25 August

NEW - 1960 Summer Olympics

Games of the XVII Olympiad take place in Rome

The Summer Olympic Games opened on this day in 1960 in the ancient city of Rome. It was the first time the Summer Olympics had been held in Italy since the revival of the Games in 1896.  Rome had been due to host the 1908 Summer Olympic Games, but following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Naples in 1906, the eternal city had to pass the Olympic torch on to London. The 1960 Games - known officially as the Games of the XVII Olympiad -  were opened by the then-president of Italy, Giovanni Gronchi, in the Stadio Olimpico in the northwest of the city.  Building had begun on the multi-purpose sports venue in 1928 and it was expanded further in 1937, but then World War II halted any further development. Mussolini’s ruling Fascist party had at one time harboured ambitions of hosting the 1940 Games, which were awarded instead to Japan but then cancelled.  Read more…

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Alessandro Galilei - architect

Florentine who made mark in Rome

The architect Alessandro Galilei, best known for the colossal Classical façade of the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome, was born on this day in 1691 in Florence.  From the same patrician family as Renaissance polymath Galileo Galilei but not a direct descendant, Galilei’s father was a notary, Giuseppe Maria Galilei. Though his father considered the family to be noble still, their standing had fallen somewhat under Medici rule.  Alessandro studied mathematics and engineering at the prestigious Accademia dei Nobili in Florence, where he was instructed in building techniques and perspective among other things.  As he sought to develop a career, Galilei met John Molesworth, son of the Irish Viscount, Robert Molesworth, who spent three years in Florence as an envoy to the Medici court.  Read more…

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Vesuvius erupts

Terrible toll of Europe's worst volcanic catastrophe 

Mount Vesuvius erupted on this day in AD 79, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae and causing the deaths of thousands of people.  An eyewitness account of the eruption, in which tons of stones, ash and fumes were ejected from the volcano, has been left behind for posterity by a Roman administrator and poet, Pliny the Younger, who described the event in his letters to the historian Tacitus.  Although there were at least three large eruptions of Vesuvius before AD 79 and there have been many since, the disaster in August AD 79 is considered the most catastrophic volcanic eruption in European history.  Mount Vesuvius had thrown out ash the day before and many people had left the area. But in the early hours of the morning of August 25, pyroclastic flows of hot gas and rock began to sweep down the mountain. Read more…

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Death of Pliny the Elder

Roman writer was fascinated by nature and geography

The author, philosopher, and naval and army commander who became known as Pliny the Elder died on this day in 79 AD during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Naples in Campania. Pliny had been stationed with the Roman Navy a short distance away at Misenum, on what is now known as the Gulf of Pozzuoli, and had organised a rescue mission after a friend had sent him a message saying that she was stranded at Stabiae. It is thought he died from asphyxiation  caused by the toxic gases coming from the volcano.  Born Gaius Plinius Secundus in either 23 or 24 AD in Como, then called Novum Comum, in Lombardy, Pliny grew up to become a prolific writer, naturalist and philosopher.  He wrote Naturalis Historia - The Natural History - a 37-volume work about the natural world, based on his extensive studies and investigations into nature and geography.  Read more…

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Ippolito II d’Este – Cardinal

Borgia prince enjoyed the good things in life

Ippolito II d’Este, who became infamous for plundering Hadrian’s Villa to decorate his own home, was born on this day in 1509 in Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna.  He was the second son of Lucrezia Borgia and her husband, Duke Alfonso I d’Este and therefore also a grandson of Pope Alexander VI. He was named after his uncle, Ippolito d’Este.  At the age of ten, Ippolito II inherited the archbishopric of Milan from his uncle, the first of a long list of ecclesiastical appointments he was to be given, which provided him with a good income. He was later given benefices in many parts of France from which he was also able to draw revenue and he was created a Cardinal by Pope Paul III before he had reached the age of 30. A lover of luxuries and the finer things in life, Ippolito II had Palazzo San Francesco in Ferrara refurbished for himself. Read more…

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Galileo demonstrates potential of telescope

