Battle of Rivoli

Napoleon defeats the Austrians and boosts his reputation

Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux's painting of
Napoleon (mounted, centre) at the Battle of Rivoli

Napoleon won an important victory on Italian soil on this day in 1797 when, despite his troops being outnumbered, they defeated an attacking Austrian army. He triumphed in the Battle of Rivoli near the village of Rivoli Veronese, in what was then part of the Republic of Venice.

Austrian soldiers were attempting to move south to relieve a garrison of their men who were under siege from the French in Mantua. But their defeat at the Battle of Rivoli led to them having to surrender Mantua to their enemy a few weeks later. 

Napoleon’s victory in the Battle of Rivoli effectively consolidated the position of the French in northern Italy and enhanced his reputation as a capable military commander.

Under the command of General Jozsef Alvinczi, the Austrian troops had planned to overwhelm the French soldiers serving under General Barthelemy Joubert when they encountered them in the mountains to the east of Lake Garda.

They deployed 28,000 men in five columns against the French to gain access to the open country north of Mantua, planning to march to the city and complete their mission.

Eduoard Detaille's painting of Napoleon as he
looks over captured Austrian troops 

However, General Joubert managed to hold them off until he was joined by reinforcements, and, subsequently, by Napoleon himself. The French formed a defensive line on ground just north of Rivoli.

Alvinczi united three columns of Austrian troops near the comune of Caprino Veronese while other Austrian troops were advancing to the north of Monte Baldo and progressing along the roads to either side of the River Adige.

The French were forced out of the village of Osteria and on to the Rivoli plateau and the situation began to look dangerous for them, with the Austrian troops preventing Napoleon’s men from retreating.

However, Napoleon turned his attention to the Austrian troops on either side of the river. The French soldiers poured canister shot at point blank range on the advancing Austrians and as a result the troops on horseback broke ranks and stampeded through their own infantry, causing chaos. 

Other French soldiers assaulted the Austrians from the front and a group of 26 French mounted soldiers charged straight into them, resulting in an Austrian battalion and five flags being captured. 

By midday, French cavalry commanded by Joachim Murat had reached the area and were also able to charge against the Austrians, driving them back to the position they had occupied earlier in the day. The Austrian troops were then ordered by their commanders to move back still further out of artillery range.

Joachim Murat led his men
in a decisive charge

The French lost 3,200 men and had 1,000 captured during the battle, while the Austrians lost 4,000 and had 8,000 captured.

When the Austrians finally surrendered the city of Mantua, their soldiers were allowed to go home by the French, after they swore an oath not to serve against them for a year.

Napoleon, accompanied by 8,000 of his men, went to Rome to try to reach a settlement with the Papal States. With the Austrians finally driven out of Italy, Pope Pius VI agreed to an armistice dictated by Napoleon.

But the Austrians still refused to negotiate peace with the French. 

Therefore, Napoleon embarked on another military campaign that was to take him all the way to the city of Vienna.

A street in Paris was later named Rue de Rivoli to commemorate the French victory on 14 January 1797 at the Battle of Rivoli.

A view over the village of Rivoli Veronese and
the surrounding countryside

Travel tip:

Rivoli Veronese is a comune in the province of Verona in the Veneto, situated on hills overlooking the right bank of the River Adige. Throughout history the area around Rivoli has always been seen as difficult territory by armies and another important battle was fought there in 1848 during the first Italian War of Independence between Austrian and Piedmontese troops. With lakes on one side and mountains on the other, the scenery is spectacular and Rivoli is visited by travellers staying in Lake Garda. Napoleon had a commemorative monument built on the site of the battlefield, an 80-foot high column that was torn down by the Austrians in 1814. Today, a few ruins are the only legacy of the column but there is a commemorative plaque that says in French: ‘The soldiers of the French army in Italy 1918, and dedicated to their glorious forebears of 1797.’ On Rivoli's main street, a small museum has a few items from the battle in a collection that aims to demonstrate the influence of Napoleon on the history of Italy. 

