Francesco Ferruccio - military leader

Florentine soldier celebrated in Italy’s national anthem 

Francesco Ferruccio's statue in the
courtyard of the Uffizi in Florence

Francesco Ferruccio, the military leader whose heroic attempt to defend Florence against the powerful army of the Holy Roman Empire is recalled in Italy’s national anthem, died on the battlefield on this day in 1530.

A Florentine by birth, Ferruccio had been charged with leading the army of the Republic of Florence as the city came under attack during the War of the League of Cognac, when the Pope Clement VII connived with the emperor Charles V to overthrow the republic and restore power in Florence to his own family, the Medici.

Despite being outnumbered, Ferruccio’s soldiers engaged the Imperial forces at Gavinana, just outside Florence, killed their leader and drove them back, only for the enemy to be reinforced by the arrival of 2,000 German mercenaries under the leadership of the condottiero, Fabrizio Maramaldo.

His army almost annihilated, Ferruccio was taken prisoner and, despite being wounded, was stabbed in the throat by Maramaldo and bled to death, an act considered against the code of chivalrous conduct that honourable soldiers were expected to observe.

It was seen as so cowardly that the word maramaldo entered the Italian language as a noun with the same meaning as villain, while maramaldesco is an adjective used to describe someone as ruthless or villainous.

More than 300 years later, Goffredo Mameli, the poet and patriot, recalled Ferruccio in the lyrics of a song, Il Canto degli Italiani, that would later be adopted as the national anthem of the united Italy.

Also known as Inno di Mameli - Mameli's Hymn - and by its opening line Fratelli d'Italia - Brothers of Italy - the song cites a number of heroic figures and historical events that Mameli considered inspirational, particularly in the Italian fight for independence, Ferruccio’s defence of Florence being one of them. 

Goffredo Mameli's anthem
made its debut in 1847

The reference to Ferruccio occurs in the penultimate verse of the full version, in the lines

ogn'uom di Ferruccio
ha il core, ha la mano

which is translated as 

Every man hath the heart
and hand of Ferruccio

Scipio Africanus, the Roman general who defeated Hannibal at the final battle of the Second Punic War in 201BC, and Balilla, the nickname of a boy who started a revolt against the Habsburg forces in Genoa in 1746, are also part of Mameli’s narrative, along with the Battle of Legnano in 1176 and the uprising of 1282 known as the Sicilian Vespers.

Francesco Ferruccio began his working life as a merchant’s clerk and then a city official in Florence but was attracted by the idea of being a soldier and trained under Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, the Medici condottiero who would die in battle in 1526, ironically fighting on behalf of Pope Clement VII.

Appointed military commissioner by the Florentine Republic, which had been re-established in 1527, Ferruccio began the defence of Florence against Imperial ambitions by recapturing Volterra, which had been occupied by an Imperial garrison.

After Empoli fell to Imperial forces and Florence came under siege, Ferruccio proposed a march on Rome, threatening to sack the city if Clement VII did not agree to a peaceful settlement that would allow Florence to retain its independence.

But this plan was rejected as the Republican leaders opted for a more conservative approach. Ferruccio grouped his forces in Pisa only to be laid low with a fever for a month, finally engaging with the enemy at Gavinana, about 50km (31 miles) northwest of Florence.

His army was successful initially, driving the Imperial troops back and killing their leader, Philibert de Chalon, Prince of Orange, but was repelled when Maramaldo’s mercenaries arrived.  Nine days after Ferruccio himself was killed by his cowardly rival, Florence surrendered.

Pistoia's octagonal Battistero di San Giovanni
in the Tuscan city's medieval centre

Travel tip:

Gavinina is a village a short distance from Pistoia, a pretty medieval walled city in Tuscany, about 40km (25 miles) northwest of Florence. The city developed a reputation for intrigue in the 13th century and assassinations in the narrow alleyways were common, using a tiny dagger called the pistole, made by the city’s ironworkers, who also specialised in manufacturing surgical instruments. At the centre of the town is the Piazza del Duomo, where the Cathedral of San Zeno, which has a silver altar, adjoins the octagonal Battistero di San Giovanni in Corte baptistery. On the same square is the 11th century Palazzo dei Vescovi.

The historic walled town of Volterra southwest
of Florence enjoys an elevated position

Travel tip:

The walled hilltop town of Volterra, some 65km (40 miles) southeast of Pisa and 52km (32 miles) southwest of Florence, is an enchanting place to visit which still has traces of its Etruscan history, including the city’s walls and the remains of an Etruscan Acropolis, and is much quieter than nearby San Gimignano, yet is just as appealing for its narrow medieval streets and its beautiful central square, Piazza del Priori. The Palazzo dei Priori, the town hall that stands over the square, contains medieval frescoes, while its bell tower offers expansive views.  The Guarnacci Etruscan Museum has a substantial collection of artifacts.

Also on this day:

1486: The birth of famed Roman courtesan, Imperia Cognati

1546: The death of architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger

1778: Milan’s opera house, Teatro alla Scala, is inaugurated

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Braccio da Montone – condottiero

Soldier of fortune briefly ruled Perugia

Braccio da Montone is considered
one of the greatest of all condottieri

Military leader Braccio da Montone, who is considered one of the greatest of the Italian condottieri who fought in the 14th and 15th centuries, died on this day in 1424.

He had a lifelong rivalry with another condottiero, Muzio Attendolo Sforza, and during the first quarter of the 15th century all the major Italian cities either hired Braccio or Sforza to carry out their military action.

The rapid movements of Braccio’s troops became legendary and he founded a military school, which became known as ‘the Braccesca’. This had a major impact on Italian warfare. Braccio’s men employed tactics such as speed, shock and the rapid rotation of small units on the battlefield.