Scientist unveiled new instrument to Doge of Venice

The scientist and inventor Galileo Galilei demonstrated the wonders of the telescope to an audience of Venetian lawmakers on this day in 1609.  The 90th Doge, Leonardo Donato, and other members of the Venetian senate accompanied Galileo to the top of the campanile of St Mark’s Basilica, where each took it in turn to look through the instrument.  The meeting had been arranged by Galileo’s friend, Paolo Sarpi, who was a scientist, lawyer and statesman employed by the Venetian government. The two were both professors at the University of Padua.  Galileo, whose knowledge of the universe led him to be called the ‘father of observational astronomy’, was for many years wrongly credited with the invention of the telescope when in fact the first to apply for a patent for the device was a Dutch eyeglass maker named Hans Lippershey.   Read more…

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Carlo Eduardo Acton – composer and musician

Musical member of the Acton family was born in Naples

Opera composer Carlo Eduardo Acton, who was part of the distinguished Italian-based branch of the Acton family, was born on this day in 1829 in Naples.  Carlo became a concert pianist and is remembered for composing the opera Una cena in convitto. His father, Francis Charles Acton, was the youngest son of General Joseph Acton, and he was also the younger brother of Sir John Acton, the sixth Baronet.  Sir John Acton, Carlo’s uncle, had served as Commander of the naval forces of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Naples while the city was under the rule of King Ferdinand IV. He was the son of Edward Acton, an English physician who had settled in France, and he was the great-grandson of Sir Walter Acton, the second Baronet.  One of Sir John's grandchildren, John Dalberg-Acton (1834-1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an historian, English politician, and writer, also born in Naples.  Read more…

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Saint Patricia of Naples

Patron saint performs a miracle every week

The feast day of Saint Patricia is celebrated every year in Naples on this day.  The saint, who is also sometimes referred to as Patricia of Constantinople, is one of a long list of patron saints of Naples.  She is less well known than San Gennaro, also a patron saint of the city, who attracts crowds to Naples Cathedral three times a year to witness the miracle of a small sample of his blood turning to liquid.  But Saint Patricia’s blood, which is kept in the Church of San Gregorio Armeno, is said to undergo the same miraculous transformation every Tuesday morning as well as on August 25 each year - her feast day - which was believed to be the day she died in 665 AD.  Saint Patricia was a noble woman, who may have been descended from St Constantine the Great.  She was a devout virgin and travelled to Rome to become a nun in order to escape an arranged marriage.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Games: A Global History of the Olympics, by David Goldblatt

A winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, this is the definitive sporting, social and political history of the Olympic Games, from the ancient Greeks to today’s festival of sponsors. The Olympic Games have become the greatest show on earth. But how was such a ritual invented? Why did it prosper and how has it been so utterly transformed? In The Games, sports historian David Goldblatt takes on a breathtakingly ambitious search for the answers and brilliantly unravels the complex strands of this history.  Beginning with the Olympics as a sporting side show at the great Worlds Fairs of the Belle Époque and its transformation into a global media spectacular, care of Hollywood and the Nazi party. The Games shows how sport and the Olympics had been a battlefield during the Cold War, a defining moment for social and economic change in host cities and countries, and a theatre of resistance for women and athletes of colour once excluded from the show.  Filled with stories from over a century of Olympic competition - this amazingly researched history captures the excitement of sporting brilliance and the kaleidoscopic experience of the Games. It shows us how this sporting spectacle has come to reflect the world we hope to inhabit and the one we actually live in.

David Goldblatt is a British sports writer, broadcaster, sociologist, journalist and author. Among his books are The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football, Futebol Nation: A Footballing History of Brazil, and The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Football.

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1960 Summer Olympics

Games of the XVII Olympiad take place in Rome

A scene from the opening ceremony for the 1960
Rome Olympics at the Stadio Olimpico

The Summer Olympic Games opened on this day in 1960 in the ancient city of Rome. It was the first time the Summer Olympics had been held in Italy since the revival of the Games in 1896.

