Alberto Grimaldi - film producer

Spaghetti Western trilogy gave Naples producer his big break

Alberto Grimaldi

Film producer Alberto Grimaldi, who celebrates his 91st birthday today, boasts an extraordinary list of credits that includes Last Tango in Paris, The Canterbury Tales, Man of La Mancha, Fellini's Casanova, 1900, Ginger and Fred and Gangs of New York.

Born in Naples on this day in 1925, Grimaldi trained as a lawyer and it was in that capacity that he initially found work in the cinema industry in the 1950s.

However, he could see the money-making potential in production and in the early 1960s set up his own company, Produzioni Europee Associate (PEA).

His first three productions, cashing in on the popularity in Italy of westerns, enjoyed some success but it was a meeting with Sergio Leone, the Italian director, that earned him his big break.

Leone, whose first venture into the western genre, A Fistful of Dollars, had been an unexpected hit both for him and the young American actor, Clint Eastwood, was busy planning the sequel when a dispute arose with his producers over the cost of the movie.

Movie poster advertising Scorsese's
epic Gangs of New York

As it happened, Grimaldi's first production, The Shadow of Zorro, had been filmed, like A Fistful of Dollars, on location in Spain.  Leone knew of Grimaldi's legal background and initially sought his advice on settling the dispute.  Ultimately, they agreed to collaborate and the Leone classics, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, also starring Eastwood, were PEA productions.

Both were considerable box office hits and established Grimaldi's name, opening many doors.

By the 1970s, Grimaldi was in a position to produce movies by many of Italy's top directors, including Federico Fellini, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Pier Paolo Pasolini, as well as supporting the artistic aspirations of other Italian directors, such as Gillo Pontecorvo, Elio Petri and Francesco Rosi.

He became more selective in his projects in the 1980s, notably turning down the chance to work with Leone again on Once Upon a Time in America. After producing Fellini's comedy drama Ginger and Fred, a 1986 film about two Italian impersonators of the American dance movie legends, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, it was 16 years before his name was attached to the $100 million Martin Scorcese epic, Gangs of New York, which was released in 2002.  By then Grimaldi was aged 77.

Via Partenope in 1935

Travel tip:

Grimaldi's home city of Naples has changed little in his lifetime.  The black and white postcard image shows the Via Partenope, bordering the waterfront in the Santa Lucia district of the city, in 1935, when Grimaldi was a 10-year-old boy.  It is scarcely different today, 81 years on.

Over the rooftops of Naples towards Mergellina and
Posillipo, as seen from Castel Sant'Elmo

Travel tip:

Visitors to Naples who crave a more peaceful side to the city away from the chaos of the Spaccanapoli or the Spanish Quarter should venture north from Piazza del Plebiscito and the Royal Palace on to the long promenade of Via Francesco Caracciolo towards Mergellina and the residential quarter of Posillipo, the traditional home of the more wealthy Neapolitans.



More reading:

Sergio Leone - Spaghetti western creator

Federico Fellini's cinematic legacy

How Franco Zeffirelli became a household name

Also on this day:

1472: The birth of the great Renaissance painter Fra Bartolommeo

1918: The birth of opera star Anselmo Colzani

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Gianluigi Lentini - footballer with world record price tag

AC Milan outbid Juventus for Torino star

Gianluigi Lentini in his early days with Torino

Gianluigi Lentini, born on this day in 1969, was for four years the world's most expensive footballer.

A winger with Torino known for outstanding dribbling skills, crossing accuracy and lightning pace, Lentini was the subject of a fierce bidding war between Torino's city neighbours, Juventus, and defending Serie A champions AC Milan in the summer of 1992 which ended with Milan paying a fee of around £13 million for the 23-year-old star.

It was the second time in the space of a few weeks that Milan had paid a world record sum for a player, having signed the French striker Jean-Pierre Papin from Marseille for £10 million.

At a time when the Italian league was awash with cash, the Papin record itself had been eclipsed a short while before the Lentini deal was agreed when Juventus paid Sampdoria £12 million for striker Gianluca Vialli.

The Lentini record would remain until Newcastle United forked out £15 million for the Blackburn and England striker Alan Shearer in 1996.

Born in Carmagnola, a small town around 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Turin, Lentini made his Serie A debut for Torino as a 17-year-old and in a struggling team did not make a notably impressive start.