Braccio was born Andrea Fortebraccio into a wealthy family in Perugia in 1368. He began his military career as a page, but after his family were exiled from Perugia and they lost the castle of Montone, he entered the company of the condottiero Alberico da Barbiano, which was where he first encountered Muzio Attendolo Sforza.

He fought for the Malatesta and Montefeltro families in Romagna and was injured during the siege of the castle of Fossombrone in 1391. In 1394 he was taken prisoner and held briefly in the Rocca of Umbertide, but he was released after a ransom was paid.

In 1398, Braccio was hired by Pope Boniface IX to fight in the war against Perugia. In 1406 he was fighting against Perugia again, along with other exiles who had joined his army and helped him ravage the Umbrian countryside. In 1407 the citizens of Rocca Contrada gave him the seigniory of the town in exchange for his support against the marquess of Fermo.

Braccio da Montone's great rival, 
Muzio Attendolo Sforza

The Antipope John XXIII assigned Braccio the fiefdom of Montone and the governorship of Bologna. He invaded and conquered most of Umbria with his sights set on the town of his birth, Perugia. At the battle of Sant’Egidio in 1416, his troops were victorious and Perugia was finally forced to open its gates to Braccio da Montone. Other Umbrian states then named him as their lord.

His conquest was legitimised by Pope Martin V in 1420, who granted him the title of papal vicar. He was then finally able to rule Perugia, the city that had exiled him and his family years before.

Braccio married Elisabetta Ermanni with whom he had three daughters. After her death in 1419, he married Niccolina Varano, who bore his first son, Carlo, in 1421. He later had a son out of wedlock, Oddo, who also became a condottiero.

In the 1420s, Braccio and Sforza found themselves on opposite sides again. Queen Joan II of Naples and King Alfonso V of Aragon were fighting against the Pope’s chosen ruler, Louis III of Anjou. Braccio was fighting for Queen Joan, who gave him the fiefdoms of Capua and Foggia, while Sforza headed the Angevin army.

The rival condottieri died within a few weeks of each other in 1424 during a campaign in Abruzzo. First Sforza drowned and then Braccio died a few days later after being wounded in the neck in battle against Sforza’s son, Francesco, who was to go on to become a famous condottiero and Duke of Milan.

The Pope had Braccio buried in unconsecrated ground because he had died while excommunicated, having chosen to fight for Queen Joan. But In 1432, Braccio’s nephew, Niccolò Fortebraccio, had his body moved to the Church of San Francesco al Prato in Perugia. After Braccio’s death, the ownership of Umbria reverted to the papacy.

From its hilltop location, Montone offers some
spectacular views of the surrounding countryside

Travel tip:

The village of Montone in Umbria, from which Braccio da Montone derived his name, is on top of a hill, about 40km (25 miles) from Perugia. Montone was named ‘uno dei 100 borghi piu belli d’Italia’, one of the 100 most beautiful villages in Italy. The Rocca di Braccio, Braccio’s castle, was restored after its destruction in 1478 by Pope Sixtus IV. The village was at the height of its splendour in the early part of the 15th century, when Braccio made it his fiefdom.

The Church of San Francesco al Prato,
where Braccio da Montone is buried

Travel tip:

The Church of San Francesco al Prato, where Braccio da Montone was finally laid to rest, is in Piazza San Francesco at the end of Via dei Priori in Perugia. It was founded by Franciscans in the 13th century and was built in the shape of the upper Basilica of St Francis in Assisi. It became known as ‘the Pantheon of Perugia’ because it received the remains of the city’s most famous people, whose families commissioned works from such great artists as Perugino, Pinturicchio and Raffaello.

Also on this day:

1412: The birth of Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua

1830: The birth of soldier and brigand Carmine Crocco

1898: The birth of shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo

(Picture credit: Montone view by trolvag; Church of San Francesco al Prato by Demincob via Wikimedia Commons)

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Carlo Filangieri - military general

Brilliant soldier who served several masters

Carlo Filangeri was known as a
brilliant military strategist

The military general Carlo Filangieri, who fought for both the Napoleonic and Bourbon leaders of Naples in the 19th century and is best known for his suppression of the Sicilian uprising of 1848, was born on this day in 1784 in Cava de’ Tirreni in Campania.

Filangieri was a key strategist for Joachim Murat, the flamboyant cavalry leader Napoleon had made King of Naples, achieving a major victory at personal cost in Murat’s ultimately failed campaign against Austria in 1815.

When Murat was defeated and the Bourbon monarch Ferdinand IV was reinstated as King of Naples, Filangieri was retained, going on to serve his successor, Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, under whose orders he put down the revolution of 1848.

Filangieri was from a noble family in Naples, the son of Gaetano Filangieri, a celebrated philosopher and jurist who had the title of Prince of Satriano, a town in Calabria, which Carlo would inherit.  His family were staying at the Villa Eva in Cava de’ Tirreni at the time of his birth, because it was felt his father’s poor health would benefit from living away from Naples.

From an early age he was keen to follow a military career and, after making the acquaintance in Milan of the commander of the French army in Italy, who was an admirer of his father’s work, he was introduced to Napoleon Bonaparte and given a place at military school in France. On graduating, he became a lieutenant and fought in the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1805, serving with distinction under General Louis-Nicolas Davout in the French victory against the Austrian and Russian Empires at the Battle of Austerlitz.

The Palazzo Ravaschieri di Satriano a Napoli, the palace,
 on the Naples waterfront that became Filangieri's home

The following year he returned to Italy, where he served under Jean-Andre Massena's command during his campaign against Bourbon Naples, and he would later become an adjutant to Murat when the latter became King of Naples. He lived in some style at the Palazzo Ravaschieri di Satriano a Napoli, on the then-prestigious Riviera di Chiaia, the long waterfront boulevard that stretches west from the Castel dell'Ovo.

