1 February

Teresa Mattei - partisan and politician

Former Communist who led Italian Women’s Union

The politician and former partisan Teresa Mattei, who was the youngest member of the Constituent Assembly that formed Italy’s post-War government and later became a director of the Unione Donne Italiane (Italian Women’s Union), was born on this day in 1921 in Genoa.  After being expelled from the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1957, Mattei became a leading advocate of the rights of children as well as women and later campaigned for the prosecution of war criminals.  As a prominent executive of the UDI she was influential in the adoption of mimosa as the symbol of International Women’s Day, which takes place on March 8 each year, arguing that because the flower proliferated in the countryside it represented a more accessible alternative to violets and orchids.  The daughter of a lawyer who was prominent in the anti-Fascist Partito d’Azione (Action Party), Mattei herself was an active member of the Italian Resistance during the Second World War, using the nom de guerre "Partigiana Chicchi".  Read more…

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Renata Tebaldi – opera singer

Performer with a beautiful lirico soprano voice

Opera singer Renata Tebaldi was born on this day in 1922 in Pesaro.  Said by the conductor Arturo Toscanini to possess ‘the voice of an angel’, Tebaldi had a long stage career and made numerous recordings.  Her parents had separated before her birth and she grew up in the home of her maternal grandparents in Langhirano in the province of Parma in Emilia-Romagna.  Tebaldi was stricken with polio at the age of three but later became interested in music and sang in the church choir. She was sent to have piano lessons but the teacher decided she should study singing instead and arranged for her to attend the conservatory in Parma. She later transferred to Liceo Musicale Rossini in Pesaro. Tebaldi made her stage debut in 1944, while Italy was still at war, in Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele at the Teatro Sociale in Rovigo but her beautiful voice first began to attract attention in 1946 when she appeared as Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello in Trieste.  She auditioned for Toscanini who was immediately impressed.  Read more…

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Corradino D'Ascanio - engineer

Aeronautical genius famed for helicopters and the Vespa scooter 

Corradino D'Ascanio, the aeronautical engineer whose design for a clean motorcycle turned into the iconic Vespa scooter and who also designed the first helicopter that could actually fly, was born on this day in 1891 in Popoli, a small town about 50km inland of Pescara.  The engineer, whose work on aircraft design during the Second World War saw him promoted to General in the Regia Aeronautica, was always passionate about flight and might never have become involved with road vehicles had he not been out of work in the post-War years.  His scooter would have been built by Lambretta had he not fallen out with the company founder, Ferdinando Innocenti, in a dispute over his design.  Instead, D'Ascanio took his plans to Enrico Piaggio, with whom he had worked previously in the aeronautical sector.  Piaggio saw in D'Ascanio's scooter an irresistible opportunity to revive his ailing company and commissioned the design, which became known as the Vespa after Piaggio remarked that its body shape resembled that of a wasp.  Read more…

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Francesco Maria Veracini – violinist

Virtuoso performer was prolific composer

One of the great violinists of the 18th century, Francesco Maria Veracini, was born on this day in 1690 in Florence.  He was to become famous throughout Europe for his performances and for a while he was Handel’s biggest rival as a composer.  Veracini was born into a musical family, although his father was a pharmacist and undertaker. His grandfather, Francesco, had been one of the first violinists in Florence and had a music school business, which he eventually passed on to his son, Antonio, who was the younger Francesco’s teacher. Veracini grew up in Florence but by 1711 he had established himself in Venice where he played in church orchestras.  In 1712 on February 1, his 22nd birthday, he performed a violin concerto of his own composition in the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in honour of the visit to Venice of the Austrian ambassador. This is the first documented public performance by Veracini playing one of his own compositions. At about that time, one of his performances so impressed the violinist, Giuseppe Tartini, that he decided to take time off to study better use of the bow in Ancona.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Battle for Rome: The Germans, the Allies, the Partisans, and the Pope, September 1943--June 1944, by Robert Katz

