Pietro Gnocchi – composer

Influential musician was inspired by geography

Pietro Gnocchi studied
music in Venice

Baroque composer and writer Pietro Gnocchi, who is remembered for the unusual titles he gave to his music, was born on this day in 1689 in Alfianello in the province of Brescia in the region of Lombardy.

As well as writing a large quantity of sacred music and being choirmaster at Brescia Cathedral, Gnocchi, who has come to be regarded as a polymath because of his wide knowledge, wrote about history, geography, and archaeology. His works included a treatise on memorial tablets in the Brescia region, and a 25-volume history of ancient Greek colonies.

Gnocchi was the second of four sons born into a middle class family and he grew up to study music and to train as a priest. He then went on to study music in Venice and later travelled to Hungary, Vienna, and Munich.

After returning to Brescia, he was appointed as maestro di cappella at the cathedral now known as Brescia's Duomo Vecchio in 1723. Ten years later he applied to be the organist there, but was unsuccessful. He also worked at an orphanage, Orfanelle della Pietà, where it is thought he may have been a music instructor.

Although Gnocchi’s music was never published, it still exists in manuscript form and is regularly performed today. His choral music, which reveals the influence of his early training in Venice, included more than 60 masses, with surprising titles, such as Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. He also composed Requiems, sets of Vespers, various settings of the Magnificat and settings of the Miserere, as well as hymns and motets.

One of his settings for the Magnificat is entitled ‘Il Capa di Buona Speranza’, The Cape of Good Hope, reflecting his interest in geography.

Gnocchi also wrote some secular music, which included concertos and sonatas for stringed instruments, and some songs.

Most of his music manuscripts are now stored in the archives of Brescia Cathedral and the Church of Madonna delle Grazie in Brescia.

In 1762, Gnocchi successfully reapplied for his old position as maestro di cappella at Brescia Cathedral, as well as for the position of organist. He was to hold both these appointments until his death at the age of 86 in 1775 in Brescia, where according to his wishes, he was buried in the Church of San Giorgio. 

Brescia's Duomo Vecchio, also known as the 
Rotonda, where Gnocchi was maestro di cappella

His treatise on memorial tablets in and around Brescia, and his history of ancient Greek colonies, were bought by Prince Faustino Lechi of Brescia, who was a student of Gnocchi, and later became his friend and patron. Many of Gnocchi’s manuscripts are still preserved in the Bibliotheca Civica Queriniana di Brescia.

Gnocchi influenced Italian music through teaching other musicians in Brescia and passing on Venetian traditions to them. The pupils he mentored adopted his musical style and went on to occupy key ecclesiastical roles themselves, continuing to evoke the atmosphere of choral music, as it was performed in St Mark’s Basilica, throughout Lombardy.

Scholarly interest in Gnocchi’s music has grown in the 20th and early 21st centuries and studies have been written comparing Gnocchi’s sonatas and concertos with those of Vivaldi, noting the shared Venetian traits as well as the differences.

Ensembles specialising in Baroque music have played Gnocchi’s sonatas using period instruments and released recordings of his works, which have also enabled contemporary listeners to make comparison with the music of Vivaldi. A CD of sacred music written by Gnocchi for the churches of Brescia, performed by the Coro Claudio Monteverdi, is currently available. 

Brescia is a mix of Renaissance architecture
and ruins from its Roman past

Travel tip:

Brescia, the birthplace of Pietro Gnocchi, is a town of great artistic and architectural importance but, although it is the second city in Lombardy after Milan, and has Roman remains and well-preserved Renaissance buildings, it is not well-known to tourists.  Brescia became a Roman colony before the birth of Christ and you can still see remains from the forum, theatre, and a temple. The town was fought over by different rulers in the middle ages but came under the protection of Venice in the 15th century. There is a distinct Venetian influence in the architecture of the Piazza della Loggia, an elegant square in the centre of the town, which has a clock tower remarkably similar to the one in Saint Mark’s square in Venice. The Santa Giulia Museo della Città covers more than 3000 years of Brescia’s history, housed within the Benedictine Nunnery of San Salvatore and Santa Giulia in Via Musei. The nunnery was built over a Roman residential quarter, but some of the houses, with their original mosaics and frescoes, have now been excavated and can be seen while looking round the museum.

