6 December

NEW - Saint Nicholas of Bari

The secret gift maker who has become known as Santa Claus

The feast of Saint Nicholas is held throughout the world every year on this day and is marked particularly in the city of Bari on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Puglia.  Saint Nicholas, who is believed to have died on this day in 343, is always remembered in Bari, because some of his remains are held in the Basilica of San Nicola, which has become an important pilgrimage site.  An early Christian bishop of Greek descent, Nicholas was born in Patara in Anatolia, which was then part of the Roman Empire, in about 270.  Because of the many miracles attributed to him, Nicholas is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He has become the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, toymakers, brewers, and pawnbrokers.  His legendary habit of secretly making gifts also gave rise to the folklore about the character of Santa Claus.  In one of the earliest escapades attributed to Saint Nicholas, he is said to have rescued three young girls who were going to be forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house so that their father could afford to pay a dowry for them. Read more...

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Baldassare Castiglione – courtier and diplomat

Writer left a definitive account of life at court in Renaissance Italy

Baldassare Castiglione, the author of the Italian classic, The Book of the Courtier, was born on this day in 1478 near Mantua in Lombardy.  His book about etiquette at court and the ideal of the Renaissance gentleman has been widely read over the years and was even a source of material for Shakespeare after it was translated into English.  Castiglione was born into a noble household and was related on his mother’s side to the powerful Gonzaga family of Mantua. After studying in Milan he succeeded his father as head of the family and was soon representing the Gonzaga family diplomatically.  As a result he met Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, and later took up residence in his court, which was regarded as the most refined and elegant in Italy at the time and received many distinguished guests.  The court was presided over by the Duke’s wife, Elisabetta Gonzaga, who impressed Castiglione so much that he wrote platonic sonnets and songs for her.  During this time he also became a friend of the painter, Raphael, who painted a portrait of him.  Castiglione later took part in an expedition against Venice organised by Pope Julius II during the Italian wars.  Read more…

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Piero Piccioni – film music composer and lawyer

Politician’s son gave up legal practice to write movie scores

Pianist, conductor and prolific composer Piero Piccioni was born on this day in 1921 in Turin in the northern region of Piedmont.  A self-taught musician, Piccioni became  a composer of film soundtracks, writing more than 300 scores, themes and songs for top directors such as Francesco Rosi, Luchino Visconti, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Rossellini and Vittoria De Sica.  Piccioni had come into contact with the film industry during the 1950s while practising as a lawyer in Rome and working to secure movie rights for Italian distributors such as Titanus and  De Laurentiis.  His interest in music had started as a result of being taken to concerts by his father, Attillio Piccioni, who was a prominent Christian Democrat politician.  Although Piccioni never studied music formally, he became a talented musician by teaching himself. He had listened to jazz during his childhood  and was a fan of Art Tatum and Charlie Parker. He was also influenced by 20th century classical composers and American cinematography and he started writing songs of his own.  Read more…

Luigi Lablache – opera star

19th century giant was Queen Victoria’s singing coach

The singer Luigi Lablache, whose powerful but agile bass-baritone voice and wide-ranging acting skills made him a superstar of 19th century opera, was born in Naples on this day in 1794.  Lablache was considered one of the greatest singers of his generation; for his interpretation of characters such as Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Geronimo in Domenico Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto, Gottardo the Podestà in Gioachino Rossini’s La gazza ladra, Henry VIII in Gaetano Donizetti’s Anna Bolena and Oroveso in Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma he had few peers.  Donizetti created the role of Don Pasquale in his comic opera of the same name specifically for Lablache.  Lablache performed in all of Italy’s major opera houses and was a star too in Vienna, London, St Petersburg and Paris, which he adopted as his home in later life, having acquired a beautiful country house at Maisons-Laffitte, just outside the French capital.  He was approached to give singing lessons to the future Queen Victoria a year before she inherited the English throne, in 1836.  He found the future queen to have a clear soprano voice and a keen interest in music and opera and they developed a close bond.   Read more…

