14 August

The Martyrs of Otranto

Victims of massacre made saints

More than 800 male inhabitants of the southern Italian city of Otranto were beheaded on this day in 1480 by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire.  Legend has it that these men - 813 in total from the age of 15 upwards - were the only male survivors after Otranto, a port city some 35km (22 miles) southeast of Lecce, was captured by the Ottomans at the end of a 15-day siege.  According to some accounts, a total of 12,000 people were killed and 5,000 mainly women and children were enslaved, including victims from the territories of the Salentine peninsula. The 813 were supposedly offered clemency in return for their conversion to Islam but all refused, taking their lead from a tailor called Antonio Primaldi, who is said to have proclaimed: "Now it is time for us to fight to save our souls for the Lord. And since he died on the cross for us, it is fitting that we should die for him."  Read more…

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Benito Carbone - footballer and coach

Gifted forward sparkled in English Premier League

The footballer and coach Benito Carbone, whose partnership with fellow Italian Paolo di Canio in the colours of Sheffield Wednesday was the highlight of a six-year stay in England’s Premier League, was born on this day in 1971 in Bagnara Calabra, a seaside village in Calabria.  Carbone signed for Sheffield Wednesday from Inter-Milan in 1996 as Italian players arrived in England in large numbers for the first time. The influx included other star names, such as Gianluca Vialli, Gianfranco Zola, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Roberto Di Matteo and Stefano Eranio.  Wednesday paid £3 million for Carbone, spending a further £4.2 million on Di Canio the following year. Between them, they scored 43 goals for the Yorkshire club, Carbone netting 26.   They both enjoyed enormous popularity with supporters.  Read more…

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Pope Pius VII

Compromise candidate elected by conclave-in-exile in Venice

Pope Pius VII was born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti on this day in 1742 in Cesena in Emilia-Romagna.  He was elected Pope in a conclave that met on the island of San Giorgio in Venice in 1799 because Rome was occupied by the French.  He was crowned with a papier mâché version of the Papal tiara in 1800 because the French had seized the original. Chiaramonti was a monk of the order of Saint Benedict as well as being a distinguished theologian. He was granted the title, Servant of God, by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.  Chiaramonti had joined the order of Saint Benedict at the age of 14. He was later ordained as a priest and went on to teach at Benedictine colleges in Parma and Rome.  After one of his relatives was elected Pope Pius VI, Chiaramonti had a series of promotions that resulted in him becoming a Cardinal.  Read more…

Enzo Ferrari – car maker

Entrepreneur turned Ferrari into world’s most famous marque

Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari motor racing team and later the Ferrari sports car factory, died on this day in 1988 at the age of 90.  Known widely as Il commendatore, he passed away in Maranello, a town in Emilia-Romagna a few kilometres from Modena, where he had a house, the Villa Rosa, literally opposite Ferrari’s headquarters, where he continued to supervise operations almost to his death. He had reportedly been suffering from kidney disease.  Since the first Ferrari racing car was built in 1947, the Scuderia Ferrari team’s famous prancing stallion symbol has been carried to victory in 244 Formula One Grand Prix races and brought home 15 drivers’ championships and 16 manufacturers’ championships. The number of Ferraris produced for road use since the company began to build cars for sale rather than simply to race is in excess of 150,000.  Read more…

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Giorgio Chiellini - footballer

Juventus star renowned for defensive excellence

The footballer Giorgio Chiellini - captain of the Italy team that won the delayed Euro 2020 tournament and renowned as one of the world’s best defenders - was born on this day in 1984 in Pisa.  Chiellini has played for much of his career at Juventus, winning an incredible seven consecutive Serie A titles from 2012 to 2018, as well as numerous other trophies.  He was Serie A Defender of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and in 2017 was named in Juventus’s Greatest XI of All Time.  He also earned 97 caps for the Italy national team before announcing his retirement from international football in 2017, although he was persuaded to change his mind by new coach Roberto Mancini, the sixth coach he had worked for in the national team. Until the victory over England at Wembley made Italy European champions, all of Chiellini’s successes were in domestic football.  Read more… Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Last Muslim Conquest: The Ottoman Empire and Its Wars in Europe, by Gábor Ágoston

