Giuseppe Gibilisco - pole vaulter

World champion who later faced doping ban

Giuseppe Gibilisco, world champion in 2003, is
the most successful pole vaulter in Italian history

Italy’s most successful pole vaulter, the Sicilian Giuseppe Gibilisco, was born on this day in 1979 in Siracusa (Syracuse), the historic city in the southeast of the island.

Generally known as Peppe, Gibilisco won the gold medal at the 2003 World championships in Paris and followed this with a bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

His personal best of 5.90m (19ft 4ins), which clinched gold in Paris, remains the Italian record.

Before Gibilisco, only two Italian pole vaulters had won major international medals - Aldo Righi, who took the bronze at the 1969 European championships, and Renato Dionisi, bronze medallist at the 1971 European championships and European indoor champion in 1973.

Later in his competitive career, Gibilisco changed to an entirely different athletic discipline, taking up bobsleigh, in which he became accomplished enough to compete in the 2017 World championship as brakeman in the four-man event, although without winning a medal.

Since retiring from sport, Gibilisco has become prominent in local politics in his home town, recently appointed chief of staff for the city of Siracusa, following a successful stint as councillor for sport and municipal police.

In 2024, he won many admirers for his frank confession that he suffered depression and contemplated suicide after being handed a two-year ban from competition in 2007 over his links to the disgraced former sports doctor Carlo Santuccione, who was banned for life over his alleged role in supplying athletes with the performance-enhancing hormone, EPO. 

Gibilisco fought successfully to have his suspension
overturned but his career suffered nonetheless

Gibilisco’s suspension was overturned on appeal on the basis that he had never tested positive for any banned substance. But the process took a toll on him mentally and financially, not only costing him vital sponsorship deals but requiring him to sell personal possessions, including his car, to pay for a defence lawyer.

In an interview with sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport, Gibilisco - an officer with the Guardia di Finanza law enforcement agency - admitted that at one stage, with only 43 euros in his bank account, he held his service pistol in his hand and thought about using it on himself.

In another part of the interview, he reflected that had it not been for his prowess in sport he would probably have been drawn into a life on the other side of the law, having followed “a bad path” as an adolescent. The ban made him feel that sport, having perhaps saved his life then, was now taking it away.

An outstanding pole vaulter as a junior, Gibilisco was Italian Under-18 champion as a 16-year-old, prompting his coach in Siracusa, Silvio Lentini, to encourage him to leave home a year later.

Lentini thought he would benefit from basing himself at Formia, the resort on the Lazio coastline 90km (54 miles) north of Naples, in order to work with Vitaliy Petrov, the Ukrainian who had coached his countryman, Sergey Bubka, to Olympic gold at Seoul in 1988 as well as six consecutive world pole vault titles.

Gibilisco is an influential figure
in his home city of Siracusa

Within a year of coming under Petrov’s wing, Gibilisco had won a bronze at the World junior championships, before making his Olympic debut in Sydney in 2000, where he finished tenth but improved his personal best to 5.70m.

An injury in 2001 set him back, but he returned to form strongly at the start of the 2003 season. He broke the Italian national record twice in the space of half an hour, clearing 5.77m and then 5.82m in finishing second at the Rome Golden League meeting in July, celebrating with a lap of the Stadio Olimpico on the Honda motorcycle on which Valentino Rossi had won his own world title.  

At the World championships in Paris a month later, he failed his first two tries at 5.75m, but gambled with his remaining attempt by trying 5.80m, which he successfully cleared. 

Inspired by that success, he went on to vault 5.85m and then 5.90m, which rivals Okkert Brits, the South African, and Patrick Kristiansson, from Sweden, were unable to match.

Gibilisco’s success continued with bronze at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and a victory in his event at the 2005 European Cup in Florence.

The doping ban and his subsequent fight to have it nullified cost him almost a year out of competition arguably at the peak of his career, after which he was unable to reach the level of his pre-suspension form, although he did win gold at the Mediterranean Games in 2013, before retiring from competition the following year.

After taking part in the 2016-17 bobsleigh season, he retired definitively from competitive sport, continuing his career with the Guardia di Finanza and entering local politics in 2023. 

He was appointed head of the cabinet in the Siracusa municipal authority in November 2025, having previously supervised a number of successful projects to improve sports facilities in the city in his former role.

Siracusa's Duomo, on the island of Ortigia, is 
a fine example of Sicilian Baroque architecture 

Travel tip:

Siracusa, often called Syracuse, is a city on the Ionian coast of Sicily. It is steeped in history, being particularly well known for its ancient ruins, notably the Neapolis Archaeological Park, which comprises the Roman Amphitheatre, the Teatro Greco and the Orecchio di Dionisio, a limestone cave shaped like a human ear. The city is the birthplace of the Ancient Greek polymath, Archimedes, born in 287BC. The fourth largest city in Sicily, after Palermo, Catania and Messina with a population of 115,636, it was the island’s capital for several hundred years until the Muslim invasion of 878. During the Spanish era, it was transformed into a fortress, with its historic centre, on the island of Ortigia, rebuilt in the style that became known as Sicilian Baroque, following the devastating earthquake of 1693 that destroyed much of the southeast of the island. The best examples can be found around the Piazza Duomo, notably the Duomo itself, with a facade by Andrea Palma, whose combination of columns, niches, and statues is a classic example of Sicilian Baroque exuberance. Its neighbours include the Chiesa di Santa Lucia alla Badia and the Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco.  Siracusa is also home to Caravaggio’s painting, the Burial of St Lucy - Seppellimento di Santa Lucia - which can still be seen, free of charge, in the Santuario di Santa Lucia al Sepolcro, in the more modern part of the city.