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Brescia's Cattedrale di Santa Maria Nuova,
known also as the Duomo Nuovo

Travel tip:

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Brescia, known as the Duomo Nuovo (new cathedral) stands next to the Duomo Vecchio (old cathedral) in Piazza Paolo VI in the centre of the city. The unusually shaped Duomo Vecchio, also known as la Rotonda, is open to the public.  Designed by architect Giovanbattista Lantana, who took over the commission after it was originally given to Andrea Palladio, the Duomo Nuovo, which has a Baroque facade in Botticino marble, was built on the remains of the old basilica of San Pietro de Dom starting from 1604. Financial constraints caused the construction of the new cathedral repeatedly to be delayed. It was not completed until 1825, with the addition of Luigi Cagnola’s dome, at 80 metres (262ft) the third tallest in Italy.  The present dome was rebuilt after destruction during the Second World War. The interior contains a monument to the Brescian Pope Paul VI, found on the left transept. The circular Duomo Vecchio, on which construction began in 1100 and where Gnocchi was maestro di cappella, is regarded as a Romanesque triumph.  Brescia was named as a Capital of Culture, along with the nearby city of Bergamo, by the Italian Government as a symbol of the hope and rebirth following the devastating effects on both cities caused by the volume of death during the Covid 19 pandemic. 

Let Expedia guide you to find accommodation in Brescia

More reading:

How Brescia businessman Giovanni Treccani used his wealth to encourage learning and culture 

Alessandro Bonvicino, the Brescia painter acclaimed for outstanding altarpieces 

Success and sadness in the life of Antonio Vivaldi

Also on this day:

1935: The birth of soprano Mirella Freni

1950: The birth of fashion designer Franco Moschino

1964: Italy's appeal for help with Leaning Tower

1973: The birth of singer and actress Chiara Iezzi

1978: The birth of dancer Simone di Pasquale

(Brescia photographs by Wolfgang Moroder via Wiki Commons)

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26 February

Dante Ferretti – set designer

Three-times Oscar winner worked with Fellini and Scorsese

Dante Ferretti, who in more than half a century in movie production design has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won three, was born on this day in 1943 in the city of Macerata, in the Marche region of central Italy.  Ferretti, who works in partnership with his wife, the set decorator Francesca Lo Schiavo, won two of his Oscars for films directed by Martin Scorsese, with whom he has enjoyed a collaboration that began 25 years ago this year.  Nominated for his first film with Scorsese, The Age of Innocence (1993) and subsequently for Kundun (1998) and Gangs of New York (2003), he was successful with The Aviator (2005) and Hugo Cabret (2012).  Both Oscars, for Best Scenography, were shared with Lo Schiavo, with whom he also shared an Oscar for Tim Burton’s 2008 film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  Read more…

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Angelo Mangiarotti - architect and designer

Iconic glass church among legacy to city of Milan 

Angelo Mangiarotti, regarded by his peers as one of the greats of modern Italian architecture and design, was born on this day in 1921 in Milan.  Many notable examples of his work in urban design can be found in his home city, including the Repubblica and Venezia underground stations, the iconic glass church of Nostra Signora della Misericordia in the Baranzate suburb and several unique residential properties, including the distinctive Casa a tre cilindri - composed of a trio of cylindrical blocks - in Via Gavirate in the San Siro district of the city.  He also worked extensively in furniture design with major companies such as Vistosi, Fontana Arte, Danese, Artemide, Skipper and the kitchen producer Snaidero.  Mangiarotti graduated from the Architecture School of the Politecnico di Milano in 1948. He moved to the United States in 1953. Read more…

