28 July

Vittorio Valletta - industrialist

Agnelli lieutenant who turned Fiat into an auto giant

The industrialist Vittorio Valletta, whose diplomatic and deal-making skills helped him turn Fiat into the beacon of Italy’s postwar recovery, was born on this day in 1883 in Sampierdarena, a port suburb of Genoa famous for shipbuilding.  He joined Fiat in 1921, quickly rising to the top and became effectively the right-hand man to founder and president Giovanni Agnelli, as CEO practically steering the company single-handed through the turmoil of the Second World War.  After Agnelli’s death in 1945 he became president and remained in control of the company until 1966, when he finally handed over to Gianni Agnelli, the founder’s grandson, at the age of 83. Under his leadership, Fiat grew to such a position of dominance in postwar Italy that at one stage 80 per cent of cars bought in Italy were made by Fiat. The company’s factories employed almost 100,000 people, fulfilling Giovanni’s ambition, which he handed to Valletta almost on his deathbed, to "make Fiat greater, giving more working opportunities to the people, and producing cheaper and better cars".  Valletta also pulled off one of the greatest business coups of the postwar years when he secured a contract with the government of Russia to produce 600,000 cars per year.  Read more…

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Luigi Musso - racing driver

Wealthy Roman who found expectations hard to bear

Luigi Musso, who for a period of his life was Italy’s top racing driver, was born on this day in 1924 in Rome.  Musso competed six times for the world drivers’ championship, three times for Maserati and three times for Ferrari. He finished third in the 1957 season, driving for Ferrari.  His solitary Formula One Grand Prix victory came in 1956 in Argentina, although he had to content himself with a half-share of the points after being forced to hand over his car to Juan Fangio, the local hero and Ferrari team leader, after 29 of the 98 laps, when Fangio’s car failed.  Sadly, two years later he was killed in an accident at the French Grand Prix in Reims, which his girlfriend, Fiamma Breschi, blamed on the ferocity of his rivalry with his fellow Ferrari drivers Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins.  Born into a wealthy Roman family – his father was a diplomat – Musso grew up in a luxurious palazzo off the Via Veneto. He acquired his love of cars from his brothers, who were also racing drivers.  He began to compete in 1950 in a car he bought himself, a 750cc Giannini sports car. He made an inauspicious start, his first race ending when he left the track and collided with a statue of the national hero, Giuseppe Garibaldi.  Read more…

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Riccardo Muti - conductor

Celebrated maestro of the baton

The brilliant conductor and musical director Riccardo Muti was born on this day in 1941 in Naples.  Until 2023, Muti was conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and is still the director of the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra, a training ensemble for talent from Italian and other European music schools, based in Ravenna and Piacenza, which he founded in 2005.  Previously, Muti held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the Salzburg Whitsun Festival.  He was named principal conductor and music director for the Maggio Musicale when he was only 28 and stayed there 12 years.  He was at La Scala for 19 years from 1986 to 2005, his tenure ending amid rancour following a conflict with the theatre's general manager, Carlo Fontana.  Muti spent his childhood years largely in the Puglian port city of Molfetta, near Bari. He entered the world in Naples, he says, at the insistence of his mother, Gilda, herself a Neapolitan, who travelled across the peninsula by train in the later stages of each of her five pregnancies in order that her children would also grow up as Neapolitans.  Read more…

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San Marino’s liberation from Fascism

The day the people demonstrated against their government

San Marino residents celebrate the anniversary of their liberation from Fascism on this day every year.  The Sammarinese Fascist Party had been founded in 1922 by Giuliano Gozi, a veteran of the First World War who came from a rich and powerful family.  The party was modelled on the Fascist party of Italy and used violence and intimidation against its opponents.  Gozi took the roles of both foreign minister and interior minister, which gave him control over the military and the police. He continued to serve as foreign minister, leading the cabinet, until 1943.  In 1923 Gozi was elected as San Marino’s Captain Regent. The Fascists retained this post for 20 years as they banned all other political parties, although some independent politicians continued to serve in the Grand and General Council of the Republic.  But in the early 1940s a group of Socialists started up a clandestine anti-fascist movement and the opposition to the Fascist regime grew stronger in the republic.  On July 28, 1943 the Socialists held a successful political demonstration against Fascism and as a result new elections were called.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Italy Since 1945: Short Oxford History of Italy, by Patrick McCarthy

