1 April

Arrigo Sacchi - football coach

AC Milan manager's tactics revolutionised football in Italy

Arrigo Sacchi, the football coach who led AC Milan to back-to-back European Cups and steered Italy to a World Cup final, was born on this day in 1946 in Fusignano, a small town not far from Ravenna in Emilia-Romagna.  Unusually among top coaches, Sacchi never played football as a professional.  Aware of his limited ability, he quickly decided he would concentrate instead on becoming a manager, taking charge of a local amateur team, Baracca Lugo, when he was just 26.  Literally, he worked his way up from the bottom, making a living as a shoe salesman while training his players in his spare time.  Yet step by step he ascended to the very top of the game, landing jobs on the coaching staffs at Cesena, Rimini and Fiorentina before Parma, then in the third tier of the Italian football pyramid, made him head coach in 1985.  He won promotion to Serie B in his first season and finished only three points short of promotion to Serie A in his second year, when Parma also pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season, knocking AC Milan out of the Coppa Italia, which is Italy's equivalent of England's FA Cup.  Read more…

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Giancarlo Antognoni - footballer

Midfield star recovered from horrific injury to win World Cup

The footballer Giancarlo Antognoni, who won 73 international caps for his country and was a member of the Italy team that won the 1982 World Cup in Spain, was born on this day in 1954 in Marsciano, a mediæval town in Umbria, some 25km (16 miles) south of the regional capital, Perugia.  Antognoni, who spent most of his club career with Fiorentina and still works for the club today, was regarded as one of the most talented midfield players of his generation, but had the misfortune to miss Italy’s triumph against West Germany in the 1982 final, having suffered a broken foot in the semi-final against Poland.  Nonetheless, he made a major contribution to the performances that carried the azzurri through to the final, including the victories over holders Argentina and tournament favourites Brazil in the second phase. As the team's main playmaker, he set up numerous goalscoring opportunities for his teammates. Throughout the 1982 tournament, only Brazil's Zico and West Germany's Pierre Littbarski made more passes that directly led to goals.  Antognoni himself had a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside against Brazil, although Italy still came out on top thanks to Paolo Rossi’s stunning hat-trick in a famous 3–2 victory.  Read more…

Alberto Zaccheroni - football coach

First Italian coach to lead a foreign nation to success

The football coach Alberto Zaccheroni, who won the Serie A title with AC Milan and steered the Japan national team to success in the Asia Cup, was born on this day in 1953 in Meldola, a town in Emilia-Romagna.  In a long coaching career, Zaccheroni has taken charge of 13 teams in Italy, a club side in China and two international teams, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.  In common with many coaches in Italy, Zaccheroni began at semi-professional level and worked his way up through the professional leagues.  Before winning the scudetto with Milan in 1999, he had twice won titles at Serie D (fourth tier) level and twice in Serie C.  Zaccheroni played as a fullback, with the youth team at Bologna and the Serie D team Cesenatico in Emilia-Romagna, but his career was hampered by a lung disease he contracted at the age of 17, which meant he could not train or play for two years.  He quit playing in his mid-20s and began to coach Cesenatico’s youth teams.  His coaching talents began to attract attention when, in two consecutive seasons, he was asked to take over on the bench for Cesenatico’s first team following the sacking of the head coach and on each occasion saved them from relegation.  Read more…

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April Fools' Day - Italian style

What lies behind the tradition of Pesce d'Aprile?

Playing practical jokes on April 1 is a tradition in Italy in the same way as many other countries, although in Italy the day is called Pesce d’Aprile – April’s Fish – rather than April Fools’ Day.  It is said to have become popular in Italy between 1860 and 1880, especially in Genoa, where families in the wealthier social circles embraced the idea, already popular in France, of marking the day by playing tricks on one another.  The most simple trick involves sticking a cut-out picture of a fish on the back of an unsuspecting ‘victim’ and watching how long it takes for him or her to discover he had been pranked, but over the years there have been many much more elaborate tricks played.  Often these have involved spoof announcements or false stories in the newspapers or on TV or radio shows, aimed at embarrassing large numbers of gullible readers, viewers or listeners.  One of the first such large-scale hoaxes took place in 1878, when the newspaper Gazzetta d’Italia announced the cremation of an Indian Maharaja was to take place in Florence, attracting a large crowd to Parco delle Cascine where a pyre had been built in preparation.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Immortals: How My Milan Team Reinvented Football, by Arrigo Sacchi with Luigi Garlando

