Edmondo De Amicis - writer and journalist

Author whose most famous work became a staple text in Italian schools

Edmondo De Amicis's first writing
drew on his service in the Italian Army

The writer, journalist and former soldier Edmondo De Amicis, famous as the author of Cuore, his imagined diary of a schoolboy in Turin, was born on this day in 1846 in Oneglia, now part of modern Imperia in Liguria.

Through its daily diary entries by the book’s central character, Enrico, interspersed with uplifting stories told by one of his teachers, Cuore - published for the first time in 1886 - came to be seen as something of a moral compass for young people growing up in post-unification Italy.

At a time when the newly-formed Italian State was keen to impose its authority over a Catholic Church that had vehemently opposed unification and still refused to recognise the new Kingdom of Italy, Cuore’s emphasis on values such as patriotism, compassion, diligence, and respect for authority, resonated deeply with the new secular government, reflecting exactly the moral and civic ideals it wished to be at the heart of society.

It became a staple in Italian public schools, remaining so for the best part of a century. Moreover, its appeal extended well beyond the borders of the fledgling Italian nation and was adapted and translated into at least 25 languages, earning De Amicis international acclaim.

Although Cuore - Heart - was by some way the biggest success of his literary career, De Amicis also won praise for the travel books he wrote while working as a foreign correspondent for the Rome newspaper La Nazione. 

One of these - Constantinople (1877) - was seen as the best description of the Turkish city now known as Istanbul to be published in the 19th century. A new edition of the book was published in 2005.

In addition to Cuore, De Amicis, who was a member of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies for the Italian Socialist Party between 1906 and his death in 1908, wrote a number of later novels that reflected his interest in such matters as social reform, education, and workers’ rights.

De Amicis himself had been born into a wealthy family. His father, Francescso, was a royal banker in the salt and tobacco sector. His original home in Oneglia and the one to which the family moved in Cuneo, Piedmont, when he was two years old, were both spacious and elegant properties.

Cuore became staple reading for
generations of Italian schoolchildren

Growing up in Cuneo, he initially looked destined for a military career. After studying at the Candellero military college in Turin, he enrolled at the Military Academy of Modena at age 16, graduating with the rank of second lieutenant.

This experience, shaped as it was by Italy’s turbulent path towards unification, profoundly influenced his destiny. As an officer in the Royal Italian Army, he participated in the Third War of Independence and fought in the Battle of Custoza in 1866. Italy’s defeat by Austria left De Amicis deeply disillusioned, leading him to resign from military service and turn to writing.

At first, it was as a military journalist, moving to Florence to edit L'Italia militare, the official publication, for whom he wrote military sketches, later collected in a book entitled La vita militare - Military Life. His vivid portrayals of army life were well received and became the launch pad for his new career. 

De Amicis soon became a news journalist and travel writer, journeying across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Travel books such as Spagna (1873), Olanda (1874), and the aforementioned Costantinopoli (1878) were celebrated for their rich descriptions and cultural insights, blending reportage with literary flair.

It was Cuore, however, that was the turning point of his literary life. Its themes promoted a strong sense of national identity, emphasising loyalty to Italy, respect for its institutions and admiration for its heroes, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice on the battlefield. 

The stories told by young Enrico’s teacher, meanwhile, taught virtues such as honesty, courage, humility and compassion, while often featuring children from different regions of Italy, reinforcing unity through shared values.

De Amicis entered Italian politics
towards the end of his life

The book caused some controversy, too, by making no reference to religion. The nuns, priests or other religious mentors that featured in other moral tales were conspicuous by their absence. This upset the Catholic Church, already reeling from the capture of the Papal States and Rome in 1870, which completed unification and reduced the pope to a mere spiritual leader, having previously been effectively the monarch of his domain.

De Amicis ultimately returned to Piedmont, with homes in Turin and Pinerolo. It was the school life of his sons Furio and Ugo, students at the Boncompagni Elementary School in Turin, that inspired him to write Cuore. 

His last years were overshadowed by sadness, at the death of his mother, his fractious relationship with his wife and ultimately the suicide of Furio, his eldest son. It prompted him to leave Turin soon after the turn of the century, thereafter leading a nomadic existence that included time in Florence and Catania, in Sicily.

He died during a stay in Bordighera, in Liguria, where he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage while resident at the then Hotel Regina, which he had chosen as his base because George MacDonald, a Scottish poet he admired, had lived there a few years earlier. The building, at Via Vittorio Veneto 34, has commemorative plaques to them both. 

De Amicis was laid to rest in the family tomb, in the monumental cemetery of Turin.

Piazza Dante is a the central square in the part 
of Imperia that makes up the former Oneglia

Travel tip:

Oneglia, where De Amicis was born, was a town about 120km (75 miles) from Genoa along the western coast of Liguria. It was joined to Porto Maurizio in 1923 by Fascist ruler Benito Mussolini to form the municipality known as Imperia. The 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 is characterised by steep, narrow streets and loggias with an elevated position offering views across the Ligurian Sea, while the Oneglia part of Imperia is on the whole a modern town, one exception being the streets behind the Calata Cuneo in the port area. Today, Imperia is part industrial port and part tourist resort.  What used to be Oneglia is at the eastern end of Imperia, around Piazza Dante, which is at the centre of a long shopping street, Via Aurelia.