The Short Oxford History of Italy series, in seven volumes, will offer a complete History of Italy from the early middle ages to the present and, in each period, will present the most recent historical perspectives on Italian history. This means setting Italian history in the broader context of European history as a whole. It also means questioning accepted interpretations of Italian history in each of these periods and, in particular, the idea that Italy's history has been significantly different from that of the rest of Europe. Each volume will emphasise how developments in Italy in each period are best understood as variants on broader European patterns of political, economic, social and cultural change.  Italy Since 1945 sets in context the tremendous changes that Italy has undergone in the last 55 years. In place of the land of pizza, sunshine and soccer, McCarthy describes a developing nation: an economy that has found its own road to success via the piccole imprese with an increasingly strong stock market and more sophisticated banking; a dynamic, traditional, family centred society; and a political system struggling to modernise after 40 years of Christian Democrat rule and Communist opposition. McCarthy also looks at the role of the Church, including Pius XII's wartime activities and the 'foreign pope', John-Paul II before finally turning to sport in Italy - the only country to have three daily newspapers devoted to the subject. Authoritative, accessible and absorbing, the book examines modern Italy through the eyes of 10 leading commentators and explores the Italian experience in the wider context of both the nation's past and its wider contemporary European position.

Patrick McCarthy was Professor of European Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Bologna.

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27 July

NEW - Mauro Giuliani – virtuoso guitarist

Maestro who perfected his technique so that his instrument seemed to sing

Leading 19th century guitarist and composer Mauro Giuliani was born on this day in 1781 in Bisceglie, a small town on the Adriatic coast near Bari in Puglia.  Growing up to become an accomplished cellist, singer and composer, Giuliani toured Europe playing in concerts and he became a musical celebrity while he was living in Vienna. He was  invited to play in chamber concerts in the botanical gardens of Schönbrunn Palace - the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers - with other top musicians.  Giuliani moved to live in Barletta, also on the Adriatic coast when he was very young, where he learnt to play the cello, an instrument he never completely abandoned. But he began to devote himself to learning the six-string guitar, becoming a skilled performer on it very quickly.  Although he married Maria Guiseppe Del Monaco and they had a son while he was living in Barletta, Giuliani moved abroad and settled in Vienna without his family, where he learnt the classical instrumental style and began to publish his own compositions. He went on to play in concerts all over Europe, defining a new role for the guitar in music.  Read more…

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Adolfo Celi – actor and director

Successful career of a Sicilian who was typecast as a baddy

An actor who specialised in playing the role of the villain in films, Adolfo Celi was born on this day in 1922 in Curcuraci, a hamlet in the province of Messina in Sicily.  Celi was already prominent in Italian cinema, but he became internationally famous for his portrayal of Emilio Largo, James Bond’s adversary with the eye patch, in the 1965 film Thunderball.  He had made his film debut after the Second World War in A Yank in Rome (Un americano in vacanza), in 1946.  In the 1950s he moved to Brazil, where he co-founded the Teatro Brasiliero de Comedia.  He was successful as a stage actor in Brazil and Argentina and also directed three films.  Celi’s big break came when he played the villain in Philippe de Broca’s That Man from Rio. Afterwards he was cast as the camp commandant in the escape drama, Von Ryan’s Express, in which Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard played prisoners of war.  After appearing in Thunderball, Celi was offered scores of big parts as a villain.  He later made a spoof of Thunderball in the film, OK Connery, in which he played opposite Sean Connery’s brother, Neil.  Read more…

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Peppino di Capri – singer and songwriter

Performer ushered Italy into the rock ‘n roll era

Pop legend Peppino di Capri was born Giuseppe Faiella on this day in 1939 on the island of Capri in southern Italy.  A hugely successful singer, songwriter and pianist in Italy and throughout Europe, Di Capri, affectionately known as the Italian Buddy Holly, has had many international hits.  He began singing and playing the piano, by instinct, at the age of four, following in his father’s footsteps, and he provided entertainment for the American troops stationed on Capri during World War II.  His father owned a record shop and also sold musical instruments.  Di Capri studied classical music for five years until he discovered rock music in the 1950s. He recorded his first album in 1958 with his band, The Rockers, including some Neapolitan songs, and he had instant success.  For the next few years, Di Capri recorded some of his biggest hits, such as Voce e Notte, Luna Caprese, Let’s Twist Again and Roberta. He introduced the twist to Italy with his song, St Tropez Twist.  In 1965 he was the opening act at the concerts of The Beatles, during the only Italian tour they ever made, and he then went on to found his own record label and recording studio.  Read more…

