Angelina Mango - singer-songwriter

2024 Sanremo winner whose parents both competed for coveted prize

Angelina Mango represented Italy at
Eurovision after winning at Sanremo

The singer-songwriter Angelina Mango, whose career reached its high point so far when she won Italy’s annual Sanremo Festival in 2024, was born on this day in 2001 in the town of Maratea in Basilicata.

Mango’s father, Pino Mango, who died in 2014, was a seven-times contestant at Sanremo between 1985 and 2007, achieving his highest finish on his final appearance, when Chissà se nevica - Who Knows if it Snows - placed fifth on the overall vote.

Her mother, Laura Valente, twice trod the famous stage at the Ariston Theatre - Sanremo’s host venue since 1977 - as the lead singer with the group Matia Bazar, finishing fourth in 1993 with Dedicato a te (Dedicated to You).

Angelina Mango’s victory came at the first attempt at the age of 22 when her song La noia (Boredom), which she co-wrote, won the most votes in a strong field.

She was the first female singer to win Sanremo since Arisa triumphed with Contravento (Against the Wind) in 2014.

Following a tradition whereby the winner of the Festival of Italian Song, to give Sanremo its official title, is invited to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, Mango presented a shortened version of La noia in the final in Malmo in May, finishing a respectable seventh out of 25 contestants.

Mango grew up in Lagonegro, a small town in the northern part of Basilicata where her father was born. She wrote her first song at the age of six, entitled Mi sono innamorata di me (I Fell in Love with Myself). Growing up close to her older brother, Filippo, she was performing for audiences even before entering her teens, singing in a band called Black Lake, in which Filippo played the drums. 

Angelina Mango's father, Pino, performing at his
first Sanremo Festival, 39 years before his daughter

Her voice was good enough for her to sing backing vocals on some of her father’s recordings and even record a duet with him, a version of The Beatles hit Get Back, which featured on what proved tragically to be his final studio album, L’amore e invisibile (Love is Invisible), in May 2014.

In December of the same year, while performing in a charity concert, Pino - generally known simply as Mango - suffered a fatal heart attack on stage at the age of 60.

Pino’s death had a profound effect on Angelina’s life. She quit high school and in 2016 moved with her mother and brother to Milan, her mother’s home city. She enrolled to study modern literature at another high school but dropped out after a month.

When Filippo, who is five years older, began to play the drums in a band in Milan, she joined as a singer.  Audiences began to appreciate her vocal talent and in 2020 she released her first single and EP. In 2021 she performed in Milan Music Week and entered Sanremo Giovani, a competition for up-and-coming young artists that runs parallel to the main festival, although she did not make the televised final rounds.

After signing a contract with Sony Music, her first major break came in 2022 when she participated in Amici di Maria De Filippi, a talent show on Canale 5, Italy’s biggest commercial television channel, in which she won the singing section and finished second overall.

Eyecatching costumes are part of
Angelina Mango's performing style

The appearance provided the platform for a series of successful singles and she was invited to perform at a number of important concerts, including the New Year’s Eve special - Capodanno in musica - on Canale 5.

More singles followed, with Che t’o dico a fa’ (What Did I Tell You to Do?) climbing to No 2 in the Italian singles charts, followed by a sell-out tour.

Success at Sanremo came in February 2024, her performances at the festival, which spans five nights and is broadcast live on Rai Uno, including an emotional interpretation of La rondine - The Swallow - a song written by her father.

Three months after Sanremo, Mango released her first album, Poké melodrama. She was invited to perform the single Melodrama during the final of Amici di Maria De Filippi. The album’s songs became part of the soundtrack of the Italian summer and Poké Melodrama reached No 1 in the Italian album charts.  Another single from the album, Per due come noi - For Two Like Us - a duet performed with Olly, the singer-songwriter and rapper who would win Sanremo 2025, climbed to No 1 in the singles chart.