The Ottomans have long been viewed as despots who conquered through sheer military might, and whose dynasty was peripheral to those of Europe. The Last Muslim Conquest transforms our understanding of the Ottoman Empire, showing how Ottoman statecraft was far more pragmatic and sophisticated than previously acknowledged, and how the Ottoman dynasty was a crucial player in the power struggles of early modern Europe.  Gábor Ágoston captures the grand sweep of Ottoman history, from the dynasty's stunning rise to power at the turn of the 14th century to the Siege of Vienna in 1683, which ended Ottoman incursions into central Europe. He discusses how the Ottoman wars of conquest gave rise to the imperial rivalry with the Habsburgs, and brings vividly to life the intrigues of sultans, kings, popes, and spies. Ágoston examines the subtler methods of Ottoman conquest, such as dynastic marriages and the incorporation of conquered peoples into the Ottoman administration, and argues that while the Ottoman Empire was shaped by Turkish, Iranian, and Islamic influences, it was also an integral part of Europe and was, in many ways, a European empire.

Gábor Ágoston is professor of history at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. His many books include Guns for the Sultan: Military Power and the Weapons Industry in the Ottoman Empire and Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire.

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13 August

NEW - Giambologna – sculptor

Artist worked for three successive Medici Grand Dukes in Florence

Giambologna, the last in the line of significant Renaissance sculptors, died on this day in 1608 in Florence.  He was considered so important by the Medici family that once he had started working for them, they would never allow him to leave their city. They feared he would be enticed away by either the Austrian or Spanish branches of the Habsburgs to work for them.  His best known works include Abduction of a Sabine Woman - often known as Rape of the Sabine Women - in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria, and his Neptune, atop the Fountain of Neptune, in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore.  Although influenced by Michelangelo, Giambologna produced many beautiful works in marble and bronze in his own late-Mannerist style, with perhaps less emphasis on emotion, and more on the elegance of the figures.  Read more…

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Domenico Dolce - fashion designer

One half of hugely successful Dolce & Gabbana company

The designer Domenico Dolce, whose partnership with Stefano Gabbana gave rise to one of the world’s most famous fashion houses, was born on this day in 1958 in Polizzi Generosa, a beautiful town set in the hills of northern Sicily, about 90km (56 miles) southeast of Palermo.  He and Gabbana, who he met in Milan, founded Dolce & Gabbana in 1985. The company took off in 1993 after the pop star Madonna chose them to design the costumes for a concert tour.  The company today generates about €1.3 billion in revenues and employs 5,500 people worldwide.  Dolce was born into the world of clothes. His father was a tailor and his mother worked in retail, at different times selling fabrics and lingerie.  He is said to have learned to sew at the age of six and made costumes for dolls.  After studying at art college in Palermo, Dolce moved to Milan. Read more…

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Aurelio Saffi – republican activist

Politician prominent in Risorgimento movement

The politician Aurelio Saffi, who was a close ally of the republican revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini during Italy’s move towards unification in the 19th century, was born on this day in 1819 in Forlì.  He was a member of the short-lived Roman Republic of 1849, which was crushed by French troops supporting the temporarily deposed Pope Pius IX, and was involved in the planning of an uprising in Milan in 1853.  Saffi was sentenced to 20 years in jail for his part in the Milan plot but by then had fled to England.  He returned to Italy in 1860 and when the Risorgimento realised its aim with unification Saffi was appointed a deputy in the first parliament of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.  At the time of Saffi’s birth, Forlì, now part of Emilia-Romagna, was part of the Papal States. He was educated in law in Ferrara, but became politically active in his native city. Read more…

Camillo Olivetti - electrical engineer

Founder of Italy’s first typewriter factory Olivetti 

The electrical engineer Camillo Olivetti, who opened Italy’s first typewriter factory and founded a company that would become a major player in electronic business technology, was born on this day in 1868 in Ivrea in Piedmont.  The Olivetti company that later produced Italy’s first electronic computer was developed by Adriano Olivetti, the oldest of Camillo's five children, but it was his father’s vision and enterprise that laid the foundations for the brand’s success and established the Olivetti name.  Camillo came from a Jewish middle-class background. His father, Salvador Benedetto, was a successful merchant. His mother, Elvira, came from a banking family in Modena but her interests were more cultural. She was fluent in four languages.  Elvira had full care of Camillo after Salvador died when the boy was only one and sent him to boarding school in Milan. Read more… 

