6 October

Ottavio Bianchi - football coach

The northerner who steered Napoli to first scudetto

Ottavio Bianchi, the coach who guided Napoli to their first Serie A title in the Italian football championship, was born on this day in 1943 in the northern Italian city of Brescia.  Napoli, who had been runners-up four times in Italy's elite league, broke their duck by winning the scudetto in the 1986-87 season, when Bianchi built his side around the forward line consisting initially of the World Cup-winning Argentina star Diego Maradona, the Italy strikers Bruno Giordano and Andrea Carnevale.  After the arrival of the Brazilian forward Careca to partner Maradona and Giordano, the trio became collectively known as MaGiCa.  Bianchi’s team began the 1986-87 season with a 13-match unbeaten run. It came to an end with an away defeat against Fiorentina but Napoli lost only two more matches all season, winning the title by three points from Juventus to spark wild celebrations in Naples.  It is a reflection of how defensively-minded Italian football coaches were at the time that Napoli won the title despite scoring only 41 goals in 30 matches, with Maradona (10) the only individual player to reach double figures.  Read more…

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Bruno Sammartino - wrestling champion

How a sickly kid from Abruzzo became king of the ring

Bruno Sammartino, who found fame as a professional wrestler in the United States, was born on this day in 1935 in Pizzoferrato, a village in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region.  He died in 2018 at the age of 82, having spent the last years of his life in Ross Township in Pennsylvania, about six miles north of the city of Pittsburgh.  Sammartino held the title of world heavyweight champion under the banner of the World Wide Wrestling Federation - now known as World Wrestling Entertainment - for more than 11 years in two reigns. The first of those, spanning seven years, eight months and one day, is the longest any individual has held the title continuously since it was first contested in 1963.  At his peak in the ring, Sammartino weighed in at 265lbs (120kg), yet it was something of a miracle that he survived his childhood.  Sammartino grew up in a mountainous region of Abruzzo now known as the Majella (or Maiella) National Park, still populated by bears, wolves and wild cats.  Life was tough, especially during the harsh winter months. He was the youngest of seven brothers and sisters, four of whom did not make it into adulthood.  Read more…

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The October Martyrs of Lanciano

Heroic group of partisans earned Gold Medal for Valour

The town of Lanciano in Abruzzo today and every October 6 remembers the 23 citizens killed by German troops on this day in 1943 after one of the most celebrated revolts of World War Two against the occupying Nazi forces.  The group became known as the Martiri ottobrini di Lanciano - the October Martyrs of Lanciano. Their deeds were recognised by the postwar Italian government with the award - to all the citizens of the town - of the Gold Medal for Military Valour, and there are a number of monuments in the town that commemorate the event and the participants.  As well as 11 partisan resistance fighters, another 12 Lancianese who fought alongside them were killed by the Germans. The leader of the partigiani group, a 28-year-old former soldier named Trentino La Barba, was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal for Valour in his own right. Three others were honoured with Silver Medals.  Lanciano - 22km (14 miles) southeast of the city of Chieti and about 30km (19 miles) from the coastal resort of Pescara - had the misfortune to be one of the key municipalities close to the Gustav Line, one of the major defensive lines established by the Germans to counter the Allied invasion of the Italian peninsula.  Read more…

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Maria Bertilla Boscardin – wartime nurse

Brave nun was prepared to die caring for others

Maria Bertilla Boscardin, a nun who was canonised for her devoted nursing of sick children and air raid victims in the First World War, was born on this day in 1888 in Brendola, a small town in the Veneto.  She was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1952, just 30 years after she died, and made a saint by Pope John XXIII nine years later.  It was one of the quicker canonisations of modern history. Sometimes many decades or even hundreds of years pass before a person’s life is recognised with sainthood.  Boscardin’s came so swiftly that relatives and some of the patients she cared for were present at her canonisation ceremony. Indeed, her father, Angelo, was asked to provide testimony during the beatification process.  Born into a peasant family, who knew her as Annette, her life in Brendola, which is about 15km (9 miles) southwest of Vicenza, was tough.  She was seen as rather a slow-witted child, mocked by her peers and unkindly nicknamed ‘the goose’ even by the local priest. Her father, a drunkard, was often abusive and violent.  She wanted to become educated but her attendance at school was at times only sporadic because her family required her to work.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: More than Maradona: The Birth, Death and Rebirth of SSC Napoli, by Kirsten Schlewitz