The only downside of an otherwise highly successful 2025 came right at the end, when a major new tour of Italy had to be cancelled after just three performances when Angelina developed inflammation of the pharynx, which meant she was unable to sing.

The enormous statue of Christ the Redeemer 
looms over Maratea and the surrounding area

Travel tip:

Maratea, the town where Angelina Mango was born, today refers to a collection of settlements near the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea of which the most interesting is Maratea itself, an historic hilltop village of steep, narrow streets and 44 churches around a charming central square, Piazza Buraglia, which has an elegant fountain at its centre and a variety of shops, bars and restaurants. Lively in the evenings, it has been likened to the famous Piazzetta di Capri, but without the hordes of visitors. The coastline below the village, a natural paradise of fine sandy beaches interspersed with rocky cliffs, has seen Maratea referred to as the Pearl of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Looming above the area is the enormous statue of Christ the Redeemer, a structure made from a mixture of concrete, white cement and marble from Carrara that was erected at the summit of nearby Monte San Biagio in 1965. At 21 metres (69ft) high and with an arm span of 19m (62ft), it is second in size only to the Christ of Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro. 

The church of St Nicholas sits atop a promontory
in the mediæval village of Lagonegro in Basilicata

Travel tip: 

Situated in the valley of the Noce river some 27km (17 miles) northeast of Maratea, Lagonegro, where Angelina Mango grew up and the birthplace of her father, Pino, is a picturesque mediæval village that probably took its name from the dark waters of an Apennine lake once located nearby. The village is divided into two parts: the old village, which clings to a promontory around the ruins of the feudal castle, in which the Church of St. Nicholas, dating back to the 10th century, is the most prominent feature, and the new part, characterised by a large tree-lined square known locally as the "Piano". The old village, enclosed by the remains of the medieval towers and walls, is accessed via a scenic flight of steps leading to an entrance gate known as the Porta di Ferro.  Lagonegro attracts tourists in the winter, thanks to the ski slopes of nearby Mount Sirino, and in summer for its walking trails among the cool forests.

Also on this day:

1598: The death of philosopher Jacopo Mazzoni

1762: The birth of physicist and professor Giovanni Aldini

1886: The death of physician and Garibaldi strategist Agostino Bertani

1920: The birth of politician Nilde Iotti

1926: An airship leaves Rome to make the first flight over the North Pole

1991: Moby Prince car ferry disaster

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9 April

Gian Maria Volonté – actor

Brilliant talent who played ‘spaghetti western’ parts for fun

Gian Maria Volonté, recognised as one of the finest character actors Italy has produced, was born on this day in 1933 in Milan.  Trained at the Silvio D’Amico National Academy of the Dramatic Arts in Rome, Volonté became famous outside Italy for playing the villain to Clint Eastwood’s hero in two movies in Sergio Leone’s western trilogy that were part of a genre dubbed the ‘spaghetti westerns’.  However, he insisted he accepted the chance to appear in A Fistful of Dollars (1964) – in which he appeared under the pseudonym John Wells - and For a Few Dollars More (1964) simply to earn some money and did not regard the parts of Ramon and El Indio as serious.  In Italy, it was for the much heavier roles given to him by respected directors such as Elio Petri and Francesco Rosi that he won huge critical acclaim.  A person known for a tempestuous private life, he was very strong playing complex and neurotic characters, while his left-wing political leanings attracted him to roles in which he had to portray individuals from real life.  He was a particular favourite of Rosi, the neorealist director who directed him in five movies.  Read more…

