30 October

NEW - Giuseppe Ravizza - inventor

His writing machine was forerunner of typewriter

The 19th century inventor Giuseppe Ravizza, whose Cembalo Scrivano machine could be seen as the world’s first typewriter, died on this day in 1885 in Livorno, on the Tuscan coast, about 25km (16 miles) south of Pisa. Ravizza created the first working prototype for his writing machine in 1846 and was granted patent in 1855. Yet, although he hailed from a wealthy Piedmontese family in Novara, he did not have the opportunity in pre-unification Italy to manufacture the device on a commercial scale. As a result, the invention of the typewriter is most commonly credited to Christopher Latham Sholes, an American inventor whose design was not patented until 1868, yet had many of the characteristics of Ravizza’s Cembalo Scrivano.  The American machine was eventually manufactured at scale by E Remington and Sons in 1873.  Read more…

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Charles Atlas - bodybuilder

Poor immigrant from Calabria who transformed his physique

The bodybuilder Charles Atlas was born Angelo Siciliano on this day in 1893 in the Calabrian town of Acri.  Set 720m above sea level straddling two hills in the province of Cosenza, on the edge of what is now the mountainous Sila National Park, Acri was a poor town and while Angelo was growing up his father, Santos, began thinking about joining the growing number of southern Italians who had gone to forge a new life in America. They made the move when Angelo was 11.  The journey by sea from Naples took around two weeks. After registering their arrival at Ellis Island, the immigrant inspection station in New York Bay, the family settled in Brooklyn.  Most accounts of Angelo’s life suggest that his father, a farmer, returned to Italy within a short time but his mother remained, taking work as a seamstress and endeavouring to make a better life for her children. Read more… 

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Antonino Votto – conductor

Outstanding operatic conductor made recordings with Callas

Operatic conductor Antonino Votto was born on this day in 1896 in Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna.  He became famous in the 1950s because he conducted the orchestra for the acclaimed recordings made by soprano Maria Callas for EMI.  Votto was also considered one of the leading operatic conductors of his time on account of his performances at La Scala in Milan, where he worked regularly for nearly 20 years.  After Votto had attended the Naples conservatory for his music studies he went to work at La Scala, where he became an assistant conductor to Arturo Toscanini.  He made his official debut there in 1923, leading a performance of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut.  Votto went on to build a reputation as one of the most outstanding conductors of Italian opera, appearing at many other operatic venues in Italy and abroad.  Read more…

Luisa Spagnoli - businesswoman

Inventor of Baci chocolates who diversified into fashion

The businesswoman Luisa Spagnoli, who is credited with creating the Perugina company’s famous Baci chocolates and later developed clothing lines using wool from angora rabbits, was born on this day in 1877 in Perugia.  Spagnoli was one of the four partners who launched the Perugina brand in 1907. She is said to have invented the confection that came to be known as Baci as a way to avoid wasting surplus chocolate and hazelnuts left over from the company’s other lines.  Perugina, now owned by Nestlé, grew to be Italy’s biggest chocolate manufacturer and Baci its best-selling product. The romantic messages inside the wrappers that remain a popular feature of the chocolates to this day are said to have been inspired by the clandestine romance between Spagnoli and the son of one of the other partners.  Read more…

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Poggio Bracciolini – scholar and humanist

Calligrapher who could read Latin changed the course of history

Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, who rediscovered many forgotten Latin manuscripts including the only surviving work by the Roman poet and philosopher, Lucretius, died on this day in 1459 in Florence.  For his services to literature he was commemorated after his death with a statue by Donatello and a portrait by Antonio del Pollaiuolo.  Bracciolini was born in 1380 at Terranuova near Arezzo in Tuscany. In 1862 his home village was renamed Terranuova Bracciolini in his honour.  He studied Latin as a child under a friend of the poet, Petrarch. His linguistic ability and talent for copying manuscripts neatly was soon noted by scholars in Florence.  He later studied notarial law and at 21 was received into the notaries guild in Florence.  After becoming secretary to the Bishop of Bari, Bracciolini was invited to join the Chancery of Apostolic Briefs in the Roman Curia of Pope Boniface IX.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience, by Jerre Mangione and Ben Morreale

From the early Italian adventurers who played an important role in the European expansion across the Atlantic to the political and business leaders of the 1990s, La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience tells a dramatic story. At its heart is the mass migration that took place between 1880 and 1924, when a whole culture left its ancient roots to settle in the cities and towns of America. The New York Times Book Review described the book as: "A saga of a people, their struggles, and the triumphs in a new world, told with drama and passion. It is a book that should be read by all Americans interested in what binds us together, despite our different backgrounds and histories."