On Murat’s behalf, Filangieri pulled off a brilliant victory over the Austrians at the Battle of the Panaro near Modena in northern Italy, although he was severely wounded in the process.  

The campaign ended in defeat for Murat and Naples returned to Bourbon control, initially under the leadership of Ferdinand IV of Naples, who assumed the title of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies when the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily merged in 1816.  Filangieri was retained in his rank but after siding with the Italian patriot and constitutionalist General Guglielmo Pepe in the uprisings of 1820 was dismissed from service.

He retired to his estates in Calabria but was persuaded to return by Ferdinand II in 1831. When more uprisings broke out in 1848, he advised the monarch to grant the constitution. However, this was put on hold again when Sicily seceded from Naples he was charged with regaining control of the island.

An 1830 painting shows Joachim Murat helping
the wounded Filangieri at the Battle of the Panaro

After severe fighting and sustained bombardment, he captured Messina, the city at the northeast tip of the island, closest to the mainland, after which he advanced south, laying siege to Catania. By May 1849, at a cost of considerable bloodshed, he had subdued the whole of Sicily, though not without much bloodshed.

He remained in Sicily until 1855. On the death of Ferdinand II in 1859, the new monarch Francis II appointed Filangieri as minister of war and president of the council. However, he soon resigned after Francis rejected another proposal to grant a popular constitution and to ally Naples with France and Piedmont against Austria. 

The following year, Francis at last promulgated the constitution, but by then Giuseppe Garibaldi’s forces were in Sicily and Naples was a cauldron of rebellion. Filangieri refused to fight against Garibaldi and was ordered to leave Naples. 

He initially went to Marseilles, moved for a time to Florence and eventually settled at his villa in San Giorgio a Cremano, in the foothills of Vesuvius, where he died in October 1867 at the age of 81.

The Borgo Scacciaventi is
part of Cava's main street

Travel tip:

Cava de’ Tirreni, where Filangieri was born, is a fascinating historical town just a few kilometres inland from Vietri sul Mare, the seaside resort at the southern end of the famed Amalfi Coast, occupying the valley between the cities of Salerno and Nocera Inferiore.  It takes its name from its first inhabitants, the Tyrrhenians, who were descended from the Etruscans. The focal point of the town is the long, porticoed Corso Umberto, which runs from one end of the centre to the other, eventually turning into the narrow, winding Borgo Scacciaventi, which was Cava’s 15th century shopping centre. With its nearby Benedictine Abbey, the Abbazia della Santissima Trinità, Cava de' Tirreni has been an important destination for travellers since the 17th century and was popular with poets and Grand Tourists in the 19th century.

The Villa Vannucchi, with its impressive gardens, is
one of the Ville Vesuviane in San Giorgio a Cremano

Travel tip:

Now a densely populated suburb of the Naples metropolis, San Giorgio a Cremano was a much different place in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was one of the five traditional towns that travellers would pass through as they made their way south along the Bay of Naples, along with Portici, Ercolano, Torre del Greco and Torre Annunziata. All five towns were then popular summer resorts and many wealthy and aristocratic families chose them for their holiday homes. The sumptuous summer residences they built became known as the Ville Vesuviane (Vesuvian Villas), a great number of which are still preserved in San Giorgio.

Also on this day:

1548: The birth of Doge of Venice Antonio Priuli

1922: The birth of journalist Antonio Ghirelli

1949: The birth of fashion designer Miuccia Prada

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Raimondo Montecuccoli – military commander

Brilliant tactician who outwitted his opponents

Raimondo Montecuccoli, depicted in this 1650
engraving, was a renowned military strategist

Raimondo, Count of Montecuccoli, a soldier, strategist and military reformer who served the Habsburgs with distinction during the Thirty Years’ War, was born on this day in 1609 in Pavullo nel Frignano, in what was then the Duchy of Modena and Reggio.

As well as being Count of Montecuccoli, Raimondo also became a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and the Duke of Melfi in the Kingdom of Naples.

He was born in the Castello di Montecuccolo and at the age of 16 began serving as a soldier under the command of his uncle, Count Ernest Montecuccoli, who was a general in the Austrian army.

After four years of active service in Germany and the Low Countries, Raimondo became a captain of infantry.

He was wounded at the storming of New Brandenburg and at the first Battle of Breitenfeld, where he was captured by Swedish soldiers.  After being wounded again at Lutzen in 1632 he was made a major in his uncle’s regiment. He then became a lieutenant–colonel of cavalry.

At the storming of Kaiserslautern in 1635 he led a brilliant charge and was rewarded by being made a colonel.

In 1639 he was taken prisoner by the Swedes during the Battle of Chemnitz and held for two and a half years, but he used the time during his captivity to study military science, geometry, history and architecture.

Montecuccoli returned to Italy in 1642 to fight
for Modena in the First War of Castro 

After returning to Italy in 1642, Raimondo commanded mercenaries loyal to the Duke of Modena during the First War of Castro.

He served in Hungary, Austria and Bohemia, winning himself the rank of General of Cavalry and his rearguard action at the battle of Zusmarshausen rescued the imperial forces from a disastrous defeat.

In 1657 Raimondo married Countess Margarethe de Dietrichstein. Soon afterwards he was ordered by the Emperor to take part in an expedition against the Swedes and the Cossacks. During this conflict he was promoted to commanding officer of the division.

Between 1661 and 1664 he defended Austria against the Turks and although he had inferior numbers he defeated them so comprehensively they agreed to a 20-year truce. He was hailed as the saviour of Christendom.

As president of the Hofkriegsrat - the supreme imperial war council - in 1668, Raimondo introduced a lighter musket and reduced the numbers of infantry pikemen while increasing the amount of soldiers armed with firearms.