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The Tomba di Cicerone is one of the
attractions for visitors to Formia 

Travel tip:

Situated on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast between Rome and Naples, in Lazio but close to the border with Campania, Formia is a port town that was a popular resort with the wealthy of Imperial Rome. One of its major attractions is the Tomba di Cicerone, a Roman mausoleum just outside the town which is said to have been built for the great Roman orator Cicero, who was reportedly assassinated on the Appian Way outside the town in 43 BC. Formia is also home to the Cisternone Romano, an underground reservoir built by the Romans. testament to Roman ingenuity.  Other remains include the towers of the forts of Mola and Castellone, once two neighbouring villages. The generally modern feel of much of the resort and harbour today is down to its necessary reconstruction following a bombardment suffered during the Second World War, when Formia was a point on the German army’s Gustav Line and suffered heavy damage during the Allied invasion.

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More reading:

Sara Simeoni, Italy’s gold-medal winning Olympic high jumper

Eugenio Monti, double Olympic bobsleigh champion

Emilio Lunghi, winner of Italy’s historic first Olympic medal

Also on this day:

1905: The birth of physician and Mafia boss Michele Navarra

1919: The birth of flautist Severino Gazzelloni

1948: The birth of anti-Mafia activist Giuseppe Impastato

2016: The death of novelist and semiotician Umberto Eco

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Antonella Bellutti - cycling champion

Versatile athlete who excelled in several sports

Antonella Bellutti celebrates after winning her
second Olympic Gold medal in Sydney in 2000

Olympic cycling champion Antonella Bellutti, one of Italy’s most versatile and pioneering athletes, was born on this day in 1968 in Bolzano, the principal city of Trentino-Alto Adige, also known as Südtirol.

At the peak of her track cycling career, Bellutti won Olympic gold medals in the individual pursuit at the Atlanta Games of 1996 and in the points race at the Sydney Games four years later.  She was also a medallist in pursuit at the 1996 and 1995 world championships and won gold in the omnium at the 1998 European championships in Berlin.

Yet her cycling career may well not have happened but for a knee injury that curtailed her career as a track and field athlete. As a teenager, she had excelled as a hurdler and in combined events such as heptathlon, winning seven youth titles and setting the Italian junior record at 100m hurdles.

She was preparing to make her Olympic hurdling debut in Barcelona in 1992 when the injury occurred. She took up cycling as part of what initially began as a rehabilitation process. In the event was never able to resume her career as a track athlete, yet revealed such talent on wheels that it opened a path to a whole new career.

As further evidence of Bellutti’s all-round sporting prowess, since retiring from competition as a cyclist she has returned to Olympic competition in bobsleigh, agreeing to be brakewoman to former luge gold medallist Gerda Weissensteiner - another native of Bolzano - as they finished seventh in the women’s two-man bob at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Unlike many athletes, Bellutti did not emerge from a sporting family. Her father had been a factory worker whose passion was organ music and while her brother was a cyclist and her sister played basketball, neither continued beyond their teenage years. It was a gym teacher at elementary school who noticed in her a natural athleticism and introduced her to her first coach.

At Salt Lake City, Bellutti teamed up
with Gerda Weissensteiner in the bob

After her success as a junior, the injury to her knee - a persistent pain and weakness even after being treated for a suspected cyst - came as a blow. Yet cycling came as naturally to her as running and jumping. By chance, out on a recreational ride, she overtook two executives from a local cycling club in Bolzano, who then pursued her until she stopped at a drinking fountain and invited her to join.

Her rise in cycling was meteoric. Just four years after taking up the sport, she won a silver medal in the individual pursuit at the 1995 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Bogotá.  She followed this with a bronze medal in the same event at the 1996 World Championships in Manchester. 

The key to reaching the next level was her decision to adopted the so-called “Superman” riding position pioneered by the Scottish cyclist  Graeme Obree, which allowed for greater aerodynamic efficiency and helped her break the world record twice in the lead-up to the 1996 Olympics.

In 1996 in Atlanta, Bellutti delivered a commanding performance in the individual pursuit, winning gold and becoming the first Italian woman to do so in track cycling.

Four years later, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she returned to the velodrome and added a second Olympic gold, this time in the points race.

Antonella Bellutti has become
an advocate of the vegan lifestyle 

Beyond the Olympics. Bellutti won 13 World Cup races, 16 Italian national titles, and a European Championship gold in 1997. 

Since retiring from competition, Bellutti has remained deeply involved in sport. She served on the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) from 2000 to 2004 and was Technical Director of Italy’s national track cycling teams from 2002 to 2003. 

She has also worked in sports education and sports journalism, writing a column for the Gazzettino di Venezia for six years and often contributing to TV and radio broadcasts.  She published a book, La vita è come andare in bicicletta - Life is like riding a bicycle - in 2017, which among other things outlined her reasons for taking up a vegan diet. 

For a while, she ran a bed-and-breakfast offering a vegan menu in Andogno, a tiny hamlet of the municipality of San Lorenzo Dorsino in the Adamello Brenta Natural Park, about 30km (19 miles) west of Trento and 30km north of Riva del Garda.

The business was opened after Bellutti had restored a former inn she had inherited from her great-grandparents. Unfortunately, it was forced to close because of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Today, Bellutti lives in Rovereto, in another part of the Trentino-Alto Adige region, and continues to inspire as a speaker, consultant, and advocate for equality in sport. She has taken a strong position in her opposition to doping in sport and has also spoken about depression among athletes and former athletes, having herself faced some mental health challenges following retirement. 