Gerlando "Jerre" Mangione, whose parents were both from Agrigento in Sicily, was an American writer and scholar of the "Sicilian-American experience".  Ben Morreale was a distinguished Italian-American novelist and historian.

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Giuseppe Ravizza - inventor

His writing machine was forerunner of typewriter

Ravizza used piano keys in his prototype
design for his Cembalo Scrivano

The 19th century inventor Giuseppe Ravizza, whose Cembalo Scrivano machine could be seen as the world’s first typewriter, died on this day in 1885 in Livorno, on the Tuscan coast, about 25km (16 miles) south of Pisa.

Ravizza created the first working prototype for his writing machine in 1846 and was granted patent in 1855. Yet, although he hailed from a wealthy Piedmontese family in Novara, he did not have the opportunity in pre-unification Italy to manufacture the device on a commercial scale.

As a result, the invention of the typewriter is most commonly credited to Christopher Latham Sholes, an American inventor whose design was not patented until 1868, yet had many of the characteristics of Ravizza’s Cembalo Scrivano.

Produced with the help of Sholes's fellow designers Carlos Glidden and Samuel Souley, the American machine was eventually manufactured at scale by E Remington and Sons in 1873, marking the beginning of the typewriter's widespread use.

Born in Novara in 1811, Ravizza’s education was aimed at him becoming a lawyer and though he graduated he rarely practised. He was much more interested in engineering, specifically in producing a machine that could replicate the art of writing.

He was not the first to have envisaged such a machine. In the early 19th century, an Italian nobleman, Pellegrino Turri, designed a device he hoped would help a blind friend be able to write letters. It did not progress beyond a prototype, although it was Turri who is credited with inventing carbon paper as a means to make an imprint on the page. Another machine is said to have been designed by an American, William Austin Burt, in around 1829.

Ravizza came from a wealthy
background in Novara

Ravizza’s Cembalo Scrivano - literally ‘writing harpsichord’ - was so-called because the typing keys resembled those of a harpsichord. They were, in fact, recycled piano keys. Although it was not a qwerty keyboard, which is definitively thought to be a Sholes invention, the letters were arranged in what Ravizza felt was a logical order, with the aim that the user would be able to employ all 10 fingers in the writing process.

The upstroke mechanism that would be characteristic of the later American-produced version was also present in Ravizza’s machine, which also allowed the user to type both upper and lower case letters, an advancement not seen in the first Remington models.

His keyboard layout was almost certainly inspired by musical instruments, reflecting his belief that writing should be fluid and expressive. His ultimate vision was of a mechanised device that could put words on paper almost at the speed of thought.

Historians have noted the striking similarities between the Sholes typewriter and Ravizza’s design, and while no direct evidence of plagiarism has been uncovered it is possible that American designers will have been aware of Ravizza’s work. 

The Cembalo Scrivano was shown to the public at the Industrial Exhibition in Turin in 1856, where Ravizza sold a small number at 200 lire each, and at a similar exhibition in Novara, where it was awarded a gold medal.  The Cembalo Scrivano was also exhibited in London. 

Ravizza spent almost 40 years refining his typewriter
but it was never produced on a commercial scale

In total, Ravizza spent nearly 40 years refining his machine. Despite producing at least 16 models of his Cembalo Scrivano between 1847 and the early 1880s, his inventions never reached mass production or commercial viability. 

Italy in the mid-19th century lacked the industrial infrastructure to support such innovation, and Ravizza himself was more an inventor than a businessman, with no particular motivation to make financial gains.