Due out on 31 October, this first English-language history of one of Italy’s most popular teams will appeal to both supporters and newcomers alike, revealing the reasons so many are smitten with SSC Napoli.  Diego Maradona spent less than seven seasons with Napoli, but during that time the Italian club soared to its greatest heights, winning the Serie A title twice and the Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italia, and UEFA Cup once.  Until very recently, for most soccer lovers, the Partenopei story begins and ends with Maradona. Yet Napoli’s history is packed with fascinating figures, from owners to players to the legend-turned-sport-director who brought in the beloved deity.  More than Maradona highlights this cast of characters, spotlights the side’s most intriguing years, and ties both back to the history and culture of Naples, a rare one-club town. Primarily written prior to the 2023 scudetto, the book concludes with an ecstatic finale covering the season in which Napoli dominated Serie A.

Kirsten Schlewitz has written for ESPN and The Guardian, plus the blogs Far From Vesuvius, aimed at Napoli fans, and The Gentleman Ultra. She is studying for a Master’s in Justice and Reconciliation, and splits her time between Belgrade, Serbia and the Pacific Northwest.

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5 October

NEW - Nicola Rizzoli - football referee

Third Italian to take charge of World Cup Final

The football referee Nicola Rizzoli, who in 2014 became the third Italian to take charge of a men’s World Cup Final, was born on this day in 1971 in Mirandola, a town in Emilia-Romagna about 35km (22 miles) north of Modena.  Rizzoli, who had refereed the UEFA Champions League Final in 2013, followed Sergio Gonella (1978) and Pierluigi Collina (2002) in being handed the ultimate honour for football officials.  It was his responsibility to officiate in the match between Germany and Argentina in the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro to decide the winners of the 2014 tournament, hosted by Brazil.  At the age of 42, he was the same age as Collina had been when he refereed the Brazil-Germany final in 2002, but three years younger than Gonella was when given charge of hosts Argentina against the Netherlands in 1978.  Germany, who had famously humbled the hosts by a stunning 7-1 margin in the semi-finals, beat Lionel Messi’s Argentina 1-0 in the 2014 final, thanks to a goal in extra time by the substitute, Mario Götze.  Rizzoli was commended for his handling of the match, between two of international soccer’s biggest rivals. Read more…

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Andrea De Cesaris - racing driver

Career defined by unwanted record

The racing driver Andrea De Cesaris, who competed in 15 consecutive Formula One seasons between 1980 and 1994, died on this day in 2014 as a result of injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.  De Cesaris lost control of his Suzuki motorcycle on Rome’s orbital motorway, the Grande Raccordo Anulare, and collided with a guard rail.  The Rome-born driver, the son of a tobacco merchant, retired from competition with the unwanted record of having never won a race in 208 Formula One starts, the most by any driver without a victory to his name in the sport’s history.  He needed no second invitation to hit the accelerator on the track but his daring often veered towards the wild and erratic and had a reputation for being accident prone, putting not only himself but other drivers at risk.  His tendency to drive into trouble gave him a number of other records he would have preferred not to have earned: the most consecutive non-finishes, 18 between 1985 and 1986, although that includes mechanical failures, the most successive non-finishes in a single season, 12 in 1987, when he also set the record for the most non-finishes in a single, 16-race season, at 14. Read more…

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Mary of Modena – Queen of England

Catholic wife of James II greeted with suspicion

Maria Beatrice Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este, who would become known in England as Mary of Modena when she served as queen consort for almost four years in the 17th century, was born on this day in 1658.  The daughter of Alfonso IV, Duke of Modena, the princess, descended from the Bourbon royal family of France and the Medici family of Italy, was born in the Ducal Palace in Modena. Her mother, Laura Martinozzi, from Fano in the Marche, hailed from a noble Roman family.  Tall, elegant and highly educated – she was fluent in French as well as Italian and had a good knowledge of Latin – Maria Beatrice was sought after as a bride for James, Duke of York, heir to Charles II.  She was picked as a suitable prospective bride for his Catholic master by Lord Peterborough, one of the Duke’s closest aides, who communicated with the d’Este family through French diplomatic channels.  James was a widower following the death of his first wife, Anne Hyde. He was no great catch, 25 years older than Maria Beatrice, scarred by smallpox and venereal disease and afflicted with a stutter.  Read more…

