1 January

NEW - Italy’s first postage stamps

Kingdom of Sardinia adopts pre-paid labels for letters

The first postage stamps to be used in Italy were issued by the Kingdom of Sardinia on this day in 1850.  It followed proposals drawn up by the statesman Count Camillo Cavour, whose various positions in the Sardinian government at the time included Minister of Commerce, to reform the postal service.  Following the example of other European states, Cavour suggested that these pre-paid labels, which became known as francobolli as the Italian language acquired a new word, would make for a fairer system for delivering mail.  Before stamps were invented, the cost of posting a letter was demanded of the recipient rather than the sender. The cost depended on distance and the number of sheets.  But the charges were inconsistent and confusing and people often refused to pay, leaving letters undelivered, or postal workers were held up as they negotiated payment at the door. It discouraged ordinary people from sending mail. Read more… 

_____________________________________

Claudio Villa - singing star

'King' of Sanremo sold 45 million records

The singer Claudio Villa, who sold 45 million records and won the Sanremo Music Festival four times, was born on New Year's Day in 1926 in the Trastevere district of Rome.  The tenor, nicknamed 'the little king' on account of his diminutive stature and fiery temper, lent his voice to popular songs rather than opera although his voice was of sufficient quality to include operatic arias in his repertoire.  His four wins at Sanremo, in 1955, 1957, 1962 and 1967, is the most by any individual performer, a record he shares with Domenico Modugno, the singer-songwriter who was at his peak in the same era.  Villa recorded more than 3,000 songs and enjoyed a successful film career, starring in more than 25 musicals. His biggest hits included Ti Voglio Come Sei, Binario, Non ti Scordar di Me, Buongiorno Tristezza and Granada.  Read more…

______________________________________

Cesare Paciotti - shoe designer

Exclusive brand worn by many celebrities

The shoe designer Cesare Paciotti, whose chic collections have attracted a celebrity clientele, was born on New Year’s Day in 1958 in Civitanova Marche, a town on the Adriatic coast.  His company, Paciotti SpA, is still headquartered in Civitanova Marche, as it has been since his parents, Giuseppe and Cecilia, founded their craft shoe-making business in 1948, producing a range of shoes in classical designs made entirely by hand.  Today, the company, which trades as Cesare Paciotti, has major showrooms in Milan, Rome and New York and many boutique stores in cities across the world. The business, which also sells watches, belts, other accessories and some clothing lines, has an annual turnover estimated at more than $500 million (€437 million).  Cesare Paciotti inherited the family firm in 1980 at the age of 22.  Read more… 

Guglielmo Libri – book thief

Nobleman stole more than 30,000 books and documents

The notorious 19th century thief Guglielmo Libri, who stole tens of thousands of historic books, manuscripts and letters, many of which have never been found, was born on this day in 1803 in Florence.  A distinguished and decorated academic, Libri was an avid collector of historic documents whose passion for adding to his collections ultimately became an addiction he could not satisfy by legal means alone.  He stole on a large scale from the historic Laurentian Library in Florence but it was after he was appointed Chief Inspector of French Libraries in 1841 – he had been a French citizen since 1833 – that his nefarious activities reached their peak.  As the man responsible for cataloguing valuable books and precious manuscripts across the whole of France, Libri had privileged access to the official archives of many cities. Read more…

________________________________________

Valentina Cortese – actress

Vibrant performer made more than 100 films

Film star Valentina Cortese was born on this day in 1923 in Milan.  She had an acting career lasting nearly sixty years and won an Academy Award nomination for her performance as an ageing, alcoholic movie star in Francois Truffaut’s Day for Night in 1973.  Cortese was born to a single mother, who sent her to live with her maternal grandparents in Turin when she was six years old.  She enrolled in the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome at the age of 15 and made her screen debut in 1940. This paved the way for her first internationally acclaimed film in 1948, an Italian adaptation of Les Miserables with Gino Cervi and Marcello Mastroianni, in which she played the roles of both Fantine and Cosette.  She then appeared in the British film The Glass Mountain in 1949 and also appeared in many American films of the period, while continuing to work in Europe with directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini and Francois Truffaut.  Read more…

______________________________________

Capodanno in Italy

Toasting the New Year the Italian way

New Year’s Day is called Capodanno in Italy, which literally means ‘head of the year’.  It is a public holiday, and schools, Government offices, post offices and banks are closed.  After a late start following the New Year’s Eve festivities, many families will enjoy another traditional feast together, either at home or in a restaurant.  Visitors and residents will attend church services throughout the country before sitting down to a festive meal and toasting the new year with a glass of good Prosecco.   Rai Uno often broadcasts a New Year’s Day concert live.  The Catholic Church remembers cardinal-priest Giuseppe Maria Tomasi di Lampedusa who died on this day in 1713.  He was the son of the Prince of Lampedusa in Sicily but he renounced his inheritance and joined a religious order.  Later in life he worked to reform the church and was created a cardinal-priest by Pope Clement XI who admired his sanctity.  Read more…

