Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts

27 January 2025

Nerva – Roman emperor

The first of the Five Good Emperors

Nerva used his time in power to do good for the Romans
Nerva used his time in power
to do good for the Romans
The Roman emperor Nerva, who was considered by historians to be a wise and moderate ruler, died on this day in Rome in 98 AD, after just two years in power.

Nerva had ensured that there would be a peaceful transition after his death by selecting the military commander Trajan as his heir in advance. Trajan went on to be a great success as an emperor and adopted Hadrian as his son to secure his dynasty. Nerva is consequently regarded as the first of five ‘good’ Roman emperors.

Marcus Cocceius Nerva was born in 30 AD in Narni in Umbria, but he did not become emperor himself until he was nearly 66 years old, having spent most of his life serving under Nero and his successors.

Nerva was part of Nero’s imperial entourage and he played a big part in exposing a conspiracy against the emperor in 65 AD. He then achieved high office under the two subsequent emperors, Vespasian and Domitian.

After Domitian was assassinated by guards and servants in his own palace on September 18, 96 AD, Nerva was declared as the next emperor by the Roman Senate on the same day.

As the new ruler of the Roman Empire, Nerva vowed to restore liberties that had not been allowed under the strict rule of Domitian and, as a gesture of goodwill, Nerva publicly swore that no senator would be put to death while he was in office.


He called an end to holding trials based on treason, released all those who had been imprisoned on such charges and granted an amnesty to those who had been exiled.

The remains of the palace of Domitian on Palatine  Hill, renamed by Nerva as the House of the People
The remains of the palace of Domitian on Palatine 
Hill, renamed by Nerva as the House of the People 
Confiscated property was returned to its owners and the huge palace that Domitian had built for himself on the Palatine Hill was renamed the House of the People. Nerva himself took up residence in Domitian’s former villa in the Gardens of Sallust, which was an ancient Roman estate that lay between the Pincian and Quirinal hills in the northeast of Rome.

However, during his brief time as emperor, Nerva was never able to assume complete control over the Roman army and because he had no natural son of his own, a revolt by the Praetorian Guard, who briefly took him hostage, forced him to adopt a son and name him as his heir and successor.

Nerva chose Trajan, who was at that time a general in the army in charge of the Roman troops stationed at the German frontier.

During his time in power, Nerva tried to do some good for the people. He granted allotments of land to poor citizens and he is credited with establishing a system of trusts to provide for the maintenance of poor children throughout Italy. This benevolent policy was also adopted by Trajan and other emperors after him.

The restored Mausoleum of Augustus, where Nerva's ashes were buried
The restored Mausoleum of Augustus,
where Nerva's ashes were buried
Although these measures put a strain on the Roman economy, some money was raised by selling off Domitian’s luxurious possessions, such as the gold and silver statues he had commissioned to be made of himself. Nerva also refused to have similar statues made to honour him.

At the beginning of January in 98 AD, Nerva suffered a stroke and then developed a fever. He died of natural causes in his villa in the Gardens of Sallust on 27 January. He was deified by the Senate and his ashes were laid to rest in the Mausoleum of Augustus. He was the last Roman emperor to be interred there.

Nerva was succeeded by Trajan, who was greeted by the Roman citizens with great enthusiasm.

There is a modern equestrian statue of Nerva in Gloucester, in England, a Roman city that was founded in his honour. There is also a statue of him in his birthplace, Narni, in Umbria.

The Five Good Emperors was a description coined by the Renaissance political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, who noted that while most emperors to succeed to the throne by birth were “bad” in his view, Nerva and his four immediate successors -Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, all of whom succeeded by adoption - enjoyed a reputation as benevolent dictators, governing by earning the good will of their subjects.

The Piazza Principale in Narni in Umbria, which  has preserved much of its mediæval heritage
The Piazza Principale in Narni in Umbria, which 
has preserved much of its mediæval heritage
Travel tip:

Narni, where Nerva was born, is a hill town in the region of Umbria that is close to the exact geographical centre of Italy, with a stone in the town marking the precise spot. Narni has retained its mediæval appearance with stone buildings and narrow cobbled streets, but it is also famous for having the Ponte d’Augusto, one of the largest Roman bridges ever built. One arch of the bridge, which is still standing, is 30 metres (98 feet) high. Among other sights worth visiting are the church of Santa Maria Imprensole, considered the jewel of Narni's Romanesque architecture, and the recently restored castle, the Rocca Albornoziana, which was erected in the last half of the 14th century. A big draw for visitors is Narni Underground, a tourist itinerary through subterranean passages, caves, tunnels and ancient aqueducts of the city. The imaginary land of Narnia, featured in the works of author C S Lewis, is named after Narni, which was a place name he came across in an atlas that he looked at when he was a child.

A section of ruins that were part of the Horti Sallustiani
A section of ruins that were
part of the Horti Sallustiani
Travel tip:

The Gardens of Sallust - Horti Sallustiani - was a Roman estate that included a landscaped pleasure garden developed by the historian Sallust in the 1st century BC. It occupied a large area of northeastern Rome between the Pincian and Quirinal hills, near the Via Salaria and later Porta Salaria. The modern rione - administrative district - in which it is situated is known as Sallustiano. The gardens featured elaborate landscaping, pavilions, fountains, and imaginative topiary arrangements. They were later maintained by Roman emperors as a public amenity and even served as a temporary residence for some. Among the greenery there were often arcades for walking away from the sun, spas, temples and statues, often replicas of Greek originals.  Today, you can wander through the remnants, which still retain a touch of their former grandeur.