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Francesco Guardi - painter

Artist evoked image of republic’s final years

One of the last great artists of the Venetian school, Francesco Lazzaro Guardi, was born on this day in 1712 in Venice.  Guardi’s wonderful scenes of crowds, festivals, regattas and concerts in Venice have kept the heyday of the republic alive for future generations to enjoy in art galleries all over the world.  The artist was born into a family of nobility from Trentino, who lived in a house in the Cannaregio district of Venice.  Guardi’s father and brothers were also painters and his sister, Maria Cecilia, married the great Venetian artist, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.  Guardi’s first known works were painted in the 1730s in Vigo Anuania in Trentino, where he was working alongside his older brother, Gian Antonio.  The first work to be signed by Guardi is the picture Saint Adoring the Eucharist, which was painted in about 1739.  Guardi seemed equally comfortable painting landscapes or figures, but his early views of Venice show the influence of Canaletto on his style.  In 1757 Guardi married Maria Mattea Pagani, the daughter of another painter, Matteo Pagani.  One of his most important works was The Doge’s Feasts, a series of 12 canvases commissioned to celebrate the ceremonies held in 1763 for the election of Doge Alvise IV Mocenigo.  Read more…

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Alberto Sughi - painter

20th century artist who was unwitting victim of plagiarism

The artist Alberto Sughi, an acclaimed  20th century painter whose style was defined as “existential realism”, was born on this day in 1928 in Cesena in Emilia-Romagna.  Sughi was regarded as one of the greatest artists of his generation but is often remembered mainly for his unwitting part in a famous case of plagiarism.  It happened in 2006 when a Japanese painter, Yoshihiko Wada, was awarded the prestigious Art Encouragement Prize, the Japanese equivalent of the Turner Prize, for a series of paintings depicted urban life in Italy - one of Sughi’s specialities.  A month after the award was announced in March of that year, the Japan Artists Association and Agency for Cultural Affairs received an anonymous tip-off questioning the authenticity of Wada's work, which then sparked an investigation into possible plagiarism.  The anonymous accuser had noted that several pieces of Wada’s art in an exhibition before the award was decided bore striking similarities to paintings by Sughi. Two examples were Wada’s Boshi-zo (Mother and Child), which looked almost exactly like Sughi’s Virgo Laurentana, even in tiny details, and Wada’s Muso (Reverie), which appeared to be a near-identical copy of Sughi’s Piano Bar Italia.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Formula 1: The Official History, by Maurice Hamilton

Experience the legendary history of Formula 1 in this definitive illustrated book. Fully updated for 2024, out on October 10 and with a foreword by Ross Brawn, Formula 1: The Official History is an electrifying account of the F1 phenomenon, telling the complete story of one of the world's most popular, thrilling, and glamorous sports. Bringing together a superbly written account of the history of the sport and an exceptional selection of stunning images from across seven decades of F1 racing, the book charts the FIA Formula One World Championship, decade by decade, from its first race at Silverstone in May 1950 right through to the present day.  Each chapter tells the fascinating stories behind the greatest drivers and teams, important personnel, famous and infamous incidents, as well as key changes to the rules on design, safety and competitiveness. These tales are accompanied by more than 250 exceptional photographs featuring icons past and present, including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen. Accessible and entertaining for any F1 fan, this is the definitive visual history of the sport.

Maurice Hamilton was the Observer's motor racing correspondent from 1990 to 2010 and a summariser on BBC Radio Five Live's motor racing coverage. He has written more than a dozen F1 books, including numerous F1 biographies.

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Nicola Rizzoli - football referee

Third Italian to take charge of World Cup Final

Nicola Rizzoli retired in 2017 after
15 years refereeing top-level matches

The football referee Nicola Rizzoli, who in 2014 became the third Italian to take charge of a men’s World Cup Final, was born on this day in 1971 in Mirandola, a town in Emilia-Romagna about 35km (22 miles) north of Modena.

Rizzoli, who had refereed the UEFA Champions League Final in 2013, followed Sergio Gonella (1978) and Pierluigi Collina (2002) in being handed the ultimate honour for football officials.

