18 January

NEW - Austria takes control of Venice

Soldiers restored calm but became unpopular with the Venetians 

Austrian troops took over Venice and her territories on this day in 1798 and put an end to the destruction and looting caused by Napoleon Bonaparte’s soldiers in the city.  The Venetian Republic had proclaimed itself neutral during the Napoleonic Wars, knowing it could not afford to get involved in conflict. But Napoleon wanted to acquire the city anyway, and in May 1797 had provoked the Venetians into attacking a French ship, which he then used as an excuse to declare war against Venice.  The Venetian Grand Council and the last of its Doges, Ludovico Manin, voted the Republic out of existence and surrendered, putting the city under French rule. It was humiliating for Venice as it was the first time foreign troops had occupied the city in its 1,100 years of history.  But worse was to come as the French soldiers began systematically stripping Venice of its assets. Read more… 

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Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster – Cardinal

Blessed monk who tried to preach humility to Mussolini

Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, who was a Benedictine monk and served as Cardinal and Archbishop of Milan during World War II, was born on this day in 1880 in Rome.  Towards the end of the war, Schuster attempted to arrange a truce between Mussolini and the partisans, but failed because Mussolini refused to accept the demands for total surrender made by the partisan delegates.  During the unsuccessful meeting between Mussolini and the partisans in the Archbishop’s Palace in Milan, Schuster is reported to have made an attempt to preach humility to the Fascist leader. More than 40 years after his death, Cardinal Schuster was beatified on 12 May 1996 by Pope John Paul II.  Schuster was the son of a Bavarian tailor who had moved to live in Rome and he served as an altar boy at a German Church near St Peter’s Basilica.  Read more…

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Katia Ricciarelli - operatic soprano

Star whose peak years were in ‘70s and ‘80s

The opera singer Katia Ricciarelli, who at her peak was seen as soprano who combined a voice of sweet timbre with engaging stage presence, was born on this day in 1946 at Rovigo in the Veneto.  She rose to fame quickly after making her professional debut as Mimi in Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème in Mantua in 1969 and in the 1970s was in demand for the major soprano roles.  Between 1972 and 1975, Ricciarelli sang at all the major European and American opera houses, including Lyric Opera of Chicago (1972), Teatro alla Scala in Milan (1973), the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1974) and the Metropolitan Opera (1975).  In 1981, she began an association with the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro that she maintained throughout the ‘80s.  In addition to her opera performances, Ricciarelli also appeared in a number of films.  She was Desdemona in Franco Zeffirelli's film version of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello in 1986, alongside Plácido Domingo. Read more…

Forza Italia - political party

Movement that gave media magnate Silvio Berlusconi political power

The shape of Italy’s political landscape changed on this day in 1994 with the launch of the Forza Italia party, whose leader, the wealthy media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, served as Italy’s prime minister three times. Work had been going on behind the scenes to lay the foundations of the party for several months, going back to Berlusconi and a group of friends and business colleagues meeting in a notary’s office in Milan in June 1993 to give legal status to what was called the Forza Italia Association for Good Government.  By November, a network of Forza Italia Clubs was established, quickly attracting many thousands of members. Details of this network appeared in the media, although Berlusconi denied that they were branches of a political party - despite news in December that an address on Via dell'Umiltà in Rome had been registered as Forza Italia headquarters. Read more…

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Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder – musician

Court composer suspected of being a spy

Alfonso Ferrabosco, the composer who first introduced the madrigal to England, was born on this day in Bologna in 1543.  As well as composing music for Queen Elizabeth I of England, he was also suspected of working as a spy for her.  Ferrabosco had been born into a family of musicians and travelled about in Italy and France while he was young with his father and uncle.  He went to England in 1562 with his uncle and found employment with Elizabeth I, becoming the first composer to introduce the unaccompanied harmony of the madrigal to England, where it later became very popular. Elizabeth is said to have settled an annuity equivalent to £66 on him.  Ferrabosco’s madrigals suited English tastes and were considered very skilful. He also composed sacred music and instrumental music for lutes and viols.  Read more…