She still leads an active lifestyle, listing cycling, running, mountain climbing and alpine skiing among her activities, yet participates now solely for enjoyment rather than to compete. 

Bolzano's main square, Piazza Walther, was named
after medieval poet Walther von der Vogelweide

Travel tip:

Bolzano, Antonella Bellutti’s home town, is the capital of the South Tyrol region of what is now northern Italy, also known as Trentino-Alto Adige in Italian, or Südtirol in Austrian.  Occupying a valley flanked by hills covered in lush vineyards, it has a population of 108,000, swelling to 250,000 with all the surrounding communities. One of the largest urban areas in the Alpine region, it has a medieval city centre famous for its wooden market stalls, selling among other things Alpine cheeses, hams and bread. Places of interest include the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, the imposing 13th-century Mareccio Castle, and the Duomo di Bolzano with its Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Other places of interest include Piazza Walther (Waltherplatz), the central square named after medieval poet Walther von der Vogelweide, and the Via dei Portici (Laubengasse), and historic shopping street lined with arcaded walkways. Three languages - Italian, German and a local language called Ladin - are spoken in the area, which consistently polls high among the Italian cities reckoned to have the best standard of living.  The nearest airport to Bolzano is at Verona, about 150km (93 miles) to the south and accessible in approximately an hour and a half by train, although some visitors arrive from Innsbruck in Austria, just over two hours by train in the opposite direction.

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A sweeping panorama over the city of Rovereto in
the Trentino-Alto Adige region, close to Lake Garda

Travel tip:

The picturesque small city of Rovereto, 23km (14 miles) east of Riva del Garda and about 28km (17 miles) south of Trento, is notable for its Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto - one of Italy’s most important modern art museums - as well as for a 14th century castle, which contains the Italian War Museum, and for the Maria Dolens (Mary Grieving) bell, also known as the Campana dei Caduti (the Bell of the Fallen) and the Bell of Peace. The second largest swinging bell in the world, it was originally the idea of a local priest, Father Antonio Rossaro, to honour the fallen of all wars and to invoke peace and brotherhood. Cast in 1924, since 1965 it has been located on Miravale Hill outside the town and sounds 100 times at nightfall each evening.  Nestled in the Vallagarina valley, it was originally a Roman outpost guarding trade routes to the Brenner Pass. It enjoyed substantial growth during the medieval and Renaissance eras, flourishing under Venetian rule and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Rovereto is part of the Marzemino wine region, known for its deep red varietals praised by Mozart.

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More reading:

How Trebisonda ‘Ondina’ Valla became the first Italian woman to win an Olympic gold medal 

The brilliance of high jumper Sara Simeoni

The bobsleigh champion honoured for sportsmanship

Also on this day:

549: Death of Saint Ercolano of Perugia

1512: Dismissal from office of statesman and diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli

1599: The death of pioneer surgeon Gaspara Tagliacozzi

1944: The birth of footballer Luigi ‘Gigi’ Riva

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1960 Summer Olympics

Games of the XVII Olympiad take place in Rome

A scene from the opening ceremony for the 1960
Rome Olympics at the Stadio Olimpico

The Summer Olympic Games opened on this day in 1960 in the ancient city of Rome. It was the first time the Summer Olympics had been held in Italy since the revival of the Games in 1896.

Rome had been due to host the 1908 Summer Olympic Games, but following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Naples in 1906, the eternal city had to pass on the Olympic torch to London.

The 1960 Games - known officially as the Games of the XVII Olympiad -  were opened by the then-president of Italy, Giovanni Gronchi, in the Stadio Olimpico in the north west of the city. 

Building had begun on the multi-purpose sports venue in 1928 and it was expanded further in 1937, but then World War II halted any further development of the stadium.  Mussolini’s ruling Fascist party had at one time harboured ambitions of hosting the 1940 Games, which were awarded instead to Japan but then cancelled. The 1944 Games, which had been awarded to London, also did not take place.

After the Liberation of Rome in 1944, the Stadio Olimpico was used by the Allies for vehicle storage and then later as a venue for Anglo-American military competitions.

Following the end of the war, construction on the stadium was completed and the first event to take place there in 1953 was a football match between Italy and Hungary. 

The Italian President, Giovanni Gronchi, second left,
was at the stadium to open the Games officially 

The Stadio Olimpico would later be used as the principal venue for the 1990 Fifa World Cup. It has been the shared home ground for Rome’s two major football clubs - AS Roma and SS Lazio - since 1953.

Other famous locations in Rome used to host Olympic events in 1960, included the Baths of Caracalla, the Basilica of Maxentius, the Villa Borghese gardens and the Arch of Constantine. 

Elsewhere in Italy, Olympic rowing and canoeing events were held on Lake Albano at Castel Gandolfo, and yachting events took place in the Bay of Naples.

During the 1960 Summer Olympic games, South Africa appeared for the last time under its apartheid regime. The country was not allowed to take part in the Olympics again until 1992 when apartheid in sport was being abolished. 

The 18-year-old Cassius Clay, who later became known as Muhammad Ali, won the light heavyweight gold medal in boxing.

The future Constantine II, who was to be the last King of Greece, won his country a gold in sailing, and a young Greek woman, who would later become Queen Sofia of Spain, represented her country in sailing events.

The Ethiopian runner, Abebe Bikila, on his way
to an historic victory in the marathon event 

And history was made when Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila won the marathon, running the full 26 mile 385 yards (42.195km) barefoot. He became the first athlete from sub-Saharan Africa to win an Olympic gold. 