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Salvador Luria – microbiologist

Award winning scientist who advanced medical research

Nobel prize winner Salvador Luria was born on this day as Salvatore Edoardo Luria in 1912 in Turin.  The microbiologist became famous for showing that bacterial resistance to viruses is genetically inherited and he was awarded a Nobel prize in 1969.  He studied in the medical school of the University of Turin and from 1936 to 1937 Luria served in the Italian army as a medical officer. He took classes in radiology at the University of Rome and began to formulate methods of testing genetic theory.  When Mussolini’s regime banned Jews from academic research fellowships, Luria moved to Paris but was forced to move again when the Nazis invaded France in 1940. Fearing for his life, he fled the capital on a bicycle, eventually reaching Marseille, where he received an immigration visa to the United States.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: An Art Lover's Guide to Florence, by Judith Testa

No city but Florence contains such an intense concentration of art produced in such a short span of time. The sheer number and proximity of works of painting, sculpture, and architecture in Florence can be so overwhelming that Florentine hospitals treat hundreds of visitors each year for symptoms brought on by trying to see them all, an illness famously identified with the French author Stendhal.  While most guidebooks offer only brief descriptions of a large number of works, with little discussion of the historical background, Judith Testa gives a fresh perspective on the rich and brilliant art of the Florentine Renaissance in An Art Lover's Guide to Florence. Concentrating on a number of the greatest works, by such masters as Botticelli and Michelangelo, Testa explains each piece in terms of what it meant to the people who produced it and for whom they made it, deftly treating the complex interplay of politics, sex, and religion that were involved in the creation of those works. 

Born in New York, Judith Testa taught history of art at Northern Illinois University. As well as books about art in Rome and Florence, she is also the author of Sal Maglie: Baseball's Demon Barber, about a New York Giants pitcher of the 1950s.

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Giambologna – sculptor

Artist worked for three successive Medici Grand Dukes in Florence

Giambogna's Abduction of a Sabine
Woman in Piazza della Signoria

Giambologna, the last in the line of significant Renaissance sculptors, died on this day in 1608 in Florence.

He was considered so important by the Medici family that once he had started working for them, they would never allow him to leave their city. They feared he would be enticed away by either the Austrian or Spanish branches of the Habsburgs to work for them.

His best known works include Abduction of a Sabine Woman - often known as Rape of the Sabine Women - in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria, and his Neptune, atop the Fountain of Neptune, in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore.

Although influenced by Michelangelo, Giambologna produced many beautiful works in marble and bronze in his own late-Mannerist style, with perhaps less emphasis on emotion, and more on the elegance of the figures.

The sculptor was also sometimes known as Giovanni da Bologna, or Jean de Boulogne in French, and Jehan Boulongne in Flemish.

Giambologna had been born in Douai in Flanders in 1529, which was then part of the Netherlands, but is now part of France. He studied in Antwerp with the architect and sculptor Jacques du Broeucq, before moving to live in Italy in 1550. 

There, he made a detailed study of the sculptures of classical antiquity in Rome. His first major commission was given to him by Pope Pius IV, who employed him to sculpt the colossal bronze Neptune and subsidiary figures, for the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna.

Giambologna moved to live and work in Florence in 1553. He had become established there within a few years and he was invited to become a member of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno after it was founded by the Medici Duke, Cosimo I, in 1563, who was influenced by the painter and architect Giorgio Vasari.

Giambologna was so prized by the
Medici he was forbidden to leave

Among Giambologna’s most celebrated works are the Mercury, of which he did four versions. In his depictions of Mercury, the figure is poised on one foot, supported by a zephyr.

His marble sculpture Abduction of a Sabine Woman still stands in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria. The work includes three full figures and yet it was carved from a single block of marble. It was produced for Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

The sculpture was inspired by a story from ancient Roman history of the mass abduction of women from other cities for the purposes of growing the population of Rome which, at the time of its foundation, had relatively few female inhabitants. The Latin word raptio, which occurs in accounts of the incident written by the Roman historian Livy, can be translated as ‘rape’ in certain circumstances, but in this context may more accurately be taken to mean ‘abduction’ or ‘kidnapping’.