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Dino Meneghin – basketball player

Italy’s biggest star won 32 trophies and Olympic medal

Dino Meneghin, universally recognised as the greatest Italian player in basketball history, was born on this day in 1950 in Alano di Piave, a village in the Veneto.  The first Italian and only the second European player to be drafted by a National Basketball Association team when he was picked by the Atlanta Hawks in 1970, Meneghin enjoyed a professional career spanning 28 years.   He did not retire until he was 44 years old and had played in a professional match against his own son, Andrea, having won 32 trophies including 12 Italian national championships and seven EuroLeague titles.  Meneghin also participated in four Olympic basketball tournaments, winning a silver medal in the 1980 Games in Moscow. His international career amounted to 271 appearances for Italy, in which he scored 2,847 points.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Venice: The Remarkable History of the Lagoon City, by Dennis Romano

A sweeping and comprehensive history of Venice - from its formation in the early Middle Ages to the present day - that traces its evolution as a city, city-state, regional power, and overseas empire.  No city stirs the imagination more than Venice. From the richly ornamented palaces emerging from the waters of the Grand Canal to the dazzling sites of Piazza San Marco, visitors and residents alike sense they are entering, as 14th-century poet Petrarch remarked, "another world." During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Venice was celebrated as a model republic in an age of monarchs. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it became famous for its freewheeling lifestyle characterized by courtesans, casinos, and Carnival. When the city fell on hard times following the collapse of the Republic in 1797, a darker vision of Venice as a place of decay, disease, and death took hold. Today tourists from around the globe flock to the world heritage site as rising sea levels threaten its very foundations.  This comprehensive account reveals the adaptations to its geographic setting that have been a constant feature of living on water from Venice's origins to the present. It examines the lives of the women and men, noble and common, rich and poor, Christian, Jew, and Muslim, who built not only the city but also its vast empire that stretched from Northern Italy to the eastern Mediterranean.  Venice: The Remarkable History of the Lagoon City offers a stunning portrait of this most singular of cities.

Dennis Romano is the Dr Walter Montgomery and Marian Gruber Professor of History emeritus at Syracuse University, in New York State. He is the author and editor of numerous books.

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Austria takes control of Venice

Soldiers restored calm but became unpopular with the Venetians 

The French troops of Napoleon, pictured arriving
in St Mark's square, looted Venice's treasures

Austrian troops took over Venice and her territories on this day in 1798 and put an end to the destruction and looting caused by Napoleon Bonaparte’s soldiers in the city.

The Venetian Republic had proclaimed itself neutral during the Napoleonic Wars, knowing it could not afford to get involved in conflict. But Napoleon wanted to acquire the city anyway, and in May 1797 had provoked the Venetians into attacking a French ship, which he then used as an excuse to declare war against Venice.

The Venetian Grand Council and the last of its Doges, Ludovico Manin, voted the Republic out of existence and surrendered, putting the city under French rule. It was humiliating for Venice as it was the first time foreign troops had occupied the city in its 1,100 years of history.

But worse was to come as the French soldiers began systematically stripping Venice of its assets. 

The Lion of Venice, which sits on top one of the two granite columns that stand guard at the lagoon end of the Piazzetta adjoining St Mark's Square, was lifted down and taken to France and Napoleon’s soldiers seized many art treasures and large quantities of gold and silver. 

In October 1797, the French and the Austrians signed the Treaty of Campo Formio and Venice was awarded to Austria, in return for France getting Lombardy and the area of Belgium then known as the Austrian Netherlands. 

But before the city was handed over to the Austrians, the French destroyed the Venetian navy, sending some of the ships back to France, and deliberately scuttling others.