In terms of medals, the most successful country at the 1960 Games was the USSR, whose team topped the table both for gold medals, of which it won 43, and overall medal total of 103.

The United States were second in golds with 37, from an overall total of 71. 

The hosts won 13 golds, including five in cycling events, three in boxing and two in fencing. Italy’s only gold in athletics was won by Livio Berruti in the men’s 200m.

The first Paralympic Games  were held in Rome in conjunction with the 1960 Summer Olympics, the first time that the two events had coincided.

The ruins of the Roman Baths of Caracalla were
used for events in the gymnastics competition

Travel tip:

The Baths of Caracalla, which were used for gymnastics events during the 1960 Summer Olympics, are thermal baths built between AD 211/212 and 216/217, during the reigns of emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla. They were the second largest baths in Rome after the Baths of Diocletian. The magnificent main waiting room at the original Penn Station in New York City, built in 1910, is said to have been inspired by the design of the Baths, which remained in use until the 530s, after which they fell into disrepair.  A year-round tourist attraction, the ruins that remain have been the venue for a number of music concerts, notably including the historic Three Tenors concert, featuring Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras and Plácido Domingo, staged during the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy.

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Lake Albano, to the south of Rome, was the
location used for rowing and canoeing

Travel tip:

Lake Albano near Castel Gandolfo in Lazio was the beautiful location for rowing and canoeing events during the 1960 Summer Olympics. Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope has his summer residence, overlooks Lake Albano from its wonderful position in the hills south of Rome, and the Pope spends every summer in the Apostolic Palace there. Although his villa lies within the town’s boundaries, it is one of the properties of the Holy See. The palace is not under Italian jurisdiction and is policed by the Swiss Guard. The whole area is part of the regional park of Castelli Romani, which has many places of historic and artistic interest to visit, and is the area where the popular white wine Trebbiano, is produced.

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Also on this day:

79: Vesuvius eruption buries Pompeii and Ercolano

79: The death after the eruption of Pliny the Elder

665: The death of Saint Patricia of Naples

1509: The birth of cardinal Ippolito II d’Este

1609: Galileo demonstrates telescope

1691: The birth of architect Alessandro Galilei 

1829: The birth of composer Carlo Eduardo Acton

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Jasmine Paolini - tennis star

Breakthrough year saw Tuscan soar in rankings

Jasmine Paolini reached two Grand Slam
finals during an exceptional 2024 season

The tennis player Jasmine Paolini, whose outstanding 2024 season saw her match the highest world singles ranking attained by any Italian in the history of women’s tennis, was born on this day in 1996 in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, an historic town around 45km (28 miles) north of the city of Lucca.

Having reached two Grand Slam finals, won her second career WTA 1000 title and helped the Italian squad become Billie Jean King Cup champions in the course of the year, Paolini climbed to No 4 in the world, equalling the achievement of the 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone.

A popular player with fans for her sunny attitude on court, she also won a gold medal in doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics, partnering Italy’s all-time leading women’s doubles player, Sara Errani.

Having finished runner-up to world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the 2024 French Open final and to the Czech player Barbora Krejcikova on the Wimbledon grass five weeks later, Paolini landed her first Grand Slam title at the French Open in 2025, partnering Errani to win the women's doubles title.

Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta, who was US Open champion in 2015, are the only Italian women so far to win the singles title at one of tennis’s four Grand Slams - the Australian, French and US Opens, and the Wimbledon Championships.

Until April 2025, Paolini was coached by the 54-year-old former Italian singles player Renzo Furlan, who reached 19 in the world during his own playing career.  After announcing their split, Paolini appointed the Spanish former French Open doubles champion Marc López as her new coach.

Although only 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, which means she cannot match the serving qualities of taller opponents - current world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, for example, is 6ft (1.83m) - Paolini makes up for her lack of height with powerful groundstrokes and her speed around the court, which she attributes to her Ghanaian heritage on her mother’s side.

Paolini's strength in rallies helps
compensate for her small stature

Paolini’s father, Ugo, is Italian; her mother, Jacqueline, is Polish with a Ghanaian father. The couple met when Ugo was running a bar in Bagna di Lucca and Jacqueline, who grew up in Lodz, arrived in Italy to work as a waitress. They were married within a year.

Their daughter grew up in Bagna di Lucca, where her uncle, Adriano Paolini, introduced her to tennis at the Mirafiume club in the town at the age of five. She worked under the guidance of Marco Picchi and Ivano Pieri, subsequently training at Vicopelago in Lucca, Forte dei Marmi and, from the age of 15, with her current coach Renzo Furlan, who was working for the Italian Tennis Federation at Tirrenia, just outside Pisa.

After winning one junior title at the age of 17 in 2013, Paolini had to wait another four years to make her WTA singles tournament debut at the Swedish Open in 2017. Good results in 2019 propelled her to 94th in the world going into the 2020 season. 

In 2021, she he celebrated her first WTA singles title at the Slovenia Open and entered the main draw of all four Grand Slams for the first time.

Following the 2022 Australian Open, Paolini reached the WTA top 50 for the first time, having achieved her first win over a top-10 player when she knocked out Sabalenka, the then world No 3, at Indian Wells. By October 2023 she had climbed to a career high 31, displacing Elisabetta Cocciaretto as Italian No 1.

Then came substantial progress in 2024, when she played no fewer than 110 singles matches, the programme devised with Furlan providing few breaks but a chance to build real momentum. Beginning with a first fourth-round appearance at the Australian Open in January, the deepest she had been in a Grand Slam to that date, she added a doubles title at the Linz Open in February alongside Errani and a first WTA 1000 title In Dubai, avenging her Australian Open defeat by beating Anna Kalinskaya in the final, taking her to 15 in the world rankings. 

