Baldassare Cossa – Antipope

The colourful career of a pirate who became a pope

A 1713 depiction of John XXIII by
French printmaker Bernard Picart

Baldassare Cossa, who reigned as Pope for five years under the name of John XXIII, was deposed as pontiff on this day in 1419. Stripped of his powers, he had been accused of charges that included piracy, rape, and incest, but he was still later appointed Cardinal Bishop of Frascati by a subsequent pope, Martin V.

Cossa is now known in history as an Antipope, because he was appointed as John XXIII during the Western Schism, a split within the Catholic church in the 14th and 15th centuries. 

Bishops in Rome and Avignon, France, were simultaneously claiming to be the true Pope and were eventually joined by a line of Pisan claimants, from which Cossa was appointed.

The papacy had resided in Avignon since 1309, when Rome was wracked by political chaos and violence, but Pope Gregory XI returned it to Rome in 1377. The Catholic church split in September 1378, when, following Gregory XI's death and Urban VI’s subsequent election, a group of French cardinals declared the election invalid and elected Clement VII, who claimed to be the true pope. 

As Roman claimant, Urban VI was succeeded by Boniface IX, Innocent VII and Gregory XII. Meanwhile, Clement VII was succeeded as Avignon claimant by Benedict XIII.

Following several attempts at reconciliation, the Council of Pisa declared that both Gregory XII and Benedict XIII were illegitimate and elected a third pope, Alexander V. 

The Schism was finally resolved when Cossa, who succeeded Alexander V as John XXIII, was deposed, and Pope Martin V was elected.

Rome pope Gregory XII, whose papacy was
declared illegitimate by the Council of Pisa

Cossa had been born on the island of Procida in the Bay of Naples. After following a military career, he fought in a war on the side of Naples. It has been claimed that he started out in life as a pirate and that his two brothers were sentenced to death for piracy by King Ladislaus of Naples.

After studying Law at the University of Bologna, Cossa entered the service of Pope Boniface IX in 1392. 

He later became a canon and an archdeacon in Bologna and then Cardinal Deacon and a papal legate in Romagna. He is remembered as being unscrupulous and immoral and leading a depraved life, seducing countless women. It was also claimed he had links with local robber bands that were used to intimidate his rivals and attack carriages, and that these connections helped him achieve power and influence in the region.

As a Cardinal, he was a leading figure at the Council of Pisa that deposed Gregory XII and Benedict XIII, and elected Alexander V. Because both Gregory and Benedict ignored the council’s decision, it meant there were then three simultaneous claimants to the papacy.

Alexander V died while he was with Cossa in Bologna in 1410. Cossa was quickly ordained as a bishop and consecrated as Pope the following day, taking the name John XXIII.

The new pope made the Medici Bank the official bank of the papacy, which contributed considerably to the wealth of the family.

Cossa's tomb in the Battistero
di San Giovanni in Florence

John XXIII’s main enemy was King Ladislaus, who was still protecting the Roman claimant, Gregory XII, so he joined forces with Louis II of Anjou against him. But Ladislaus took Rome in 1413, forcing him to flee to Florence.

While in Florence, John XXIII met Sigismund of Luxembourg, who wanted to end the Schism and urged him to call for a General Council.  The resulting Council of Constance resolved that all three papal claimants should abdicate and a new pope should be elected. 

John XXIII escaped from Constance disguised as a postman. But he was later deposed by the council and tried in his absence on charges of piracy, rape, sodomy, murder, and incest. After he was caught in Germany and given up to Ludwig III Elector Palatine, he was imprisoned for a few months until a large ransom was paid for his release by the Medici.

Martin V then made Baldassare Cossa the Cardinal Bishop of Frascati, but Cossa died a few months later in 1419 in Florence. The Medici had a magnificent tomb created for him by Donatello and Michelozzo in the Battistero di San Giovanni, which was inscribed, ‘John the former pope’ - despite protests by Martin V.

After Angelo Roncalli from Bergamo was elected pope in 1958, there was confusion over whether he would be called John XXIII or John XXIV, but the new pope declared himself John XXIII to put the question to rest for good, and Baldassare Cossa is now remembered as Antipope John XXIII.

Procida's pretty harbour and waterfront, which is
notable for its houses painted in pastel colours

Travel tip:

Procida, the island off the coast of Naples where Antipope John XXIII was born, lies next to the larger island of Ischia and is just a short boat trip from Naples. Procida is less than 4km (2½ miles) long and 2km (1¼ miles) across at its widest point. It has a pretty seafront with yellow, white, and pink painted houses. The ferries arrive and depart from Marina di San Cattolico, where there is a tourist office and bars and restaurants. The small islet of Vivara is attached to the island by a walking bridge. No one lives there and it is now a nature reserve. Around Procida are dark sandy beaches suitable for sunbathing and swimming in the sea. The main church on the island is San Michele Arcangelo which has many old statues and religious paintings. On the main ceiling is Luca Giordano’s The Glory of San Michele. In the apse is Nicola Rosso’s painting San Michele Defending the Island, showing the saint with sword and shield above Procida, which is surrounded by shiploads of Turkish invaders.

