26 December

Beppe Severgnini - journalist and author

Books observing national mores have been best sellers

The author and journalist Giuseppe Severgnini was born on this day in 1956 in Crema in northern Italy.  Better known as Beppe Severgnini, he is a respected commentator on politics and social affairs, about which he has written for some of the most influential journals and newspapers in Italy and the wider world.  Severgnini is equally well known for his humorous writing, in particular his gently satirical observations of the English and the Americans as well as Italians, about whom he has written many books.  His biggest selling titles include An Italian in America, which has also been published as Ciao, America! He has also enjoyed success with La Bella Figura: An Insider's Guide to the Italian Mind, Mamma Mia! Berlusconi's Italy Explained for Posterity and Friends Abroad, and An Italian in Britain.  Severgnini is currently a columnist for Corriere della Sera in Italy and the International New York Times in the United States.  A former correspondent for the British journal The Economist, he writes in both Italian and English, having spent a number of years living in London, Washington and New York.  The son of a notary in Crema, Severgnini graduated in law at the University of Pavia.  Read more…

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Festa di Santo Stefano - Boxing Day

Saint Stephen's Day in Italy

Italians enjoy another day relaxing with their families on the Festa di Santo Stefano which is a public holiday in Italy.  It is traditional to visit loved ones and friends that you didn't see the day before to take presents and gifts of food.  Lunch will be less formal but still consist of several courses and each area of Italy will have its own specialities.  The day remembers Santo Stefano, traditionally thought of as the first Christian martyr, who lived during the first century  BC.  He aroused enmity with his Christian teachings in Jerusalem. Accused of blasphemy, he was tried and sentenced to death. Eventually he was stoned to death by an angry crowd.  The day is celebrated in different ways across Italy.  In some towns there are processions, in others there are re-enactments of the nativity. It is also a tradition in some areas to visit nativity scenes in local churches and leave donations.  The Sicilian town of Ragusa stages an annual presepe vivente (live nativity scene) on the feast of Santo Stefano, which attracts many visitors. Ragusa is one of the island's most picturesque towns, with spectacular views.  It has become a location regularly used for Sicilian detective drama Il Commissario Montalbano (Inspector Montalbano).  Read more…

Renato Guttuso - artist and illustrator

Creator of works representing the victims of Fascist repression

The painter Renato Guttuso, whose illustrations for Elizabeth David’s classic cookery book, Italian Food, gave him international fame, was born on this day in 1912 in Bagheria near Palermo in Sicily.  A fierce anti-Fascist, he painted powerful pictures, which he said represented the many people who, because of their ideas, endured outrage, imprisonment and torment.  Guttuso’s father, Gioacchino, was a land surveyor who painted water colours and Renato started painting as a child, signing and dating his art works from the age of 13. He was educated in Palermo and then went on to Palermo University.  He painted nature scenes featuring flowers, lemon trees and Saracen olive trees, which brought him recognition as a talented Sicilian painter when they were exhibited. He opened a studio with another painter and two sculptors in Palermo.  Guttuso became a member of an artistic movement that stood for free and open attitudes and was opposed to Fascism during the years of the Spanish Civil War.  He moved to Milan, where his morals and political commitment became even more visible in his paintings.  Read more…

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Piergiorgio Welby - euthanasia campaigner

Muscular dystrophy sufferer who fought for right to die

The poet, painter and muscular dystrophy sufferer Piergiorgio Welby, whose wish to be given help to die after nine years being kept alive artificially sparked a huge legal, political and religious debate, was born on this day in 1945 in Rome.  Welby, the son of an AS Roma footballer with Scottish ancestry, developed MS when he was 17 years old.  Throughout the 1960s and 70s his lifestyle helped keep the disease under control. He lived as an artist and writer, following the hippie movement but also hunting and fishing. His use of recreational drugs dulled the symptoms of the disease and he was able to travel extensively in Europe.  During this period he met his future wife, Wilhelmine - later known as Mina - who was from Bolzano province in Trentino-Alto Adige but encountered Welby in Rome.  Welby decided in the 1980s to wean himself off drugs by embarking on methadone therapy, but the disease then progressed rapidly and he was soon paralysed from the waist down.  In 1997, he suffered severe respiratory problems and from that point onwards was dependent on a breathing tube.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Ciao, America!: An Italian Discovers the US, by Beppe Severgnini