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Picturesque side streets are part
of the charm of Bordighera

Travel tip:

Bordighera, where De Amicis died, is a small, picturesque town on Italy’s western Riviera, just 20km (12 miles) from Italy’s border with France. It is famous for its flower industry and was a popular holiday destination for the British during Queen Victoria’s reign. Being situated where the Maritime Alps meet the sea, it enjoys the benefit of a climate that invariably produces mild winters. It was the first town in Europe to grow date palms. Its seafront road, the Lungomare Argentina - named in honour of a visit to the town by Evita Peron in 1947 - is 2.3km (1.4 miles) long and is said to be the longest promenade on the Italian Riviera. Queen Margherita of Savoy - wife of Umberto I - had a winter palace, Villa Margherita, in the town.  Bordighera was the scene of a meeting in 1941 between Italy’s Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, and his Spanish counterpart, Francisco Franco, to discuss Spain’s entry to World War Two on the side of Italy and Germany, although in the end Spain remained nominally neutral.

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Maria Montessori and the launch of what became a worldwide network of schools

How the first free public school in Europe opened in Frascati, just outside Rome

A soldier-turned-writer who fought alongside unification hero Garibaldi

Also on this day:

1581: The birth of Baroque master Domenichino 

1898: The birth of Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta

1928: The birth of anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli, inspiration for Dario Fo play

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Stefano D’Arrigo – writer

Author’s greatest work took him 17 years to complete

Stefano d'Arrigo wrote a novel
considered a literary masterpiece

The Sicilian poet, writer, and art critic Stefano D’Arrigo, who once made a small appearance in a Pier Paolo Pasolini film, was born Fortunato Stefano D’Arrigo on this day in 1919 in Alì Terme, a comune of Messina.

He became famous for his novel, Horcynus Orca (Killer Whale) which was published in 1975 and was considered a masterpiece of 20th century Italian literature.

The action in the book takes place in the aftermath of World War II and follows the journey of a Sicilian fisherman as he returns home to his village after serving in the Italian Navy during the war.

The reader experiences the fisherman’s encounters with the transformed landscape and people and sees through his eyes the impact of war on the traditional ways of life in Sicily.

D’Arrigo left Alì Terme after completing elementary school when he was ten years old. He moved with his family to Milazzo, a municipality of Messina.

When war broke out, he attended the officer cadet course in Udine in the region of  Friuli-Venezia Giulia and was then assigned to Palermo. In the summer of 1943, he was transferred to Messina where he witnessed the clashes on the Strait of Messina between the Germans and the Allies.

While D’Arrigo was still serving in the army he graduated in Messina with a thesis on the German poet Friedrich Holderlin.

D’Arrigo moved to Rome in 1946 to work for newspapers such as La Tribuna del Popolo, Il Progresso d'Italia, and Il Giornale di Sicilia. As a newspaper writer and art critic he mixed with painters and sculptors in Rome and began writing poetry. He also met his future wife, Jutta Bruto, and married her in 1948.

A collection of 17 of his poems, Codice Siciliano, was first published in 1957, but was republished with additions by Mondadori in 1975.

D'Arrigo's 1257-page epic sold some
80,000 copies when published in 1975

D’Arrigo worked on Horcynus Orca from 1957 to 1975. The novel was 1257 pages long and, on its release, it immediately sold 80,000 copies. Subsequent paperback editions sold another 45,000 copies.

It addressed the theme of the wandering hero that has been present in literature from Homer’s Odyssey to James Joyce’s Ulysses. The novel also put such a focus on the culture and literature of the sea that some scientists suggested D’Arrigo should be awarded an honorary degree in oceanography.

His epic work took so long for him to finish that the title was changed along the way. Later, a first version was made available to readers under the earlier title, I fatti della fera, which was a shorter book but contained more of the writer’s original ‘Sicilianisms’.

D’Arrigo also wrote three other novels and a theatre script and he played the part of an examining magistrate in the 1961 film, Accatone, which was written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolino.

Stefano D’Arrigo died in Rome in May 1992.

The coast around  Alì Terme features many long
stretches of flat, pebbly beach

Travel tip:

Alì Terme is a tranquil town on Sicily’s northeastern Ionian coast, nestled between the sea and the Peloritani Mountains, about 20km south of Messina. It is best known for its thermal springs, which have been prized since ancient times for their therapeutic properties. The sulphur-rich waters feed several spas, including the renowned Terme di Alì.  The area features long pebble beaches and a relaxed promenade ideal for swimming, sunbathing and evening strolls. The Chiesa di San Rocco is the town's main church, dedicated to its patron saint, who was adopted several centuries ago after the discovery of a statue of him in a box on the beach. San Rocco is celebrated with a procession through the town on August 16. Alì Terme, a popular base for hikers as well as sun-seekers, has a station on the Messina-Catania railway line and is easily accessible via the A18 motorway.

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The Strait of Messina, at its narrowest just 3.1km
wide, separates Messina from the Italian mainland

Travel tip:

Messina is a city in the northeast of Sicily, separated from mainland Italy by the Strait of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island and is home to a large Greek-speaking community. The 12th century cathedral in Messina has a bell tower which houses one of the largest astronomical clocks in the world, built in 1933. Originally built by the Normans, the cathedral, which still contains the remains of King Conrad, ruler of Germany and Sicily in the 13th century, had to be almost entirely rebuilt following the earthquake in 1908, and again in 1943, after a fire triggered by Allied bombings. The city’s history stretches back to Greek colonists in the 8th century BC, while the Fountain of Orion in Piazza Duomo and the nearby church of the Annunziata dei Catalani reflect layers of Byzantine, Arab, and Baroque influence. As a university city, Messina has a youthful energy and many cultural events.

