10 April

NEW - Angelina Mango - singer-songwriter

2024 Sanremo winner whose parents both competed for coveted prize

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 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, she performed a shortened version of La noia in the final of that competition in Malmo in May. Read more…

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Giovanni Aldini - physicist

Professor thought to given Mary Shelley the idea for Frankenstein

The physicist and professor Giovanni Aldini, whose experiment in trying to bring life to a human corpse is thought to have inspired Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, was born on this day in 1762 in Bologna.  The nephew of Luigi Galvani, who discovered the phenomenon that became known as galvanism, one of Aldini’s goals in life was to build on his uncle’s work in the field of bioelectricity.  Galvani’s discovery that the limbs of a dead frog could be made to move by the stimulation of electricity sparked an intellectual argument with his rival physicist Alessandro Volta that he found uncomfortable. When he was then removed from his academic and public positions after Bologna became part of the French Cisalpine Republic in the late 18th century, Galvani was unable to progress his experiments as he would have liked.  Aldini essentially picked up his uncle’s mantle and was determined to discover whether the effect of an electrical impulse on the body of a frog could be reproduced in a human being.  His most famous experiment came in 1803, when he was given permission to test his electrical equipment on the corpse of George Forster shortly after he had been hanged at Newgate Prison in London.  Read more…

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Agostino Bertani – physician and politician

Compassionate doctor was Garibaldi’s friend and strategist

Agostino Bertani, who worked with Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi to liberate Italy, died on this day in 1886 in Rome.  He had been a surgeon in Garibaldi’s corps in the Austro-Sardinian War of 1859 and personally treated Garibaldi’s wounds after the military leader lost the Battle of Aspromonte in 1862.  Bertani became a hero to the Italian people for his work organising ambulances and medical services during Garibaldi’s campaigns and he became a close friend and strategist to the military leader.  Born in Milan in 1812, Bertani's family had many friends with liberal ideals and his mother took part in anti-Austrian conspiracies.  At the age of 23, Bertani graduated from the faculty of medicine at the Borromeo College in Pavia and became an assistant to the professor of surgery there.  He took part in the 1848 uprising in Milan and directed a military hospital for Italian casualties. He organised an ambulance service for soldiers defending Rome in 1849 and distinguished himself by his service in Genoa with Mazzini during the cholera epidemic of 1854.  In 1860 Bertani was one of the strategists who planned the attack on Sicily and Naples known as the Expedition of the Thousand.  Read more…

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From Rome to the North Pole

Aeronautical history launched from Ciampino airport

On this day in 1926, an airship took off from Ciampino airport in Rome on the first leg of what would be an historic journey culminating in the first flight over the North Pole.  The expedition was the brainchild of the Norwegian polar explorer and expedition leader Roald Amundsen, but the pilot was the airship's designer, aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile, who had an Italian crew.  They were joined in the project by millionaire American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth who, along with the Aero Club of Norway, financed the trip which was known as the Amundsen-Ellsworth 1926 Transpolar Flight.  Nobile - born in Lauro, near Avellino in Campania - designed the 160 metres long craft on behalf of the Italian State Airship factory, who sold it to Ellsworth for $75,000.  Amundsen named the airship Norge, which means Norway in his native tongue.  The first leg of the flight north was due to have left Rome on 6 April but was delayed due to strong winds until the 10th.  The first stop-off point was at the Pulham Airship Station in England, from where it took off again for Oslo on 12 April. Three days later Nobile, Amundsen, Ellsworth and the crew flew on to Gatchina, near Leningrad, the journey taking 17 hours because of dense fog.  Read more…

Nilde Iotti – politician

The 'best President of the Republic that Italy never had'