In September 1943, the German army marched into Rome, beginning an occupation that would last nine months until Allied forces liberated the ancient city. During those 270 days, clashing factions - the occupying Germans, the Allies, the growing resistance movement, and the Pope - contended for control over the destiny of the Eternal City. In The Battle for Rome, Robert Katz vividly recreates the drama of the occupation and offers new information from recently declassified documents to explain the intentions of the rival forces.  One of the enduring myths of World War II is the legend that Rome was an "open city," free from military activity. In fact the German occupation was brutal, beginning almost immediately with the first roundup of Jews in Italy. Rome was a strategic prize that the Germans and the Allies fought bitterly to win. The Allied advance up the Italian peninsula from Salerno and Anzio in some of the bloodiest fighting of the war was designed to capture the Italian capital.  Dominating the city in his own way was Pope Pius XII, who used his authority in a ceaseless effort to spare Rome, especially the Vatican and the papal properties, from destruction. But historical documents demonstrate that the Pope was as concerned about the Partisans as he was about the Nazis, regarding the Partisans as harbingers of Communism in the Eternal City. The Roman Resistance was a coalition of political parties that agreed on little beyond liberating Rome, but the Partisans, the organized military arm of the coalition, became increasingly active and effective as the occupation lengthened. Katz tells the story of two young Partisans, Elena and Paolo, who fought side by side, became lovers, and later played a central role in the most significant guerrilla action of the occupation. In retaliation for this action, the Germans committed the Ardeatine Caves Massacre, slaying hundreds of Roman men and boys. The Pope's decision not to intervene in that atrocity has been a source of controversy and debate among historians for decades, but drawing on Vatican documents, Katz authoritatively examines the matter.  The Battle for Rome is a landmark work that draws on documents released half a century after World War II as well as first hand testimony gathered over decades. 

Robert Katz was an American novelist, screenwriter, and non-fiction author. His books include the international bestseller Death in Rome, The Fall of the House of Savoy and Days of Wrath: The Ordeal of Aldo Moro. Born in New York, he lived for many years in Rome and Tuscany, where he died in 2010.

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31 January

NEW - Manuela Di Centa - Olympic skiing champion

Friulian won five medals at a single Winter Games

The Olympic skier, mountaineer and former politician Manuela Di Centa was born on this day in 1963 in the small town of Paluzza in the mountainous north of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, less than five miles (8km) from the Austrian border.  Di Centa made history at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, when she won a total of five medals, including two golds - the only cross-country skier to accumulate so many medals at a single Games.  Three times Italy’s national fell running champion, Di Centa went on to become the first Italian woman to climb Mount Everest when she scaled the world’s highest peak in 2003, planting the five-ringed Olympic flag at the summit.  A member of the International Olympic Committee from 1999 to 2010, Di Centa has also represented her region as a politician, sitting in the Italian Chamber of Deputies for the Forza Italia and People of Freedom parties between 2006 and 2013.  Born and raised in the beautiful surroundings of the Carnia region of Friuli, Di Centa grew up in a family of Nordic skiers and took to skis almost as naturally as learning to walk.  Read more…

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Ernesto Basile - architect

Pioneer of Stile Liberty - the Italian twist on Art Nouveau

The architect Ernesto Basile, who would become known for his imaginative fusion of ancient, mediaeval and modern architectural elements and as a pioneer of Art Nouveau in Italy, was born on this day in 1857 in Palermo.  His most impressive work was done in Rome, where he won a commission to rebuild almost completely the Palazzo Montecitorio, the home of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian parliament.  Yet his most wide-ranging impact was in Sicily, where he followed in the footsteps of his father, Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, in experimenting with the Art Nouveau style.  Basile senior designed the Villa Favaloro, in Piazza Virgilio off Via Dante, and with Ernesto and others, notably Vincenzo Alagna, taking up the mantle, it was not long before entire districts of the city were dominated by Stile Liberty, the Italianate version of the Art Nouveau that took its name from the Liberty and Co store in London's Regent Street, which sold ornaments, fabric and objets d'art to a refined clientele and encouraged modern designers.  Fine examples of Ernesto Basile’s architecture in Palermo include the Villino Florio (1899-1902) in Viale Regina Margherita, and the Hotel Villa Igiea (1899-1901) on the waterfront.  Read more…