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More reading:

The prince whose novel became a classic of Sicilian literature

Sicily’s Nobel Prize-winning poet, known for his lyrical and existential verse

A novelist whose work focuses on Sicilian politics, Mafia influence and moral ambiguity

Also on this day:

70BC: The birth of the Roman poet Virgil

1764: The moment that inspired Edward Gibbon’s epic Roman history

1785: The birth of painter Giovanni Migliara

1905: The birth of footballer Angelo Schiavio

1964: The birth of astronaut Roberto Vittori

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Giovanni Comisso - writer

Novelist and journalist with distinctive literary voice

Giovanni Comisso spent much of his 
writing life travelling abroad

The writer Giovanni Comisso, one of Italy’s most distinctive literary voices of the 20th century, was born on this day in 1895 in Treviso in the Veneto region.

He was acclaimed for his novel Giorni di guerra - Days of War - which drew on his experiences serving as a telegraph engineer in the First World War. Comisso’s work won critical praise for being deeply attuned to the emotional and philosophical currents of his time.

For much of his life, Comisso led a peripatetic career as a journalist and art dealer, as well as a writer. He traveled extensively across Europe, North Africa, and the Far East, taking work as a correspondent for Italian newspapers such as Corriere della Sera and La Gazzetta del Popolo.  For a while, he lived in Paris with the Italian painter Filippo De Pisis, leading what he described as a “disorderly and frenetic” existence within the city’s bohemian postwar artistic community.

Comisso was born into a comfortable, middle-class household, the son of an agricultural merchant. He attended the Antonio Canova classical high school in Treviso but failed his final exams and signed up for military service, taking a telegraph engineering course in Florence. By that time he had met Arturo Martini, a Trevisan sculptor six years his senior, with whom he developed a strong friendship.  Martini helped him find a publisher for his first collection of poems, also painting his portrait for the cover.

In common with so many young Italian men, the course of Comisso's life abruptly changed with the outbreak of World War One. His service with the Telegraph Corps of Engineers took him to the front line in the war against Austria-Hungary. He took part in the Battle of Caporetto, a disastrous defeat for the Italians in November 1917, and the Battle of the Piave River in June 1918, a decisive victory that was probably the beginning of the end for Austria-Hungary.

Following the armistice, he was transferred to Fiume - the city that is now Rijeka in Croatia but to which Italy felt they had an historic claim. He was there in September, 1919, when a rebel army led by the Italian Army officer Gabriele D'Annunzio occupied the city in a response to what Italians perceived as the unfairness of post-war division of territory by their allies. 

Comisso deserted and joined the rebel troops, an experience that deepened his fascination with rebellion and individualism. The occupation was short-lived but Fiume subsequently became part of Italy under the 1924 Treaty of Rome.

Giorni di guerra, the novel that
drew on Comisso's war experience

While in Fiume, he enjoyed sailing in the Adriatic, which inspired his first novel, The Port of Love, published in 1924.

In the same year, Comisso completed the studies he had abandoned before WW1 and obtained a degree in law at the University of Siena. He never practised, instead combining travelling with writing, earning a living as a correspondent for a number of Italian newspapers and magazines. At different times, he ran a bookshop in Milan and was an art dealer in Paris. 

Among his varied experiences, his time aboard a sailing ship based in Chioggia, at the southern end of the Venetian Lagoon, led him to write Gente di Mare - Seafarers - which won him the Bagutta Prize in 1929.

In December of that year, as a special correspondent for Corriere della Sera, he made the Grand Tour of the Far East, visiting China, Japan, Siberia, and Russia, which he travelled across to reach Moscow. His trip lasted seven months. 

Back in Italy, he published his great wartime novel, Giorni di guerra, which initially caused him some problems with the Fascist regime, who were unhappy that it portrayed the Italian military in a raw, unheroic light. 

Comisso used the money he had earned from his newspaper work and literature to buy a house and some land in Zero Branco, a town in the Treviso area, about 14km (nine miles) to the southwest of the city.

He published books of his writings in Paris and the Far East, although his travelling was not finished. The Gazzetta del Popolo, based in Turin, sent him on a tour of the entire Italian peninsula, from which he reported his observations, and then to East Africa to document the birth of the new Fascist Empire.

Comisso's final home in the village of Santa Maria
del Rovere, on the outskirts of Treviso

World War Two had devastating consequences for Comisso, whose family home in Piazza Fiumicelli was destroyed when Treviso was bombed in April 1944, although his mother and her housekeeper had been evacuated to Zero Branco.  

Meanwhile, his companion, Guido, with whom he shared his own home, was arrested by the Fascists, then released on condition that he joined a combat unit of the new Italian Social Republic, from which he deserted only to be shot dead by partisans, who suspected him of spying.

Comisso’s writing continued to be honoured. He won the Viareggio Prize in 1952 with Capricci italiani - Italian whims - and the Strega Prize in 1955 with Un gatto attraversa la strada - A Cat Crosses the Road - two collections of short stories.

After the deaths of his mother and both Arturo Martini and Filippo De Pisis, Comisso left Zero Branco to rent an apartment in Treviso, but moved again, to a house in Santa Maria del Rovere, on the outskirts of Treviso, where he continued to write.

His final work, a collection of stories entitled Attraverso il tempo - Through Time - was published just a few months before his death, in hospital in Treviso, in January 1969.

Comisso’s writing, distinguished by its lyrical prose, existential undertones, and a tension between rootedness and escape, left an indelible mark on Italian literature.

The pretty Piazza dei Signori is the 
square at the heart of Treviso

Travel tip:

For many visitors to Italy, Treviso is no more than the name of the airport at which they might land en route to Venice, yet it is an attractive city worth visiting in its own right, rebuilt and faithfully restored after the damage suffered in two world wars. Canals are a feature of the urban landscape – not on the scale of Venice but significant nonetheless – and the Sile river blesses the city with another stretch of attractive waterway, lined with weeping willows. The arcaded streets have an air of refinement and prosperity and there are plenty of restaurants, as well as bars serving prosecco from a number of vineyards. The prime growing area for prosecco grapes in Valdobbiadene is only 40km (25 miles) away to the northeast. Treviso’s main sights include its historic squares, medieval walls, unique fountains, and art-filled museums.  Piazza dei Signori is the heart of Treviso’s historic centre, a 13th-century square lined with elegant cafés, boutiques, and civic buildings.  The city’s well-preserved walls date back to the 15th century and once protected the city. The Porta San Tomaso entrance to the city is a grand marble city gate from the 16th century, adorned with ornate carvings and the winged lion of Venice.