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Treaty of Lodi

When the battles stopped (briefly) in northern Italy

The Treaty of Lodi, which brought peace between rival states in the north of Italy for 40 years, was signed on this day in 1454 at Lodi in Lombardy.  Also known as the Peace of Lodi, it established a balance of power among Venice, Milan, Naples, Florence and the Papal States.  Venice had been faced with a threat to its commercial empire from the Ottoman Turks and was eager for peace and Francesco Sforza, who had been proclaimed Duke by the people of Milan, was also keen for an end to the costly battles.  By the terms of the peace, Sforza was recognised as ruler of Milan and Venice regained its territory in northern Italy, including Bergamo and Brescia in Lombardy.  The treaty was signed at the Convent of San Domenico in Via Tito Fanfulla in Lodi, where a plaque today marks the building, no longer a convent.  Milan’s allies, Florence, Mantua and Genoa, and Venice’s allies, Naples, Savoy and Montferrat, had no choice but to agree.  A 25-year mutual defensive pact was agreed to maintain existing boundaries and an Italian league, Lega Italica, was set up.  The states promised to defend one another in the event of an attack.  Read more…

Patty Pravo - pop singer of enduring fame

Venetian artist's career has spanned 50 years

The pop singer Patty Pravo was born Nicoletta Strambelli on this day in 1948. Her career spans more than 50 years since she took her first steps on the road to fame with the release of her first single, Ragazzo Triste.  Pravo has recorded 27 albums and 52 singles, selling more than 110 million records, making her the third biggest selling Italian artist of all time.  Her album, Eccomi, was released in February 2016 following her ninth appearance at the Sanremo Music Festival, and she promoted the album with a tour of Italy. Born in Venice, she grew up in an intellectual environment. Family friends included Cardinal Angelo Roncalli - the future Pope John XXIII - the actor Cesco Baseggio, the soprano Toti dal Monte and the American poet Ezra Pound, who lived in Venice and would take the young Nicoletta for walks and buy her ice cream.  She would spend time too at the house of Peggy Guggenheim, the American socialite and art collector.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: A History of Italian Cinema Paperback, by Peter Bondanella and Federico Pacchioni

The second edition of A History of Italian Cinema is the much anticipated update from the author of the bestselling Italian Cinema - which has been published in four landmark editions and celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2023. Building upon decades of research, Peter Bondanella and Federico Pacchioni reorganise the previous edition in order to keep the book fresh and responsive not only to the actual films being created in Italy in the 21st century but also to the rapidly changing priorities of Italian film studies and film scholars.  The new edition brings the definitive history of the subject, from the birth of cinema to the present day, up to date with a revised filmography as well as more focused attention on the melodrama, the crime film, and the historical drama. The book is expanded to include a new generation of directors as well as to highlight themes such as gender issues, immigration, and media politics. Accessible, comprehensive, and heavily illustrated throughout, this is an essential purchase for any fan of Italian film.

Peter Bondanella is the author of a number of groundbreaking books, including Hollywood Italians, The Cinema of Federico Fellini, and The Films of Roberto Rossellini. In 2009, he was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and the Arts for his contributions to the history of Italian cinema and his translations or editions of Italian literary classics (Dante, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Vasari, Cellini).  Federico Pacchioni is Sebastian Paul & Marybelle Musco Chair of Italian Studies at Chapman University, Orange, California, USA.

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8 April

Lorenzo the Magnificent - Renaissance ruler

Patron of the arts who sponsored Michelangelo and Botticelli

Lorenzo de’ Medici, the ruler of Florence usually known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, died on this day in 1492 in the Medici villa at Careggi, just to the north of the city.  He was only 43 and is thought to have developed gangrene as a result of an inherited genetic condition.  He had survived an assassination attempt 14 years earlier in what became known as the Pazzi Conspiracy, in which his brother, Giuliano, was killed.  The grandson of Cosimo de’ Medici, Lorenzo was a strict ruler but history has judged him as a benevolent despot, whose reign coincided with a period of stability and peace in relations between the Italian states.  He helped maintain the Peace of Lodi, a treaty agreed in 1454 between Milan, Naples and Florence which was signed by his grandfather.  However, he is most remembered as an enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture, providing support for poets, scholars and artists, notably Michelangelo and Botticelli.  He contributed more than anyone to the flowering of Florentine genius during the second half of the 15th century.  Read more…

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Federico Caprilli - equestrian pioneer

