4 September

Giacinto Facchetti - footballer

The original - and best - attacking full back

The footballer Giacinto Facchetti, who captained Italy at two World Cups and won four Serie A titles plus two European Cups for Inter Milan, died on this day in 2006 in Milan at the age of 64.  He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer. When his funeral took place at the Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, more than 12,000 fans joined the mourners marking his life. His remains were then taken back to his home town of Treviglio in the province of Bergamo.  Apart from being regarded as the model professional and a pillar of moral decency, Facchetti was seen as a player ahead of his time, the first attacking full back who was a master in both disciplines of his game.  Under the coaching of Internazionale’s great Argentine-born coach, Helenio Herrera, he became integral to the defensive system known as catenaccio. Read more…

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Rita Atria - witness of justice

Tragic teenager who broke Mafia code of omertà

Rita Atria, the girl from a Mafia family in southwest Sicily who famously went to the police after her father and brother were both killed by criminal rivals, was born on this day in 1974 in Partanna, in the province of Trapani. She was just 11 years old when her father, Vito, ostensibly a shepherd but in reality a local Mafia boss, was shot dead by a hit man hired by a rival family. The killing took place in 1985, nine days before her brother, Nicolò, was due to be married. He vowed to avenge his father’s death and spoke openly about knowing who was responsible.  He and his bride, Piera Aiella, a local girl, were both 18 at the time of their marriage. Piera, who had known Nicolò since he was 14, did not wish to marry him but Vito had thought she would make his son a suitable wife, and had made it clear to her that she had little choice in the matter.  Read more…

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Luigi Cadorna – Marshall of Italy

Tough military leader was blamed for losing crucial battle

Luigi Cadorna, a military General who was made a Marshall of Italy, was born on this day in 1850 in Verbania, on the shore of Lake Maggiore in the Piedmont region.  Cadorna is most remembered for his role as Chief of Staff of the Italian Army during the first part of the First World War.  His father was General Raffaele Cadorna, the Piedmontese military leader whose capture of Rome in 1870 completed the unification of Italy.  Sent by his father to a military school in Milan from the age of 10, he entered the Turin Military Academy when he was 15 and, after graduating at the age of 18, was commissioned as a second lieutenant of artillery.  He participated in the occupation of Rome in 1870 as part of the force commanded by his father.  After becoming a Major, Cadorna was appointed to the staff of General Pianelli and became Chief of Staff of the Verona Divisional Command.  Read more…

Amadeus - TV presenter

Former DJ now one of Italian TV’s most familiar faces

The entertainment and game show presenter Amedeo Sebastiani - known professionally as Amadeus - was born on this day in 1962 in Ravenna.  In a small screen career spanning almost 35 years, Amadeus has fronted several major shows for both national broadcaster Rai and for the channels of the privately-owned Mediaset network.  He was the original face of the hit game show L'eredità - The Inheritance - which has been a fixture on Rai Uno since 2002 - and more recently he has become the regular host of Rai Uno’s annual New Year’s Eve variety show L’anno che verrà - The Coming Year.  Amadeus has also presented two of Italy’s biggest song contests, Festivalbar, and the Sanremo Music Festival, of which until 2024 he was host and artistic director.  Sebastiani’s parents were both Sicilian, his father Corrado an accomplished horseman who taught his son to ride. Read more…

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Saint Rosalia

'Little Saint' ended the plague in Palermo

The Feast Day of Saint Rosalia is being celebrated today in Sicily, throughout the rest of Italy, in America, Venezuela and in many other countries.  Saint Rosalia, also known as La santuzza, or the Little Saint, is the patron saint of Palermo as well as three towns in Venezuela.  Centuries after Rosalia’s death, the people of Palermo believed she ended the plague when what they thought were her remains were carried in a procession through the city.  Rosalia was born in Palermo in about 1130 into a noble Norman family that claimed to descend from Charlemagne.  She became devoutly religious and eventually went to live as a hermit in a cave on Mount Pellegrino in Sicily.  There is a story that she was led by two angels to live in the cave and that she wrote on the wall that she had chosen to live there out of her love for Jesus.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Power and the Glory: A New History of the World Cup, by Jonathan Wilson

