18 February

NEW - Lord Byron - Ravenna revolutionary

Poet pursues romantic dream in the Romagna

The English poet Lord Byron, who was a member of the secret revolutionary society in Italy known as i Carbonari, wrote the wistful words: ‘Only think .. a free Italy!!!,’ in his diary on this day in 1821 in Ravenna.  He had risked his own life and liberty two days before by allowing a supply of weapons belonging to the revolutionaries to be housed in his apartment in Palazzo Guiccioli, having been recruited to the Carbonari by Ruggiero and Pietro Gamba, the father and brother of his lover, Teresa Guiccioli. The Carbonari - literally, the charcoal burners - were a network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy between 1800 and 1831, dedicated to overthrowing oppressive regimes, promoting liberal ideas, and establishing constitutional government. In the run up to Italian unification, the Carbonari fought against foreign domination and absolute monarchy, and were particularly active in southern Italy. Read more...

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Alessandro Varaldo – crime writer and playwright

The first Italian author of gialli to be accepted by Mondadori

Alessandro Varaldo, the author credited with creating the first fictional Italian police officer, died on this day in 1953 in Rome. His character, Commissario Ascanio Bonichi, made his first appearance in Varaldo’s novel Il sette bello - the name by which Italians refer to the seven of diamonds in a deck of cards - which was published by Mondadori in 1931. The author had been approached by Arnaldo Mondadori himself and encouraged to create a novel in Italian to appeal to the readers who were already eagerly buying their gialli, the Italian translations of English, American and French detective novels that the firm published.  Gialli take their name from the distinctive yellow - giallo in Italian - covers used by Mondadori for their crime novels in the 1930s.  Varaldo was born in Ventimiglia in Liguria in 1873 and grew up to become a journalist, novelist and playwright. Read more…

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Blessed Fra Angelico – painter

Talented Friar became patron of Catholic artists

The early Renaissance painter who became known as Fra Angelico died on this day in 1455 in Rome.  Fra Angelico is regarded as one of the greatest painters of the 15th century, whose works reflected his serene religious attitude.   He painted many altarpieces and frescoes for the Church and Priory of San Marco in Florence where he lived for about nine years.   In 1982, more than 500 years after his death, Fra Angelico was beatified by Pope John Paul II in recognition of the holiness of his life. In 1984, Pope John Paul II declared him ‘patron of Catholic artists’.  The artist was born Guido di Pietro at Rupecanina near Fiesole, just outside Florence, towards the end of the 14th century.  The earliest recorded document concerning him dates from 1417 when he joined a religious confraternity at the Carmine Church and it reveals that he was already a painter.  Read more…

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Roberto Baggio - football icon

Azzurri star regarded as Italy's greatest player

The footballer Roberto Baggio, regarded by fans in Italy and around the world as one of the game's greatest players, was born on this day in 1967 in Caldogno, a small town situated about 10km (6 miles) north of Vicenza in the Veneto.  Baggio's career spanned 22 years, most of them spent at the highest level, with Fiorentina, Juventus, Bologna, both Milan clubs and, finally, Brescia, winning the Serie A title twice, the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Cup.  He played in three World Cups - in 1990, 1994 and 1998 - and achieved the unique distinction among Italian players of scoring at all three.  He scored 318 goals all told, the first Italian for 50 years to top 300 in his career.  Yet he spent almost the whole of his active playing days battling against injury.  Over the course of his career, he had six knee operations, four on his right knee and two on the left, and often could play only with the help of painkillers.  Read more…

Michelangelo – Renaissance painter and sculptor

‘Greatest artist of all time’ left amazing legacy of work

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni - generally known simply as Michelangelo - died on this day in 1564 in Rome.   His death came three weeks before his 89th birthday while he was still working on his last sculpture, the Rondanini Pietà, a version of the Virgin Mary with the body of the dead Christ.  Michelangelo had been a sculptor, painter, architect and poet who had exerted an enormous influence on the development of art. During his lifetime he was considered to be the greatest living artist and he is now considered to be one of the greatest - if not the greatest - artists of all time.  Michelangelo was born in 1475 in the small town of Caprese near Arezzo in Tuscany, which is now known as Caprese Michelangelo.  He was sent to Florence to be educated but preferred to spend his time with painters, trying to copy the pictures in the churches, rather than be at school.  Read more…

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Francesco Redi - biologist and poet

Renaissance scholar who debunked scientific myths

The physician Francesco Redi, famous for challenging a centuries-old belief that certain living things arose through spontaneous generation rather than any reproductive process involving parent organisms, was born on this day in 1626 in Arezzo, Tuscany.  Redi, who enjoyed literary success alongside his work in experimental biology, devoted much of his scientific life to dismantling some of the widely held beliefs in his field that he was sure were incorrect.  The most famous of these was that the maggots frequently discovered in rotting meat occurred spontaneously as a product of the decaying flesh. In order to show that this was a myth, Redi conducted a number of experiments in 1668 involving sets of jars containing dead fish and raw pieces of different meats. In the first, he sealed three of six jars and left the other three open. Read more…

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Roberta Vinci - tennis champion

Won five Grand Slam doubles titles with partner Sara Errani

The tennis player Roberta Vinci, one half of the most successful Italian women’s doubles partnerships of all time and one of only four Italian women to rank in the world’s top 10 at singles, was born on this day in 1983 in the major port city of Taranto in Puglia.  Vinci and partner Sara Errani reached the women’s doubles final at eight Grand Slam tournaments between 2012 and 2014, winning five of them.  They were the champions at the French Open and United States Open in 2012 and the Australian Open in 2013 and again in 2014. When they won the Wimbledon title in 2014 they became one of only five women’s doubles partnerships to complete a career Grand Slam of all the four majors.  The pair, who reached No 1 in the world rankings in 2012, unexpectedly ended their five-year partnership in 2015, after which Vinci focussed on singles.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Byron's Travels: Poems, Letters, and Journals, by Lord Byron. Selected and introduced by Fiona Stafford