At the French Open, seeded 12th, she overcame Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals with her first top-five win at a major, then defeated Russia’s Mirra Andreeva in the semi-finals before losing to Swiatek in the final.

Sara Errani partnered Paolini to
doubles gold at the Olympics

She reached the Wimbledon final despite having never previously survived round one at the London venue. Seeded No 7, she knocked out Madison Keys and Emma Navarro in the second week before a semi-final marathon win over Donna Vekić that set a tournament record by lasting two hours and 51 minutes as Paolini came back to triumph from a set down.

The first Italian woman to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in the open era, she ultimately lost to Krejcikova in three sets.

She and 37-year-old Errani then won gold for Italy at the Olympics, defeating the ‘neutral’ Russian pair of Andreeva and Diana Shnaider in the final, before a singles quarter-final at the Wuhan Open in October allowed her to match Schiavone’s achievement by becoming world No 4. 

Her whirlwind schedule in 2024 also saw Paolini collect more than $5 million in prize money, almost tripling her career earnings.

Errani, with whom Paolini won doubles titles in Rome and China in 2024, also played a key role in the Billie Jean King Cup as the pair won decisive doubles victories against Japan and Poland, before Paolini’s defeat of Rebecca Sramkova in the final against Slovenia gave Italy their first title triumph in the former Federation Cup for 11 years.

This article was updated in June, 2025.

The Rocca Ariostesca, once home of the poet
Ludovico Ariosto, attracts visitors to Castelnuovo

Travel tip:

Castelnuovo di Garfagna, Jasmine Paolini’s birthplace, nestles in a valley flanked by the foothills of the Apuan Alps and the Apennines. A town of around 6,000 inhabitants, it can trace its history back to the eighth century, after which its strategic position saw it grow quickly into an important town with defensive walls and castles, which have been enlarged and improved over time. Today, the defensive walls contain the oldest parts of the town, characterised by winding streets and small artisan shops. The more modern part of the town is outside the walls. It developed as a market town from the 13th century, first under the control of Castruccio Castracani, then by the Estensi family of Ferrara, who made the town a seat of Vicarship and built the town’s Duomo - the Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo. Power transferred to Urbino and then Florence for brief periods in the 16th century before its return to the House of Este. Today, it remains a bustling town with direct road and rail links to Lucca, Pisa, Florence and Viareggio. As well as the Duomo, which has a Renaissance facade and a Baroque interior, the Rocca Ariostesca is an important historical building. The castle takes its name from the Italian poet, Ludovico Ariosto, who lived there between 1522 and 1525 when he was governor of the Garfagnana for the House of Este. Just outside the town, the Fortezza di Monte Alfonso, surrounded by huge protective walls, offers stunning views. 

The Ponte della Maddalena in Bagni di Lucca has
been standing since the late 12th century

Travel tip:

Bagni di Lucca, where Paolini grew up, is actually a collection of 27 villages in the Lima Valley in northern Tuscany, situated 28km (17 miles), famous largely for the hot springs that have attracted visitors to the area since Etruscan and Roman times. The area enjoyed its most prosperous time during French occupation in the 19th century, when the town became the summer residence of the court of Napoleon and his sister, Elisa Baciocchi. A casino was built, where gambling was part of social nightlife. Bagni di Lucca was also popular with English travellers, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her husband, Robert Browning, who spent their summers there during their time in Italy in the 1840s and 1850s.  Other illustrious guests said to have visited Bagni di Lucca include the poets Byron, Shelley, Lever, Giusti, Monti and, in the 20th century, Carducci, Pascoli, Montale; writers such as Dumas and musicians Strauss, Listz, Paganini, Puccini and Mascagni. The main sights today include the Art Nouveau complex of the 1839 Casino, Italy's first Anglican church - now a library - and the restored English Cemetery. Also look out of Lorenzo Nottolini’s Ponte delle Catene, one of the oldest iron bridges still standing today, and the mediaeval Ponte della Maddalena, an important crossing probably commissioned by the Countess Matilda of Tuscany in the late 12th century and later renovated under the direction of Castruccio Castracani. It became known as Ponte della Maddalena, from an oratory dedicated to Mary Magdalene, whose statue stood at the foot of the bridge on the eastern bank.

Also on this day:

1710: The birth of composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

1881: The birth of San Francisco Opera founder Gaetano Merola

1952: The birth of Mafia hitman Giuseppe Greco

1975: The death of writer and painter Carlo Levi

2015: The death of singer-songwriter Pino Daniele

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Giuseppe Olmo - cycling champion and businessman

Olympic gold medallist set up prestige cycle brand

Giuseppe Olmo showed great
talent from an early age

The road cyclist Giuseppe Olmo, who won a gold medal at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles and later launched his own cycle-manufacturing business, was born on this day in 1911 in Celle Ligure, a fishing village about 40km (25 miles) southwest of Genoa on the Italian Riviera.

Olmo missed out on an individual medal in Los Angeles, finishing fourth behind compatriot Attilio Pavesi in the road race, but won gold as part of the winning Italy trio in the team event, alongside Pavesi and Guglielmo Segato.

He turned professional after the Olympics and, though his career was truncated somewhat by the cessation of the sport during World War Two, enjoyed some success.

Racing for the Fréjus team, he won the Milan-Turin race at the age of just 21 in 1932. After moving to the colours of Bianchi, Olmo won the prestigious Milan-San Remo race three years later and in 1938, the Giro dell’Emilia in 1936 and the Giro di Campania in 1938.