In the wry but affectionate tradition of Bill Bryson, Ciao, America! is a delightful look at America through the eyes of a fiercely funny guest - one of Italy's favourite authors, who spent a year in Washington, DC.  When Beppe Severgnini and his wife rented a creaky house in Georgetown they were determined to see if they could adapt to a full four seasons in a country obsessed with ice cubes, air-conditioning, recliner chairs, and, of all things, after-dinner cappuccinos. From their first encounters with cryptic rental listings to their back-to-Europe yard sale 12 months later, Beppe explores this foreign land with the self-described patience of a mildly inappropriate beachcomber, holding up a mirror to America's signature manners and mores. Succumbing to his surroundings day by day, he and his wife find themselves developing a taste for Klondike bars and Samuel Adams beer, and even that most peculiar of American institutions - the pancake house.  The realtor who waves a perfect bye-bye, the overzealous mattress salesman who bounces from bed to bed, and the plumber named Marx who deals in illegally powerful showerheads are just a few of the better-than-fiction characters the Severgninis encounter while foraging for clues to the real America. A trip to the computer store proves just as revealing as DC's Fourth of July celebration, as do boisterous waiters angling for tips and no-parking signs crammed with a dozen lines of fine print.  By the end of his visit, Severgnini has come to grips with life in these United States - and written a charming, laugh-out-loud tribute.

Beppe Severgnini’s writing on politics and social affairs have appeared in  some of the most influential journals and newspapers in Italy and beyond.  Severgnini is equally well known for his humorous writing.  He has published more than 25 books, several of which have been translated into English.

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25 December

Lina Cavalieri – soprano

Christmas Day baby became singing star

Singer and actress Lina Cavalieri was born Natalina - meaning 'Little Christmas' - Cavalieri on this day in 1874, in Viterbo in Lazio.  During her career she starred opposite Enrico Caruso in operas and earned the title of ‘the world’s most beautiful woman', while many of her female contemporaries tried to attain her hour-glass figure by using tight-laced corsetry.  Raised as one of five children in humble circumstances, she was expected to work to supplement the family income.  To this end, she sold flowers and sang on the streets of Rome.  After a music teacher heard her singing, she was offered some music lessons.  Subsequently, she found work as a café singer and then in theatres in Rome.  Increasingly popular both for her voice and her physical beauty, she made her way from Rome first to Vienna and then Paris where she performed in music halls including the Folies-Bergère and worked with singing coaches to develop her voice.  The progression to opera came in 1900, when she made her debut in Lisbon as Nedda in Pagliacci, by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It was in the same year that she married her first husband, the Russian Prince, Alexandre Bariatinsky, whom she had met in Paris.  Read more…

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How December 25 became Christmas Day 

The day the birth of Christ was celebrated rather than the birth of the Sun 

Christmas Day was celebrated on December 25 for the first time by the emperor Constantine on this day in 336 in Rome.  Constantine had probably chosen the date carefully. Christians had been discussing the exact date of the birth of Jesus for some time and December 25 must have been the date most widely agreed. The emperor Constantine was reputed to have regularly accepted the most commonly attested viewpoint so that it would attract the least controversy after his decision was published.  Romans had already been holding festive celebrations in December to celebrate Saturnalia, a pagan Winter Solstice festival. There would be feasting, generosity to the poor, the exchange of gifts and an atmosphere of general goodwill.  The poet Gaius Valerius Catullus had described Saturnalia as ‘the best of times’ when writing about it in the first century AD. It was a time when dress codes were relaxed, the wealthy were expected to pay a month’s rent for those who were less well-off, and masters and slaves would traditionally swap clothes.  The festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti - the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun - would also have been celebrated at about this time of the year in Rome when Constantine first became emperor and therefore has a rival claim to be considered as the forerunner of Christmas.  Read more…

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Panettone and pandoro - festive treats

Which can claim the oldest Christmas tradition?