Also on this day:

98: Trajan becomes emperor of Rome

1861: Italy elects its first parliament

1881: The birth of mobster Frank Nitti

1901: The death of opera composer Guiseppe Verdi

1927: The birth of novelist Giovanni Arpino

1962: The birth of musician and composer Roberto Paci Dalò

1974: The birth of crime writer Marco Malvadi


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22 January 2025

The Battle of Anzio

Key moment in World War II brought heavy casualties

A British landing craft unloads tanks and troop carriers on to the beach at the start of the assault
A British landing craft unloads tanks and troop
carriers on to the beach at the start of the assault
British and American troops landed on the beach at Anzio, a coastal town south of Rome in the region of Lazio, in the early hours of the morning on this day in 1944.

The Allies were planning to dislodge German troops blocking the route to Rome and to liberate the capital city quickly, but the Battle of Anzio was to last for many months and cause the deaths of thousands of soldiers on both sides.

Operation Shingle, the name for the complex amphibious landing, had been the idea of the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, as he lay in bed recovering from pneumonia in December 1943. His concept was to land two divisions of men at Anzio, and nearby Nettuno, bypassing the German forces entrenched across the Gustav Line in central Italy, to enable the Allies to take Rome.

But the operation was opposed by German troops, as well as forces from the newly-created Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or RSI) - the Nazi puppet state in northern Italy - who were located in the area.


Operation Shingle was originally commanded by Major General John Lucas of the US Army. 

Allied troops and vehicles at first faced little opposition as they made their way ashore
Allied troops and vehicles at first faced little
opposition as they made their way ashore
Its success depended on the element of surprise and the swiftness with which the invading soldiers moved inland. The location was reclaimed marshland and it was surrounded by mountains. Any delay could result in the mountains being occupied by the German and Italian troops and result in the Allied soldiers becoming trapped.

The landing was initially a success with seemingly no opposition from the Germans, but Lucas, perhaps not fully appreciating the importance of moving on from the beach quickly and wanting to be cautious, delayed the advance until he felt that the position of his troops was fully consolidated.

Meanwhile, the commander of the German troops, Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, moved every unit he could spare into a defensive ring around the beachhead. The Germans also stopped the drainage pumps and flooded the reclaimed marshland with salt water, planning to trap the Allied soldiers there and expose them to a malaria epidemic spread by the area's mosquitos. 

For weeks, shells rained on to the beach, harbour, and marshland, and anything else that the Germans could see from their position above.

After a month of fighting, Lucas was relieved of his command and sent home. He was replaced by Major General Lucian Truscott.

British troops had to take cover in shallow trenches as they came under heavy German bombardment
British troops had to take cover in shallow trenches
as they came under heavy German bombardment
By May, the Allies had managed to break out of the area, but instead of moving inland to cut the lines of communication of the German units fighting at Monte Cassino in the south of Lazio, which was Truscott’s first instinct, he was ordered to turn his troops north west to Rome.

As a result, German troops fighting at Monte Cassino were able to withdraw and join Kesselring’s forces north of Rome, where they regrouped and fought back against the Allies.

They were aiming to defend the next major position on what was then known as the Gothic Line, the last major line of defence for the German troops.

The surprise landings at Anzio and Nettuno on January 22 finally achieved their goal when the Allies captured Rome on June 4, 1944. 

But the Battle of Anzio had resulted in 24,000 US, and 10,000 British, casualties, men who were either killed, wounded, or reported missing. There were also about 40,000 casualties among the German and Italian troops.

Around 300,000 troops, together with their weapons, had fought with intensity along just a 16-mile stretch of coastline. The Germans were able to observe the battlefield from above and pummel the Allies, who were tightly packed on the beachhead and fought back ferociously, knowing they could not afford to be pushed back into the sea.

Even Churchill, and the other supporters of Operation Shingle, had not expected the intense months of fighting that were to eventually take place.

Anzio today is a seaside resort and fishing port and a departure point for ferries to the Pontine Islands
Anzio today is a seaside resort and fishing port and
a departure point for ferries to the Pontine Islands
Travel tip:

The town of Anzio is about 51 kilometres, or 32 miles, to the south of Rome in the region of Lazio. It is also a fishing port and a departure point for ferries to the Pontine Islands in the Tyrrhenian sea of Ponza, Palmarola, and Ventotene. Anzio was known as Antium in Roman times and its symbol remains to this day the goddess Fortuna. At the end of the 17th century, the Popes Innocent XII and Clement XI had the port rebuilt and also restored the harbour. In 1925, Anzio became the Station for the first submarine telecommunications cable connected to New York. The Commonwealth Anzio War cemetery and Beachhead War Cemetery are both located in Anzio. Along the coastline are the remains of many Roman villas, one of which has been identified as a former home of the Emperor Nero.

A staircase in the mediæval part of the town of Nettuno
A staircase in the mediæval
part of the town of Nettuno
Travel tip:

The nearby town of Nettuno is now a tourist resort and has a harbour and a yacht club. Nettuno is also a centre for production of the white wine, Cacchione, which has been awarded DOC status. Nettuno has a well preserved Borgo Medievale with mediæval streets and squares and early in the 16th century the Forte Sangallo was built by the architect Antonio Sangallo the Elder to protect the town from the sea. Gabriele d’Annunzio wrote his opera, La Figlia di Iorio, while he was a guest in Nettuno with the actress Eleonora Duse, and Luigi Pirandello wrote a novel, Va Bene, set in Nettuno in 1904. After their landing during World War II, American soldiers taught the people of Nettuno to play baseball and Nettuno Baseball Club is now one of the most important Italian baseball teams. The footballer and manager Bruno Conti was born in Nettuno in 1955.

Also on this day:

1506: The founding of the Papal Swiss Guard

1889: The birth of supercentenarian Antonio Todde

1893: The birth of gang boss Frankie Yale

1956: The death of brigand and folk hero Giuseppe Musolino

2005: The death of double World War veteran Carlo Orelli


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14 January 2025

Battle of Rivoli

Napoleon defeats the Austrians and boosts his reputation

Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux's painting of Napoleon (mounted, centre) at the Battle of Rivoli
Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux's painting of
Napoleon (mounted, centre) at the Battle of Rivoli
Napoleon won an important victory on Italian soil on this day in 1797 when, despite his troops being outnumbered, they defeated an attacking Austrian army. He triumphed in the Battle of Rivoli near the village of Rivoli Veronese, in what was then part of the Republic of Venice.