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Niccolò Zucchi – astronomer

Jesuit's invention gave him a clear view of the planets

Niccolò Zucchi, who designed one of the earliest reflecting telescopes, was born on this day in 1586 in Parma.  His invention enabled him to be the first to discover the belts on the planet Jupiter and to examine the spots on the planet Mars. This was before the telescopes designed by James Gregory and Sir Isaac Newton, which, it has been claimed, were inspired by Zucchi’s book, Optica philosophia.  Zucchi studied rhetoric in Piacenza and philosophy and theology in Parma before entering the Jesuit order in Padua at the age of 16.  He taught mathematics, rhetoric and theology at the Collegio Romano in Rome and was then appointed rector of a new Jesuit college in Ravenna. He then served as apostolic preacher (the preacher to the Papal household) for about seven years.  Zucchi published several books about mechanics, magnetism, barometers and astronomy.  When he was sent with other papal officials to the court of Ferdinand II, he met the German mathematician and astronomer, Johannes Kepler, who encouraged his interest in studying the planets. They carried on writing to each other after Zucchi returned to Rome.  Read more…

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Andrea Agnelli - businessman

Fourth member of famous dynasty to run Juventus

The businessman Andrea Agnelli, who from 2010 until 2022 was chairman and president of Italy’s leading football club, Juventus, was born on this day in 1975 in Turin.  He was the fourth Agnelli to take the helm of the famous club since 1923, when his grandfather, Edoardo, took over as president and presided over the club’s run of five consecutive Serie A titles in the 1930s.  Andrea’s father, Umberto, and his uncle, the flamboyant entrepreneur Gianni Agnelli, also had spells running the club, which has been controlled by the Agnelli family for 88 years, with the exception of a four-year period between 1943 and 1947. The family still owns 64 per cent of the club.  As well as being chief operating officer of Fiat, which was founded by Andrea’s great-grandfather, Giovanni, Umberto was a Senator of the Italian Republic.  On his mother’s side, Andrea has noble blood.  Donna Allegra Caracciolo di Castagneto is the first cousin of Marella Agnelli - Gianni’s widow - who was born Donna Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto and is the daughter of Filippo Caracciolo, 8th Prince di Castagneto, 3rd Duke di Melito, and a hereditary Patrician of Naples.  Andrea had a private education at St Clare's, an independent college in Oxford, England, and at Bocconi University in Milan.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The True Saint Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas, by William J Bennett

Former secretary of education and New York Times bestselling author William Bennett blends his historical expertise with his gift for storytelling into a heartwarming book about the man who ultimately became known as Santa Claus.  Bennett brings the legendary Saint Nicholas to life in this fascinating and faith-affirming book that will change the way you think about Santa Claus and the meaning of Christmas. Bennett reflects on Saint Nicholas's storied life, which has spanned 17 centuries across Europe, Asia, and Africa, and reveals an inspiring tale of devotion to God and an example of eternal goodness.  The True Saint Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas focuses on three aspects of Saint Nicholas - historical facts from his life, his legacy in the centuries following his death, and the legendary status that transformed his likeness into the present-day jolly, toy-bearing Santa Claus. The book vividly captures the heart and life of someone who lived long ago, yet whose life remains an inspiration for everyone to aspire to a higher order of generosity, giving, and devotion to others.

Dr William J Bennett is one of America's most influential and respected voices on cultural, political, and educational issues. He is Washington Fellow of the American Strategy Group and author and editor of more than 25 books. Dr Bennett was secretary of education and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities under President Ronald Reagan and director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George H W Bush.

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Saint Nicholas of Bari

The secret gift maker who has become known as Santa Claus

A statue of Saint Nicholas
stands outside the Basilica

The feast of Saint Nicholas is held throughout the world every year on this day and is marked particularly in the city of Bari on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Puglia.