Olmo was somewhat unlucky in the Giro d’Italia. He finished third behind Vasco Bergamaschi in 1935 after winning four stages and wearing the leader’s pink jersey for seven days, and runner-up the following year despite winning 10 stages - the same number Learco Guerra took as champion two years previously - as the overall classification went to Gino Bartali.

Olmo Biciclette was launched in 1939 and has supplied bikes for many professionals, as well producing them for the commercial market.

A youthful Olmo pictured with his mentor,
the Ligurian cyclist Giusppe Olivieri

Known often by his nickname Gepin, Olmo was the second of six brothers in his family. He first caught the eye in 1924 as a 13-year-old, when he impressed the Ligurian champion Giuseppe Olivieri, who asked Olmo’s father if he could become his coach.

Under Olivieri’s guidance, his talent came to the surface. He preceded his excellent performance at the 1932 Olympics by winning the Italian road championship in 1931 and finishing runner-up in the amateurs’ road race at the World championships in Copenhagen the same year.

As well as his race success, Olmo entered the record books in 1935 for  the longest distance covered in one hour on the track.

Riding an 8.5kg Bianchi bike at an almost deserted Vigorelli Velodrome on 31 October in Milan, having decided on his record attempt only 24 hours before it took place, Olmo became the first in history to break the 45km mark, recording a distance of 45.090km.

He held the record for less than a year, however. On 16 October in 1936, the Frenchman Maurice Richard, whose record Olmo took, reclaimed it, bettering his mark with 45.32km.

Olmo was planning for his life after retirement while he was still competing, opening the first Olmo Biciclette factory in partnership with his brothers, Franco, Giovanni and Michele, in Celle Ligure, in 1939.

The Olmo brand became
synonymous with quality

The company built its reputation on quality, value and cutting-edge technology, using the most advanced materials available to produce responsive bikes that proved to be both competitive and easy to handle.

Pierino Gavazzi, whose career wins included Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Brussels, the Vuelta a España winner Marino Lejarreta and three-times World champion Óscar Freire were among the professionals who enjoyed great success riding Olmo bikes.

Olmo, who was married with three daughters, died in Milan in 1992 but the company survived him, moving into the production of polyurethane flexible foams from a factory at Comun Nuovo, a municipality about 9km (six miles) south of Bergamo in Lombardy.

Bicycles carrying the Olmo brand, including the latest incarnation of the flagship Gepin model, are now produced and distributed by Montana Srl from their factory at Magliano Alpi in Piemonte, about 80km (50 miles) northwest of Celle Ligure.

Celle Ligure's sandy beach has helped make it a
popular destination for visitors to Liguria

Travel tip:

A lesser known gem of the Italian Riviera, Celle Ligure has grown around a picturesque former fishing village with a small sandy beach lined with pastel-coloured houses, behind which is a small, historic old town of narrow lanes. Founded in the 11th century near the Saint Beningo monastery, Celle Ligure came under the control of Genoa in the 13th century and enjoyed prosperity in the 17th and 18th centuries through trade with France, Spain and America. That ended, however, with the French occupation of Genoa in 1805. The arrival of a railway line in 1868 was the beginning of Celle Ligure’s evolution as a tourist destination, which underpins its economy today. As well as the attractions of the beach, Celle Ligure has a 17th century church, the Oratorio of San Michele, which features a polyptych by Perino del Vaga, a late Renaissance painter from Florence. As well as Giuseppe Olmo, the village is the birthplace of Francesco della Rovere, who as Pope Sixtus IV commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. 

Sanremo is known for its fine Stile Liberty
buildings, such as its striking 1905 Casino

Travel tip: 

The Milan-Sanremo cycle race, won twice by Giuseppe Olmo, is one of the  sport’s oldest and most prestigious single-day contests, one of the five so-called Monuments in the European cycling calendar, the toughest and most demanding of the one-day events. First contested in 1907 and covering a distance of 286km (177 miles), the race followed a course said to have begun at the Conca Fallata Inn, next to a navigation basin on the Naviglio Pavese canal in Milan and ended on Corso Cavallotti on the outskirts of Sanremo, the seaside town on the coast of Liguria famed for its temperate Mediterranean climate.  Sanremo - 110km (68 miles) further west along the Ligurian coast from Celle Ligure, expanded rapidly in the mid-18th century, when the phenomenon of tourism began to take hold. It is characterised by many fine examples of Stile Liberty, the Italian variant of the Art Nouveau design and architectural style.

Also on this day:

1533: The birth of Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara

1710: The death of Baroque composer Bernardo Pasquini

1902: The birth of Mafia boss Joe Adonis

1947: The birth of football coach Nevio Scala

1949: The birth of entrepreneur Rocco Commisso

1954: The birth of politician Paolo Gentiloni

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Nedo Nadi - Olympic record-breaker

Five-medal haul at 1920 Antwerp Games included unique treble

Nedo Nadi at the age of 18,
when he won his first gold

Nedo Nadi, the Italian fencer regarded as among the greatest of all time, was born on this day in 1894 in Livorno, the port on the Tuscan coast.

Born into a fencing family - his father, Giusepppe, was a renowned fencing master - Nadi won five gold medals at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, which remained the most by any athlete at a single Games until Mark Spitz won seven swimming titles in 1972.

Nadi’s own distinction is that he was and still is the only fencer to have won a gold medal with all three weapons, winning the individual championship in both foil and sabre and a team gold in the épée.