Austrian soldiers were attempting to move south to relieve a garrison of their men who were under siege from the French in Mantua. But their defeat at the Battle of Rivoli led to them having to surrender Mantua to their enemy a few weeks later. 

Napoleon’s victory in the Battle of Rivoli effectively consolidated the position of the French in northern Italy and enhanced his reputation as a capable military commander.

Under the command of General Jozsef Alvinczi, the Austrian troops had planned to overwhelm the French soldiers serving under General Barthelemy Joubert when they encountered them in the mountains to the east of Lake Garda.

They deployed 28,000 men in five columns against the French to gain access to the open country north of Mantua, planning to march to the city and complete their mission.

Eduoard Detaille's painting of Napoleon as he looks over captured Austrian troops
Eduoard Detaille's painting of Napoleon as he
looks over captured Austrian troops 
However, General Joubert managed to hold them off until he was joined by reinforcements, and, subsequently, by Napoleon himself. The French formed a defensive line on ground just north of Rivoli.

Alvinczi united three columns of Austrian troops near the comune of Caprino Veronese while other Austrian troops were advancing to the north of Monte Baldo and progressing along the roads to either side of the River Adige.

The French were forced out of the village of Osteria and on to the Rivoli plateau and the situation began to look dangerous for them, with the Austrian troops preventing Napoleon’s men from retreating.

However, Napoleon turned his attention to the Austrian troops on either side of the river. The French soldiers poured canister shot at point blank range on the advancing Austrians and as a result the troops on horseback broke ranks and stampeded through their own infantry, causing chaos. 

Other French soldiers assaulted the Austrians from the front and a group of 26 French mounted soldiers charged straight into them, resulting in an Austrian battalion and five flags being captured. 


By midday, French cavalry commanded by Joachim Murat had reached the area and were also able to charge against the Austrians, driving them back to the position they had occupied earlier in the day. The Austrian troops were then ordered by their commanders to move back still further out of artillery range.

Joachim Murat led his men in a decisive charge
Joachim Murat led his men
in a decisive charge
The French lost 3,200 men and had 1,000 captured during the battle, while the Austrians lost 4,000 and had 8,000 captured.

When the Austrians finally surrendered the city of Mantua, their soldiers were allowed to go home by the French, after they swore an oath not to serve against them for a year.

Napoleon, accompanied by 8,000 of his men, went to Rome to try to reach a settlement with the Papal States. With the Austrians finally driven out of Italy, Pope Pius VI agreed to an armistice dictated by Napoleon.

But the Austrians still refused to negotiate peace with the French. 

Therefore, Napoleon embarked on another military campaign that was to take him all the way to the city of Vienna.

A street in Paris was later named Rue de Rivoli to commemorate the French victory on 14 January 1797 at the Battle of Rivoli.

A view over the village of Rivoli Veronese and the surrounding countryside
A view over the village of Rivoli Veronese and
the surrounding countryside
Travel tip:

Rivoli Veronese is a comune in the province of Verona in the Veneto, situated on hills overlooking the right bank of the River Adige. Throughout history the area around Rivoli has always been seen as difficult territory by armies and another important battle was fought there in 1848 during the first Italian War of Independence between Austrian and Piedmontese troops. With lakes on one side and mountains on the other, the scenery is spectacular and Rivoli is visited by travellers staying in Lake Garda. Napoleon had a commemorative monument built on the site of the battlefield, an 80-foot high column that was torn down by the Austrians in 1814. Today, a few ruins are the only legacy of the column but there is a commemorative plaque that says in French: ‘The soldiers of the French army in Italy 1918, and dedicated to their glorious forebears of 1797.’ On Rivoli's main street, a small museum has a few items from the battle in a collection that aims to demonstrate the influence of Napoleon on the history of Italy. 

The facade of the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, the former seat of the Gonzaga family
The facade of the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua,
the former seat of the Gonzaga family
Travel tip:

The historic city of Mantua, which was the ultimate destination for the Austrian troops, lies in Lombardy, to the south east of Milan. In the Renaissance heart of the city is Piazza Mantegna, where the 15th century Basilica di Sant’Andrea houses the tomb of the artist, Andrea Mantegna. The church was originally built to accommodate the large number of pilgrims who came to Mantua to see a precious relic, an ampoule containing what were believed to be drops of Christ’s blood mixed with earth, which it was claimed had been collected at the site of his crucifixion by a Roman soldier. Mantua is also famous for its Renaissance Palazzo Ducale, the seat of the Gonzaga family between 1328 and 1707. The Camera degli Sposi in the palace is decorated with frescoes by Andrea Mantegna, depicting the life of Eleonora’s ancestor, Ludovico Gonzaga, and his family in the 15th century. The beautiful backgrounds of imaginary cities and ruins reflect Mantegna’s love of classical architecture. 

Also on this day:

1451: The birth of composer Franchino Gaffurio

1507: The birth of painter Luca Longhi

1552: The birth of lawyer Alberico Gentili

1883: The birth of fashion designer Nina Ricci

1919: The birth of politician Giulio Andreotti

1925: The birth of Ellesse founder Leonardo Servadio


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23 December 2024

Michele Novaro - composer

Patriot who wrote music for Italian national anthem

Michele Novaro was an opera singer as well as a composer
Michele Novaro was an opera
singer as well as a composer
The composer and singer Michele Novaro, who wrote the music that accompanies Goffredo Mameli’s words in Italy’s national anthem, was born on this day in 1818 in Genoa.

While not as actively involved in the Risorgimento movement as Mameli, who took part in various insurrections and died fighting alongside Giuseppe Garibaldi in the battle for a unified, independent Italy, Novaro was a patriot nonetheless.