Saint Nicholas, who is believed to have died on 6 December, 343, is always remembered in Bari, because some of his remains are held in the Basilica of San Nicola, which has become an important pilgrimage site.

An early Christian bishop of Greek descent, Nicholas was born in Patara in Anatolia, which was then part of the Roman Empire, in about 270.

Because of the many miracles attributed to him, Nicholas is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He has become the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, toymakers, brewers, and pawnbrokers.

His legendary habit of secretly making gifts also gave rise to the folklore about the character of Santa Claus.

In one of the earliest escapades attributed to Saint Nicholas, he is said to have rescued three young girls who were going to be forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house under the cover of darkness so that their father could afford to pay a dowry for them.

Other stories tell of him calming a storm at sea, chopping down a tree that was said to be possessed by a demon, and saving three innocent soldiers from wrongful execution.

Nicholas became Bishop of Myra, in present day Turkey, which was then part of the Roman Empire, but he was thrown into prison during the persecution of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He was released after the accession of Constantine, who was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity.

After his death, Saint Nicholas Church was built in Myra on the orders of the Roman Emperor Theodosius II, over the site of the church where Nicholas had served as bishop. His remains were then moved to a sarcophagus in the church.

Gentile da Fabriano's 1425 painting 
The Dowry of the Three Virgins

In 1087, when the Greek Christian inhabitants of the area were subjected to Moslem rule by Turkish invaders, a group of merchants from Bari removed the major bones from Nicholas’s skeleton without any authorisation. They took them home with them and they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola in the city.

The remaining bone fragments were later removed from Myra by Venetian sailors and taken back to Venice with them.

The earliest mentions of Saint Nicholas by chroniclers indicate that he already had an established following by the sixth century. The historian Procopius mentions the renovation of churches dedicated to him in Constantinople on the orders of the Emperor Justinian I.

Another saint, Nicholas of Sion, appears to have taken his name to honour him. Saint Nicholas of Sion is recorded as having visited his tomb to pay homage to him, in an account written 250 years after the death of the original Saint Nicholas.

In 2017, a portion of the bones of Saint Nicholas were sent on loan to Russia following an agreement made by Moscow with Pope Francis. More than one million people are recorded as having lined up in Moscow for a momentary glimpse of a gilded ark holding one of the saint’s ribs.

Santa Claus, or Father Christmas, became a popular figure in America during the 19th century, because of Dutch immigrants bringing the tradition of Sinterklaas, Saint Nicholas, with them in the 17th century when they arrived in New Amsterdam, which later became New York City.

The Basilica di San Nicola dates back to the 11th
century, when it was consecrated by Pope Urban II

Travel tip:

The remains of Saint Nicholas are said to produce myrrh - a resin historically used to make medicines, perfume and incense - and vials of myrrh can still be obtained from the Basilica di San Nicola where they are kept in Bari. Every year on his feast day on 6 December, a flask is extracted from his tomb by the clergy of the basilica. The liquid is said to seep out of the tomb gradually, but it is not known whether the myrrh emanates from the sarcophagus itself, or from the marble of the tomb, which is kept below sea level. There have also been several natural explanations put forward for the phenomenon. The Basilica di San Nicola was built between 1087 and 1197, during the Italo-Norman domination of Apulia.  Pope Urban II was present at the consecration of the crypt in 1089. The Basilica houses one of the most noteworthy Romanesque sculptural works of southern Italy, a cathedra - bishop's throne - finished in the late 11th century for Elias.

The Basilica of San Nicolò al Lido in
Venice also houses relics of the saint

Travel tip: 

In 1044, Venice, which had obtained fragments of Saint Nicholas’s bones, dedicated the San Nicolò al Lido monastery basilica to him on the north end of the Lido di Venezia. Modern scientific analysis has shown that the fragments in Venice belonged to the same person as the fragments being conserved in Bari, which seems to corroborate the stories of how the bones arrived in the two Italian cities. San Nicolò al Lido refers to both the San Nicolò Church and most importantly to its annexed Monastery of San Nicolò. They have been dated back to the origins of Venice in the early Middle Ages, when they were said to have been founded by the wealthy Zancaruol family.  The church houses a Madonna with Child by Palma il Vecchio and Palma il Giovane's San Giovannino.

