Stefano D’Arrigo – writer

Author’s greatest work took him 17 years to complete

Stefano d'Arrigo wrote a novel
considered a literary masterpiece

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stefano D’Arrigo died in Rome in May 1992.

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

Travel tip:

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

Stay in Alì Terme with Expedia

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

Travel tip:

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

Use Hotels.com to find accommodation in Messina

More reading:

The prince whose novel became a classic of Sicilian literature

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

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

Also on this day:

70BC: The birth of the Roman poet Virgil

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

1785: The birth of painter Giovanni Migliara

1905: The birth of footballer Angelo Schiavio

1964: The birth of astronaut Roberto Vittori

Home

Bernardo Pisano – musician and priest

First composer to have collection of his music printed

A page from an early printed collection
of music by Bernardo Pisano

Bernardo Pisano, who is believed to have been the first composer of the Italian madrigal, was born on this day in 1490 in Florence.

Pisano - sometimes known as Pagoli - was so important in musical circles during his lifetime that he is also thought to have been the first composer anywhere in the world to have a printed collection of secular music devoted entirely to himself.

Although he was born in Florence, it is supposed that, because he used the name Pisano, he must have also spent some time living in Pisa. 

As a young man, he sang and studied music at the Church of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence. In 1512, he became maestro di cappella there in addition to supervising the choristers and singing in the chapels himself. 

As a favourite of the Medici family, he was appointed to sing in the papal chapel in Rome in 1514 after Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici became Pope Leo X. While there, he also taught Francesco Corteccia, an organist and composer for Cosimo I de’ Medici.

Pisano stayed in Rome for the rest of his life, singing in the papal chapel choir, and he acquired ecclesiastical benefices from the Medici at the cathedrals of Seville and Lerida in Spain.

However, he made the mistake of returning to Florence in 1529 during the three-year period of republican government of the city. He was seized and imprisoned because he was known to have close connections to the Medici family. While he was being kept prisoner, he was accused of being a papal spy and tortured.

After the siege of Florence in 1529, the city was recaptured by papal troops and the Medici were returned to power there. Pisano was released and was able to go back to live in Rome.

Raphael's portrait of Pope Leo X, who
was Pisano's friend and patron

Pisano had written sacred music during his time as maestro di cappella at the Church of the Annunziata. But he was later to be more influential as a composer of secular music and he was believed to be history's first madrigalist.

Madrigals were sung during the 15th and 16th centuries by groups of between two and eight voices. In 1520, a Venetian printer published ‘Musica di Messer Bernardo Pisano sopra del canzone del Petrarca’. While the pieces in the collection were not actually called madrigals, they contained features that have been recognised in retrospect as being distinctive of the madrigal genre. 

The collection was made up of verses by the poet Petrarch set to music by Pisano. He was influenced by the literary theories of the poet and scholar Pietro Bembo, who was a secretary to Pope Leo X and later became a Cardinal appointed by Pope Paul III.

This publication was also the first known collection of secular music by a single composer to be printed. 

Later composers who became masters of the madrigal genre are known to have been aware of this work by Pisano and to have copied some of his stylistic traits from it.

In 1546, Pope Paul III appointed Pisano as maestro di cappella of his private chapel. Among the singers in his group was a Franco/Flemish musician, Jacques Arcadelt, who was later to become famous as a madrigal composer. 

Bernardo Pisano died in 1548 in Rome. He is buried in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva next to the two Medici popes who had been his friends and patrons.

 Giovanni Battista Caccini's Renaissance-style
facade of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata

Travel tip:

The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, where Bernardo Pisano was maestro di cappella, is a minor Catholic basilica near the centre of Florence. The church was founded in 1250 by the seven original members of the Servite order and is located in Piazza Santissima Annunziata. In 1252 a friar was commissioned to produce a painting of the Annunciation for the church. He was said to have despaired about being able to do justice to the face of the Virgin and eventually fell asleep while working on it, but when he woke again the painting had been miraculously completed. He attributed this to the work of an angel. The painting has since attracted many pilgrims to visit it, including Pope Alexander VI, who gave a silver effigy to the church. It has since become the tradition for brides in Florence to visit the church to leave their bouquets there.