In Lord Byron's lifetime, details of his travels were widely known through poems set in different countries, ranging from his homes in Scotland and England, through Europe and the Middle East, to the South Pacific and into extra-terrestrial realms. At the same time, a much more personal story was being shared with friends and family. Even when divided from those whose company he most enjoyed, Byron continued to share his thoughts and feelings about wherever he happened to be. His compulsive letter-writing reveals a strong desire to reach across space, to connect and reconnect with those elsewhere. While his memoirs did not survive the ceremonial posthumous bonfire at 50 Albemarle Street, many of Byron's correspondents treasured every word in their possession. This means a remarkable legacy has been preserved in letters that still seem as alive with conversational energy as when they were dashed off more than two hundred years ago. Byron's Travels: Poems, Letters, and Journals brings together a collection of his thoughts, musings and observations, through which we are still able to become mental travellers, transported across time and space by this brilliant, mercurial, magnificent and often maddening writer.

Fiona Stafford is Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Somerville College. Her wide areas of research include Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, the Shelleys and Byron, the literature of the Romantic period and the literature of place.

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Lord Byron - Ravenna revolutionary

Poet pursues romantic dream in the Romagna

Lord Byron pursued romance and 
adventure during his time in Ravenna

The English poet Lord Byron, who was a member of the secret revolutionary society in Italy known as i Carbonari, wrote the wistful words: ‘Only think .. a free Italy!!!,’ in his diary on this day in 1821 in Ravenna.

He had risked his own life and liberty two days before by allowing a supply of weapons belonging to the revolutionaries to be housed in his apartment in Palazzo Guiccioli, having been recruited to the Carbonari by Ruggiero and Pietro Gamba, the father and brother of his lover, Teresa Guiccioli.

The Carbonari - literally, the charcoal burners - were a network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy between 1800 and 1831, dedicated to overthrowing oppressive regimes, promoting liberal ideas, and establishing constitutional government. In the run up to Italian unification, the Carbonari fought against foreign domination and absolute monarchy, and were particularly active in southern Italy. Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini, two of the main drivers of the Risorgimento movement, were both members.

Byron had joined the Carbonari in 1820, driven by a combination of his own romantic idealism and political convictions and his friendship with the Gamba family in Ravenna.

Byron had been a successful poet and a celebrity back in Regency England, but it had all turned sour because of his unconventional lifestyle, the slurs on his reputation that had been made by a spurned mistress, and the gossip sparked by his close relationship with his half-sister Augusta, after his brief marriage to Annabella Milbanke had ended in separation.

Fleeing from his notoriety, threats to his life, and his financial problems, Byron travelled to Italy in 1816 and settled in Venice.  

With his friend, John Cam Hobhouse, he put up at the Hotel Grande Bretagne on the Grand Canal and embarked on a few days of tourism. But it was not long before Byron decided to stay for longer and moved into an apartment just off the Frezzeria, settling in to enjoy life in the city that was to be his home for the next three years.

While living in Venice, he had plenty of romantic liaisons, but his life changed when he met Teresa Guiccioli, the young, beautiful wife of Count Alessandro Guiccioli, who he was introduced to at a social gathering in Venice. 

Contessa Teresa Guiccioli, who
became Lord Byron's lover

They embarked on a love affair that was to last for the next few years and Byron reluctantly left Venice and followed Teresa back to her native Ravenna in 1819, where she lived with her much older husband. Initially welcomed by the Count, Byron rented rooms on a floor of the Palazzo Guiccioli and became accepted as Teresa’s official lover, known as a cavaliere servente in Italian.

In due course, Teresa became officially separated from her husband and moved back to live with her father, Ruggiero Gamba, while Byron remained in his apartment in the Count’s palazzo. 

On 16 February 1821, Byron wrote in the diary he had started to keep in Ravenna: ‘Last night il Conte (Teresa’s brother, Pietro Gamba) sent a man with a bag full of bayonets, some muskets and some hundred of cartridges to my house.’

These were weapons the Carbonari had asked him to purchase for them but, having had to postpone their plans for an uprising against their Austrian rulers, they had foisted them on to Byron because of the fear the Austrians would discover them and take reprisals against them and they thought he would be less at risk because he was English. 

However, because of the climate at the time, If Byron had been found to be housing the weapons he would have been arrested and almost certainly imprisoned, or expelled from Austrian controlled territory.

Both Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe
Garibaldi were Carbonari members 

Two days later he wrote in his diary: ‘Today I have had no communication with my Carbonari cronies: but in the meantime, my lower apartments are full of their bayonets, fusils, cartridges and what not. I suppose that they consider me as a depot to be sacrificed in case of accidents. It is no great matter, supposing that Italy could be liberated, who or what is sacrificed. It is a grand object – the very poetry of politics. Only think – a free Italy!!! Why, there has been nothing like it since the days of Augustus…’

Despite the excitement of secret meetings in the pine forests outside Ravenna with other members of the Carbonari, Byron never got the chance to take part in a revolt against Austrian rule. 

Later that year, Teresa’s father, and her brother, were expelled from all papal domains and they had to leave to go and live in Florence, where they would be safe, taking Teresa with them. Byron reluctantly gave up his quarters in Palazzo Guiccioli and followed them a couple of months later.