Napoleon escapes from Elba

Emperor leaves idyllic island to face his Waterloo

French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the Italian island of Elba, where he had been living in exile, on this day in 1815.  Less than a year before he had arrived in Elba, an island dotted with attractive hills and scenic bays, following his unconditional abdication from the throne of France.  Several countries had formed an alliance to fight Napoleon’s army and had chosen to send him to live in exile on the small Mediterranean island about 10km (6 miles) off the Tuscan coast.  They gave Napoleon sovereignty over the island and he was allowed to keep a small personal army to guard him. He soon set about developing the iron mines and brought in modern agricultural methods to improve the quality of life of the islanders.  But he began to be worried about being banished still further from France. Read more…

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Emanuele Severino - philosopher

Thinker famous for theories on eternity and being

The contemporary philosopher Emanuele Severino, who died in January 2020, was born on this day in 1929 in Brescia, in northern Italy.  Severino is regarded by many as one of Italy’s greatest thinkers of the modern era, yet came into conflict with the Catholic Church, so much that the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the body that once stood in judgment of those it deemed as heretics, banished him from the Church in 1969 on the basis that his beliefs were not compatible with Christianity.  The basis for their action was his belief in “the eternity of all being”, which essentially denies the existence of God as a creator.  Severino believed that the ancient Greek theory of all things coming from nothing and returning to nothing after being granted temporary existence was flawed, and that the Greek sense of becoming was an error. Read more…

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Book of the Day:  Pier Paolo Pasolini: My Cinema, by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Foreword by Dante Ferretti. Photographs by Angelo Pennoni and Angelo Novi and others

Produced by the Fondazione Cineteca Di Bologna, this fantastic Pasolini compendium examines the great Italian director and author's life through a detailed survey of his films. Opening with Accattone (1961) and closing with Salò (1975), followed by a section on unrealized works, Pier Paolo Pasolini: My Cinema devotes a chapter to each of Pasolini's movies, supplementing stills and a wealth of documentary material with extended commentary by Pasolini on each film, in the form of interviews, journal notes, stories and essays, as well as screenplay excerpts. The four unrealized films discussed in the book's final chapter are The Savage Father (1963), Notes for a Poem on the Third World (1968), Saint Paul (1968) and Porno-Teo-Kolossal (1973). Also included are photos by some of the great Italian set photographers: Angelo Pennoni, Angelo Novi, Mario Tursi, Mario Dondero, Mimmo Cattarinich, Deborah Beer, Bruno Brunia and Roberto Villa. The book closes with an album of photographs from the archive of Laura Betti, the actress and singer who was Pasolini's close friend and confidante, which include photos of Pasolini with his mother, and in the company of writers such as Alberto Moravia, Carlo Emilio Gadda and Ezra Pound. Set designer Dante Ferretti, who began his career with Pasolini, contributes a foreword. 

Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian poet, writer, film director, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the most influential public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history.

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25 February

Benedetto Croce – philosopher and historian

Prolific writer opposed the Fascists and supported democracy

Benedetto Croce, one of the most important figures in Italian life and culture in the first half of the 20th century, was born on this day in 1866 in Pescasseroli in the region of Abruzzo.  Croce was an idealist philosopher, historian and erudite literary scholar whose approach to literature influenced future generations of writers and literary critics. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 16 times.  He became a Senator in 1910 and was Minister for Education from 1920 to 1921 in the last pre-Fascist government of the so-called Giolitti era. He is also remembered for his major contribution to the rebirth of Italian democracy after World War II.  Croce was born into a wealthy family and raised in a strict Catholic environment.  However, from the age of 16 he gave up Catholicism and developed a personal philosophy of spiritual life.  Read more…

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Alberto Sordi - actor

Comic genius who appeared in 190 films

Alberto Sordi, remembered by lovers of Italian cinema as one of its most outstanding comedy actors, died on this day in 2003 in Rome, the city of his birth.  He was 82 and had suffered a heart attack.  Italy reacted with an outpouring of grief and the decision was taken for his body to lie in state at Rome's town hall, the Campidoglio.  Streams of his fans took the opportunity to file past his coffin and when his funeral took place at the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano it was estimated that the crowds outside the church and in nearby streets numbered one million people.  Only the funeral of Pope John Paul II, who died two years later, is thought to have attracted a bigger crowd.  Sordi was the Italian voice of Oliver Hardy in the early days of his career, when he worked on the dubbing of the Laurel and Hardy movies. Read more…