Stay in Florence with Expedia

The Gothic interior of the Basilica di Santa Maria
sopra Minerva in Rome, where Pisano is buried

Travel tip:

The Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where Bernardo Pisano is buried, is in Piazza della Minerva in Rome. The name of the church is derived from the fact that the original structure was built directly over the ruins of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, that had been wrongly ascribed to the Greek/Roman goddess Minerva. It is located to the east of the Pantheon in the Pigna rione of Rome in the ancient district known as Campus Martius. Dominican friars began building the present Gothic church structure in 1280, modelling it on Santa Maria Novella in Florence. In 1431 the church and adjacent convent was the site of a papal conclave, when 14 Cardinals sitting in the sacristy elected Pope Eugenius IV. After his death, a second conclave was held there in 1447 when 18 Cardinals elected Pope Nicholas V. The church houses a marble sculpture by Michelangelo, Cristo della Minerva, representing the figure of Christ carrying the cross, which is located to the left of the main altar.

Book a Rome hotel with Hotels.com

More reading:

How the madrigal genre influenced the composer Monteverdi 

The madrigal writer also known for a brutal murder

The Medici musician who invented the madrigal comedy

Also on this day:

1492: The death of Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca

1812: The death of Ascanio Sobrero, the chemist who discovered nitroglycerine

1935: The birth of tenor Luciano Pavarotti

2006: The death of film director Gillo Pontecorvo

Home

Milly Carlucci - TV host

Former actress is the face of Ballando con le Stelle

Milly Carlucci is host and artistic director of the
hit Italian TV show Ballando con le Stelle

The television host and former actress Milly Carlucci was born on this day in 1954 in Sulmona, a picturesque town in central Abruzzo, about 52km (32 miles) inland from the coastal city of Pescara.

With a career spanning nearly five decades, Carlucci has been a well-known and popular personality on Italian television since the late 1970s, establishing a reputation for elegance and professionalism and a list of credits that grew rapidly through the ‘80s and ‘90s.

But it is in her current and most enduring role, as the presenter of the pro-celebrity dance contest Ballando con le Stelle - the Italian version of the US hit Dancing with the Stars and the UK’s Strictly Come Dancing - that she has established herself as a giant of small-screen entertainment.

Having fronted the show from its inception in 2005, Carlucci is also its artistic director and project manager. Now into its 20th season, Ballando con le Stelle has become a flagship for the state television network Rai and is currently its longest-running variety show still on air.

Born Camilla Patrizia Carlucci, she was brought up in a household in which discipline was a virtue instilled in her from an early age. Her father, Luigi Carlucci, reached the rank of General in the Italian Army. Her mother, Maria, was known for her cultural refinement and interest in the arts, which helped nurture Milly’s creative instincts.

Carlucci on the set of the 2025
edition of Ballando con le Stelle

The Carlucci family moved frequently due to her father’s military postings, and Milly spent much of her childhood in Udine, in the northwest of the country, before settling in Rome. 

She attended the Terenzio Mamiani high school in Rome’s Prati district, where he shone in her studies but also revealed a talent for roller skating, winning an Italian championship as a member of the successful Skating Folgore Roma team.

Carlucci enrolled at Sapienza University of Rome to study architecture, but her interest in performance and natural ability to command a stage gradually eclipsed her academic pursuits. Articulate as well as elegant, in 1972 she entered and won the Miss Teenager Italy beauty contest.

This victory opened doors into modelling and television. She also studied classical dance and took part in amateur theatre productions, honing the stagecraft and composure that would become her trademarks. 

At times required to join the ranks of the showgirls that at the time were ever-present backdrop in Italian variety shows, Carlucci soon began to land presenting roles, first at the local Rome television station, GBR, and then with Rai, for whom she fronted various light entertainment shows including the Italian version of Jeux Sans Frontières. It was this show that made her famous, and she presented it for four seasons.

Carlucci enjoyed a brief career
as a pop singer in the 1980s

For a while, Carlucci had a parallel career in acting, appearing in popular Italian films such as The Taming of the Scoundrel (1980), Pappa e ciccia (1983), and Tomorrow I'm Getting Married (1984). Her role as Urania in The Adventures of Hercules (1985) further cemented her status as a screen favourite.

Blessed also with a beautiful singing voice, she was briefly a recording artist as well, releasing a number of pop singles and two albums in the 1980s.

However, it was television hosting that has truly defined Carlucci’s legacy. Apart from a few years in the 1980s when she worked for Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest networks, she has been a fixture on Rai for the best part of five decades, with a long list of successes from the popular game show Scommettiamo che...? (Shall we bet that…?), which she co-hosted with the late Fabrizio Frizzi, to the more recent Il cantante mascherato, the Italian version of The Masked Singer.