The facade of the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua,
the former seat of the Gonzaga family

Travel tip:

The historic city of Mantua, which was the ultimate destination for the Austrian troops, lies in Lombardy, to the south east of Milan. In the Renaissance heart of the city is Piazza Mantegna, where the 15th century Basilica di Sant’Andrea houses the tomb of the artist, Andrea Mantegna. The church was originally built to accommodate the large number of pilgrims who came to Mantua to see a precious relic, an ampoule containing what were believed to be drops of Christ’s blood mixed with earth, which it was claimed had been collected at the site of his crucifixion by a Roman soldier. Mantua is also famous for its Renaissance Palazzo Ducale, the seat of the Gonzaga family between 1328 and 1707. The Camera degli Sposi in the palace is decorated with frescoes by Andrea Mantegna, depicting the life of Eleonora’s ancestor, Ludovico Gonzaga, and his family in the 15th century. The beautiful backgrounds of imaginary cities and ruins reflect Mantegna’s love of classical architecture. 

Also on this day:

1451: The birth of composer Franchino Gaffurio

1507: The birth of painter Luca Longhi

1552: The birth of lawyer Alberico Gentili

1883: The birth of fashion designer Nina Ricci

1919: The birth of politician Giulio Andreotti

1925: The birth of Ellesse founder Leonardo Servadio

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13 January

Renato Bruson – operatic baritone

Donizetti and Verdi specialist rated among greats

The opera singer Renato Bruson, whose interpretation of Giuseppe Verdi’s baritone roles sometimes brought comparison with such redoubtable performers as Tito Gobbi, Ettore Bastianini and Piero Cappuccili, was born on this day in 1936 in the village of Granze, near Padua.  Bruson’s velvety voice and noble stage presence sustained him over a career of remarkable longevity. He was still performing in 2011 at the age of 75, having made his debut more than half a century earlier.  Since then he has devoted himself more to teaching masterclasses, although he did manage one more performance of Verdi’s Falstaff, which was among his most famous roles, at the age of 77 in 2013, having been invited to the Teatro Verdi in Busseto, the composer’s home town in Emilia-Romagna, as part of a celebration marking 200 years since Verdi’s birth.  In later life, he continued to work as director of the Accademia Lirica at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, a role he combined with a professorship at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena and a post at the lyrical academy in Spoleto.  It was at the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale in Spoleto, the ancient city in Umbria, that Bruson made his stage debut.  Read more…

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Veronica De Laurentiis - actress and author

Turned personal torment into bestselling book

The actress and author Veronica De Laurentiis, the daughter of legendary film producer Dino De Laurentiis and actress Silvana Mangano, was born on this day in 1950 in Rome.  Although she still works in film and TV, she is best known as a campaigner against domestic violence and the author of the bestselling book Rivoglio la mia vita (I Want My Life Back), which revealed details of the attacks she was subjected to in her first marriage. Her then-husband was subsequently jailed for 14 years.  Veronica De Laurentiis was cast in the blockbuster movie Waterloo - produced by her father - when she was just 18, alongside the great actors Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer.  She married young, and after the birth of her first child, Giada - now well known as a TV cook in the United States - decided to suspend her acting career in order to focus on parenthood.  With her husband, she lived in Italy until after the birth of her third child, at which point they moved to America, living first in Florida, then New York and finally in Los Angeles.  They divorced four years after the birth of their fourth child, after which Veronica sustained herself by setting up a fashion design studio in Los Angeles.  Read more…

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Marco Pantani - tragic cycling champion

Rider from Cesenatico won historic 'double'

Marco Pantani, who until Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar achieved the feat in 2024 was the last rider to have won cycling's Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year, was born on this day in 1970.  Recognised as one of the sport's greatest hill climbers, Pantani completed the historic 'double' in 1998 and remains one of only seven riders to achieve the feat.  A single-mindedly fierce competitor, Pantani had won the amateur version of the Giro - the Girobio - in 1992, after which he turned professional.  Winner of the Young Rider classification at the Tour de France in 1994 and 1995, he might have enjoyed still greater success.  But Pantani's career was blighted by physical injuries and later by scandal after he was disqualified from the 1999 Giro d'Italia just two days from the finish - and with a clear lead - after a blood test revealed irregular results. He died tragically young in 2004.  Growing up, Pantani's home town was the port of Cesenatico, on the Adriatic Coast, about 30 minutes' drive away from Cesena, in Emilia-Romagna.  His mother worked as a chambermaid in hotels in Cesenatico and in neighbouring Bellaria, while his father, Paolo, was an engineer.  Read more…