Giambologna’s several depictions of Venus produced a canon of proportions for the female figure, and also set standards for artists making Venus their subject that were to influence many future sculptors in Italy and Europe.

He also produced sculptures and ornaments for the Boboli Gardens in Florence and the gardens of other Medici villas in Tuscany.

His pupils went on to influence other sculptors throughout Europe as well as in Italy. Giambologna’s style, which incorporated grace, strength, and movement in his figures, anticipated the Baroque sculptures that were later created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

After he died in Florence at the age of 79, Giambologna was interred in a chapel that he had designed for himself in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata in the centre of the city.

He had been an Italian sculptor in all but birth, who had left his mark on Florence and helped to make it the refined, elegant city it is today.

The Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza delle Signori 
houses a number of important statues

Travel tip:

Giambologna’s most famous work, the marble sculpture Abduction of a Sabine Woman, stands in the Loggia dei Lanzi on the south corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, close to the Uffizi gallery. The 14th century Loggia is named after the Lancers, who were the bodyguards of Cosimo I de’ Medici and it now provides an open air sculpture gallery for visitors to Florence to enjoy. The back wall of the Loggia is lined with ancient Roman statues of priestesses. On the far left of the Loggia is the bronze statue of Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini. Giambologna’s Abduction of a Sabine Woman, stands on the far right. Including three separate figures, it is believed to have been worked from the largest block of marble ever to have been transported to Florence and it was designed so that it can be appreciated equally from all sides. It has stood in the Loggia since 1583. A plaster cast model of the sculpture can also be seen in the Accademia Gallery in Florence. 

The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata in
Florence, where Giambologna was buried

Travel tip: 

Giambologna was laid to rest in the Cappella della Madonna del Soccorso in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, the mother church of the Servite Order, in Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence. The sculptor designed the chapel between 1594 and 1598 for his own tomb and it is richly decorated with frescoes and statues. The most important work in the chapel is the large bronze Crucifix by Giambologna, showing the dead Christ with his head reclining and his eyes closed. It towers over everyone who enters the chapel and depicts the body of Christ as elegant and athletic, free from the marks of the Passion.  The church itself dates back to the laying of its foundation stone in 1250. Its richly decorated interior harks back more to Roman Baroque than to Tuscan religious tradition, being decorated with marble, stucco and gilding, with impressive ceiling frescoes by Volterrano.

Also on this day: 

1819: The birth of republican activist Aurelio Saffi

1868: The birth of electrical engineer Camillo Olivetti

1912: The birth of microbiologist Salvador Luria

1958: The birth of fashion designer Domenico Dolce

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12 August

Vittorio Sella - mountain photographer

Images still considered among the most beautiful ever made

The photographer Vittorio Sella, who combined mountaineering with taking pictures of some of the world’s most famous and challenging peaks, died on this day in 1943 in his home town of Biella in Piedmont.  Even though Sella took the bulk of his photographs between the late 1870s and the First World War, his images are still regarded as among the most beautiful and dramatic ever taken.  His achievements are all the more remarkable given that his first camera and tripod alone weighed more than 18kg (40lbs) and he exposed his pictures on glass plates weighing almost a kilo (2lbs).  He had to set up makeshift darkrooms on the mountain at first because each shot had to be developed within 10 to 15 minutes.  Sella had exploring and photography in his blood. He was born in 1859 in Biella, in the foothills of the Italian Alps.  Read more… 

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Francesco Crispi – prime minister

The ‘great patriot’ was of Albanian heritage

The death at the age of  82 in Naples of the Italian statesman Francesco Crispi, who was a key figure during the Risorgimento, was announced on this day in 1901.  He was a close friend of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, and it was Crispi who persuaded Garibaldi to invade Sicily in 1860 with his band of volunteers known as The Thousand. Quickly conquering Sicily, Garibaldi proclaimed himself dictator and named Crispi as Minister of the Interior.  Crispi was born in Ribera in Sicily in 1818. His father’s family were originally from Palazzo Adriano in south western Sicily, which had been founded by Orthodox Christian Albanians. Crispi was brought up to speak Italian, along with Greek, Albanian and Sicilian.  By the time he was 11, Crispi was attending a seminary in Palermo. He then studied law and literature at the University of Palermo.  Read more…