Having been born into a moneyed background, in 1886 he married Alessandrina Massini, an Italian philanthropist sometimes described as a forerunner of the feminist movement. Their home became a popular bourgeois salon.

Today, he is remembered as a visionary precursor to the typewriter revolution, if not the inventor. His machines are preserved in museums and private collections, including the Civic Museum of the Broletto in Novara, which has a Cembalo Scrivano donated in 1940 by the Mayor of Ivrea on behalf of the Olivetti Society.

The towering dome of the Basilica of San Gaudenzio
dominates the landscape of Novara in Piedmont

Travel tip:

Novara, where Ravizza was born, is around 65km (40 miles) west of Milan and 100km (62 miles) northeast of Turin. With a population of just over 100,000, it is the second largest city in the Piedmont region, after Turin. Founded by the Romans, it was later ruled by the Visconti and Sforza families. In the 18th century it was ruled by the House of Savoy. In the 1849 Battle of Novara, the Sardinian army was defeated by the Austrian army, who occupied the city. This led to the abdication of Charles Albert of Sardinia and is seen as the beginning of the Italian unification movement.  Among the fine, historic buildings in Novara, which include the Basilica of San Gaudenzio - notable for its towering campanile, topped by Alessandro Antonelli's 75m cupola - and the Broletto, a complex that was at the civic heart of many medieval Italian cities, is the Novara Pyramid, which is also called the Ossuary of Bicocca. It was built to hold the ashes of fallen soldiers after the 19th century Battle of Novara.

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The busy port of Livorno on Italy's west coast
is the second largest city in Tuscany

Travel tip:

The port of Livorno is the second largest city in Tuscany after Florence, with a population of almost 160,000. It is the region’s principal seaport, a dynamic gateway to the Tyrrhenian Sea and a vital hub for both cargo and cruise traffic. The port spans over 2.5 million square meters, with 21 km of docks and around 90 berths. It handles over 35 million tonnes of goods and more than 3.5 million passengers, including 800,000 cruise passengers, each year. Positioned on Italy’s west coast, it is about 90km (56 miles) from Florence. Although it is a large commercial port with much related industry, it has many attractions, including an elegant sea front – the Terrazza Mascagni - an historic centre – the Venetian quarter – with canals, and a tradition of serving excellent seafood.  The Terrazza Mascagni is named after the composer Pietro Mascagni, who was born in Livorno. 

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More reading:

Camillo Olivetti - the founder of Italy’s first typewriter factory

The Italian engineer behind the world’s first personal computer

The priest and physicist who created the first ‘fax machine’

Also on this day:

1459: The death of humanist scholar Poggio Bracciolini

1877: The birth of businesswoman Luisa Spagnoli

1893: The birth of bodybuilder Charles Atlas

1896: The birth of conductor Antonino Votto

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29 October

King appoints Mussolini Prime Minister

Victor Emmanuel turned to Fascist leader after fearing civil war

Victor Emmanuel III, the king of Italy, invited Benito Mussolini to become Prime Minister on this day in 1922, ushering in the era of Fascist rule in Italy.  History has largely perceived the decision as a moment of weakness on the part of the king, a man of small physical stature who had never been particularly comfortable in his role.  Yet at the time, with violent clashes between socialist supporters and Mussolini’s Blackshirts occurring almost daily with both sides bent on revolution, Victor Emmanuel feared that Italy was on the brink of civil war.  The First World War had been financially crippling for Italy, even though they had emerged with a victory of sorts in that the Austro-Hungarians were finally pushed out of northern Italy.  In the poverty that followed, the country shifted to the left and in the 1919 general election the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) gained 32 per cent of the vote. Read more…

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Franco Corelli - 'Prince of Tenors'