Workers at Venice’s Arsenale were dismissed and the whole complex was burnt down. Churches, convents, and palaces were emptied of valuables and artworks. The state mint and the treasury of the Basilica of St Mark were confiscated and the Doge's ceremonial galley, the Bucintoro, was stripped of all its sculptures. These were then burned on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore to recover their gold leaf. 

The abdication as Doge of Ludovico Manin, which
spelt the end of the Venetian Republic

The famous bronze horses of Saint Mark were removed from the Basilica and taken to Paris, while many ordinary citizens were imprisoned and then forced to hand over their wealth in exchange for being given their freedom.

On the same day the French left Venice in January 1798, the Austrians arrived and ended the plunder. But their rule over Venice lasted only until 1805, when the city once again came under French control. It was returned to Austrian rule in 1815 and became part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, until its incorporation into the Kingdom of Italy in 1866.

Even though the Austrians had brought an end to the appalling ravages caused to the city by the French, the Venetians came to dislike their Austrian invaders. However, the new rulers were instrumental in building the railway that connected the city to the mainland, which opened the way for a new era of prosperity for Venice.

The Venetians rose up in rebellion against the Austrians in 1848, staging a general strike and recruiting a militia of 4,000 men, briefly driving their invaders out. The new Republic of San Marco declared its independence in March 1848 and a year passed before the Austrians reclaimed the city. The Austrian navy sailed into the lagoon and laid siege to the city, until its inhabitants were starving, and suffering from a cholera epidemic, and had no choice but to surrender.

The Austrians were finally driven out of Venice by the army of Victor Emmanuel II during the wars of Italian unification, at which point Venice became part of the Kingdom of Italy as a result of the Treaty of Vienna. 

During the 19th century, while Venice was under Austrian rule, coffee drinking became popular in the city and Austrian pastries, such as strudel and krapfen, were served in the coffee houses. 

The Habsburgs added new dishes to the traditional seafood diet with their own recipes that used meat,  cream, and knedel (dumplings). Their army officers, officials, and academics, also brought their own cooks with them to Venice, which enriched the city’s culinary tradition, and some traditional Austrian dishes can still be found on menus in Venice.

Caffè Quadri became the coffee house of choice
for the Austrian occupiers of the city

Travel tip:

Caffè Quadri in St Mark’s Square in Venice became the preferred coffee house for Austrian army officers during their 19th century occupation of the city. Originally founded in 1775 by Giorgio Quadri, who introduced Turkish coffee to Venice, it was taken over and restored in 1830, and a restaurant was added upstairs, the only one still in existence in St Mark’s Square today. It became a central hub for Austrians to meet and socialise, discuss politics, and read newspapers in the Viennese coffee house tradition. In 2011, the management of Quadri was taken on by the Alajmo family, headed by the Michelin-starred chef, Massimiliano “Max” Alajmo. Its rival on St Mark's Square, Caffè Florian opened its doors for the first time on this day in 1720, predating Quadri by 55 years. Florian’s nowadays occupies a long stretch of the arcades on the southern side of Piazza San Marco, its seats stretching out across the square with a permanent orchestra in residence to entertain clients. Yet the original consisted of just two rooms.  It became known as Florian’s after the owner, Floriano Francesconi, and claims to be the oldest still-active coffee house in Italy.

Hotels in Venice by Hotels.com

Santa Lucia railway station is one of the few
modernist buildings facing Venice's Grand Canal

Travel tip:

Construction of Santa Lucia railway station in Venice was started in 1860 while the city was still under Austrian occupation. The Church of Santa Lucia and a convent were demolished to make room for the new station and its forecourt, and the station took the name Santa Lucia as a result. The current station building is one of the few modernist buildings facing the Grand Canal and was based on plans started by the architect Angiolo Mazzoni in 1924. The station building was constructed between 1936 and 1943 and the train hall, also designed by Mazzoni, was built after the end of World War II. The station is used by about 82,000 passengers per day, adding up to around 30 million per year. Every day, approximately 450 trains stop at the station, which is the terminus of several famous services, including the Venice Simplon Orient Express.