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The National Theatre in Rijeka, where the
architecture bears a heavy Italian influence

Travel tip:

Rijeka is a vibrant port city on Croatia’s northern Adriatic coast, yet between 1924 to 1947, it was known as Fiume and part of the Kingdom of Italy. During this period, Italian was the official language, and many public buildings, schools, and cultural institutions reflected Italian styles and values. Architecture flourished, with neoclassical and rationalist designs still visible today, especially in the city centre, while the Italian community thrived, contributing to Rijeka’s literary, musical, and culinary traditions. After World War II, the city was ceded to Yugoslavia, and many Italians left or were expelled. Yet traces of Italian heritage remain in street names and inscriptions, while many buildings still bear Italian influence.  The city’s dual identity is reflected in its cuisine, blending Mediterranean and Central European flavours.

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Also on this day: 

The minister who persuaded Italy to switch sides in WW1

A poet who drew inspiration from the landscapes of the Veneto

How Gabriele d’Annunzio influenced Mussolini

Also on this day:

1808: The birth of record-breaking Palio jockey Francesco Bianchini

1858: The birth of actress Eleonora Duse

1938: The birth of world champion boxer Alessando Mazzinghi

1941: The birth of bass-baritone star Ruggero Raimondi

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Gaetano Cozzi – historian and writer

Professor pursued academic research despite his disability

Gaetano Cozzi overcame disability to
become an expert on Venetian history

Historian, professor, and writer Gaetano Cozzi, who became an expert on the history of Venice and taught at both Venice and Padua Universities, was born on this day in 1922 in Zero Branco in the province of Treviso in the Veneto.

Although confined to a wheelchair for most of his adult life, Cozzi became famous internationally because of his research into the life of writer and statesman, Paolo Sarpi, and his own writing about the relationship between law and society in Italy.

Cozzi grew up in Legnano, a municipality of Milan, and went to military school. At the age of 20, he became a second lieutenant in the Alpine troops. While attending a training school in Parma he was kicked by a horse and suffered a leg wound. A vaccine injected into him to treat the wound caused a serious infection and although his condition stabilised after a few months he was left paralysed in his lower limbs.

He had to have frequent periods in hospital, but his medical treatment, rather than demoralising him, stimulated him intellectually. He began to take an interest in politics and came into contact with the Liberal Party in Italy. He contributed to the Resistance in 1943, while lying in his hospital bed, by writing for Italian newspapers that carried propaganda pieces. He later left the Liberal Party for the Radical party and then joined L'Unità Popolare, a short-lived Democratic and Liberal political party.

Despite being paralysed, Cozzi prepared to take his university exams and he graduated in History of Italian Law at the University of Milan in 1949. His thesis was about the writer Paolo Sarpi, and the relationship between the state and the church in Italy.

Cozzi moved to Venice to continue his research, even though life was difficult for him there because of his disability. He also found it difficult to find accommodation because of the large population in the city at the time. 

Paolo Sarpi, the Venetian writer on whose
work Cozzi became a leading authority

After the founding of the Institute for the History of Venetian Society and State, he was appointed its secretary in 1955.

His first book, about Nicolò Contarini, who was the Doge of Venice in 1630, had to be dictated by Cozzi to his mother in 1958 because his illness had once again forced him to lie in bed.

Cozzi was appointed to teach history at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature in Venice and while attending a meeting at the Giorgio Cini Foundation in 1960, he met Luisa Zille, an expert in philology, who he married in 1962 in Venice. He later collaborated with his wife to edit the Complete Works of Paolo Sarpi.

In 1966, Cozzi was appointed by the ancient University of Padua to teach medieval and modern history at their faculty of Political Sciences.

After returning to teach at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice in the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy in 1970, he fought for a degree course in history to be created there. 

Cozzi was a prolific writer about criminal justice and prisons in the Venetian Republic and he also wrote The History of Venice, published in two volumes in 1986 and 1992.

In 1987, he became a board member of the newly established, Treviso-based Benetton Foundation for Studies and Research.

All Cozzi’s writing and research had to be interspersed with long periods in hospital because of complications with his health. He suffered a further blow when his wife, Luisa, who was suffering from depression, took her own life in 1995.

Cozzi’s teaching career came to an end in 1998 with a ceremony at Ca’ Foscari, where he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus.

The historian died in 2001 in Venice at the age of 78. He was buried in the cemetery at Zero Branco next to his wife, Luisa. His gravestone bears the inscription: ‘Still together, always together.’

Casa Luisa e Gaetano Cozzi, just outside Zero
Branco, has a library housing the Cozzi archive

Travel tip:

Zero Branco is a comune - municipality - in the province of Treviso in the Veneto, located about 20km (12 miles) northwest of Venice and about 10km (6 miles) southwest of Treviso.  Casa Luisa e Gaetano Cozzi in Via Milan is now a cultural centre in the countryside outside Zero Branco, having been bequeathed to Fondazione Benetton in Gaetano Cozzi’s will. It is an eight-hectare complex consisting of a former farmhouse, rustic outbuildings, and agricultural land, which is used by the Benetton Foundation for agricultural research.  A library houses Cozzi’s documents and archives that are made available to scholars. Luisa’s Bechstein piano is preserved there and musical activities take place at Casa Cozzi in her memory.