When the Franco-Dutch war broke out he took command of the imperial forces against the armies of Louis XIV and in 1673 he completely outmanoeuvred his rival, the French commander Turenne, before capturing Bonn and joining his army with that of William III, the prince of Orange in what was to have been his last campaign before retiring.

Montecuccoli retired from the battlefield in 1676
and died four years later at the age of 71

However, the successes of Turenne in 1674 and 1675 as the conflict continued brought Raimondo out of retirement to fight against him in the Rhine valley. After Turenne was killed, Raimondo invaded Alsace and after winning the siege of Phillipsburg he retired from active service for good.

He spent his retirement working in military administration in Vienna. In 1679 he was made a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and he was awarded the Dukedom of Melfi by the King of Spain. Raimondo died in an accident in 1680, at the age of 71.

Raimondo Montecuccoli was considered to be a brilliant military theorist and his, Memorie della guerra, published in 1703, profoundly influenced warfare afterwards.  His most important work, Dell’arte militare has been reprinted many times.

In 1934 the Italian navy launched the Raimondo Montecuccoli, a light cruiser named in his honour, which served throughout World War II.

The Castello di Montecuccolo, where Montecuccoli was born
more than 400 years ago, can be found at Pavullo nel Frignano

Travel tip:

The Castello di Montecuccolo where Raimondo Montecuccoli was born, still stands in Pavullo nel Frignano, 42km (26 miles) south of Modena. It was built in the 11th century as a watchtower to protect the area and in the 12th century a fortified house was added to it. New buildings were added over the centuries and in the 15th century the Church of San Lorenzo was built at a lower level than the castle.

The facade of Modena's Duomo, in the
city's central Piazza Grande

Travel tip:

The Duchy of Modena and Reggio was an Italian state from 1452 to 1858. The Ducal Palace in Modena, which was built in the 17th century but not completed until the reign of Francis V in the 19th century, now houses a military museum and library. Modena has become famous for the production of sports cars, including Ferrari and Lamborghini, for its balsamic vinegar and as the birthplace of opera singers Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni.

More reading:

Footballer Luca Toni - Pavullo nel Frignano's other favourite son

The Modena news vendor who founded the Panini football stickers empire

How Luciano Pavarotti became one of opera history's greatest tenors

Also on this day:

1513: The death of the pope who commissioned Michelangelo for the Sistine Chapel 

1817: The birth of chocolatier Domenico Ghirardelli

1868: The death of painter and revolutionary Giuseppe Abbati

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Prince Emanuele Filiberto – Duke of Aosta

Savoy prince who became a brilliant soldier

Emanuele Filiberto was a brilliant soldier
who became known as the 'Undefeated Duke'

Prince Emanuele Filiberto, who became the second Duca d'Aosta - Duke of Aosta - was born on this day in 1869 in Genoa.

The Prince successfully commanded the Italian Third Army during World War I, earning himself the title of the ‘Undefeated Duke.’ After the war he became a Marshall of Italy.

Emanuele Filiberto was the eldest son of Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duca d'Aosta, and his first wife, Donna Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo della Cisterna, an Italian noblewoman.

In 1870 Prince Amedeo was elected to become King of Spain but he resigned after three years on the throne and returned to Italy, declaring Spain ‘ungovernable’. In 1890 Emanuele Filiberto succeeded his father to the title of Duca d'Aosta.

The Duke began his army career in Naples in 1905 as a Commander. His record while in command of the Italian Third Army led to his troops being nicknamed ‘armata invitta’ - undefeated army - despite some of the heavy losses suffered by Italian troops under other commanders during World War I.

After the war, in 1926, he was promoted to the rank of Marshal of Italy by Benito Mussolini in recognition of his long and successful service to his country.

Emanuele Filiberto was married to the
beautiful Princess Hélène of Orléans

In 1895 the Duke had married Princess Hélène of Orléans, a daughter of Prince Philippe of Orleans and the Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain.

Princess Hélène was a member of the deposed Orléans Royal family of France. Her hand in marriage had previously been sought by heirs to the thrones of both the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire but neither alliance took place.

Hélène was born in exile in Twickenham in England and spent many years living in England and Scotland.

Considered a great beauty at the time, her parents had hopes that she would marry an heir to a throne.

There was too much opposition to her marrying the eldest son of Edward VII, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, because Hélène was a Catholic. The Duke of Clarence was said to be very much in love with her and never got over it.

She was also suggested as a bride for Tsar Nicolas II, but he did not pursue his parents’ choice of Hélène as a bride because he was already in love with someone else.

The marriage between Hélène and Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, second Duke of Aosta, took place at the Church of Saint Raphael in Kingston upon Thames, at a time when the Duke was second in line to the Italian throne. The wedding was attended by Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel of Italy and members of the British Royal family.

Emanuele Filiberto with his eldest son,
Amedeo, in their military uniforms

The couple had two sons, Amedeo, third Duke of Aosta, who married Princess Anne of Orléans, and Aimone, fourth Duke of Aosta, who married Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark and reigned as King Tomislav II of Croatia from 1900 to 1948.

During World War I, Hélène, who had trained as a nurse, became head of the Italian Red Cross nurses and spent much of her time near the front line. She is remembered for improving sanitary conditions in military hospitals.

She was awarded the Italian Silver Medal for Bravery and also received awards from other countries. Her wartime diary was later published, with an introduction written by Mussolini, and sold in aid of the Italian Red Cross.

Prince Emanuele Filiberto died in 1931 in Turin and was buried, according to instructions in his will, in the military cemetery of Redipuglia, together with thousands of other soldiers from the Italian Third army.

Among the many Italian honours and decorations he received was the Gold Medal of Military Valour, awarded in 1937. He was also made a Knight of the Order of the Garter by the English King, Edward VII in 1902.