Leonilde Iotti, who was later known as Nilde Iotti and became Italy’s most important and respected female politician, was born on this day in 1920 in Reggio Emilia.  She was both the first female president of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian parliament and the longest serving, occupying the position from 1979 to 1992.   Her father, Egidio, was a socialist trade unionist but he died when she was a teenager. Thanks to a scholarship, she was able to attend the Catholic University of Milan. She graduated in 1942 and joined the National Fascist Party, which she was obliged to do in order to become a teacher.  Iotti was an underground member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and during World War II she was an active member of the Resistance movement, setting up and leading women’s defence groups.  After the war, Iotti was elected to the Constituent Assembly and was one of the 75 members who drafted the Constitution in 1946.  It was at this time that she started her relationship with the PCI leader, Palmiro Togliatti, who was 27 years older than her. They stayed together until his death in 1964.  To begin with their relationship was kept secret but, after an attempt on his life in 1948, it became public knowledge.  Read more…

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The Moby Prince disaster

Tragic toll of collision between ferry and tanker

The worst maritime catastrophe to occur in Italian waters in peacetime took place on this day in 1991 when a car ferry collided with an oil tanker near the harbour entrance at Livorno on the coast of Tuscany.  The collision sparked a fire that claimed the lives of 140 passengers and crew and left only one survivor.  The vessels involved were the MV Moby Prince, a car ferry en route from Livorno to Olbia, the coastal city in north-east Sardinia, and the 330-metres long oil tanker, Agip Abruzzo.  The ferry departed Livorno shortly after 22.00 for a journey scheduled to last eight and a half hours but had been under way for only a few minutes when it struck the Agip Abruzzo, which was at anchor near the harbour mouth.  The ferry’s prow sliced into one of the Agip Abruzzo's tanks, which contained 2,700 tonnes of crude oil.  The impact caused some oil to spill into the sea and a large amount to be sprayed over the ferry.  A fire broke out, which set light to the oil both on the surface of the water and on the ferry itself.  Within moments, the Moby Prince was engulfed in flames.  Although the loss of life was so tragically large the toll might have been much worse.  Read more…

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Jacopo Mazzoni – philosopher

Brilliant scholar could recite long passages from Dante

Jacopo Mazzoni, a University professor with a phenomenal memory who was a friend of Galileo Galilei, died on this day in 1598 in Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna.  Mazzoni, also sometimes referred to as Giacomo Mazzoni, was regarded as one of the most eminent scholars of his period. His excellent powers of recall made him adept at recalling passages from Dante, Lucretius, Virgil and other writers during his regular debates with prominent academics. He relished taking part in memory contests, which he usually won.  Mazzoni was born in Cesena in Emilia-Romagna in 1548 and was educated at Bologna in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, rhetoric and poetics. He later attended the University of Padua where he studied philosophy and jurisprudence.  He became an authority on ancient languages and philology and promoted the scientific study of the Italian language.  Although Mazzoni wrote a major work on philosophy, he became well known for his works on literary criticism, in particular for his writing in defence of Dante’s Divine Comedy - Discorso in Difesa Della Commedia della Divina Poeta Dante - published in 1572.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Eurovision! A History of Modern Europe Through the World's Greatest Song Contest, by Chris West

An entertaining look at the changing face of the Eurovision Song Contest and the political and cultural influences behind its kitsch and glitzy façade. Do you think the world of the Eurovision Song Contest, with its crazy props, even crazier dancers, and crazier still songs has nothing to do with serious European politics? Think again. The contest has been a mirror for cultural, social and political developments in Europe ever since its inauguration, when an audience in dinner jackets and ball gowns politely applauded each song. It has been a voice of rebellion across the Iron Curtain, an inspiration for new European nations in the 1990s and 2000s, the voice of liberation for both sexual and regional minorities. It even once triggered a national revolution.  Eurovision! charts both the history of Europe and the history of the Eurovision Song Contest over the last six decades, and shows how seamlessly they interlink — and what an amazing journey it has been.

Chris West is an author and ghostwriter. His books include Journey to the Middle Kingdom, The Beermat Entrepreneur and First Class: a History of Britain in 36 Postage Stamps. He has been a Eurovision fan since watching Sandie Shaw padding to victory in 1967. 

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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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