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Sanremo Music Festival - song contest

Historic annual event that inspired Eurovision 

The first annual Sanremo Music Festival reached its conclusion on this day in 1951 with the song Grazie dei fiori - Thank You for the Flowers - announced as the winner, performed by the singer and actress Nilla Pizzi (pictured). The festival, which has taken place every year since its launch, is the world’s longest-running televised music contest, having been broadcast live by Italian state broadcaster Rai since 1955.  Compared with the 2024 edition - the 74th - which is due to be staged from February 6 to February 10 - the inaugural competition was very different. There were 20 songs to be judged by the committee of experts who determined the result, but only three participants - Pizzi, Achille Togliani and the Duo Fasano, which consisted of twin sisters Dina and Delfina Fasano.  All of the participants had to perform all of the songs over the course of the three nights with the judges having to decide on both the merits of the song and the quality of the three different renditions before settling on their winner. They were so impressed with Pizzi that the following year she not only was their choice to win the competition but took second and third places too.  Read more…

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Mariuccia Mandelli - fashion designer

'Godmother of Italian fashion' was immortalised by Warhol

Mariuccia Mandelli, the founder of the fashion house Krizia, was born on this day in 1925 in Bergamo in northern Italy.  Although Mandelli trained to be a primary school teacher on the advice of her mother and pursued a teaching career when she was in her 20s, she had a talent for sewing and had always been interested in fashion. It took just one lucky break to get her started. When a friend offered her the use of a flat rent-free for six months, Mandelli went to live there, bought an old sewing machine and started making clothes. She then launched her label, Krizia - a name by which she was sometimes known - by selling the clothes from her small car, a Fiat 500. She used to drive to shops in Milan with suitcases full of samples and by 1954 had established a ready-to-wear fashion house.  Mandelli also went on to establish a popular line of men’s wear, one of the first female fashion designers to do this successfully.  In 1964, Mandelli unveiled her first black-and-white collection at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the designs for which earned her a Critica della Moda award. Krizia grew rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s. Read more…

Charles Edward Stuart – royal exile

Bonnie Prince Charlie’s heart will forever be in Frascati 

The Young Pretender to the British throne, sometimes known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, died on this day in 1788 in Rome.  The man who would have been King Charles III was born and brought up in Italy where his father, James, the son of the exiled Stuart King James II, had been given a residence by Pope Clement XI.  Charles Edward Stuart was raised as a Catholic and taught to believe he was a legitimate heir to the British throne.  In 1745 Charles sailed to Scotland hoping to gather an army to help him place his father back on the thrones of England and Scotland.  He defeated a Government army at the Battle of Prestonpans and marched south. He had got as far as Derbyshire when the decision was made by his troops to return to Scotland because of the lack of English support for their cause.  They were pursued by King George II’s son, the Duke of Cumberland, who led troops against them at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Many of his soldiers were shot and killed and the surviving Jacobites fled. They were pursued by Cumberland ’s men, who committed atrocities against them when they were caught.   Read more…

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Bernardo Provenzano - Mafia boss

Head of Corleonesi clan dodged police for 43 years

Bernardo Provenzano, a Mafia boss who managed to evade the Sicilian police for 43 years after a warrant was issued for his arrest in 1963, was born on this day in 1933 in Corleone, the fabled town in the rugged countryside above Palermo that became famous for its association with Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather.  The former farm labourer, who rose through the ranks to become the overall head - il capo di tutti i capi - of the so-called Cosa Nostra, lived for years under the eyes of the authorities in an opulent 18th century villa in a prestigious Palermo suburb, although ultimately he took refuge in the hills, alternating between two remote peasant farmhouses.  He was finally captured and imprisoned in 2006 and died in the prisoners' ward of a Milan hospital 10 years later, aged 83.  Although Provenzano assumed power during one of the bloodiest periods in Mafia history, he was eventually credited with rescuing the organisation from the brink of collapse by turning away from the violent path followed by his predecessor as capo di tutti i capi, Salvatore 'Toto' Riina, and restoring traditional Mafia values. Read more…