His wife, Hélène, remarried to Colonel Otto Campini in 1936.

The Ponte Duca d'Aosta, which spans the Tiber in
Rome, was constructed in 1942

Travel tip:

The Duke of Aosta Bridge in Rome, built in 1942 to a design by Vincenzo Fasolo, was named after Prince Emanuele Filiberto. It connects the area of Lungotevere Flaminio with the area around the Foro Italico, then known as the Foro Mussolini.  The bridge has a bas relief by Ercole Drei has scenes on battles on the rivers Tagliamento, Isonzo, Sile and Piave and other episodes from the First World War.

The vast memorial at the Redipuglia cemetery. The remains of
Prince Emanuele Filiberto are buried in the sepulchre (right)

Travel tip:

The Redipuglia military cemetery, where Prince Emanuele Filiberto was buried among his men in line with instructions left in his will, is located on the Karst Plateau near the village of Fogliano Redipuglia, in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. It consists of a vast memorial, the largest war memorial in Italy and one of the largest in the world, housing the remains of 100,187 Italian soldiers killed between 1915 and 1917 in the eleven battles fought on the Karst and Isonzo front. It was built between 1935 and 1938 on Monte Sei Busi, one of the rocky hills of the Karst Plateau for which a bitter battle for possession was fought during the early stages of the Isonzo campaign.  At the base of the memorial, seven sepulchres contain the remains of Prince Emanuele Filiberto and six other generals killed in action.

Also on this day:

1898: The birth of opera star Carlo Tagliabue

1936: The birth of operatic baritone Renato Bruson

1950: The birth of actress and author Veronica De Laurentiis

1970: The birth of tragic cycling star Marco Pantani


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Battle of Ortona

Adriatic port liberated by Canadians at huge cost

The Battle of Ortona was characterised by close-quarter
fighting among the ruins of destroyed buildings

Canadian troops fighting with the Allies liberated the Adriatic port of Ortona from the Germans on this day in 1943 after one of the bloodiest battles of the Italian Campaign.

The Battle of Ortona and other confrontations close to the nearby Moro river, which encompassed the whole Christmas period, claimed almost 2,400 lives.  It was characterised by brutal close-quarters fighting and is sometimes known as “the Italian Stalingrad”, partly because of the high number of casualties but also because of the backcloth of destroyed buildings and rubble.

Although the battalions of German paratroopers holding the strategic port were defeated, casualties on the Canadian side were greater, with 1,375 soldiers from the Canadian 1st Infantry Division killed and 964 wounded, against 867 Germans killed.  In addition, more than 1,300 civilians died.

The Canadian deaths amounted to more than a quarter of their entire losses in the whole of the Italian Campaign, which spanned 22 months as Allied forces fought their way up the peninsula.

Ortona, in the Abruzzo region, had some strategic importance as one of the few usable deep water ports on the Adriatic coast and its capture would enable the Allies to dock supply ships as they sought to detain Adolf Hitler’s forces in a long campaign while preparations were under way for the D-Day invasion of the following year.

Fighting among the rubble
lasted for eight days

From the German point of view the town was a key position in the Gustav Line, part of a network of defensive lines stretching coast to coast across the peninsula, designed to halt Allied progress.

When the initial attack on the town took place near the Moro river south of Ortona on December 20, Allied commanders under Major General Chris Vokes are said to have expected it to be a relatively minor battle.

But Hitler had ordered his troops to defend Ortona with their lives and they prepared by blocking all but the main street of the town with piles of rubble, among which they set booby traps and placed machine-gun and anti-tank emplacements in concealed positions.   It meant that progress for the invading infantry and armoured vehicles was extremely difficult.

As a response, the Canadians deployed a tactic that became known as “mouse-holing”, by which they advanced through entire blocks of buildings by blowing holes in external and internal walls, clearing their path with machine gun fire and grenades.

Although the tactic sometimes resulted in heavy Canadian casualties, it worked inasmuch as they were able to drive the enemy back through the town without exposing themselves to ambush on the open streets.

Soldiers enjoyed a Christmas dinner in the courtyard
of the ruined church of Santa Maria di Constantinopoli

Christmas celebrations still took place even amid the carnage of battle.  On December 25, groups of soldiers from the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada apparently took turns to go the bombed-out church at Santa Maria di Constantinopoli, several blocks away from the fighting, for Christmas dinner. Thanks to their own supplies and the help of local people, they were somehow able to feast on roast pork, apple sauce, cauliflower, mashed potatoes and gravy, washed down with wine and beer, followed by chocolate, oranges, nuts, and cigarettes, as an organist played Silent Night.

For some, it would be a last meal.  The following day, in particular, would be a bloody one, with 22 Canadians killed in one incident when a German booby trap caused a building to collapse, although the Canadians responded by killing around 50 Germans in a near-identical revenge attack.

On the evening of December 27, aware that the Allied forces on the ground were to be joined by airborne support the day after, the German commanders were ordered to save their remaining troops and withdraw.  The Canadian soldiers claimed control of the town the following morning.

Although the operation was a success, as part of a month that would be remembered as "Bloody December" by Canadian forces it has been judged in history as a victory achieved at a heavy cost. Some historians minimise the significance of the battle because it could not be said to have been a major factor in winning the war.

The Price of Peace memorial in the Piazza
Plebiscito in the centre of Ortona

In 1999, a monument entitled The Price of Peace was unveiled in Piazza Plebiscito in Ortona. The memorial had been commissioned by a group of Canadian Veterans following a reunion in the town in 1998. It was designed by the Canadian artist Rob Surette.

In November 2000, the Canadian government erected a plaque in the same location in recognition of the battle as a National Historic Event of Canada that "symbolised the efforts of the Canadian Army in the Italian Campaign during World War II" and praised the “extraordinary courage” of the soldiers who took part.