_______________________________________

Book of the Day: The World Encyclopedia of Stamps and Stamp Collecting, by James Mackay

The World Encyclopedia of Stamps and Stamp Collecting is a newly updated guide to getting the most out of the world’s most popular hobby, with countless examples of rare, vivid and historical stamps spanning two centuries, plus advice on price and guidance about acquisition. Read some of the fascinating stories behind the world’s most sought-after stamps, from the famous commemoratives of American presidents to issues from some of the most remote post offices in the world. Stamps trace the character and history of the country from which they originate, and this encyclopedic visual directory is an engrossing account of some of the most bizarre, vivid and poignant examples ever created.

Dr James MacKay was one of the foremost authors on stamps and stamp collecting, writing over 100 books and thousands of articles. He owned one of the largest private stamp collections in the world.

Buy from Amazon

Home

Italy’s first postage stamps

Kingdom of Sardinia adopts pre-paid labels for letters

Italy's equivalent of the 'Penny Black' -
the 1850 Cinque Centesimi stamp

The first postage stamps to be used in Italy were issued by the Kingdom of Sardinia on this day in 1850.

It followed proposals drawn up by the statesman Count Camillo Cavour, whose various positions in the Sardinian government at the time included Minister of Commerce, to reform the postal service. 

Following the example of other European states, Cavour suggested that these pre-paid labels, which became known as francobolli as the Italian language acquired a new word, would make for a fairer system for delivering mail.

Before stamps were invented, the cost of posting a letter was demanded of the recipient rather than the sender. The cost depended on distance and the number of sheets. 

But the charges were inconsistent and confusing and people often refused to pay, leaving letters undelivered, or delivery workers were delayed in their rounds s they negotiated payment at the door. It discouraged ordinary people from sending mail.

The idea of the postage stamp came from Sir Rowland Hill, a British reformer, in 1837.  He proposed that the sender pay a simple, low, uniform rate. The postage stamp would be issued as proof of payment. 

As a result, the Penny Black - the first postage stamp in history - came into being in 1840.

Following Sardinia, other Italian states followed suit, with stamps issued in Tuscany from April 1851, the Papal States (January 1852), Modena (June 1852), Parma (June 1852), the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Naples - January 1858; Sicily - January 1859), and Romagna (September 1859).

The first Sardinian stamps, which carried an embossed profile picture of King Victor Emmanuel II, had values from five centesimi to 40 centesimi. Like the British Penny Black, the five centesimi Sardinian stamp was also black.

The Kingdom of Sardinia, ruled by the Savoy family, at the time included what are today the Piemonte, Ligure and Valle d’Aosta regions, as well as the island of Sardinia. The Savoys were based in Turin and the early stamps were printed on the Turin presses of printer Francesco Matraire.

The Marzocco - the Lion of
Florence - on a Tuscan stamp

The stamps of the Duchy of Tuscany, featured the Lion of Florence - the Marzocco - while the Papal States displayed the Papal coat of arms.

Sardinia, who had the idea for pre-paid postage some years before stamps when they printed pre-paid letter sheets, continued to print stamps after the unification of Italy in 1860, when stamps issued by other states and territories in the peninsula were withdrawn. 

Italy joined the Universal Postal Union in 1875.  Stamps at first displayed the profile of the monarch but a change came in April 1910 when a series of commemorative stamps was issued to mark the 50th anniversary of Giuseppe Garibaldi’s Expedition of the Thousand. 

Italy broke new ground again in 1917 by issuing the first airmail stamp. Poste italiane overprinted their existing special delivery stamps to mark an experimental airmail flight between Turin and Rome.

The magnificent Basilica of Superga stands on
a hill overlooking the Savoy capital, Turin

Travel tip:

By 1850, Turin had become the nerve centre of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the state ruled by the House of Savoy that would soon lead the unification of Italy. Although the kingdom’s name referenced the island of Sardinia, the real power base was always Piemonte, and Turin was its capital and administrative engine. The House of Savoy had ruled the region since the Middle Ages, gradually expanding from their Alpine homeland.  Turin was the dynastic capital, filled with palaces, military academies, and  administrative buildings that expressed Savoy authority. The city housed the royal court, the ministries, and the bureaucracy that contemporary observers described as unusually efficient and ambitious compared to other Italian states.  Architecturally, the city still reflected the Baroque redesign initiated when it became the Savoy capital in the 1500s: straight avenues, monumental squares, and grand palaces intended to project dynastic prestige.  Some say its architecture and layout made it feel more French than Italian.  Two of the most striking reminders of the Baroque age are the Palazzo Reale, the Royal Palace of Turin, which was once the Savoys’ principal royal residence and is now a major museum, and the majestic Basilica of Superga, which Filippo Juvara built on a hill overlooking the city. 

