7 October 2017

Rosalba Carriera - portrait painter

Venetian artist specialised in miniatures


Rosalba Carriera: shown painting her sister in a self-portrait housed at the Uffizi in Florence
Rosalba Carriera: shown painting her sister in
a self-portrait housed at the Uffizi in Florence
One of the most successful women painters in the history of art, Rosalba Carriera is thought to have been born on this day in 1675 in Venice.

A pioneer of the Rococo style, she worked in pastel colours and was best known for her portraits. Her work was so admired that at her peak she had an almost constant stream of commissions from notable visitors to Venice, and from diplomats and nobility in the courts of other countries, principally France and Austria.

Born into a middle-class background, she was able to live a relatively comfortable life, although she would outlive her family, including her two sisters, and had gone blind by the time she died, at the age of 84.

Nowadays, Carriera’s portraits are as highly sought after as they were in the 18th century, with prices in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds realised when examples come up for auction.

One of the finest such examples, a portrait of the Irish politician Gustavus Hamilton, who was a colonel in the regiment of William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne, fetched £421,250 at Christie’s in 2008.

The daughter of a clerk and a lacemaker, Carriera is said to have learned lacemaking from her mother but as the lace industry declined she began decorating snuff boxes with miniature portraits, to be sold to tourists.

Carriera's portrait of Gustavus Hamilton, the Irish politician, sold for £421,250 at Christie's
Carriera's portrait of Gustavus Hamilton, the
Irish politician, sold for £421,250 at Christie's
She was one of the first miniaturists to paint on thin pieces of ivory rather than vellum.

Her talent was soon recognised, bringing her admission to the Accademia di San Luca in Rome in 1704. She moved from snuff boxes to more conventional portrait painting.

Carriera’s portraits were highly sophisticated, appealing to the refined tastes of nobility in particular, who were impressed with the way in which her attention to detail conveyed the image of wealth and luxury.

She placed her subjects almost always in a bust-length pose, with the body turned slightly away and the face looking towards the viewer, with the features accurately captured. Her ability to use her paints to create realistic representations of different textures and materials - gold braid, lace, furs – as well as jewels, hair and skin, set her apart.

Although she veered away from idealising her subjects, inevitably she presented them in a flattering light. By contrast, her self-portraits were sometimes starkly unflattering, emphasising what she considered to her poorer features, exaggerating the size of her nose, for example.  Her best-known self-portrait is one she contributed to the Medici collection of self-portraits at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, in which she portrays herself holding a portrait of her sister, Giovanna, to whom she was devoted.

Her early ‘celebrity’ subjects, whom she painted while they were visiting Venice, included Maximilian II of Bavaria and Frederick IV of Denmark.

Carriera's portrait of the young Louis XV
Carriera's portrait of the young Louis XV
August the Strong of Saxony, who was also King of Poland and sat for her in 1713, became one of her biggest patrons, inviting her to his court and acquiring more than 150 of her works.

Carriera spent between a year and 18 months in Paris, after the collector and financier Pierre Crozat had encouraged her to go.

She arrived with her family in March 1720 and became the idol of the French capital.  She painted every member of the French royal family, including the young Louis XV, and was granted honorary membership of the French Royal Academy.

After returning to Venice, where she had a home on the Grand Canal, she was invited to Vienna, where Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI became her patron.

Carriera was very close to her sisters, Angela and Giovanna, to whom she passed on her skill.  Giovanna helped her fulfil her numerous commissions in Paris, for example.

When Giovanna died in 1738, she was said to have become lonely and deeply depressed, her state of mind not helped by failing eyesight.  She underwent surgery twice in the hope of saving her sight from cataracts, but the operations were not successful.

Carriera spent the last few years of her life living in relative seclusion in a house in the Dorsoduro area of Venice.

The Ca' Biondetti on the Grand Canal was Carriera's home for many years
The Ca' Biondetti on the Grand Canal was Carriera's
home for many years
Travel tip:

Rosalba Carriera lived for many years in the Ca’ Biondetti, a private house on the Grand Canal in Venice, situated between the beautifully ornate Palazzo Mula Morosini and Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, the 18th century palace best known for being the home of the Peggy Guggenheim collection.

