Manlio Brosio - NATO secretary-general

Anti-Fascist politician became skilled diplomat

Manlio Brosio

Manlio Brosio, the only Italian to be made a permanent secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), was born on this day in 1897 in Turin.

Brosio, whose distinguished diplomatic career had seen him hold the office of Italian ambassador to the Soviet Union, Britain, the United States and France, was appointed to lead NATO in 1964 and remained in post until 1971, the second longest-serving of the 13 secretary-generals so far.

Known for his congenial personality, he insisted that others behaved courteously and with respect for etiquette, while conducting himself with self-restraint.  This enabled him to maintain a good relationship with all NATO ambassadors and helped him manage a number of difficult situations.

Some critics felt he was too cautious but his low-key approach is now credited with keeping NATO together during the crisis that developed in 1966 when General Charles de Gaulle, the French president, threatened the organisation's existence by insisting that NATO removed all its military installations from France within a year.

France was one of three nuclear powers among the 15 members of NATO and key to the alliance's Cold War strategic planning but de Gaulle was of the view that the United States was too dominant and feared that France could be drawn into a conflict it did not want.

NATO had to move its headquarters from Paris to Brussels as a result but with Brosio overseeing attempts to reach a solution as France withdrew from the command structure, de Gaulle did ultimately give an assurance that France would participate in the defence of Western Europe in the event of a Soviet attack.

This remained France's position until 2009, when president Nicolas Sarkozy took them back into the command structure.

Brosio always encouraged the member nations to develop a diplomatic strategy towards the Soviet Union rather than simply a military one and his stance led indirectly to the Nixon administration in the United States negotiating with the Soviets on arms control and nuclear weapons limitation.

The monument to Italian partisans killed in battle at
the summit of Monte Grappa

One of six brothers, Brosio graduated with a law degree from the University of Turin, where his studies were interrupted while he served with the Alpine Regiment on Monte Grappa in the First World War, a duty for which he volunteered despite being opposed to Italian involvement.

After the war he entered politics, soon becoming a leading figure within the so-called "liberal revolution", but after being threatened by Mussolini's secret police over what they saw as anti-Fascist activity he returned to practising law.

By this time, the socialist politician Giacomo Matteotti had already been murdered following his denouncement of the Fascists in parliament and it was clear to Brosio and many on the left or centre-left of Italian politics that their lives would be in danger were they to continue.

Following the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943. Brosio joined the resistance movement in the north and became a member of the National Liberation Committee.  As secretary of the Italian Liberal Party he was elected to serve in Italy's immediate post-war governments, ultimately as Minister of War under Alcide de Gasperi.

He began his diplomatic career as Italy's ambassador in Moscow in 1947, moving to London in 1952, to Washington in 1955 and finally to Paris in 1960.

Awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1955, he was given the United States' Presidential Medal of Freedom by Richard Nixon in 1971.

Married to Clotilde but with no children, Manlio died in Turin after a short illness in March 1980, aged 82.  He was buried in a family tomb in Venaria Reale, near Turin.

Travel tip:

Monte Grappa is a mountain in the Venetian Pre-alps, rising to 1,775 metres, situated some 27km north of Bassano del Grappa, in Vicenza province in the Veneto region.  It was the scene of military action in both World Wars. On the summit there is an extraordinary memorial to those killed there in the Second World War, when Nazi and Fascist troops slaughtered huge numbers of partisans who had sought refuge.  The monument is composed of five concentric circles, laid on top of each other to form a pyramid, containing the remains of 12,615 soldiers. On the top there is the little sanctuary of the Madonnina del Grappa.

The Royal Palace at Venaria Reale

Travel tip:

Venaria Reale is a town of around 35,000 inhabitants situated about eight kilometres north-west of Turin, notable for its Royal Palace, one of the residences of the Royal House of Savoy, built in 1675 for Duke Charles Emmanuel II, who wanted a base for his hunting expeditions.  The name Venaria Reale derives from the Latin Venatio Regia, meaning 'Royal Hunt'.  The house was added to the UNESCO Heritage List in 1997.

