection when the work was commissioned.

The Cardinal’s patronage of Bernini helped the artist become the leading Italian sculptor and architect of the 17th century in Italy.

Between 1618 and 1623, Bernini worked primarily for the Cardinal Nephew, creating innovative pieces that foreshadowed the early Baroque style. He produced two marble busts of his patron, which are both in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the second carved after Bernini found a flaw in the marble used for the first.

Cardinal Scipione Borghese died in Rome in 1633 and was buried in the Borghese chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

The Galleria Borghese is housed
in the Villa Borghese Pinciana

Travel tip:

The Villa Borghese Pinciana, built for Scipione Borghese by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, which now houses the Galleria Borghese, was originally intended as a party villa, where Scipione would entertain guests. The villa and the gardens surrounding it, developed on the site of a former vineyard, were acquired by the Italian state from the Borghese family in 1901 and opened to the public two years later. Generally known as the Villa Borghese Gardens, they now form the third largest public park in Rome, covering an area of 80 hectares or 197.7 acres, with entrances near the Spanish Steps and Piazza del Popolo. The Pincio, in the south part of the park, offers one of the finest views over the city.  Other villas in the area of the park include the Villa Giulia, which now houses the Etruscan Museum, and the Villa Medici, home of the French Academy in Rome.  The Piazza di Siena, an open space within the gardens, hosted equestrian events at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

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The main facade of the Palazzo Borghese, which
was the Borghese family's principal Rome residence

Travel tip:

The Palazzo Borghese, the original home of the family’s art collection, is notable for its unusual trapezoidal layout, having two parallel sides but two that are not parallel, with its narrowest facade facing the Tiber. It was the main seat of the Borghese family in Rome, situated in the Campo Marzio district, not far from the Ponte Cavour and about 600m (0.37 miles) on foot from the Spanish Steps. It was built in about 1560-61 by the architect Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola on behalf of Monsignor Tommaso del Giglio and acquired by Cardinal Camillo Borghese in 1604, shortly before he became Pope Paul V.  The first floor of the palace has been the home of the Embassy of Spain in Italy since 1947. The Borghese family’s art collection, which contained works by Raphael, Titian and many others, was transferred in 1891 to the Galleria Borghese.

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Also on this day:

1878: The birth of conductor Tullio Serafin

1886: The birth of vaudeville star Guido Deiro

1922: The birth of actor Vittorio Gassman

1950: The birth of crime writer Michele Giuttari

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Giambattista Marino – poet

The colourful life of an influential literary figure

A portrait of Giambattista Marino by
Caravaggio, painted in about 1600

Controversial poet Giambattista Marino, who founded the school of Marinism that dominated 17th century Italian poetry, died on this day in 1625 in Naples.

Marino’s poetry was translated into other languages and many other poets imitated his use of complicated wordplay, elaborate conceits and metaphors.

But although Marino’s work was praised throughout Europe, he led a chaotic life, was frequently short of money and at times arrested and imprisoned for alleged immorality.

Marino, sometimes referred to as Marini, was born in Naples in 1569. He trained for the law, under pressure from his parents, but later rebelled and refused to practise his profession.

From 1590 onwards, he spent his time travelling in Italy and France and enjoying the success of his poetry. His work was circulated in manuscript form to great acclaim and later in his life he managed to get some of it published, despite censorship.

In 1596 he wrote La Sampogna (The Syrinx), a series of sensual verses, but he was unable to publish them until 1620.

While working as secretary to a Neapolitan prince he was arrested in both 1598 and 1600 on charges of immorality, but on both occasions his admirers managed to secure his release from prison. One of his arrests was for procuring an abortion for the daughter of the Mayor of Naples and the other for forging episcopal bulls to save the life of a friend who had been involved in a duel.

Some of his defenders and some of his detractors have claimed that Marino himself had homosexual tendencies, but this practice was persecuted during the Counter Reformation and so Marino would not have been open about it.

