25 July

NEW - Mussolini removed from power

Dictator ousted and placed under arrest

The Fascist regime that had ruled Italy for 21 years was ousted on this day in 1943 when Benito Mussolini was arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III, hours after a meeting of the Grand Council of Fascism at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome had passed a vote of no confidence in their leader.  With most Italians desperate to see an end to their country’s participation in a world war in which defeat now looked certain, the Grand Council had been asked to vote on a motion proposed by Count Dino Grandi, a former Blackshirt who had become increasingly disillusioned with the self-styled Duce’s decision-making.  The motion, which Grandi prefaced by launching a scathing attack on his former ally’s leadership, was that the king would be asked to resume his full constitutional authority, effectively removing Mussolini from office.  Read more…

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Alfredo Casella – composer

Musician credited with reviving popularity of Vivaldi

Pianist and conductor Alfredo Casella, a prolific composer of early 20th century neoclassical music, was born on this day in 1883 in Turin.  Casella is credited as being the person responsible for the resurrection of Antonio Vivaldi’s work, following a 'Vivaldi Week' that he organised in 1939.  Casella was born into a musical family. His grandfather had been first cello in the San Carlo Theatre in Lisbon and he later became a soloist at the Royal Chapel in Turin.  His father, Carlo, and his brothers, Cesare and Gioacchino, were professional cellists. His mother, Maria, was a pianist and she gave the young Alfredo his first piano lessons. Their home was in Via Cavour, where it is marked with a plaque.  Casella entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1896 to study piano under Louis Diemer and to study composition under Gabriel Fauré.  Read more… 

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Carlo Bergonzi – operatic tenor

Singer whose style was called the epitome of Italian vocal art

Carlo Bergonzi, one of the great Italian opera singers of the 20th century, died on this day in 2014 in Milan.  He specialised in singing roles from the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, helping to revive some of the composer’s lesser-known works.  Between the 1950s and 1980s he sang more than 300 times with the Metropolitan Opera of New York and the New York Times, in its obituary, described his voice as ‘an instrument of velvety beauty and nearly unrivalled subtlety’.  Bergonzi was born in Polesine Parmense near Parma in Emilia-Romagna in 1924. He claimed to have seen his first opera, Verdi’s Il trovatore, at the age of six.  He sang in his local church and soon began to appear in children’s roles in operas in Busseto, a town near where he lived.  He left school at the age of 11 and started to work in the same cheese factory as his father in Parma.  Read more… 

Agostino Steffani – composer

Baroque musician and cleric who features in modern literature

A priest and diplomat as well as a singer and composer, Agostino Steffani was born on this day in 1654 in Castelfranco Veneto near Venice.  Details of his life and works have recently been brought to the attention of readers of contemporary crime novels because they were used by the American novelist, Donna Leon, as background for her 2012 mystery The Jewels of Paradise.  Steffani was admitted as a chorister at St Mark’s Basilica in Venice while he was still young and in 1667 the beauty of his voice attracted the attention of Count Georg Ignaz von Tattenbach, who took him to Munich.  Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria, paid for Steffani’s education and granted him a salary, in return for his singing.  In 1673 Steffani was sent to study in Rome, where he composed six motets. The original manuscripts for these are now in a museum in Cambridge.  Read more… 

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Battle of Molinella

First time artillery played a major part in warfare

An important battle was fought on this day in 1467 at Molinella, near Bologna.  On one side were infantry and cavalry representing Venice and on the other side there was an army serving Florence.  It was the first battle in Italy in which artillery and firearms were used extensively, the main weapons being cannons fired by gunpowder that could launch heavy stone or metal balls.  The barrels were 10 to 12 feet in length and had to be cleaned following each discharge. Leading the 14,000 soldiers fighting for Venice was the Bergamo condottiero Bartolomeo Colleoni. He was working jointly with Ercole I d’Este from Ferrara and noblemen from Pesaro and Forlì. Another condottiero, Federico da Montefeltro, led the army of 13,000 soldiers serving Florence in an alliance with King Ferdinand II of Aragon and the rulers of Milan and  of Bologna.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Fall of Mussolini: Italy, the Italians, and the Second World War, by Philip Morgan