Find Venice hotels with Expedia

More reading:

Ludovico Manin - the last Doge of Venice

The Venetian lawyer who led the fight to drive out the Austrians

When Venice was the target of history’s first air raid

Also on this day:

1543: The birth of madrigal composer Alfonso Ferrabosco

1880: The birth of Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster

1946: The birth of soprano Katia Ricciarelli 

1950: The birth of basketball star Dino Meneghin

1994: The launch of Silvano Berlusconi's Forza Italia political party

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17 January

Guidobaldo I – Duke of Urbino

Military leader headed a cultured court

Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, who was to become Duke of Urbino, was born on this day in Gubbio in 1472.  He succeeded his father, Federico da Montefeltro, as Duke of Urbino in 1482.  Guidobaldo married Elisabetta Gonzaga, the sister of Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, but they never had any children.  His court at Urbino was one of the most refined and elegant in Italy where literary men were known to congregate.  The writer Baldassare Castiglione painted an idyllic picture of it in his Book of the Courtier.  Castiglione was related on his mother’s side to the Gonzaga family of Mantua and represented them diplomatically.  As a result he met Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, and later took up residence in his court among the many distinguished guests.  During this time Castiglione also became a friend of the painter, Raphael, who painted a portrait of him that is now in The Louvre in Paris.  Read more…

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Antonio Moscheni - Jesuit painter

Unique legacy of chapel frescoes in India

The painter Antonio Moscheni, best known for the extraordinary frescoes he created in the chapel of St Aloysius College in Mangalore, India, was born on this day in 1854 in the town of Stezzano, near Bergamo in Lombardy.  St Aloysius, situated in the state of Karnataka in south-west India, was built by Italian Jesuit Missionaries in 1880 and the chapel added four years later.  A beautiful building, it would not look out of place in Rome and the Baroque extravagance of Moscheni's work, which adorns almost every available wall space and ceiling, makes it unique in India.  The chapel welcomes thousands of visitors each year simply to marvel at Moscheni's art for the vibrancy of the colours and the intricacy of the detail. Scenes depicted include the life of St. Aloysius, who as the Italian aristocrat Aloysius Gonzaga became a Jesuit. Read more…

Pope Gregory XI returns the papacy to Rome

Important date in Roman and papal history

The French Pope, Gregory XI, returned the papacy to Rome, against the wishes of France and several of his cardinals, on this day in 1377.  The move back to Rome was a highly significant act in history as the papacy, from that date onwards, was to remain in the city.  Gregory was born Pierre-Roger De Beaufort in Limoges. He was the last French pope, and he was also the last pope to reign from Avignon, where he had been unanimously elected in 1370.  He immediately gave consideration to returning the papacy to Rome in order to conduct negotiations for reuniting the Eastern and Western Churches and to maintain papal territories against a Florentine revolt being led by the powerful Visconti family.  But Gregory had to shelve his Roman plan temporarily in order to strive for peace between England and France after another phase in the Hundred Years’ War started.  Read more…

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Antonio del Pollaiuolo – artist

Paintings of muscular men show knowledge of anatomy

Renaissance painter, sculptor, engraver and goldsmith Antonio del Pollaiuolo was born on this day in 1433 in Florence.  He was also known as Antonio di Jacopo Pollaiuolo and sometimes as Antonio del Pollaiolo. The last name came from the trade of his father who sold poultry.  Antonio’s brother, Piero, was also an artist and they frequently worked together. Their work showed classical influences and an interest in human anatomy. It was reported that the brothers carried out dissections to improve their knowledge of the subject.  Antonio worked for a time in the Florence workshop of Bartoluccio di Michele where Lorenzo Ghiberti - creator of the bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery - also received his training.  Some of Antonio’s paintings show brutality.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Light of Italy: The Life and Times of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, by Jane Stevenson