She has also become established as Rai’s go-to host for special events in the entertainment world. Having proved herself on big occasions such as the Sanremo Italian Song Festival, on which she was a co-host with Pippo Baudo in 1992, she was the long-running host of the annual Pavarotti & Friends concerts (1995 to 2003), in which the great operatic tenor performed in duets with famous guests. She hosted the David di Donatello film awards in 1997 and 1998, as well as 17 editions of the prestigious Ischia International Journalism Award.

Milly Carlucci at the funeral of her friend,
Luciano Pavarotti, in Modena in 2007

Yet nothing has come close to the success of Ballando con le Stelle, in which celebrities and sports stars dance with professional partners over 12 episodes, with couples marked by judges in the studio and by the viewing public, and eliminated one-by-one until a champion emerges at the end of the series.

Carlucci has been the host for every series so far, until this year alongside co-host Paolo Belli, whose Big Band provides the musicians. Belli is starring in the 2025 edition as a competitor. The panel of judges includes the fashion and set designer Guillermo Mariotto, whom Carlucci has known since the 1990s and was one of the original panel in 2005. The head judge since 2007 has been Glasgow-born Carolyn Smyth, who has been a dance teacher based in Italy since 1982. 

Beyond entertainment, Carlucci has also been active in humanitarian work. In 1996, she was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, using her platform to advocate for children’s rights and global development initiatives.

She has been married since 1985 to engineer Angelo Donati, with whom she has two children. Her two younger sisters, Gabriella and Anna Carlucci, have also had careers in the entertainment industry, Gabriella as a presenter, Anna as an actress, writer and director.

Gabriella also served for 12 years as a member of the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian parliament, representing Puglia.

Sulmona's elegant Piazza Garibaldi includes a
section of the town's 13th-century aqueduct 

Travel tip:

Nestled in the heart of Abruzzo, Sulmona is an historic town renowned for its cultural heritage, dramatic mountain backdrop, and artisanal traditions. Surrounded by the Majella National Park, it offers sweeping views of rugged peaks and verdant valleys. The town’s origins trace back to Roman times, its history visible in ancient Roman ruins, medieval churches, and Renaissance palaces. The town’s centerpiece is the elegant Piazza Garibaldi, framed by arcades and overlooked by an imposing aqueduct built in the 13th century. Nearby, the Gothic-style Church of Santa Maria della Tomba and the Palazzo Annunziata showcase centuries of architectural evolution, the palace a rare example of early Renaissance architecture in Sulmona that survived the earthquake of 1706.  Sulmona is famously the birthplace of the Roman poet Ovid, whose legacy is honoured with a statue and museum. Equally famous is its production of confetti - sugar-coated almonds crafted into elaborate floral arrangements, an Italian  confectionery tradition that dates back to the 15th century. 

Look for accommodation in Sulmona with Expedia

Its tree-lined boulevards give Rome's Prati
district something of a Parisian feel

Travel tip:

Carlucci went to school in the Prati district of Rome, close to the Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica, which is now an affluent residential neighbourhood that is also popular with tourists for offering a relatively quiet place to stay that still provides easy access to the city’s historical centre. It has many authentic Roman trattorie as well as a host of bars and pubs.  Located just north of the Vatican and west of the Tiber River, the area was developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was designed with wide boulevards and a grid layout - distinct from the winding alleys of Rome’s historic centre. This gives Prati a Parisian feel, its streets lined with stately buildings and Art Nouveau facades. Its main thoroughfare, Via Cola di Rienzo, is a hub for upscale shopping, featuring Italian fashion boutiques, gourmet food shops, and stylish cafés. Prati is also the home of the vast Palazzo di Giustizia in Piazza Cavour that houses the Supreme Court.

Stay in the Prati district with Hotels.com

More reading:

Pippo Baudo - record-breaking host of Sanremo song contest 

How Maria De Filippi became one of the most popular faces on Italian TV

The former actress who became the face of Sunday afternoons

Also on this day:

1450: The death of Leonello d’Este, Marquis of Ferrara

1910: The birth of Olympic cycling champion Attilio Pavesi

1931: The birth of composer and avant-garde artist Sylvano Bussotti

1961: The birth of football coach Walter Mazzarri

Home

Elio Germano - actor

Contemporary star has won multiple awards

Elio Germano has become one of Italy's most
popular and acclaimed movie actors

Elio Germano, one of Italy’s most acclaimed contemporary actors, was born in Rome on this day in 1980.