Rome had been due to host the 1908 Summer Olympic Games, but following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Naples in 1906, the eternal city had to pass on the Olympic torch to London.

The 1960 Games - known officially as the Games of the XVII Olympiad -  were opened by the then-president of Italy, Giovanni Gronchi, in the Stadio Olimpico in the north west of the city. 

Building had begun on the multi-purpose sports venue in 1928 and it was expanded further in 1937, but then World War II halted any further development of the stadium.  Mussolini’s ruling Fascist party had at one time harboured ambitions of hosting the 1940 Games, which were awarded instead to Japan but then cancelled. The 1944 Games, which had been awarded to London, also did not take place.

After the Liberation of Rome in 1944, the Stadio Olimpico was used by the Allies for vehicle storage and then later as a venue for Anglo-American military competitions.

Following the end of the war, construction on the stadium was completed and the first event to take place there in 1953 was a football match between Italy and Hungary. 

The Italian President, Giovanni Gronchi, second left,
was at the stadium to open the Games officially 

The Stadio Olimpico would later be used as the principal venue for the 1990 Fifa World Cup. It has been the shared home ground for Rome’s two major football clubs - AS Roma and SS Lazio - since 1953.

Other famous locations in Rome used to host Olympic events in 1960, included the Baths of Caracalla, the Basilica of Maxentius, the Villa Borghese gardens and the Arch of Constantine. 

Elsewhere in Italy, Olympic rowing and canoeing events were held on Lake Albano at Castel Gandolfo, and yachting events took place in the Bay of Naples.

During the 1960 Summer Olympic games, South Africa appeared for the last time under its apartheid regime. The country was not allowed to take part in the Olympics again until 1992 when apartheid in sport was being abolished. 

The 18-year-old Cassius Clay, who later became known as Muhammad Ali, won the light heavyweight gold medal in boxing.

The future Constantine II, who was to be the last King of Greece, won his country a gold in sailing, and a young Greek woman, who would later become Queen Sofia of Spain, represented her country in sailing events.

The Ethiopian runner, Abebe Bikila, on his way
to an historic victory in the marathon event 

And history was made when Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila won the marathon, running the full 26 mile 385 yards (42.195km) barefoot. He became the first athlete from sub-Saharan Africa to win an Olympic gold. 

In terms of medals, the most successful country at the 1960 Games was the USSR, whose team topped the table both for gold medals, of which it won 43, and overall medal total of 103.

The United States were second in golds with 37, from an overall total of 71. 

The hosts won 13 golds, including five in cycling events, three in boxing and two in fencing. Italy’s only gold in athletics was won by Livio Berruti in the men’s 200m.

The first Paralympic Games  were held in Rome in conjunction with the 1960 Summer Olympics, the first time that the two events had coincided.

The ruins of the Roman Baths of Caracalla were
used for events in the gymnastics competition

Travel tip:

The Baths of Caracalla, which were used for gymnastics events during the 1960 Summer Olympics, are thermal baths built between AD 211/212 and 216/217, during the reigns of emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla. They were the second largest baths in Rome after the Baths of Diocletian. The magnificent main waiting room at the original Penn Station in New York City, built in 1910, is said to have been inspired by the design of the Baths, which remained in use until the 530s, after which they fell into disrepair.  A year-round tourist attraction, the ruins that remain have been the venue for a number of music concerts, notably including the historic Three Tenors concert, featuring Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras and Plácido Domingo, staged during the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy.

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Lake Albano, to the south of Rome, was the
location used for rowing and canoeing

Travel tip:

Lake Albano near Castel Gandolfo in Lazio was the beautiful location for rowing and canoeing events during the 1960 Summer Olympics. Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope has his summer residence, overlooks Lake Albano from its wonderful position in the hills south of Rome, and the Pope spends every summer in the Apostolic Palace there. Although his villa lies within the town’s boundaries, it is one of the properties of the Holy See. The palace is not under Italian jurisdiction and is policed by the Swiss Guard. The whole area is part of the regional park of Castelli Romani, which has many places of historic and artistic interest to visit, and is the area where the popular white wine Trebbiano, is produced.