The festive treats tucked into by Italian families on Christmas Day almost always include a wedge or slice of panettone, the fluffy sweet bread with the familiar dome shape that sells in tens of millions at this time of year.  In little more than 100 years since it was first produced commercially on a large scale, panettone has gained such popularity that it has become readily available in food outlets on almost every continent.  It is rare to find a supermarket in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, or in most western European countries, which does not have panettone jostling for shelf space with indigenous Christmas specialities.  Nowadays, panettone is finding increasing competition from another Italian sweet bread frequently seen on Christmas tables, its tall star-shaped rival, pandoro.  A recent Twitter poll conducted by the website thelocal.it found that panettone was still the preferred choice of about two thirds of participants, but pandoro’s popularity is almost certainly on the rise.  But which of them has the more authentic historical claim to be Italy’s true Christmas cake?  Read more…

Natale – Christmas Day

Celebrating Christmas the Italian way

Christmas Day in Italy is the culmination of a celebration that - officially, at least - begins on 8 December with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, at which point towns light up their Christmas illuminations and trees are erected in public squares.  It also sees nativity scenes - called presepi in Italian - unveiled in many towns and cities, a tradition that goes back to 1223, when St Francis of Assisi, inspired by being shown the birthplace of Jesus on a trip to the Holy Land, ordered the creation of a scene representing the birth as a focal point for worship. A local cave was the setting, with straw spread on the floor, a crib placed in the corner and a live donkey, ox and a dozen peasants representing the principles in the scene.  Although living participants have been replaced by model figures for the most part, the stable scene remains at the heart of the idea.  Specialist model-makers have made an industry out of creating presepi figurines, with Naples a notable centre.  Just as in many other countries, Christmas itself is celebrated around food.  La Vigilia di Natale - Christmas Eve - is marked by Cenone di Natale, a Christmas supper usually comprising several fish courses.  Read more… 

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Charlemagne – Holy Roman Emperor

Christmas Day crowning for the Pope’s supporter

Charlemagne, the King of the Franks and the Lombards, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on this day in 800 in the old St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  He was the first recognised emperor in Western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier and has been referred to as the ‘father of Europe’ because he united most of Europe for the first time since the days of the Roman Empire, including parts that had never been under Roman rule.  Charlemagne was the son of Pepin the Short and became King of the Franks when his father died in 768, initially as co-ruler with his brother Carloman I. When Carloman died suddenly in unexplained circumstances it left Charlemagne as the sole, undisputed ruler of the Frankish Kingdom.  He continued his father’s policy towards the papacy and became its protector, removing the Lombards in power from northern Italy and leading an incursion into Muslim Spain. He also campaigned against the Saxons, making them become Christians or face the death penalty. In 799, Pope Leo III was violently mistreated by the Romans and fled to the protection of Charlemagne in Germany.  Read more…

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Marco Mengoni - singer-songwriter

X-Factor victory was launchpad to stardom

The singer-songwriter Marco Mengoni, who rose to fame after winning the Italian version of the TV talent show The X-Factor, was born on this day in 1988 in Ronciglione in northern Lazio.  Mengoni triumphed in the 2009 edition - the third series of The X-Factor on the public service channel Rai Due before it was bought up by subscription channel Sky Italia - during which he unveiled what would be his debut single, Dove si vola, which he sang for the first time at the semi-final stage.  The single, an example of the sophisticated pop-rock style that would become Mengoni’s trademark,  reached number one in the Italian downloads chart while a seven-track extended play album of the same name sold 70,000 copies, peaking at nine in the Italian albums chart.  Mengoni’s performances on The X-Factor had received favourable comments from both Mina and Adriano Celentano, the all-time bestselling artists in Italian popular music history.  The prize for winning The X-Factor was a recording contract with a value of €300,000 and automatic selection for the 2010 Sanremo Music Festival 2010, in which he finished third with Credimi ancora.   Read more…