(Photo of Monte Grappa monument by Gabriele dalla Porta CC BY-SA 2.0)
(Photo of the Royal Palace at Venaria Reale by Valerio Manassero CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Fourth World Cup for the Azzurri

Triumph in Berlin for Marcello Lippi's team

Fabio Grosso, who scored Italy's
winning penalty in the final

Italy's footballers won the World Cup for the fourth time on this day in 2006, defeating France in the final in Berlin with the outcome determined by a penalty shoot-out.

The victory made Italy only the second nation after five-times champions Brazil to win the World Cup four times or more.  They were successful previously in 1934, 1938 and 1982 and have been runners-up twice, in 1970 and 1994.

Italy reached the final in 2006 by defeating hosts Germany in the semi-final in Dortmund, an attacking match determined by two goals in the final moments of extra time from Fabio Grosso and Alessandro del Piero after goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had pulled off some stunning saves.

In football terms, the final was a much less captivating spectacle, with each team scoring in the first 20 minutes but unable to find a second goal. It was marred by the sending off of France's Zinedine Zidane in his last competitive match before retiring from the game.

Zidane was shown the red card for head-butting the Italian defender Marco Materazzi 10 minutes into extra time.

The two had been the key figures during the 90 regulation minutes, Zidane having given France the lead with a seventh-minute penalty controversially awarded for a foul on him by Materazzi.

Materazzi equalised in the 19th minute with a header from a corner, scoring his second goal in a tournament in which he had also received a red card, in the round-of-16 match against Australia in which the Italians only just scraped through.

The incident that led to Zidane's expulsion came after the two appeared to engage in a brief conversation on the field.  The French player began to walk away from the Italian but then suddenly turned round and head-butted Materazzi in the chest with such force that he knocked him to the ground.

Italian fans celebrate at the Circus Maximus in Rome, where
captain Fabio Cannavaro and his team showed off the trophy

The final was overshadowed by the sending-off, only the fourth in a World Cup final and there were lasting repercussions.  Zidane was fined by football's international governing body FIFA and volunteered for community service in place of a suspension from football because his retirement meant any ban from playing was meaningless.

Materazzi was also fined and given a two-match ban after he admitted using insulting language to Zidane. However, he always denied that he made comments of a racist nature and after a two-year fight won damages from three English newspapers over allegations that he had done.

In the penalty shoot-out, David Trezeguet's miss for France enabled semi-final hero Fabio Grosso to be Italy's man of the moment again when he then scored his spot kick, giving Italy a 5-3 win.

Italy had lost all three previous World Cup shoot-outs in which they had been involved, including the 1990 semi-final against Argentina when they were hosts, and the 1994 final in the United States, when Brazil won.

On their return to Italy, captain Fabio Cannavaro and his squad met Italian president Giorgio Napolitano and prime minister Romano Prodi, with all of the players, plus coach Marcello Lippi and his technical staff, awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic.

This was followed by an open-top bus parade through Rome to the Circus Maximus, where the players assembled on a stage to show off the trophy.  An estimated 500,000 people turned out to salute their heroes.

The elaborately decorated facade of the Basilica
di Santa Croce, one of many fine buildings in Lecce

Travel tip:

Marco Materazzi hails from Lecce, a city in Puglia renowned for its Baroque architecture and sometimes nicknamed the Florence of the South.  The attractive city centre contains the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre but much of what visitors see was built in the 17th century, including the elaborately decorated Basilica di Santa Croce.

Travel tip:

Circus Maximus is the site of a Roman chariot racing stadium in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills, not far from the Colosseum.  The stadium alone could accommodate more than 150,000 spectators and the remains can be seen in what is now a vast area of parkland, regularly used as a venue for open air concerts because of the potential for huge audiences.

More reading:

How Paolo Rossi's hat-trick stunned Brazil

Marcello Lippi - the coach who masterminded 2006 victory

Italia 90: Semi-final agony for Azeglio Vicini

Italia 90: Schillaci matches Rossi by winning the Golden Boot


(Photo of Fabio Grosso by David Ruddell CC BY-SA 2.0)
(Photo of fans in Circus Maximus by Alessio Damato CC BY-SA 3.0)
(Photo of Basilica di Santa Croce by Tango 7174 CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Death of the poet Shelley

Dramatic storm took the life of young literary talent

Portrait of Shelley by Amelia Curran,
painted in about 1819

English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley died on this day in 1822 while travelling from Livorno in Tuscany to Lerici in Liguria in his sailing boat, the Don Juan.