The front cover of an edition of
Marino's Adone, dated 1623

After moving to Rome, Marino attached himself to Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, a nephew of Pope Clement VIII, and they travelled round Italy together. Marino tried to get some of his poetry published while they were in Parma but was prevented by the Inquisition.

But in 1602 he was able to publish some of his early poetry as Le rime (The Rhymes) and La lira (The Lyre).

While living in Turin between 1608 and 1615, he enjoyed the patronage of the Duke of Savoy, but he was the victim of an assassination attempt by a rival poet and he was imprisoned yet again after writing satirical poems.

After friends had managed to secure his release, Marino went to Paris, where he lived until 1623 under the patronage of Marie de’ Medici and her son, Louis XIII.

While in Paris, Marino published his most important work, Adone, an epic poem of 45,000 lines that tells the love story of Venus and Adonis. This was dedicated to Louis XIII. Although critics have praised some of its brilliant passages, they have also criticised the poet’s excessive use of wordplay and metaphors in it.

Marino returned to Italy in 1623 and lived in Naples until his death. He is buried in the Chiesa dei Santi Apostoli in Naples.

Marinism, also sometimes referred to as Secentismo, 17th century style, is a reaction against classicism and uses extravagant metaphors and hyperbole to tell stories with the intention of startling the reader. Marino’s imitators carried this style to such excess that by the end of the 17th century the term marinism began to be used in a pejorative way.

However, after World War II, there was a revival of interest in this style of poetry and a reassessment of the merits of Marino and Marinism.

The Cambridge History of Italian Literature judged Marino to be one of the greatest Italian poets of all time.

The western facade of the Royal Palace,
overlooking Piazza del Plebiscito

Travel tip:

Giambattista Marino would have been able to admire the newly built Royal Palace in Naples when he returned from France to live in the city again in 1623.  The palace, which opens on to the Piazza del Plebiscito, was completed in 1620 to designs by the architect Domenico Fontana. In 1734, with the arrival of Charles III of Spain to Naples, the palace became the royal residence of the Bourbons. Additions have been made over the years, including the connecting Teatro San Carlo, which opened in 1737 and is now the oldest working opera house in the world.  The series of niche statues on the western facade, the one that faces the piazza, were added in 1888, commissioned by King Umberto I of Savoy.

The nave of the church of Santi Apostoli
in Naples, where Marino is buried

Travel tip:

Marino’s tomb is in the Chiesa dei Santi Apostoli in Via Anticaglia in Naples, not far from the historic centre of the city. The Baroque church was built on the site of a Roman temple and given to the Theatine Order in 1570. A cloister and monastery was added in 1590 and early in the 17th century, the church was reconstructed by Giacomo Conforti. Inside, visitors can admire a large fresco depicting Paradise (1684) by Giovanni Battista Benasca in the cupola and works by other painters including Marco da Siena, Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena. 

Also on this day:

1347: The birth of Saint Catherine of Siena

1541: The birth of Francesco I, Grand Duke of Tuscany

1546: The birth of poet and courtesan Veronica Franco

1927: The birth of politician Tina Anselmi, Italy’s first female minister

1940: The birth of pop megastar Mina

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Theft of Caravaggio masterpiece

Fate of Nativity taken from Palermo church remains a mystery

Caravaggio's painting Nativity with
St Lawrence and St Francis

One of the most notorious art crimes in history was discovered on this day in 1969 when a housekeeper at the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo arrived for work to find that the Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence, painted by the Renaissance master Caravaggio in 1609, had been stolen.

The painting sat above the altar in the Oratory, which is situated in Via Immacolata in the centre of the Sicilian capital, adjacent to the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, but when the housekeeper, Maria Gelfo, opened up with her sister on the morning of 18 October, they were confronted with an empty frame.

Worth an estimated £20 million (€23.73 million; $27.52 million), the painting has never been found, leaving half a century’s worth of theories about its fate to remain unproven.  Most of the theories link the theft to the Sicilian Mafia.