By 1930, football had outgrown the Olympic Games. A new competition, run by Fifa, would take international football to the next level. After a shambolic start to the first tournament in Uruguay - an incomplete stadium, shoddy refereeing and physios accidentally injuring players - the thrilling final saw Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2.  From those chaotic beginnings grew the modern World Cup, a cultural phenomenon that draws the world together like nothing else. Ask a random person to name a moment in the history of Senegal and they may well say Pape Bouba Diop's winner against France in the 2002 World Cup, defeating his country's former colonial masters. The World Cup has political significance. West Germany's success in 1954 was a moment of reintegration into global society, while progress to the semi-finals in 1998 boosted Croatia's sense of national self. At the other end of the scale, in the so-called Soccer War of 1969, tensions between El Salvador and Honduras were ignited by a World Cup qualifier. More recently, hosting the tournament has been a vehicle for governments seeking political gain, the World Cups in Russia and Qatar being clear examples of sportswashing, staging a tournament to project an image of a thriving society. The story of the World Cup is also the story of the world. The Power and the Glory tells its definitive history.

Jonathan Wilson is the editor of The Blizzard and a freelance writer for the Guardian, World Soccer and Sports Illustrated. He is the author of 11 books, including Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics, Behind the Curtain: Football in Eastern Europe, Angels with Dirty Faces: The Footballing History of Argentina, The Barcelona Legacy and The Names Heard Long Ago.

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3 September

NEW - Armistice of Cassibile

Document hastened end of World War II for Italy

A secret agreement to end hostilities between Italy and the Allies during World War II was signed at Cassibile in Sicily on this day in 1943.  The Armistice of Cassibile was approved by both King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Prime Minister Pietro Badoglio. It was signed by Brigade General Giuseppe Castellano for Italy, and Major-General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies.  The signing took place at a Sicilian military camp that had been occupied by the Allies, but the news about the agreement was not announced by Italy for another five days.  Germany responded to the announcement when it was made on September 8 by immediately attacking Italian forces in Italy, southern France, and the Balkans.  Four days after the news of the armistice was made public, the Germans freed dictator Benito Mussolini from his captivity in the Gran Sasso mountain range in Abruzzo.  Read more…

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Pietro Locatelli – musician

Violinist astonished his listeners with his ability

Virtuoso violinist and Baroque composer Pietro Antonio Locatelli was born on this day in 1695 in Bergamo.  He showed an astonishing talent for playing the violin while he was still a young boy and began playing with the orchestra at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo when he was 14.  In 1711, when he was 16 years old, he left to go to Rome and although it is not known whether he studied with Arcangelo Corelli before the composer’s death in 1713, he would have absorbed a lot of his influence by studying with the other eminent musicians in the city.  In 1714 Locatelli wrote to his father, telling him that he was a member of the band of household musicians working for Prince Michelangelo I Caetani, a notable political figure and scholar. While in Rome he made his debut as a composer, producing his XII Concerto Grossi Op I in 1721. Read more…

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Giuseppe ‘Nino’ Farina – racing driver

The first Formula One world champion

Emilio Giuseppe Farina, driving an Alfa Romeo, became the first Formula One world champion on this day in 1950.  The 43-year-old driver from Turin - usually known as Giuseppe or 'Nino' - clinched the title on home territory by winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.  He was only third in the seven-race inaugural championship going into the final event at the Lombardy circuit, trailing Alfa teammates Juan Manuel Fangio, of Argentina, by four points and his Italian compatriot, Luigi Fagioli, by two.  Under the competition’s complicated points scoring system, Fangio was hot favourite, with the title guaranteed if he was first or second, and likely to be his if he merely finished in the first five, provided Farina did not win.  He could have been crowned champion simply by picking up a bonus point for the fastest lap in the race, provided Farina was no higher than third.  Read more…