The magnificent Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute
The magnificent Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute
Travel tip:

Dorsoduro is the quarter of Venice just across the Grand Canal near where it emerges into the lagoon, accessed from San Marco via the Accademia Bridge. Much less crowded than San Marco, it nonetheless has much to recommend it, including the Peggy Guggenheim collection, the Gallerie dell’ Accademia and the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, which itself houses no fewer than 12 works by Titian.  There are also a host of small bars serving a wonderful variety of the Venetian bar snacks known as cicchetti.


6 October 2017

Maria Bertilla Boscardin – wartime nurse

Brave nun was prepared to die caring for others


A depiction of Maria Bertilla Boscardin from Catholic Church literature
A depiction of Maria Bertilla Boscardin
from Catholic Church literature
Maria Bertilla Boscardin, a nun who was canonised for her devoted nursing of sick children and air raid victims in the First World War, was born on this day in 1888 in Brendola, a small town in the Veneto.

She was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1952, just 30 years after she died, and made a saint by Pope John XXIII nine years later.

It was one of the quicker canonisations of modern history. Sometimes many decades or even hundreds of years pass before a person’s life is recognised with sainthood. 

Boscardin’s came so swiftly that relatives and some of the patients she cared for were present at her canonisation ceremony. Indeed, her father, Angelo, was asked to provide testimony during the beatification process.

Born into a peasant family, who knew her as Annette, her life in Brendola, which is about 15km (9 miles) southwest of Vicenza, was tough.  She was seen as rather a slow-witted child, mocked by her peers and unkindly nicknamed ‘the goose’ even by the local priest. Her father, a drunkard, was often abusive and violent.

She wanted to become educated but her attendance at school was at times only sporadic because her family required her to work.

Her ambition to become a nun was in part to escape from this unhappy childhood.  She was turned down by the first order to which she applied but the Sisters of St Dorothy in Vicenza admitted her to their convent, assigning her the religious name Maria Bertilla.

After a tough upbringing, Maria found her calling as a carer for sick children
After a tough upbringing, Maria found her
calling as a carer for sick children
Her first job was at the order’s large charity hospital in Treviso, where she worked in the kitchen, peeling potatoes.  What she is said to have told the novice-mistress of the convent indicated that she had very low self-esteem but she asked for their help to become a better person.

She found her calling after being assigned to work with the children being treated at the hospital, many of whom were suffering from diptheria, and needed constant attention.

One of the doctors at Treviso later testified that many of the children, separated from their families for the first time, arrived at the hospital so agitated that they would cry constantly for several days.

But Sister Bertilla, he recalled, “succeeded in rapidly becoming a mother to them all. After two or three hours the child, who was desperate, clung to her, calmly, as to his mother and followed her wherever she went.”

When the First World War spread to Italy in 1915, Bertilla vowed she would make the ultimate sacrifice, if necessary, to care for the wounded.  An entry in her diary read: ‘Here I am, Lord, to do according to your will, under whatever aspect it presents itself, let it be life, death or terror.'

As Treviso came under attack following the defeat of the Italian army at the Battle of Caporetto, she is said to have stayed with patients who could not be moved, praying and providing marsala wine for those who needed it.

After the war, she was sent to a sanatorium to care for soldiers with tuberculosis. Next she was sent to a seminary to care for survivors of an epidemic.

The statue of Maria Bertilla Boscardin at the
church of Saints Peter and Paul in Cagnano
She was unlucky with her own health, however.  Discovered to have a tumour in her early 20s, after which she underwent surgery, she fell ill again in her early 30s.

The cancer had recurred. The only hope of a cure was to have another operation. But she was much weaker this time and died in October, 1922, two weeks after her 34th birthday.

Having suffered so much cruelty as a young girl and left home with little sense of self-worth, Maria Bertilla ultimately left a deep impression on those who knew her.

She was initially buried in Treviso but after crowds regularly gathered at her grave, it was decided to erect a tomb for her in Vicenza. A memorial plaque placed on her tomb described her as "a chosen soul of heroic goodness ... an angelic alleviator of human suffering in this place."