It is assumed that the painting was taken during the night of the 17-18 October, although the weather was reportedly awful, with a lightning storm raging for much of the night and Palermo suffering a deluge of rain, hardly ideal conditions for carrying a valuable work of art from a church to a waiting vehicle.

The thieves broke into the Oratory and seemingly headed straight for the Caravaggio. The painting appeared to have been cut from its frame using a sharp blade. Maria Gelfo also told police that a rug was also missing, which led to speculation that the canvas was removed from the church rolled up inside the rug.

The empty frame above the altar, 
pictured soon after the theft

Yet what happened to the painting is shrouded in mystery, not least because files containing statements made to police by key witnesses mysteriously disappeared, along with a report on the state of the premises ordered after Benedetto Rocco, the parish priest at the time of the theft, had raised concerns about security with the local state official for works of art, Vincenzo Scuderi.

Rocco had also raised concerns about Scuderi allowing RAI, the state broadcaster, to film a programme on hidden treasures inside the oratory - including Caravaggio’s painting - which was broadcast in August 1969. 

Gelfo, meanwhile, had expressed her worries about the security of a street-level window that could have been forced by an intruder, as well as reporting an unusually large number of strangers wanting to see the Caravaggio in the weeks leading up to its disappearance.

When the investigation into the crime was reopened in 2017 by the government’s anti-Mafia commission, following supposedly credible information supplied by Mafia pentiti Marino Mannoia and Gaetano Grado, the statements from Rocco and Gelfo had vanished.

Mannoia and Grado said that the painting was in Switzerland, albeit having been cut up, after Mafia boss Gaetano Badalamenti, who had made his money from trafficking heroin to the United States and had supposedly commissioned its theft, decided he no longer wanted it on his hands. The involvement of Badalamenti tallied with an interview given by Rocco in 2001 in which he claimed that Badalamenti was the perpetrator and had attempted to open a negotiation with the Catholic Church for its return, cutting off a small section of the canvas and sending it to Rocco to prove he had it.

Gaetano Badalamenti, a Mafia
boss accused of ordering the theft

However, the police were unable to find the files relating to the crime, including Rocco’s statements. Rocco, Gelfo and Badalamenti are all now dead.

Mannoia had previously told the anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone that the Mafia had commissioned the theft after agreeing a price with a buyer, but that when the buyer saw the painting, it was so badly damaged he called the deal off.  Experts have since said that, had the painting been rolled up to be smuggled out inside a rug, it is likely that large amounts of paint would have cracked and fallen off.

Other explanations of its fate are that the painting was eaten by pigs after being kept in a barn, that it was buried by another mafioso, Gerlando Alberti, after he had failed to sell it, and that it was transported to Campania to be sold to the Naples Camorra only to be buried under rubble during the 1980 earthquake.

Another theory, put forward by a Mafia expert in Palermo, is that the theft was actually carried out by highly-skilled professional art thieves working independently of the local Mafia and that the multiple claims of Cosa Nostra responsibility were false, issued somewhat in panic by local gang bosses embarrassed that a crime of such magnitude had taken place under their noses without their knowledge. 

Detail from Giacomo Serpotta's
stucco work in the Oratory

Travel tip:

The Oratory of Saint Lawrence was founded in around 1570 by the Company of Saint Francis of Assisi, a baroque church built over the remnants of an ancient church dedicated to Saint Lawrence (San Lorenzo). It is located in the La Kalsa or Tribunali district of Palermo near Corso Vittorio Emanuele, next door to the basilica of Saint Francis (San Francesco d'Assisi).  In addition to Caravaggio’s masterpiece, the setting of which, above the altar, is now occupied by a reproduction of the original, the Oratory is also notable for the brilliant stucco decorations by Giacomo Serpotta, born in the neighbourhood but considered by many to be one of Sicily’s greatest artists.