Frascati's main church is the Cattedrale di
San Pietro, completed in the 18th century

Travel tip:

Frascati, where Antipope John XXIII was appointed as Cardinal Bishop, is an ancient, wine-producing city to the south of Rome. It has the feel of Rome, but it is on a smaller scale and life is at a less frantic pace. There are statues, fountains, and wonderful architecture, but it is easy to walk around in Frascati. It is said that Frascati’s eponymous white wine ‘non viaggia bene’ (does not travel well), which is all the more reason to drink it there, in quaint wine bars serving it cheaply by the glass. Villas built by wealthy Romans on the hills behind Frascati now lie in ruins, but there are elegant 16th and 17th century villas, such as the imposing Villa Aldobrandini, to look round. In the centre of Frascati, the 16th century Chiesa del Gesù has statues on the façade believed to be the work of Pietro da Cortona and frescoes inside by Andrea Pozzo. Piazza del Gesù leads into the larger Piazza San Pietro, where Frascati’s main church, Cattedrale di San Pietro stands. Inside the church is the tombstone of Charles Edward Stuart, also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender. He died while in exile in Rome and was first buried in Frascati’s cathedral, where his brother, Henry Benedict Stuart, Duke of York, was Bishop. In 1807 his body was moved to St Peter’s in Rome, but his heart was left in Frascati, in a small urn, under the floor below his monument. Within a few streets in Via dell’Olmo, is the Osteria dell’Olmo, one of Frascati’s oldest osterie, where you can taste Frascati wine and typical local dishes.

Also on this day:

Feast Day of Saint Bona of Pisa

1568: The birth of noblewoman Virginia de’ Medici

1926: The birth of Caterina di Francavilla, aka TV personality Katie Boyle

1931: The execution of anarchist Michele Schirru

2013: The death of actress and writer Franca Rame

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Filippo Buonarroti – revolutionary conspirator

Writer paved the way for the 1848 revolutions in Europe

Filippo Buonarotti, whose writings inspired
social revolutionaries across Europe

Filippo Buonarroti, whose political writing inspired many other famous socialists, including Karl Marx, was born on this day in 1761 in Pisa.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maximilien Robespierre, with 
whom Buonarotti worked in Paris

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Travel tip:

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

The port area is one of the most 
historic parts of Oneglia

Travel tip:

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

Also on this day:

1696: The birth of composer and violinist Andrea Zani

1854: The birth of socialist activist Alessandro Mussolini

1869: The birth of future King Victor Emmanuel III

1932: The birth of sports presenter Germano Mosconi

1961: The birth of actor Luca Zingaretti

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Ulisse Dini – mathematician and politician

Patriotic professor was proud to serve the new Kingdom of Italy

Ulisse Dini went to Paris to further
his mathematical education

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enrico Betti was 
Dini's teacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Travel tip: 

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

The bronze statue of Ulisse 
Dini was finished in 1927

Travel tip: 

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

Also on this day:

312: The Battle of Ponte Milvio

1639: The death of composer Stefano Landi

1922: Mussolini’s Fascists march on Rome

1963: The birth of singer-songwriter Eros Ramazzotti

1973: The death of actor and illustrator Sergio Tòfano

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Marco Malvaldi – crime writer and chemist

Author has mastered the science of detective fiction

Marco Malvadi began his writing
career with La briscola in cinque

Novelist Marco Malvaldi, who has written a prize-winning mystery featuring the real-life 19th century Italian culinary expert Pellegrino Artuso as his fictional sleuth, was born on this day in 1974 in Pisa.

Malvaldi, who is a graduate in chemistry from Pisa University, has also written a travel guide about his home town with the title Scacco alle Torre (Checkmate to the Tower), which has been presented at the Pisa Book Festival. In the book, he writes a story about a nocturnal walk through the city entitled Finalmente soli (Finally Alone), which was inspired by an image taken by a professional photographer, Nicola Ughi, a fellow Pisan, who has become his official portraitist. 

He began his writing career in 2007 with a mystery novel, La briscola in cinque (Game for Five), published by Sellerio Editore. The novel’s protagonist, Massimo, a barista, and the owner of a bar named BarLume, which is a play on the Italian word barlume, which means 'flicker of light', is forced into the role of investigator in the fictional seaside resort town of Pineta on the Tuscan coast.  