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Don Bosco – Saint

Father and teacher who could do magic tricks

Saint John Bosco, who was often known as Don Bosco, died on this day in 1888 in Turin.  He had dedicated his life to helping street children, juvenile delinquents and other disadvantaged young people and was made a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1934.  Bosco is now the patron saint of apprentices, editors, publishers, children, young delinquents and magicians.  He was born Giovanni Bosco in Becchi, just outside Castelnuovo d’Asti in Piedmont in 1815. His birth came just after the end of the Napoleonic Wars that had ravaged the area.  Bosco’s father died when he was two, leaving him to be brought up by his mother, Margherita.  Mama Margherita Occhiena would herself be declared venerable by the Catholic Church in 2006.  Bosco attended Church and grew up to become very devout. Although his family was poor, his mother would share what they had with homeless people who came to the door.  While Bosco was still young, he had the first of a series of dreams that would influence his life.  He saw a group of poor boys who blasphemed while they played together, and a man told him that if he showed meekness and charity he would win over these boys.  Read more…

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Daniela Bianchi - actress

James Bond’s love interest whose Italian accent was never heard

Daniela Bianchi, an actress best known for her role as a Bond girl in the film From Russia With Love, was born on this day in 1942 in Rome.  She played Russian agent Tatiana Romanova in the hit 1963 film starring Sean Connery as James Bond, although her voice had to be dubbed because of her Italian accent.  Daniela’s parents originally came from Sirolo in Le Marche. Her father was a retired Italian army colonel and one of her grandmothers was a marchesa. Daniela was raised in Rome, where she studied ballet for eight years, and she then went on to become a fashion model.  She was the winner of Miss Rome in 1960 and then runner-up in the Miss Universe contest the same year, where she was also voted Miss Photogenic by the press.  Daniela was chosen over 200 other actresses by the Bond producers for the role of Tatiana Romanova and, at the age of 21, was the youngest ever main Bond girl. She was also the only Italian to be a main Bond girl.  Her character, Tatiana, was a Russian cipher clerk who had been sent by Soviet Army Intelligence to entrap James Bond.  Before and after making From Russia With Love, Daniela appeared in many French and Italian films.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Sport Italia: The Italian Love Affair with Sport, by Simon Martin

The Italian love affair with sport is passionate, voracious, all-consuming. It provides a backdrop and a narrative to almost every aspect of daily life in Italy and the distinctively pink-coloured newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport is devoured by almost half a million readers every day. Narrating the history of modern Italy through its national passion for sport, Sport Italia provides a completely new portrayal of one of Europe's most alluring, yet contradictory countries, tracing the highs and lows of Italy's sporting history from its Liberal pioneers through Mussolini and the 1960 Rome Olympics to the Berlusconi era. By interweaving essential themes of Italian history, its politics, society and economy with a history of the passion for sport in the country, Simon Martin tells the story of modern Italy in a fresh and colourful way, illustrating how and why sport is so strongly embedded in both politics and society, and how it is inseparable from the concept of Italian national identity. Showing sport's capacity to both unite and deeply divide, this fascinating book reveals a novel and previously unexplored element of the history of a society and its state.  Winner of the Lord Aberdare Literary Prize for Sports History in 2012.

Simon Martin is the author of Football and Fascism: The National Game under Mussolini, which won the Lord Aberdare Prize in 2004. He holds a PhD from University College, London and has taught there, as well as at the University of Hertfordshire, the University of California, Rome programme, the New York University in Florence and the American University of Rome.

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Manuela Di Centa - Olympic skiing champion

Friulian won five medals at a single Winter Games

Manuela Di Centa in action at the 1994 Winter
Olympics in Norway, where she won five medals

The Olympic skier, mountaineer and former politician Manuela Di Centa was born on this day in 1963 in the small town of Paluzza in the mountainous north of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, less than five miles (8km) from the Austrian border.

Di Centa made history at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, when she won a total of five medals, including two golds - the only cross-country skier to accumulate so many medals at a single Games.