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Book of the Day: Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera's Greatest Beauty, 1874-1944, by Paul Fryer and Olga Usova

A prominent star in both pre-Revolutionary Russia and New York, Lina Cavalieri, described as "the most beautiful woman in the world," was one of the most frequently photographed personalities of her time. The cabaret performer, courtesan, and international star is documented in this, her first English-language biography. Researched from Russian archive sources, the book details her career from her early experiences in cafe-chantant and variety theatre in Paris, London, and St. Petersburg, through a highly successful operatic career in which she sang in many of the world's leading opera houses with such celebrities as Caruso and Ruffo. In 1914, Cavalieri became the first great opera singer to appear in silent movies, making her debut in Manon Lescaut and continuing with a series of successful films. Her life was ended by an Allied air raid in World War II.  Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera's Greatest Beauty includes excerpts from period reviews, programmes, posters, and many previously unseen photographs. Appendices include a bibliography, filmography, discography, and chronology of stage performances (dates, venues, work, cast, conductor).

Paul Fryer is an academic, author, editor and researcher. He has lectured and presented film screenings internationally and is a visiting professor at the Universities of Leeds, London South Bank and East London.  Linguist, teacher and translator Olga Usova is the chief bibliographer and head of the department of rare books at the Academy of Art and Design in St. Petersburg, Russia.

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24 December

Francesco Cirio - canning pioneer

Market trader whose name became known worldwide

Francesco Cirio, who pioneered the technique of canning food products to preserve their freshness, was born on this day in 1836 in the town of Nizza Monferrato in what is now Piedmont.  His father was a grain trader and Francesco developed entrepreneurial instincts at an early age.  By the age of 14 he was working at the fruit and vegetable market of Porta Palazzo in Turin.  He soon became aware that there was a demand for fresh Italian produce in London and Paris and set up a company to export fruit and vegetables to other cities in Europe.  At the same time he heard about the work of Nicolas Appert, the French confectioner and chef, whose attempts to find ways to preserve food led him to discover that heat could be used as a method of sterilisation and that foods treated in that way could be sealed in cans and would retain their fresh condition for many months.  The method, which became known as Appertisation, was taken up by Cirio, who set up his first canning factory in Turin in 1856 at the age of 20, concentrating first on peas and then achieving similar success with other vegetables.  Read more…

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Lazzaro Ponticelli – war veteran

Wounded soldier survived to set records for longevity

Lazzaro Ponticelli, who became the oldest living man of Italian birth and the oldest man living in France, was born on this day in 1897 in a frazione of Bettola in Emilia-Romagna.  Before his death at the age of 110 years and 79 days, Ponticelli was the last surviving officially recognised veteran of the First World War from France and the last infantry man from its trenches to die.  He had moved to France at the age of eight to join his family who had gone there to find work. At the age of 16, he lied about his age to join the French army in 1914.  Ponticelli was transferred against his will to the Italian army when Italy entered the war the following year. He enlisted in the 3rd Alpini regiment and saw service against the Austro-Hungarian army at Mount Pal Piccolo on the Italian border with Austria.  At one stage he was wounded by a shell but continued firing his machine gun although blood was running into his eyes.  He spoke of a period when fighting ceased for three weeks and the two armies swapped loaves of bread for tobacco and took photographs of each other, as many of them could speak each other's language.  Read more…