"I always thought that football was not just a defensive or offensive thing. Football was knowing how to do everything." In Arrigo Sacchi's football, what counts is the spectacle, not the result at all costs. Even if that means risking something more. With this philosophy and way of understanding football, the "prophet of Fusignano" entered the history of football and changed it, introducing principles and concepts never seen before, which became a precious school for most of his successors. Thus, the most heretical coach of all time, managed to create a formidable team, which went down in history as The Immortals and which is universally considered the strongest of all time. Some 30 years after winning the European Cup in 1989, Sacchi recounts the feat that marked modern football: from the fog of Belgrade to the 4-0 of the final in Barcelona, ​​from the "ghost" goals against Red Star and Werder Bremen, to the 5-0 against the legendary Real Madrid at San Siro, a true epic of "Sacchism". The Immortals features previously unpublished episodes, testimonies and anecdotes: all narrated thanks to the pen of Luigi Garlando, columnist of Gazzetta dello Sport and author of best-selling books.

Arrigo Sacchi is one of the most innovative and successful coaches in the history of football. His great AC Milan team of the late 1980s and early 90s was notable for his high-pressing, attacking style that has echoed through the generations and is reflected in the philosophies of many leading modern coaches, including Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp.  Luigi Garlando is a sports journalist best known for his work in Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy’s leading sports daily.

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31 March

Maurizio De Giovanni – crime writer

Detective novelist has opened up his native Naples to crime fiction fans

Bestselling author Maurizio De Giovanni was born on this day in 1958 in Naples in southern Italy.  His novels have been translated into English, Spanish, Catalan, French and German and have sold well over a million copies throughout Europe.  De Giovanni is best known for his two fictional detectives, Commissario Ricciardi, who works as a detective in 1930s Naples, and Ispettore Lojacono, who has been transferred to present day Naples from his home town of Agrigento in Sicily, after being accused of associating with the Mafia.  He has also written stories featuring a very different character, a social worker called Mina Settembre, who is based at a clinic in Naples specialising in providing psychological support.  In 2005, De Giovanni won a writing competition for unpublished authors with a short story, I vivi e i morti - The Living and the Dead -  which was set in the 1930s and featured the character Commissario Ricciardi.  He was working in a bank at the time, a job for which by his own admission he had no particular inclination but which paid the bills. Always known as a bookworm, he wrote stories that he would show his colleagues. Read more…

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Bianca Maria Visconti – Duchess of Milan

Ruler fought alongside her troops to defend her territory

Bianca Maria Visconti, the daughter of Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, was born on this day in 1425 near Settimo Pavese in Lombardy.  A strong character, her surviving letters showed she was able to run Milan efficiently after becoming Duchess and even supposedly donned a suit of armour and rode with her troops into battle, earning herself the nickname, Warrior Woman.  Bianca Maria was the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Milan, and was sent to live with her mother in comfortable conditions in a castle where she received a good education.  At the age of six she was betrothed for political reasons to the condottiero, Francesco I Sforza, who was 24 years older than her.  Despite the political situation changing many times over the years, Bianca Maria and Francesco Sforza did get married in 1441 when she was 16. The wedding took place in Cremona, which was listed as part of her dowry. The celebrations lasted several days and included a banquet, tournaments, a palio and a huge cake made in the shape of the city’s Torrazzo, the bell tower.  Bianca Maria quickly proved her skills in administration and diplomacy.  Read more…

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Franco Bonvicini – comic book artist

Comic artist became famous for satirising the Nazis

Franco Bonvicini, who signed his comic strips Bonvi, was born on this day in 1941 in either Parma or Modena in Emilia-Romagna.  The correct birthplace is unknown. According to the artist, his mother registered him in both places to obtain double the usual amount of food stamps for rations.  After a brief spell working in advertising, Bonvi made his debut in the comic strip world for the Rome newspaper Paese Sera with his creation Sturmtruppen in 1968.  This series satirising the German army was a big hit and was published in various periodicals over the years. It was also translated for publication in other countries.  Although left-wing and a pacifist, Bonvi was fascinated by war and built up immense knowledge about Nazi Germany’s uniforms, weapons and equipment, which he depicted faithfully in his illustrations. The cartoons satirised military life and the Nazis themselves, providing him with an endless source of comic and surreal situations.  Bonvi also created the character Nick Carter, a comic detective, who later featured in a play, two films and a number of television cartoons.  Read more…