He was sent out on loan to Ancona, newly promoted to Serie B, for the 1988-89 season and the experience did wonders for his game. He returned to Torino a smarter player and physically stronger. His parent club had been relegated in his absence but Lentini made an immediate impact on his return, scoring six goals and contributing numerous assists as Torino were promoted back to Serie A at the first attempt.

As Lentini continued to shine, Torino prospered, finishing fifth in their first season back in the top flight and then third in 1991-92, their highest position since winning the Serie A title in 1975-76. They also reached the final of the UEFA Cup.

Fabio Capello

The big-money move to Milan came that summer and Lentini enjoyed a successful debut season, scoring seven goals as Fabio Capello's team retained the championship and reached the final of the European Cup.

But a year after joining Milan, and by then a regular in the Italian national team, Lentini's world was shattered when, on the way home from a pre-season tournament in Genoa, he lost control of his Porsche 911 on a bend near the small town of Villafranca d'Asti, just east of Turin.

The high performance sports car overturned in a ditch and burst into flames.  Lentini was thrown clear but sustained severe head injuries and might have died had he not been found by a passing lorry driver, who immediately called for an ambulance.

He recovered enough to resume his football career but suffered blurred vision and memory problems and was never the same player subsequently and struggled to keep a regular place in the Milan team. He won a Champions League medal in 1994 as Milan crushed Barcelona 4-0 in the final but remained on the bench throughout.

Nonetheless, after leaving Milan to join Atalanta in 1996, Lentini refused to allow the disappointment to crush his spirit. He told friends he felt lucky to have survived his accident and played on, remarkably, until he was in his 40s.  He rejoined Torino in 1997 and enjoyed another season in Serie A after helping them win promotion in 1999, then played for a number of lower division teams before hanging up his boots.  He dropped even to the fifth tier of Italian football to play for Canelli, a town in Piemonte of just 10,000 inhabitants, for whom he scored 37 goals in 74 games, and finished in the sixth tier, playing for his home town club in Carmagnola.

Lentini's 19-year-old son, Nicholas, plays for the Serie D side Sporting Bellinzago as a goalkeeper.

The Piazza Castello in the centre of Turin, looking
 towards the Palazzo Reale

Travel tip:

Although Turin is regarded as an industrial city, sometimes dubbed the Detroit of Italy because of the number of major motor manufacturers based there, it has a rich history as the former capital of the Duchy of Savoy and some outstanding baroque architecture.  At the heart of the city in Piazza Castello can be found four impressive buildings - the Palazzo Reale, the former seat of the Savoy royal family, the Palazzo Madama, which hosted the Savoy senate and briefly, after Italian unification, the Italian senate, the former Teatro Regio di Torino and the Biblioteca Reale (Royal Library), which hosts Leonardo da Vinci's self-portrait.

Travel tip:

Torino's stadium, the Stadio Olimpico, was known as the Stadio Municipale Benito Mussolini after it was opened in 1933, being renamed Stadio Comunale after World War II and acquiring its current identity after being chosen to host the opening and closing ceremonies at the Winter Olympics in 2006.  It is situated around four kilometres south of the centre of Turin in the Santa Rita district. It was home to Torino and city rivals Juventus from 1963 until 1990, when both clubs moved to the new Stadio delle Alpi, and has been home again to Torino since 2006.  Stadium tours can be booked and a Torino tourist card also gives access to the Olympic Museum situated in the stadium.

Easter in Italy

Easter - La Pasqua in Italian - is a festive holiday throughout Italy and Easter Sunday is marked with religious parades and celebrations in many towns and cities.  Often large crowds assemble for processions that involve statues of Jesus or Mary carried along the streets.  Chocolate eggs are exchanged as in other countries and the main meal of the day often features lamb. 

More reading on football:

Azeglio Vicini and Italy's 1990 World Cup heartbreak

The breakaway group who founded Milan giants Internazionale

Dino Zoff - record-breaking goalkeeper who became Italy boss

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Guccio Gucci – fashion designer

The man whose name inspired the interlocking G logo

Guccio Gucci

The founder of the House of Gucci, Guccio Gucci, was born on this day in 1881 in Florence.

In the early 1900s Gucci worked as a lift boy at the Savoy Hotel in London, where he was inspired by the elegance of the wealthy people who stayed there and their smart luggage.

On his return to Florence he started making his own line of leather travel bags and accessories and in the 1920s he opened a small leather and equestrian shop in Via della Vigna Nuova.  Some of his skills were inherited from his father, Gabriello, who was a leather craftsman from San Miniato, near Pisa.