Palermo's beautiful cathedral, viewed across the
its square in the Monte di Pietà district of the city

Travel tip:

Although the Mafia have long cast an unwanted shadow over Palermo, thankfully most visitors know it as an attractive tourist destination, a vibrant city with a wealth of history, culture, art, music and food. It has many outstanding restaurants as well as fine examples of Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque churches, palaces and buildings.  Attractions include the extraordinary Cappella Palatina, featuring Byzantine mosaics decorated with gold leaf and precious stones, the Teatro Massimo, the largest opera house in Italy and the third biggest in Europe, and a beautiful cathedral that blends Norman, Moorish, Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical styles.  Although the Sicilian Baroque style is strongly represented in the city’s architecture, the streets around Via Libertà and the seaside resort of Mondello, just outside the city, feature many examples of Stile Liberty, the Italian variant on Art Nouveau, in villas built for the well-to-do of Palermo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Also on this day: 

1634: The birth of painter Luca Giordano

1833: The birth of entrepreneur Cristoforo Benigno Crespi

1933: The birth of racing driver Ludovico Scarfiotti

The Feast Day of St Luke the Evangelist

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Mario Minniti - painter

Sicilian influenced by long-time collaborator Caravaggio

Caravaggio's Boy with a Basket of
Fruit, thought to be a young Minniti

The painter Mario Minniti, who has acquired some historical notoriety over his long association with the brilliant but hot-tempered Renaissance great Caravaggio but went on to enjoy a successful career in his own right, was born on this day in 1577 in Syracuse, Sicily.

Minniti first encountered Caravaggio - born Michelangelo Merisi - when he arrived in Rome at the age of 15, seeking an apprenticeship following the death of his father.

Caravaggio was just a few years older than Minniti. They became friends and Minniti, who was blessed with boyish good looks, is thought to have been the model Caravaggio used in a series of works commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, one of the leading connoisseurs in Rome.

These included his paintings Boy with a Basket of Fruit, The Fortune Teller, The Musicians, Bacchus and The Lute Player.

As well as learning Caravaggio’s style and techniques, whose influence shone through in many of his own works, Minniti became close friends with his mentor, with some historians buying into the theory that they were lovers and that Caravaggio was obsessed with his young model’s beauty.

Others dispute this, however, not least because Minniti is known to have been married twice. They also point out that, in 16th century Italy, it was normal for men possessed with qualities associated with female beauty, such as pale, smooth skin and full lips, to be admired by other men, who saw such characteristics as signs of aristocratic breeding.

Caravaggio (above) took refuge with
Minniti at his home in Sicily

They argue that Minniti and Caravaggio, in fact, shared an appetite for flirting with other men’s wives and girlfriends on alcohol-fuelled nights out and that in many of the street brawls that marked Caravaggio’s time in the Eternal City, Minniti was at his side.

He may even have been present on the fateful May day in 1606 when Caravaggio is alleged to have killed murdered Ranuccio Tomassoni, reputedly a ‘wealthy scoundrel’, in the Campo Marzio district of central Rome, not far from the Piazza Monte D'Oro.

The incident led to Caravaggio being condemned to death by order of Pope Paul V, after which he fled the city, first to Naples and then Malta.  When he arrived in Sicily in 1608, forced to take flight again after another violent incident, he is said to have stayed with Minniti, who had by then returned home to Syracuse.  Minniti even found some work for his former employer, including a commission to paint the Burial of Saint Lucy for the church of Santa Lucia alla Badia in Syracuse. 

The influence on Minniti’s painting style led to him becoming known as “the Sicilian Caravaggio” and while his use of chiaroscuro - the dramatic contrast of light with dark shadows - was clearly inherited from Caravaggio, his style evolved into something that was more clearly his own, involving a the lively realism typical of the Baroque period.

The Miracle at Nain, which is on display in
Messina, is one of Minniti's best-known works

Like Caravaggio, Minniti benefited financially from the huge programme of church-building that took place in his lifetime, which meant that he was seldom short of commissions.

His readiness to embrace the Baroque style, characterized by exaggerated motion and clear detail used to evoke drama and exuberance, made him popular with the Catholic Church, who had determined that the arts should communicate religious themes and direct emotional involvement in response to the Protestant Reformation.