Costa Concordia tragedy

Shipwreck off Tuscany coast cost 32 lives

A fatal accident involving the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia took place on this day in 2012, resulting in the loss of 32 lives.  The captain, Francesco Schettino, was ultimately prosecuted and found guilty of manslaughter, receiving a 16-year jail sentence.  The tragedy began to unfold at 9.45pm as the €450 million vessel, carrying 3,206 passengers and 1,023 crew, struck rocks close to Isola del Giglio, off the coast of southern Tuscany.  The Costa Concordia, at 290m long Italy’s largest cruise ship when launched in 2005, was en route from the Tyrrhenian port of Civitavecchia to Savona in Liguria on the first leg of a seven-day Mediterranean cruise.  Its course along the Italian coastline involved passing between Isola del Giglio, an island of 23.80 sq km (9.19 sq mi), and the promontory of Monte Argentario, some 16km (10 miles) to the east, but well away from the coastline of each.  On the night of 13 January, 2012, however, the Costa Concordia deviated considerably from its normal course after Schettino ordered the ship to be steered close to Isola del Giglio in a manoeuvre known as a maritime “salute” to the island’s 1,400 residents, sounding the ship’s horns as it brushed the shore.  Read more…

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Prince Emanuele Filiberto – Duke of Aosta

Savoy prince who became a brilliant soldier

Prince Emanuele Filiberto, who became the second Duca d'Aosta - Duke of Aosta - was born on this day in 1869 in Genoa.  The Prince successfully commanded the Italian Third Army during World War I, earning himself the title of the ‘Undefeated Duke.’ After the war he became a Marshall of Italy.  Emanuele Filiberto was the eldest son of Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duca d'Aosta, and his first wife, Donna Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo della Cisterna, an Italian noblewoman.  In 1870 Prince Amedeo was elected to become King of Spain but he resigned after three years on the throne and returned to Italy, declaring Spain ‘ungovernable’. In 1890 Emanuele Filiberto succeeded his father to the title of Duca d'Aosta.  The Duke began his army career in Naples in 1905 as a Commander. His record while in command of the Italian Third Army led to his troops being nicknamed ‘armata invitta’ - undefeated army - despite some of the heavy losses suffered by Italian troops under other commanders during World War I.  After the war, in 1926, he was promoted to the rank of Marshal of Italy by Benito Mussolini in recognition of his long and successful service to his country.  Read more…

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Carlo Tagliabue – opera singer

Powerful performer remembered for his Don Carlo

A leading Italian baritone in the middle of the 20th century, Carlo Tagliabue was born on this day in 1898 in Mariano Comense near Como in Lombardy.  He particularly excelled in Verdi roles at the height of his career and continued to perform on stage and make recordings when he was well into his fifties.  After studying in Milan, Tagliabue made his debut on stage at a theatre in Lodi in 1922 singing Amonasro, King of Ethiopia, in Aida.  He went on to sing in Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, when it was performed in Italian at theatres in Genoa, Turin , Milan , Rome and Naples. He later became known for his performances in Giuseppe Verdi operas, particularly La forza del destino, Rigoletto, La traviata, Nabucco and Otello and he was consistently praised for the power of his voice.  Tagliabue is also remembered for creating the role of Basilio in the world premiere of Ottorino Respighi’s La fiamma in 1934.  He went on to sing in Buenos Aires, New York, San Francisco and London but his final performance was in 1955 on the stage of La Scala in Milan as Don Carlo in La forza del destino, singing alongside Maria Callas playing Donna Leonora.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Italian Opera, by David Kimbell

Italy was the birthplace of opera. In this authoritative and accessible account of Italian opera, David Kimbell introduces the composers and dramatists, the singers and audiences who, over three hundred years, have created not only a national tradition but the central tradition from which others have drawn their inspiration. He traces the history of Italian opera from its origins in the humanism of the Renaissance to Puccini in the early 20th century, drawing attention not only to musical issues but also to the social, literary, and philosophical ideas that have shaped modern Italian civilisation. Each part of Italian Opera is illustrated by a detailed critical discussion of a key work.