But within two years, Byron had left Italy to pursue the romantic dream of fighting in the Greek War of Independence. He was to die of a fever in Missolonghi in 1824.

Ravenna is the home of
the tomb of Dante

Travel tip:

Ravenna in Emilia-Romagna, where Byron lived for two of his six years in Italy, was the capital city of the western Roman empire in the fifth century. It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture and has eight UNESCO world heritage sites. The Basilica of San Vitale is one of the most important examples of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture in Europe. Ravenna also houses the tomb of the poet Dante Alighieri, who lived and died there after he was exiled from Florence. Byron was said to have found the tomb of the poet inspirational and would regularly visit it and sit writing his poetry close by it. Florence has repeatedly asked for Dante’s remains to be sent back to them but Ravenna has always refused to relinquish them.

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Palazzo Guiccioli in Ravenna now
houses a museum dedicated to Byron

Travel tip:

The first floor (mezzanine) of Palazzo Guiccioli in Via Cavour, where Byron had an apartment during his time in Ravenna, is now a museum dedicated to him. Precious pictures and memorabilia belonging to the poet that were kept by Teresa Guiccioli for the rest of her life are now displayed there and the exhibition is accompanied by text and images telling the story of Byron’s time in Ravenna. The second floor, piano nobile, is occupied by a museum devoted to the Risorgimento. There is a restaurant in the former wine cellar of the palazzo and a bar and souvenir shop can be accessed from the courtyard garden. Palazzo Guiccioli is open to visitors between 10 am and 6 pm from Tuesday to Sunday. For more information visit  www.museibyronedelrisorgimento.it.

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More reading:

Lord Byron in Venice

Shelley dies in dramatic storm

Why Dante remains exiled in Ravenna

Also on this day:

1455: The death of painter Fra Angelico

1564: The death of painter and sculptor Michelangelo

1626: The birth of biologist Francesco Redi

1953: The death of crime writer and playwright Alessandro Varaldo

1967: The birth of footballer Roberto Baggio

1983: The birth of tennis champion Roberta Vinci

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17 February

Arcangelo Corelli – musician

Baroque composer had a major influence on the development of music

Violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli was born on this day in 1653 at Fusignano, a small town near Ravenna.   He is remembered for his influence on the development of violin style and for his use of the genres of sonata and concerto. Corelli’s 12 Concerti Grossi established the concerto grosso as a popular medium of composition.  Named Arcangelo after his father, who died a few weeks before his birth, he studied music with the curate of a neighbouring village before going to the nearby towns of Faenza and Lugo to learn musical theory.  Corelli later studied with Giovanni Benvenuti, who was a violinist at San Petronio in Bologna and in 1670 he started at the Philharmonic Academy in Bologna.  He moved on to Rome where to begin with he played the violin at a theatre. It is known that by 1677 he had written his first composition, a Sonata for Violin and Lute. Read more…

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Giordano Bruno - 'martyr of science'

Dominican friar condemned as a heretic

Giordano Bruno, a Dominican friar, philosopher and cosmological theorist who challenged orthodox Christian beliefs in the 16th century, died on this day in 1600 when he was burned at the stake after being found guilty of heresy.  The principal crimes for which he was tried by the Roman Inquisition were the denial of several core Catholic doctrines.  Bruno challenged the divinity of Christ, the virginity of Mary, and the transubstantiation - the idea that Eucharistic offering of bread and wine in Mass becomes the body and blood of Christ.  He also questioned the idea of God as a holy trinity of divine persons - the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit.  His own belief was closer to pantheism, which contends that a God is an all-encompassing divine presence rather than existing in some personal form with human traits.   Read more…

Giovanni Pacini – opera composer

Works of overshadowed musician have enjoyed recent revival

Composer Giovanni Pacini, who wrote operas in the early part of the 19th century to suit the voices of the great singers of the period, was born on this day in 1796 in Catania in Sicily.  Pacini began his formal music studies at the age of 12, when he was sent by his father, the opera singer Luigi Pacini, to study voice in Bologna with castrato singer and composer, Luigi Marchesi.  He soon switched his focus to composing and wrote an opera, La sposa fedele - The Faithful Bride. It premiered in Venice in 1818 and, for its revival the following year, Pacini provided a new aria, to be sung specifically by the soprano Giuditta Pasta.  By the mid 1820s he had become a leading opera composer, having produced many successful serious and comic works.  Pacini’s 1824 work Alessandro nelle Indie - Alexander in the Indies - was a successful serious opera based on Andrea Leone Tottola’s updating of a text by librettist Pietro Metastasio.  Read more…

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Raffaele ‘Raf’ Vallone – actor

Movie star who had four careers

Raffaele Vallone, the stage and screen actor who was born on this day in 1916 in Tropea, Calabria, was remarkable for having embarked on three starkly different career paths even before he made his acting debut.  Usually known as Raf, he grew up from the age of two in Turin, where his father, an ambitious young lawyer, had relocated to set up a legal practice.  A natural athlete, he was a fine footballer – so good, in fact, that at the age of 14 he was snapped up by Torino FC, who made him an apprentice professional.  Compared with the average working man, he was handsomely paid as a footballer, and he won a medal as part of the Torino team crowned Coppa Italia winners in 1936.  Yet he quickly became bored with football and enrolled at Turin University, where he studied Law and Philosophy with a view to joining his father’s firm.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Baroque Music In Focus, by Hugh Benham

This book defines Baroque music simply and explains how it began, developed and influenced later musicians, with chapters on major genres and a survey of the lives and music of the two leading composers of the late Baroque, Bach and Handel.  This book suggests listening, viewing and further reading material to complement the main topics within the book, and is an ideal resource for those wanting to explore the many aspects of Baroque music.  This second edition has been fully revised and updated, with expanded sections on the major genres and works of the Baroque era.  Written to provide a solid foundation for pupils of all levels who are studying Baroque music, Baroque Music in Focus would also be useful for any readers with an interest in the topic.