Other books in the series followed and three have been translated into English: Il gioco delle tre carte (Three-card Monte), Il re dei giochi (The King of Games) and La carta più alta (The Highest Card).

In 2011, Malvaldi’s novel, Odore di chiuso (The Scent of Must) was published by Sellerio Editore and later published in English under the title, The Art of Killing Well. It featured Pellegrino Artusi, a renowned 19th century gastronomist from the Romagna region, as his fictional detective. The novel was awarded the Isola d’Elba Award and the Castiglioncello Prize. 

Malvadi's novel The
Art of Killing Well

Malvaldi published a thriller in 2012, Milioni di milioni (Millions of Millions), which is set in the fictional Tuscan town of Montesodi Marittimo, and features a university geneticist and an archivist, who form an unusual team of amateur investigators. In 2013, Malvaldi was awarded the literary prize, Premio Letterario La Tore Isola d’Elba - two of five literary honours his books have won.

After graduating, Malvaldi also did research in the department of pharmacy at Pisa University and he has written several books about science. His book, Le due teste del tiranno: metodi matematici per la Libertà (The Two Heads of the Tyrant: Mathematic Methods for Freedom), published in 2017, won a 2018 Asimov award, for the best book in scientific dissemination published in Italy.

Malvaldi, whose birthday today is his 50th, has also co-authored books with Roberto Vacca, Dino Leporini, journalist and poet Ernesto Ragazzoni among many others. 

Malvaldi’s partner is Samantha Bruzzone, who is also a chemist and passionate about detective fiction. Together, they have written two children’s books and in 2022 the novel, Chi si ferma e perduto (Who Stops is Lost).

Pisa's leaning tower began to 
tilt soon after it was built

Travel tip:

Pisa is world famous for its leaning tower, which Malvaldi writes about in his book Scacco alle Torre (Checkmate to the Tower). Work began on the construction of a freestanding bell tower for the Cathedral in Pisa in 1173. The tower’s famous tilt began during the building process and is believed to have been caused by the laying of inadequate foundations on ground that was too soft on one side to support the weight of the structure. The tilt got worse over the years until work had to be carried out to correct it in the 20th century. At its most extreme, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees but since the restoration work carried out between 1990 and 2001 the tower leans at about 3.99 degrees. The tower was reopened to the public in 2001, when it was declared that it would be stable for another 300 years.

The picturesque harbour at the port of Portoferraio
on the island of Elba off the Tuscan coast

Travel tip:

The Tuscan coast, which Malvaldi fictionalises in some of his books, has a long stretch of sandy beaches that include holiday destinations such as Viareggio, Forte dei Marmi, Catiglioncello, Follonica, Castiglione della Pescaia, Porto Ercole, Talamone, and many others. Off the coast is the island of Elba, a popular destination for holidaymakers who arrive by ferry at Portoferraio, where there is an old port and a modern seafront with hotels. The west coast of the island has sandy beaches, but the east coast is more rugged with high cliffs. Inland there are olive groves and vineyards producing the wine, Elba DOC. You can visit Napoleon’s two residences while he was in exile on the island, Palazzina Naopleonica, a modest house built around two windmills in Portoferraio, and Villa San Martino, his country house, further inland at San Martino and decorated inside with Egyptian-style frescoes.

Also on this day:

98: Trajan becomes Emperor of Rome 

1861: Italy elects its first parliament

1881: The birth of mobster Frank Nitti

1901: The death of composer Giuseppe Verdi

1927: The birth of writer and novelist Giovanni Arpino

1962: The birth of musician Roberto Paci Dalò

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Vincenzo da Filicaja – poet

Patriotic writer was inspired by victory against the Turks

Da Filicaja earned comparisons
with the great poet Petrarch

Vincenzo da Filicaja, a writer and a politician whose poetry has been compared with that of the great Italian poet Petrarch, died on this day in 1707 in Florence.

Da Filicaja’s six celebrated odes inspired by a famous battle victory led to scholars placing him on a level with some of the greatest Italian poets.

He was also a respected politician and was named governor of Volterra and Pisa by Cosimo III, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who later appointed him to serve in the Tuscan Senate.

Born into an aristocratic family in Florence in 1642, Da Filicaja was educated by Jesuits before going to Pisa University to study law. In Pisa, he was inspired by the historical associations he saw that were linked with the former glory of the republic of Pisa.

The banners and emblems of the Order of St Stephen, which had its seat in Pisa, had great significance for the young student, who knew that the navy of this military order, created by Cosimo I de’ Medici, formed the main defence of his country and its commerce against Turkish, Algerian and Tunisian corsairs.