The tomb became a pilgrimage site where several miracles of healing were said to have taken place.

A number of churches in the area around Vicenza have been dedicated to Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin, including one at Via Antonio Federico Ozanam in the west of the city and another in the village of Cagnano, about 40km (25 miles) south of Vicenza, which has a statute of her.

Travel tip:

The house of the Sister Teachers of Santa Dorothea, where Maria Bertilla Boscardin took vows, is located in Contrà San Domenico in Vicenza. It contains a chapel dedicated to her which was built in 1952, in view of her beatification. In the same year the urn containing the remains of the saint, originally buried in Treviso, were placed under the altar table.  In 2002 thanks to architect Paolo Portoghesi the altar - previously in burnished copper - was replaced with one in white marble and the urn containing the remains of the saint was placed in front of it.

Waterways lined with weeping willows are a common sight in Treviso
Waterways lined with weeping willows are a
common sight in Treviso
Travel tip:

For many visitors to Italy, Treviso is no more than the name of the airport at which they might land en route to Venice, yet it is an attractive city worth visiting in its own right, rebuilt and faithfully restored after the damage suffered in two world wars. Canals are a feature of the urban landscape – not on the scale of Venice but significant nonetheless – and the Sile river blesses the city with another stretch of attractive waterway, lined with weeping willows. The arcaded streets have an air of refinement and prosperity and there are plenty of restaurants, as well as bars serving prosecco from a number of vineyards. The prime growing area for prosecco grapes in Valdobbiadene is only 40km (25 miles) away to the northeast.




5 October 2017

Mary of Modena – Queen of England

Catholic wife of James II greeted with suspicion


A 1680 portrait of Maria Beatrice by the  Dutch master Simon Pietersz Verelst
A 1680 portrait of Maria Beatrice by the
Dutch master Simon Pietersz Verelst
Maria Beatrice Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este, who would become known in England as Mary of Modena when she served as queen consort for almost four years in the 17th century, was born on this day in 1658.

The daughter of Alfonso IV, Duke of Modena, the princess, descended from the Bourbon royal family of France and the Medici family of Italy, was born in the Ducal Palace in Modena. Her mother, Laura Martinozzi, from Fano in the Marche, hailed from a noble Roman family.

Tall, elegant and highly educated – she was fluent in French as well as Italian and had a good knowledge of Latin – Maria Beatrice was sought after as a bride for James, Duke of York, heir to Charles II.

She was picked as a suitable prospective bride for his Catholic master by Lord Peterborough, one of the Duke’s closest aides, who communicated with the d’Este family through French diplomatic channels.

James was a widower following the death of his first wife, Anne Hyde. He was no great catch, 25 years older than Maria Beatrice, scarred by smallpox and venereal disease and afflicted with a stutter.

Her mother was more interested in holding out for a possible match with Charles II of Spain, then only 11 years old, and it is said that her daughter was reluctant to marry a man so much older than her. 

Maria Beatrice with her only surviving son, James Francis Edward Stuart, who later be known as the Old Pretender
Maria Beatrice with her only surviving son, James Francis
Edward Stuart, who later be known as the Old Pretender
She was persuaded to accept after Pope Clement X had written directly to her mother, who had been Maria Beatrice’s regent since the death of Alfonso IV.  They were married by proxy in September 1973, a few days before her 15th birthday, and she arrived in England in the November.

The English public and the Protestant parliament were deeply suspicious, fearful of a Papist plot, and she was soon branded “the Pope’s daughter”. Parliament had to be suspended after some members tried to have the marriage annulled.

For her own part, the young princess, noted for her fair complexion and dazzling eyes, was said to have been so shocked at the appearance of her new husband when they first met that she burst into tears.  James already had two children, to whom he introduced his bride as “a new play-fellow”.

Between 1675 and 1682, Maria Beatrice gave birth to five children, none of whom survived.  In the meantime, the unpopularity of the marriage was such that for a number of years they lived in self-imposed exile in Brussels.