Dante Giacosa - auto engineer

Designer known as ‘the father of the Cinquecento'

The automobile engineer Dante Giacosa, who worked for the Italian car maker Fiat for almost half a century and designed the iconic Fiat 500 - the Cinquecento - in all its incarnations as well as numerous other classic models, died on this day in 1996 at the age of 91.  Giacosa was the lead design engineer for Fiat from 1946 to 1970. As such, he was head of all Fiat car projects during that time and the direction of the company’s output was effectively entirely down to him.  In addition to his success with the Cinquecento, Giacosa’s Fiat 128, launched in 1969, became the template adopted by virtually every other manufacturer in the world for front-wheel drive cars.  His Fiat 124, meanwhile, was exported to the Soviet Union and repackaged as the Zhiguli, known in the West as the Lada, which introduced Soviet society of the 1970s to the then-bourgeois concept of private car ownership.  Born in Rome, where his father was undertaking military service, Giacosa's family roots were in Neive in southern Piedmont. He studied engineering at the Polytechnic University of Turin.  After completing his compulsory military service he joined Fiat in 1928.  Read more…

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Francesco Durante – composer and teacher

Musician devoted his life to passing on his composing skills to others

An esteemed composer of religious and instrumental music, Francesco Durante was born on this day in 1684 at Frattamaggiore near Naples.  Durante was a highly regarded teacher at the San Onofrio Conservatorio and the Santa Maria di Loreto Conservatorio and was also Chapelmaster at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesú Cristo in Naples.  He had some famous pupils, among whom were Niccoló Jommelli, Niccoló Piccinni and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, who became leading composers of the Neapolitan School of 18th century opera.  Durante studied music in Rome and at Naples, where he was a pupil at San Onofrio and is believed to have studied under Alessandro Scarlatti. He began his own teaching career at the San Onofrio Conservatorio in 1710.  Between 1728 and 1742 he also taught at Santa Maria Loreto and the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesú Cristo.  Then he succeeded Leonardo Leo as principal teacher at San Onofrio Conservatorio in 1745.  There was always rivalry between Leo’s students and his own pupils, who at various times included the composers Giovanni Paisiello, Tommaso Traetta and Leonardo Vinci.  Read more…

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Pope Benedict XIV

Bologna cardinal seen as great intellectual leader

Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, who would in his later years become Pope Benedict XIV, was born on this day in 1675 in Bologna.  Lambertini was a man of considerable intellect, considered one of the most erudite men of his time and arguably the greatest scholar of all the popes.  He promoted scientific learning, the Baroque arts, the reinvigoration of the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas and the study of the human form.  He was Bishop of Ancona at the age of 52, Archbishop of Bologna at 56 and Pope at 65 but at no time did he consider his elevation to these posts an honour upon which to congratulate himself.  He saw them as the opportunity to do good and tackled each job with zeal and energy. A man of cheerful character, he set out never to allow anyone to leave his company dissatisfied or angry, without feeling strengthened by his wisdom or advice.  He attracted some criticism for his willingness to make concessions or compromises in his negotiations with governments and rulers, yet his pursuit of peaceful accommodation was always paramount and historians have noted that few conflicts in which he sought to arbitrate remained unresolved.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Blood Curse: The Springtime of Commissario Ricciardi, by Maurizio De Giovanni

Ricciardi has visions. He sees and hears the final seconds in the lives of victims of violent deaths. It is both a gift and a curse. It has helped him become one of the most acute and successful homicide detectives in the Naples police force. But all that horror and suffering has hollowed him out emotionally. He drinks too much and sleeps too little. Other than his loyal partner, Brigadier Maione, he has no friends. Naples: 1931. In a working class apartment in the Sanita' neighborhood an elderly woman by the name of Carmela Calise has been viciously beaten to death. Commissario Ricciardi and Brigadier Maione arrive at the scene and start asking questions. No one wants to talk but slowly the neighbours let a few interesting facts slip out. Carmela Calise was moonlighting as a fortune-teller and moneylender. In her decrepit apartment she would receive clients, among them some of the city's rich and powerful, predicting their futures in such a way as to manipulate and deceive. If economic ruin lurked in their futures, Calise was happy to help. For a price, of course. She had many enemies, those who were indebted to her, or had been manipulated by her lies, disappointed by her prophesies or destroyed by her machinations. Murder suspects abound in this atmospheric thriller, and Commissario Ricciardi, one of the most original and intriguing investigators in contemporary crime fiction, has his work cut out for him.  Blood Curse is the second book in the Commissario Ricciardi series.