The restored Castello Aragonese is one of the main
sights in the Adriatic port of Ortona

Travel tip:

Ortona, which can be found about 22km (14 miles) south of Pescara along the Adriatic coast and about 26km (16 miles) east of the provincial capital Chieti, is dominated by a huge 15th century Aragonese castle, a legacy of another major battle when Ortona came under heavy attack by the Venetian navy in 1447. The castle has been renovated and visitors can reach it by walking along the Passegiatta Orientale, which looks out over the coastline. Ortona’s Cathedral of Saint Thomas contains remains of Saint Thomas the Apostle, which were brought to Ortona by sea in the 13th century more than 1,200 years after his death in India.  The town also has a museum dedicated to the 1943 battle.

The Moro River Canadian War Cemetery contains the graves
of 1,615 soldiers, mainly killed in the Battle of Ortona

Travel tip:

The Moro River Canadian War Cemetery can be found at San Donato, about 5km (3 miles) south of Ortona.  The site was selected by the Canadian corps of the Allied forces in January 1944, in the weeks following the bloody Battle of Ortona, intending that it would contain the graves of those who died during the Ortona battle and in the fighting in the vicinity in the weeks before and after. Of the 1,615 graves in the cemetery, more than 50 are unidentified.

Also on this day:

1503: The death of Medici ruler Piero the Unfortunate

1850: The birth of operatic tenor Francesco Tamagno

1908: Messina and Reggio Calabria hit by Italy's worst earthquake

1947: The death of King Victor Emmanuel III


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Alessandro Farnese – Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro

Duke was a brilliant strategist and diplomat

Otto van Veen's 16th century
portrait of Alessandro Farnese

The outstanding military leader, Alessandro Farnese, was born on this day in 1545 in Rome.

As regent of the Netherlands on behalf of Philip II of Spain between 1578 and 1592, Alessandro restored Spanish rule and ensured the continuation of Roman Catholicism there, a great achievement and testimony to his skill as a strategist and diplomat.

However, his brilliant military career gave him no time to rule Parma, Piacenza and Castro when he succeeded to the Dukedom.

Alessandro was the son of Duke Ottavio Farnese of Parma and Margaret, the illegitimate daughter of the King of Spain and Hapsburg Emperor, Charles V.

Ottavio, was the grandson of Pope Paul III, a Farnese who had set up the papal states of Parma, Piacenza and Castro as a duchy in order to award them to his illegitimate son, Pier Luigi. Ottavio became Duke in 1551 after his father, Pier Luigi,was murdered.

Alessandro had a twin brother, Charles, who died after one month. He was sent to live in the court of Philip II as a young child as a guarantee of Ottavio’s loyalty to the Habsburgs. He lived with Philip II first in the Netherlands and then in Madrid.

Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli's 1556 painting
entitled Parma embraces Alessandro Farnese

In 1565 he returned to the Netherlands, where his mother, Margaret had been regent for six years. In 1565, at the age of 20, he was married to Infanta Maria of Portugal.

Alessandro was sent to help his cousin, Don John, who was trying to deal with the revolt against Spanish rule in the Netherlands, in 1577.

Because of Alessandro’s decisive strategy they won the Battle of Gembloux in 1578. After Don John’s death, Philip II appointed Alessandro to take his place as Captain General of the Army and Governor General of the Netherlands.

By exploiting the divisions between Protestants and Catholics, Alessandro regained the allegiance of part of the Netherlands to the King of Spain. The towns in the north pledged to fight on but Alessandro laid siege to them one by one, offering generous terms for surrender rather than carrying out massacres and looting, and gradually brought them back to the Catholic Church.

He won back Antwerp with an act of military genius by constructing a bridge of boats to cut off all access to the seaport. He gave Protestants four years to leave the city and defeated the English troops sent over to fight against him by Elizabeth I.

In 1586 when his father died, Alessandro became Duke of Parma but he named his son, Ranuccio, as his regent to rule on his behalf. Philip II could not even spare him to visit his Duchy.

Ranuccio - pictured here by Titian as a 12-year-old
boy - was sent to rule Parma on his father's behalf

Alessandro wanted to use his army to invade England and stir up a Catholic insurrection against Elizabeth but Philip would not sanction this and made plans to send over the Spanish Armada instead.

The plan was for Alessandro’s troops to cross the channel in barges protected by the Armada, but the English attack on the Armada in 1588 made this impossible.

In 1589 Henry III of France was assassinated and Alessandro was ordered into France to support Catholic opposition to the Protestant Henry IV. He was wounded in the hand during the siege of Caudebec and had to withdraw to Flanders.

With his health declining, Alessandro sent for his son Ranuccio to take over command of his troops. He died in Arras in 1592, aged 47.

Prosciutto di Parma is one of a number of food items for
which the city in Emilia-Romagna is famous

Travel tip:

Parma is an historic city in the Emilia-Romagna region, famous for its ham (Prosciutto di Parma) and cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano), the true ‘parmesan’. The city was given as a duchy to Pier Luigi Farnese, the illegitimate son of Pope Paul III, and his descendants ruled Parma till 1731. The composer, Verdi, was born near Parma at Bussetto and the city has a prestigious opera house, the Teatro Regio.