After returning to Florence, Da Filicaja married Anna Capponi in 1673, the daughter of a senator and marquis, and he went to live in the Tuscan countryside, where his main interest was writing Italian and Latin poetry.

Da Filicaja earned comparisons
with the great poet Petrarch

He became a member of the Accademia della Crusca, a society for scholars of Italian linguistics and philology, which is now the oldest linguistic academy in the world.

Other scholars and writers he met there, such as the poet Francesco Redi, helped him to gain access to Medici court patronage.

Da Filicaja’s imagination was fired by the deliverance of Vienna from the Turks in 1683 and he composed six odes to celebrate the victory.  Redi showed Da Filicaja’s verses to his own royal patron and sent them to the foreign princes whose noble deeds were praised in them. The quality of Da Filicaja’s odes celebrating the victory of John III Sobieski in the Battle of Vienna is what made many scholars consider him to be on a level with some of the greatest Italian poets.

Christina, the ex Queen of Sweden, contacted Da Filicaja from her exile in Rome, offering to pay for the education of his two sons and to keep the generous gesture a secret. And in 1691, Da Filicaja became a member of the Academy of Arcadia, a literary academy founded in Rome.

Cosimo III made the poet the commissioner of official balloting and governor of Volterra, where Da Filicaja tried to improve public morality. He was also made governor of Pisa in 1700 and he became so popular that when he left office the inhabitants of both cities petitioned to have him brought back.

Cosimo III made him a Senator in Florence, where he spent the last years of his life. After he died, at the age of 64, he was buried in the family vault of the Church of San Pietro in Florence and a monument was erected in his memory in the Basilica di Santa Croce in the city by his only surviving son, Scipione Filicaja.

The Palazzo della Carovana, which was built
by Vasari for the Knights of St Stephen

Travel tip:

Pisa’s most popular tourist attraction by a long way is the Campo dei Miracoli, site of the famous Leaning Tower, which features a beautiful Romanesque cathedral and an equally impressive baptistry. For many visitors, the Campo dei Miracoli is all they come to see, yet there is much more to Pisa than the Leaning Tower. The University of Pisa remains one of the most prestigious in Italy, while the student population ensures a vibrant cafe and bar scene. There is also much to see in the way of Romanesque buildings, Gothic churches and Renaissance piazzas. Interesting churches include Santa Maria della Spina, which sits next to the Arno river, while Piazza dei Cavalieri is notable for the Palazzo della Carovana, built by Giorgio Vasari in 1564 as the headquarters for the Knights of St Stephen.

The magnificent facade of the Basilica di
Santa Croce, a Florence highlight

Travel tip:

The Basilica of Santa Croce, consecrated in 1442, is the main Franciscan church in Florence and the burial place among others of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, the poet Ugo Foscolo, the philosopher Giovanni Gentile, the composer Gioachino Rossini and the nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi.  It houses works by some of the most illustrious names in the history of art, including Canova, Cimabue, Donatello, Giotto and Vasari. The construction of the current church, to replace an older building on what was once marshland outside the city wall, began in 1294, paid for by some of the city's wealthiest families. It is the largest Franciscan church in the world.  The floorplan is an Egyptian or Tau cross - a symbol of St Francis - 115 metres in length with a nave and two aisles separated by lines of octagonal columns, with 16 chapels. It stands proudly over the Piazza Santa Croce, one of the most famous and beautiful squares in the city.

Also on this day:

1501: The birth of doctor and mathematician Girolamo Cardano

1934: The birth of Princess Maria-Pia of Bourbon-Parma

1954: The birth of footballer Marco Tardelli

1955: The birth of businessman Ricardo Illy

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Filippo Mazzei – physician

Liberal thinker was praised by John F Kennedy

Filippo Mazzei contributed to the wording
of America's Declaration of Independence

Globe-trotting doctor Filippo Mazzei, who was a close friend of the American president, Thomas Jefferson, died on this day in 1816 in Pisa in Tuscany.

During the American Revolutionary War, Mazzei had acted as an agent for Jefferson, purchasing arms for Virginia.

President John F Kennedy paid tribute to Mazzei’s contribution to the Declaration of Independence in his book, A Nation of Immigrants.

Mazzei was born in 1730 in Poggio a Caiano in Tuscany. He studied medicine in Florence and then practiced in both Italy and Turkey. He moved to London in 1755 and set himself up in business as an importer, while also working as an Italian teacher.

In London he met both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who would become two of America's Founding Fathers, and came up with the idea of importing Tuscan products, such as wine and olive trees, to the New World.