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Giosuè Carducci – poet and Nobel Prize winner

Writer used his poetry as a vehicle for his political views 

Giosuè Carducci, the first Italian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, was born on this day in 1835 in Tuscany.  Christened Giosuè Alessandro Giuseppe Carducci, he lived with his parents in the small village of Valdicastello in the province of Lucca.  His father, a doctor, was an advocate of the unification of Italy and was involved with the Carbonari, a network of secret revolutionary groups. Because of his politics, the family was forced to move several times during Carducci’s childhood, eventually settling in Florence.  During his time in college, Carducci became fascinated with the restrained style of Greek and Roman literature and his work as an adult often used the classical meters of such Latin poets as Horace and Virgil. He published his first collection of poems, Rime, in 1857.  He married Elvira Menicucci in 1859 and they had four children.  Carducci taught Greek at a high school in Pistoia and was then appointed as an Italian professor at the University of Bologna.  Carducci was a popular lecturer and a fierce critic of literature and society. He was an atheist, whose political views were vehemently hostile to Christianity.  Read more…

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Mario Del Monaco - tenor

Singer became famous for his interpretations of Otello

Opera singer Mario Del Monaco, who was renowned for the amazing power of his voice, was born on this day in 1915 in Florence.  His family were musical and as a child he studied the violin but he developed a passion for singing as well.  He studied at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, where he first met and sang with the soprano Renata Tebaldi, who was to partner him regularly later in his career.  Del Monaco made a big impact with his debut performance as Lieutenant Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in Milan in 1940.  He became popular with the audience at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the 1950s, making many appearances in dramatic Verdi roles.  He was one of the four Italian tenors at their peak in the 1950s and 1960s, sharing the limelight with Giuseppe Di Stefano, Carlo Bergonzi and Franco Corelli.  Del Monaco became famous for his interpretation of the title role in Verdi’s Otello, which, it is estimated, he sang hundreds of times.  He started making recordings for HMV in 1948 in Milan and was later partnered by Renata Tebaldi in a series of Verdi and Puccini operas recorded for Decca.  Read more…

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Recording of the Day: Italian Guitar Concertos: Emanuele Segre (Guitar), Carlo Boccadoro (Conductor), Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali

Spain may be the ancestral home of the guitar, but Italy has produced wonderful guitarists and guitar music. Italian virtuoso Emanuele Segre brings his rhythmic buoyancy, delicate touch, and persuasive playing to Italian Guitar Concertos, a delightful programme ranging from Vivaldi and Giuliani concertos to new creations. Beginning with an aria and concerto by Vivaldi, the father of the concerto, the album then features the Gran Quintetto by Mauro Giuliani. One of the greatest composers of music for classical guitar, Giuliani’s performances on the guitar were legendary. Giuliani knew Beethoven, who wrote guitar music especially for him - the piece itself is reminiscent of Beethoven, particularly the instrumental introduction. The album finishes with two enchanting and congenial contemporary works for guitar and orchestra: Giovanni Sollima’s dreamy The Black Owl, and Carlo Boccadoro’s haunting Dulcis memoria II. 

Born in Milan in 1965, Emanuele Segre studied at the Milan Conservatory. He has performed in concerts and recitals worldwide and is considered one of the most important Italian guitarists currently active.

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Mauro Giuliani – virtuoso guitarist

Maestro who perfected his technique so that his instrument seemed to sing

Mauri Giuliani was a 19th century
pioneer of guitar music

Leading 19th century guitarist and composer Mauro Giuliani was born on this day in 1781 in Bisceglie, a small town on the Adriatic coast near Bari in Puglia.

Growing up to become an accomplished cellist, singer and composer, Giuliani toured Europe playing in concerts and he became a musical celebrity while he was living in Vienna. He was  invited to play in chamber concerts in the botanical gardens of Schönbrunn Palace - the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers - with other top musicians.