Three times Italy’s national fell running champion, Di Centa went on to become the first Italian woman to climb Mount Everest when she scaled the world’s highest peak in 2003, planting the five-ringed Olympic flag at the summit.

A member of the International Olympic Committee from 1999 to 2010, Di Centa has also represented her region as a politician, sitting in the Italian Chamber of Deputies for the Forza Italia and People of Freedom parties between 2006 and 2013.

Born and raised in the beautiful surroundings of the Carnia region of Friuli, Di Centa grew up in a family of Nordic skiers and took to skis almost as naturally as learning to walk.

Di Centa on her ascent
of Mount Everest

After some impressive displays in youth level skiing, she made her debut for the Italy national team at the age of 17 in 1980, contested her first World Championships events in 1982 and competed in her first Winter Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984.

She won her first medals in either competition at the 1991 World Championships on home territory in Val di Fiemme in the Dolomites, when she won silver in the four by 5km relay - alongside Bice Vanzetta, Gabriella Paruzzi and Stefania Belmondo - and individual bronze over 5km and 30km.  The 5km relay team repeated their bronze medal success at the Olympics at Albertville in France the following year.

Di Centa pocketed a World Championship 30km silver and a medal of the same colour in the four by 5km relay at Falun in Sweden in 1993 but it was at the Olympics in Lillehammer the following February that she hit her peak.

She medalled in all five cross-country events in which she competed, winning golds over 15km and 30km, silver in the 5km and pursuit, and a second bronze in the four by 5km relay. 

No cross-country skier - male or female - has won five medals at a single Winter Olympics before or since. Another relay bronze at the 1998 Games in Nagano in Japan raised her career total Olympic medal haul to seven, after which she announced her retirement from competition.

Her World Championship medal haul was also seven - including four silvers but no gold. She twice won her sport’s prestigious World Cup, finishing first in 15 events all told and being crowned overall champion in 1994 and 1996.

Di Centa's official photograph as a
member of the Chamber of Deputies

An accomplished fell runner as well as a skier - winning the Italian championships in 1985, 1989 and 1991 - Di Centa then turned her knowledge of mountainous terrain into more achievement.

Having revealed that she had two childhood dreams - to compete at the Olympics and to climb the world’s highest mountain - she achieved the latter on May 23, 2003 by becoming the first Italian woman to reach the 8,848m summit of Mount Everest. 

She needed supplementary oxygen for the final 1,500m but was determined to complete the climb - 50 years after Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay conquered it for the first time in 1953.  Di Centa celebrated by planting the Olympic and Italian flags at the summit.

Di Centa has also enjoyed a successful career as a television presenter, mainly in programmes dedicated to her beloved mountains, and successfully ran for election to the Chamber of Deputies in 2006 as a Forza Italia candidate for Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and in 2008 for Trentino Alto-Adige as a member of Il Popolo della Libertá - the People of Freedom.

Married to the mountaineer and cross-country skier Fabio Meraldi, Manuela di Centa is the sister of another Olympic cross-country skiing gold medallist, Giorgio Di Centa, and the cousin of long distance runner Venanzio Ortis, who was European 5,000m champion in 1978.

Giorgio Di Centa won Olympic gold in the 50km and four by 10km events at the Turin Olympics in 2006, where Manuela was one of the flag bearers and, in her role as Italian representative on the IOC, presented her brother with one of his golds.

Manuela and Giorgio’s maternal grandmother, Irma Englaro, served with distinction as a Carnic Porter during the First World War, one of a legion of local women who helped Italy’s war effort along the Carnia front by transporting supplies and ammunition in their back-borne panniers.

Carnia, the region in which Paluzza is situated, 
 is an area of outstanding natural beauty 

Travel tip:

Manuela Di Centa’s place of birth, Paluzza - Paluce in Friulian dialect - is a small town of around 2,200 inhabitants situated about 120km (75 miles) northwest of Trieste and approximately 50km (31 miles) northwest of Udine, in the historic Carnia region of Friuli, close to the border with Austria. It is best known today as a ski resort, famed for its cross-country ski runs, but historically it was a key strategic defensive position where a castle - Castrum Moscardum - was built in the 13th century to guard the valley against invaders from the north. One tower of the castle remains standing today. The valley in which Paluzza sits - the Val Bût or Canale di San Pietro - is one of five that make up the picturesque Carnia region, which includes 27 municipalities. Carnia is thought to take its name from the Germanic Carni tribe who are thought to have migrated south from around 400 BC, reaching the area through the Plöcken Pass.