Self-taught singer who wowed New York

The great Italian tenor Franco Corelli died in Milan on this day in 2003 aged 82 after suffering heart problems.  Corelli was renowned for the power and vibrancy of his voice, described by some as generating a 'white heat' on the stage when he performed.  In a career spanning more than a quarter of a century he mastered all the major tenor roles and appeared at the greatest opera theatres in the world.  He was a fixture at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he performed 19 roles over 15 seasons in some 365 appearances.  As well as possessing outstanding vocal range, he used his natural assets – he stood 6ft 1ins tall and weighed 200lbs – to develop a charismatic stage presence.  Blessed with movie star looks, he had the appearance of an opera-singing Errol Flynn. He was nicknamed the 'Prince of Tenors'.  Corelli was born in 1921 in Ancona on Italy’s Adriatic coast. Read more…

Carlo Emanuele Ruspoli – Duke of Morignano

Noble architect is now a prolific writer

Carlo Emanuele Maria Ruspoli was born on this day in 1949 in Rome.  He became the third Duke of Morignano in 2003, succeeding his father, Prince Galeazzo Ruspoli. Carlo had previously graduated as a Doctor of Architecture from the Sapienza University of Rome and he now works as a researcher and writer.  He is a prolific author of works on history and anthropology as well as historical novels, drawing on his own family heritage and his fascination with the East.  The House of Ruspoli is one of the great aristocratic families of Rome and all members hold the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.  The family’s origins can be traced back to their ancestor, Marius Scotus, in the eighth century, the Ruspoli family of Florence in the 13th century, and the Marescotti family of Bologna.  A branch of the Ruspoli family moved to Rome in the 17th century.  Read more...

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Fabiola Gianotti - particle physicist

First woman to be director-general of CERN

The particle physicist Fabiola Gianotti, who in 2016 became the first woman to be made director-general in the 64-year history of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, was born on this day in 1960 in Rome. She led one of the two teams of physicists working for the organisation - generally known as CERN after its title in French - whose experiments in 2012 resulted in the discovery of the Higgs boson, the particle that explains why some other elementary particles have mass.  The discovery was regarded as so significant in the advancement of scientific knowledge that it was nicknamed the “God particle.”  As the project leader and spokesperson of the ATLAS project at CERN, which involved a collaboration of around 3,000 physicists from 38 countries, Dr. Gianotti announced the discovery of the particle.  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 - fascists, anti-fascists, communists, anarchists, victims, perpetrators and bystanders - 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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28 October

The March on Rome

The insurrection that put Fascists in power

The March on Rome that resulted in Benito Mussolini’s Fascist party taking control of the Italian government took place on this day 100 years ago in 1922.  A mob comprising members of Mussolini’s Blackshirt militia and other party supporters converged on the city. At the same time, other Blackshirt groups were capturing strategic locations throughout Italy.  Italy’s Liberal prime minister, Luigi Facta, wanted to deploy the army to put down the insurrection. He hastened to the Palazzo Quirinale to see the king, Victor Emmanuel III, and asked him to sign a decree of martial law so that he could put Rome in a state of siege.  At first, the monarch was prepared to grant his request, but after giving it more thought he changed his mind, much to Facta’s consternation. Instead, the Blackshirt mob were allowed to enter Rome unchallenged. Read more…

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Eros Ramazzotti - singer-songwriter

Best-selling Italian star has enduring appeal

The best-selling Italian singer and songwriter Eros Ramazzotti was born on this day in 1963 in Rome.  Ramazzotti, whose style has developed from pure pop to a contemporary soft rock genre with elements of classical crossover, has sold around 65 million records in a career spanning almost 40 years, putting him among the top 12 Italian recording artists of all time.  He is popular throughout Europe and in Spanish-speaking countries in South America, so much so that he records most of his albums in Spanish as well as Italian.  Among his 13 studio albums, three compilations and six live albums, 12 have reached No 1 in the Italian charts and 10 in the Swiss charts.  In addition, Ramazzotti has had No 1s in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Sweden.  Twice - with 9 in 2003 and e2 in 2007 – he sold more records in that year in Italy than any other artist. Read more…

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Ulisse Dini – mathematician and politician