Giuseppe Bottai - Fascist turncoat

Ex-Mussolini minister who fought with Allies

Giuseppe Bottai, who served as a minister in the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini but finished the Second World War fighting with the Allies against Germany, was born on this day in 1895 in Rome.  Bottai helped Mussolini establish the National Fascist Party and served as Minister of National Education under Mussolini between 1936 and 1943. He supported Mussolini’s anti-semitic race laws and founded a magazine that promoted the idea of a superior Aryan race.  However, in 1943, following Italy’s disastrous fortunes in the Second World War, he was among the Fascist Grand Council members who voted for Mussolini to be arrested and removed from office.  Later, after Mussolini was freed from house arrest by German paratroopers and established as head of the Italian Social Republic, Bottai was handed a death sentence and hid in a convent before escaping to join the French Foreign Legion. Read more…

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San Marino - world's oldest sovereign state

Republic founded in 301 as Christian refuge

The Most Serene Republic of San Marino, an independent state within Italy, was founded on this day in 301.  Situated on the north east side of the Apennine mountains, San Marino claims to be the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world.  Of the world's 196 independent countries, it is the fifth smallest, covering an area of just 61 square kilometres or 24 square miles.  It is also the sole survivor of Italy's once all-powerful city state network, having outlasted such mighty neighbours as Genoa and Venice.  San Marino grew from a monastic community, taking its names from Saint Marinus of Alba in Croatia, a Christian who had been working as a stonemason in Rimini when he was forced to flee Roman persecution and escaped to Mount Titano, where he built a church and founded both the city and state of San Marino.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Battle for Italy: One of the Second World War's Most Brutal Campaigns, by John Strawson

It could have all been over much quicker. In a gripping account, bestseller John Strawson analyses how the slow, bloody and fiercely fought Italian campaign delayed the end of the Second World War after the tide had turned against Hitler and the Germans. Here was a point of dogged resistance; and also indomitable advance and eventual victory from a huge Allied push up the peninsula. What was the justification for opening up a major new front against Hitler? What were the effects of doing so, the consequences of the important tactical decisions made by politicians and generals, the hostility between Patton and Montgomery, and the larger disagreement between the US and Britain? In answering them Strawson gets to the heart not only of this too-often overlooked struggle, but the entire War. The Battle for Italy is military history at its finest, full of unforgettable detail and grand strategy - perfect for readers of Max Hastings or James Holland.

Major-General John Strawson CBE was a British Army officer, best known for his service during the Second World War in the Middle East and Italy, and afterwards in Germany and Malaya. He was a prolific author, writing around a dozen books of military history and biography.

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Armistice of Cassibile

Document hastened end of World War II for Italy

Watched by Major-General Smith (right),
General Castellano signs the armistice

A secret agreement to end hostilities between Italy and the Allies during World War II was signed at Cassibile in Sicily on this day in 1943.

The Armistice of Cassibile was approved by both King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Pietro Badoglio, who was the serving Prime Minister of the country at the time. It was signed by Brigade General Giuseppe Castellano for Italy, and Major-General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies.

The signing took place at a Sicilian military camp that had recently been occupied by the Allies, but the news about the agreement was not announced by Italy for another five days.

Germany responded to the announcement when it was made on September 8 by immediately attacking Italian forces in Italy, southern France, and the Balkans. 

And four days after the news of the armistice was made public, the Germans freed the ousted dictator Benito Mussolini from his captivity in the Hotel Campo Imperatore, which was situated on a remote plateau in the Gran Sasso mountain range in Abruzzo.

Mussolini had been deposed as leader by the Fascist Grand Council and arrested on the orders of Victor Emmanuel III on July 25, before being placed under house arrest at the mountain hotel.

In a daring mission, personally ordered by Adolf Hitler, German paratroopers used gliders to land on the mountain where Mussolini was being kept prisoner. They overwhelmed the Carabinieri officers guarding the dictator in the hotel and were able to take him away with them on a waiting aeroplane.

The freed dictator was flown to Vienna and then on to Munich. He was taken to meet Hitler at his headquarters in Poland, who put him in charge of a puppet state in the German-occupied area of northern Italy.

Pietro Badoglio, Mussolini's former chief
of staff, succeeded him as prime minister

Mussolini was to lead this state from his stronghold in Salò,  a resort on Lake Garda, until 1945, when he was caught by Italian partisans while attempting to escape to Switzerland and was immediately executed.

After the Armistice of Cassibile had been signed, the Germans forcefully disbanded the Italian army in the north and centre of the country. 