The Loggia del Lionello is a feature of Udine's
beautiful main square, Piazza della Libertà

Travel tip:

Udine, the nearest city to Di Centa’s home town, is an attractive and wealthy provincial city and the gastronomic capital of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Udine's most attractive area lies within the mediæval centre, which has Venetian, Greek and Roman influences. The main square, Piazza della Libertà, features the town hall, the Loggia del Lionello, built in 1448–1457 in the Venetian-Gothic style, and a clock tower, the Torre dell’Orologio, which is similar to the clock tower in Piazza San Marco - St Mark's Square - in Venice.  The city was part of the Austrian Empire between 1797 and 1866 and retains elements of a café society as legacy from that era, particularly around Piazza Matteotti, known locally as il salotto di Udine - Udine's drawing room.  Long regarded as something of a hidden gem, Udine does not attract the tourist traffic of other, better-known Italian cities, yet with its upmarket coffee shops, artisan boutiques and warm, traditional eating places in an elegant setting, it has much to commend it.

Also on this day:

1788: The death of royal exile Charles Edward Stuart

1857: The birth of architect Ernesto Basile

1888: The death of Saint Don Bosco

1925: The birth of fashion designer Mariuccia Mandelli

1933: The birth of Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano

1942: The birth of actress Daniela Bianchi

1951: Final of the first Sanremo Music Festival

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30 January

Carlo Maderno - architect

Facade of St Peter's among most notable works

The architect Carlo Maderno, who has been described as one of the fathers of Italian Baroque architecture, died on this day in 1629 in Rome.  His most important works included the facades of St Peter’s Basilica and the other Roman churches of Santa Susanna and Sant’ Andrea della Valle.  Although most of Maderno's work was in remodelling existing structures, he had a profound influence on the appearance of Rome, where his designs also contributed to the Palazzo Quirinale, the Palazzo Barberini and the papal palace at Castel Gandolfo.  One building designed and completed under Maderno's full control was the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in the Sallustiano district.   Maderno was born in 1556 in the village of Capolago, on the southern shore of Lake Lugano in what is now the Ticino canton of Switzerland, part of the finger of Italy's northern neighbouring country that extends between the Italian lakes Como and Maggiore.  Marble was quarried in the mountains around Capolago and as well as a talent for sculpture he had experience as a marble cutter when he moved with four of his brothers to Rome in 1588 to work with his uncle, Domenico Fontana.  Read more…

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Elsa Martinelli – actress

Tuscan beauty was spotted by Kirk Douglas

Actress and former model Elsa Martinelli was born Elisa Tia on this day in 1935 in Grosseto.  She moved to Rome with her family as a teenager and was discovered by designer Roberto Capucci in 1953 while working as a barmaid in the city.   Her stunning looks helped her to become a successful fashion model and she eventually began playing small parts in films.  As Elsa Martinelli she appeared in Claude Autant-Lara’s Le Rouge et Le Noir in 1954.  Her first important role came a year later when Kirk Douglas is said to have seen her on a magazine cover and told his production company to hire her to appear opposite him in the film, The Indian Fighter.  In 1956 she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival for playing the title role in Mario Monicelli’s Donatella.  Martinelli married Count Franco Mancinelli Scotti di San Vito and they had a daughter, Cristiana, in 1958.  Ten years later, after she had split up with her first husband, Martinelli married photographer and furniture designer Willy Rizzo.  In the 1950s and 1960s she attended lavish parties and events in Rome with celebrities.  Read more…

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Bernardo Bellotto – landscape painter