Domenico Sarro – composer

Court choirmaster wrote several important operas

Opera composer Domenico Sarro was born on this day in 1679 in Trani, a seaport north of Bari in Apulia.  He was given the middle name, Natale, which is the Italian word for Christmas.  Sarro is famous for being the composer of Achille in Sciro, the opera chosen for the opening night of the new Teatro San Carlo in Naples in 1737.  He studied music from the age of six at Sant’Onofrio, a church near Porta Capuana, one of the ancient city gates of Naples, which at the time was the location of the city’s music conservatory. His first opera, L’opera d’amore, was performed in Naples in 1702.  Sarro was appointed assistant choirmaster to the Neapolitan court in 1702 and by 1706 was having his religious music performed in churches in Naples. He wrote several of what were then referred to as three-act musical dramas, which were performed in theatres and private palaces throughout the city.  Sarro’s opera, Didone abbandonata, was premiered on February 1, 1724 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples. It was the first setting of a major libretto by the writer Pietro Metastasio, who would become the most celebrated librettist of the 18th century.  Read more…

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Pier Giorgio Perotto - electronics engineer

Pioneer who designed world’s first personal computer

The engineer Pier Giorgio Perotto, whose Programma 101 machine is seen as the first example of a desktop personal computer, was born on this day in 1930 in Turin.  Perotto invented the Programma 101 in the early 1960s while working for Olivetti, which more than half a century earlier had opened Italy’s first typewriter factory.  The Programma 101, which itself had the appearance of an office typewriter, was really an electronic calculator, but was programmable via information stored on a magnetic strip, which meant it could be instructed to perform a series of calculations in accordance with the needs of the user.  For example, the machine could be programmed to work out tax and other payroll deductions for every employee at a company with the operator needing only to enter the employee’s earnings.  Launched in 1964 and put into production the following year at a price considerably lower than any other computer on the market, the Programma 101 was a great success. In 1969, it was used by NASA in the planning of the Apollo 11 space mission, which saw the first humans set foot on the surface of the moon.  Read more…

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Vigilia di Natale – Christmas Eve

Feasting on fish the night before Christmas

The day before Christmas, la Vigilia di Natale, is also referred to as ‘the feast of the seven fishes’ in Italy.  It is a tradition that no meat is served on Christmas Eve, but families in many areas will follow the tradition of serving seven fish courses for the evening meal.  Afterwards, many people will go to midnight mass to celebrate the coming of Christ and, in Rome, some will head to St Peter’s Square.  Fish dishes regularly served at the beginning of the meal include baccalà (salt cod) and frutti di mare (shellfish). In Naples, a popular dish to start the meal is broccoli fried with frutti di mare.  For the pasta course, lasagne with anchovies is popular in the north, while vermicelli with clams (vongole) is often served in the south.'  There are traditionally seven different fish dishes, representing the seven sacraments, on the menu on Christmas Eve. In some areas of southern Italy, in the midnight between 24 and 25 December it is customary for families to stage a procession, at home, led by a candle-bearer followed by the youngest family member carrying a figurine of the baby Jesus, with the rest of the family members following. This procession ends with the placing of the “baby” in the cradle of the family nativity scene.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Cooking with Tomatoes: Family-Friendly Delicious Tomato Recipes from Breakfast to Dinner, by Louise Davidson

Make tomato the star ingredient of your next meal with delicious tomato recipes that will make your family and friends ask for the recipe from breakfast to dinner. All over the world, people have welcomed tomatoes into their cuisines and their hearts. The love affair between the culinary world and tomatoes is well-known. A hearty tomato blows a breath of fresh flavours to any recipe. After potatoes, tomatoes are the second most popular farm-grown vegetable or fruit globally. They are always a hit at farmer's markets. From bright and refreshing salads to hearty and fulfilling main dishes, what's not to love about tangy tomatoes? Apart from making your meals delicious, tomatoes have much to offer regarding nutrition. They are a rich source of vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals. One medium-sized tomato supplies about 30-40 per cent of the minimum daily requirement of Vitamin C. Tomatoes are also greatly helpful in controlling blood pressure levels and being an excellent choice for healthy living.  We all recognize and consume tomato as a vegetable; however, it is botanically classified as a fruit. Tomatoes are from the nightshade fruit family and have been native to South America since 700 A.D! Inside Cooking with Tomatoes, you'll discover everything you need to know about tomatoes, including the different types of tomatoes - and more than 115 recipes.