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Porticoes and weeping willow trees line the
picturesque Canale Buranelli in pretty Treviso

Travel tip:

The pretty town of Treviso is 30km (19 miles) north of Venice. Visitors can stroll along by canals, but unlike Venice they are fringed by willow trees and adorned with the occasional water wheel and you won’t encounter large tour groups coming in the opposite direction. There are plenty of restaurants serving authentic cucina trevigiana and cucina veneta, but at more modest prices than you will find in Venice, and plenty of places to sample locally-produced Prosecco. Treviso is close to the so-called strada del prosecco, the road between Valdobbiadene and Conegliano, which is lined with wineries producing Prosecco DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata), the stamp of quality given to the best Italian wines. It takes only about ten minutes to walk from the railway station through the 16th century Venetian walls and along Via Roma, Corso del Popolo, and Via XX Settembre to Piazza dei Signori, at the centre of Treviso. From this central square, a short walk through Piazza San Vito leads to a picturesque part of Treviso, Canale Buranelli. You can walk alongside the canal under the porticoes of the houses and see the flower-decorated balconies on the ornate buildings on the other side. Nearby is Treviso's fish market - the  Pescheria, which is held daily on a very small island in the middle of the River Sile. Treviso’s Duomo, built in the 12th century but remodelled in the 15th, 16th, and 18th centuries, houses Titian’s Annunciation, painted in 1570, and frescoes painted by his arch rival, Pordenone.

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More reading:

Paolo Sarpi, the patriotic Venetian who the Pope wanted dead

Luciano Benetton, the entrepreneur who co-founded clothing brand

Why Treviso commemorates star tenor Mario del Monaco

Also on this day:

1616: Europe's first free public school opens in Frascati, near Rome

1881: The birth of car manufacturer Ettore Bugatti

1904: The birth of Umberto II, the last king of Italy

1919: The birth of cycling great Fausto Coppi

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Bernardo Accolti – poet and politician

Writer rose to become a duke but died in poverty

Bernardo Accolti became one of the most
popular love poets of the Renaissance

One of the most popular and well-known Italian love poets of the late Renaissance, Bernardo di Benedetto degli Accolti, was born on this day in 1458 in Arezzo In Tuscany.

Referred to as ‘Unico Aretino’ because of his noble origins and his ability to express himself in verse, Accolti lived at many of the Italian courts and had platonic relationships with some of the most important noblewomen of his time, including Lucrezia Borgia, Isabella d’Este and Elisabetta Gonzaga.

Although born into a noble family, Accolti always had ambitions to acquire more social status for himself, and he eventually managed to accumulate enough money to purchase a Duchy to rule over.

While he was growing up, Accolti had lived with his family in Florence, where he received a humanist education. After moving to Rome when he was a young man, he started writing poetry.

One of his most well-known works, which has survived to this day, is his comedy in verse, Virginia, which was based on a story from Boccaccio’s Decameron and was composed for a wedding in Siena.

But the poet was then exiled from Florence for reasons that are not known and so he returned to Rome, where he was given work as a writer of papal bulls by Pope Alexander VI.

After receiving a pardon by Florence, he returned to the city, but he was exiled again in 1497. Always loyal to the Medici, he was accused of financing the attempt made by Piero Il Fatuo to conquer the city.

Accolti had lent him 200 florins to carry out a plot against Girolamo Savanorala, who was then head of the Florentine Republic. The main conspirators were caught and beheaded and Accolti was exiled permanently.

The painter Raphael painted Accolti as
one of the figures in his Parnassus fresco

But after he returned to Rome, he found his popularity as a poet had grown and he was sought after by many of the Italian courts.

Accolti travelled to Milan, Mantua, Urbino, and Naples, where he would sing his own verses and accompany them on the lute, or lira da braccio, a Renaissance stringed instrument.

He had close relationships with many of the noble ladies he encountered, but it is thought his true love was revealed in his verses to Elisabetta Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino. He also dedicated two sonnets to Lucrezia Borgia, but there is no evidence that he was ever her lover.

After Giovanni de’ Medici became Pope Leo X in 1513, Accolti was given high office because of his previous loyalty to the Medici family.

The first printed editions of his works were published at this time, Virginia in 1512, and a few years later, a collection of his verses.

By then he had amassed enough wealth to buy the Duchy of Nepi from the Pope, an ancient city now in the province of Viterbo in Lazio. He moved into the fortress that had been built there by the Borgias and he built a new residential wing on to it with a motto over the entrance.

But he proved to be a poor administrator and sometimes took violent reprisals against people who opposed him in the Duchy. In 1523, there was a revolt against him by the locals but he managed to suppress it with the help of the Pope’s Swiss Guards.

After being expelled from Nepi three times, Accolti was unable to gather the funds to reconquer it for a fourth time.

Pope Paul III, who had been his protector until then, revoked his title of Duke, as he was intending to give the Duchy to his own illegitimate son. Nepi was later incorporated into the Duchy of Castro.

Accolti returned to Rome, poor and desperate He died there in February 1535, leaving two illegitimate children, Alfonso Maria and Virginia.

A definitive collection of his work was published in Venice by Nicolo d’Aristotele in 1530 and it was reprinted in the year of Accolti’s death.

In 1996, a full collection of his verses was published, which included 58 previously unpublished poems that had been kept in the Vatican archives.

Accolti appears as a character in some passages of Baldassare Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier, and he was a close friend of Pietro Aretino, who was also a poet from Arezzo.