James II of England, whose appearance was said to have shocked the young Maria Beatrice
James II of England, whose appearance was said
to have shocked the young Maria Beatrice
When Charles II became gravely ill, however, James returned to England, fearful that if he was out of the country when his father died his illegitimate half-brother, James Scott, Duke of Montague, might attempt to seize power.

In the event, Charles recovered and the Duke of Montague’s public popularity waned following the discovery of a plot to have both the Duke of York and his father assassinated.

Charles eventually passed away in February 1685 and James II was crowned King in April of the same year. Public unrest grew again, however, and when it was announced in 1688 that Maria Beatrice had given birth to a second son, named James Francis Edward Stuart, a rumour quickly spread that he was a “changeling” - another new-born baby sneaked into the birth chamber inside a warming pan to replace her real child, which was stillborn.

A Privy Council investigation later dismissed the allegation as false but, coinciding with a stand-off between James II and leaders of the Protestant church over his attempts to introduce religious liberty for English Catholics, it was enough to prompt his Protestant son-in-law, William of Orange, whose wife, Mary, would have inherited the English throne had James II and Maria Beatrice not had a son, to launch an invasion.

James was deposed in December 1688 in what became known as the Glorious Revolution. Maria Beatrice fled to France, soon to be followed by her husband, whose attempt to regain power after assembling an army in Ireland famously failed at the Battle of the Boyne.

He was allowed to return to France where he and Maria Beatrice spent the remainder of their lives in the Château de Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, a royal palace just outside Paris, where Maria Beatrice died in 1718.

An 18th century print of the Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace)
An 18th century print of the Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace)
Travel tip:

Modena’s Ducal Palace was the seat of the Este court from the 17th to 19th centuries, occupying land which was the site of the former Este Castle, which was located on the northern periphery of the city at a key position in a network of canals that once linked the city to the Panaro river and the Po. Nowadays, the palace is a military academy, training Army officers and Carabinieri.  The building also houses a military museum and a library. There is limited visiting but bookings must be made in advance.

The Fontana dei Due Fiumi
The Fontana dei Due Fiumi
Travel tip:

More recently, the city of Modena has become famous for being the home of several iconic Italian sports car manufacturers, including De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani, Maserati and, most famously, Ferrari.  The company founder, Enzo Ferrari, had his first workshop in the centre of the city, just a short distance from the ornate Fontana dei Due Fiumi. Modena was also the home of the operatic tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, and of Mirella Freni, the soprano. The Teatro Comunale, built in 1841, was dedicated to Pavarotti after his death in 2007.



4 October 2017

Giovanni Battista Piranesi – artist

Genius who put 18th century Rome on the map


Pietro Labruzzi's portrait of Piranesi, thought to have been painted a year after his death
Pietro Labruzzi's portrait of Piranesi, thought
to have been painted a year after his death
Draftsman, printmaker and architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi was born on this day in 1720 in Mogliano Veneto near Treviso in the Veneto.

He became famous for his large prints depicting the buildings of Rome, which stimulated interest in Rome and inspired the neoclassical movement in art in the 18th century.

Piranesi went to Rome to work as a draftsman for the Venetian ambassador when he was 20. There he studied with some of the leading printmakers of the day.

It was during this period that he developed his own, original etching technique, producing rich textures and bold contrasts of light and shadow by means of intricate, repeated bitings of the copperplate.

Among his finest early prints are the Prisons - Carceri - imaginary scenes depicting ancient Roman ruins, which are converted into fantastic dungeons filled with scaffolding and instruments of torture.

Piranesi later opened a workshop in Via del Corso and created the series of vedute - views - of Rome that established his fame.

Piranesi's etching of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome
Piranesi's etching of the Castel
 Sant'Angelo in Rome
Among his best mature prints are the series Roman Antiquities (Le antichita romane), Views of Rome (Vedute di Roma) and views of the Greek temples at Paestum.

His accuracy, his technical mastery and his depiction of the dramatic and romantic nature of the structures has made these prints the most original and impressive representations to be found in western art.