Study of horses revolutionised jumping techniques

Federico Caprilli, the Italian cavalry officer who revolutionised the way horse riders jump fences, was born on this day in 1868 in Livorno.  One of four children born to Enrico Caprilli and his wife, Elvira, Federico was bent on an army career from an early age. He enrolled as a cadet at military college in Florence at 13 years old, subsequently transferring to Rome and then Modena. He had no riding experience at the start, and when he graduated with the rank of lieutenant, though an excellent gymnast and proficient fencer, his horsemanship was marked as ‘poor’.  Nonetheless, he was assigned to the Royal Piedmont cavalry regiment, where his job, at a time when the introduction of weapons such as the Gatling Gun was negating any battlefield advantage a soldier had from being mounted, was to train horses for new combat roles, such as springing surprise attacks in difficult terrain.  It was there that he observed the way horses jumped obstacles and concluded that conventional beliefs about the way a horse should be ridden over jumps were entirely wrong.  Until Caprilli came along, it was accepted that the rider should use long stirrups and approach a fence leaning back in the saddle.  Read more…

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Giuseppe Tartini – composer and violinist

Baroque musician also contributed to science

Giuseppe Tartini, who was influential in the development of music by establishing the modern style of violin bowing, was born on this day in 1692 in Pirano in the Republic of Venice.  A violinist, baroque composer, and theorist, Tartini also formulated the principles of musical ornamentation and harmony.  His birthplace of Pirano was part of Venetian territory in the 17th century but is now named Piran and is part of Slovenia.  Tartini spent most of his career in Padua, where he went to study divinity and law and became an expert at fencing. Before he reached the age of 20, he had secretly married a protegee of the archbishop of Padua, but this led to him being arrested. He disguised himself as a monk and fled the city, taking refuge in a monastery in Assisi.  Later, he was allowed to return to his wife by the archbishop of Padua after news that his violin playing had attracted favourable attention had reached him.  Tartini became principal violinist and maestro di cappella at the Basilica of Sant’Antonio in 1721 and he was invited to Prague in 1723 to direct the orchestra of the Chancellor of Bohemia.  Read more…

Gaetano Donizetti - operatic genius

The day the music died

A prolific composer of operas in the first half of the 19th century, Gaetano Donizetti died on this day in 1848 in Bergamo in Lombardy.  Donizetti had returned to his native city after a brilliant international career to spend his last days in the Palazzo Scotti in the Città Alta, the upper town.  By then seriously ill, he was looked after by friends in the gracious surroundings of the palazzo until his death. His tomb is in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, where it is marked by a white, marble monument.  Donizetti has since become acknowledged as the greatest composer of lyrical opera of all time. He was a major influence on Verdi, Puccini and other composers who came after him.  His best and most famous operas are considered to be Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Pasquale and L’elisir d’amore.  In Via Sentierone in Bergamo’s lower town there is an elaborate white marble monument to the composer next to Teatro Donizetti, which was renamed in his honour in 1897 on the centenary of his birth.  Donizetti’s casa natale (birthplace), is in Via Borgo Canale just outside the walls of the upper town. It has now been declared a national monument and is open free to visitors every weekend.  Read more…

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Renzo De Felice - historian

Mussolini biographer whose views on fascism aroused anger

The controversial historian Renzo De Felice, best known for his 6,000-page four-volume biography of Benito Mussolini, was born on this day in 1929 in Rieti, the northernmost city in Lazio.  Although De Felice was Jewish and his other major work described in detail the persecution of Jews in Italy under Mussolini’s rule, he sparked considerable anger by arguing that the postwar world view of fascism should be revised to recognise that the ideology in itself was not inherently evil.  De Felice contended that fascism as a political movement in Italy was not the same as Fascism as a regime, arguing that the former was a revolutionary middle-class ideology that had its roots in the progressive thinking of the Age of Enlightenment.  He argued that the ideology was effectively hijacked by Mussolini to provide the superstructure for his dictatorship and personal ambition and that fascism itself, as distinct from Mussolini’s interpretation, was a valid political concept, not just something to be demonised and dismissed in simplistic terms.  It was an argument that was respected by many intellectuals, even some who were staunchly anti-Fascist.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, by Christopher Hibbert