Francesco Mochi's bronze statute of
Alessandro Farnese in Piacenza

Travel tip:

Piacenza is about 75 km (46 miles) to the north east of Parma in Emilia-Romagna.  The main square in Piacenza is named Piazza Cavalli because of its two bronze equestrian monuments featuring Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma and his son Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma, who succeeded him. The statues are masterpieces by the sculptor Francesco Mochi. Castro is a fortified city on a cliff, near the border between Tuscany and Lazio and was also given to Pier Luigi Farnese by Pope Paul III. The Duchy stretched from the Tyrrhenian Sea to Lago di Bolsena. Ranuccio II Farnese, the last Duke of Castro, was forced to cede the land back to Pope Innocent X. The present day comune, Ischia di Castro, in the province of Viterbo, takes its name from the ancient city of Castro destroyed by papal forces. Ischia di Castro still has a Ducal Palace, where members of the Farnese family used to live.

More reading:

How Ranuccio II's feuding with the Popes led to the downfall of a city

The Royal jeweller descended from the Farnese dynasty

The musician encouraged by a Farnese duke

Also on this day:

410: Rome is sacked by the Visigoths

1576: The death of Renaissance master Titian

1707: The birth of Zanetta Farussi, the actress and mother of Casanova


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The Arab conquest of Sicily

A painting depicting a ninth century Arab ship
of the kind that would have invaded Sicily

Fall of Taormina put island in Muslim control

The Arab conquest of Sicily, which began in 827, was completed on this day in 902 with the fall of Taormina, the city in the northeast of the island that was the last stronghold of the Byzantine Empire, which had been in control for more than 350 years.

The island had been coveted by powers around the Mediterranean for centuries and raids by Saracens, as the Muslim Arabs from Roman Arabia became known, had been taking place since the mid-7th century without threatening to make substantial territorial gains.

However, in 827 the commander of the island's fleet, Euphemius, led a revolt against Michael II, the Byzantine Emperor, and when he and his supporters were at first driven from the island by forces loyal to Michael II, he turned to the Aghlabids, the rulers of Ifriqiya, the area of north Africa now known as Tunisia, for help.

The Aghlabids saw this as a strategic opportunity too good to miss and, with Euphemius’s forces to supplement their own, completed a successful landing on the southern coast and began to establish fortresses.

Gustave Léon Schlumberger's 1890 illustration
of the Saracen army on the move in Sicily 

An attempt to capture Syracuse, which was then the capital, was beaten back, but when they turned their attention to Palermo it was a different story. With reinforcements from the Muslim area of southern Spain they captured the western city in 831 and made it the capital of a new Muslim province on the island.

Over the next three decades, they were able to claim more and more parts of the island, taking advantage of the Byzantine preoccupation with defending other frontiers from Arab attack.  They took the important stronghold of Enna in the centre of the island in 859 and made a successful second assault on Syracuse, which fell in 878 following a long siege.  Byzantine resistance held onto territories in the northwest for the next two decades, while the effectiveness of the invaders was undermined by a conflict between rival Muslim groups.

After the rebel Muslims had been suppressed, however, territorial advances gathered pace again and in 902 the Aghlabid leader, Emir Ibrahim II, laid siege to Taormina and claimed victory on August 1, after which the remaining Byzantine fortresses quickly capitulated.

Sicily then enjoyed a period of prosperity lasting 250 years, during which time a population of Christians and Muslims brought about important cultural, economic and social reforms, until the island was captured again in 1061, this time by the Norman invaders from northern Europe.

Arab rule in Sicily actually changed hands three times as the Aghlabid, the Fatimid, and then the Kalbid dynasties assumed control. In 948 Hassan al-Kalbi declared himself Emir of Sicily.

The Church of San Cataldo in Palermo is an example
of the fusion of architectural stars

Although there are a number of pockets of Muslim populations in Sicily today, there are few physical remnants of Arab rule. Few Arabic buildings remain, although the Normans used Arabic architects on a number of projects, as is evidenced by the red domes of the Church of San Cataldo and the Saracen arches in the Cappella Palatina.

But the legacy of the period is visible on the map in the form of Val di Mazara, Val di Noto and Val di Demone, three areas of Sicily that reflect the names three administrative districts into which the Arab rulers divided the island. Val is thought to derive from the Arabic word wilayah, meaning province, rather than the Italian word for valley.

Some place names have Arabic roots also, such as the many towns and villages whose names begin with calta, meaning castle, such as the central town of Caltanissetta, or which include gibil, meaning mountain, as in Mongibello, which is an alternative name for Mount Etna.

And Sicilian cuisine owes much to the Arabs introducing almonds, apricots, artichokes, cinnamon, oranges, pine kernels, raisins, saffron, spinach and watermelon to the country’s diet, among other things.  The famous Sicilian dessert cassata, which traditionally contains sweetened ricotta cheese, takes its name from qashata - the Arabic word for cheese.

Saracen arches decorated with Byzantine
Mosaics inside the Cappella Palatina

Travel tip:

The Cappella Palatina - Palatine Chapel - is the royal chapel of the Norman kings of Sicily within the Palazzo Reale in Palermo.  Commissioned by Roger II of Sicily in 1132, it took eight years to build. The chapel combines several architectural styles. The overall design is Norman, yet it features six pointed arches of Arabic style and eight-pointed stars of Muslim tradition are arranged on the ceiling in the shape of a Christian cross. The dome and mosaics are Byzantine, the mosaics among the most elegant in Italy.

The Cathedral of San Nicoló in Noto, one of many cities in
southeast Sicily rich in Baroque architecture

Travel tip:

Val di Noto is an historical and geographical area encompassing the southeastern third of Sicily.  The first known settlement in the area was the ancient town of Akrai, near the present-day town of Palazzolo Acreide, which dates back to 664BC. The area nowadays is known for its wealth of Sicilian Baroque architecture, the result of a lavish rebuilding programme instigated by the Spanish rulers following the massive earthquake of 1693. Churches, cloisters and palaces were built along streets radiating out from a central square in what in many cases were virtually new towns and cities in their entirety.  Such is the architectural splendour of these towns and cities that Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa, and Scicli are all UNESCO World Heritage sites.