Germano has won six David di Donatello awards - Italy’s highest film honour - across a career in which he has won praise for the emotional depth of his performances in films often notable for their social realism. 

The prestigious prize, named after the bronze statue of the biblical hero created by the Renaissance sculptor Donatello, is awarded each year by the  Academy of Italian Cinema. Only four actors have won the award more times since their inception in 1955. 

He won it five times as best actor, the first coming in 2007 in what was his breakthrough year, cast in one of the lead roles in Daniele Luchetti’s Mio fratello è figlio unico - My Brother Is an Only Child.

Four years later, Germano teamed up with Luchetti again to pick up the best actor award for a second time for his performance in La nostra vita - Our Life - for which he also shared a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.  

He was best actor again 2015 for his portrayal of the poet Giacomo Leopardi in Mario Martone’s Il giovane favoloso - The Fabulous Young Man, which was alternatively titled Leopardi. Further David di Donatello awards followed for Giorgio Diritti’s Hidden Away (best actor, 2020) and Andrea Segre’s Berlinguer - La grande ambizione (best actor, 2024) in which he played the Communist leader, Enrico Berlinguer.

Elio Germano's breakthrough came in
Mio Fratello è Figlio Unico 

Germano picked up the best supporting actor award in 2023, playing opposite Michele Riondino in Palazzina Laf, which Riondino also directed. All told, he won 28 awards, including the Silver Bear, another best actor prize, from the Berlin Film Festival for Hidden Away.

Born in Rome to a Molisan family from Duronia in the province of Campobasso, Germano made his screen debut at the age of just 12 in the directing duo Castellano e Pipolo's 1992 movie Ci hai rotto papà. He received formal acting training at the Teatro Azione in Rome. 

He had an opportunity to work in theatre but his career moved in a different direction after landing a part in Carlo Vanzina's 1999 comedy, Il cielo in una stanza, which launched him as a popular actor with Italian audiences.

His breakthrough year, though, was 2007, when he was cast as the lead in the successful movies Fallen Heroes as well as My Brother is an Only Child, both directed by Daniele Luchetti. 

The following year he received his first international recognition, winning the Shooting Stars Award at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival.

Germano’s success in winning over audiences and critics can be attributed to a number of characteristics in his acting style.

For example, he has consistently rejected the polished, romantic archetype of the Italian male lead, gravitating instead towards flawed, working-class, politically entangled characters, of which Accio in My Brother Is an Only Child was a prime example. His performances have been notable for psychological nuance and emotional realism, reshaping audience expectations of masculinity and heroism in Italian film.

Germano won plaudits for his animated portrayal
of the former Communist leader Enrico Berlinguer

In La nostra vita, he played a grieving construction worker navigating bureaucratic and emotional collapse, the role highlighting social inequality, the precariousness of working life and political disillusionment. 

He has shown himself to be equally at home portraying historical figures such as Leopardi and Berlinguer, which showcased his ability to humanise iconic individuals without flattening their complexity. 

For Germano, 2024 was a busy year. Apart from taking the lead role in Berlinguer - La grande ambizione, he collaborated again with Luchetti in the director’s 2024 movie, Confidenza - Trust - also starring Federica Rosselini, in which he plays a revered schoolteacher haunted by his past, and starred opposite Tony Servillo and Daniela Marra in Sicilian Letters, based on a true story, in which Germano plays the Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who succeeded Bernardo Provenzano and Salvatore Riina as the unchallenged boss of all bosses within the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, spending three decades as a fugitive.

Away from acting, Germano says his passion is music. He writes songs and performs with a rap group, BestieRare, with whom he has so far recorded three albums.

Duronia, perched on a hill in Molise, has a history
stretching back to the third century BC

Travel tip: 

Duronia, where Germano has his family roots, is a historic hilltop village in the Molise region of southern Italy, about 20km (12 miles) northwest of Campobasso, nestling in an area of wooded hills and steep-sided valleys. The name Duronia can be traced back to a Samnite settlement conquered by Rome in 293 BC, although the modern town adopted this name only after 1875, having previously been known as Civitavecchia. Above the town lie remnants of Stone Age megalithic structures, believed to have been used for funerary and commemorative rituals. Duronia today is a popular destination for Canadian descendants of emigrants who left the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, settling in particular in Montreal and Vancouver.  The annual Feast of San Rocco, a celebration dedicated to Duronia’s patron saint, which takes place every August, is another highlight. 