In 1773 Mazzei boarded a ship from Livorno to Virginia, taking with him plants, seeds, silkworms and farmers from Lucca.

He visited Jefferson at his estate in Virginia and was given a large piece of land to start an experimental plantation.

Thomas Jefferson and Filippo Mazzei
shared similar political values

Mazzei and Jefferson started what was to become the first commercial vineyard in Virginia. They were both interested in politics and discovered they shared similar liberal values, becoming good friends.

After Mazzei returned to Italy in 1779 he became a secret agent for the state of Virginia, buying and shipping arms to them.

He also travelled through Europe promoting Republican ideals, writing a political history of the American Revolution, which he published in Paris in 1788.

While in the Polish Lithuanian commonwealth, Mazzei became attached as a Privy Councillor to the court of King Stanislaus II. The King then sent him to be Poland’s representative in Paris.  After Poland was partitioned between Russia and Prussia in 1795, Mazzei was given a pension by Russia.

While in France, Mazzei became active in the politics of the French Revolution under the Directorate, but when Napoleon overthrew that Government, Mazzei returned to Pisa, where he died in 1816. He was buried in the Pisa Suburbano cemetery.

It has been claimed that Jefferson had a falling out with George Washington over a letter he had sent to Mazzei in Italy that criticised Washington’s administration. The letter was eventually published overseas and in the US.

A plaque marks the house in Via Giordano Bruno in Pisa
where Filippo Mazzei died on March 19, 1816

But John F Kennedy acknowledges Mazzei’s contribution to the Declaration of Independence in his book: A Nation of Immigrants. He states: ‘The great doctrine ‘All men are created equal’ and incorporated into the declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson was paraphrased from the writing of Philip Mazzei, an Italian-born patriot and pamphleteer, who was a close friend of Jefferson.’

Kennedy said in his book that scholars try to discredit Mazzei as the creator of this statement but he insists that it was written in Italian in Mazzei’s own hand several years before the Declaration was written.

Kennedy writes: ‘No one man can take complete credit for the ideals of American democracy.’

In 1980 a 40-cent US airmail stamp was issued to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Mazzei’s birth. The World War II Liberty Ship SS Filippo Mazzei was also named in his honour.

Mazzei lived his final years in a house in Via Giordano Bruno in Pisa, which is identified to visitors by a plaque on the wall. He was said to have been a regular visitor to the Caffè dell’Ussero, a coffee house frequented by intellectuals that occupies the ground floor of the Palazzo Agostini, a striking four-storey Gothic building by the river on Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti.

The Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano, where visitors can
view apartments used by the Medici family

Travel tip:

Poggio a Caiano, where Filippo Mazzei was born, is a town and comune in the province of Prato in Tuscany. It lies nine kilometres south of the provincial capital of Prato. One of the most famous sights in the area is the Villa Medici, designed by Giuliano da Sangallo in around 1480. Today it is a public building housing a museum and the historic apartments where members of the Medici family used to stay.

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Pisa's Torre Pendente - the leaning tower -
is a monument recognised all over the world

Travel tip:

Pisa, where Filippo Mazzei died and was buried, is famous for its leaning tower, Torre Pendente, which is one of the four buildings that make up the cathedral complex in the Field of Miracles (Campo dei Miracoli). The Duomo was the first to be constructed and then the Baptistery was added. While work on the tower was being carried out, a cemetery (Campo Santo) was added. During the summer the tower is open to visitors from 08.30 to 22.00. Tickets to climb the tower are limited and booking in advance is recommended if you want to avoid queuing. For more details, visit www.towerofpisa.org/tickets.

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Francesco Algarotti - writer and art collector

Francesco Algarotti was a man of many talents
with a colorful love life

Philosopher and polymath with a playboy lifestyle

The multi-talented writer, philosopher and art connoisseur Francesco Algarotti, one of the most prominent and colourful individuals in 18th century intellectual society, died in this day in 1764 in Pisa.

Algarotti, who wrote many essays and a number of books, was something of a polymath in his breadth of knowledge on a wide number of subjects, including architecture and music as well as art. He was also a charismatic figure who became friends with most of the leading authors of his day, including Voltaire, Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens and Pierre-Louis de Maupertuis.

His urbane manner and suave good looks, combined with his considerable intellect, led him to acquire admirers of both sexes. Indeed, at one time he is said to have found himself at the centre of a colourful bisexual love triangle involving John Hervey, the English peer and politician, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the aristocratic travel writer, who became infatuated with Algarotti at the same time as Hervey, her one-time lover.