Minniti spent much of his time in Syracuse and Messina, as well as Palermo, and also took  commissions in Malta.  Among his surviving works are the Miracle at Nain, which can be seen at the regional art gallery in Messina, the Martyrdom of Saint Lucy and Miracle of Saint Clare, (both at the regional art gallery in Siracusa), Saint Benedict, Madonna with Child and Saints Cosimo and Damian (Church of Saint Mary, Modica), and Saint John the Baptist (Messina). 

Some critics claim that Minniti’s work too often lacked variety, and that he overdid certain motifs. Nonetheless, he is regarded in Sicily as one of the most distinguished painters of his era, one of the few Sicilian painters of the early 17th century whose work is preserved. 

Minniti died at Syracuse in 1640, at the age of 62.

The Sicilian Baroque cathedral in 
Syracuse, rebuilt by Andrea Palma

Travel tip:

The Syracuse of Minniti’s day was largely destroyed in the earthquake of 1693, but it was rebuilt, thanks to the largesse of the island’s Spanish rulers, in a way that makes it one of the most beautiful cities in southeast Sicily, with a wealth of buildings constructed in the architectural style that became known as Sicilian Baroque. There are several ancient ruins, however. The Parco Archeologico Neapolis, situated within the city, comprises the Roman Amphitheatre, the Teatro Greco and the Orecchio di Dionisio, a limestone cave shaped like a human ear. The Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi exhibits terracotta artifacts, Roman portraits and Old Testament scenes carved into white marble.  Syracuse as a city is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

The Piazza del Popolo is a feature of the
Campo Marzio district of central Rome

Travel tip:

The district of Campo Marzio is situated in the centre of Rome, comprising an area that includes Piazza di Spagna and the Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti - otherwise known as the Spanish Steps - and Piazza del Popolo, as well as the fashion district with the Via dei Condotti at its centre, overlooked by the Pincian Hill.  During the Middle Ages it was the most densely populated quarter of the city. It is bordered by the Tiber, the Quirinal hill in the north and the Capitoline Hill.

Also on this day:

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

1685: The birth of perfumier Johann Maria Farina

1881: The birth of architect Marcello Piacentini

1925: The birth of former prime minister Arnaldo Forlani

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Antonio Barberini – Cardinal

Pope’s nephew amassed fortune and became patron of the arts

Carlo Maratta's portrait of Antonio
Barberini as an older man

Catholic cardinal, military leader and patron of the arts Antonio Barberini was born on this day in 1607 in Rome.

As one of the cardinal-nephews of Pope Urban VIII he helped to shape the politics, religion, art and music of 17th century Italy and took part in many papal conclaves.

He is sometimes referred to as Antonio the Younger, or Antonio Barberini Iuniore, to distinguish him from his uncle, Antonio Marcello Barberini.

Antonio was the youngest of six children born to Carlo Barberini and Costanza Magalotti. Like his brothers, he was educated at the Collegio Romano.  His brother, Francesco Barberini, became Grand Inquisitor of the Roman Inquisition

His uncle, Maffeo Barberini, was elected as Pope the day after Antonio’s 16th birthday and became Pope Urban VIII.

Urban VIII was notorious for nepotism and he appointed Antonio as a cardinal just after his 20th birthday.  Nepotism was commonplace among popes from the Middle Ages up to the 17th century. The word derives from the Latin nepos (Italian: nipote), meaning nephew, to describe the practice among popes, who had taken vows of chastity and therefore could have no legitimate children, of appointing nephews to key positions.

Antonio was made papal legate in Avignon, where he forged some powerful connections. In 1636 he accepted the post of Crown-Cardinal-Protector of the Kingdom of France.

Barberini in a portait dated at around 1725,
when he would have been 18 years old

It has been estimated that Antonio accumulated more than 63 million scudi in personal wealth during the 21-year pontificate of Urban VIII.