A committed liberal in his politics, he was a supporter of the cause of independence and composed the music for several patriotic songs in addition to Mameli’s Il canto degli Italiani - The Song of the Italians - which is also known as Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) and L’inno di Mameli (Mameli’s hymn).

The oldest of five children, Novaro was born into a theatrical background. His father, Gerolamo, was a stagehand at the Teatro Carlo Felice, the Genoa opera house. His mother, Giuseppina Canzio, was the sister of a well-known painter, scenographer and impresario, Michele Canzio.

Novaro attended singing school and achieved a respectable standard as an opera singer. He was good enough to sing in the Genoese premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's opera Gianni di Calais.


He spent three seasons in Vienna as the second resident tenor at Vienna’s Porta Carinthia theater, returning to Italy to take up a post as second tenor and choirmaster at the Teatro Regio and Teatro Carignano in Turin.

Goffredo Mameli, who was killed fighting alongside Garibaldi
Goffredo Mameli, who was killed
fighting alongside Garibaldi
Novaro willingly gave his services in the cause of independence by writing music to patriotic songs, as well as organising fundraisers in support of Garibaldi. 

He and Mameli, who was also from Genoa, were friends and in 1847 after Mameli had written the words for the song that would earn him immortality it was Novaro he sought out to write a suitable score. 

Novaro is said to have received the text of Mameli’s poem at the Turin home of the patriotic writer, Lorenzo Valerio. He immediately sketched out a first draft of the music, which he then completed on his return to his home, staying up late into the night to perfect it.

The writer Anton Giulio Barrili, another friend of Novaro, later wrote about the birth of Il canto degli Italiani, quoting what Novaro had told him following his first sight of the song at Valerio’s home.

‘I sat at the harpsichord, with Goffredo's verses on the music stand, and I strummed, I murdered that poor instrument with my convulsed fingers, always with my eyes on the hymn, putting down melodic phrases, one on top of the other, but a thousand miles away from the idea that they could adapt to those words. 

‘I got up, dissatisfied with myself; I stayed a little longer at Valerio's house, but always with those verses before my mind's eye. I saw that there was no remedy; I took my leave, and ran home. 

‘There, without even taking off my hat, I threw myself at the piano. The tune I had strummed at Valerio's house came back to my mind: I wrote it down on a sheet of paper, the first that came to hand: in my agitation I turned the lamp over on the harpsichord, and consequently also on the poor sheet of paper: this was the original of the hymn "Fratelli d'Italia".’

Friends paid for a memorial for  Novaro in Staglieno cemetery
Friends paid for a memorial for 
Novaro in Staglieno cemetery
Despite leaving his mark on Italian history, Novaro never achieved fame or fortune.

Such money as he did make, he ploughed into setting up a free choral school in Genoa, to which he devoted his later years.  Struggling with declining health and financial difficulties, he died in October, 1885.

His former students arranged for a funeral monument to be erected to him in his hometown in the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno, next to the tomb of Giuseppe Mazzini, another major Risorgimento figure who was among his heroes.

Although Il canto degli Italiani was very popular during Italian unification and the following decades, it was not until a century later that it became Italy’s national anthem.

At the time the Kingdom of Italy came into being in 1861, the republican and Jacobin connotations of Fratelli d'Italia were difficult to reconcile with the new state's constitution as a monarchy rather than the republic that Mazzini and his supporters craved. 

The new kingdom instead adopted Marcia Reale (Royal March), the House of Savoy's official anthem, written by Napoleone Giotti and set to music in 1831 by Giuseppe Gabetti. 

Italy finally became a republic after World War Two, following a referendum that rejected the monarchy. On October 12, 1946, it chose Il canto degli Italiani as a provisional national anthem. It retained its de facto status until December 2017, when it was at last recognised as the Italian anthem by law.

The Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, where Novaro's father worked as a stagehand
The Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, where
Novaro's father worked as a stagehand
Travel tip:

The port city of Genoa (Genova), where Michele Novaro was born, is the capiital of the Liguria region. Once a powerful trading centre, the city’s wealth was built on its shipyards and steelworks, but it also boasts many fine buildings, many of which have been restored to their original splendour.  The Doge's Palace, the 16th century Royal Palace and the Romanesque-Renaissance style San Lorenzo Cathedral are just three examples.  The area around the restored harbour area offers a maze of fascinating alleys and squares, enhanced recently by the work of Genoa architect Renzo Piano, and a landmark aquarium, the largest in Italy. At the time of Novara’s birth, the City Architect was Carlo Barabino, a prominent Neoclassicist who designed the Teatro Carlo Felice Opera, the Palazzo dell'Accademia, and the facades of several other buildings. The theatre opened in 1828. 

The Palazzo Reale - Royal Palace - in Turin is a reminder of the wealth of the Savoy family Travel tip:
The Palazzo Reale - Royal Palace - in Turin is
a reminder of the wealth of the Savoy family
Travel tip:

The Savoy dynasty left a significant mark on Turin, shaping its architecture, culture, and overall identity. The Royal Palace served as the opulent official residence of the Savoy kings for centuries. Its lavish interiors, including the Throne Room and the Royal Apartments, offer a glimpse into the grandeur of the dynasty. Housed within the Royal Palace, the Royal Armoury is now a museum boasting an impressive collection of weapons and armour. Also located inside the Royal Palace, the Savoy Gallery houses a remarkable collection of paintings by Italian and European masters, including works by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Canaletto.  Beyond the city, a network of Savoy palaces, villas, and castles is scattered throughout Piemonte. The city’s Duomo - the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista - was built between 1491 and 1498 in Piazza San Giovanni. The Chapel of the Holy Shroud, where the Turin Shroud is kept, was added in 1668. Some members of the House of Savoy are buried in the Duomo while others are buried in the Basilica di Superga on the outskirts of the city.