Hugh Benham is a chair of examiners for GCE Music, an in-service trainer, church organist, and writer, and formerly taught music in a sixth-form college. His other writing includes two books on English church music, including John Taverner: His Life and Music. 

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16 February

Giosuè Carducci – poet

National poet’s work inspired the fight for a united Italy

The poet Giosuè Carducci, who was the first Italian to win the Nobel prize in Literature, died on this day in 1907 in Bologna.  Aged 71, he passed away at his home, Casa Carducci, near Porta Maggiore, a kilometre and a half from the centre of the Emilia-Romagna city. He had been in ill health for some time and was not well enough to travel to Stockholm to receive his prize, awarded in 1906, which was instead presented to him at his home.  His funeral at the Basilica di San Petronio in Piazza Maggiore followed a procession through the streets that attracted a huge crowd.  Carducci had been one of the most influential literary figures of his age and was professor of Italian literature at Bologna University, where he lectured for more than 40 years.  The Italian people revered Carducci as their national poet and he was made a senator for life by the King of Italy in 1890. Read more…

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Valentino Rossi - motorcycle world champion

Rider from Urbino among his sport's all-time greats

Valentino Rossi, the motorcycle racer whose seven 500cc or MotoGP world titles have established him as one of the sport's all-time greats, was born on this day in 1979 in Urbino.  Only his fellow Italian, Giacomo Agostini, the eight-times world champion, has more 500cc or MotoGP titles than Rossi, whose total of 88 race victories in the premier classification is the most by any rider.  Across all engine sizes, he has been a world champion nine times, behind only Agostini (15) and Spain's Ángel Nieto, who specialised in 50cc and 125cc classes.  Britain's Mike Hailwood and Italy's 1950s star Carlo Ubbiali also won nine world titles each.  At the highest level, Rossi did not win the world title after  2009 but continued to defy his age until retiring in 2021 at the age of 42.  Rossi came from a motorcycling family, his father Graziano having competed on the grand prix circuit himself. Read more…

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Achille Castiglioni - designer

Leading figure in post-war Italian style

The designer Achille Castiglioni, whose innovative ideas for lighting, furniture and items for the home put him at the forefront of Italy’s post-war design boom, was born on this day in 1918 in Milan.  Many of his designs, including the Arco floor lamp for which he is most famous, are still in production today, even 17 years after his death.  The Arco lamp, which he designed in 1962 in conjunction with his brother, Pier Giacomo, combined a heavy base in Carrara marble, a curved telescopic stainless steel arm and a polished aluminium reflector.  Designed so that the reflector could be suspended above a table or a chair, the Arco was conceived as an overhead lighting solution for apartments that removed the need for holes in the ceiling and wiring, yet as an object of simple chic beauty it came to be seen as a symbol of sophistication and good taste.  Read more… 

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Laura Mattarella - Italy’s First Lady

President’s daughter gave up career to fulfil state role

Laura Mattarella, who has occupied the position of First Lady of Italy since her father, Sergio, became President more than a decade ago, was born in Palermo on this day in 1967.  The role is normally occupied by the wife of the incumbent head of state but Sergio Mattarella was widowed in 2012, when Laura’s mother, Marisa Chiazzese, passed away.  In those circumstances, it is customary for the position to be filled by another nominated companion.  So far, among the 12 individuals who have been elected president since 1948, nine have been accompanied by their wives on official duties. Laura Mattarella is the third daughter to be First Lady, following Ernestina Saragat (1964-71) and Marianna Scalfaro (1992-99). Laura Mattarella gave up what had been a successful career as a lawyer in order to support her father, a Christian Democrat politician who held ministerial positions under three different prime ministers. Read more...

Edda Dell’Orso – vocalist

Soprano was wordless voice of Morricone soundtracks

The singer Edda Dell’Orso, best known for the extraordinary range of wordless vocals that have featured in many of composer Ennio Morricone’s brilliant film soundtracks from the 1960s onwards, was born on this day in 1935 in Genoa.  Her collaboration with Morricone began when he was contracted in 1964 to provide the musical score for A Fistful of Dollars, the first of Sergio Leone’s so-called Dollars spaghetti western trilogy that was to make Clint Eastwood an international star.  Leone’s producers could only offer Morricone a small budget, which meant his access to a full orchestra was limited, forcing him to improvise and create sound effects in different ways. One idea he had was to replace instruments with human voices, which is where Dell’Orso, a distinctive soprano, came into her own.  Born Edda Sabatini, she had pursued her musical interests with the support of her father who could see that she had potential as a pianist.  Read more…

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Giambattista Bodoni - type designer

Celebrity printer whose name lives on in type

Typographer, printer and publisher Giambattista Bodoni was born on this day in 1740 in Saluzzo in the region of Piedmont.  At the height of his career he became internationally famous, received compliments from the Pope and was paid a pension by Napoleon.  Bodoni designed a modern typeface that was named after him and is still in use today.  His father and grandfather were both printers and as a child he played with their leftover equipment. He learnt the printing trade at his father’s side and at the age of 17 travelled to Rome to further his career.  Bodoni served an apprenticeship at the press of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, the missionary arm of the Catholic Church.  In 1768 he was asked to assume management of the Duke of Parma’s Royal Press, where he produced Italian, Greek and Latin books.  Read more…