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Enrico Caruso – opera singer

Tenor's voice still regarded as greatest of all time 

Operatic tenor Enrico Caruso was born on this day in 1873 in Naples.  Believed by many opera experts to be the greatest tenor of all time, Caruso had a brilliant 25-year singing career, appearing at many of the major opera houses in Europe and America.  He made more than 200 recordings of his beautiful voice, some made as early as 1902.  Caruso was born in Via San Giovanello agli Ottocalli in Naples and baptised the next day in the nearby church of San Giovanni e Paolo.  At the age of 11 he was apprenticed to a mechanical engineer and also worked alongside his father in a factory.  At the same time he was singing in his church choir and was told his voice showed enough promise for him to consider becoming a professional singer.  Until she died in 1888, he was encouraged by his mother. To earn money, he started to work as a street singer in Naples. Read more...

Carlo Goldoni – playwright

Greatest Venetian dramatist whose work still entertains audiences today

Carlo Goldoni, the author of The Servant of Two Masters, one of Italy’s most famous and best-loved plays, was born on this day in 1707 in Venice.  Goldoni became a prolific dramatist who reinvigorated the commedia dell’arte dramatic form by replacing its masked, stock figures with more realistic characters. He produced tightly constructed plots with a new spirit of spontaneity and is considered the founder of Italian realistic comedy.  The son of a physician, Goldoni read comedies from his father’s library when he was young and ran away from his school at Rimini with a company of strolling players when he was just 14.  Later, while studying at the papal college in Pavia, Goldoni read comedies by Plautus, Terence and Aristophanes and learnt French so he could read plays by Molière.  He was eventually expelled for writing a satire about the ladies of Pavia and was sent to study law.  Read more…

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Giovanni Battista Morgagni - anatomist

The father of modern pathological anatomy

Anatomist Giovanni Battista Morgagni, who is credited with turning pathology into a science, was born on this day in 1682 in Forlì in Emilia-Romagna.  Morgagni was professor of anatomy at the University of Padua for 56 years and taught thousands of medical students during his time there.  He was sent by his parents to study philosophy and medicine at the University of Bologna when he was 18 and he graduated as a doctor from both faculties.  In 1706 he published his work, Adversaria anatomica, which was to be the first volume of a series and helped him become known throughout Europe as an accurate anatomist.  He succeeded to the chair of theoretical medicine at the University of Padua in 1712 and was to teach medicine there until his death in 1771.  Morgagni was promoted to the chair of anatomy after his first three years in Padua. Read more…

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Enea Salmeggia – artist

Painter was dubbed the Raphael of Bergamo

Prolific painter Enea Salmeggia, who was active during the late Renaissance period and left a rich legacy of art in northern Italy, died on this day in 1626 in Bergamo in the region of Lombardy.  Salmeggia, also known as Il Talpino, or Salmezza, went to Rome as a young man, where he studied the works of Raphael. His style has often been likened to that of Raphael and he has even been called the Bergamo Raphael by some art lovers. A drawing formerly attributed to Raphael, now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, of two figures seated with some architectural studies, has subsequently been ascribed to Enea Salmeggia.  The artist was born at Salmezza, a frazione of Nembro, a comune - municipality - in the province of Bergamo, between 1565 and 1570. It is known that he grew up in Borgo San Leonardo in Bergamo, where his father, Antonio, was a tailor. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Benedetto Croce: An Introduction to His Philosophy, by Raffaello Piccoli

Explore the foundational ideas of one of Italy's most influential thinkers with Benedetto Croce: An Introduction to his Philosophy by Raffaello Piccoli. This essential volume offers a comprehensive overview of Croce's contributions to philosophy, aesthetics, and historical thought. Delve into his unique brand of idealism and understand its lasting impact on 20th-century intellectual discourse.  Piccoli expertly guides readers through Croce's complex ideas, illuminating his key works and their significance. Whether you're interested in Italian philosophy, literary criticism, or the life and work of Benedetto Croce himself, this book provides a valuable starting point - a vital resource for anyone seeking to understand Croce's profound influence on the fields of philosophy and history. This carefully prepared print edition ensures the accessibility of this important intellectual contribution for years to come.