Find accommodation in Duronia with Hotels.com

Rome's Non-Catholic Cemetery, just a short distance
from the Teatro Azione, is well worth visiting

Travel tip:

The Teatro Azione, where Germano received his formal theatrical education, is one of Rome’s most respected acting schools, known for its rigorous training in both theatre and film. Founded in 1983 by Cristiano Censi and Isabella Del Bianco, its alumni apart from Elio Germano include Maya Sansa, Carolina Crescentini and Nicolas Vaporidi. It is located in Via dei Magazzini Generali in the Ostiense district, once an industrial area but now a vibrant and evolving area just south of the historic centre, notable for street art, nightlife, and contemporary culture. Attractions nearby include Rome’s Non-Catholic Cemetery (Cimitero Acattolico), also referred to as the Protestant Cemetery or the English Cemetery, a serene garden cemetery that is the resting place of John Keats, Percy Shelley and Antonio Gramsci among others, with a heavy emphasis on artists, writers and philosophers. Also look out for the Piramide Cestia, a striking 1st-century BC Egyptian-style pyramid built as a tomb for Gaius Cestius, and the Centrale Montemartini, a former power plant turned museum, where classical sculptures are dramatically displayed among turbines and industrial relics.

Rome hotels from Expedia

More reading:

The comic genius who won seven David di Donatello awards

Italy’s ultimate screen siren who is also an Oscar winner

The stage and screen star once dubbed ‘Italy’s Olivier’

Also on this day: 

1599: The birth of architect Francesco Borromini

1773: The birth of biologist Agostino Bassi

1930: The birth of fashion designer Nino Cerruti

1955: The birth of blues musician Zucchero

Home

Sant’Eustachio – Roman saint

Christian convert martyred by Hadrian celebrated across world

 Tommaso Cagnola's Vision of Saint Eustace in the
Oratorio di Santa Maria in Garbagna Novarese, Piedmont

The feast day of Saint Eustace, Sant’Eustachio as he is known in Italian, is celebrated on this day every year in Rome, as well as throughout Italy, and elsewhere in the world.

Eustace is revered as a Christian martyr because he was killed by the Emperor Hadrian in AD 118 for refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods. He was thrown to the lions initially but the animals are said to have refused to eat him, so Hadrian ordered another unpleasant death for him and his family, using a brazen bull, a lifesize model of a bull cast in bronze, which was a particularly cruel torture and execution device of the day. 

After Eustace and his family’s deaths, their bodies were secretly recovered and buried by Christians in Rome.

A church and minor basilica in Italy’s capital city is named after Eustace in Rione Sant’Eustachio, an area between Piazza Navona and the Pantheon.

Sant’Eustachio is also honoured on this day in Tocco da Casauria in the province of Pescara in the Abruzzo region, where the 12th century church is dedicated to him, and on an island in the Caribbean belonging to the Netherlands, which is named Sint’Eustatius after the saint. There are also two churches in India dedicated to him and a church bearing his name in County Kildare in Ireland.

Eustace was a pagan Roman general who converted to Christianity after he had a vision of the cross while out hunting. As a result, he lost all his wealth, was separated from his wife and sons and went into exile in Egypt.

But he was called back to lead the Roman army by a subsequent emperor, Trajan, and he was happily reunited with his family and restored to high social standing.

Under the regime of Hadrian, who came afterwards, however, Eustace and his family were martyred for refusing to adhere to paganism.

The Chiesa di Sant'Eustachio in Tocco da Casauria,
in the shadow of the Maiella massif in Abruzzo

Many versions of the legend of Saint Eustace were written in verse and prose in medieval times in France and in Italy. In one French version, Eustace became a Christian after he is awestruck by a deer when he was out hunting. When the deer turned to look at him, Eustace saw the deer had a cross between its antlers

In Italy, a church dedicated to Saint Eustace in Rome is mentioned in a letter by Pope Gregory II who was pontiff from 731 to 741.

An early depiction of Eustace in Europe was carved on a Romanesque capital at an abbey in Burgundy, and Philip II of France rededicated a church to Saint Eustace in the 12th century.

Because Eustace is reputed to have converted to Christianity while out stag hunting, there are depictions of him kneeling before a stag in a wall painting in Canterbury Cathedral, and in stained glass windows at the Cathedral of Chartres in France.