In this powerful history, Philip Morgan tells the dramatic story of Mussolini's fall from power in July 1943, illuminating both the causes and the consequences of this momentous event. Morgan recounts how King Victor Emmanuel first ousted Mussolini and how Germany then succeeded in putting him back in place, this time as a puppet of the Nazis. The resulting chaos included fighting by anti-Fascist rebel groups and mini civil wars throughout the country. The Fall of Mussolini shines light on how ordinary people responded to and coped with wartime living and with the invasion, occupation, and division of their country by warring foreign powers. Morgan includes vivid eye-witness reports from people who hid Jews, fought in the resistance, and killed collaborators. The book debunks the myths that arose after the war, which depicted the nation as almost entirely anti-Fascist, with the heroes of the resistance movement fighting to rid their country first of Mussolini, then of their German occupiers. In truth, the situation surrounding Mussolini's removal from power, return to power, and eventual execution was far more complicated. 

Philip Morgan is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary European History at the University of Hull. His other publications include Italian Fascism, 1919-1945 and Fascism in Europe, 1919-1945.

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Mussolini removed from power

Dictator ousted and placed under arrest

Mussolini, whose regime ruled Italy
from 1922 until his arrest in 1943

The Fascist regime that had ruled Italy for 21 years was ousted on this day in 1943 when Benito Mussolini was arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III, hours after a meeting of the Grand Council of Fascism at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome had passed a vote of no confidence in their leader.

With most Italians desperate to see an end to their country’s participation in a world war in which defeat now looked certain, the Grand Council had been asked to vote on a motion proposed by Count Dino Grandi, a former Blackshirt who had become increasingly disillusioned with the self-styled Duce’s decision-making.

The motion, which Grandi prefaced by launching a scathing attack on his former ally’s leadership and the disastrous path along which Italy had been taken by forming an axis with Nazi Germany, was that the king would be asked to resume his full constitutional authority, effectively removing Mussolini from office.

Grandi, former President of the Chamber of Deputies, was unsure how many Grand Council members would vote in favour of his motion, having received reliable assurances of support from only four of the 27 members, most of whom were undecided. In fact, fearful that he might not leave the palace alive if things went very badly, he had revised his will and attended confession before the meeting, at which he arrived with two hand grenades concealed under his clothing.

Such was Mussolini’s power that the Grand Council, that had been set up originally to advise him, by then existed largely to rubber-stamp his decisions, with votes on any matter almost never taking place.

Yet, with the Allied invasion force already in charge of Sicily and the Germans considering whether to withdraw from the Italian peninsula and leave Italian forces to their fate, the atmosphere at the meeting was fevered and Mussolini ultimately agreed, if reluctantly, that a vote should take place on Grandi’s motion.

Dino Grandi, whose motion to oust
Mussolini carried by 19 votes to eight

After two hours of debate, votes were submitted and counted. Mussolini himself had spelled out that members were voting for the end of Fascism, warning that the Allies were intent on destroying Italy, not just his regime. Yet at 2 am, it was announced that the motion had carried, with 19 votes in favour, eight against. Among those who supported the motion was Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's son-in-law.

Nonetheless, Mussolini left the meeting convinced that nothing would change. The vote had no legal status and, having enjoyed the support of Victor Emmanuel III to that point, he went to his daily audience with the monarch the following day expecting to be given reassurances that he could carry on with business as usual.

Instead, the king informed him that he had been dismissed and that General Pietro Badoglio would take over as prime minister. Soon after leaving the audience, Mussolini was arrested on Victor Emmanuel’s orders and taken to a remote location for detention.

Unbeknown to Mussolini, the king himself had also lost faith in the regime.  After disastrous military campaigns in North Africa, Greece, and the Soviet Union, he was aware that public disillusionment was widespread. 

He feared that if he didn’t act, Italy could face civil unrest or fall to the communists, especially if the Allies advanced further. By removing Mussolini, he hoped to negotiate peace and reassert the monarchy’s relevance.