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Angelo Peruzzi - footballer

Italy international who was twice world's costliest goalkeeper

The footballer Angelo Peruzzi, who made 31 appearances for Italy’s national team and was a member of Marcello Lippi’s victorious squad at the 2006 World Cup as well as winning the Champions League with Juventus, was born on this day in 1970 in Blera, a hilltop town in the province of Viterbo, north of Rome.  Peruzzi defied his relatively short and stocky physique to become one of the best goalkeepers of his generation, renowned not only for his physical strength but also for his positional sense, anticipation and explosive reactions.  These qualities enabled him to compensate for his lack of height and earned him a reputation for efficiency rather than spectacular stops yet he was much coveted by clubs in Italy’s Serie A.  Twice he moved clubs for what was at the time a world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Poems of Giosuè Carducci, Translated, with two introductory essays, by Giosuè Carducci 

Poems of Giosuè Carducci, translated by and with insightful introductory essays by the author himself, unveils the profound beauty and complexity of Carducci's work, showcasing his mastery of the Italian language and poetic form. Carducci, a Nobel laureate and one of Italy's foremost poets, explores themes of nature, history, love, and national identity, infusing his verses with rich imagery and emotional depth. The translations reflect the subtleties of his original texts while making them accessible to a broader audience. The introductory essays provide valuable context, delving into Carducci's influences, literary significance, and the socio-political landscape of 19th-century Italy, enriching the reader's understanding of his artistry. Through this collection, Carducci invites readers on a lyrical journey that transcends time, capturing the essence of human experience with both passion and elegance. This volume stands as a testament to Carducci's legacy, engaging both poetry enthusiasts and new readers alike.

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15 February

NEW - Vincenzo Lancia - racing driver and engineer

Founder of ground-breaking car maker

Vincenzo Lancia, the founder of one of the most important car manufacturers in the history of Italy’s automobile industry, died on this day in 1937 in Turin.  He was only 55 years old and had suffered a heart attack, his unexpected death coming just as the aerodynamic Lancia Aprilia, second only to the 1922 Lambda among Lancia cars to have a profound impact on auto design across the world, was going into full production.  Vincenzo, who worked with the brilliant designer Battista Pinin Farina in the later part of his career, is regarded as one of the three foundational figures of Italian car making, alongside Fiat founder Giovanni Agnelli, who was the first to manufacture cars on an industrial scale, and Enzo Ferrari, who led the way in Italy’s sports car culture. Italy has a long tradition of stylish high-performance cars, with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Lancia recognised as the standard bearers.  Read more…

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Totò – comic actor

60 years on, remembered still as Italy’s funniest performer

The comic actor Antonio De Curtis, universally known as Totò and who was still winning polls as the most popular Italian comedian of all time more than a half-century after his death, was born on this day in 1898 in Naples.  Totò had a distinguished career in theatre, wrote poetry and sang, but is best remembered for the 97 films in which he appeared between 1937 and his death in 1967, many of which were made simply as a platform for his inimitable talent.  Although he worked in dramatic roles for some of Italy’s most respected directors, it was for his comedy that he was most appreciated.  His characters were typically eccentric, his acting style sometimes almost extravagantly expressive both physically and vocally.  In his humour, he drew on his body and his face to maximum effect but also possessed an inherent sense of timing in the way he delivered his lines. Read more…

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Destruction of Monte Cassino Abbey

Historic monastery flattened in Allied bombing raid

The Abbey of Monte Cassino, established in 529 and the oldest Benedictine monastery in the world, was destroyed by Allied bombers on this day in 1944 in what is now acknowledged as one of the biggest strategic errors of the Second World War on the Allied side.  The Abbey was attacked despite an agreement signed by both sides with the Vatican that the historic building would be respected as occupying neutral territory.  But Allied commanders, who had seen their infantrymen suffer heavy casualties in trying to advance along the Liri valley, the route of the main highway between Naples and Rome, were convinced that the Germans were using the Abbey, which commands sweeping views of the valley, at least as a point from which to direct operations.  This perception was reinforced by a radio intercept, subsequently alleged to have been wrongly translated.  Read more…

Charlie Cairoli - circus clown

Milan-born performer who became a Blackpool legend

The circus clown Charlie Cairoli, who would at his peak set a world record by appearing at the Blackpool Tower Circus in England for 40 consecutive seasons, was born in Affori, now a suburb of Milan but then a town in its own right, on this day in 1910.  Cairoli performed at the Tower for the first time in 1939 and returned every year until 1979, quitting only when his health began to fail him.  The run was not broken even by the outbreak of the Second World War, which Britain entered soon after he arrived, or his own arrest as a suspected ‘enemy alien’. He was the Tower’s most popular attraction for almost all of those years.  Cairoli, though born in Italy, was actually from a French family, albeit one of Italian descent, who christened him Hubert Jean Charles Cairoli.  His father, Jean-Marie, was also a clown; his mother, Eugenie, came from another French circus family with Italian heritage. Read more…

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Galileo Galilei – astronomer and physicist

Scholar has been judged to be the founder of modern science 

Renaissance scientist Galileo Galilei was born on this day in 1564 in Pisa.  His astronomical observations confirmed the phases of Venus, discovered the four largest satellites of Jupiter and analysed sunspots. Also among his inventions was a military compass.  Galileo was educated at a monastery near Florence and considered entering the priesthood but he enrolled instead at the University of Pisa to study medicine.  In 1581 he noticed a swinging chandelier being moved to swing in larger and smaller arcs by air currents. He experimented with two swinging pendulums and found they kept time together although he started one with a large sweep and the other with a smaller sweep. It was almost 100 years before a swinging pendulum was used to create an accurate timepiece.  He talked his father into letting him study mathematics and natural philosophy instead of medicine.  Read more…