It was his responsibility to referee the match between Germany and Argentina in the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro to decide the winners of the 2014 tournament, hosted by Brazil. 

At the age of 42, he was the same age as Collina had been when he refereed the Brazil-Germany final in 2002, but three years younger than Gonella was when given charge of hosts Argentina against the Netherlands in 1978.

Germany, who had famously humbled the 2014 hosts by a stunning 7-1 margin in the semi-finals, beat Lionel Messi’s Argentina 1-0 in the 2014 final, thanks to a goal in extra time by the substitute, Mario Götze. 

Rizzoli was commended for his handling of the match, between two of international soccer’s biggest rivals, which passed with no controversial decisions. He was praised for alerting the Germany bench after their midfield player Christoph Kramer began to show the effects of concussion following a blow to the head. Kramer played on for several minutes after the injury but then alarmed Rizzoli by twice asking him if he was playing in the final.

Although born in Mirandola, Rizzoli grew up in Bologna, the home city of his idol among referees, the renowned Collina.

Rizzoli took charge of the
2014 World Cup Final

Like most young Italian boys - and many girls - he had dreams of being a player, but his youth games in the Bologna area were often notable for his arguments with referees. In an interview in May, 2024 with the newspaper, Gazzetta di Modena, he explained that he took up refereeing after a friend suggested that, rather than contest decisions, he should study the rules of the game.

Alongside football, he decided at the age of 13 that he wanted to be an architect. He told the Gazzetta di Modena that, as well as enjoying drawing as a pastime, he ‘loved the smell of paper that you breathed in stationery shops’.

He obtained a degree in architecture at the University of Florence and began to develop a career while simultaneously working his way up the refereeing ladder, from club matches around Bologna to the lower divisions of the Italian professional leagues.

Trying to do both was not without problems. He recalled that a missed flight after refereeing a Serie D match in Calabria led him to question what he was doing and that an offer to join a studio in Milan tempted him to give up his whistle. 

He procrastinated long enough, however, to make the breakthrough he had craved in football when he was given his first Serie A match, between Venezia and Perugia, in April, 2002. 

In the event, he continued to work as an architect for another 10 years, stopping only when his international match commitments began to take up too much of his time. He takes pride in his achievements in the architectural field, too, not least the completion of the Pediatric Oncology building at Sant'Orsola Hospital in Bologna, which he built in 2001.

As an architect, Rizzoli designed the Pediatric
 Oncology unit at Bologna's Sant'Orsola Hospital

In addition to the 2014 World Cup Final and the 2013 Champions League decider, contested between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium in England, Rizzoli officiated in the inaugural UEFA Europa League Final in 2010, as Atlético Madrid defeated Fulham 2–1, and was on the list of referees chosen for both the 2012 and 2016 European Championships.

He refereed in Serie A between 2002 and 2017, achieving his ambition of taking charge in more than 200 top-division matches before he retired. Among his honours, he was named Serie A referee of the year by the Italian Football Federation for seven consecutive seasons between 2011 and 2017 and “world’s best referee” by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics twice, in 2014 and 2015. He was inducted to the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2018.

After retirement, he became Head of Refereeing for Serie A and more recently was appointed Technical Refereeing Advisor for Concacaf, the FIFA-affiliated governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Rizzoli still lives in Bologna but maintains strong connections with the area around Modena, where his extended family still live.

The restored Castello dei Pico is among the main
sights in Rizzoli's home town of Mirandola

Travel tip:

Mirandola, the town of 22,000 people where Nicola Rizzoli was born, originated as a Renaissance city-fortress. For four centuries it was the seat of an independent principality and a possession of the Pico family, whose most famous member was the polymath Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94).  Besieged in 1510 by Pope Julius II and in 1551 by Pope Julius III, it was taken over by the Duchy of Modena in 1710 but went into decline after its castle - the Castello dei Pico - was partially destroyed in 1714. The castle has recently been restored and is open to the public. Other notable buildings include the 1468 Gothic-style Palazzo del Comune and the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which also dates from the late 15th century. The Church of San Francesco, which houses the tombs of the Pico family, collapsed when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit the area in 2012, killing 17 people, injuring many others, and damaging the homes of 14,000 inhabitants.