The King, members of the Italian government, and most of the Navy, went to southern Italy, where they were under the protection of the Allies, and an Italian resistance movement sprang up in the northern part of Italy that was still being occupied by the Germans.

When the Armistice of Cassibile was signed, the Allies held only Sicily and some minor Italian islands. But the day after the armistice was made public, on September 9, 1943, the Allies landed in Italy at Salerno and Taranto.

The agreement signed at Cassibile was considered to be the shorter version of the whole armistice document.

On September 29, 1943, the longer version of the armistice was signed at Malta between Italy and the Allies. It was ratified by Badoglio and Eisenhower aboard the British battleship HMS Nelson. The agreement included details such as a requirement that Mussolini and his Fascist officials be handed over to the United Nations, and that all Italian land, air, and naval forces must surrender unconditionally. 

The armistice signed at Malta was considered to be the Additional Conditions for the Armistice with Italy and it was known as the Long Armistice by the Italians. For the Allies, it was referred to as the Instrument of Surrender of Italy.

The war between the Allies and the Germans in Italy was to continue until May 1945.

The Allies established an airfield at Cassibile,
although the armistice was signed elsewhere

Travel tip:

Cassibile is a village in the comune - municipality - of Siracusa in Sicily, situated 18km (11 miles) from the city of Siracusa, and 21km (13 miles), from the beautiful Baroque city of Noto. The necropolis of Cassibile, which is spread over the hills on either side of the Cassibile river, consists of hundreds of rock cut chamber tombs dating back to the late Bronze and Iron Ages, about 1000 to 700 BC. In the 1960s, Fontane Bianche, on the Mediterranean Sea, was built as a seaside resort for Cassibile. There are  small railway stations at Cassibile and Fontane Bianche that are served by a single-track line from Siracusa. When operating, services take only a few minutes. Despite its significance in history, Cassibile did not have its own electricity supply until 1951, the arrival of which prompted the population of the village, whose economy was largely based on agriculture, to swell gradually from a few hundred at the time of the armistice to 5,800 at the census of 2001. In front of the church of San Giuseppe, there is a small memorial that commemorates the fallen of Cassibile during World War Two as well as marking the signing of the armistice.

Find accommodation in Cassibile with Hotels.com

Salò's Duomo, the Chiesa di Santa Maria Annunziata,
was built close to the shore of Lake Garda

Travel tip:

Salò, a town on the banks of Lake Garda, in the province of Brescia in Lombardy, has become famous for being the seat of government of the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945, which was the Nazi-backed puppet state run by Benito Mussolini. The dictator lived in what is now the Grand Hotel Feltrinelli in Via Rimembranza in Gargnano. The resort has the longest promenade on Lake Garda and a Duomo, the Chiesa di Santa Maria Annunziata, which was built in Lake Gothic style in the 15th century to a design by the architect Filippo delle Vacche from Caravaggio in Lombardy. A museum - il Museo di Salò, also known as MuSa - opened in 2015 in la Chiesa di Santa Giustina in Via Brunati, which has exhibitions about the history of the town, including its brief period as a republic. Noted residents of Salò include Gasparo di Salò, one of the earliest violin makers, who was born there in 1542, and the 20th century film director Luigi Comencini. The poet, playwright and military leader Gabriele D’Annunzio had an estate a short distance away above the town of Gardone Riviera, with panoramic views over the lake.

Hotels in Salò from Expedia

More reading:

Palermo falls to the Allies at start of invasion

Mussolini removed from power and placed under arrest

Nazis free captive Mussolini in daring raid

Also on this day:

301: The founding of San Marino

1695: The birth of musician Pietro Locatelli

1895: The birth of Fascist ‘turncoat’ Giuseppe Bottai

1950: Giuseppe ‘Nino’ Farina becomes first F1 world champion

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2 September

Marie Josephine of Savoy

Italian noblewoman who became titular Queen of France

Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy, who married the future King Louis XVIII of France, was born Maria Giuseppina Luigia on this day in 1753 at the Royal Palace in Turin.  She became a Princess of France and Countess of Provence after her marriage, but died before her husband actually became the King of France.  Marie Josephine was the third child of prince Victor Amadeus of Savoy and Infanta Maria Antonio Ferdinanda of Spain.  Her paternal grandfather, Charles Emmanuel III, was King of Sardinia and so her parents were the Duke and Duchess of Savoy.  Her brothers were to become the last three Kings of Sardinia, the future Charles Emmanuel IV, Victor Emmanuel I and Charles Felix.  At the age of 17, Marie Josephine was married by proxy to Prince Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, the younger brother of the ill-fated future King Louis XVI of France. Read more…