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Carlo Maria Martini – Cardinal

Liberal leanings prevented scholar’s elevation to the papacy

Carlo Maria Martini, who was once a candidate to become Pope, was born on this day in 1927 in Orbassano in the province of Turin.  As Cardinal Martini, he was known to be tolerant in areas of sexuality and strong on ecumenism, and he was the leader of the liberal opposition to Pope John Paul II. He published more than 50 books, which sold millions of copies worldwide.  Martini was a contender for the Papacy in the 2005 conclave and, according to Vatican sources at the time, he received more votes than Joseph Ratzinger in the first round  But Ratzinger, who was considered the more conservative of the candidates, ended up with a higher number of votes in subsequent rounds and was elected Pope Benedict XVI.  Martini had entered the Jesuit order in 1944 when he was 17 and he was ordained at the age of 25, which was considered unusually early. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Lancia and De Virgilio: At the Centre, by Geoffrey Goldberg

This beautiful book breaks new ground in automotive history by chronicling one of Italy's great marques through the life of designer-engineer Francesco De Virgilio. In addition to playing a central role in the creation of the first V-6 engine and Lancia's technically advanced Aurelia road car, De Virgilio was part of the company's inner circle through his marriage to the daughter of founder Vincenzo Lancia, who died two years before Virgilio was hired. Although individual Lancia cars have been profiled in other books, none have attempted to tell the full story of the company through the eyes of an influential insider. Lancia and De Virgilio reflects the years of research conducted by the author as well as his close ties to De Virgilio's descendants. Illustrated with everything from technical diagrams and blueprints to scores of family photographs. Sets the Lancia story against the broader backdrop of automotive, industrial, and social developments in post-war Italy, as well as stressing the personal story of De Virgilio and his family through the years.

Geoffrey Goldberg is a Chicago-based architect and a long-standing Lancia enthusiast, the owner of a Lancia Aurelia. Having been granted full access to the De Virgilio family archives, he uses original documents, technical drawings, and photographs to explain the ideas and personalities at Lancia and profile De Virgilio himself.

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Vincenzo Lancia - racing driver and engineer

Founder of ground-breaking car maker

Vincenzo Lancia in 1908, at the wheel
of a Fiat car at the Targa Florio race

Vincenzo Lancia, the founder of one of the most important car manufacturers in the history of Italy’s automobile industry, died on this day in 1937 in Turin.

He was only 55 years old and had suffered a heart attack, his unexpected death coming just as the aerodynamic Lancia Aprilia, second only to the 1922 Lambda among Lancia cars to have a profound impact on auto design across the world, was about to go into full production.

Vincenzo, who worked with the brilliant designer Battista 'Pinin' Farina in the later part of his career, is regarded as one of the three foundational figures of Italian car making, alongside Fiat founder Giovanni Agnelli, who was the first to manufacture cars on an industrial scale, and Enzo Ferrari, who led the way in Italy’s sports car culture.

Italy has a long tradition of stylish high-performance cars, with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Lancia recognised as the standard bearers.

The Lancia company was founded in 1906, Vincenzo having gained experience working for Fiat, for whom he was a test driver and often drove their cars in races.

Vincenzo Lancia - often called Censin - was born in August 1881 in Fobello, a small village in a mountain valley in northern Piedmont, about 18km (11 miles) from the border with Switzerland and 26km (16 miles) west of Lago Maggiore. 

Thanks to his father, Giuseppe, who had been successful in the food canning industry, the family was comfortably off. His father had ambitions for his son to build a steady career in accountancy or the law. He studied bookkeeping at the Turin Technical School. 

Yet, as industrialisation began to expand rapidly in Italy, Vincenzo was increasingly interested in machines and the engineers who built them.

By chance, an opportunity arose for him when his father agreed to rent some property he owned in Turin to Giovanni Ceirano, a pioneering bicycle and early automobile builder, who needed premises to open a workshop. 

Vincenzo eventually persuaded his father to let him work with Ceirano, ostensibly to further his experience in accountancy. He was listed in the company's brochure in 1898 as bookkeeper.

The 1922 Lancia Lambda was the first production
car to be built with a rigid single shell body 

His real purpose was to learn about building cars, volunteering to help out as a mechanic when not needed in the office.

If he had set out somehow to put himself in the right place at the right time in the development of the Italian car industry, it could not have gone better if he had planned it.

The prototype car Ceirano produced, given the curious, English-sounding name of Welleyes, made such an impression when it was exhibited for the first time that a group of entrepreneurs looking for an opportunity to enter the fledgling automobile market proposed not only to buy the patent for the Welleyes car, but to take control of the Ceirano factory too, along with all its employees. 

The company they formed in order to do this was named Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino - FIAT.

Thus, at the age of 18, Vincenzo Lancia found himself employed by Fiat. As the Welleyes became the Fiat 4 HP, the company’s first production model, Lancia’s role was as a test driver. Soon, he began competing for the company in local races, achieving his and Fiat's first victory in the 1902 Turin Sassi- Superga race. 

His record as a competitive driver was mixed. He often set records for the fastest lap but his driving style was impetuous and he often failed to finish because of technical problems or minor accidents. 