Eustace became known as a patron saint of hunters and firefighters, and also of anyone facing adversity. He is the patron saint of hunters in Bavaria and Austria, and one of the patron saints of Madrid in Spain.

His feast day of September 20 is remembered by both the Roman Catholic church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. It was removed from the Roman calendar in 1969 because of the lack of definite information about the saint, but it is still observed around the world by Roman Catholics who follow the pre-1970 Roman Calendar.

The Basilica Sant'Eustachio
dates back to the 8th century

Travel tip:

The Basilica of Saint Eustace, (Basilica Sant’Eustachio) is in Via di Sant’Eustachio to the west of the Pantheon. It had been founded by the end of the eighth century as it was mentioned in documents as being a centre for helping the poor and the sick during the reign of Pope Gregory II, which ended in 731. The church was restored and had a new campanile added by Celestine III, who was Pope between 1191 and 1198, and who ordered the relics of Eustace and his family to be placed in the church. The church was almost completely rebuilt in Roman baroque style during the 17th and 18th centuries, with only the campanile from the old structure remaining. On top of the pediment on the façade of the church there is a deer head with a cross between the antlers, which is a reference to one of the legends about how Saint Eustace became a Christian. 

Find accommodation in Rome with Expedia

Caravaggio's painting, The Calling of Saint Matthew,
can be seen in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi

Travel tip:

Sant’Eustachio gives his name to the eighth Rione of Rome, whose coat of arms also depicts the head of a stag with a cross between the antlers. The Rione Sant'Eustachio lies between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona and extends to the Largo di Torre Argentina archaeological site. As well as the Basilica of Sant’Eustachio, the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi is within the Rione, its Contarelli Chapel containing a cycle of paintings by the Baroque master Caravaggio, painted in 1599-1600, about the life of Saint Matthew. This includes the three world-renowned canvases of The Calling of Saint Matthew (on the left wall), The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (above the altar), and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (on the right wall). The district is also home to one of Rome’s most famous and popular coffee houses, Sant' Eustachio Il Caffè, in Piazza Sant’Eustachio, opened in 1938 and said to be the oldest coffee roastery in central Rome. It occupies the premises that formerly housed another café, established in 1800 under the name Caffè e Latte. 

Rome hotels by Hotels.com

More reading:

The Caravaggio altarpiece on display in a church in Siracusa, Sicily

Nero’s mass slaughter of Christians in Rome

Trajan, the military expansionist with progressive social policies

Also on this day:

1378: Election of Robert of Geneva’s election as Pope Clement VII sparks split in Catholic Church

1870: Capture of Rome completes unification

1934: The birth of Oscar-winning actress Sophia Loren

1975: The birth of actress and director Asia Argento

Home

Anita Garibaldi – national heroine of Italy

Brave wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi was a freedom fighter

Anita Garibaldi met her future husband
in Brazil and they married in Uruguay

Anita Garibaldi, the Brazilian wife of Italy’s revolutionary hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, died in the arms of her husband on this day in 1849 in Mandriole, near Ravenna, in Emilia-Romagna.

She was pregnant and also ill with malaria, but she was having to retreat from Austrian and French troops with the Garibaldian Legion. After her death, her body had to be hurriedly buried, and it was said to have been later dug up by a dog.

A Brazilian revolutionary, Anita had fought alongside Garibaldi in his campaigns, after meeting him in her home country in 1839.

She was born Ana Maria di Jesus Ribeiro in 1821 in Laguna in Brazil. She was the third of ten children born to a poor family. At the age of 14 she was forced to marry, but her husband later abandoned her to join the Brazilian Imperial Army.

Anita met Garibaldi, who was a sailor of Ligurian descent, after he had left Europe in 1836 and was fighting on behalf of the separatist Riograndense republic in southern Brazil. They fell in love immediately and she joined him on his ship, the Rio Pardo.

She soon saw military action in battles at Imbituba, and Laguna, during which she fought at the side of her lover.

Anita was said to have been a skilled horsewoman, who taught Garibaldi about the Gaucho culture of the Pampas of southern Brazil. It was claimed by one of Garibaldi’s comrades that she had the strength and courage of a man, with the charm and tenderness of a woman. She was reputed to have been very beautiful with an oval-shaped face and remarkable eyes.

During one battle, Anita and Garibaldi became separated and Anita was captured. Her guards told her Garibaldi was dead, but she did not believe them. She asked if she could search the battleground for his body and they agreed, but she could not find him, which gave her hope.