Stay in Turin with Expedia

A copy of Donatello's Marzocco
in Florence's Piazza della Signoria 

Travel tip:

The Marzocco, which appeared on the first stamps issued by the Duchy of Tuscany, is the heraldic lion of Florence, the city’s secular symbol and one of its oldest civic emblems. It is said to represent strength, justice, independence, and republican liberty.  The city adopted the lion as its totemic animal for a number of reasons, one legend being that the lion was chosen because it could “tear apart the eagle” - the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire. The origin of the name is uncertain, possibly deriving from Mars, the ancient pagan protector of Florence, or from St Mark, whose symbol is also a lion.  The best‑known version of the Marzocco in art is Donatello’s Marzocco, sculpted between 1418 and 1420 in fine Tuscan sandstone.  The sculpture, which shows a seated lion with one paw resting on the Florentine lily shield, originally stood in Piazza della Signoria from 1812 until it was moved to the Bargello Museum in 1885 and replaced by a replica. The lion’s symbolic power was so strong that Florentine soldiers were sometimes called marzoccheschi – “sons of the Marzocco”.

Florence hotels from Hotels.com

More reading:

Camillo Benso Count of Cavour - Italy’s first prime minister

Italy elects its first parliament

Filippo Juvara - the Baroque architect who shaped ‘royal’ Turin

Also on this day:

1803: The birth of notorious book thief Guglielmo Libri

1923: The birth of actress Valentina Cortese

1926: The birth of singer Claudio Villa

1958: The birth of shoe designer Cesare Paciotti

Capodanno - New Year’s Day - in Italy

Home

31 December

Giovanni Boldini – artist and portraitist

Sought-after painter who captured elegance of Belle Époque

Giovanni Boldini, whose sumptuous images of the rich and famous made him the most fashionable portrait painter in Paris during the Belle Époque era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was born in Ferrara on this day in 1842.  His subjects included some famous names, including the opera composer Giuseppe Verdi and the actress Sarah Bernhardt, and he had countless commissions from prominent individuals in Parisian society.  Boldini's skill was to capture his subject in soft-focus, elongating their features to accentuate beauty and creating a sense of motion in the figures so that they appeared to be both sophisticated and full of life.  He dressed his subjects in sumptuous gowns that would grace any fashion catwalk and society women in particular felt the need to confirm their status by having a Boldini portrait to show off to their friends. Read more…

________________________________________

Giovanni Pascoli – poet

Painful childhood inspired great verse

Giovanni Placido Agostino Pascoli, who was regarded as the greatest Italian poet writing at the beginning of the 20th century, was born on this day in 1855 in San Mauro di Romagna, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia.  Pascoli’s poems in Latin won prizes and he was regarded by the writer Gabriele D’Annunzio as the finest Latin poet since the Augustan age, which lasted from approximately 43 BC to AD 18 and was thought to be the golden age of Latin literature.  Although Pascoli was the fourth of ten children, his family were comfortable financially and his father, Ruggero Pascoli, was administrator of an estate of farmland on which they lived.  But when Giovanni Pascoli was just 12 years old, his father, returning from Cesena in a carriage drawn by a black and white mare, was shot and killed by an assassin hiding in a ditch at the side of the road.  Read more…

_____________________________________

Festa di San Silvestro – Feast of Saint Sylvester

Celebrating with a meal of pork and lentils for a prosperous New Year

New Year’s Eve in Italy is known as the Festa di San Silvestro in memory of Pope Sylvester I who died on this day in 335 in Rome.  It is not a public holiday in Italy but in normal times it is a festive time everywhere, with firework displays, concerts and parties.  One custom still followed in some parts of Italy is throwing your old things out of the window at midnight to symbolise your readiness to accept the New Year.  Throughout Italy, bars and restaurants are busy with residents and visitors enjoying drinks and meals before seeing in the New Year in the main square when the bells ring at midnight.  Popular menu items include cotechino (Italian sausage), zampone (stuffed pig’s trotter) and lenticchie (lentils).  Pork is said to represent the fullness or richness of life, while lentils are supposed to symbolise wealth or money.  Read more…