Also on this day: 

1573: The birth of Baroque artist Giovanni Battista Crespi

1896: The birth of writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

1916: The birth of film director Dino Risi

1956: The birth of racing driver Michele Alboreto

1967: The birth of model and singer Carla Bruni


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18 November 2024

Enrico Vanzini - Dachau survivor

Italian internee forced to work for Nazis

Enrico Vanzini kept his story private for 60 years after WW2
Enrico Vanzini kept his story
private for 60 years after WW2

Enrico Vanzini, a remarkable centenarian former soldier who survived seven months in a concentration camp after being forced to assist his captors as his fellow detainees were subjected to the horrors perpetrated by the Nazi regime, was born on this day in 1922 in the town of Fagnano Olona in Lombardy.

Vanzini, who was stationed with the Italian army in Greece for much of World War Two, was arrested in September 1943 after swearing allegiance to the King of Italy rather than Benito Mussolini’s Republic of Salò.

He spent the remainder of the conflict as a prisoner of war in Germany, at the end of which he was forced to work as a member of the so-called Sonderkommando, a group of prisoners made to collaborate with the Nazi SS in the extermination of mainly Jewish detainees in their death camps.

Vanzini was made to assist among other things with the cremation of bodies at Dachau, just outside Munich, where he spent seven months. The ordeal ended when the camp was liberated by the Allies in April 1945, at which point he weighed just 64lbs (29kg).

At the age of 102 and resident of a care home in Padua, he is the only Italian former Sonderkommando still alive.

In his book, entitled L'ultimo sonderkommando italiano - The Last Italian Sonderkommando - he described himself as “an ordinary village lad” in Fagnano. He was born just 10 days after Mussolini’s Fascists took power in Italy.

The gates of the Dachau complex near Munich, soon after it was liberated
The gates of the Dachau complex near
Munich, soon after it was liberated
His father, who had been a soldier in World War One, was no supporter of the Fascist regime and Vanzini grew up to have similar sentiments. Yet at the age of 18 he found himself fighting on the side of Mussolini and the Germans.

Having enlisted in the artillery in the Alba Barracks with the outbreak of war in 1939, he was initially destined for the Russian front but was spared being one of 115,000 Italians killed there by a bout of appendicitis. When he had recovered sufficiently to resume service, he was sent instead to Greece, where Italian casualties were far fewer.

He was still in Greece when Mussolini was arrested on the orders of the Italian monarch, King Victor Emmanuel III, in July 1943, and detained at a remote hotel in the Apennine mountains.  When the dictator was freed by German paratroopers two months later and installed as leader of the puppet state of Salò in Nazi-occupied northern Italy, Vanzini refused to be part of the new republic, swearing loyalty to the King instead.

Subsequently arrested, he became a prisoner of war and was put on a train in Athens and taken to the city of Ingolstadt in Bavaria, where he was forced to work in a tank chassis factory.

A year after his arrival there, the factory was destroyed in an American bombing raid and he and two companions slipped away in the ensuing chaos, only to be recaptured 10 days later in the countryside near Munich. Ironically, they were betrayed by an Italian girl who befriended them but turned out to be a spy working for the Germans.

Vanzini wrote a book about his experience at Dachau
Vanzini wrote a book about
his experience at Dachau
The trio were sent to Buchenwald and initially were condemned to death by firing squad. Arguing that they fled the Ingolstadt factory for their own safety, they were spared death but only after being earmarked to work in the gas chambers at Dachau, where their grim duties included retrieving bodies for cremation.

Thankfully, the arrival of Allied troops at Dachau allowed Vanzini to return home. Once he had regained his health, he had a career as a bus or lorry driver and lived a quiet life, keeping his experiences to himself for 60 years before, in 2003, he began to share his stories. At first he held conferences in schools and public halls, later participating in a documentary film and eventually writing his book.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, in January, 2013 the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, presented him with the Medal of Honour.

Extraordinarily, given what he had been through, Vanzini has enjoyed a remarkably long and healthy life. He was still fit enough at 99 years of age to be granted a two-year extension to his driver’s licence and, having revealed in an interview his lifelong devotion to the Inter-Milan football team, was presented with a special club shirt on his 100th birthday.

The Visconti Castle at Fagnano Olona has stood guard over the town since Mediaeval times
The Visconti Castle at Fagnano Olona has stood
guard over the town since Mediaeval times
Travel tip:

Fagnano Olona, where Vanzini was born, is a town of 12,301 inhabitants about 19km (12 miles) south of the city of Varese. Originally a Roman settlement, it occupied a strategic position on the Olona river. A castle built there in the Middle Ages was fought for by both the Della Torre and Visconti families in the 13th century and the armies of France and Spain 200 years later. The town has a number of important religious buildings including the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Selva and the parish church of San Gaudenzio. The mediaeval Visconti Castle in Piazza Cavour, between the centre of the town and the Olona river, today houses the town hall.

The waterfront at modern-day Salò, which is a thriving resort on picturesque Lake Garda
The waterfront at modern-day Salò, which is a
thriving resort on picturesque Lake Garda
Travel tip:

For all its associations with Mussolini and his Nazi allies, the town of Salò on the banks of Lake Garda is an attractive resort known for having the longest promenade on the lake.  The main sights  in Salò are the Duomo di Santa Maria Annunziata, which was rebuilt in late Gothic style in the 15th century and the Palazzo della Magnifica Patria, which houses an exhibition of important historical documents. There is also MuSa, il Museo di Salò, which opened in 2015 in la Chiesa di Santa Giustina in Via Brunati, which has exhibitions about the history of the town, including its brief period as a republic.  Mussolini’s home during the brief life of the Republic of Salò is now the Grand Hotel Feltrinelli in Via Rimembranza in Gargnano, a short distance along the coast of the lake.