Patriotic professor was proud to serve the new Kingdom of Italy

The mathematician Ulisse Dini, who wrote many books and papers based on his research and came up with original theories that advanced the knowledge in his field, died on this day in 1918 in Pisa.  Now regarded as one of the most important European mathematicians of the 19th century, Dini was also active as a politician and was elected to Pisa city council before becoming a member of the parliament of the new Kingdom of Italy. His political views were shaped by the changing landscape of Italy while he was growing up, as the country moved closer to unification, and he was always keen to help his local area and his country.  Originally intending to become a teacher, Dini, who was born in Pisa in 1845 when the city was part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, attended the Scuola Superiore in Pisa, a teachers’ college. Read more…

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Sergio Tòfano – actor and illustrator

The many talents of stage and screen star

Comic actor, director, writer and illustrator Sergio Tòfano died on this day in 1973 in Rome.  He is remembered as an intelligent and versatile theatre and film actor and also as the creator of the much-loved cartoon character Signor Bonaventura, who entertained Italians for more than 40 years.  Tòfano was born in Rome in 1886, the son of a magistrate, and studied at the University of Rome and the Academy of Santa Cecilia. He made his first appearance on stage in 1909.  He soon specialised as a comic actor and worked with a string of famous directors including Luigi Almirante and Vittorio de Sica.  He became famous after his performance as Professor Toti in Luigi Pirandello’s comic play, Pensaci, Giacomino!   Also a talented artist and writer, Tòfano invented his cartoon character Signor Bonaventura for the children’s magazine, Il Corriere dei Piccoli, signing himself as Sto. Read more…

Battle of the Milvian Bridge

How Christianity became official religion of the Roman Empire

Roman emperor Constantine defeated his rival Maxentius in a battle at the Milvian Bridge (Ponte Milvio), a vital point for crossing the River Tiber, on this day in 312 in Rome. The battle was a crucial moment in a civil war that ended with Constantine I as sole ruler of the Roman Empire and Christianity established as the empire’s official religion. The Roman Empire was being torn apart by different factions at war with each other at the beginning of the fourth century.  Although Constantine - known also as Constantine the Great - was declared Emperor at York in 306, his brother in law and rival, Maxentius, later claimed the imperial title in Rome.  In 312, Constantine led a force to march on Rome. Troops fighting for Maxentius lay in wait for them next to the River Tiber at Pons Milvius (Ponte Milvio), which had been partially dismantled. Read more…

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Stefano Landi – composer

Musician whose works influenced development of opera

Stefano Landi, an influential early composer of opera, died on this day in 1639 in Rome.  He wrote his most famous opera, Sant’Alessio, in 1632, which was the earliest to be about a historical subject, describing the life of the 4th century monastic, Saint Alexis.  It was also notable for Landi interspersing comic scenes drawn from the contemporary life of Rome in the 17th century.  Born in Rome, Landi had joined the Collegio Germanico as a boy soprano in 1595.  He took minor orders in 1599 and began studying at the Seminario Romano in 1602. He is mentioned in the Seminary’s records as being an organist and singer in 1611.  By 1618 he had moved to northern Italy and he published a book of five-voice madrigals in Venice. He wrote his first opera while in Padua, La morte d’Orfeo, which was probably part of the festivities for a wedding.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The March on Rome: Violence and the Rise of Italian Fascism, by Giulia Albanese

The aim of this book is to reconstruct the violent nature of the 1922 March on Rome and to emphasise its significance in demarcating a real break in Italy's history and the beginning of the Fascist dictatorship. This aspect of the March has long been obscured: first by the Fascists' celebratory project, and then by the ironic and reductive interpretation of the event put forward by anti-Fascists. The March on Rome focuses on the role and purpose of Fascist political violence from its origins. In doing so, it highlights the conflictual nature of the March by illustrating the violent impact it had on Italian institutions as well as the importance of a debate on this political turning point in Italy and beyond. The volume also examines how the event crucially contributed to the construction of a dictatorial political regime in Italy in the weeks following Mussolini's appointment as head of the government.

Giulia Albanese is a Professor of Modern History at the University of Padua. Her research focuses on the origins of Fascism, political violence and authoritarian cultures in the interwar years.

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