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Also on this day:

79: Vesuvius eruption buries Pompeii and Ercolano

79: The death after the eruption of Pliny the Elder

665: The death of Saint Patricia of Naples

1509: The birth of cardinal Ippolito II d’Este

1609: Galileo demonstrates telescope

1691: The birth of architect Alessandro Galilei 

1829: The birth of composer Carlo Eduardo Acton

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24 August

Carlo Gambino - Mafia Don

Sicilian thought to be model for Mario Puzo's Godfather

Carlo Gambino, who would become one of the most powerful Mafia Dons in the history of organised crime, was born on this day in 1902 in Palermo, Sicily.  For almost two decades up to his death in 1976, he was head of the Gambino Crime Family, one of the so-called Five Families that have sought to control organised crime in New York under one banner or another for more than a century.  He is thought to have been the real-life Don that author Mario Puzo identified as the model for Vito Corleone, the fictional Don created for the best-selling novel, The Godfather.  During Gambino's peak years, the family's criminal activities realised revenues of an estimated $500 million per year.  Yet Gambino, who kept a modest house in Brooklyn and a holiday home on Long Island, claimed to make a living as a partner in a company that advised on labour relations.  Read more…

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Peppino De Filippo - comedian, actor and playwright

Talented Neapolitan who lived in shadow of his brother

The playwright and comic actor Peppino De Filippo was born Giuseppe De Filippo on this day in 1903 in Naples.  A highly accomplished performer on stage in serious as well as comedy roles, De Filippo also had a list of film credits numbering almost 100, of which he is best remembered for his screen partnership with the brilliant comic actor Totò.  To an extent, however, he spent his career in the shadow of his older brother, Eduardo De Filippo, who after Luigi Pirandello was regarded as the second great Italian playwright of the 20th century.  The two fell out in the 1940s for reasons that were never clear, although it later emerged that they had many artistic differences.  They were never reconciled, and though Peppino went on to enjoy a successful and acclaimed career it annoyed him that he was always seen as a minor playwright compared with his brother.  Read more…

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Parmigianino - Mannerist painter

Artist from Parma left outstanding legacy

The artist Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola – better known as Parmigianino – died on this day in 1540 in Casalmaggiore, a town on the Po river south-east of Cremona in Lombardy.  Sometimes known as Francesco Mazzola, he was only 37 years old when he died but his work was nonetheless regarded as an important influence on the period that followed the High Renaissance era of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.  Known for the refined sensuality of his paintings, Parmigianino – literally ‘the little one from Parma’ – was one of the first generation of Mannerist painters, whose figures exuded elegance and sophistication by the subtle exaggeration of qualities associated with ideal beauty.  Parmigianino is also thought to have been one of the first to develop printmaking using the technique known as etching. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Godfather, by Mario Puzo

Tyrant, blackmailer, racketeer, murderer - his influence reaches every level of American society. Meet Don Corleone, a friendly man, a just man, a reasonable man. The deadliest lord of the Cosa Nostra. The Godfather. But no man can stay on top forever, not when he has enemies on both sides of the law. As the aging Vito Corleone nears the end of a long life of crime, his sons must step up to manage the family business. Sonny Corleone is an old hand, while World War II veteran Michael Corleone is unused to the world of crime and reluctant to plunge into the business.  Both the police and ruthless rival crime lords scent blood in the water. If the Corleone family is to survive, it needs a ruthless new don. But the price of success in a violent life may be too high to bear.  A modern masterpiece, The Godfather is a searing portrayal of the 1940s criminal underworld. Still shocking long after its initial publication, this compelling tale of blackmail, murder and family values is a true classic.

Mario Gianluigi Puzo was an American author, screenwriter and journalist. He is known for his crime novels about the Mafia, most notably The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into a three-part film saga directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first film in 1972 and Part II in 1974.