Garibaldi and Anita fought together
in the defence of Rome in 1849

When she came across a horse, she mounted it and escaped at a gallop. The soldiers chased her and shot and killed her horse and so she waded into a river to escape from them. 

After they had given her up for dead, she spent four days wandering, without food or drink, in woodland in the area, until she encountered someone who gave her something to eat.

Eventually, Anita was able to get in touch with the rebels and she was reunited with Garibaldi in Vacaria. 

A few months later, their first child, Menotti, was born. He had a skull deformity resulting from Anita’s fall from the horse, but he grew up to be a freedom fighter and accompanied Garibaldi on his campaigns in Italy.

In 1841, Anita and Garibaldi moved to Montevideo in Uruguay and they were married there in 1842. They went on to have another three children.

After Garibaldi took command of the Uruguayan fleet, Anita participated in his defence of Montevideo against Argentina in 1847.

Anita accompanied Garibaldi when he returned to Italy to join in the revolutions of 1848, where he fought against the Austrians.

In 1849, Garibaldi joined in the defence of the newly-proclaimed Roman Republic against Neapolitan and French intervention. But after Rome fell to the French at the end of June that year, Garibaldi and Anita found themselves forced to flee with their troops from the French and Austrian soldiers.

A magazine illustration imagines Anita with
Garibaldi in the last moments of her life

After Anita’s death in the farmhouse in Mandriole, Garibaldi continued to honour her memory. When he hailed Victor Emmanuel II as King of the newly-united Italy, 12 years later, he was wearing Anita’s striped scarf over his south American poncho.

Anita Garibaldi is recognised as a national heroine in Brazil and has squares named after her and a museum dedicated to her memory,

In Italy, her legacy was used by Mussolini in 1932, when there was a discussion about removing Garibaldi’s statue from the top of the Gianicolo. 

Mussolini not only refused to remove the statue of Garibaldi, but also said he would erect a statue of Anita Garibaldi on the same hill. The resulting statue depicted her mounted on a rearing horse holding her baby son close to her, while brandishing a pistol, as she leads her husband’s army to victory.

Garibaldi carries Anita through the 
Comacchio lagoons (Pietro Bauvier)

Travel tip:

Fattore Guiccioli, the farmhouse where Anita Garibaldi died in Mandriole, is in the countryside between Casal Borsetti and Sant’Alberto, just south of the lagoons of Comacchio. Garibaldi stumbled across the farmhouse while looking for shelter for him and Anita as they made their escape across Romagna. The building now houses an exhibition of relics and mementoes of Garibaldi’s flight through the area. There is a replica of Anita’s death bed, as the original one was burnt during the Nazi occupation of Italy during World War II, and there are two paintings dedicated to her. A memorial stone marks the site of her original burial place near the farmhouse. 

The tomb of Anita Garibaldi on the Gianicolo
hill in Rome, topped by an equestrian statue

Travel tip:

The Gianicolo, or Janiculum, one of the hills outside the walls of ancient Rome, has monuments to many Italian patriots who fought during the Risorgimento for the unification of Italy. It is regarded as one of the best locations to enjoy a scenic view of the centre of the city, with its domes and bell towers. When Anita’s statue was erected there in 1932, the event was celebrated with a three-day commemoration ceremony. On the first day, Anita’s remains were brought to Rome, on the second day, her remains were interred in the base of the monument built in her memory, which was placed near the equestrian statue of her husband, and on the third day, her monument was inaugurated officially by Mussolini.

 

Also on this day:

1463: The birth of banker Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici

1470: The birth of noblewoman Lucrezia Maria Romola de’ Medici

1590: The birth of Pope Urban VII

1994: The death of politician Giovanni Spadolini

Home

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

Home

Giulio Carlo Argan – art historian and politician

Award-winning art expert switched from Fascism to Communism

Giulio Carlo Argan was a major
figure in the arts as well as politics

Art historian and critic Giulio Carlo Argan, who joined the Fascist party in the 1920s but went on to become the first Communist mayor of Rome nearly 50 years later, was born on this day in 1909 in Turin.

After stepping down as Mayor of Rome in 1979, Argan represented the Italian Communist Party as a Senator of the Italian Republic, between 1983 and 1992.

Argan’s family were originally from Geneva, but by the 19th century they had settled in the Piedmont region. His father was the bursar of the provincial mental asylum and his mother was a school teacher. After leaving high school, Argan went to study at the University of Turin.