Louise Davidson is an avid cook who likes simple flavours and easy-to-make meals. She lives in Tennessee with her husband, three grown-up children, two dogs and the family’s cat.

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23 December

NEW - Michele Novaro - composer

Patriot who wrote music for Italian national anthem

The composer and singer Michele Novaro, who wrote the music that accompanies Goffredo Mameli’s words in Italy’s national anthem, was born on this day in 1818 in Genoa.  While not as actively involved in the Risorgimento movement as Mameli, who took part in various insurrections and died fighting alongside Giuseppe Garibaldi in the battle for Italian independence, Novaro was a patriot nonetheless.  A committed liberal in his politics, he was a supporter of the cause of independence and composed the music for several patriotic songs in addition to Mameli’s Il canto degli Italiani - The Song of the Italians - which is also known as Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) and L’inno di Mameli (Mameli’s hymn). The oldest of five children, Novaro was born into a theatrical background. His father, Gerolamo, was a stagehand at the Teatro Carlo Felice, the Genoa opera house. His mother, Giuseppina Canzio, was the sister of a well-known painter, scenographer and impresario, Michele Canzio.  Novaro attended singing school and achieved a respectable standard as an opera singer. He was good enough to sing in the Genoese premiere of Gaetano Donizetti’s opera Gianni di Calais.  Read more…

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Carla Bruni - former First Lady of France

Ex-model and singer who married Nicolas Sarkozy

Carla Bruni, the model and singer who became the wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, was born on this day in 1967 in Turin.  She and Sarkozy were married in February 2008, just three months after they met at a dinner party. Sarkozy, who was in office from May 2007 until May 2012, had recently divorced his second wife.  Previously, Bruni had spent 10 years as a model, treading the catwalk for some of the biggest designers and fashion houses in Europe and establishing herself as one of the top 20 earners in the modelling world.  After retiring from the modelling world, she enjoyed considerable success as a songwriter and then as a singer. Music remains a passion; to date, her record sales stand at more than five million.  Born Carla Gilberta Bruni Tedeschi, she is legally the daughter of Italian concert pianist Marisa Borini and industrialist and classical composer Alberto Bruni Tedeschi.  However, she revealed in a magazine interview soon after she and Sarkozy were married at the presidential residence the Élysée Palace in Paris, that her biological father is the Italian-born Brazilian businessman Maurizio Remmert, who was a classical guitarist.  Read more…

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Giovanni Battista Crespi - Baroque artist

Religious painter portrayed saints expressing human emotions

Painter, sculptor and architect Giovanni Battista Crespi was born on this day in 1573 in Romagnano Sesia in the Piedmont region of Italy.  His father was the painter Raffaele Crespi, who eventually moved his family to live in Cerano near Novara. When Giovanni Battista Crespi became one of the chief Lombardy artists of the early 17th century, he was often referred to as Il Cerano.  Reflecting the Counter Reformation pious mood of the time, many of his paintings focused on mysteries and mystical episodes in the lives of the saints, capturing their emotions.  Crespi spent some time in Rome, where he formed a friendship with the Milanese cardinal, Federico Borromeo, who became his patron. Together, they went to Milan, which was under the inspiration of the cardinal’s uncle, Charles Borromeo, and was a centre for the fervent spiritual revival in art.  Crespi formed a style that was Mannerist in its use of colour and in the mystical quality of his figures, although he also gave them realistic details.  Along with other artists, Crespi completed a series of paintings, Quadroni of St Charles, for the Duomo in Milan.  Read more…