Maurizio de Giovanni’s Commissario Ricciardi books are bestsellers across Europe, having sold well over one million copies. He is also the author of the contemporary Neapolitan thriller, The Crocodile, and the contemporary Neapolitan series, The Bastards of Pizzofalcone. He lives in Naples with his family.

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30 March

NEW - Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Naples

Programme of reform launched to improve lives of citizens

People took to the streets to celebrate in Naples on this day in 1806 after Napoleon’s older brother, Joseph Bonaparte, was declared to be their new king. Joseph had been welcomed when he first arrived in Naples and was eager to be a popular monarch with his subjects. He kept most of the people who had held office under the Bourbons in their posts because he was anxious not to appear as a foreign oppressor.  Once he had established a provisional government in the capital of his new kingdom, he set off on a tour of inspection of his territory.  His immediate objective was to assess the feasibility of an invasion of Sicily to expel King Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina, who had fled to Palermo from Naples. But once he arrived at the Strait of Messina, he realized this was going to be impossible as the Bourbon monarchs had taken away all the boats and transport with them and their forces were grouped, alongside British troops, on the opposite side of the water ready to repel any invaders.  Therefore, he continued his progress through Calabria, Lucania, and Puglia, visiting the main villages in the regions and meeting the people so that they could get used to their new king.  Read more…

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Fortunato Depero - artist

Futurist who designed classic Campari bottle

The Futurist painter, sculptor and graphic artist Fortunato Depero, who left a famous mark on Italian culture by designing the conical bottle in which Campari Soda is still sold today, was born on this day in 1892 in the Trentino region.  Depero had a wide breadth of artistic talent, which encompassed painting, sculpture, architecture and graphic design. He designed magazine covers for the New Yorker, Vogue and Vanity Fair among others, created stage sets and costumes for the theatre, made sculptures and paintings and some consider his masterpiece to be the trade fair pavilion he designed for the 1927 Monza Biennale Internazionale delle Arti Decorative, which had giant block letters for walls.  Yet it is the distinctive Campari bottle that has endured longest of all his creations, which went into production in 1932 as the manufacturers of the famous aperitif broke new ground by deciding to sell a ready-made drink of Campari blended with soda water.  It was the first pre-mixed drink anyone had sold commercially and Depero, who was already working with the Milan-based company on a series of advertising posters and stylish black-and-white newspaper ads, was tasked with creating a unique miniature bottle in which the new product would be packaged..  Read more…

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Rimini Proclamation

Opening statement of the Risorgimento came from a Frenchman

The first political proclamation calling for all Italians to unite into a single people and drive out foreigners was issued on this day in 1815 in Rimini.  But the stirring words: ‘Italians! The hour has come to engage in your highest destiny…’ came from a Frenchman, Gioacchino (Joachim) Murat, who was at the time occupying the throne of Naples, which he had been given by his brother-in-law, Napoleon.  Murat had just declared war on Austria and used the Proclamation to call on Italians to revolt against the Austrians occupying Italy. He was trying to show himself as a backer of Italian independence in an attempt to find allies in his desperate battle to hang on to his own throne.  Although Murat was acting out of self-interest at the time, the Proclamation is often seen as the opening statement of the Risorgimento, the movement that helped to arouse the national consciousness of the Italian people. It led to a series of political events that freed the Italian states from foreign domination and unified them politically.  Murat’s Proclamation impressed the Milanese writer Alessandro Manzoni, who wrote a poem about it later that year, Il proclama di Rimini.  Read more…

The Sicilian Vespers

How the French lost control of the island they were ruling

As the citizens of Palermo walked to vespers - evening prayers - in the church of Santo Spirito on this day in 1282, a French soldier grossly insulted a pretty young Sicilian woman.  The girl’s enraged fiancé immediately drew his dagger and stabbed the soldier through the heart.  The violence was contagious and the local people exploded in fury against the French occupying forces. More than 200 French soldiers were killed at the outset and the violence spread to other parts of Sicily the next day resulting in a full-scale rebellion against French rule. This bloody event, which led to Charles of Anjou losing control of Sicily, became known in history as the Sicilian Vespers.  King Charles was detested for his cold-blooded cruelty and his officials had made the lives of the ordinary Sicilians miserable.  After he was overthrown, Sicily enjoyed almost a century of independence.  There have been different versions given of the events that led to the rebellion against the French and it is not known exactly how the uprising started.  But to many Italians the story of the Sicilian Vespers has always been inspirational.  Read more…