Giovanni Michelucci - architect

Designer made mark with railway station and motorway church

The architect Giovanni Michelucci, whose major legacies include the Santa Maria Novella railway station in Florence, died on this day in 1990 in his studio just outside the Tuscan city at Fiesole.  Considered by many to be the 'father' of modern Italian architecture, he was only two days away from his 100th birthday.  He was still working and is said to have been inspecting progress on his latest project when he slipped and fell, later suffering a cardiac arrest.  Michelucci, who was born in Pistoia on January 2, 1891, is also remembered for the brilliantly unconventional church of San Giovanni Battista, with its tent-like curved roof, which forms part of a rest area on the Autostrada del Sole as it passes Florence.  The Santa Maria Novella station project for which he first won acclaim came after a collective of young architects known as the Tuscan Group, co-ordinated by Michelucci, beat more than 100 other entries in a national competition. Read more…

_____________________________________

Francesco Alberoni – sociologist

Academic explained the mystery of falling in love

Francesco Alberoni, who became a well-known sociologist because of his regular columns in Il Corriere della Sera, was born on this day in 1929 in Borgonovo Val Tidone in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna.  Alberoni was successful with the short books he wrote on the themes of love, good and evil, and ethics, and his work explored the dynamics of social relations. In 1979 he produced a bestseller, Innamoramento e amore (Falling in Love).  He was the descendant of a famous Cardinal from Piacenza, Giulio Alberoni, who was active in European diplomatic circles in the 17th century.  But his own upbringing was during the Fascist era in Italy and while he studied at the Liceo Scientifico in Piacenza, he claims he was subjected to military-style discipline.  Alberoni moved to Pavia to study medicine, where he met the Capuchin friar, Agostino Gemelli, who encouraged him to pursue his interest in the study of social behaviour.  Read more…

_______________________________________

Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino

Image of wise ruler has been preserved in paintings

Eleonora Gonzaga, a noblewoman who was painted four times by Titian, was born on this day in 1493 in Mantua.  When she was 15 she married Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, the 16-year-old nephew of Pope Julius II and the marriage was celebrated at the Vatican in Rome.  Eleonora, along with the dowager duchess, Elisabetta Montefeltro, became largely responsible for the internal government of the duchy because Francesco was a captain in the papal army and often absent from Urbino. She also became an important patron of the arts.  Eleonora was the eldest of the seven children of Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua and Isabella d’Este. Although her father was a notorious libertine, her mother was also famous for being a patron of the arts. As a result, Eleonora was well educated in reading, writing, Latin, music and needlework. Read more…

______________________________________

Book of the Day: City of Light, City of Shadows: Paris in the Belle Époque, by Mike Rapport

Paris in the Belle Époque is remembered as a golden age of cultural flourishing and political progress. The time between the revolutionary 1870s and the outbreak of war in 1914 saw the modern French capital take shape: by day Parisians could admire the rising Eiffel Tower and Sacré-Coeur Basilica, while at night they roamed the Bohemian world of the Moulin Rouge.  But, as Mike Rapport reveals in this authoritative and beautifully written history, beneath its elegant veneer Paris was at war with itself. The Belle Époque was also an era of social and religious unrest, women's emancipation and violent clashes over what it meant to be French.  Paris pulsated with the pleasures and anxieties of modernity: blazing electric lights illuminating the night, the first cars speeding down the boulevards, as well as the first Métro trains and plane flights. At the same time reactionary forces reasserted themselves-mostly dramatically in the infamous Dreyfus affair. Told through the eyes of the greatest personalities of the age - novelist Émile Zola, feminist activist Marguerite Durand, Vietnamese diplomat Nguyen Trang Hp and socialist politician Jean Jaurès - City of Light, City of Shadows weaves together stories of splendour and suffering, delight and agony.

Dr Mike Rapport is Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Stirling, where he teaches European history.

Buy from Amazon

Home

30 December

Galeazzo Alessi – architect

Brilliant designer left legacy of beautiful palaces and churches

Italian architect Galeazzo Alessi, who designed some of the most impressive buildings in Genoa and Assisi, died on this day in 1572.  Born in Perugia in 1512, Alessi studied drawing for both civil and military architecture and developed great enthusiasm for ancient architecture, although he was also later influenced by Michelangelo.  He became known throughout Europe for his distinctive style and towards the end of his career was commissioned to design churches and palaces in France, Germany, Belgium and Spain.  A lot of his work can still be seen in Perugia and Assisi, where, in collaboration with another architect, Alessi designed the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in 1568.  In Genoa he designed some of the beautiful palaces with ornate decoration that have now been listed as Unesco world heritage sites and he was involved in planning the lay-out of the streets and the restoration of the city walls.  Read more…