Giuliani moved to live in Barletta, also on the Adriatic coast when he was very young, where he learnt to play the cello, an instrument he never completely abandoned. But he began to devote himself to learning the six-string guitar, becoming a skilled performer on it very quickly.

Although he married Maria Guiseppe del Monaco and they had a son while he was living in Barletta, Giuliani moved abroad and settled in Vienna without his family, where he learnt the classical instrumental style and began to publish his own compositions. He went on to play in concerts all over Europe, defining a new role for the guitar in music.

He got to know Rossini and Beethoven and in 1814 he was appointed guitar virtuoso di camera to Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon’s second wife. In 1815, Giuliani appeared alongside a famous violinist and cellist in a series of concerts in the botanical gardens of Schönbrunn Palace, which were named the Dukaten Concerte, reflecting the price of the tickets, which was one ducat. He was also the official concert artist for the celebrations of the congress of Vienna in the same year.

The Schönbrunn Palace, summer residence of the
Habsburgs in Vienna, where Giuliani performed

Giuliani played the cello in the orchestra that gave the first performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. He had many of his compositions published in Vienna, which all showed a marked Italian influence, in particular, that of the music of Rossini. Giuliani also developed a teaching career while he was in the city. 

During his time in Vienna, he had a relationship with Anna Wiesenberger, with whom he had four daughters. After he left Vienna in 1819, he went on a concert tour of Bohemia and Bavaria before returning to Italy. He spent time in Venice and Trieste but finally settled in Rome.

In 1822, he brought one of his daughters, Emilia, over from Vienna to live with him, and she was educated in a nunnery in Rome. 

Giuliani travelled to Naples regularly to be with his father, who by then was seriously ill. In Naples there was a good reception for his artistry on the guitar and he was able to publish some of his compositions with Neapolitan publishers.

Giuliani's solo pieces are
still widely performed today

In 1826, he performed in Portici in Naples before Francesco I and the Bourbon court. He frequently appeared on stage playing duets with his daughter, Emilia, who had also become a skilled performer on the guitar.  

Guliani died in Naples in 1829. According to contemporary accounts, people who had heard Giuliani play the guitar were said to have found his expression and tone astonishing, and felt that he made the instrument seem to sing. Some said the sound he produced called to mind the lute players that had gone before.

Giuliani produced 150 compositions for the guitar and he also composed music for the guitar with an orchestra, and for guitar duets with a violin, or flute.

His concertos and solo pieces are still widely performed by professional guitarists today. Although, he did not publish a Method, the studies and exercises he left behind are still used in the training for a guitarist.

The bust of Giuliani
in central Bisceglie

Travel tip: 

Bisceglie, where Giuliani was born, is in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani in Puglia, in southern Italy. The city looks out over the Adriatic and lies between Trani and Molfetta. A centre for agriculture and textiles, it dates back to prehistoric times and there are Bronze Age remains to be seen.  Its name is thought likely to be a derivation from the Latin word vigilae, meaning watchtowers. It was awarded Blue Flag beach certification in 2001 for high environmental and quality standards. An historic old city and a pleasant harbour area have made it a destination for tourists. There is a bronze bust of Mauro Giuliani, in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. There is also a small museum celebrating his life and achievements in Via Cardinale Dell'Olio.

The Colossus
of Barletta

Travel tip:

Barletta, where Giuliani grew up and learnt to play the cello, is a city with around 95,000 inhabitants on the Adriatic coast to the north of Trani. The area includes part of the battlefield of Cannae, an important archaeological site famous for the battle in 216 BC between the Romans and the Carthaginians, won by Hannibal. Barletta is home to the Colossus of Barletta, a bronze statue representing a Roman Emperor - thought to be Theodosius II - which stands at about 4m (13 feet) tall and is the largest surviving statue from the late Roman Empire.  According to folklore, the statue - known as Eraclio - once saved the city from a Saracen attack by convincing the Saracens that Barletta’s inhabitants were giants.  Barletta was recognised as Città d’Arte of Puglia in 2005 because of its beautiful architecture. 