Also on this day:

1626: The consecration of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome

1630: The birth of Holy Roman Empress Eleonora Gonzaga

1804: The birth of general and statesman Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora

1849: The birth of builder and architect Stefano Cardu

1891: The birth of architect and designer Gio Ponti

1906: The birth of publisher Gianni Mazzocchi

1911: The birth of poet Attilio Bertolucci


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11 November 2024

Filippo Buonarroti – revolutionary conspirator

Writer paved the way for the 1848 revolutions in Europe

Filippo Buonarotti, whose writings inspired
social revolutionaries across Europe
Filippo Buonarroti, whose political writing inspired many other famous socialists, including Karl Marx, was born on this day in 1761 in Pisa.

Sometimes referred to as Philippe Buonarroti because he spent many years living in France, working to further the cause of the revolution there, the writer was born into a noble family. His father was a direct descendant of the brother of the artist Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Filippo Buonarroti studied Law at the University of Pisa, where he founded what was seen at the time as a subversive newspaper, the Gazetta Universale. It is thought that he joined a Masonic Lodge at about the same time.

Although he was kept under surveillance by the authorities in Italy, Buonarroti expressed support for the French Revolution when it broke out in 1789.

Buonarroti travelled to Corsica to spread the revolutionary message through a newspaper, Giornale Patriottico di Corsica, which was the first newspaper written in the Italian language that supported the French Revolution openly. There, he became a friend of the Buonaparte family, from which Napoleon originated.

After being expelled from Corsica in 1791, Buonarroti returned to Tuscany, where he was arrested and imprisoned.

But in 1793, he was able to travel to Paris, where Maximilien Robespierre, a central figure during the French Revolution, put him in charge of organising the expatriate Italian revolutionaries, from a base in Nice.

Maximilien Robespierre, with  whom Buonarotti worked in Paris
Maximilien Robespierre, with 
whom Buonarotti worked in Paris
Buonarroti denounced the Corsican patriot Filippo Pasquale de’ Paoli to the French authorities and was rewarded for his revolutionary activities with a special decree of French citizenship in 1793. He was also nominated as National Commissioner of Oneglia, a port in Liguria, in 1795.

But after Robespierre was imprisoned and later executed, Buonarroti was recalled to Paris and imprisoned. It was in prison that he met the journalist and revolutionary Gracchus Babeuf, and he became one of his most fervent co-conspirators. 

Buonarroti was rounded up with other Babeuf supporters in 1796. But although Babeuf himself was guillotined, Buonarroti was imprisoned on the French island of Oleron. He was allowed to go free after Napoleon Bonaparte took charge of the Government in France in 1799.

He then spent time in Geneva and Brussels, but returned to Paris after the second revolution broke out there in 1830. He died in Paris in 1837 and is buried in the Montmartre Cemetery. 

Filippo Buonarroti’s book, History of Babeuf’s Conspiracy of Equals, published in 1828, was seen as an essential textbook for revolutionaries. It put forward a strategy to revolutionise society in stages, from monarchy to liberalism, then moving towards radicalism, and finally to communism.

It has been claimed that the French political philosopher and activist Louis Auguste Blanqui learnt many of his tactics from Buonarroti.  Many revolutionaries in Europe also regarded his work as a cornerstone for their activities. In total, Buonarroti wrote six works about his revolutionary principles.

The Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin once praised Buonarroti as ‘the greatest conspirator of his age.’

The inner courtyard of the 15th century Palazzo  della Sapienza, the heart of the University of Pisa
The inner courtyard of the 15th century Palazzo
 della Sapienza, the heart of the University of Pisa
Travel tip:

Pisa, the town of Filippo Buonarotti’s birth, is famous the world over for its Leaning Tower, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy. Already tilting when it was completed in 1372 as the bell tower of the cathedral, it can be found in Piazza del Duomo, which is also known as Piazza dei Miracoli, in the centre of Pisa. The University of Pisa, where Buonarroti was a student, was founded in 1343, making it the tenth oldest in Italy. The university houses Europe’s oldest academic botanical garden. The main university buildings are in and around Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti, overlooking the River Arno, and they are a short walk away from the Leaning Tower. There is a school named after him in Pisa and streets commemorating him in Pisa, Livorno and Imperia.

The port area is one of the most  historic parts of Oneglia
The port area is one of the most 
historic parts of Oneglia
Travel tip:

Buonarroti was appointed by the French as National Commissioner of Oneglia, an Italian  town on the coast in the region of Liguria. Oneglia was joined to Porto Maurizio in 1923 by Mussolini to form the comune of Imperia. This area has become well known for cultivating flowers and olives and there is a Museum of the Olive in the part of the city that used to be Oneglia. One of Italy’s most famous olive oil producers and connoisseurs, Filippo Berio, was born in Oneglia in 1829.  The Porto Maurizio area of Imperia is characterised by steep, narrow streets and loggias with an elevated position offering views across the Ligurian Sea, while Oneglia is on the whole a modern town, one exception being the streets behind the Calata Cuneo in the port area.



Also on this day:

1696: The birth of composer and violinist Andrea Zani

1854: The birth of socialist activist Alessandro Mussolini

1869: The birth of future King Victor Emmanuel III

1932: The birth of sports presenter Germano Mosconi

1961: The birth of actor Luca Zingaretti


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28 October 2024

Ulisse Dini – mathematician and politician

Patriotic professor was proud to serve the new Kingdom of Italy

Ulisse Dini went to Paris to further his mathematical education
Ulisse Dini went to Paris to further
his mathematical education
The mathematician Ulisse Dini, who wrote many books and papers based on his research and came up with original theories that advanced the knowledge in his field, died on this day in 1918 in Pisa.

Now regarded as one of the 19th century's most important contributors to the evolution of mathematics, Dini was also active as a politician and was elected to Pisa city council before becoming a member of the parliament of the new Kingdom of Italy. 

His political views were shaped by the changing landscape of Italy while he was growing up, as the country moved closer to unification, and he was always keen to help his local area and his country.