David Kimbell is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh, having previously been Chair of Music at the University of St Andrews. His other publications include Vincenzo Bellini: Norma; Verdi in the Age of Italian Romanticism; and Handel on the Stage.

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12 January

Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies

Despotic ruler presided over chaos in southern Italy

The Bourbon prince who would become the first monarch of a revived Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was born in Naples on this day in 1751.  Ferdinando, third son of King Carlos (Charles) III of Spain, was handed the separate thrones of Naples and Sicily when he was only eight years old after his father’s accession to the Spanish throne required him to abdicate his titles in Spanish-ruled southern Italy.  In a 65-year reign, he would preside over one of the most turbulent periods in the history of a region that was never far from upheaval, which would see Spanish rule repeatedly challenged by France before eventually being handed to Austria.  Too young, obviously, to take charge in his own right when his reign began officially in 1759, he continued to enjoy his privileged upbringing, alternating between the palaces his father had built at Caserta, Portici and Capodimonte.  Government was placed in the hands of Bernardo Tanucci, a Tuscan statesman from Stia, near Arezzo, in whom King Charles had complete trust.  Tanucci fully embraced the enlightened ideas that were gaining popularity with the educated classes across Europe.  Read more…

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John Singer Sargent - painter

Celebrated portraitist had lifelong love for Italy

The painter John Singer Sargent, who was hailed as the leading portraitist of his era but was also a brilliant painter of landscapes, was born on this day in 1856 in Florence.  Although he became an American citizen at the first opportunity, both his parents being American, he spent his early years in Italy and would regularly return to the country throughout his life.  At his commercial peak during the Edwardian age, his studio in London attracted wealthy clients not only from England but from the rest of Europe and even from the other side of the Atlantic, asking him to grant them immortality on canvas.  His full length portraits, which epitomised the elegance and opulence of high society at the end of the 19th century, would cost the subject up to $5,000 - the equivalent of around $140,000 (€122,000; £109,000) today.  Sargent was born in Italy on account of a cholera pandemic, the second to hit Europe that century, which caused a high number of fatalities in London in particular. His parents, who were regular visitors to Italy, were in Florence and decided it would be prudent to stay.  Although his parents had a home in Paris, Italy, with its wealth of classical attractions, was a favourite destination.  Read more…

Revolution in Sicily

January revolt meant the beginning of the end for the Bourbons

The Sicilian uprising on this day in 1848 was to be the first of several revolutions in Italy and Europe that year.  The revolt against the Bourbon government of Ferdinand II in Sicily started in Palermo and led to Sicily becoming an independent state for 16 months.  It was the third revolution to take place on the island against Bourbon rule and signalled the end for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.  Naples and Sicily had been formally reunited to become the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1815. Back in medieval times they had both been part of a single Kingdom of Sicily.  The 1848 revolt was organised in Palermo and deliberately timed to coincide with King Ferdinand’s birthday.  News of the revolt spread and peasants from the countryside arrived to join the fray and express their frustration about the hardships they were enduring.  Sicilian nobles revived the liberal constitution based on the Westminster system of parliamentary government, which had been drawn up for the island in 1812.  The Bourbon army took back full control of Sicily by force in May 1849 but the revolt proved to be only a curtain raiser for the events to come in 1860.  Read more…

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Charles Emmanuel I – Duke of Savoy

Rash ruler who led catastrophic attack on Geneva 

Charles Emmanuel I, who developed a reputation for being hot-headed, was born on this day in 1562 in the Castle of Rivoli in Piedmont.  Renowned for his rashness and military aggression in trying to acquire territory, Charles Emmanuel has gone down in history for launching a disastrous attack on Geneva in Switzerland.  In 1602 he led his troops to the city during the night and surrounded the walls. At two o’clock in the morning the Savoy soldiers were ordered to dismount and climb the city walls in full armour as a shock tactic.  However the alarm was raised by a night watchman and Geneva’s army was ready to meet the invaders.  Many of the Savoy soldiers were killed and others were captured and later executed.  The heavy helmets worn by the Savoy troops featured visors with the design of a human face on them. They were afterwards called Savoyard helmets and the Swiss army kept some of them as trophies. Geneva’s successful defence of the city walls is still celebrated during the annual festival of L’Escalade, in which confectionery shops sell a cauldron known as a marmite made from chocolate.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Sicily: A Short History, from the Greeks to Cosa Nostra, by John Julius Norwich