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23 August

Giovanni Minzoni - priest

Devout Catholic murdered for opposing Fascists

Don Giovanni Minzoni, a Catholic priest whose name is commemorated in many street names around Italy, was murdered by Fascist thugs in the small town of Argenta in Emilia-Romagna on this day in 1923.  A parish priest in the town, midway between the cities of  Ferrara and Ravenna, Don Minzoni was attacked at around 10.30pm as he returned to his rectory in the company of Enrico Bondanelli, a parishioner, when he was set upon by two men who were attached to a Fascist militia in Casumaro, almost 50km (31 miles) from Argenta on the other side of Ferrara. He was pelted with stones and, when the blows made him fall to the ground, was beaten. What proved to be the fatal blow was struck with a heavy walking stick. He had a fractured skull and, despite being helped home by Bondanelli and neighbours, died a couple of hours later. Read more…

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Rita Pavone - teenage singing star

Precocious talent who conquered America

Rita Pavone, who was one of Europe's biggest teenage singing stars in the 1960s, was still performing live concerts as recently as 2014 and sang at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2020, was born on this day in 1945 in Turin. The singer had her first hit single when she was just 17 years old and enjoyed success at home and in America during a career that spanned more than five decades, going on to become an accomplished actress on television and in the theatre.  She announced she was quitting show business in 2006 but came out of retirement in 2013 to record two studio albums as a tribute to the stars who had influenced her in throughout her career, then embarking on a series of live concerts in Italy in 2014 and performing in Toronto, Canada exactly 50 years after her first appearance there.  Read more…

Roberto Assagioli – psychiatrist

Harsh imprisonment sparked new psychiatric theories

Roberto Assagioli, the pioneering psychiatrist who founded the science of psychosynthesis, died on this day in 1974 in Capolona in the province of Arezzo in Tuscany.  His innovative psychological movement, which emphasised the possibility of progressive integration, or synthesis, of the personality, aimed at finding inner peace and harmony. It is still admired and is being developed by therapists and psychologists today.  Assagioli explained his ideas in four books - two published posthumously - and the many different pamphlets he wrote during his lifetime. In 1940 the psychiatrist had to spend 27 days in solitary confinement in prison, having been arrested by Mussolini’s Fascist government for praying for peace and encouraging others to join him. He later claimed this experience helped him make his psychological discovery.  Read more…

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Pino Presti – bass player and composer

Talented musician could sing, play guitar, write songs and conduct

Pino Presti, one of the most important personalities in the Italian music business, was born Giuseppe Prestipino Giarritta on this day in 1943 in Milan.  He is a bass guitar player, arranger, composer, conductor and record producer and his work ranges between the different music genres of pop, jazz, funk, latin and dance.  His father, Arturo Prestipino Giarritta, was a well-known violinist and Presti began studying piano and music theory at the age of six.  He taught himself to play the bass guitar and began playing professionally at the age of 17, having developed his own special technique using either the pick or thumb.  Presti was a pioneer of electric bass and was probably the first to play a Fender Jazz Bass in Italy.  His talent for playing the instrument led him to collaborate with the major Italian pop artists of the 1960s, including the famous singer, Mina. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Blood and Power: The Rise and Fall of Italian Fascism, by John Foot

In the aftermath of the First World War, the seeds of fascism were sown in Italy. While the country reeled in shock, a new movement emerged from the chaos: one that preached hatred for politicians and love for the fatherland; one that promised to build a 'New Roman Empire', and make Italy a great power once again.  Wearing black shirts and wielding guns, knives and truncheons, the supporters of the Italian Fascist Party embraced a climate of violence and rampant masculinity. Led by Benito Mussolini, they would systematically destroy the organisations of the left, murdering and torturing anyone who got in their way.  In Blood and Power, historian John Foot draws on decades of research to chart the turbulent years between 1915 and 1945, and beyond. Drawing widely from accounts of people across the political spectrum, he tells the story of Italian Fascism and its legacy, which still, disturbingly, reverberates to this day.

John Foot is an English academic historian specialising in Italy. He is the author of several books, including histories of Italian football, Italian cycling and the story of the pioneering psychiatrist, Franco Basaglia, who led a revolution in mental health care in Italy.

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