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Pietro Ferrero - baker and chocolatier

Humble beginnings of €20 billion company

Pietro Ferrero, the founder of the Ferrero chocolate and confectionery company, was born in Farigliano, a small town in Piedmont, on this day in 1898.  A baker by profession, he moved to nearby Alba in 1926 with his wife and young son, Michele, before deciding to try his luck in Turin, where in 1940 he opened a large pastry shop in Via Sant’Anselmo.  Trading conditions were tough, however, and the business was not a success.  The family returned to Alba in 1942, setting up a smaller bakery in Via Rattazzi, at the back of which Pietro created a kind of confectionery laboratory.  He had hit upon the idea of trying to find alternative materials from which to make products, largely because the high taxes on cocoa beans meant conventional chocolate-based pastries were expensive to make.   Hazelnuts, on the other hand, were plentiful in Piedmont.  Read more…

Andrea Illy – businessman and writer

Family dream was to make the best coffee in the world

Andrea Illy, who is the chairman of coffee makers illycaffè, was born on this day in 1964 in Trieste, the capital of Friuli Venezia Giulia.  The grandson of the founder of illycaffè, Francesco Illy, Andrea represents the third generation of his family to lead the business. His father, Ernesto Illy, was chairman between 1963 and 2004. His sister Anna and brothers Francesco and Riccardo - a former CEO now vice-president - Illy are on the board of directors.  Andrea graduated with a degree in Chemistry from the University of Trieste and went on to study at SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, Harvard Business School and Singularity University in Silicon Valley.  He joined the firm in 1990 as a supervisor of quality control. Inspired by Japanese business methods, Andrea started the Total Quality Programme, which established standards both for the company and the coffee industry. Read more…

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Giuliano Gemma – actor

Talented Roman became award-winning film star

Actor, stuntman and sculptor Giuliano Gemma was born on this day in 1938 in Rome.  He started working in the film industry as a stuntman but was then offered a real part in the film Arrivano i titani (The Titans Arrive), by director Duccio Tessari.  After this his career took off and he appeared in Luchino Visconti’s Il Gattopardo (The Leopard), as Garibaldi’s General.  Gemma starred in many spaghetti westerns, such as A Pistol for Ringo, Blood for a Silver Dollar, Wanted and Day of Anger. He sometimes appeared in the credits of the films under the name Montgomery Wood.  For his portrayal of Major Matiss in Valerio Zurlini’s The Desert of the Tartars, he won a David di Donatello award.  Gemma had many other film roles, often appeared on Italian television and also worked as a sculptor. His daughter, Vera Gemma, also became an actor.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The French Revolution, by Christopher Hibbert

Concise, convincing and exciting, this is Christopher Hibbert's brilliant account of the events that shook 18th-century Europe to its foundation. With a mixture of lucid storytelling and fascinating detail, he charts the French Revolution from its beginnings at an impromptu meeting on an indoor tennis court at Versailles in 1789, right through to the 'coup d'etat' that brought Napoleon to power ten years later.  In the process he explains the drama and complexities of this epoch-making era in the compelling and accessible manner he has made his trademark. If you want to discover the captivating history of the period, The French Revolution is for you. Described as 'a spectacular replay of epic action' by Richard Holmes in The Times, the book earned effusive praise from The Good Book Guide, who called it 'unquestionably the best popular history of the French Revolution' to be written in the English language.

Christopher Hibbert was educated at Radley and Oriel College, Oxford. An infantry officer during World War Two, he was awarded the Military Cross in 1945. His many acclaimed books include The Destruction of Lord Raglan (which won the Heinemann Award for Literature in 1962), London: The Biography of a City, The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, The Great Mutiny: India 1857, Garibaldi and His Enemies, and Rome: The Biography of a City. 

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