Originally intending to become a teacher, Dini, who was born in Pisa in 1845 when the city was part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, attended the Scuola Superiore in Pisa, a teachers’ college, where one of his teachers was the mathematician, Enrico Betti.

However, in 1865, Dini received a scholarship that enabled him to go to Paris to further his mathematical studies, where he was taught by the French mathematicians, Charles Hermite and Joseph Bertrand. He produced seven mathematical publications based on the research he was able to do while living in Paris.

The following year he was appointed by the University of Pisa to teach algebra and geodesy, the science of measuring and representing the geometry, gravity, and spatial orientation of the earth in temporally varying 3D. 

Dini succeeded Betti as professor for analysis and geometry at the university in 1871. He was rettore - rector - of Pisa University from 1888 until 1890, and of the Scuola Superiore in Pisa from 1908 until his death. One of his students at Pisa University was the Italian mathematician, Luigi Bianchi.

Enrico Betti was  Dini's teacher
Enrico Betti was 
Dini's teacher
Professor Dini is particularly known for his contribution to the branch of mathematics known as real analysis, which studies the behaviours of real numbers, sequences and series of real numbers, and real functions. He collected his theories in his book, ‘Fondamenti per la teorica delle funzioni di variabili reali’, a collection of ideas that were entirely originated by himself. 

Despite his heavy academic workload, Dini had entered politics by the age of 25, when he was elected to the city council in Pisa.

When Dini was 13, the fight had begun to win back areas of the country from the Austrian occupying forces. Within a few years, forces representing the Kingdom of Sardinia had gained control of many areas in central Italy. Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia later assumed the title of King of Italy, and Giuseppe Garibaldi and his 1000 volunteers set out to unify the country, starting by invading Sicily. With his forces, Garibaldi gradually moved northwards up the peninsula and this led to the official proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Ulisse Dini is remembered by historians and writers as an upright, honest, and kind man, and for being devoted to the well-being of his city and country. He divided his time between teaching and research and public service, and in 1892 he became a senator in the Italian parliament. 

In the field of mathematical analysis, he is remembered for being the originator of Dini criterion and Implicit function theorem. He was considered one of the most important European mathematicians of the 19th century and he was elected as an honorary member of the London Mathematical Society.

After his death, Dini was buried in Pisa’s monumental cemetery, Campo Santo, on the northern edge of the Campo dei Miracoli. There is a statue commemorating his life in Via Ulisse Dini in the city’s historic centre. 

The 15th century Palazzo della Sapienza, built by the Medici family, remains the heart of the university
The 15th century Palazzo della Sapienza, built by
the Medici family, remains the heart of the university
Travel tip: 

The University of Pisa, founded in 1343, is one of the oldest in Italy and rivals Rome’s Sapienza University for the title of the country’s best. Various scholars place its origins in the 11th century, although those claims have never been verified. What is certain is that the papal seal “In Supremae dignitatis”, issued by Pope Clement VI on 3 September 1343, granted the Studium in Pisa the title of Studium Generale. At the outset in Pisa, lessons in Theology, Civil Law, Canon Law and Medicine were established. In its early years, the university struggled to survive at times, but investment from the Medici family in the 15th century saw the construction of the Palazzo della Sapienza, still the centre of the present-day university. Cosimo I de’ Medici instituted programmes to improve the quality of teaching and later Galileo Galilei, universally seen as the founder of modern science, was initially a student and then a teacher of Mathematics at the university. Today, Pisa has a student population of around 50,000, who give the city a vibrant cafe and bar scene.

The bronze statue of Ulisse  Dini was finished in 1927
The bronze statue of Ulisse 
Dini was finished in 1927
Travel tip: 

The bronze sculpture of Ulisse Dini in Via Ulisse Dini was created in 1927 by Leonardo Bistolfi, a sculptor from Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, whose work was praised for its likeness to the subject.  Via Ulisse Dini goes from Borgo Stretto to Piazza dei Cavalieri and Dini’s statue stands beside the Church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri. Once a stream flanked by wooden houses belonging to the city’s higher social classes, the street subsequently became a centre for forges and metalworkers’ workshops. Some of the stone arches lining the modern street date back to the 12th century.  Aside from the Campo dei Miracoli, the biggest attraction of which is the city’s world famous leaning bell tower, Pisa offers visitors a wealth of well-preserved Romanesque buildings, Gothic churches and Renaissance piazzas.





Also on this day:

312: The Battle of Ponte Milvio

1639: The death of composer Stefano Landi

1922: Mussolini’s Fascists march on Rome

1963: The birth of singer-songwriter Eros Ramazzotti

1973: The death of actor and illustrator Sergio Tòfano


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24 October 2024

Nicola Bombacci - revolutionary

Communist who eventually allied with Mussolini

Nicola Bombacci led the Italian Communist Party
Nicola Bombacci led the
Italian Communist Party
Nicola Bombacci, who was executed with Fascist leader Benito Mussolini after partisans intercepted their attempt to flee Italy in 1945, was born on this day in 1879 in Civitella di Romagna, a small town about 40 minutes by road from the city of Forlì in Emilia-Romagna. 

Although he ended his life as a political ally of the right-wing dictator, Bombacci’s roots were in Marxism. Indeed, he had been a founder-member in 1921 of the Italian Communist Party, alongside among others Antonio Gramsci, the left-wing intellectual who was subsequently arrested by Mussolini and sentenced to 20 years in jail.

He shifted his position during the 1930s, seeing fascism as a form of national socialism that could unify Italy. He embraced Mussolini's Italian Social Republic, the German puppet state in northern Italy created after the Nazis had freed the deposed dictator from house arrest in 1943, believing it to represent a blend of Marxist principles and fascist ideology that could still be a force for good.

Born little more than 20km (12 miles) from Mussolini’s home town of Predappio, Bombacci’s connections with the future dictator can be traced back to his early 20s, when they attended the same teacher training college in Forlimpopoli.