Piazza Maggiore, dominated by the Basilica of
San Petronio, is at the heart of the city of Bologna

Travel tip:

The city of Bologna, where Nicola Rizzoli grew up and was registered as a referee, has seen its city centre undergo substantial restoration since the 1970s. It is one of the largest and best preserved historical centres in Italy, characterised by 38km (24 miles) of walkways protected by porticoes.  At the heart of the city is the beautiful Piazza Maggiore, dominated by the Gothic Basilica of San Petronio, which at 132m long, 66m wide and with a facade that touches 51m at its tallest, is the 10th largest church in the world and the largest built in brick.  The history of Bologna, one of Italy's oldest cities, can be traced back to 1,000BC or possibly earlier, with a settlement that was developed into an urban area by the Etruscans, the Celts and the Romans.  The University of Bologna, the oldest in the world, was founded in 1088. Bologna’s football club made history in 2024 by qualifying for the UEFA Champions League for the first time.

Also on this day:

1658: The birth of Mary of Modena

1712: The birth of painter Francesco Guardi

1928: The birth of painter Alberto Sughi

2014: The death of racing driver Andrea De Cesaris

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4 October

Giovanni Battista Piranesi – artist

Genius who put 18th century Rome on the map

Draftsman, printmaker and architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi was born on this day in 1720 in Mogliano Veneto near Treviso in the Veneto.  He became famous for his large prints depicting the buildings of Rome, which stimulated interest in Rome and inspired the neoclassical movement in art in the 18th century.  Piranesi went to Rome to work as a draftsman for the Venetian ambassador when he was 20. There he studied with some of the leading printmakers of the day.  It was during this period that he developed his own, original etching technique, producing rich textures and bold contrasts of light and shadow by means of intricate, repeated bitings of the copperplate.  Among his finest early prints are the Prisons - Carceri - imaginary scenes depicting ancient Roman ruins, which are converted into fantastic dungeons filled with scaffolding and instruments of torture.  Piranesi later opened a workshop in Via del Corso and created the series of vedute - views - of Rome that established his fame.  Among his best mature prints are the series Roman Antiquities - Le antichita romane, Views of Rome - Vedute di Roma - and views of the Greek temples at Paestum.  Read more…

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Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lamps light up Assisi in memory of saint

The city of Assisi in Umbria is today celebrating the Feast Day - la festa - of their famous Saint, Francis - Francesco -  who is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.  It is the most important festival in the Franciscan calendar as it commemorates Saint Francis’s transition from this life to the afterlife.  For two days Assisi is illuminated by lamps burning consecrated oil. Special services are held in the Basilica Papale di San Francesco and the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli.  The feast day is also celebrated in other churches all over the world and children are encouraged to bring their pets to be blessed in memory of Saint Francis’s love for animals.  Saint Francis was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone in about 1181 in Assisi but he was informally known as Francesco by his family.  A theory is that his father, Pietro di Bernardone, a prosperous silk merchant, decided to call his new son Francesco - the Frenchman - because he had been on business in France at the time of the birth.  His wife, Pica de Bourlemont, was a noblewoman from Provence, although it was she who chose the name Giovanni.  Read more…

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Francesco Solimena - painter

Neapolitan artist who influenced a generation

Francesco Solimena, a prolific painter in the Baroque style who became one of the wealthiest and most influential artists in Europe, was born on this day in 1657 in Canale di Sereno, a village in Campania about 14km (9 miles) southeast of Avellino.  He spent most of his working life in Naples yet his fame spread far beyond and his work was in such demand among his wealthy patrons, including Prince Eugene of Savoy, Louis XIV of France and Pope Benedict XIII, that he acquired a considerable fortune, was given the title of baron and lived in a palace.  His workshop became effectively an academy, at the heart of the Naples cultural scene. Among many who trained there were the leading painters Francesco de Mura, Giuseppe Bonito, Corrado Giaquinto and Sebastiano Conca.  The Scottish portraitist Allan Ramsay was a pupil in his studio in around 1737-38.  Solimena’s own training came initially from his father, Angelo, a revered painter of frescoes, with whom he worked at the cathedral of Nocera in the province of Salerno, and at the church of San Domenico at Solofra, not far from his home village.  He often worked in Nocera later in life.  Read more…