Also on this day:

1478: The birth of courtier and diplomat Baldassare Castiglione 

1586: The birth of astronomer Niccolò Zucchi 

1794: The birth of opera singer Luigi Lablache

1921: The birth of film music composer Piero Piccioni

1975: The birth of businessman Andrea Agnelli

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5 December

Pope Julius II

Patron of the arts who commissioned Michelangelo's greatest works

Giuliano della Rovere, who was to become Pope Julius II, was born on this day in 1443 at Albisola near Genoa.  He is remembered for granting a dispensation to Henry VIII of England to allow him to marry Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his older brother, Arthur, and for commissioning Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.  Giuliano was born into an ecclesiastical family. His uncle, Franceso della Rovere, later became Pope Sixtus IV and it was the future pope Francesco who arranged for his nephew to be educated at a Franciscan friary in Perugia. Giuliano became a bishop in 1471 and then a cardinal before being himself elected Pope in 1503.  Giuliano was Pope for nine years until he died of fever in 1513. When Henry VIII later asked for his marriage to Catherine of Aragon to be annulled so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, he claimed that Pope Julius II should never have issued the dispensation to allow him to marry his sister in law. But the Pope at the time, Clement VII, refused to annul the marriage so Henry VIII divorced the Catholic Church instead, leading to the English Reformation.  Read more…

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Armando Diaz - First World War general

Neapolitan commander led decisive victory over Austria

Armando Diaz, the general who masterminded Italy's victory over Austrian forces at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in 1918, was born on this day in 1861 in Naples.  The battle, which ended the First World War on the Italian front, also precipitated the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ending more than 200 years of Austrian control of substantial parts of Italy.  The general's announcement of the total defeat of the Austrian Army at Vittorio Veneto sparked one of the greatest moments of celebration in the history of Italy, with some Italians seeing it as the final culmination of the Risorgimento movement and the unification of Italy.  Diaz was born to a Neapolitan father of Spanish heritage and an Italian mother. He decided to pursue his ambitions of a military career despite the preference for soldiers of Piedmontese background in the newly-formed Royal Italian Army.  After attending military colleges in Naples and Turin, Diaz served with distinction in the Italo-Turkish War.  Read more…

Francesco Gemianini - composer and violinist

Tuscan played alongside Handel in court of George I

The violinist, composer and music theorist Francesco Saverio Geminiani, who worked alongside George Frideric Handel in the English royal court in the early 18th century and became closely associated with the music of the Italian Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli, was baptised on this day in 1687 in Lucca, Tuscany.  Although he composed many works and at his peak was renowned as a virtuoso violinist, he is regarded as a significant figure in the history of music more for his writings, in particular his 1751 treatise Art of Playing on the Violin, which explained the 18th-century Italian method of violin playing and is still acknowledged as an invaluable source for the study of performance practice in the late Baroque period.  Geminiani himself was taught to play the violin by his father, and after showing considerable talent at an early age he went to study the violin under Carlo Ambrogio Lonati in Milan, later moving to Rome to be tutored by the aforementioned Corelli.  Returning to Lucca, he played the violin in the orchestra at the Cappella Palatina for three years, after which he moved to Naples to take up a position as Leader of the Opera Orchestra and concertmaster.  Read more…

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Maria De Filippi - television presenter