The Fiat 4HP, the first car to bear the Fiat name
after Vincenzo Lancia joined the new company

There were some successes, although Fiat valued him mainly for his mechanical sensitivity and his ability to diagnose faults as he drove at speed. His feedback helped refine early Fiat models.

In the meantime, in partnership with Claudio Fogolin, a friend and fellow Fiat driver, Vincenzo had in 1906 founded his own car manufacturing, under the Lancia name, in Turin, operating from a small workshop on Via Ormea, at the corner of Via Donizetti, in the south eastern part of the city.

Their first car was called the Tipo 51 or 12 HP, which Vincenzo later renamed as Alfa, beginning a tradition of naming vehicles he produced after letters in the Greek alphabet.  As the business grew, the factory moved to larger premises in the Borgo San Paolo district.

Right from the start, Lancia was different from other Italian marques: it prioritised engineering innovation over mass production, emphasising precision, and mechanical elegance. Vincenzo insisted on rigorous testing and would delay production rather than release a car that did not meet his standards.

The Lambda, which first appeared in 1922, was almost certainly his most important contribution to automotive history. Its monocoque construction, combining the body shell and chassis in one rigid unit, was a world first in production cars, as was its independent front suspension. 

Lancia’s conceptual leap in the way the Lambda was made brought major improvements in handling and safety and influenced car design across Europe, setting the template for modern vehicle construction. The monocoque body became the global standard for passenger cars.

The innovative, aerodynamic Lancia Aprilia was
about to go into production when Vincenzo died 

Vincenzo’s personal prestige grew with the reputation of his cars. He was instrumental, as a high-profile supporter, in the construction of the Monza race track, at which he laid the foundation stone in 1922. In 1930, he joined forces with a group of other industrialists to form the coachbuilding company called Carrozzeria Pinin Farina, headed by the car designer Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina, which was to become synonymous with Italian sports cars and influenced the design of countless luxury and family cars across the world.

Lancia teamed up with Pinin Farina to work on his second ground-breaking car, the Aprilia, which was just weeks away from going into production when Vincenzo died. The Aprilia was one of the first cars designed using a wind tunnel, its streamlined body achieving record low drag. The Aprilia also featured four pillarless doors, a narrow-angle V4 engine and independent suspension.

Vincenzo Lancia was a contradictory character, according to those who knew him. A jovial bon viveur away from work, a music lover who was good company, he was a perfectionist in his professional role, intensely driven and willing to work long hours to achieve his goals. Some say these traits may have contributed to his premature demise.

After his death, a funeral was held in Turin, after which he body was taken back to Fobello and laid to rest in the family tomb at the village’s small cemetery.

The running of the Lancia business was taken over by his son, Gianni, and Gianni’s mother, Adele, who had been Vincenzo’s secretary. They hired Vittorio Jano, the Hungarian-born engineer who had made a name for himself with Alfa Romeo. 

Like his father, Gianni was energetic, ambitious and imaginative and Lancia continued to produce technically brilliant cars, the Aprilia being followed by the Ardea, Aurelia and later the Flaminia. 

But the company’s engineering‑first philosophy became increasingly expensive to sustain and ultimately contributed to Lancia becoming part of Fiat in 1969.

The Villa Lancia in the village of Fobello, in the High
Mastallone Valley, was the Lancia family home

Travel tip:

Fobello, where Vincenzo Lancia was born, is a small mountain village in Valsesia, in the province of Vercelli, Piedmont. It sits at about 880 metres in the High Mastallone Valley, surrounded by dense beech woods and gentle alpine slopes. The area is often called the “Emerald Basin” because of its unusually lush, sunlit green amphitheatre of forests and meadows. Fobello is part of the High Valsesia Nature Park, one of the most pristine alpine environments in Piedmont. It is a popular area for hiking and excursions through beech forests and high pastures, for wildlife observation and exploring traditional alpine hamlets, of which there are many in the vicinity. The name Fobello is traditionally linked to the Valsesian word fo, meaning beech, although some local lore suggests it may be a contraction of fondo bello, which could be taken to mean beautiful valley floor. Fobello’s parish church, the Chiesa San Giacomo dates back to 1545 but has twice been destroyed by flooding from the nearby Mastallone torrent, being rebuilt in 1931. The Palazzo Giuseppe Lancia, which Vincenzo Lancia himself built as a school building, now houses a museum dedicated to Vincenzo’s life and career. Visitors to Fobello often stay in nearby Varallo.

Find a hotel in Varallo with Hotels.com

Only an aerial photograph can capture the sheer
size of the former Fiat factory at Lingotto

Travel tip:

The automobile industry in Turin is mainly defined by Fiat, whose former headquarters in Via Nizza in the Lingotto district, where Vincenzo Lancia worked before setting up in business himself, was once the largest car factory in the world, built to a linear design by the Futurist architect Giacomo Matte Trucco. It featured a spectacular rooftop test track made famous in the Michael Caine movie, The Italian Job. The track is still in place and though Fiat’s main production centre is elsewhere, is still used to test the company’s range of electric cars. Redesigned in the 1980s by the award-winning contemporary architect Renzo Piano, it now houses concert halls, a theatre, a convention centre, shopping arcades and a hotel, as well as the Pinacoteca Agnelli art gallery and the Automotive Engineering faculty of the Polytechnic University of Turin.  The Oval Lingotto, an indoor arena built for the 2006 Winter Olympics, is now used for exhibitions.