He was able to  replicate faithfully the actual remains, provide the missing parts and introduce groups of vases, altars and tombs that were absent in reality.

Many of his prints of Rome were collected by gentleman visiting the city as part of the Grand Tour. His precise observational skills allow people today to experience the atmosphere of Rome as it was in the 18th century, as many of the monuments and decorative details of the buildings he depicted have since disappeared, sometimes having been stolen.

Piranesi was also commissioned to restore the church of Santa Maria del Priorato in the Villa of the Knights of Malta on Rome’s Aventine Hill. He used ancient architectural elements in marble and stone for the façade of the church.

After his death in 1778, he was buried in a tomb inside Santa Priorato, the church he had helped to restore.

The Piazza Caduti in Mogliano Veneto
The Piazza Caduti in Mogliano Veneto
Travel tip:

Mogliano Veneto, where Piranesi was born, is a town in the province of Treviso, about halfway between Mestre and Treviso. It is particularly known for its medieval festival that takes place in the town every year in September. It is a stop on the Venice to Udine railway line and has regular services to Venice, Treviso, Udine and Trieste.

The church of Santa Maria del Priorato on Rome's Aventine Hill
The church of Santa Maria del Priorato on
Rome's Aventine Hill
Travel tip:

The church of Santa Maria del Priorato, where Piranesi is buried, is on the Aventine Hill, the most southern of Rome’s seven hills, which is now an elegant residential part of Rome. The original church was built in 939 but between 1764 and 1766 it was renovated by Piranesi and the Piazza dei Cavaliere di Malta was built in front of the church according to his design. The decorative façade of the church was designed by Piranesi to include emblems and references to the military and naval associations of the Knights of Malta. The way in which they are represented indicates Piranesi’s fascination with Rome’s ancient past.




3 October 2017

Eleonora Duse – actress

Performer 'became' the person she played with her whole being


Eleonora Duse began acting at the age of four.
Eleonora Duse began acting at the age of four.
Regarded as one of the greatest acting talents of all times, Eleonora Duse was born on this day in 1858 in Vigevano in Lombardy.

Often simply known as Duse, she was admired for her total assumption of the roles she played. In 1947, the film, Eleonora Duse, was made about her life.

She began acting at the age of four, joining her father and grandfather in the profession. She worked in a troupe with her family, travelling from city to city. Duse became famous for creating Italian versions of roles made famous by the actor Sarah Bernhadt.

Duse toured South America, Russia and the US, beginning the tours as an unknown actor, but leaving in her wake a general recognition of her genius.

She had an affair with the Italian poet, Arrigo Boito, who was the librettist for the composer, Giuseppe Verdi. They carried out their relationship in a clandestine manner, but the letters they exchanged have survived and they remained on good terms until Boito’s death in 1918.

Duse had a romantic relationship with the writer and poet Gabriele D'Annunzio
Duse had a romantic relationship with the
writer and poet Gabriele D'Annunzio
In 1895 Duse met the writer Gabriele D’Annunzio and they became involved romantically as well as professionally.

D’Annunzio wrote four plays for her but when he gave the lead in La Città Morta to Sarah Bernhardt instead of her, Duse ended her relationship with him.

Duse had a relationship with the dancer, Isadora Duncan and spent several weeks with her at Viareggio in Tuscany, shortly after Duncan’s two children drowned in a tragic accident.

Her biographer, Frances Winwar, recalled that Duse wore little make-up but made herself up "morally." She meant that she used her body to express her grief and joy.

Duse, who had a history of ill health, died of pneumonia at the age of 65 in the US while on a tour. Her body was returned to Italy and she was buried in Asolo in the Veneto at the cemetery of St Anna.

The beautiful Piazza Ducale in Vigevano
The beautiful Piazza Ducale in Vigevano
Travel tip:

Vigevano, where Duse was born, is a town in the province of Pavia in Lombardy. It is well-known for the beautiful Piazza Ducale in the centre of town. The piazza was completed in 1493 and was planned to form the forecourt to the castle built for Ludovico Sforza, who was Duke of Milan between 1452 and 1508.