The stepping stone between Europe and Africa, the gateway between the East and the West, at once a stronghold, clearing-house and observation post, Sicily has been invaded and fought over by Phoenicians and Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans, Goths and Byzantines, Arabs and Normans, Germans, Spaniards and the French for thousands of years. It has belonged to them all - and yet has properly been part of none.  John Julius Norwich was inspired to become a writer by his first visit in 1961 and this book is the result of a fascination that has lasted over half a century. In tracing its dark story, he attempts to explain the enigma that lies at the heart of the Mediterranean's largest island.  This vivid short history covers everything from erupting volcanoes to the assassination of Byzantine emperors, from Nelson's affair with Emma Hamilton to Garibaldi and the rise of the Mafia. Taking in the key buildings and towns, and packed with fascinating stories and unforgettable characters, Sicily: From the Greeks to the Cosa Nostra is the book he was born to write.

John Julius Norwich was the author of more than 20 books. He began his career in the British foreign service, but resigned his diplomatic post to become a writer. He was a chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund and the honorary chairman of the World Monuments Fund. He died in 2018.

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11 January

NEW - Fabrizio De André - singer-songwriter

‘Poet of music’ who remains a hero of the Italian left

The singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André, whose songs often celebrated the lives of the marginalised in Italian society and gained him a popularity that has already outlived him by a quarter of a century, died on this day in 1999 in the Città Studi district of Milan.  De André, who was a month short of his 59th birthday, had been diagnosed with lung cancer six months earlier, having been a heavy smoker for much of his adult life. After his death at the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, his body was returned to his native Genoa, where a crowd estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000 gathered for his funeral at the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta in Carignano.  His impact on Italian culture has been such that streets, squares and schools in many towns and cities bear his name. A three-hour tribute to him broadcast on a relatively obscure Italian TV channel to mark the 10th anniversary of his death attracted an audience of almost eight million viewers, as many as tuned in to the new series of Grande Fratello - the Italian version of Big Brother - on a mainstream channel the following evening. Read more…

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The Giannini sextuplets

The multiple birth that made history

History was made on this day in 1980 when a schoolteacher from the Casentino valley in Tuscany gave birth to sextuplets in a hospital in Florence.  The babies – four boys and two girls – delivered between 4.17am and 4.22am at the Careggi Hospital, on the northern outskirts of the Tuscan capital, grew to become the first sextuplets in Europe to survive beyond infancy and only the second set in the world.  Their arrival turned the Giannini family - mum Rosanna and dad Franco - into instant celebrities and their house in Soci, a village in the municipality of Bibbiena, 60km (37 miles) east of Florence, was besieged by the world’s media, seeking pictures and interviews.  In Italy, the event was celebrated with particular enthusiasm, heralded as the good news the nation craved after a particularly difficult year marked by a series of catastrophes, including the Ustica plane crash, the bombing of Bologna railway station and the Irpinia earthquake.  The family eventually signed an exclusive deal with the best-selling Italian magazine Gente for access rights.  Photographs of the children appeared around the time of their birthday for a number of years.  Read more…

The 1693 Sicily earthquake

Devastation that led to architectural rebirth

A huge earthquake destroyed or severely damaged scores of towns and cities in Sicily on this day in 1693, killing more than 60,000 people.  Records say the tremor struck at around 9pm local time and lasted about four minutes.  It was mainly confined to the southeast corner of the island, with damage also reported in Calabria on the Italian mainland and even on Malta, 190km (118 miles) away.  Although it is an estimate rather than a verifiable figure, the earthquake has been given a recorded magnitude of 7.4, which makes it the most powerful in Italian history, although in terms of casualties it was eclipsed by the earthquake that destroyed much of Messina and Reggio Calabria in 1908, with perhaps up to 200,000 killed.  At least 70 towns and cities - including Catania, Syracuse (Siracusa), Noto and Acireale - were either very badly damaged or destroyed, with an area of 5,600 sq km (2,200 sq miles) affected.  The earthquake is indirectly responsible for the wonderful Baroque architecture that makes the cities of southeast Sicily so attractive, commissioned by the island’s wealthy Spanish aristocracy.  Read more…