One of the most popular faces on Italian TV

The television presenter Maria De Filippi, who has hosted numerous talk and talent shows in a career spanning almost 30 years, was born on this day in 1961 in Milan.  De Filippi is best known as the presenter of the long-running talent show Amici de Maria De Filippi, which launched in 2001.  The show’s predecessor, called simply Amici, was hosted by De Filippi from 1993 onwards.  One of the most popular faces on Italian television, De Filippi was married in 1995 to the talk show host and journalist Maurizio Costanzo, who died in February, 2023.  The daughter of a drugs company representative and a Greek teacher, De Filippi was born in Milan before moving at age 10 to Mornico Losana, a village in the province of Pavia, where her parents owned a vineyard.  A graduate in law, she had ambitions of a career as a magistrate but in 1989, while she was working in the legal department of a video cassette company, she had a chance meeting with Costanzo at a conference in Venice to discuss ways of combating musical piracy.  Costanzo soon invited her to move to Rome to work for his communication and image company.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Michelangelo And The Pope's Ceiling, by Ross King

In 1508, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The 33-year-old Michelangelo had very little experience of the physically and technically taxing art of fresco; and, at 12,000 square feet, the ceiling represented one of the largest such projects ever attempted. Nevertheless, for the next four years he and a hand-picked team of assistants laboured over the vast ceiling, making thousands of drawings and spending back-breaking hours on a scaffold 50 feet above the floor. The result was one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. Michelangelo And The Pope's Ceiling tells the story of those four extraordinary years and paints a magnificent picture of day-to-day life on the Sistine scaffolding - and outside, in the upheaval of early 16th-century Rome.

Ross King is the Canada-born author of the bestselling Brunelleschi's Dome as well as the novels Ex-Libris and Domino. A post-doctoral research fellow at University College London, he lives in England, near Oxford.

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4 December

Pope Adrian IV

The warlike conduct of England’s one and only pontiff

The only Englishman to have ever sat on the papal throne, Nicholas Breakspear, became Pope on this day in 1154 in Rome.  Breakspear, who was from Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire, had previously been created Cardinal Bishop of Albano by Pope Eugene III.  After his election as Pope, Breakspear took the name of Adrian IV (also known as Hadrian IV) and immediately set about dealing with the anti-papal faction in Rome.  After Frederick Barbarossa, Duke of Swabia, caught and hanged the leader of the faction, a man known as Arnold of Brescia, Adrian crowned Frederick as Holy Roman Emperor in 1155 to reward him.  He then formed an alliance with the Byzantine Emperor, Manuel Comnenus, against the Normans in Sicily.  Adrian raised mercenary troops in Campania to fight alongside the Byzantine forces and the alliance was immediately successful, with many cities giving in, either because of the threat of force or the promise of gold.  But the Normans launched a counter attack by land and sea and many of the mercenaries deserted leaving the Byzantine troops outnumbered and forced to return home.  Read more…

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Gae Aulenti – architect

Designer who made mark in Italy and abroad

The architect Gae Aulenti, who blazed a trail for women in the design world in post-War Italy and went on to enjoy a career lasting more than half a century, was born on this day in 1927 in Palazzolo dello Stella, a small town midway between Venice and Trieste.  In a broad and varied career, among a long list of clients Aulenti designed showrooms for Fiat and Olivetti, furniture for Zanotta, department stores for La Rinascente, a railway station in Milan, stage sets for theatre and opera director Luca Ronconi and villas for wealthy private clients.  She lectured at the Venice and Milan Schools of Architecture and was on the editorial staff of the design magazine, Casabella.  Yet she is best remembered for her part in transforming redundant buildings facing possible demolition into museums and galleries, her most memorable project being the interior of the Beaux Arts-style Gare d'Orsay railway station in Paris, where she turned the cavernous central hall, a magnificent shed lit by arching rooflights, into a minimalist exhibition space for impressionist art.  Aulenti also created galleries at the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Palau Nacional in Barcelona.  Read more…