______________________________________

Titus – Roman emperor

'Good' ruler who helped victims of Vesuvius eruption

The Roman emperor Titus was born Titus Flavius Vespasianus on this day in AD 39.  He was emperor from 79 to 81 and is remembered for capturing Jerusalem and for completing the Colosseum in Rome.  Two months after his accession, on August 24, 79, Mount Vesuvius in Campania began erupting, eventually killing thousands of people around Pompeii and Herculaneum.  Titus appointed officials to coordinate the relief effort, while donating large amounts of money from the imperial treasury to aid the victims. He visited Pompeii twice.  Titus was a member of the Flavian dynasty and succeeded his father Vespasian after his death, becoming the first Roman emperor to come to the throne after his biological father.  Titus was believed to have been born in Rome on December 30, 39, the eldest son of Titus Flavius Vespasianus, who was commonly known as Vespasian.  Read more…

______________________________________

For a Few Dollars More released in Italy

Second in Spaghetti Western trilogy

The movie For a Few Dollars More, the second in what became known as the Dollars Trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns, was released for public viewing in Italy on this day in 1965.  Directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as the Man with No Name, the film followed the unexpected success of the low-budget feature A Fistful of Dollars, released 15 months earlier, which overcame poor initial reviews to become, for a time, the biggest-grossing movie in Italian cinema history.  Released for Italian audiences as Per Qualche Dollaro in Più, the follow-up proved even more commercially successful than its predecessor. By 1967, it had displaced A Fistful of Dollars as the highest-grossing Italian production, generating 3.1 billion lire ($5 million) in ticket sales from more than 14 and a half million admissions.  Read more…

Camila Giorgi - tennis player

Former Italian No 1 who specialised in beating big names

The former tennis player Camila Giorgi, who at her peak climbed to 26 in the world rankings and was Italy's No 1 female player, was born on this day in 1991 in Macerata, a city in the Marche region.  At the time, there was no other Italian woman in the top 100 Women's Tennis Association world rankings.  The breakthrough year for Giorgi came in 2018, when she reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam event for the only time, at the Wimbledon Championships in London.  Giorgi was not seeded but after defeating 21st seed Anastasija Sevastova in the first round, she advanced through her section of the draw with three more victories, culminating in a straight-sets win over former world No 8 Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round.  That earned Giorgi a last-eight meeting with seven-times Wimbledon champion and world record grand slam winner Serena Williams.  Read more…

______________________________________

Alessandra Mussolini – politician

Controversial granddaughter of Fascist dictator

The MEP Alessandra Mussolini, niece of actress Sophia Loren and granddaughter of Italy’s former Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, was born on this day in 1962 in Rome.  Formerly an actress and model, Mussolini entered politics in the early 1990s as a member of the neofascist Movimento Sociale Italiano, which had its roots in the Italian Social Republic, the German puppet state led by her grandfather from September 1943 until his death in April 1945.  Her views have changed in more recent years and she has become known for embracing modern issues including abortion, artificial insemination, gay rights and civil unions from a progressive standpoint that has more in common with left-wing feminism.  She has left behind her association with the far right and serves in the European Parliament as representative for Central Italy under a centre-right Forza Italia ticket.  Read more…

_____________________________________

Book of the Day: Lonely Planet Pocket Genoa & Cinque Terre, by Brendan Sainsbury

Discover twice the place in half the time as Lonely Planet's local travel experts reveal all you need to know to plan the ultimate short trip to Genoa and Cinque Terre.  This latest edition uncovers Genoa and Cinque Terre's most popular experiences and unexpected surprises from stopping mid-hike in the terraced vineyards of Cantina Capellini for a plate of bruschette with a view, to kayaking out of Riomaggiore to see all five Cinque Terre villages, and calling into the Museo Archeologico e della Città to see some of Liguria’s oldest finds.  This updated 2025 edition includes exciting ‘Three Perfect Days’ itineraries, how to eat, drink and shop like a local, walking tours in every chapter, and fresh takes on must-visit sights including Musei di Strada Nuova, Palazzo Reale, and Porto Venere. The guide covers Genoa; Portofino to Levanto; Monterosso al Mare; Vernazza; Corniglia; Manarola; Riomaggiore; La Spezia & the Bay of Poets.

Brendan Sainsbury is a British writer who has been a resident of British Columbia, Canada, since 2004. He has written 60 Lonely Planet guidebooks, specialising in Cuba, Andalucia, Italy, Colombia and Alaska.

Buy from Amazon

Home