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Faustina Bordoni - mezzo-soprano

Brilliant career overshadowed by infamous on-stage fight

Faustina Bordoni, a fêted mezzo-soprano ranked as one of the finest opera singers of the 18th century, was born on this day in 1697 in Venice.  Such was her popularity that when she joined her husband, the German composer Johann Adolf Hasse, in the employment of the Court of Saxony, where Hasse was maestro di cappella, her salary was double his.  Yet for all her acting talent and vocal brilliance, Bordoni is more often remembered as one half of the so-called ‘rival queens’ engaged by George Frideric Handel to join the company of the booming Royal Academy of Music in London in the 1720s, where she and the Italian soprano Francesca Cuzzoni allegedly came to blows on stage.  Born into a respected Venetian family, Bordoni’s musical talent was nurtured by the composers Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello and by her singing teacher, Michelangelo Gasparini.  She made her debut in Venice at the age of 19 in Carlo Francesco Pollarolo's Ariodante. The quality of her voice excited the critics, while audiences were instantly charmed by her youthful beauty and stage presence.  Read more…

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Ignazio Gardella – architect

Modernist who created Venetian classic

The engineer and architect Ignazio Gardella, considered one of the great talents of modern urban design in Italy, was born on this day in 1905 in Milan.  He represented the fourth generation in a family of architects and his destiny was determined at an early age. He graduated in civil engineering in Milan in 1931 and architecture in Venice in 1949.  Gardella designed numerous buildings during an active career that spanned almost six decades, including the Antituberculosis Dispensary in Alessandria, which is considered one of the purest examples of Italian Rationalism, and the Casa alle Zattere on the Giudecca Canal in Venice, in which he blended modernism with classical style in a way that has been heralded as genius.  During his university years, he made friends with many young architects from the Milan area and together they created the Modern Italian Movement.  He worked with his father, Arnaldo, on a number of projects while still studying.  On graduating, he set up an office in Milan, although he spent a good part of his early career travelling, sometimes with a commission but at other times to study.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Masterpieces of Italian Design, by Charlotte and Peter Fiell and Catharine Rossi

Design in Italy has always reflected the national identity of the Italians themselves: sexy, stylish, and innovative, and with more than a touch of audacity. No other country takes design so seriously, nor treats its leading practitioners with such reverence. In Italy a design is never just a product, but an expression of culture. There is a strongly held belief that good design should be implemented across all aspects of life, or as the architect Ernesto Rogers put it, "from the spoon to the city". Masterpieces of Italian Design is an overview of the past two centuries in Italian design and manufacturing. This new title documents the 100 most pioneering designs to come out of Italy, and explains why, with stunning images (including rare archival photographs, illustrations and patent drawings) and explanatory texts. The Italian design community is at the forefront of modern design practice and has pioneered many styles and movements, from Rationalism to Post-Modernism and Late-Modern. This new book features the ultimate examples of Italian design from among others Alessi, B&B Italia, Cappellini, Cassina, Ducati, Ferrari, Fiat, Kartell, Lamborghini, Luceplan, Magis, Moroso, Pagani, and Riva.

Charlotte and Peter Fiell are internationally renowned authorities on the history, theory and criticism of design and have written over 70 books on the subject, many of which have gone on to become bestsellers.  Catharine Rossi is a context lecturer at the University of Edinburgh Design School who specializes in the study of Italian design.

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Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Naples

Programme of reform launched to improve lives of citizens

Joseph Bonaparte was the older brother
of the French emperor Napoleon

People took to the streets to celebrate in Naples on this day in 1806 after Napoleon’s older brother, Joseph Bonaparte, was declared to be their new king.

Joseph had been welcomed when he first arrived in Naples and was eager to be a popular monarch with his subjects. He kept most of the people who had held office under the Bourbons in their posts because he was anxious not to appear as a foreign oppressor.

Once he had established a provisional government in the capital of his new kingdom, he set off on a tour of inspection of his territory.