The beautiful Piazza Grande in Arezzo, the sloping
square, paved in red brick, at the heart of the city

Travel tip:

Arezzo is one of the wealthiest cities in Tuscany. Despite its medieval centre suffering massive damage during the Second World War, targeted for its strategic importance on the Italian rail network, many monuments, churches and museums survived or were reconstructed. Its main sights include the Basilica di San Francesco, with its beautiful History of the True Cross fresco cycle by Piero della Francesca, the central Piazza Grande, with its sloping pavement in red brick, the Medici Fortress, the duomo and a Roman amphitheatre. The original duomo was built on the nearby Pionta Hill, over the burial place of Donatus of Arezzo, who was martyred in 363. In 1203 Pope Innocent III had the cathedral moved within the city's walls, to the current site in another elevated position a short walk from Piazza Grande.  The construction of the current structure started in 1278 and continued in phases until 1511, although the façade visible today, designed by Dante Viviani, was not completed until 1914, replacing one left unfinished in the 15th century.  The interior contains several notable artworks, including a relief by Donatello, entitled Baptism of Christ, and a cenotaph to Guido Tarlati, lord of Arezzo until 1327, said to be designed by Giotto, near to which is Piero della Francesca's Mary Magdalene.  

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The Rocca - or Castello Borgia - casts an imposing
shadow over the town of Nepi in northern Lazio

Travel tip:

Nepi, the town that Accolti acquired when he bought the Duchy of Nepi, can be found 50km (31 miles) north of Rome, about 20km (12.4 miles) from Lago Bracciano. It is in the area known as ancient Etruria, having been a pre-Roman settlement before the Romans arrived and established a stronghold in 383 BC and eventually conquered the entire region. Throughout the Renaissance era, it was the feudal domain of the noble families of Lazio and passed successively from the Orsini to the Colonna and then the Borgia. The Rocca - the 15th-century Borgia Castle that was once the property of Lucrezia Borgia - dominates the skyline making it an imposing presence.  Accolti's coat of arms was discovered in a residential extension of the castle, dating it between September 1521 and the beginning of 1535. A graceful monumental aqueduct looks Roman but was built in more recent history to carry spring water. Acqua di Nepi mineral water is bottled and distributed nationwide. The ancient Porta Roman was the main gate, and is still the primary entry to the historic centre. Other attractions include the Palazzo Comunale, a Renaissance style villa built by Sangallo the Younger for Duke Pier Luigi Farnese, which has in front of it a fountain presumed to have been the world of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. 

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Also on this day:

1522: The birth of naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi

1871: The birth of adventurer Scipione Borghese

1920: The birth of partisan Manrico Ducceschi 

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Alessandro Tassoni – poet

Writer famed for legendary bucket in a belfry

Alessandro Tassoni was a political
commentator and literary critic

The writer Alessandro Tassoni, who became famous for a poem about an historic battle which included a story about a stolen bucket, was born on this day in 1565 in Modena in Emilia-Romagna.

Tassoni’s bucket, which inspired his mock-heroic poem La secchia rapita (The Rape of the Bucket), is still on public display to this day in the belfry of Modena Cathedral.  

According to some critics, his poem was one of the earliest - and best - Italian poems of its type, and it became very popular in Italy and abroad. 

Tassoni, who also wrote about politics and was a literary critic, was born into a noble family. He lost both of his parents at an early age and was brought up by his grandfather. He first saw the bucket in Modena Cathedral when he was taken there by his grandfather.

At the age of 13, he was taught Latin and Greek and he went on to study philosophy, law, and rhetoric at the universities of Bologna, Pisa, and Ferrara.  

In 1597 he entered the service of Cardinal Ascanio Colonna and went with him to Spain as his first secretary. After his return to Italy, Tassoni went to live in Rome.

He wrote a booklet, le Filippiche, which he published in 1612 anonymously because it attacked the Spanish domination of certain parts of Italy and he was afraid of reprisals. 

But the work became famous enough to attract the attention of Charles Emanuel I Duke of Savoy and in 1618 he hired Tassoni to work for him in Turin and gave him the title of first secretary.

The bucket of Tassoni's famous epic poem today
hangs in the belfry of the Torre della Ghirlandina

Tassoni went to work for Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi in 1626 and then he served under Francesco I d’Este, Duke of Modena. 

The poet died in 1635 in his home town of Modena and a statue of him was later erected in front of the city’s Ghirlandina, the cathedral’s bell tower.

Tassoni is also remembered for his political writing and his works of literary criticism, such as Considerazioni sopra le rime del Petrarca, and Pensieri diversi, an encyclopaedia covering scientific, literary, historical, and philosophical topics, but he is mainly remembered for his satirical poem about the bucket.

La secchia rapita was written by Tassoni between 1614 and 1615 and it was first published in Paris. It couldn’t be published in Italy until Tassoni had modified it to make it comply with the censorship rules imposed by the Catholic Church. 

Tassoni paid to have the first Italian edition bearing his own name published, and the final edition was published in 1630. 

The story related by the poem was loosely based on a war fought between Modena and Bologna in 1325. Most of the events in the poem are fictional, and it refers to a battle that had, in reality, been fought 100 years before the war. But the poem relates what  purports to be an episode when the soldiers from Modena stole a bucket from their Bolognese enemies.

This exploit was not reported by historians from that period. However, a bucket that is claimed to have been the one stolen has been on display in the Torre della Ghirlandina in Modena from Tassoni’s time up to the present day.

In the poem, the theft of the bucket results in a war, in which the Olympian Gods take part, in the tradition of Homer’s Iliad. The war is only resolved when the Pope intervenes to bring it to an end.

The poem references contemporary events and people who were alive at the same time as the author, and its primary purpose was to entertain readers.

For the last 20 years, Tassoni has been remembered in Modena when the city gives out the annual Alessandro Tassoni Literary Award.