Antonio and his brother, Taddeo, led the Pope’s forces to occupy Castro after Urban VIII started a feud with the Farnese family. But their victory over the Farnese was short lived and they suffered a series of losses during which Antonio himself was nearly captured.

The Pope was forced to sign a peace treaty with the Farnese to prevent them from marching on Rome.

After Innocent X was elected as Pope, Antonio and Taddeo were accused of financial abuses and had to go into exile in Paris under the protection of Antonio’s supporter, Cardinal Mazarin.

The next Pope, Alexander VII, made Antonio the Cardinal Bishop of Frascati and Louis XIV of France made him the Archbishop of Rheims.

Antonio had a number of mistresses, including one he is said to have had whipped for flaunting herself during Carnevale and another who died mysteriously while carrying his child. There were also allegations that he had homosexual relationships, in particular with the castrato singer Marc'Antonio Pasqualini. But in later life he changed his lifestyle and became deeply religious.

Bernini's monument to Barberini in the
church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini

He was patron to many composers, musicians, architects and artists. The composer Marco Marazzoli wrote music for him and dedicated his Fiori Musicali to Antonio in 1635.

Antonio commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to design the Palazzo del Propaganda Fide in Rome, but while Antonio was in exile, Bernini was replaced by Francesco Borromini, who had Bernini’s chapel demolished and replaced it with one built to his own design. Antonio and his brothers also commissioned the Teatro delle Quattro Fontane, an opera house built in 1632 near Piazza Barberini.

Antonio was a great admirer of Caravaggio, who died when he was just three years old. His extensive art collection contained many paintings by Caravaggio. He also commissioned Lorenzo Ottoni to complete a number of Barberini family sculptures for him.

Antonio died at Nemi near Rome in 1671, two days before his 64th birthday. There is a monument to him by Bernini in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome.

An 18th century engraving of the Palazzo di Propaganda
Fide in Rome by Giuseppe Vasi

Travel tip:

Palazzo di Propaganda Fide, commissioned by Antonio Barberini, is at the southern end of Piazza di Spagna in Rome close to the Basilica Sant’Andrea delle Fratte. The main façade was designed by Bernini, but the side looking out on to Via di Propaganda was designed by Borromini. The chapel of the Biblical Magi was built by Borromini. One of the most famous examples of Italian baroque architecture, the palace was built to house the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and since 1929 it has been an extraterritorial property of the Holy See.

Corso Vittorio Emanuele is one of the
main streets in Nemi

Travel tip:

Nemi, the town where Antonio Barberini died, is in the Alban Hills overlooking Lake Nemi, a volcanic crater lake. It is about 30km (19 miles) southeast of Rome. The Roman emperor Caligula built several large barges for use on the lake. They were rediscovered during the Renaissance period but attempts to raise them from the bottom of the lake proved unsuccessful. Mussolini ordered them to be salvaged in 1929 but most of them were destroyed by fire in 1944, either deliberately by the retreating German army, or accidentally by squatters who had taken refuge in the building that housed them. The surviving remnants and replicas of Caligula’s barges can be seen in the Museo Nazionale at the Palazzo Massimo in Rome. Nemi is also famous for the wild strawberries that grow on the side of the volcanic crater in ideal conditions that make them taste sweet.

More reading:

Why Grand Inquisitor Francesco Barberini refused to condemn Galileo as a heretic

The genius of Gian Lorenzo Bernini

How Pope Urban VIII's extravagance ended in disgrace

Also on this day:

1623: The birth of composer Marc'Antonio Cesti

1953: The birth of magistrate Felice Casson, who exposed secretive Operation Gladio

2002: The death of thriller writer Franco Lucentini


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Pietro Paolini – artist

Follower of Caravaggio passed on his techniques to the next generation

Paolini's Achilles among the Daughters of  Lycomedes,
 which is in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles

Pietro Paolini, a painter in the Baroque period in Italy, was born on this day in 1603 in Lucca in Tuscany.