The one-eyed mercenary soldier Federico da Montefeltro, lord of Urbino between 1444 and 1482, was one of the most successful condottiere of the Italian Renaissance: renowned humanist, patron of the artist Piero della Francesca, and creator of one of the most celebrated libraries in Italy outside the Vatican. From 1460 until her early death in 1472 he was married to Battista, of the formidable Sforza family, their partnership apparently blissful. In the fine palace he built overlooking Urbino, Federico assembled a court regarded by many as representing a high point of Renaissance culture. For Baldassare Castiglione, Federico was la luce dell'Italia – 'the light of Italy'.  The Light of Italy: The Life and Times of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino is an affectionate account of Urbino's flowering and decline that casts revelatory light on patronage, politics and humanism in 15th-century Italy. As well as recounting the gripping stories of Federico and his Montefeltro and della Rovere successors, Stevenson considers in details Federico's cultural legacy – investigating the palace itself, the splendours of the ducal library, and his other architectural projects in Gubbio and elsewhere.

Jane Stevenson is a British historian, literary scholar, and author. A former Regius Professor of Humanity at the University of Aberdeen, since 2017 she has been Senior Research Fellow at Campion Hall, Oxford.

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16 January

Count Vittorio Alfieri – playwright and poet

Romantic nobleman inspired the oppressed with his writing

Dramatist and poet Count Vittorio Alfieri was born on this day in 1749 in Asti in Piedmont.  He earned himself the title of ‘the precursor of the Risorgimento’ because the predominant theme of his poetry was the overthrow of tyranny and with his dramas he tried to encourage a national spirit in Italy. He has also been called ‘the founder of Italian tragedy.’  Alfieri was educated at the Military Academy of Turin but disliked military life and obtained leave to travel throughout Europe.  In France he was profoundly influenced by studying the writing of Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu and in England he embarked on a doomed affair with an unsuitable woman.  When he returned to Italy in 1772 he settled in Turin and resigned his military commission.  Soon afterwards, he wrote a tragedy, Cleopatra, which was performed to great acclaim in 1775.  Read more…

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Erasmo da Narni - condottiero

Soldier from poor origins became general commander of Venetian armies

One of the most famous condottieri of the Renaissance, Erasmo da Narni, who had a distinguished career as a military leader, died on this day in 1443 in Padua.  Known as Gattamelata, the honey-eyed cat, Erasmo has been immortalised by Donatello’s bronze equestrian statue of him in Piazza del Santo, one of Padua’s main squares.  Born in Narni in Umbria, Erasmo went from a humble household into a military life, serving in turn the rulers of the Papal States, Rome, Florence, and Venice. Condottieri were professional soldiers who were hired by city states to lead mercenary armies on the battlefield.  With his friend, Brandolino Brandolini, he worked for the Assisi lord, Cecchino Broglia, and later, serving under another condottiero, Braccio da Montone, lord of Perugia, he played his part in the conquests of Todi, Terni, Narni, Rieti, and Spoleto and helped win the Battle of Viterbo against Muzio Attendolo Sforza in 1419.  Read more…

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Renzo Mongiardino - interior and set designer

Favourite of wealthy clients known as the ‘architect of illusion’

Lorenzo ‘Renzo’ Mongiardino, who became Italy’s leading classic interior designer and a creator of magnificent theatre and film sets, died in Milan on this day in 1998.  He was 81 years old and had never fully recovered from an operation the previous November to install a pacemaker.  Mongiardino, who was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction during his career, worked on interior design for an international clientele that included the industrialist and art collector Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, the business tycoons Aristotle Onassis and Gianni Agnelli, the former Russian prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł and his socialite wife Lee Radziwill, the fashion designer Gianni Versace, the Lebanese banker Edmond Safra, the Rothschild family and the Hearst family.  Read more…

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Arturo Toscanini - conductor