At its height. Renaissance Florence was a centre of enormous wealth, power and influence. A republican city-state funded by trade and banking, its often bloody political scene was dominated by rich mercantile families, the most famous of which were the Medici. The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici is an enthralling book that charts the family’s huge influence on the political, economic and cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the near-legendary Cosimo de Medici, it moves through their golden era as patrons of some of the most remarkable artists and architects of the Renaissance, to the era of the Medici Popes and Grand Dukes, Florence’s slide into decay and bankruptcy, and the end, in 1737, of the Medici line.

Christopher Hibbert was an English writer, historian and biographer. Probably the most widely-read popular historian of the 20th century, his many books included Benito Mussolini: A Biography, Garibaldi and His Enemies, The Borgias and Their Enemies, and histories of Rome, Venice and Florence. 

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7 April

Giovanni Battista Rubini - opera singer

Tenor was as famous in his day as Caruso

Giovanni Battista Rubini, born on this day in 1794, was a tenor as famous in his day as Enrico Caruso would be almost a century later, his voice having contributed to the popularity of opera composers Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti.   He was the first 19th-century non-castrati singer to become a major international star after two centuries in which audiences and composers were obsessed with the castrati.  Rubini's exceptionally high voice could match the coloratura of the castrati and he effectively launched the era of the bel canto tenor, which signalled the end of the dominance of the castrati.  Rubini was just 12 when he was taken on as a violinist and chorister at the Riccardi Theatre in Bergamo, not far from his home town of Romano di Lombardia. He was 20 when he made his professional debut in Pietro Generali’s Le lagrime d’una vedova at Pavia in 1814, then sang for 10 years in Naples in the smaller, comic opera houses.  Famed for a voice capable of reaching beyond the range of conventional tenors, particularly in the higher registers, in 1825 he sang the leading roles in Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Otello, and La donna del lago in Paris.  Read more…

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Gino Severini - painter and mosaicist

Tuscan was leading figure in Futurist movement

The painter and mosaicist Gino Severini, who was an important figure in the Italian Futurist movement in the early 20th century and is regarded as  one of the most progressive of all 20th century Italian artists, was born on this day in 1883 in the hilltop town of Cortona in Tuscany.  He divided his time largely between Rome and Paris, where he died in 1966. Although he was a signatory - along with Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russol and Giacomo Balla - of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti’s Manifesto of Futurist Painters in 1910, his work was not altogether typical of the movement.  Indeed, ultimately he rejected Futurism, moving on to Cubism, having become friends with Cubist painters Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in Paris, before ultimately turning his interest to Neo-Classicism and the Return to Order movement that followed the First World War.  He attracted criticism among his peers by his associations with the Fascist-supporting Novecento Italiano movement, whose work became closely linked with state propaganda. Severini was involved with Benito Mussolini's "Third Rome" project, supplying murals and mosaics for Fascist architectural structures inspired by imperial Rome. Read more…

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The 1906 Vesuvius eruption

Deadliest incident of the 20th century

One of the most violent eruptions in the history of Mount Vesuvius reached its peak on this day in 1906, killing probably in excess of 200 people. The volcano, most famous for the 79AD eruption that buried the city of Pompeii and may have claimed  between 13,000 to 16,000 victims, had been spewing lava for almost 11 months, treating the residents of nearby Naples to regular fireworks displays.  On 5 April, 1906, an indication that a major eruption was imminent came in a failure in the water supply drawn from wells on the mountain sides, with such water as was still flowing having a strong taste of sulphur. The expulsions of lava became more explosive and an ash cloud began to form in the sky above the crater.  In the preceding days, there had been an earthquake on the island of Ustica some 130km (81 miles) away, which was thought to be connected to the Vesuvius eruption.  On the evening of 7 April came the biggest explosion, as well as three earthquakes felt in the city of Naples, which were said to cause much panic, but no particular damage.  That could not be said of some of the villages at the foot of the mountain, in particular Boscotrecase.  Read more…