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The Gregorian Calendar

Why a 16th century Pope decreed that 10 days would not happen

The Gregorian Calendar, which is used today by every country in the world with just four exceptions, was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII on this day in 1582.  The calendar replaced the Julian calendar, which had been implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 BC but which was based on a miscalculation of the length of the solar year and had gradually fallen out of sync with the seasons.  The Catholic Church wanted to make the change because the actual spring equinox - one of the two days in each year when the sun appears directly above the equator - was drifting further away from the ecclesiastical date of the equinox, which in turn determines the date of Easter.  In Christian tradition, Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus three days after his crucifixion, which historical evidence suggests occurred around the time of the spring equinox, nominally dated as March 21.  The miscalculation in the Julian calendar seems tiny, an assumption that the average solar year was exactly 365.25 days when the reality is 365.2422 days. Yet even after the inclusion of the supposedly corrective leap year every four years, the error meant that over the 1,628 years of the calendar’s use, the gap between the actual equinox and the date of the equinox in the ecclesiastical year had grown to 12.7 days.  Read more…

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Bernardino Ramazzini - physician

Pioneer in knowledge of occupational diseases, cancer and malaria

The physician Bernardino Ramazzini, often described as the “father of occupational medicine” and responsible also for pioneering work in the study of cancer and the treatment of malaria, was born in Carpi in Emilia-Romagna on this day in 1633.  Ramazzini’s tour de force, which he completed at the age of 67, was his book De Morbis Artificum Diatriba - Discourse of the Diseases of Workers - which came to be regarded as a seminal work in his field, the lessons from which still influence practice today in the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases.  A student at the University of Parma, Ramazzini was appointed chair of theory of medicine at the University of Modena in 1682 and professor of medicine at the University of Padua from 1700 until his death in 1714.  It was while he was in Parma that he began to take an interest in diseases suffered by workers.  When he became a departmental head at Modena, he began to study the health problems of workers in a more systematic way.  He would visit their workplaces, observe the activities they undertook in their work and discuss their health problems with them.  Read more…

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Ignazio Boschetto - tenor

Talented singer is known for being the funny guy in Il Volo

Ignazio Boschetto, a singer in the award-winning pop and opera trio Il Volo, was born on this day in 1994 in Bologna in the region of Emilia-Romagna.  His Sicilian parents, Vito Boschetto and Caterina Licari, took him back to live in Sicily and he grew up in Marsala in the province of Trapani in the most western part of Sicily.  He has said in interviews that from being about three years old he used to sing operatic arias alone in his room, such as La donna e mobile from Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi, much to the surprise of his parents.  Ignazio could be classed as a lyric tenor, considering the timbre of his voice, which is warm and soft, but strong enough to sing over an orchestra. A complete artist, Ignazio also plays the piano, guitar and drums.  When he was 12 he started to take part in festivals and competitions and in December 2007 he reached the finals of the Premio Nave Punica, winning third place among competitors of all ages.  The following year he won the 11th Festival della Canzone di Custonaci singing Il mare calmo della sera. In December, when he had turned 13, he won the third edition of the Premio Nave Punica.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Sublime Ideas: Drawings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, by John Marciari

This beautiful publication accompanied an exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum of the work of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778). It is the most important study of Piranesi’s drawings to appear in more than a generation. In a letter written near the end of his life, Giovanni Battista Piranesi explained to his sister that he had lived away from his native Venice because he could find no patrons there willing to support “the sublimity of my ideas.” He resided instead in Rome, where he became internationally famous working as a printmaker, designer, architect, archaeologist, theorist, dealer, and polemicist. While Piranesi’s lasting fame is based above all on his etchings, he was also an intense, accomplished, and versatile draftsman, and much of his work was first developed in vigorous drawings.  The Morgan Library & Museum holds what is arguably the largest and most important collection of these works, more than 100 drawings that include early architectural caprices, studies for prints, measured design drawings, sketches for a range of decorative objects, a variety of figural drawings, and views of Rome and Pompeii. These works form the core of the book. More than merely an exhibition catalogue or a study of the Morgan’s Piranesi holdings, however, Sublime Ideas is a monograph that offers a complete survey of Piranesi’s work as a draftsman.  The most comprehensive study of Piranesi’s drawings to appear in more than a generation, the book includes more than 200 illustrations. 

John Marciari is the Charles W Engelhard Curator of Drawings and Prints and Curatorial Chair at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York City.

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