The Ducal Palace in Modena, designed by Luigi
Bartolomeo Avanzini, dates back to 1635

Travel tip:

Modena is a city on the south side of the Po Valley in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, known for its car industry, because Ferrari, De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani and Maserati have all been located there. The city is also well-known for its balsamic vinegar. Operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti and soprano Mirella Freni were both born in Modena. One of the main sights in Modena is the huge, Baroque Ducal Palace, begun by Francesco I on the site of a former castle in 1635. His architect, Luigi Bartolomeo Avanzini, created a home for him that few European princes could match at the time. In the Galleria Estense, on the upper floor of the Palazzo dei Musei in Modena, is a one-metre high bust of Francesco I d’Este, Duke of Modena, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Tassoni's statue

Travel tip:

The Cathedral of Modena and its bell tower, Torre della Ghirlandina, are both UNESCO World heritage sites. The tower stands more than 89 metres (292ft) tall and can be seen outside the city from all directions. Inside, there is the Sala della Secchia room, which has 15th century frescoes, and the tower also houses a copy of the oaken bucket, from the War of the Bucket referred to by Tassoni in his poem, which was fought between Modena and Bologna in 1325. The tower was built in 1179, with five floors, and was initially called Torre di San Geminiano. It was renamed after the top of the tower was decorated with two ghirlande - marble railings - during a later renovation. The statue of Alessandro Tassoni, which stands at the foot of the tower, was sculpted by Antonio Cavazza and erected in 1860.

Also on this day:

1871: The birth of soldier and politician Pietro Badoglio

1924: The birth of actor Marcello Mastroianni

1943: The death of 13-year-old partisan Filippo Illuminato

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Eugenio Montale - poet and translator

Influential writer was fourth Italian to be awarded Nobel Prize in Literature

Eugenio Montale became a
Nobel Prize winner in 1975

Eugenio Montale, who became one of the most influential Italian writers of the 20th century and was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975, died on this day in 1981 in Milan at the age of 84.

Montale's most famous work is often considered to be his first, a collection of poems he published in 1925 under the title Ossi di seppia - Cuttlefish Bones. These poems established his use of stark imagery, his introspective tone and his fascination with themes such as desolation, alienation and mortality, and the search for elusive meaning in a fragmented world.

Later collections such as Le occasioni (1939) - The Occasions - and La bufera e altro (1956) - The Storm and Other Things - reinforced his reputation as one of Italian literature’s 20th century greats.

Montale was born in 1896 in a building overlooking the botanical gardens of the University of Genoa, a short distance from the city’s Piazza Principe railway station. His father, Domenico, was the co-owner of a chemical products company.

As a young man, Montale was dogged by ill health but obtained a qualification in accountancy and for eight years had ambitions to be an opera singer under the tuition of the baritone, Ernesto Sivori. He never performed in public and after Sivori died in 1923 he did not pursue his studies, focussing more and more on literature, taking it upon himself to learn about Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and D'Annunzio in particular.

Eugenio Montale's first volume of poetry
established him as a great literary talent

Despite his frail health, he was passed fit for military service when Italy entered World War One and experienced frontline fighting in the area around Vallarsa and Rovereto. By the time he was discharged in 1920, he had risen to the rank of lieutenant.

Politically, he opposed Fascism to the extent of signing Benedetto Croce’s Manifesto of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals, yet after the fall of Mussolini he rejected both the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communists and, apart from a brief membership of the centre-left Partito d'Azione, steered clear of any involvement in politics.

He began publishing poetry in the 1920s, initially influenced by the works of poets such as Ezra Pound and TS Eliot, but also drawing on the inspiration he took from family holidays on the rugged Ligurian coast around the Cinque Terre and Rapallo. Montale often uses imagery drawn from the sea and the Mediterranean landscape to convey feelings of isolation and the fragility of existence.

In 1927, he moved to Florence, where he worked as a journalist and literary critic and mixed in the city's intellectual and artistic circles, attending literary gatherings of the café Le Giubbe Rosse, meeting Carlo Emilio Gadda, Tommaso Landolfi and Elio Vittorini among others.  He worked as an editor for the publisher Bemporad and later became the director of the Gabinetto Vieusseux Library, although he lost that position in 1938 because of his anti-Fascist views. 

From 1948 until his death, Montale lived in Milan. He became literary editor of the Corriere della Sera, dealing in particular with the Teatro alla Scala, and music critic for the Corriere d'informazione.

Montale was buried alongside his wife,
Drusilla, at cemetery outside Florence

Montale’s language skills enabled him to translate works by authors such as William Blake and Wallace Stevens into Italian, introducing these writers to a wider Italian audience. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975 as a recognition of his contributions to Italian poetry, joining Giosuè Carducci  (1904), Grazia Deledda (1926) and Luigi Pirandello (1934) as winners of the prestigious award. They would be followed by Dario Fo in 1997 and, posthumously, by Elsa Morante. Montale had earlier been made a senator for life.

In 1962, in Montereggi, near Fiesole, he had married Drusilla Tanzi, with whom he had been living since 1939. Sadly, after a fall that left her with a fractured femur, she died in October 1964 at the age of 77. He would reflect poignantly on her death in his 1966 collection, Xenia, written in a more personal style. 

In failing health, Montale himself died in Milan’s San Pio X clinic in 1981 a month before his 85th birthday.  A state funeral was held in Milan Cathedral and he was buried in the cemetery next to the church of San Felice a Ema, a suburb on the southern outskirts of Florence, next to his wife Drusilla. 

His archive is preserved at the University of Pavia, with which Montale had a long association and where his daughter, Bianca, was a professor.