Algarotti was often engaged by the courts of European monarchs to acquire or commission paintings and other decorative artworks, or to advise on architectural projects, but also amassed a considerable collection of his own.  He commissioned works by Tiepolo, Pittoni, Piazzetta, Castiglione, Panini and Balestra among others, while helping to further the careers of Giuseppe Nogari, Bernardo Bellotto and Francesco Pavona.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is said to have
become infatuated with Algarotti

Giovanni Paolo Panini’s famous view of the interior of the Pantheon in Rome, painted in around 1734, was commissioned by Algarotti.

One painting thought to have been in his collection, Sebastiano Ricci’s Vision of St Bruno, sold at auction in the United States for $500,000 after turning up in a warehouse in Texas in 2008.

Algarotti was born in Venice in 1712. His father, a wealthy merchant, was an art collector and it was expected he would join his older brother, Bonomo, in the family business.

Instead, he went Rome to for a year, and then studied natural sciences and mathematics at Bologna and Florence. At age of 20, he went to Paris, where he became friendly with Voltaire and, in 1737, published Newtonianesimo per le dame, ovvero Dialoghi sopra la luce e i colori (Newtonianism for Ladies, or Dialogues on Light and Colour), a work on Newtonian optics, in which he had a particular expertise.

He spent time in London, where he met Lord Hervey, who would later become Lord Privy Seal in the government led by Robert Walpole. Hervey, who is known to have had many affairs with both men and women, was drawn towards his sophistication and physical attractiveness, but at the same time Algarotti attracted the attention of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who became so enamoured of him that she left her husband and proposed that they live together in Italy.

Algarotti's tomb, paid for by Frederick
the Great, at Campo Santo in Pisa

The relationship came to nothing, however, after Algarotti received an invitation to go to Berlin from Frederick the Great of Prussia, and stayed there for more than nine years as court chamberlain.

A member of the Royal Society, Algarotti was popular in many European courts. Frederick the Great made him a Prussian count.  Augustus III of Poland also honored him with the title of Councillor.

In 1754, he returned to Italy, living in Bologna, Venice and then Pisa, where he died from tuberculosis ten years later at the age of 51. In his memory, Frederick the Great erected a monument to him on the Campo Santo in Pisa.

Algarotti's writings include several studies on classical themes and a series of treatises on language, opera, architecture, the poet Horace, painting and on influences on national character. He is credited with introducing the genre of essay-writing into Italy.

His 1745 book Il congresso di Citera, which was published in English as The Modern Art of Love, was a lighthearted comparison of English, French, and Italian attitudes toward love.

Panini's painting of the interior of
The Pantheon in Rome

Travel tip:

The Pantheon in Piazza della Rotonda in Rome is considered to be Rome’s best preserved ancient building. It was built in AD 118 on the site of a previous building dating back to 27 BC. It was consecrated as a church in the seventh century and many important people are buried there, including Victor Emmanuel II, his son, Umberto I, and his wife, Queen Margherita.  It was as much a tourist attraction in Panini’s day as it is today and Panini manipulated the proportions and perspective to include more of the interior that is actually visible from any one vantage point.

The Campo Santo is part of the Piazza dei Miracoli complex,
the most famous landmark of which is the Leaning Tower

Travel tip:

The Campo Santo, also known as Camposanto Monumentale, is a huge oblong Gothic cloister at the northern edge of the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa. Designed by Giovanni di Simone, who began work on it in 1278, it was the fourth and final structure erected in the piazza, following the cathedral, the baptistery and the campanile - the leaning tower. It is thought the building was not meant to be a cemetery, but a church called Santissima Trinità (Most Holy Trinity), but the project changed during construction.  It is called Campo Santo, which literally means ‘holy field’, because it is said to have been built on sacred soil from Calvary, or Golgotha, the site outside the walls of Jerusalem where the Gospels say Christ was crucified, which had been brought back to Pisa from the Third Crusade by Ubaldo Lanfranchi, archbishop of Pisa.


More reading:

Panini's eye for capturing scenes of Rome

Tiepolo's legacy to Venice

How 18th century Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni reinvigorated commedia dell'arte

Also on this day:

1461: The birth of patron of the arts Cardinal Raffaele Riario

1469: The birth of statesman and diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli

1815: Austria defeats Napoleon's troops at the Battle of Tolentino


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Guido Menasci - poet, librettist and biographer

Respected writer and historian who found fame from an opera

Guido Menasci (right) with fellow librettist Giovanni
Targioni-Tozzetti, flanking composer Pietro Mascagni

The writer Guido Menasci, who is best known as a co-author of the libretto for composer Pietro Mascagni’s successful opera Cavalleria rusticana but was also a respected historian, was born on this day in 1867 in the Tuscan port of Livorno.