Ordinary Italians, worn down by economic hardship and the relentless bombing of their towns and cities, largely welcomed the news and cheering crowds filled the streets. To placate the Nazis, Badoglio announced that the war would continue alongside Germany, yet at the same time secretly negotiating an armistice with the Allies.

When Italy’s surrender was announced on September 8, German forces swiftly occupied northern and central Italy, freeing Mussolini from captivity in a daring raid on the mountain resort where he had been held and installing him as head of a puppet state - the Italian Social Republic - based in Salò, on the shore of Lake Garda. 

The country descended into a brutal civil war between Fascists and Partisans, lasting until 1945. Fascist rule, though, was over.

The Grand Fascist Council met inside the Palazzo
Venezia, which looks out over the Piazza Venezia

Travel tip:

The Palazzo Venezia, which housed Mussolini's offices during Fascist rule of Italy, is a palace in central Rome, just north of the Capitoline Hill. Originally a modest medieval house intended as the residence of the cardinals appointed to the church of San Marco, it became a residential papal palace. The palazzo, which faces Piazza Venezia and Via del Plebiscito, was built between 1455 and 1467 by Cardinal Pietro Barbo - later Pope Paul II - as a papal residence and later served as the Venetian embassy, giving it its name.  Its exterior resembles a fortress, with battlements and a commanding tower, while the interior reveals elegant cloisters, grand halls, and tranquil gardens. The Sala del Mappamondo was chosen by Benito Mussolini as his headquarters during the Fascist era. From its balcony, Mussolini delivered many of his infamous speeches to crowds in Piazza Venezia.  The palace now houses the Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia and contains a rich collection of Byzantine, Medieval, and Renaissance art.

The Due Torri, built as a gate into the former fortified
centre of Mordano, have become a symbol of the town

Travel tip:

Mordano, where Count Dino Grandi was born, is located in Emilia-Romagna, about 50km (31 miles) southeast of Bologna, some 13km (8 miles) from Imola. With a population of around 4,500, it is an historic town known for its rural architecture, vineyards, and peach orchards. The town’s Roman past is still visible in the grid-like layout of farmland in the surrounding countryside, while the  imposing Due Torri, built in the 19th century in a medieval style inspired by the design of the Arsenale in Venice, marks the entrance to the old fortified centre and has become symbolic of the town. In the nearby Bubano district, the 15th-century Sforza Tower, built by the Sforza family, now houses a museum dedicated to the town's history and culture. 

Also on this day:

1467: The Battle of Molinella

1654: The birth of Baroque composer Agostino Steffani

1883: The birth of musician Alfredo Casella

2014: The death of tenor Carlo Bergonzi

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24 July

Eugene de Blaas - painter

Austro-Italian famous for Venetian beauties

Eugene de Blaas, a painter whose animated depictions of day-to-day life among ordinary Venetians - especially young Venetian women - were his most popular works, was born on this day in 1843 in Albano Laziale, just outside Rome.  Sometimes known as Eugenio Blaas, or Eugene von Blaas, he was of Austrian parentage. His father, Karl, also a painter, was a teacher at the Accademia di Belle Arti (Academy of Fine Arts) in Rome. His brother, Julius, likewise born in Albano, was also a painter.  In 1856, the family moved to Venice after his father was offered a similar position at the Venetian Academy. At that time, Venice attracted artists from all over Europe and the young De Blaas grew up in a social circle that was largely populated by painters and poets.  Like his father, he became interested in the school known as Academic Classicism. Read more… 

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Ermanno Olmi - film director

Won most prestigious awards at Cannes and Venice festivals

The film director Ermanno Olmi, who won both the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Venice Film Festival’s equivalent Golden Lion with two of his most memorable films, was born on this day in 1931 in the Lombardy city of Bergamo.  His 1978 film L'albero degli zoccoli - The Tree of Wooden Clogs - a story about Lombard peasant life in the 19th century that had echoes of postwar neorealism in the way it was shot, won the Palme d’Or - one of the most prestigious of film awards - at the Cannes Film Festival of the same year.  A decade later, Olmi won the Golden Lion, the top award at the Venice Film Festival, with La leggenda del santo bevitore - The Legend of the Holy Drinker - a story adapted from a novella by the Austrian author Joseph Roth about a homeless drunk in Paris, who is handed a 200-francs lifeline by a complete stranger and vows to find a way to pay it back. Read more… 

Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia

The first king to be called Victor Emmanuel

The King of Sardinia between 1802 and 1821, Victor Emmanuel I was born on this day in 1759 in the Royal Palace in Turin.  He was the second son of King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and was known from birth as the Duke of Aosta.  When the King died in 1796, Victor Emmanuel’s older brother succeeded as King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia.  Within two years the royal family was forced to leave Turin because their territory in the north was occupied by French troops.  After his wife died, Charles Emmanuel abdicated the throne in favour of his brother, Victor Emmanuel, because he had no heir.  The Duke of Aosta became Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia in June 1802 and ruled from Cagliari for the next 12 years until he was able to return to Turin.  During his reign he formed the Carabinieri, which is still one of the primary forces of law and order in Italy.  Read more… 

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Giuseppe Di Stefano – tenor

Singer from Sicily who made sweet music with Callas

The opera singer Giuseppe Di Stefano, whose beautiful voice led people to refer to him as ‘the true successor to Beniamino Gigli’, was born on this day in 1921 in Motta Sant’Anastasia, a town near Catania in Sicily.  Di Stefano also became known for his many performances and recordings with the soprano, Maria Callas, with whom he had a brief romance.  The only son of a Carabinieri officer, who later became a cobbler, and his dressmaker wife, Di Stefano was educated at a Jesuit seminary and for a short while contemplated becoming a priest.  But after serving in the Italian army he took singing lessons from the Swiss tenor, Hugues Cuenod. Di Stefano made his operatic debut in Reggio Emilia in 1946 when he was in his mid-20s, singing the role of Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon. The following year he made his debut at La Scala in Milan in the same role.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Venice: City of Pictures, by Martin Gayford

Venice was a major centre of art in the Renaissance: the city where the medium of oil on canvas became the norm. Nowhere else has been depicted by so many great painters in so many diverse styles and moods. Venetian views were a speciality of native artists such as Canaletto and Guardi, but the city has also been represented by outsiders: J M W Turner, Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, Howard Hodgkin and many more. Then there are those who came to look at and write about art. The reactions of Henry James, George Eliot, Richard Wagner and others enrich this tale. Since the advent of the Venice Biennale in the 1890s, and the arrival of Peggy Guggenheim in the late 1940s, the city has become a shop window for the contemporary art of the whole world, and it remains the site of important artistic events.  In City of Pictures,  Martin Gayford - who has visited Venice countless times since the 1970s and covered every Biennale since 1990 - takes us on a visual journey through the city’s past five centuries.

Martin Gayford has been art critic for the Spectator and the Sunday Times, and Chief European Art Critic for Bloomberg, as well as being the author of many books, including A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney; Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud; and Constable in Love: Love, Landscape, Money and the Making of a Great Painter. 

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23 July

Licia Albanese – soprano

Butterfly had a long career

Operatic soprano Licia Albanese, whose portrayal of Verdi and Puccini heroines delighted audiences all over the world, was born on this day in 1909 in Bari in the region of Puglia.  She made her operatic debut unexpectedly in 1934 at the Teatro Lirico in Milan during a performance of Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Albanese was understudying the title role and when the soprano became ill during Act One, she was hustled on to the stage to take over in Act Two.  She was a great success and during the next 40 years sang more than 300 performances in the role of Cio-Cio-San, the geisha who is better known as Madama Butterfly.  Her connection with the opera began early when she was studying with the singer, Giuseppina Baldassare-Tedeschi, who was a contemporary of  Puccini, and had been the greatest Butterfly of her day.  Read more… 

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Zàini - Milan chocolate manufacturer