Raffaello Piccoli was an influential Italian writer, poet, translator, and scholar, recognized for his contributions to philosophical literature, particularly in interpreting and explaining the works of Benedetto Croce.

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24 February

NEW - Candido Jacuzzi - inventor

Improvised hydrotherapy device became must-have spa bath

Candido Jacuzzi, whose surname became familiar across the world because of what followed his invention of a hydrotherapy bath for his sick son, was born on this day in 1903 in Casarsa della Delizia, a town in Friuli-Venezia Giulia about 80km (50 miles) northwest of Trieste, the regional capital.  His family joined many Italians in the early 20th century in emigrating to the United States in search of economic prosperity. After a number of years, they set up a business, Jacuzzi Brothers Inc., initially working in the burgeoning aircraft sector before later manufacturing pumps for agricultural use. It was based in Berkeley, California.  Business was successful if not spectacularly so and it was not until 30 years later that Candido, who was by then the father of a young child diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, hit upon the idea that would turn Jacuzzi into a household name.  Read more…

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Renata Scotto - soprano and opera director

Singer who stood in for Callas became an international star

Opera singer Renata Scotto, who was one of the leading sopranos in the world at the height of her career, was born on this day in 1934 in Savona in Liguria.  Admired for her musicality and acting ability, Scotto was one of the most popular singers during the bel canto revival of the 1960s, performing throughout Italy, and in the UK, America, Russia, Japan, Spain, France and Germany.  She sang opposite great tenors such as Mario del Monaco, Alfredo Kraus and Luciano Pavarotti.  Scotto made her stage debut on Christmas Eve 1952 at the age of 18 as Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata, singing to a sold-out house in Savona, her home town. The next day she made her official debut at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan as Violetta. Shortly afterwards, she performed in Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in Savona.  Read more…

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Bettino Craxi - prime minister

The Socialist who broke the grip of the Christian Democrats

Bettino Craxi, the politician who in 1983 became the first member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) to be appointed prime minister, was born on this day in 1934 in Milan.  He was not the first socialist to hold the office - Ivanoe Bonomi had been prime minister for six months in 1920 on an Italian Reformist Socialist Party ticket and succeeded Marshal Pietro Badoglio as leader of the war-torn nation’s post-Mussolini government in 1944. However, Craxi broke the hold of the Christian Democrats, who had been in power continuously since the first postwar elections in 1946.  Craxi was a moderniser who moved his party away from traditional forms of socialism in a way that was replicated elsewhere in Europe, such as in Britain under the New Labour prime minister Tony Blair. Craxi replaced the party’s hammer-and-sickle symbol with a red carnation.  Read more…

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L’Orfeo – an early opera

The lasting appeal of Monteverdi’s first attempt at opera

L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, the earliest opera still being regularly staged, had its first performance on this day in 1607 in Mantua.  Two letters, both dated 23 February, 1607, refer to the opera due to be performed the next day in the Ducal Palace as part of the annual carnival in Mantua in Lombardy.  In one of them a palace official writes: ‘… it should be most unusual as all the actors are to sing their parts.’  Francesco Gonzaga, the brother of the Duke, wrote in a letter dated 1 March, 1607, that the performance had been to the ‘great satisfaction of all who heard it.’  L’Orfeo, or La favola d’Orfeo as it is sometimes called, is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus. It tells the story of the hero’s descent to Hades and his unsuccessful attempt to bring his dead bride, Eurydice, back to the living world.  While it is recognised that L’Orfeo is not the first opera, it is the earliest opera that is still regularly performed in theatres today. Read more…