Menasci, a law graduate from the University of Pisa and briefly a prosecutor at the Court of Appeal in Lucca, wrote for a number of literary magazines in Italy and beyond and produced a biography of the German poet and playwright Johann Wolfgang Goethe that is considered a definitive work.

Fluent in French as well as Italian, he published books and gave lectures in Paris, often on the subject of art history, which was another of his fascinations.

Yet he was most famous for his work with Mascagni and his fellow librettist, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, whom he met through his involvement with literary and cultural societies in Livorno, where all three grew up.

They collaborated on a number of operas, the most famous of which by some way was Cavalleria rusticana, which was performed for the first time in 1890, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.

The tenor Roberto Stagno and soprano
Gemma Bellincioni in the premiere
of Cavalleria rusticana in Rome

Based on a novella of the same name by Giovanni Verga, Cavalleria Rusticana is a simple story of betrayal and revenge involving two men and two women in a Sicilian village. Its success turned Mascagni, a modest music teacher, into a composer of international fame, not least for the beautiful intermezzo that has become a popular piece standing alone from the opera.

Menasci inherited his gift for writing from his father, who was a shopkeeper but also a published author of a number of books of verse and was a councillor in Livorno involved with education.

He began to write poetry at the same time as he was studying law, amusing his fellow students by composing summaries of lectures in verse.

Soon, his poetry was appearing regularly in the pages of publications such as Lettere e arti, a well-known Bolognese magazine founded by Enrico Panzacchi, others in Italy and in foreign periodicals such as the French daily Le Siècle , the Austrians Neue Freie Presse and Neue Wiener Tagblatt, and the English monthly The English Illustrated Magazine.

His collaboration with Targioni-Tozzetti, whose father, Ottaviano, had taught him literary studies at high school, began in 1899 and included the libretti for several other operas in addition to Cavalleria rusticana, including I Rantzau and Zanetto, also by Mascagni, and Umberto Giordano’s Regina Diaz. He and Targioni-Tozzetti also edited an Italian version of Werther by Jules Massenet.

At the same time, Menasci was working independently for other composers, such as the Germans August Scharrer and Ignaz Brüll. During a lengthy stay in Germany he compiled his biographical study of Goethe (1899), which was considered remarkable even among the many works dedicated to the German poet.

Menasci devoted much time to the study of other German writers and to figures in French literary and civil history. He wrote elegantly in French and was able to address conferences and deliver lectures in Paris with full confidence in his command of the language.

His versatility extended to writing stories for children and numerous studies devoted to the history of art.

In his later years, he returned to Livorno and became a professor at the prestigious Naval Academy. He died in Livorno in 1925 after a period of declining health.

Livorno's elegant promenade Terrazza Mascagni was
named after the composer Pietro Mascagni

Travel tip:

The port of Livorno is the second largest city in Tuscany after Florence, with a population of almost 160,000. Although it is a large commercial port with much related industry, it has many attractions, including an elegant sea front – the Terrazza Mascagni - an historic centre – the Venetian quarter – with canals, and a tradition of serving excellent seafood.  The Terrazza Mascagni is named after the composer Pietro Mascagni, who was born in Livorno. Menasci is commemorated rather less grandly in the name of a fairly nondescript street in a residential area close to the city’s main railway station.

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The Teatro Costanzi, in Via del Viminale, a short distance from
Piazza della Repubblica, is now known as Teatro dell'Opera

Travel tip:

Known today as the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma - Rome’s main opera house - the Teatro Costanzi was built in 1879-80. Financed by Domenico Costanzi, a contractor, it was designed by the Milanese architect Achille Sfondrini, a specialist in the building and renovation of theatres. Built on the site of the house of the Roman emperor Elagabalus, the theatre was inaugurated in November 1880 with a performance of Semiramide by Gioachino Rossini.  Sfondrini paid particular attention to the acoustics of the theatre, the dome of which was adorned with frescoes by Annibale Brugnoli. As well as the world premiere of Cavalleria rusticana, the theatre staged the first production of Tosca by Giacomo Puccini in January 1900 and introduced Roman audiences to Puccini’s La fanciulla del West, Turandot and Il trittico, Richard Wagner’s Parsifal and Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov among other compositions that would become famous.

More reading:

How one opera was the making of Mascagni

Why Leoncavallo's Pagliacci is one of the world's favourite operas

Hooligans wreck the Rome premiere of The Barber of Seville

Also on this day:

1874: The birth of politician and winemaker Luigi Einaudi

1926: The birth of controversial playwright Dario Fo

1934: The birth of photographer Mimmo Jodice

(Picture credit: Teatro Costanzi by Lalupa)

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Camila Giorgi - tennis player

Former Italian No 1 who specialised in beating big names

Camila Giorgi rose to No 26 in the world
following a successful 2018 season

The former tennis player Camila Giorgi, who at her peak climbed to 26 in the world rankings and was Italy's No 1 female player, was born on this day in 1991 in Macerata, a city in the Marche region.