His immediate objective was to assess the feasibility of an invasion of Sicily to expel King Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina, who had fled to Palermo from Naples. But once he arrived at the Strait of Messina, he realized this was going to be impossible as the Bourbon monarchs had taken away all the boats and transport with them and their forces were grouped, alongside British troops, on the opposite side of the water ready to repel any invaders.

Therefore, he continued his progress through Calabria, Lucania, and Puglia, visiting the main villages in the regions and meeting the people so that they could get used to their new king.

Joseph embarked on an ambitious programme of reform in Naples and the south of Italy to raise his new kingdom to the level of a modern state in the style of Napoleonic France. He improved the economy, introduced more education for girls and took measures to make life better for ordinary people.

Joseph was the older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte and had trained as a lawyer. He helped his younger brother to overthrow the Directory, the committee who were governing the French First Republic, and, as a Minister in Napoleon’s Government, had signed a treaty of friendship and commerce between France and the United States.

Julie, Joseph's wife, was
sent to support her husband

When war broke out between France and Austria, Ferdinand IV of Naples had agreed to a treaty of neutrality with Napoleon, but a few days later he declared his support for Austria.

In December 1805, Napoleon declared Ferdinand to be ‘faithless’, and to have forfeited his position, and said that an invasion of Naples would follow.

He sent his brother, Joseph, to Rome to command an army to dispossess Ferdinand of his throne. 

On February 8, 1806, a French army of 40,000 men advanced on Naples, meeting little resistance. The British and Russian forces in the area retreated and King Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina went to Sicily.

Gaeta and Capua put up a token resistance, but by February 14 the French had taken Naples,  and Joseph Bonaparte was able to enter the city in triumph the following day.

The French seized control of the Strait of Messina and defeated the Neapolitan Royal Army at the Battle of Campo Tenese, securing the mainland for the French.

On March 30, Napoleon issued a decree, installing his brother, Joseph, as King of Naples and Sicily.

Joseph’s wife, Julie, who had remained in Paris, became Queen Consort of Naples and Napoleon sent her to support her husband in 1808 when he was facing a rebellion.

While she was there, she supported educational projects for girls such as a college for the daughters of public functionaries in Aversa.

After the French invaded Spain, the couple became King and Queen of Spain, and Joseph was replaced as ruler of Naples by his sister’s husband, Joachim Murat.

After they left Naples, they were reputed to have taken valuables with them. The comment made by local people at the time was:  "The King arrived like a sovereign, and left like a brigand. The Queen arrived in rags and left like a sovereign.”

How the Bay of Naples looked in the early 19th
century, according to a contemporary lithograph

Travel tip:

Naples and Sicily were part of an independent and prosperous kingdom from the beginning of the 18th century until the start of the French Revolution. In 1799, Napoleon's army reached Naples, creating the short-lived Parthenopean Republic, ruled by Joseph Bonaparte for part of the time. Joseph Bonaparte and his successor, Joachim Murat both took up residence in the Royal Palace in Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples. Building work had started on the palace after 1600 and it became the main residence of the Bourbons from the 1730s,  after Charles III of Spain became King of Naples. Joseph Bonaparte and Joachim Murat both carried out extensive redecoration work on the palace while they were living there. They had to substantially refurnish the palace because Ferdinand IV had emptied it before escaping to Palermo.

The Strait of Messina: Reggio Calabria is in
the foreground; Mount Etna on the Sicily side

Travel tip:

The Strait of Messina is a narrow stretch of water between Sicily’s most eastern tip and Calabria’s most western tip. It connects the Tyrrhenian sea to the north with the Ionian sea to the south. At its narrowest point it is just 3.1 km wide. A ferry service connects Messina on Sicily with the mainland of Italy at Villa San Giovanni, a port city a few kilometres north of Reggio Calabria. The possibility of building a bridge across the Strait of Messina to link Sicily with the mainland has been discussed for many years. Silvio Berlusconi’s Government announced plans for a bridge in 2009 but these were cancelled in 2013. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni revived the plans with a decree in 2022.

Also on this day:

1282: The Sicilian Vespers uprising

1697: The birth of mezzo-soprano Faustina Bordoni

1815: Joachim Murat’s Rimini Proclamation

1892: The birth of Futurist painter and graphic designer Fortunato Depero

1905: The birth of architect Ignazio Gardella

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