Domenico Dragonetti - musician

Venetian was best double bass player in Europe

The composer and musician Domenico Dragonetti  - Europe's finest double bass virtuoso - was born on this day in 1763 in Venice.  Apart from the fame his talent brought him, Dragonetti is remembered as the musician who opened the eyes of Ludwig van Beethoven and other composers to the potential of the double bass.  They met in Vienna in 1799 and experts believe it was Dragonetti’s influence that led Beethoven to include passages for double bass in his Fifth Symphony.   From 1794 onwards until his death in 1846 at the age of 83, Dragonetti lived in London but it was in Venice that he established his reputation.  The son of a barber who was also a musician, Domenico Carlo Maria Dragonetti taught himself to play the guitar and the double bass as a child using his father’s instruments.  It was not long before word of his precocious ability spread and he was sent to the Ducal Palace of San Marco for tuition from Michele Berini, who was widely respected as the best double bass player in Venice.  Berini declared after only 11 lessons that there was nothing more he could teach the young Dragonetti.  Read more…

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Marco Delvecchio - footballer

Striker who became TV dance show star

The former Roma and Italy striker Marco Delvecchio, who launched a new career in television after finishing runner-up in the Italian equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing, was born on this day in 1973 in Milan.  Delvecchio scored 83 goals in exactly 300 appearances for Roma, where he was part of the side that won the scudetto in 2000-01 and where he became a huge favourite with fans of the giallorossi because of his penchant for scoring against city rivals Lazio.  His record of nine goals in the Rome derby between 2002 and 2009 was the best by any player in the club’s history until that mark was overtaken by the Roma great Francesco Totti, whose career tally against Lazio was 11.  Delvecchio’s talents were somewhat underappreciated at international level. He made 22 appearances for the azzurri and the first of his four goals was in the final of Euro 2000 against France, although he finished on the losing side. Yet after being favoured by Dino Zoff, he was not so popular with Zoff’s successor as head coach, Giovanni Trapattoni, who took him to the 2002 World Cup but did not give him a game, and omitted him from his squad for the 2004 Euros.  Read more…

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Book of the day: Giovanni Battista Rubini and the Bel Canto Tenors: History and Technique, by Dan H Marek

Giovanni Battista Rubini (1794-1854) was the first 19th-century non-castrati male singer to become an international star of opera. Rubini stood apart because he not only matched the castrati in coloratura and pathos, but he also had an extraordinarily high voice. With Rubini's rise, and in his wake, several tenors came to sing roles written specifically for them by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and many other lesser-known bel canto composers. Signaling the end of the dominance of castrati on stage, this period would last some forty years until the advent of grand opera, Wagner, and Verdi and the appearance of the first so-called High C from the chest by Gilbert-Louis Duprez in 1837. Since then, the accepted tenor sound has followed the tradition epitomized by Enrico Caruso and, more recently, Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Opera directors and opera performers of late who have expressed an interest in reviving selected masterpieces from the bel canto tradition have found themselves confronted with the problem of locating tenors versed in the vocal techniques necessary to carry the high tessituras. In Giovanni Battista Rubini and the Bel Canto Tenors: History and Technique, Dan H. Marek explores the extraordinary life of Rubini in order to frame this special period in the history of opera and connect the technique of the castrati who were among Rubini's instructors. Drawing on the work of Berton Coffin, Marek offers long-sought answers to the challenges presented by high tessitura of bel canto operas for tenors. To further assist working singers, Giovanni Battista Rubini and the Bel Canto Tenors includes over 60 pages of exercises written by Rubini himself.  

Dan H Marek is a distinguished international singer, teacher, and writer who has appeared as a principal tenor at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and the Salzburg Opera. He is a teacher of voice at Mannes College of Music in New York City.

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