His quintuple of medals was completed with team golds in both the sabre and foil.  His younger brother, Aldo, was also part of the winning Italian team in the épée and sabre events.  Their total of seven golds is the most won by members of the same family at a single Games. 

Nedo’s historic achievement might never have happened if his father had had his way. Giuseppe believed the épée to be a “crude and undisciplined" weapon and refused to teach it, limiting the two brothers’ tuition to foil and sabre, to which they were introduced as children. Nedo had his first fencing lesson with a foil at the age of seven in his father’s gymnasium at Livorno. 

Giuseppe’s objected to épée because he felt it was too easy to score points and required less skill. In foil, a fencer could only score off a hit which landed on the trunk of the opponent’s body; in the sabre, only the upper torso and face mask count as scoring hits. But with épée, a hit landed on any part of the body is legitimate.

Nadi's Antwerp medal haul, as 
commemorates in a Panini sticker

But he and Aldo knew their opportunities would be more limited if they confined themselves to foil and sabre and decided to educate themselves in the épée discipline, practising together. It paid off, Nedo winning a solid silver trophy for his three-weapon work during the Jubilee celebration of Emperor Franz Joseph in Vienna at the age of just 14.

Nedo entered his first Olympics at the age of 18, winning the gold medal in individual foil at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.

The First World War meant there was no Olympics in 1916. Nedo joined the Italian Army and was decorated for his bravery.

When the Olympics resumed in Antwerp in 1920, Nedo was chosen as flag bearer of the Italian team and captain of the Italian fencing team. He owed his long list of successes in part to the absence of Hungary, who were traditionally strong in the fencing events but who did not take part, along with Russia and other central European countries who had been on the losing side in the war.

Nedo Nadi's talent was to combine perfect balance, timing and rapid reflexes, qualities which served him well in all the disciplines. He would probably have won the individual épée title in Antwerp had a stomach problem not forced him to withdraw.

Antwerp would be his last Olympics. He made the bold decision to turn professional, taking a job as coach at the Buenos Aires Jockey Club, an exclusive sporting institution in Argentina, although in the event he was reinstated as an amateur on his return to Italy.

Nedo (right) in action against
brother Aldo in Cannes in 1935

After retiring from competition in 1932, he was made president of the Italian Fencing Federation in 1935 and was appointed coach of the Italian team at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin at the invitation of Benito Mussolini himself.  The team did well, coming home with four golds, three silver and two bronze medals, including a clean sweep in the individual épée competitions.

Sadly, Nedo Nadi died prematurely at the age of 45, suffering a stroke from which he never recovered. He was laid to rest in Portofino, the exclusive resort on the Ligurian coast. 

Five years before Nedo died, his brother Aldo had moved to the United States, where he taught fencing first in New York and later in Los Angeles, occasionally coaching actors for fencing scenes in films. He even appeared in a film himself, portraying a bodyguard in the 1944 movie To Have and Have Not, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Books:

The History of the Olympic Games: Faster, Higher, Stronger

Livorno's Venezia Nuova quarter is famed
for its network of canals

Travel tip:

The port of Livorno, where Nedo Nadi was born, is the second largest city in Tuscany after Florence yet is often overlooked by visitors, many of whom arrive by cruise ship and travel on to Florence, Siena or other destinations. Yet Livorno has plenty to recommend it as a destination in itself. Built during the Renaissance with Medici money as an “ideal town”, it became an important free port, and until the middle of the 19th century was one of the most multicultural cities in Italy thanks to an influx of residents from all round the world who arrived on foreign trading ships. Visitors to Livorno today can sample some of Italy’s best seafood restaurants, enjoy the elegance of the Terrazza Mascagni on the waterfront and the quirky charms of Venezia Nuova, a former commercial district criss-crossed with canals. 

Hotels in Livorno by Booking.com

The picturesque fishing village of Portofino has been
a tourist destination since the late 19th century

Travel tip:

Portofino is an Italian fishing village and holiday resort famous for its picturesque harbour and historical association with celebrity visitors. Situated about 40km (25 miles) east of Genoa on the section of the Liguria coastline known as the Italian Riviera, it is known for the colourful buildings that line the small harbour.  The village dates back at least until the early part of the first century, when the Roman author and philosopher Pliny the Elder, who was also a naval commander, made reference to Portus Delphini, the Port of the Dolphi. It began to develop as a tourist destination in the late 19th century, when British and other Northern European aristocratic tourists were enticed by its charms, despite access being mainly by horse and cart nearby from Santa Margherita Ligure. As road links improved, some settled and built expensive holiday houses. By the 1950s, tourism had replaced fishing as the town's chief industry. Restaurants and cafés abound on the waterfront.

Stay in Portofino with Booking.com 

Also on this day:

68: The death of Roman emperor Nero

1311: Duccio di Buoninsegna’s alterpiece The Maestà of Duccio is unveiled at the cathedral of Siena

1762: The birth of architect Luigi Cagnola

1898: The birth of racing driver Luigi Fagioli

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Ondina Valla - ground-breaking athlete

Italy’s first female Olympic champion

Ondina Valla broke new
ground for women in sport

Trebisonda ‘Ondina’ Valla, the first Italian woman to win an Olympic gold medal, was born on this day in 1916 in Bologna.

Known as Ondina reputedly after a journalist misspelled her unusual name, Valla won the 80m at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where she also set a world record time in the semi-final.

The victory established Valla as an icon for Italy’s Fascist regime and as a heroine for Italian girls with sporting ambitions, her success breaking new ground for women in the face of considerable opposition to female participation in sport.