Book at the NH Lingotto Congress or other Turin hotels with Expedia

More reading:

How Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina became a giant of the car industry

What made Vittorio Jano one of the greatest engine designers in motor racing history

The ‘tractor maker’ insult that inspired Ferruccio Lamborghini

Also on this day:

1564: The birth of Renaissance scientist Galileo Galilei

1898: The birth of comic actor Totò

1910: The birth of circus clown Charlie Cairoli

1927: The birth of cardinal Carlo Maria Martini

1944: The destruction of Monte Cassino Abbey

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14 February

Jacopo Bassano – painter

Artist loved brilliant colours and drew his inspiration from real life

The artist who became known as Jacopo Bassano died on this day in 1592 in Bassano del Grappa in Veneto in northern Italy.  He was born in about 1510 in Bassano del Grappa.  According to some accounts, he was christened Jacopo dal Ponte, although the inscription on his statue in the town names him Giacomo da Ponte. His father, Francesco il Vecchio, was already a successful painter in Bassano and had established a workshop that produced mostly religious works.  Jacopo became an apprentice in his father’s workshop while still a young boy. He made his way to Venice when he was about 20, where he studied under Bonifazio de Pitati, who was also known as Bonifazio Veronese.  While in Venice, he met famous artists, such as Titian and il Pordenone, and his work from this period shows Titian’s influence and demonstrates his lifelong appreciation of the great artist’s work.  Read more…

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Otto e mezzo - Fellini's masterpiece

Creative crisis spawned director's tour de force

The film Otto e mezzo (8½), regarded by some critics as the director Federico Fellini's greatest work, was released in Italy on this day in 1963.  It was categorised as an avant-garde comedy drama but the description hardly does it justice given its extraordinary individuality, evolving from conception to completion as an interweaving of fantasy and reality in which life not so much imitates art as becomes one and the same thing.  By the early '60s, Fellini was already a three-times Oscar winner following the success of La strada, Nights of Cabiria and La dolce vita, the last-named having also won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.  La dolce vita had signalled Fellini's move away from the neo-realism that characterised cinema in Italy in the immediate post-war years towards the surreal interpretations of life and human nature that came to define Fellini's art.  Read more…

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Valentina Vezzali – fencer

Police officer is Italy’s most successful female athlete

The fencer Valentina Vezzali, whose three Olympic and six World Championship individual gold medals make her Italy’s most decorated female athlete of all time, was born on this day in 1974 in the town of Iesi in Marche.  A police officer who sat in the Italian Chamber of Deputies as a representative for Marche until 2018, Vezzali retired from competition after the 2016 World Championships.  Her haul of six Olympics golds in total – three individual and three from the team event – has not been bettered by any Italian athlete, male or female.  Two other Italian fencers from different eras – Edoardo Mangiarotti and Nedo Nadi – also finished their careers with six golds. Fencing has far and away been Italy’s most successful Olympic discipline, accruing 49 gold medals and 125 medals in total, more than twice the number for any other sport.  Read more…

The Feast of the Lovers

A day for flowers, chocolates and padlocks

Today is called La festa degli innamorati (The Feast of the Lovers) in Italy when couples celebrate their love for each other.  Italian lovers give each other flowers and chocolates and celebrate with romantic dinners just like the rest of the world.  Chocolatiers Perugina make a special version of their Baci chocolate for the occasion in a shiny, red wrapper with a red cherry in the centre rather than the traditional hazelnut.  Florence and Venice are traditionally considered to be the most romantic places in Italy, but Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet, puts on several days of celebration for the festival each year, featuring a programme of poetry, music and events, including a Romeo and Juliet half-marathon.  The streets around Piazza Bra and Juliet’s house and balcony are illuminated along with the tallest building in the city, the Lamberti tower. Read more…

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San Valentino and Sant’Antonino

Celebrations for two different Italian saints

Saint Valentine, a third century Roman martyr, is commemorated with a feast day on this day every year.  His name has become associated with the tradition of courtly love but all that is really known about him is that he was martyred and buried at a cemetery on the Via Flaminia in Rome on 14 February, 273.  His feast day was first established in 496 by a Pope who revered him. It is thought he was imprisoned and tortured and then hastily buried, but that his disciples later retrieved his body.  During the Middle Ages it was believed that birds paired in mid-February and this is probably why Saint Valentine’s Day became associated with romance.  But while lovers all over the world raise a glass to Saint Valentine on this day, residents and visitors in Sorrento celebrate the festival of Sant’Antonino, the city’s patron saint.  Sant’Antonino Abate died on 14 February, 626. Read more…

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Book of the Day: A New History of Italian Renaissance Art (Second Edition), by Stephen J Campbell and Michael W Cole

Stephen Campbell and Michael Cole, respected teachers and active researchers, draw on traditional and current scholarship to present complex interpretations in this new edition of their engaging account of Italian Renaissance art. The book’s unique decade-by-decade structure is easy to follow, and permits the authors to tell the story of art not only in the great centres of Rome, Florence and Venice, but also in a range of other cities and sites throughout Italy, including more in this edition from Naples, Padua and Palermo. This approach allows the artworks to take centre-stage, in contrast to the book’s competitors, which are organized by location or by artist. Other updates for this edition of A New History of Italian Renaissance Art include an expanded first chapter on the Trecento, and a new ‘Techniques and Materials’ appendix that explains and illustrates all of the major art-making processes of the period.  Richly illustrated with high-quality reproductions and new photography of recent restorations, it presents the classic canon of Renaissance painting and sculpture in full, while expanding the scope of conventional surveys by offering a more thorough coverage of architecture, decorative and domestic arts, and print media.

Stephen J Campbell is Henry and Elizabeth Wiesenfeld Professor and Acting Department Chair at Johns Hopkins University. Michael W Cole is Professor and Department Chair of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University.

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