At the time, there was no other Italian woman in the top 100 Women's Tennis Association world rankings.

The breakthrough year for Giorgi came in 2018, when she reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam event for the only time, at the Wimbledon Championships in London.

Giorgi was not seeded but after defeating 21st seed Anastasija Sevastova in the first round, she advanced through her section of the draw with three more victories, culminating in a straight-sets win over former world No 8 Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round.

That earned Giorgi a last-eight meeting with seven-times Wimbledon champion and world record grand slam winner Serena Williams.  Giorgi won the first set but Williams fought back to win the match.

Earlier in the 2018 summer, Giorgi had delivered her best performance at the French Open by reaching the third round. Later in the year, she won her second career WTA tournament, the Linz Open in Austria.

Giorgi has an excellent record in matches against top players
and commentators believe her best years are still to come

In 2021, she reached the quarter-finals in the delayed Tokyo Olympics and recorded her best career result in winning the Canadian Open in Montreal, defeating world No. 6, Karolína Plíšková in the final, taking her first WTA 1000 title.

She won her fourth WTA Tour career title at the 2023 Mérida Open in Mexico but announced her retirement from the professional game in May, 2024.

Giorgi had an unusually good record against top players.

In the course of her career, Giorgi defeated former World No 1 players Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki and Garbiñe Muguruza as well as Plíšková, double Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, two French Open champions in her fellow Italian Francesca Schiavone and Jelena Ostapenko, another Wimbledon winner in Marion Bartoli and three US Open champions in Samantha Stosur, Italy’s Flavia Pennetta and Sloane Stephens.

Giorgi was born to Argentinian parents of Italian descent. Her parents are Claudia Gabriella Fullone, a fashion designer who designs her daughter’s tennis clothes, and Sergio Giorgi, who was her full-time coach. In 1982, Sergio was drafted into the army of Argentina and fought against the British in the Falklands War.

She is one of four children. Her older brother Leandro is studying to be an actor, and younger brother Amadeus is a promising footballer. Sadly, their older sister, Antonela, was killed in a road accident while the family were living in Paris in 2011. They now live at Tirrenia, a resort near Pisa.

Giorgi, who was given a placement at Nick Bollettieri’s tennis academy in Florida when she was eight, made her professional debut at the age of 15. She won the first of her five International Tennis Federation tournaments in August 2008.

Her first appearance at a Grand Slam tournament came in 2011, when she won through qualifying to make the draw at Wimbledon. She lost her first-round match, but reached the fourth round at Wimbledon the following year, advancing to the same stage at the US Open in 2013, defeating former world No 1 Wozniacki along the way.  She made the third round at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2015, during which she scored her first WTA title in Rosmalen, in the Netherlands.

Giorgi was regularly praised for the power of her hitting and the quality of her ground strokes, but also attracted comment, not always favourable, for posting glamorous images of herself on her social media accounts.

*This article was updated in December, 2024.

Queues at the entrance to the Arena Sferisterio, which
hosts a month-long summer opera festival in Macerata

Travel tip:

Camila Giorgi’s home city of Macerata is in an inland area of Marche, about 48km (30 miles) south of Ancona and 30km (19 miles) from the coastal town of Civitanova Marche. Not a well-known tourist destination, it nonetheless has a charming hilltown feel, with a maze of narrow cobblestone streets and one of Italy’s oldest universities, dating back to 1290. It is the setting each summer for a month-long opera festival at the atmospheric Arena Sferisterio, which has attracted some of the world’s biggest stars.

The Tuscan seaside resort of Tirrenia, where Camila Giorgi
now lives, is surrounded by pine forests 

Travel tip:

Tirrenia, situated about 20km (12 miles) from the city of Pisa, is an elegant resort surrounded by pine forests. Known for its wide, sandy beaches and clear water, it is well equipped with sports facilities and is a centre for leisure sailing and spearfishing. The forest areas offer walks and cycle paths and has a protected area, the Tirrenia Dune Oasis, which is managed by the Worldwide Fund for Nature as home to a many varieties of flora and fauna and one of the last dune environments in Italy.

More reading:

How Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam

The talent that helped doubles star Sara Errani hit No 5 in singles rankings

The unique achievement of Adriano Panatta 

Also on this day:

39AD: The birth of Roman emperor Titus

1572: The death of architect Galeazzo Alessi

1962: The birth of politician Alessandra Mussolini


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