Talented musician had unexpected career change

World famous orchestra conductor Arturo Toscanini died on this day in 1957.  He served as musical director of La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.  Toscanini was a well-known musician in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, respected for his amazing musical ear and his photographic memory.  Towards the end of his career he became a household name as director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra because of the radio and television broadcasts and recordings he made.  Toscanini was born in Parma in 1867 and won a scholarship to his local music conservatory where he studied the cello.  He joined the orchestra of an opera company and while they were presenting Aida on tour in Rio de Janeiro the singers went on strike.  They were protesting against their conductor and demanded a substitute. Read more…

Niccolò Piccinni – opera composer

Writer drawn into 18th century Paris rivalry

The composer Niccolò Piccinni, one of the most popular writers of opera in 18th century Europe, was born on this day in 1728 in Bari.  Piccinni, who lived mainly in Naples while he was in Italy, had the misfortune to be placed under house arrest for four years in his 60s, when he was accused of being a republican revolutionary.  He is primarily remembered, though, for having been invited to Paris at the height of his popularity to be drawn unwittingly into a battle between supporters of traditional opera, with its emphasis on catchy melodies and show-stopping arias, and those of the German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, who favoured solemnly serious storytelling more akin to Greek tragedy.  Piccinni’s father was a musician but tried to discourage his son from following the same career. However, the Bishop of Bari, recognising Niccolò’s talent, arranged for him to attend the Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio in Capuana in Naples.  Read more…

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Mario Tobino – poet, novelist and psychiatrist

Doctor was torn between literature and his patients

The author and poet who was also a practising psychiatrist, Mario Tobino, was born on this day in 1910 in Viareggio in Tuscany.  Tobino was a prolific writer whose works dealt with social and psychological themes. His novel, Il clandestino, inspired by his experiences fighting as a partisan to liberate Italy in 1944, won him the Premio Strega, the most prestigious Italian literary award.  After completing his degree in medicine in 1936, Tobino embarked on a career working in a mental hospital, treating people with mental disabilities.  He went to work as a doctor in Libya in 1940 but had to flee when war broke out in the country. His experiences were recorded in his book, Il deserto della Libia, which was published in 1952.  In 1953, his novel, Libere donne di Magliano, established him as an important Italian writer. Read more…

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Carlo Maria Viganò - controversial archbishop

Former papal ambassador who shocked Catholic Church

Carlo Maria Viganò, the controversial former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States who was twice at the centre of serious corruption allegations against the Vatican, was born on this day in 1941 in Varese, northern Italy.  Viganò, who had occupied one of the most powerful positions in the Vatican before Pope Benedict XVI set him to be his ambassador in Washington in 2011, was a key figure in the so-called Vatileaks scandal in 2012 when the Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published leaked documents that included letters from Viganò to Pope Benedict and to the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone complaining of corruption in the awarding of contracts.  The subsequent scandal resulted in the conviction of Benedict’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, who was found guilty of theft by a Vatican court and handed an 18-month prison sentence.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Risorgimento: Italy’s Path to Modernity, 1770 - 1870, by Gabriele B Clemens

The Risorgimento, the period of nation-state formation, has always had particular significance not only in the historiography of Italy but also for the transnational and comparative history of the founding of nation-states. Gabriele Clemens presents a new, up-to-date and well-founded overview of the history of the Risorgimento. Her account covers an entire century of Italian history, beginning around 1770, before the French Revolution, and ending in 1870 with the conquest of Rome by the troops of the burgeoning nation state. Risorgimento: Italy’s Path to Modernity is a balanced and highly readable account that combines the perspective of political cultural history with an economic and social historical approach. At the same time, it offers new interpretations, for example on the roles played by the nobility and the bourgeoisie. It questions the established claim that the masses were mobilized by means of art, music and literature and critically analyses the significance of Garibaldi, the man and the myth. The path to the nation state is described as the work of a state-supporting elite that acts consistently in transnational networks.

Gabriele B Clemems is Professor of Modern History and Regional History at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany

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