He joined the National Fascist Party in 1928 and after graduating in 1931 worked for the National Arts and Antiquity Directorate. Among his duties were directing the magazine, Le Arti, and helping to establish what became one of the most prestigious institutes for art conservation and restoration. 

It has been said that his career was helped by his friendship with Cesare Maria De Vecchi, 1st Conte de Val Cismon, one of the four leaders of the Blackshirt mob that marched on Rome in 1922 and helped to put Mussolini in power.

Argan published a manual of art for high schools and contributed to the magazine, Primato, which was run by another high ranking Fascist official. After World War II he taught in the universities of Palermo and Rome.

He co-founded the publishing house, Il Saggiatore, and was a member of the Superior Council of Antiquities and Fine Arts, which was a predecessor to the Ministry of Culture.

Argan became Mayor of Rome in 1976,
the first Communist to hold the office

In 1968, Argan published his most famous work, Storia dell’arte italiana - The History of Italian Art. 

He then founded an institute for industrial design in Rome In 1973.  Argan was interested in art as a form of social engagement, which he thought was integral and necessary to life. He identified architecture and urban planning as areas where the community had a particularly strong interaction with culture.

A prolific writer of books on art, Argan’s major works, which tended to emphasise the social context of art, ranged from studies of  Renaissance painters and architects, including Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Michelangelo and Palladio, through the Baroque period in art, to modern sculpture and abstract art. His last book, Michelangelo architetto, was published in 1990.

He stimulated much debate in 1963 with his discussion on ‘the death of art’, by which he meant the end of the creative autonomy of the individual. He saw it as an ‘irreversible’ crisis in the system of traditional art techniques used in an industrial and capitalist society.

He was a professor at the University of Rome from 1959 to 1976. He donated his entire library to the university in 1982, following which he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus. 

In 1976, he was elected as Rome’s first Communist mayor, an office he held for more than three years. While he was Mayor, he supported the defence of the environment and the relaunch of the Imperial Forums, using the slogan: ‘Either cars or monuments,’ and he prevented the construction of a four-star hotel on one of the most panoramic points of the capital city. He resigned as Mayor on health grounds in 1979.

Later, he served as a Communist Senator representing Rome and Tivoli for nearly 11 years. 

Argan was awarded the Feltrinelli prize for the Arts in 1958 and the Gold Medal for Merit and Culture in Art by the Italian Republic in 1976.

He died in Rome in 1992, aged 83. After his death, collections of his writing and articles were published.

The site of the Royal Palace was 
chosen for its open, sunny position

Travel tip:

Giulio Carlo Argan was born in the city of Turin in Piedmont, where much of the architecture illustrates its rich history as the home of the Savoy kings of Italy. In the centre of the city, Piazza Castello, with the Royal Palace, Royal Library, and Palazzo Madama, which used to be where the Italian senate met, showcases some of the finest buildings in ‘royal’ Turin.  The Royal Palace – the Palazzo Reale – was built on the site of what had been the Bishop’s Palace, built by Emmanuel Philibert, who was Duke of Savoy from 1528 to 1580. He chose the site because it had an open and sunny position close to other court buildings. Some members of the House of Savoy are buried in Turin’s Duomo in Piazza San Giovanni, which is also famous for being the home of the Turin shroud. Many people believe that the cloth now preserved in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud was the actual burial shroud of Jesus Christ. 

The entrance to the Villa d'Este and the Tivoli
Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage site

Travel tip:

Argan spent much of his life living in Rome and, as a Senator, he represented both Rome and Tivoli, a town and commune in Lazio about 30 miles, 19 kilometres, north east of Rome. Tivoli  offers a wide view over the Roman Campagna, a low-lying area of countryside surrounding Rome. Tivoli is famous for being the site of Hadrian’s villa, a large villa complex built around AD 120 by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, and the Villa d’Este, a 16th century villa, famous for its terraced hillside Renaissance Garden. Both villas are UNESCO World Heritage sites. The Villa d'Este is often referred to simply as the Tivoli Gardens, and for its profusion of fountains, more than 50 in total. The nearby river Aniene was diverted to provide water for the complex system of pools, water jets, channels, fountains, cascades and water games. Canals were dug and 200 metres of underground pipes were laid. 

Also on this day:

1500: The birth of Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua

1510: The death of painter Sandro Botticelli

1963: The birth of motorcycle world champion Luca Cadalora

1970: The birth of fencing champion Giovanna Trillini

Home