Cesare “Caesar” Cardini – restaurateur

Italian emigrant who invented Caesar salad

The restaurateur who history credits with inventing the Caesar salad was born on this day in 1896 in Baveno, a small town on the shore of Lake Maggiore.  Cesare Cardini was one of a large family, with four brothers and two sisters.  In common with many Italians in the early part of the 20th century, his brothers Nereo, Alessandro and Gaudenzio emigrated to the United States, hoping there would be more opportunities to make a living.  Nereo is said to have opened a small hotel in Santa Cruz, California, south of San Francisco, while Alessandro and Guadenzio went to Mexico City.  Cesare left Italy for America in 1913. Records indicate he disembarked at Ellis Island, New York on May 1, having endured the transatlantic voyage as a steerage passenger, sleeping in a cargo hold equipped with dozens of bunk beds, which was the cheapest way to travel but came with few comforts.  Read more…

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Coronation of Emperor Charles V

Imperial ceremony in Bologna staged on birthday

Charles V was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor in the Basilica di San Petronio in Bologna by Pope Clement VII on this day in 1530.  Considered the greatest of all the Habsburg emperors, Charles V was also King Carlos 1 of Spain. By the time he was 19, his grandfather and his father were both dead and he had become master of more parts of Europe than anyone since the emperors of ancient Rome.  He chose the day for his coronation because it was his birthday. Although he had been Holy Roman Emperor for more than ten years, Charles decided to receive his crown on his 30th birthday and elected to hold his coronation in the cathedral in Bologna because Rome was still in ruins, having been sacked by his own troops.  He was crowned by the same Pope he had held prisoner during his attack on Rome, Clement VII, who was formerly Giulio de’ Medici.  Read more…

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Sandro Pertini - popular president

Man of the people who fought Fascism

Sandro Pertini, the respected and well-liked socialist politician who served as Italy's President between 1978 and 1985, died on this day in 1990, aged 93.  Pertini, a staunch opponent of Fascism who was twice imprisoned by Mussolini and again by the Nazis, passed away at the apartment near the Trevi Fountain in Rome that he shared with his wife, Carla.  After his death was announced, a large crowd gathered in the street near his apartment, with some of his supporters in tears.  Francesco Cossiga, who had succeeded him as President, visited the apartment to offer condolences to Pertini's widow, 30 years his junior.  They had met towards the end of the Second World War, when they were both fighting with the Italian resistance movement.  Pertini's popularity stemmed both from his strong sense of morality and his unwavering good humour.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Italian Americans: A History, by Maria Laurino

A sweeping, highly readable account of the Italian‑American experience, written to accompany a television documentary series of the same name. Across roughly a century and a half of migration, struggle, and cultural transformation, Maria Laurino traces how a diverse group of regional Italian identities - Sicilian, Neapolitan, Calabrian, Piedmontese - were gradually reshaped into the single identity known as Italian‑American. The book blends social history with vivid personal stories: the perilous transatlantic voyages; the cramped tenements of the East Coast; the rise of mutual‑aid societies; and the complicated dance between assimilation and cultural pride. The Italian Americans: A History is particularly strong on the tension between stereotype and reality - how the group was once viewed as racially suspect, how the spectre of organised crime distorted public perception, and how families navigated the pressures of Americanisation while trying to preserve language, culinary heritage and Catholic traditions. It pays strong attention to the entrepreneurial and inventive spirit that flourished within immigrant communities, showing how mechanical skill, agricultural know‑how, and small‑business ingenuity became pathways to stability and, for some families, remarkable success. 

Maria Laurino is an American journalist, essayist, and until 1993 chief speechwriter to former New York City Mayor David Dinkins. Born into an Italian‑American family in New Jersey, she has explored themes of identity, heritage, and assimilation in earlier books, including Were You Always an Italian? and Old World Daughter, New World Mother. 

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