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Luigi Galleani - anarchist

Activist who mainly operated in the United States

Luigi Galleani, an anarchist active in the United States in the early part of the 20th century, was born on this day in 1861 in Vercelli in Piedmont.  Galleani was an advocate of the philosophy of "propaganda of the deed" first proposed by the 19th century Italian revolutionary Carlo Pisacane.  The theory was that violence against specific targets identified as representatives of the capitalist system would be a catalyst for the overthrow of government institutions.  Between 1914 and 1932, Galleani's followers in the United States - known as i Galleanisti - carried out a series of bombings and assassination attempts against institutions and perceived “class enemies.”  The Wall Street bombing of 1920, which resulted in the deaths of 38 people, was blamed on followers of Galleani, who had been deported from the United States to Italy the previous year.  Read more…

Giovanni Gabrieli – composer

Venetian musician inspired spread of the Baroque style

Giovanni Gabrieli, composer and organist, died on this day in 1612 in Venice.  He had been a major influence behind the transition from Renaissance music to the Baroque style in Europe.  Born in Venice between 1554 and 1557, Giovanni grew up studying with his uncle, the composer Andrea Gabrieli, for whom he always had great respect.  He also went to Munich to study with the musicians at the court of Duke Albert V, which had a lasting influence on his composing style.  After his return to Venice he became principal organist at St Mark’s Basilica in 1585.  Following the death of his uncle, he took the post of principal composer at St Mark’s as well and spent a lot of time editing his uncle’s music for publication, which would otherwise have been lost.  He took the additional post of organist at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Read more…

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Giovanni Legrenzi – composer

Maestro’s Baroque music is still played today by enthusiasts

Organist and composer Giovanni Legrenzi, who was influential in the development of late Baroque music in Italy, was baptised on this day in 1626 at Clusone, near Bergamo, then part of the Republic of Venice.  Legrenzi was to become one of the most prominent composers of opera, vocal, and instrumental music working in Venice in the late 17th century. His father, Giovanni Maria Legrenzi, had been a professional violinist and composer. One of his brothers, Marco, was also a talented musician. The brothers are believed to have been taught music at home and they became used to performing in their local church.  Giovanni Legrenzi became organist at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo and was ordained as a priest in 1651. He became resident chaplain but continued to be involved in music and was given the title of first organist in 1653. Read more… 

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Mario Balotelli - footballer

Volatile star of Milan clubs and Manchester City

Controversial footballer Mario Balotelli, who has played for both major Milan clubs in Serie A and for Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League in England, was born on this day in 1990 in Palermo.  Balotelli scored 20 goals in 54 Premier League matches for Manchester City and made the pass from which Sergio Aguero scored City’s dramatic late winning goal against Queen’s Park Rangers on the last day of the 2011-12 season, which gave City the title for the first time since 1968.  He had a difficult relationship with City manager Roberto Mancini, with whom he first worked at Internazionale in Milan, and with Mancini’s successor in charge of the nerazzurri, Jose Mourinho.  His volatile temperament has also brought him more red and yellow cards than he and his managers would have liked.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Photographs at the Edge: Vittorio Sella and Wilfred Thesiger, by Roger Härtl

Vittorio Sella was the foremost mountaineering photographer of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, producing widely celebrated images of K2 and other famed peaks. Sir Wilfred Thesiger (1910–2003) was a writer, photographer, and explorer, whose greatest journey took him across the Rub’ al Khali, a vast desert encompassing much of the Arabian Peninsula. In Photographs at the Edge, Roger Härtl considers these two far-flung figures side by side, telling the stories of two influential explorers through their bibliographic and photographic work, and creating a tapestry where exploration, writing, and image-making all conjoin. As Härtl shows in this richly illustrated volume, the triumphs of Sella and Thesiger coincided with the end of a golden age of geographical exploration and with the rise of photography as we know it today.

Roger Härtl is the Hansen-MacDonald Endowed Professor of Neurological Surgery and director of spinal surgery at the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center, as well as the neurosurgeon for the New York Giants.

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