More reading:

How the Sicilians threw out the French in 1282

The Sicilian earthquake of 1693

Pietro Novelli, the Sicilian artist killed in a riot

Also on this day:

1464: The death of Cosimo, founder of the Medici banking dynasty

1776: The birth of Francesca Scanagatta, the girl who dressed up as a man to join Austrian 
army

1831: The birth of operatic baritone Antonio Cotogni


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General Giulio Douhet - military strategist

Army commander was one of first to see potential of air power

Giulio Douhet aroused opposition with
his strident criticisms of Italy's army

The Italian Army general Giulio Douhet, who saw the military potential in aircraft long before others did, was born in Caserta, north of Naples, on this day in 1869.

With the arrival of airships and then fixed-wing aircraft in Italy, Douhet recognized the military potential of the new technology. He advocated the creation of a separate air arm commanded by airmen rather than by commanders on the ground. From 1912 to 1915 Douhet served as commander of the Aeronautical Battalion, Italy’s first aviation unit.

Largely because of Douhet, the three-engine Caproni bomber - designed by the young aircraft engineer Gianni Caproni - was ready for use by the time Italy entered the First World War.

His severe criticism of Italy’s conduct of the war, however, resulted in his court-martial and imprisonment. Only after a review of Italy’s catastrophic defeat in 1917 in the Battle of Caporetto was it decided that his criticisms had been justified and his conviction reversed.

Born into a family of Savoyard exiles who had migrated to Campania after the cession of Savoy to France, Douhet attended the Military Academy of Modena and was commissioned into the artillery of the Italian Army in 1882. He studied science and engineering at the Polytechnic of Turin.

In 1911, Italy went to war against the Ottoman Empire for control of Libya. It was the first conflict in which aircraft operated in reconnaissance, transport, spotting and limited bombing roles.

The wide-winged Caproni CA36 bomber was deployed as
part of Douhet's strategy for winning control of the air

In 1912 Douhet assumed command of the Italian aviation battalion at Turin, where he wrote a set of Rules for the Use of Airplanes in War (Regole per l'uso degli aeroplani in guerra).

But Douhet's preaching on air power made him enemies among his fellow senior officers, some of whom branded him too radical. After an incident in which he allegedly ordered the construction of Caproni bombers without authorization, he was stripped of his position and exiled to the infantry.

At the start of the First World War, Douhet called for Italy to focus on building their air power, telling military leaders and politicians that command of the air would render enemy troops harmless. When Italy did enter the war in 1915, he was outspoken in his criticisms of the army, branding them “incompetent and unprepared”. He proposed a force of 500 bombers, dropping 125 tons of bombs on the Austrian enemy every day.

However, his relentless criticisms provoked anger and resentment among his superiors and government officials. A court-martial found him guilty and he was imprisoned for one year.

Douhet's book, The Command of the Air,
informed the strategy of the major powers

Douhet’s confinement did not deter him. He continued to write about air power from his cell, proposing a massive Allied fleet of aircraft. Soon after the disastrous Battle of Caporetto, which saw Italy’s 2nd Army routed by Austro-Hungarian forces with the loss of 40,000 troops dead or wounded and 265,000 captured, it was accepted that Douhet’s criticisms should not have been rejected. He was released, then recalled to service in 1918, when he was appointed head of the Italian Central Aeronautic Bureau.

He was fully exonerated by a 1920 enquiry and promoted to general in 1921. He retired from military service soon afterwards, however.

Douhet’s most noted book is Il dominio dell’aria - The Command of the Air - which led to strategic air power becoming an accepted part of military thinking. The US Army Air Corps had a translation of Il dominio dell’aria made by the mid-1920s and controversial though his ideas originally seemed to be, many were adopted by the major powers during the Second World War.

Some of his arguments have not been borne out. He 1928 he claimed that dropping 300 tons of bombs on the most important cities would end a war in less than a month, yet during the Second World War, the Allies dropped more than 2.5 million tons of bombs on Europe without bringing the conflict to an end.

More than 70 years on, however, some of his concepts continue to underpin air power.

A supporter of Mussolini, Douhet was appointed commissioner of aviation when the Fascists assumed power but what was essentially a bureaucrat's job did not suit him and he soon quit to continue writing. He died from a heart attack in Rome in 1930.

The incredible two-mile long watercourse that stretches down
towards the northern facade of the Royal Palace

Travel tip:

Caserta’s is best known for its former Royal Palace - the Reggia di Caserta - which is one of the largest palaces in Europe, built to rival the palace of Versailles outside Paris, which was the principal residence of the French royal family until the French Revolution of 1789. Constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples, it was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century and has been described as "the swan song of the spectacular art of the Baroque”.

Turin's Royal Military Academy, which was destroyed in the
Second World War, was near the Royal Palace (above)

Travel tip:

Turin has a strong military tradition. The Royal Military Academy in Turin was the oldest military academy in the world, dating back to the 17th century. It was created by Duke Carlo Emanuele II of Savoy, who had the idea of creating an institute to train members of the ruling class and army officers in military strategy.  It was inaugurated on January 1, 1678, which predates the Royal Academy at Woolwich in Britain by 42 years and the Russian Academy in Petersburg, by 45 years. The court architect Amedeo di Castellamonte designed the building, work on which began in 1675. Unfortunately, the building was almost totally destroyed in 1943, during Allied air attacks.

More reading:

Why Luigi Cadorna was blamed for Caporetto defeat

The Neapolitan general who led Italian troops to decisive World War One victory

Pietro Badoglio, the controversial general who turned against Mussolini

Also on this day: 

1811: The birth of neurologist Andrea Verga, one of first to study mental illness

1875: The birth of Fascist intellectual Giovanni Gentile

1924: The murder of socialist politician Giacomo Matteotti


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