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Galeazzo Ciano - ill-fated Fascist politician

The son-in-law Mussolini had shot as a traitor

Galeazzo Ciano, part of the Fascist Grand Council that voted for Benito Mussolini to be thrown out of office as Italy faced crushing defeat in the Second World War, was killed by a firing squad in Verona on this day in 1944 after being found guilty of treason.  The 40-year-old former Foreign Minister in Mussolini's government was also his son-in-law, having been married to Edda Mussolini since he was 27.  Yet even his position in the family did not see him spared by the ousted dictator, who had been arrested on the orders of King Victor Emmanuel III but, after being freed by the Nazis, later exacted revenge against those he felt had betrayed him.  Ciano, a founding member of the Italy's National Fascist Party whose marriage to the Duce's daughter certainly helped him advance his career, had largely been supportive of Mussolini and was elevated to Foreign Minister in part because of his role in the military victory over Ethiopia, in which he was a bomber squadron commander. Yet he expressed doubts from the start over Italy's readiness to take part in a major conflict. In his diaries, which Edda was later to use without success as a bargaining tool as she tried to save her husband's life, Ciano recalled that he had tried to persuade Mussolini against committing to an alliance with Hitler.  Read more…

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Matteo Renzi – politician

Italy's youngest Prime Minister was inspired by the scout movement

Matteo Renzi, the former Prime Minister of Italy, was born on this day in 1975 in Florence.  When he became Prime Minister in February 2014, he was the youngest person to hold the office since Italian unification in 1861. His father, Tiziano Renzi was a Christian Democrat local councillor in Rignano sull’Arno, where Renzi was brought up as part of an observant Catholic family.  He went to school in Florence and was a scout in the association of Catholic Guides and Scouts of Italy.  On Renzi’s personal website he carries a quote from Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout Movement: “Lasciare il mondo un po’ migliore di come lo abbiamo trovato - Leave the world a bit better than how you found it.”  In government, Renzi reformed labour and employment laws to boost economic growth and abolished some small taxes.  Renzi became interested in politics while still at school. He graduated from the University of Florence with a degree in Law and at the age of 21 joined the Italian People’s Party. After being elected as President of Florence Province in 2004, he joined the Democratic Party and was elected as Mayor of Florence in 2009.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Genoa 'La Superba': The Rise and Fall of a Merchant Pirate Superpower, by Dr Nicholas Walton

Genoa has an incredible story to tell. It rose from an obscurity imposed by its harsh geography to become a merchant-pirate superpower that helped create the medieval world. It fought bitter battles with its great rival Venice and imprisoned Marco Polo, as the feuding city states connected Europe to the glories of the East. It introduced the Black Death to Europe, led the fight against the Barbary Corsairs, bankrolled Imperial Spain, and gave the world Christopher Columbus and a host of fearless explorers. Genoa and Liguria provided the brains and the heroism behind the Risorgimento, and was the last place emigrants saw before building new lives across the Atlantic. It played host to writers and Grand Tourists, gave football to the Italians, and helped build modern Italy. Today, along with the glorious Riviera coast of Liguria, Genoa provides some of the finest places on earth to sip wine, eat pesto and enjoy spectacular views. Genoa 'La Superba' brings the past alive and paints a portrait of a modern port city and region that is only now coming to terms with a past that is as bloody, fascinating and influential as any in Europe.

Nicholas Walton is a former BBC World Service journalist who worked and reported from around the world for 14 years before moving to the European Council on Foreign Relations. He previously lived in Singapore, where he wrote reports for the Economist Intelligence Unit on education and media and a book, Singapore, Singapura: From Miracle to Complacency.

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