First factory opened in Via Carlo de Cristoforis

The Milan chocolate producer Zàini was founded on this day in 1913 when the company’s first factory opened in the Porta Garibaldi district of the city. The plant, opened by Luigi Zàini, a young entrepreneur, in Via Carlo de Cristoforis, was advertised as a ‘Factory of Chocolate, Cocoa, Candies, Jams and Similar’.   Zàini, who had experience in the confectionery business as an importer of biscuits, jams and other sweet products from northern Europe, had noted the rapidly growing popularity of chocolate and thought the time was right to move on from his role as middleman and become a producer in his own right.  In Milan at the time there were around 15 chocolate factories, so competition was keen, but Luigi had a unique selling point in mind. His dream was to be able to satisfy any wish for something sweet. Read more…

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Damiano Damiani – screenwriter and director

Filmmaker behind the hit Mafia drama series La piovra

Damiano Damiani, who directed the famous Italian television series La piovra, which was about the Mafia and its involvement in Italian politics, was born on this day in 1922 in Pasiano di Pordenone in Friuli.  Damiani also made a number of Mafia-themed films and he was particularly acclaimed for his 1966 film, A Bullet for the General, starring Gian Maria Volontè, which came at the beginning of the golden age of Italian westerns.  Damiani studied at the Accademia di Brera in Milan and made his debut in 1947 with the documentary, La banda d’affari. After working as a screenwriter, he directed his first feature film, Il rossetto, in 1960.  His 1962 film, Arturo’s Island, won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian International film festival.  During the 1960s, Damiani was praised by the critics and his films were box office successes.  Read more… 

Francesco Cilea – opera composer

Calabrian remembered for beautiful aria Lamento di Federico 

Composer Francesco Cilea was born on this day in 1866 in Palmi near Reggio di Calabria.  He is particularly admired for two of his operas, L’arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur.  Cilea loved music from an early age. It is said that when he was just four years old he heard music from Vincenzo Bellini’s opera, Norma, and was moved by it.  When he became old enough, he was sent to study music in Naples and at the end of his course of study there he submitted an opera he had written, Gina, as part of his final examination. When this was performed for the first time it attracted the attention of a music publisher who arranged for it to be performed again.  Cilea was then commissioned to produce a three-act opera, meant to be along the lines of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, by the same publisher.  Read more… 

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Sergio Mattarella – President of Italy

Anti-Mafia former Christian Democrat is Italy's 12th President

The first Sicilian to become President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, was born on this day in 1941 in Palermo.  Mattarella, who has occupied the office since 2015, went into politics after the assassination of his brother, Piersanti, by the Mafia in 1980. His brother had been killed while holding the position of President of the Regional Government of Sicily.  Their father, Bernardo Mattarella, was an anti-Fascist, who with other prominent Catholic politicians helped found the Christian Democrat (Democrazia Cristiana) party. They dominated the Italian political scene for almost 50 years, with Bernardo serving as a minister several times. Piersanti Mattarella was also a Christian Democrat politician.  Sergio Mattarella graduated in Law from the Sapienza University of Rome and later started teaching parliamentary procedure at the University of Palermo. Read more… 

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Book of the Day: Puccini Without Excuses: A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular Composer, by William Berger

Puccini is the most beloved composer of opera in the world: one quarter of all opera performances in the U.S. are of his operas, his music pervades movie soundtracks, and his plots have infiltrated our popular culture. But, although Puccini's art still captivates audiences and the popularity of such works as Tosca, La Bohéme, and Madama Butterfly has never waned, he has long been a victim of critical snobbery and cultural marginalization.  In Puccini Without Excuses, a witty and informative guide for beginners and fans alike, William Berger sets the record straight, reclaiming Puccini as a serious artist. Combining his trademark irreverent humour with passionate enthusiasm, he strikes the right balance of introductory information and thought-provoking analysis. He includes a biography, discussions of each opera, and above all keen insight into Puccini's enduring power. 

William Berger was born in California and studied Romance languages and music at the University of California. He worked for five years at the San Francisco Opera Company and is the author of Wagner Without Fear and Verdi With a Vengeance.

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