Porticoes line the Via Browning in Asolo
Porticoes line the Via Browning in Asolo
Travel tip:

Asolo, where Duse was buried, is a town in the Veneto region, known as ‘the pearl of the province of Treviso’. It is famous for being the home of the English poet, Robert Browning. Duse lived there for part of her life and is now buried in the hillside cemetery of St Anna.


2 October 2017

Antonio Di Pietro – magistrate and politician

Former policeman who led Mani Pulite corruption investigations


Antonio di Pietro led his own political  party, called Italy of Values
Antonio Di Pietro led his own political
party, called Italy of Values
The politician and former magistrate Antonio Di Pietro, who uncovered wide-ranging corruption in the Italian government in a scandal that changed the landscape of Italian politics, was born on this day in 1950 in Molise.

Di Pietro was the lead prosecutor in the so-called Mani Pulite trials in the early 1990s, which led to many politicians and businessmen being indicted and to the collapse of the traditional Socialist and Christian Democratic parties.

The Christian Democrats had been the dominant force in Italian politics since the formation of the Italian Republic at the end of the Second World War but after several high-profile arrests and resignations and poor results in the 1992 general election and 1993 local elections the party was disbanded in 1994.

The Italian Socialist Party was dissolved in the same year following the resignation of party secretary and former prime minister Bettino Craxi, who was the most high-profile casualty in the corruption scandal. It was also known as Tangentopoli, which can be roughly translated as “Bribesville”.

Di Pietro was born into a poor rural family in Montenero di Bisaccia, a hill town in the province of Campobasso in the Molise region.

Ex-PM Bettino Craxi was the major  casualty of the Mani Pulite probe
Ex-PM Bettino Craxi was the major
casualty of the Mani Pulite probe
Eager to better himself, he travelled to Germany as a migrant worker after leaving school, working in a factory in the mornings and a sawmill in the afternoons so that he could save enough money to study law at night school in Italy.

He graduated in with a degree in 1978, becoming first a police officer before joining the judiciary as a prosecuting magistrate, a job in the Italian legal system that is part lawyer and part detective.

Di Pietro was one of a team set up to investigate corruption following the arrest in 1992 of Mario Chiesa, a Socialist politician and hospital administrator in Milan, after he was accused of accepting a bribe from a young entrepreneur in return for awarding his company a cleaning contract.

The three magistrates – Di Pietro, Gherardo Colombo and Pier Camillo Davigo – were dubbed Mani Pulite – “Clean Hands” by the media. Di Pietro soon became the most prominent of the trio. Chosen as the spokesman for the investigating team, he became an instantly recognisable for his strong regional accent and his evident passion for his work.

The investigation became a high-profile news item for a considerable time after Chiesa’s evidence implicated many others on both sides of the Italian political divide, yet critics say it ultimately achieved very little.

Antonio di Pietro became a famous face in the 1990s
Antonio Di Pietro became a famous face in the 1990s
More than half of the 3,000 politicians and businessmen arrested ultimately escaped punishment through legal technicalities. Some walked free after their trials were cancelled because they did not begin within a statutory time limit.

Corruption charges brought against former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had to be dropped because the statutory time period elapsed.

And while the collapse of the Christian Democrats and Socialists was a seismic event in Italian politics, the individuals involved simply regrouped and rebranded themselves. Analysts say corruption is still rife today.

Di Pietro himself made many enemies, to the extent that he found it necessary to have a personal protection team after threats were made against his life.  Accusations of corruption began to be levelled against him and although none was proved his reputation suffered.

Although around 1,200 convictions resulted from the work of Di Pietro and his team, Mani Pulite eventually petered out and Di Pietro launched his own political career. Building on the experience he gained after the centre-left prime minister Romani Prodi made him Minister for Public Works in 1996, he was elected to the Senate.

He formed his own party, Italia dei Valori (“Italy of Values”) in 2000, standing against corruption, and served in government as Minister of Infrastructures when Prodi was elected again in 2006.

Di Pietro continued under the Italia dei Valori banner until 2014, since when he has been an independent. He was elected a member of the European Parliament in 1999.