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa – writer

Sicilian prince whose novel achieved recognition after his death

The Sicilian writer, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, was born on this day in 1896 in Palermo in Sicily.   He became the last Prince of Lampedusa after the death of his father and his only novel, Il Gattopardo (The Leopard), was published in 1958 after his death, soon becoming recognised as a great work of Italian literature.  The novel, which is set in his native Sicily during the Risorgimento, won the Strega Prize in 1959 for him posthumously.  After starting to study jurisprudence at university in Rome he was drafted into the army in 1915.  He fought in the battle of Caporetto and was taken prisoner by The Austro-Hungarian army. He was held in a prisoner of war camp for a while in Hungary but managed to escape and return to Italy.  Giuseppe inherited his father’s title in 1934 and eventually settled down to write his novel. He completed Il Gattopardo in 1956, but it was rejected by the first two publishers he submitted it to.  Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa died in Rome in 1957 at the age of 60. His novel was published a year after his death. It became the best selling novel in Italian history.  Read more…

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Michele Alboreto - racing driver

Last Italian to go close to Formula One title 

No Italian motor racing driver has won the Formula One world championship since 1953 but Michele Alboreto, who was born on this day in 1956, went as close as anyone.  Racing for Ferrari, Alboreto finished runner-up in 1985, beaten by just 20 points by Alain Prost. Riccardo Patrese finished second in 1992 but the gap between him and champion Nigel Mansell was a massive 52 points after the British driver won nine Grand Prix victories to Patrese's one.  Patrese was never even in the hunt in 1992 after Mansell began the season with five straight wins. By contrast, Alboreto's 1985 duel with Prost could have gone either way until well into the second half of the campaign. Alboreto scored two race wins and four second places to lead by five points after winning race nine of the 16-race series in Germany.  However, a series of disastrous engine failures late in the season wrecked Alboreto's chance to be the first Italian champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953.  Prost won the next race in Austria to draw level and after both finished on the podium in the Netherlands the Frenchman led by just three points with five races left.  Read more…

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Dino Risi – film director

Film comedy director helped launch career of Sophia Loren

The director Dino Risi, who was regarded as one of the masters of Italian film comedy, was born on this day in 1916 in Milan.  He had a string of hits in the 1950s and 1960s and gave future stars Sophia Loren, Alberto Sordi and Vittorio Gassman opportunities early in their careers.  Risi’s older brother, Fernando, was a cinematographer and his younger brother, Nelo, was a director and writer.  He started his career as an assistant to Mario Soldati and Alberto Lattuada and then began directing his own films.  One of Risi’s early successes was the 1951 comedy, Vacation with a Gangster, in which he cast the 12-year-old actor Mario Girotti, who later became well known under the name Terence Hill.  His 1966 film, Treasure of San Gennaro, was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a silver prize.  Among his best-known films are Pane, amore e… in 1955, Poveri ma belli in 1956, Una vita difficile in 1961 and Profumo di donna in 1974.  He was awarded the David di Donatello award for best film director in 1975 for Profumo di donna.  The actor Al Pacino would win an Oscar for a remake of the movie as Scent of a Woman in 1992.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796, by Christopher Duggan

The greatness of Italy's culture and way of life have had a powerful attraction for many generations of visitors. This has created an overwhelming sense that Italy is a fundamentally benign and easy going country. The Force of Destiny lays waste to this idea. While sharing everyone's enthusiasm for Italy as a place, the author strongly distinguishes this from its political role over the past two centuries, which has been both vicious and ruinous for Europe as a whole. Christopher Duggan skillfully interweaves Italy's art, music, literature, and architecture with its economic and social realities and political development to tell this extraordinary European story. The first English-language book to cover the full scope of modern Italy, from its origins more than two hundred years ago to the present, The Force of Destiny is a brilliant and comprehensive study - and a frightening example of how easily nation-building and nationalism can slip toward authoritarianism and war.

Christopher Duggan, who died in 2015, was a British historian and academic. He specialised in the political, social and cultural history of modern Italy. He began his career as a research fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford and then at All Souls College, Oxford. In 1987, he moved to the University of Reading, where he was Professor of Modern Italian History from 2002.

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