Venetian artist blessed with uncle Canaletto’s talent

The landscape artist Bernardo Bellotto, a nephew and pupil of the masterful view painter Canaletto, was born on this day in 1721 in Venice, the city that brought fame to his illustrious uncle.  Bellotto painted some Venetian scenes but travelled much more extensively than his uncle and eventually became best known for his work in northern Europe, and in particular his views of the cities of Vienna, Warsaw and Dresden.  His work was notable for his use of light and shadow and his meticulous attention to detail.  His paintings of Warsaw became a point of reference for architects involved with the reconstruction of the city after the Second World War, so precise was he in terms of perspective and scale and the intricacies of architectural features.  Born in the parish of Santa Margherita in Venice, Bellotto was related to Giovanni Antonio Canal – Canaletto’s birth name – through his mother, Canaletto’s sister, Fiorenza Canal, who married Lorenzo Antonio Bellotto.  It was natural for Bernardo to study in his uncle’s workshop and to an extent mimic Canaletto’s style. Sometimes, he would sign a painting with Canaletto’s name, which led to confusion later.   Read more…

Hyacintha Mariscotti – saint

Noblewoman gave up luxurious lifestyle to help the poor

Hyacintha Mariscotti, an Italian nun of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis, died on this day in 1640 in Viterbo in Lazio.  Pope Pius VII canonised her in 1807 and her feast day is now celebrated on 30 January every year.  Hyacintha, known as Santa Giacinta Marescotti in Italian, was born in 1585 into a noble family living in the castle of Vignanello in the province of Viterbo and was baptised as Clarice.  Her father was Count Marcantonio Marescotti, her mother Countess Ottavia Orsini, whose father built the famous gardens of Bomarzo.  The young Clarice was sent with her sisters to the monastery of Saint Bernardino to be educated by the nuns of the Franciscan Third Order Regular. When their education was complete, her elder sister, Ginevra, chose to enter the community as a nun. Clarice had set her sights on marrying the Marchese Capizucchi, but he chose her younger sister, Ortensia, instead. Following her disappointment, she entered the monastery at Viterbo taking the name Hyacintha (Giacinta). She admitted later that she did this only because she was upset and was not prepared to give up the luxuries she was used to.  Read more…

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Feast of Saint Martina of Rome

The day Pope Urban VIII’s own hymns are sung

The feast day of Saint Martina of Rome, who was martyred by the Romans in 228, is celebrated every year on this day.  Martina is now a patron saint of Rome and the patron saint of nursing mothers.  She was the daughter of an ex-consul, one of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, but became an orphan while still young.  Described at the time as a noble and beautiful virgin who was charitable to the poor, she openly testified to her Christian faith.  She was persecuted during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus and arrested and commanded to return to idolatry, the worship of false gods.  When she refused she was whipped and condemned to be devoured by wild beasts in the amphitheatre. When she was miraculously untouched by the animals she was thrown on to a burning pyre from which she is also said to have escaped unhurt. Finally she was beheaded.  Afterwards it was claimed some of her executioners converted to Christianity and were also later beheaded.  In 1634 the relics of Martina were rediscovered by the artist Pietro da Cortona. They were in the crypt of a church originally built in the sixth century on the site of the ancient temple of Mars.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide, by Amanda Claridge

Capital and showcase of the Roman Empire and the centre of Christian Europe, the city of Rome is the largest archaeological site in the world. In the second edition of Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide, Amanda Claridge again presents an indispensable guide to all significant monuments in Rome dating from 800 BC to 600 AD, including such breathtaking structures as the Capitoline Hill, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Mausoleums of Augustus and Hadrian, the Circus Maximus, and the Catacombs. Featuring over 220 high-quality maps, site plans, diagrams, and photographs, the edition is divided into 14 main areas, with star ratings to help you plan your visit in advance. The book also features glossaries of architectural terms, information about opening times, suggestions for further reading, and much more. The second edition has been extensively revised. The author has added more than 20 new sites and illustrations, reorganised and expanded the itineraries to suit the many changes that have taken place in the past decade, and fully updated the practical information.

Amanda Claridge is Reader in Classical Archaeology, Royal Holloway, University of London, and was formerly Lecturer in Archaeology at St John's College, Oxford and assistant director of the British School in Rome (1980 to 1994).

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