Just a month before his 30th birthday, the brilliant poet of the Romantic era drowned during a sudden, dramatic storm in the Gulf of La Spezia that caused his boat to sink.

His body was later washed ashore and, in keeping with the quarantine regulations at the time, was cremated on the beach bear Viareggio on the Tuscan coast.

Shelley had been living with his wife, the writer Mary Shelley, at a rented villa in Lerici and was returning to his home from Livorno, where he had been arranging the start up of a new literary magazine to be called The Liberal.

He had set sail with two other people on board the Don Juan at about noon on Monday 8 July.  His companions were a retired naval officer, Edward Ellerker Williams, and a boatboy, Charles Vivien. Both also perished.

A friend had watched Shelley’s departure until he was about ten miles out of the harbour and then there had been a storm and he had lost sight of the boat.

Three days later one of Shelley’s friends was informed that a water keg and some bottles from the boat had been washed up on to a beach near Viareggio.

Then the terrible news was received that two bodies had been found in the same area.

Shelley's cremation on the beach near Viareggio as depicted
by the French artist Louis Édouard Fournier

Shelley’s body was able to be identified by the volume of poetry by John Keats that had been found in his pocket.

The poet was cremated on the beach under the supervision of his friend, the poet Lord Byron, and others from his circle out in Italy. Byron is said to have gone for a swim while Shelley’s body burned. He is quoted as saying of Shelley: “He was the best and least selfish man I ever knew.”

Shelley’s ashes were later interred in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.


Travel tip:

The Protestant Cemetery, where Shelley’s remains were buried, is in the rione (district) of Testaccio in Rome. The poet Keats was also buried there after dying of tuberculosis in Rome at the age of 25. Shelley’s three year-old son, William, was buried there after his death in Italy.

The Grand Hotel Royal in Viareggio is an example of
the Liberty style architecture characteristic of the town

Travel tip:

Viareggio is a popular seaside resort in Tuscany with excellent sandy beaches and some beautiful examples of Liberty-style architecture, including the Grand Hotel Royal.  There is a monument to Shelley in the Piazza Paolina.

(Photo of the Grand Hotel Royal by Sailko CC BY-SA 3.0)



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Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola - architect

Legacy of beautiful Renaissance buildings throughout Italy

Vignola's Villa Farnese at Caprarola, near Viterbo in Lazio,
which is acknowledged as one of the architect's masterpieces

One of the great architects of the 16th century, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, died on this day in 1573 in Rome.

Often referred to simply as Vignola, the architect left the world with a wealth of beautiful buildings and two acknowledged masterpieces, the Villa Farnese at Caprarola and the Church of the Gesù in Rome.

Along with Andrea Palladio and Sebastiano Serlio, Vignola was responsible for spreading the style of the Italian Renaissance throughout Europe.

He was born at Vignola near Modena in Emilia-Romagna in 1507. He began his career as an architect in Bologna and then went to Rome to make drawings of Roman temples. He was invited to Fontainebleau  to work for King Francois I, where it is believed he first met the Bolognese architect, Serlio.

Back in Italy he designed the Palazzo Bocchi in Bologna and then moved to Rome to work for Pope Julius III. He later worked alongside the artist Michelangelo, who greatly influenced his architectural style.

From 1564 onwards, Vignola worked on the new St Peter’s Basilica, following the plans Michelangelo had drawn up for the domes.

Vignola died in Rome at the age of 65. His remains were reburied in the Pantheon as recently as 1973.

Travel tip:

Villa Farnese, which is also sometimes known as Villa Caprarola, is a beautiful house in the town of Caprarola in the province of Viterbo in Lazio, about 50 kilometres north west of Rome. Cardinal Alessandro Farnese commissioned Vignola to design his residence and it is now recognised as one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in Italy. The architect worked on it until his death in 1573.

The Chiesa del Gesù in Rome was built to Vignola's design

Travel tip:

The Church of the Gesù, Chiesa del Gesù, is the mother church of the Jesuits in Piazza del Gesù in the Campo dè Fiori area of Rome. The church was built in 1568 to Vignola’s specifications and its baroque façade is believed to be the first of this style ever designed.

(Photo of Villa Farnese by Livioandronico2013 CC BY-SA 4.0)
(Photo of Chiesa del Gesù by Jebulon CC0 1.0)

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