The Catholic Church’s attitude was that sport was not compatible with the standards of morality, modesty and domesticity it expected of women, while the view of Italy’s medical profession was that women should take only basic physical exercise if they wanted to maintain the level of health required for motherhood.

Benito Mussolini initially saw women as occupying a traditional role in the society he envisaged for the fascist ideal, supporting her husband and caring for his children within the family unit.

But he seized upon Valla’s success as a political opportunity, keen to portray her as an example of Italian Fascism’s dynamism and the potential for Italians to make their mark internationally.

Ondina was named Trebisonda by her father, Gaetano, a blacksmith, after the Turkish city of Trabzon, which he considered the most beautiful city in the world.

Ondina Valla (left) waits with four other athletes 
for the final of the 80m hurdles in Berlin

Sporting prowess was evidently in her genes. She had four brothers, all of whom had athletic ability and by the age of 11 she stood out among her peers for her talent and determination to succeed. She and her classmate Claudia Testoni dominated the student championships in Bologna.

Valla excelled in sprint and hurdle races as well as the jumping events and was a national champion at the age of 14.

It was at this point, supposedly, that a journalist misspelled her name as Trebitonda, which in turn was further corrupted to Trebitondina, then Ondina, which translates in English as ‘little wave’. The name stuck to the extent that even her parents began to use it.

She joined the prestigious Virtus Atletica Bologna club and was selected for the Italian national team to go to the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, only for her participation to be blocked under pressure from the Vatican, who deemed it inappropriate for a 16-year-old to travel as the only female member of the team.

By the time the next Games came around, the Fascist government decided she represented their ideal of a healthy, strong national youth, even though she was a girl, and she was permitted to travel to Berlin in 1936, where Mussolini reasoned that a strong performance at ‘Hitler’s Games’ would be good for Italy’s standing. 

Valla excelled in hurdles events as well as
sprints and the high jump

She lived up to his expectations. She won the semi-final of the 80m hurdles in 11.6 seconds, beating the world record, which made her favourite for the final the following day. In a tight finish, Valla crossed the line first, with her former schoolmate and rival Testoni finishing fourth, denied a medal in a photo finish for the silver and bronze. 

At the age of 20 years and 78 days, she was the youngest Italian athlete of either sex to win an Olympic gold, a record that remained hers until 2004, when Elena Gigli was part of an Italian gold-medal winning water polo team at the Athens Games at the age of 19 years and 48 days.

Her Olympic triumph made Valla a popular figure in Fascist Italy and a symbol for Italian girls, helping to soften hostility towards women's participation in sport. The government were not slow to see the propaganda value of female athletic success, as they already did for the successes of male athletes.

In all, Valla won 15 national championships in different events, set a national high jump record that stood for 15 years and took three titles at the University Sports World Games in Tokyo. Back problems largely forced her out of further competition at the highest level, but led her into a new life.

Guglielmo De Lucchi, the back
specialist who Valla married

The orthopaedic specialist she consulted in a clinic of the Rizzoli Institute in Bologna in 1943 was a former high jumper, Guglielmo De Lucchi. He was seven years’ her senior but they were immediately attracted to one another and, a year later, were married, spending their honeymoon on a cycling holiday between Bologna and his hometown, Padua.

After they were married, she quit athletics and gave birth to a son, Luigi, in 1945, their only child. Guglielmo’s career took to Pescara on the Adriatic coast and then Chieti in Abruzzo before they settled in the capital of that region, L’Aquila, in 1955.

Sadly, Guglielmo died in 1964 at the age of just 56. Ondina lived for a further 42 years, passing away at the age of 90, spending her final years living with Luigi and his wife Gabriella, enjoying the company of her grandchildren, Claudio and Roberto.

She suffered a blow in 1978 when burglars stole her Olympic gold medal. It was never returned, but Italian athletics chief Primo Nebiolo, the Italian who would go on to be president of the IAAF, the world federation of athletics, arranged for an exact replica to be produced.

The attractive Piazza del Duomo is one of
the main squares in L'Aquila

Travel tip:

The capital of the Abruzzo region, L’Aquila was built in the 13th century on a hill within the valley of the Aterno river. Its construction was started by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and completed by his son, Conrad IV of Germany. It was destroyed by Conrad’s brother, Manfred in 1259, but rebuilt by Charles I of Anjou, who surrounded it with walls.  The city suffered a devastating earthquake in 2009, which cost the lives of more than 300 people. Many of the buildings badly damaged by the earhquake have been restored, including the 12th century Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio, with its distinctive exterior of alternating pink and white stone blocks, and the 15th century Basilica of San Bernardino, which reopened in 2015 after six years of restoration work that cost around €40 million.

Piazza Maggiore, pictured here at night, is the
beating heart of the city of Bologna

Travel tip:

The history of Bologna, Ondina Valla’s home city, can be traced back to 1,000BC or possibly earlier, with a settlement that was developed into an urban area by the Etruscans, the Celts and the Romans.  The University of Bologna, the oldest in the world, was founded in 1088.  Bologna's city centre, which has undergone substantial restoration since the 1970s, is one of the largest and best preserved historical centres in Italy, characterised by 38km (24 miles) of walkways protected by porticoes.  At the heart of the city is the beautiful Piazza Maggiore, dominated by the Gothic Basilica of San Petronio, which at 132m long, 66m wide and with a facade that touches 51m at its tallest, is the 10th largest church in the world and the largest built in brick.

Also on this day:

1470: The birth of poet and scholar Pietro Bembo

1537: The birth of anatomist and physiologist Hieronymous Fabricius

1943: The birth of singer Al Bano

1967: The birth of film director Gabriele Muccino

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