The pretty fishing village of Boccadesse is only 
a short distance from the historic centre of Genoa

Travel tip:

The port city of Genoa (Genova), where Eugenio Montale was born, is the capital of the Liguria region. It has a rich blend of mediaeval history, Renaissance architecture, and a vibrant modern culture. Its strategic location has made it a centre of trade and commerce for centuries, with considerable wealth built on its shipyards and steelworks, but 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, which showcases a diverse array of marine life, from sharks and dolphins to jellyfish and seahorses. The picturesque fishing village of Boccadasse, just outside the historic centre, boasts pastel-coloured houses, a charming harbour, and authentic seafood restaurants.

Manarola, where houses cling to rugged cliffs, is
one of the five villages of the Cinque Terre

Travel tip:

The Cinque Terre, where Montale spent family holidays as a child, is a breathtaking part of the Italian Riviera renowned for its picturesque villages perched on cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is made up of five villages - Riomaggiore, known for its narrow alleys, charming shops, and stunning views; Manarola, which has a picturesque harbour and colourful houses clinging to the cliff; Vernazza, which has mediaeval castle and a sandy beach; Corniglia, which can be reached only by a steep staircase or a shuttle bus but offers stunning views of the surrounding coastline; and Monterosso al Mare, the largest of the five, which has a sandy beach and a historic centre.  The Cinque Terre National Park offers a network of hiking trails that connect the five villages, while boat tours offer the chance to explore the coastline from a different perspective. The Cinque Terre is known for Sciacchetrà, a sweet dessert wine made from dried grapes.

Also on this day:

1492: The birth of Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino

1937: The birth of actress Daniela Rocca

1943: Nazis paratroopers free Mussolini from imprisonment at mountain ski resort

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Matteo Strukul – writer

Author is published worldwide in 20 languages

Matteo Strukul's historical novels about the Medici
family have been best sellers in Italy

Writer and journalist Matteo Strukul, best known for his best-selling historical novels about the powerful Medici family, was born on this day in 1973 in Padua (Padova) in the Veneto region.

Strukul’s first novel was a dark thriller set in the Veneto, which was published in 2011 in Italian as La ballata di Mila. The novel was translated into English and issued in 2014 as The Ballad of Mila.

He then wrote four historical novels set in Florence between the 15th and 17th centuries following the rise of the house of Medici, which all became best sellers in Italy and have sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide. The first novel, I Medici, una dinastia al potere, was awarded the Premio Bancarella in 2017. This prestigious award has been won in the past by Ernest Hemingway, Boris Pasternak, Umberto Eco, and Ken Follett. The novel was published in English in 2019 as Medici Ascendancy. 

Strukul’s novels have now been translated into more than 20 different languages.

Matteo Strukul studied law at the University of Padua and went on to study for a PhD in European Contract Law at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

Strukul's first Medici novel
translated into English

He is an adjunct professor of interactive storytelling at Link Campus University in Rome and writes in the cultural section of the weekly magazine Il venerdi di Repubblica. 

Strukul, whose first published works were biographies of singer-songwriters, has also written Vlad, a comic book trilogy, for the publishers Feltrinelli, based on the historic character of Vlad the Impaler. This was the man that gave Bram Stoker the inspiration for the character of Count Dracula.  Strukul's latest novel, La crypta di Venezia, was published in April this year.

In 2018, Strukul was recognized as Excellent Paduan by the Municipality of Padua and won the Premio Emilio Salgari for adventure literature for the novel Giacomo Casanova - La sonata dei cuori infranti (Giacomo Casanova, the sonata of broken hearts). 

He is the creator and founder of the literary movement Sugarpulp and artistic director of the festival of the same name. On the Sugarpulp website he says his favourite wine is Raboso del Piave, which is said to be an austere wine with aromas reminiscent of morello cherry, wild blackberry and plum, but also cinnamon, leather, vanilla and pepper

Strukul, who now lives between Padua, Milan, and Berlin, celebrates his 51st birthday today.

The Palazzo Bo is the main building of the University
of Padua, Italy's second oldest university

Travel tip:

The University of Padova, where Matteo Strukul studied for his waw degree, was originally established in 1222 and is one of the oldest universities in the world - second in Italy only to the University of Bologna. The main university building is Palazzo del Bo in Via 8 Febbraio, which was named after the tavern known as Il Bo (‘the ox’ in Venetian dialect) that had been acquired by the university as new premises in 1493. Originally this building housed the university’s renowned medical faculty and visitors can see the pulpit that was used by Galileo Galilei when he taught at the university between 1592 and 1610 and the anatomy theatre built in 1594, which is the oldest surviving medical lecture theatre in the world today.  Padua is also known as the home of the Scrovegni Chapel, the inside of which is covered with frescoes by Giotto, an artistic genius who was the first to paint people with realistic facial expressions showing emotion.

 

Ca' Foscari, the historic home of the University of
Venice, sits at the widest bend of the Grand Canal

Travel tip:

Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, where Matteo Strukul studied for his PhD,  was founded in 1868. Its main campus is a large Gothic palace which looks out over the Grand Canal in Venice, but there are other sites belonging to the university elsewhere in Venice, and in Mestre and Treviso. Ca’ Foscari was originally built for the Doge Francesco Foscari in 1453 and was designed by the architect Bartolomeo Bon in Venetian Gothic style. During the annual historic Regatta in Venice, a wooden platform known as La Macchina is placed in front of Ca’Foscari, from which the Venetian authorities watch the race. It is also the place on the Grand Canal where the race finishes and is where the prizes are distributed. The University has made parts of the palace accessible to the public, opening some of its most beautiful rooms, such as the Aula Baratto and the Aula Berengo, to visitors.

Also on this day:

1474: The birth of poet Ludovico Ariosto

1504: Michelangelo's David unveiled

2014: The death of soprano Magda Olivero

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