Gucci later added handbags to his line and relocated to a bigger shop. He was fascinated with horses and his handbags featured clasps and fasteners resembling horse bits and stirrups. He gained a reputation for hiring the best craftsmen he could to work on his products.

In 1938, encouraged by his son, Aldo, he expanded his business to Rome. When raw materials became scarce during the war he used materials such as hemp and linen to make his bags, but still trimmed them with metal resembling horse bits and stirrups.

A Gucci bag in vintage design featuring leather
and fabric and the familiar interlocking G logo

The Gucci label later became famous for certain key products, such as a bag with bamboo handles and a pair of classic loafers.  

Gucci and his wife, Aida Calvelli, had six children and four of their sons, Aldo, Vasco, Ugo and Rodolfo later joined the business.

In 1951 Gucci opened a store in Milan. His preference was for keeping the business relatively small and limiting it to Italy. But his sons had more ambitious ideas and two years later expanded overseas by opening a store in Manhattan.

Gucci died in Milan in 1953, just two weeks after the New York store launched. After his death his sons continued to expand the business, opening boutiques in London and Paris.

In addition to the interlocking Gs, the House of Gucci also featured products displaying Gucci's 'knight logo', a coat of arms with a knight in full armour carrying two suitcases or bags at the centre. The coat of arms was based on an inherited ancestral coat of arms, which the family claimed the right to use after the Kingdom of Italy had transitioned into the Italian Republic.

Via de' Tornabuoni, which is Florence's
most elegant shopping street

Travel tip:

Although the first Gucci shop in Florence was in Via della Vigna Nuova, their flagship store is now in nearby Via de' Tornabuoni, the city’s most elegant shopping street, where it sits alongside the other top couturiers and jewellers. The street also has some fashionable cafes where smart shoppers can pause for refreshment.

Florence hotels by Booking.com

The Gucci store in Milan can be found
in fashionable Via Montenapoleone 

Travel tip:

Milan’s Gucci store is right in the heart of the fashion district in Via Montenapoleone, which is a short walk from the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It is one of the four sides of the quadrilateral which makes up Milan’s fashion district. The other three sides are Via Manzoni, Via della Spiga and Via Sant’Andrea.

Find a hotel in Milan with Tripadvisor

More reading:

Nina Ricci - designer from Turin who wowed Paris

The Meteoric Rise of Gianni Versace

Also on this day:

1941: The birth of racing driver Lella Lombardi

1958: The birth of racing driver Elio de Angelis

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Good Friday – Venerdi Santo

Roman amphitheatre the starting point for remembering the crucifixion

The Colosseum is a focal point for
Easter celebrations in Rome

Good Friday (Venerdi Santo) is a day for prayer in Italy. It is not a Bank Holiday and the shops, bars and restaurants still open as normal, but many people visit a church during the day or attend one of the services held for the holy event.

In Rome there is a Papal Mass in St Peter’s Basilica and in the evening the ritual of the Stations of the Cross, or Via Crucis, is enacted near the Colosseum. The stations of the cross are 14 steps commemorating the events of the last day of Jesus on earth.

The stations of the Via Crucis were placed at the Colosseum in 1744 by Pope Benedict XIV and the bronze cross in the Colosseum was erected in 2000, the Jubilee year.

Lit torches illuminates the sky as the stations of the cross are described in several languages.

At the end the Pope gives a blessing. It is a very moving and popular procession and a big crowd usually attends the ceremony.

Huge dome completes Cathedral in Florence

It was on this day in 1436 that the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV. 

Building work on Il Duomo di Firenze, as the Cathedral is usually called, had begun in 1296 but the construction was only completed when the huge dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi was finally put in place in 1436.

Brunelleschi's dome dominates the Florence skyline

The dome remained the largest in the world until others were constructed using new materials that had been developed for building in modern times.

But Brunelleschi’s dome, the first in history to be built without a wooden supporting frame, is still the largest brick dome ever constructed.

Travel tip:

The Colosseum in the centre of Rome is the largest amphitheatre ever built. Construction began on the oval building in 72 AD close to the Forum. The ampitheatre was built to hold up to 80,000 spectators and was used for events such as gladiator contests, mock sea battles and executions. Nowadays it has links to the Catholic Church and the Pope always starts his torch-lit Good Friday procession there.


Travel tip:

The Cathedral complex in Piazza del Duomo in Florence also includes the Baptistery and Campanile, which was designed by Giotto. Along with the Duomo, they are part of the UNESCO World Heritage site designated in the historic centre of the city. The Duomo is still one of Italy’s largest churches.

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