Sometimes referred to as Il Lucchese, Paolini was a follower of the controversial Italian artist Caravaggio.

He also founded an academy in his native city and taught the next generation of painters in Lucca.

Paolini’s father, Tommaso, sent him to Rome when he was 16 to train in the workshop of Angelo Caroselli, who was a follower of Caravaggio.

Paolini had the opportunity to study various schools and techniques, which is reflected in the flexible style of his work.

Paolini's Bacchic Concert, which is in the collection of
the Dallas Museum of Art

He was exposed to the second generation of painters in the Caravaggio tradition such as Bartolomeo Manfredi, Cecco del Caravaggio and Bartolomeo Cavarozzi.

The principal themes of Paolini’s work were the subjects popularised by Caravaggio around the turn of the 17th century involving lower class people such as hawkers, prostitutes and musicians. Some of his paintings have allegorical meanings, such as The Allegory of the Five Senses, which depicts a darkened inn with people engaged in playing music and drinking, each representing one of the five senses. The picture shows the realism and the strong chiaroscuro typical of Caravaggio.

Paolini spent two years living and working in Venice where he had the opportunity to study the works of Paolo Veronese and Tintoretto and he then returned to Lucca where he spent the rest of his life. His parents had died and he needed to support his siblings.

Paolini's The Allegory of the Five Senses, which is
on display at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore

After establishing a successful studio in Lucca he specialised in cabinet pictures and introduced the still life genre to the city. He received many commissions from religious institutions in Lucca as well as prominent local citizens.

In about 1652 he founded the Academy of Painting and Drawing of Lucca, where he helped train many young painters. Artists such as Girolamo Scaglia, Simone del Tintore, Antonio Franchi, Giovanni Coli and Filippo Gherardi were all trained there. At this stage he almost entirely gave up painting himself in order to devote himself to teaching.

Paolini died in Lucca in 1681.  He had two sons, Andrea, who became custodian of the Public Archives in Lucca, and Giovanni Tommaso.

Many of Paolini’s most famous works are on display in galleries around the world, including The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine of Alexandria, which can be seen in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Rome, Achilles among the Daughters of Lycomedes (J. Paul Getty Museum) and Bacchic Concert (Dallas Museum of Art).  The Allegory of the Five Senses is in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.

Others, such as The Card Sharps, Portrait of a Man and A Young Lady Holding a Compass are in private collections.

A view over the rooftops of Paolini's home city of
Lucca in western Tuscany, not far from Pisa

Travel tip:

Lucca, Paolini’s home city, is situated 30km (19 miles) inland from Viareggio on the coast and 20km (12 miles) from Pisa, with its international airport, yet is often overlooked by travellers to the area. It has much to recommend within its majestic walls, where visitors can stroll along narrow cobbled streets into a number of beautiful squares, with lots of cafes and restaurants for those content to soak up the ambiance, but also a wealth of churches, museums and galleries for those seeking a fix of history and culture.   The Renaissance walls, still intact, are an attraction in their own right, providing a complete 4.2km (2.6 miles) circuit of the city popular with walkers and cyclists.

The facade of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome,
designed by the architect Carlo Maderno

Travel tip:

The Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica (National Gallery of Ancient Art) is an art gallery in Rome. It has two sites: the Palazzo Barberini and the Palazzo Corsini.  The Palazzo Barberini was designed for Pope Urban VIII, a member of the Barberini family, by 16th century Italian architect Carlo Maderno on the old location of Villa Sforza, facing the Piazza Barberini in central Rome. Its central salon ceiling was decorated by Pietro da Cortona with the visual panegyric of the Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power to glorify the papal Barberini family.  The Palazzo Corsini, formerly known as Palazzo Riario, is a 15th-century palace in the Trastevere district that was rebuilt in the 18th century by architect Ferdinando Fuga for Cardinal Neri Maria Corsini.

More reading:

Caravaggio sentenced to death after a murder in Rome

How did Caravaggio die?