Also on this day:

1835: The birth of Nobel Prize-winning poet Giosuè Carducci

1915: The birth of tenor Mario Del Monaco

1922: The birth of actor and director Adolfo Celi

1939: The birth of singer Peppino di Capri

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26 July

Constantino Brumidi - painter

Rome-born artist responsible for murals in US Capitol Building

Constantino Brumidi, an artist whose work provides the backcloth to the daily business of government in the United States Capitol Building in Washington, was born on this day in 1805 in Rome.  Brumidi’s major work is the allegorical fresco The Apotheosis of Washington, painted in 1865, which covers the interior of the dome in the Rotunda.  Encircling the base of the dome, below the windows, is the Frieze of American History, in which Brumidi painted scenes depicting significant events of American history, although the second half of the work, which he began in 1878, had to be completed by another painter, Filippo Costaggini, as Brumidi died in 1880.  Previously, between 1855 and about 1870, Brumidi had decorated the walls of eight important rooms in the Capitol Building, including the Hall of the House of Representatives, the Senate Library and the President’s Room.  His Liberty and Union paintings are mounted near the ceiling of the White House entrance hall and the first-floor corridors of the Senate part of the Capitol Building are known as the Brumidi Corridors.  Brumidi arrived in the United States in 1852, having spent 13 months in jail in Rome.  Read more… 

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Pope Paul II

Flamboyant pope who helped make books available to ordinary people

Pietro Barbo, who became Pope Paul II, died on this day in 1471 in Rome at the age of 54.  He is remembered for enjoying dressing up in sumptuous, ecclesiastical finery and having a papal tiara made for himself, which was studded with diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, topaz, large pearls and many other precious gems.  Barbo was born in Venice and was a nephew of Pope Eugenius IV through his mother and a member of the noble Barbo family through his father.  He adopted a spiritual career after his uncle was elected as pope and made rapid progress. He became a cardinal in 1440 and promised that if he was elected pope one day he would buy each cardinal a villa to escape the summer heat. He then became archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica.  It was reported that Pope Pius II suggested he should have been called Maria Pietissima (Our Lady of Pity) as he would use tears to help him obtain things he wanted. Some historians have suggested the nickname may have been an allusion to his enjoyment of dressing up or, possibly, to his lack of masculinity.  Barbo was elected to succeed Pope Pius II in the first ballot of the papal conclave of 1464.  Read more…

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Francesco Cossiga - Italy's 8th President

Political career overshadowed by Moro murder

Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga was born on this day in 1928 in the Sardinian city of Sassari.  Cossiga, a Christian Democrat who had briefly served as Prime Minister under his predecessor, Sandro Pertini, held the office for seven years from 1985 to 1992. He was the eighth President of the Republic.  His presidency was unexceptional until the last two years, when he gained a reputation for controversial comments about the Italian political system and former colleagues.  It was during this time that another heavyweight of the Italian political scene, Giulio Andreotti, revealed the existence during the Cold War years of Gladio, a clandestine network sponsored by the American secret services and NATO that was set up amid fears that Italy would fall into the hands of Communists, either through military invasion from the East or, within Italy, via the ballot box.  Cossiga, said to have been obsessed with espionage, admitted to having been involved with the creation of Gladio in the years immediately following the end of the Second World War.  This led to renewed speculation surrounding the kidnap and murder of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.  Read more… 

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Book of the Day: The Lost History of the Capitol: The Hidden and Tumultuous Saga of Congress and the Capitol Building, by Edward P Moser

The Lost History of the Capitol is an account of the many bizarre, tragic, and violent episodes that have occurred in and around the Capitol Building, from the founding of the federal capital city in 1790 up to contemporary times, including the events of January 6, 2021. In this 230-year span, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the neighbourhoods nearby have witnessed dozens of high-profile scandals, trials, riots, bombings, and personal assaults, along with some inspiring events as well. This is a popular work about the US Capitol Building and its environs.  Among the many incidents the book chronicles are a duel-to-the-death between congressmen, the terror bombings of the Senate, the first assassination attempt on a US president, moving tributes to war heroes and heroines, vicious brawls between senators and congressmen, protest marches both uplifting and illicit, public hangings near the Capitol steps, a gun battle in the House, bloody ethnic broils quelled by a famous father and son, and the citywide and Capitol Building riots of 2020–21.

Edward P Moser is an historian, tour guide and author. A former speechwriter for President George H W Bush, and a former Editor of Time-Life Books, he is the author, co-author, or editor of books on such subjects as history, politics, humour and science.

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