Montenero is perched on a hill in Molise
Montenero is perched on a hill in Molise
Travel tip:

Montenero di Bissacia is a small town perched on top of a hill in Molise, which is probably the least well known of all Italy’s 20 regions, characterised by a narrow coastal plain – about 15km (9 miles) from Montenero – and a rugged and sparsely populated interior. Campobasso, with around 50,000 inhabitants and about 70km (43 miles) to the south, is the largest population centre in the region, worth visiting for the remains of the 15th century Castello Monforte and a number of interesting churches.  The coastal resort of Termoli, about 23km (14 miles) east of Montenero, has sandy beaches and a walled old town, yet is little known to foreign tourists.

The cathedral at Trivento
The cathedral at Trivento
Travel tip:

One town in Molise worth visiting for a glimpse of an Italy that no longer exists in many parts of the country is the well-preserved town of Trivento, which features a wide staircase – the Scalinata di San Nicola - of 365 steps linking the new town with the old.  The town is full of narrow alleyways, often decorated with pots of brightly coloured flowers, at the heart of which is the Chiesa di Santi Nazario, Celso e Vittore – Trivento Cathedral – built in the 11th century.


1 October 2017

Leonello d’Este - Marquis of Ferrara

Ruler who spent money on the arts and education


Pisanello's 1441 portrait of Leonello d'Este, which is housed at the Accademia Carrara
Pisanello's 1441 portrait of Leonello d'Este,
which is housed at the Accademia Carrara
Leonello d’Este, who is remembered as a dedicated patron of the arts, literature and culture, died on this day in 1450 in Ferrara.

Leonello was Marquis of Ferrara and Duke of Modena and Reggio Emilia from 1441 to 1450.

An illegitimate son of Niccolo III d’Este, Leonello was favoured by his father as his successor ahead of his legitimate children.

As he was well educated and popular with the common people, he was considered by his father to be the most suitable heir.

During his rule over Ferrara, Leonello transformed the city and reformed the University of Ferrara, actions which influenced the political and artistic achievements of his successors.

Leonello was tutored by Guarino Veronese, who instructed him on the traits of a desirable ruler and how to govern. Veronese was later appointed as a professor at the University of Ferrara.

Because of his strong academic background, Leonello made economic, political and cultural changes to Ferrara as soon as he took over. He was responsible for the building of the first hospital in Ferrara.

Pisanello's coin The Singing Lion, which commemorated the life of Leonello d'Este
Pisanello's coin The Singing Lion, which commemorated
the life of Leonello d'Este
Artists such as Pisanello, Bellini, Mantegna and Della Francesca worked for him in Ferrara and he also encouraged musicians and writers.

He commissioned Pisanello to design a series of coins and medals bearing his image, including one that was known as The Little Lion of Ferrara and another called The Singing Lion, playing on his name. The reverse side of The Singing Lion depicted a lion with angels, to reflect the qualities of Leonello and his court.

Under Leonello’s rule, the University of Ferrara became a fully operational university with enough professors to teach the major subjects of canon law, logic, philosophy and medicine and he contributed financially to keep it running.

Leonello died suddenly of unknown causes on 1 October 1450. He was succeeded by his brother, Borso d’Este.



The magnificent Castello Estense
 in the heart of Ferrara
Travel tip:

Ferrara is a city in Emilia-Romagna, about 50 kilometres to the north east of Bologna. It was ruled by the Este family between 1240 and 1598. Building work on the magnificent Este Castle in the centre of the city began in 1385 and it was added to and improved by successive rulers of Ferrara until the end of the Este line.

The Faculty of Liberal Arts at the University of Ferrara
The Faculty of Liberal Arts
at the University of Ferrara
Travel tip:

The University of Ferrara was established in 1391 by Alberto V d’Este, but 1442 – one year into the reign of Leonello d’Este – is considered its true founding date because it grew in size and became fully operational then. By the end of Leonello’s reign in 1450 it had 12 law professors and 13 arts professors and had brought prestige to Ferrara just as he had hoped. Today the University has about 16,000 students and a teaching staff of 600.