Luca Giordano, the artist known as The Thunderbolt

Also on this day:

1678: The birth of architect Domenico Antonio Vaccaro

1751: The birth of the Blessed Vincent Romano

1977: The death of film maker Robert Rossellini


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Artemisia Gentileschi – painter

Brilliant artist who survived torture by thumbscrews 

Artemisia Gentileschi: a self-portrait as a lute player
painted in around 1615-17

Artemisia Gentileschi, who followed in the footsteps of the Baroque painter Caravaggio by painting biblical scenes with dramatic realism, was born on this day in 1593 in Rome.

As a young woman she was raped by an artist friend of her father who had been entrusted with teaching her, and when he was brought to trial by her father she was forced to give evidence under torture.

This event shaped her life and she poured out her horrific experiences into brutal paintings, such as her two versions of Judith Slaying Holofernes.

Gentileschi was notable for pictures of strong and suffering women from myths, allegories, and the Bible. Some of her best known themes are Susanna and the Elders, Judith Slaying Holofernes, the most famous of which, painted between 1614 and 1620, is in the Uffizi in Florence, and Judith and Her Maidservant. 

She had an ability to produce convincing depictions of the female figure, anywhere between nude and fully clothed, that few male painters could match.

Judith Slaying Holfernes (1614-20), which can
be found in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

It was many years before Gentileschi’s genius was fully appreciated, but a newly discovered self portrait depicting herself as St Catherine of Siena has just been bought by the National Gallery in London for £3.6 million, a record amount for her work.

Her artist father, Orazio Gentileschi, was an admirer of the painter Caravaggio. He taught his daughter to paint in his interpretation of Caravaggio’s style.

After her father’s friend, the landscape painter Agostino Tassi, raped her, he was brought to trial in 1612 and she had to give evidence while being subjected to a thumbscrew-like torture ‘to make sure her evidence was honest’.

After the trial Gentileschi moved to Florence, married a Florentine and became the first woman to join Florence’s Academy of Design.

Unlike other women artists of the time she specialised in history painting. She painted an Allegory of Inclination for the series of frescoes honouring the life of Michelangelo in Casa Buonarroti.

Gentileschi's painting San Gennaro
nell'Anfiteatro

She moved to Naples, where she painted many important religious paintings for churches, such as San Gennaro nell’Anfiteatro di Pozzuoli (Saint Januarius in the Amphitheatre of Pozzuoli).

Later, she went to London where she worked alongside her father for King Charles I on ceiling paintings for the Queen’s House in Greenwich. She also painted many portraits and eventually became more famous than her father.

It is believed that Artemisia Gentileschi died in Naples during a devastating epidemic of plague that swept the city in 1656.

The bust of Michelangelo
at Casa Buonarroti

Travel tip:

Casa Buonarroti, which Artemisia Gentileschi helped decorate, is now a museum in Via Ghibellina in Florence in a building Michelangelo left to his nephew, Leonardo Buonarroti. The house was converted into a museum dedicated to the artist by his great nephew, Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger. It houses Michelangelo’s early sculptures and a library with some of Michelangelo’s letters and drawings.

The interior of the Anfiteatro di Pozzuoli

Travel tip:

Pozzuoli’s Flavian Amphitheatre (Anfiteatro di Pozzuoli) was the third largest Roman amphitheatre in Italy, holding up to 50,000 spectators. Only the Colosseum in Rome and the Capuan Amphitheatre are larger. It was built during the reign of Vespasian by the same architects who previously constructed the Colosseum. Although most of the superstructure has been destroyed in an area subject to frequent seismic activity, the underground interior is still largely intact and well worth a visit. The amphitheatre is in the centre of the town, about 20km (12 miles) west of Naples, close to the Pozzuoli’s Metro station.

More reading:

The mysterious death of Caravaggio

The brilliance of Michelangelo

The rival who broke Michelangelo's nose in a fight

Also on this day:

1822: The death of the poet Shelley in a storm at sea

1918: Ernest Hemingway wounded working for Red Cross in Italy 

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