Both became members of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), their political beliefs so closely aligned that both were part of the revolutionary Massimalisti wing on the far left of the party.

Benito Mussolini shared Bombacci's  enthusiasm for left-wing politics
Benito Mussolini shared Bombacci's 
enthusiasm for left-wing politics
Their paths diverged when Mussolini began to lose faith in orthodox socialism, believing that national identity in the shape of culture, tradition, language and race had become as important as removing class divides in the kind of society he sought to create. 

In 1919 - the same year that Bombacci became Secretary of the PSI - Mussolini was hosting a rally in Milan that saw the establishment of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Italian Combat Group), which would evolve into the National Fascist Party two years later.

Bombacci led the PSI with notable success, winning 32.3 per cent of the vote in the 1919 general election, which made them the biggest party by votes and seats. 

However, he resigned his position only a year later, feeling his authority had been compromised when his proposed constitution of the Soviets in Italy was rejected. In the summer of 1920 he was among an Italian delegation that went to Soviet Russia, participating in the Second Congress of the Communist International, and in 1921 opted to join Gramsci and fellow Marxist Amadeo Bordiga in founding the Communist Party of Italy (PCd'I).

As support for Mussolini grew, opponents such as the Socialists and Communists increasingly became the target of violent attacks by Blackshirt thugs, no less so after his Fascist Party were handed power in 1922 following the March on Rome.

Gramsci’s arrest in 1926 followed two years after the murder of Giacomo Matteotti, 29-year-old founder and leader of the Unified Socialist Party, who had delivered a speech in parliament accusing Mussolini of winning the 1924 general election by fraud and intimidation.

Antonio Gramsci, Bombacci's fellow communist, was arrested and jailed
Antonio Gramsci, Bombacci's fellow
communist, was arrested and jailed
Yet despite these incidents, Bombacci remained on friendly terms with his former fellow Massimalista, believing that Mussolini shared his own objective of creating a better Italy for working people, even if their methods were at odds.

Expelled from the PCI in 1927 for taking a pro-fascist position, Bombacci responded by becoming openly fascist, although he never officially joined the National Fascist Party.  By the beginning of the 1940s, Bombacci’s position had shifted to the degree that he began publishing pamphlets warning the Italian population on the dangers of Bolshevism and attacking Stalin for betraying socialist values.

Mussolini in turn helped Bombacci by providing financial support for the care of his sick son, Wladimiro, and allowing him to found and edit a new magazine, La Verità, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, promoting views aligned to those of the regime.

Their relationship became stronger still after Mussolini, freed from captivity by Nazi paratroopers after being arrested on the orders of King Victor Emmanuel III 1943, was installed as leader of the Italian Social Republic, a puppet state established on territory controlled by the Germans in northern and central Italy.

Bombacci voluntarily travelled to the republic’s headquarters in Salò, on the shores of Lake Garda, where he became an advisor to Mussolini. He was the author of the economic theory of fascist socialisation, designed to put more power in the hands of workers through the state control of businesses and the means of production. 

The bodies of Bombacci (first left) and the others in Piazzale Loreto
The bodies of Bombacci (first left)
and the others in Piazzale Loreto
In speeches he delivered to Italian workers in Genoa in 1945, he proclaimed that "Stalin will never make socialism; rather Mussolini will."

It was not long, however, before the Allied advance from the south steadily forced the German army into retreat. Sensing that it was only a matter of time before the Italian Social Republic collapsed, Mussolini hatched a plan to escape to Switzerland. 

Along with Mussolini’s mistress, Claretta Petacci, Bombacci and other loyalists, including Achille Starace and Alessandro Pavolini, accompanied the former Duce in a car hoping to reach the Swiss border. They had been on the run for only a day, however, when Mussolini was recognised at a checkpoint set up by Italian partisans at Dongo on the shores of Lake Como and captured.

Two days later, Mussolini and the others were executed. Their bodies were taken to Milan and hung by their feet from a beam above a petrol station in Piazzale Loreto, symbolically chosen as it had been the scene of a massacre of Milanese citizens by Fascist militia a year earlier.

A view from Piazza Principale in Civitella di Romagna
A view from Piazza Principale
in Civitella di Romagna
Travel tip:

Nicola Bombacci was born in Civitella di Romagna, a charming small town in the province of Forlì-Cesena, about 30km (19 miles) southwest of Forlì and 40km (25 miles) southwest of Cesena. It is bisected by the Bidente river in an area of picturesque green hills. It has a well-preserved mediaeval centre with bastion walls as well as an ancient castle.  Civitella di Romagna is known for its annual cherry jam festival and hosts numerous markets throughout the year. The Santuario della Beata Vergine della Suasia, situated at the western end of the town, is a significant religious site dating back to the 18th century.

The waterfront at Salò, these days a pleasant and popular resort among visitors to Lake Garda
The waterfront at Salò, these days a pleasant and
popular resort among visitors to Lake Garda
Travel tip:

For all its regrettable association with such a despised figure as Mussolini, Salò has recovered to become a pleasant resort on the shore of Lake Garda, visited by many tourists each year. Its promenade, the Lungolago Zanardelli, is the longest of any of the lakeside towns and it has a Duomo, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunziata, that was rebuilt in Gothic style in the 15th century. The Museo di Salò commemorates, among other things, the resistance against Fascism. During his time as leader of the Italian Social Republic, Mussolini lived about 18km (11 miles) to the north of Salò in the Villa Feltrinelli at Gargnano, a sumptuous lakeside palazzo which he confiscated from the Feltrinelli family, who had built it at the end of the 19th century as a summer residence. 

Also on this day: 

51: The birth of Roman emperor Domitian

1784: The birth of philanthropist and businessman Sir Moses Montefiore

1913: The birth of baritone Tito Gobbi

1925: The birth of composer Luciano Berio


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