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Costantino Rocca - golfer

Italian whose success inspired Open champion

Costantino Rocca, who until recently was the most successful Italian in the history of international golf, was born on this day in 1956 in Almenno San Bartolomeo, near Bergamo in northern Italy.  Rocca, who turned professional at the age of 24 in 1981, enjoyed his best years in the mid-1990s, peaking with second place in the Open Championship at St Andrews in 1995.  He was beaten by the American John Daly in a four-hole play-off but was perhaps as popular a runner-up as there has been in the history of the tournament after the incredible putt he sank on the final green to deny Daly victory inside the regulation 72 holes.  Needing a birdie to be level with Daly at the top of the leaderboard after the American finished six under par, Rocca appeared to have blown his chance when his poorly executed second shot - a chipped approach that was meant to leave him in easy putting distance of the hole - did not even make it safely on to the green, coming to rest in an area known colloquially as ‘the Valley of Sin’.  It left him 65ft - almost 20m - short of the hole, needing somehow to hole a putt that had first to go uphill and then break sharply to the right.  Read more…

Luigi Galvani - physicist and biologist

Scientist who seemed to give dead frog new life

Luigi Galvani, the first scientist to discover bioelectricity, died on this day in 1798 in Bologna.  Galvani discovered that the muscles in the leg of a dead frog twitched when struck by an electrical spark. This was the beginning of bioelectricity, the study of the electrical patterns and signals of the nervous system.  The word ‘galvanise’, to stimulate by electricity, or rouse by shock and excitement, comes from the surname of the scientist.  Galvani studied medicine at Bologna University and, after graduating in 1759, became an honorary lecturer of surgery and then subsequently of theoretical anatomy.  He became the first scientist to appreciate the relationship between electricity and animation when he was dissecting a frog one day. His assistant touched an exposed nerve in the leg of the frog with a metal scalpel that had picked up an electrical charge. They both saw sparks and the frog’s leg kicked. The phenomenon was dubbed ‘galvanism’.  In 1797 Galvani refused to swear loyalty to the French, who were then occupying northern Italy, and lost his academic position at the university and also his income.  Read more…

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Saint Giovanni Calabria

Priest offered himself to God to save a Pope

Giovanni Calabria, who dedicated his life to helping the poor and the sick, died on this day in 1954 in Verona.  Roman Catholics throughout the world will celebrate his feast day today as a result of his canonisation by Pope John Paul II in 1999.  When Pope Pius XII became ill in 1954, Calabria offered himself to God to die in the place of the Pope. Pius XII began to get better and went on to live for another four years, but Calabria died the next day. After the Pope recovered he sent a telegram of condolence to Calabria’s congregation.  Giovanni Calabria was born in 1873 in Verona. He was the youngest of the seven sons of Luigi Calabria, a cobbler, and Angela Foschio, a maid servant.  Calabria was only a young child when his father died but he had to drop out of school to become an apprentice.  However, a rector at his local church saw his potential and gave him private tuition to prepare him for an exam that would determine whether he could begin studying for the priesthood.  But first Calabria had to serve in the army where he converted his fellow soldiers and was renowned for the strength of his faith. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Breakspear: The English Pope Who Went to War, by R A J Waddingham

In more than 2,000 years of Christianity, there has been only one pope from England: Nicholas Breakspear.  Breakspear was elected pope in 1154, but his story started long before that. The son of a local churchman near St Albans, he would battle his way across Europe to defend and develop Christianity, facing turmoil in Scandinavia and the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula. But it was after he took the Throne of St Peter as Adrian IV that he would face his greatest threat: Frederick Barbarossa, who was determined to restore the Holy Roman Empire to its former greatness.  In Breakspear: The English Pope Who Went to War - described by the Times Literary Supplement as ‘a highly lucid and readable account’ - R A J Waddingham opens the archives to tell the story of a man who rose from humble beginnings to glorious power – and yet has been all but forgotten ever since.

R A J Waddingham is a retired consulting actuary and an Honorary Fellow of Royal Holloway, University of London.

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