Guido I da Montefeltro - Lord of Urbino

Brilliant military strategist who suffered poetic damnation

Guido I da Montefeltro was a powerful
force on the side of the Ghibellines

Guido I da Montefeltro, the brilliant military strategist who consolidated the power of medieval Urbino but was famously consigned to Hell in Dante’s Inferno, died on this day in 1298.

A leading figure in the long-running power struggle between the pro-imperial Ghibellines and the pro-papal Guelphs in northern and central Italy, Guido achieved many notable battlefield victories, yet towards the end of his life became a Franciscan monk.

He is thought to have died and been buried at a monastery in Ancona, the coastal city some 75km (45 miles) southwest of Urbino, although this is disputed in some accounts, which placed him at the main Franciscan monastery in Assisi. He was around 75 years old.

Guido’s taking of Holy orders, by way of seeking redemption for the brutal military deeds by which he had inflicted so much suffering and loss of life, was at the heart of the poet Dante Alighieri’s decision to place him in Hell in the Inferno section of his epic narrative poem, the Divine Comedy, which he populated with many real people, historical and contemporary.

Only a few months before he died, Guido had been asked by Pope Boniface VIII, who had overturned a previous excommunication to admit him back into the Catholic Church, for advice on how to capture the fortress of Palestrina from the Colonna family, with whom he was in dispute. In return for a promised guarantee of absolution, Guido’s counsel was that Boniface should commit a deceit, to make promises but then renege.

Dante chose the episode to illustrate a profound theological point, that absolution cannot be bought, bargained for or granted in advance.

The Montefeltro family originally derived their name from the mountainous region of Monte Feltro, near Guido’s birthplace in 1223 at San Leo, a few kilometres northeast of Urbino.

Dante and Virgil confront the soul of Guido I da
Montefeltro in an illustration from the Divine Comedy

By the 13th century, the family had  positioned themselves as the dominant lords of Urbino. They funded their small, relatively poor state by renting out their highly disciplined armies and strategic military minds to major powers such as the Papacy, Florence, and Venice.

For generations, the family was locked in a brutal, bloody feud with the neighbouring House of Malatesta, the lords of Rimini. This rivalry dictated their shifting alliances with the Pope and other Italian states.

Guido I da Montefeltro, also known as Il vecchio (The Elder), was a pivotal figure who firmly established the family's reputation for military brilliance and political cunning.

His first notable military victories included the seizing of the city of Faenza in 1274, signalling his rise as a dominant warlord in the Romagna region, the Battle of Ponte San Procolo in 1275, in which he led a coalition of Ghibellines from Romagna, Bologna and Florence in a crushing victory over the Guelph forces, and the Battle of Raversano, a a decisive victory over the Malatesta of Rimini, which secured control of the towns of Cesena and Cervia.

Da Montefeltro (left) shown accepting
a commission to defend Forlì in 1282 

Guido’s tactical tour-de-force came in 1282 while defending the city of Forlì against a massive papal army led by French commander Jean d'Eppe, in which he allowed the enemy to breach the outer walls of the city and begin plundering the suburbs, then ambushed the enemy rearguard in a coordinated counter-attack that completely routed his numerically superior opponents.

Nonetheless, eventually Forlì fell to the papal forces, leading most of Romagna to submit to papal control. Guido accepted the authority of Pope Honorius IV in 1286.

Excommunicated in 1288, he became captain of the Ghibellines of Pisa. Over the next few years, he aided Pisa in its struggle against Florence, and the city of Urbino against Cesena.  He returned to Urbino in 1296, having been readmitted to the Church in 1296.

Good things in time emerged from the warlike behaviour of Guido I da Montefeltro and others. The wealth brought home from mercenary contracts was systematically funnelled into monumental architecture, world-class libraries, and the patronage of Renaissance artists and humanists.

This process culminated in the reign of Federico da Montefeltro as Duke of Urbino. Like his ancestor Guido, Federico was a brilliant military tactician and one of the most successful of all Italian condottieri. He launched a radical urban transformation after taking power in 1444.

Rather than tearing down the medieval fortress town, he meticulously introduced an architectural language of order, proportion, and perspective directly into the existing hillsides. The grand city walls added in the 11th century were eventually reinforced using modern designs, some of which were influenced by Leonardo da Vinci.

The defining achievement of this era is the Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace), in which the architects broke with tradition by eschewing the customary fortress design in favour of open, arcaded loggias, and its iconic twin towers. 

Federico used the vast fortune he earned as Italy’s most successful mercenary commander to finance a legendary court. He built one of the greatest libraries in Europe and hosted a brilliant circle of minds, including the painter Piero della Francesca, whose mastery of linear perspective anchored the Urbino school of art, the brilliant architect Leon Battista Alberti, and the court poet and painter, Giovanni Santi, father of the artist, Raphael.

The studiolo in the Ducal Palace with
its intricate inlaid wood panelling

Travel tip:

Urbino, which is 36km (22 miles) inland from the Adriatic resort of Pesaro, in the Marche region, is a majestic city on a steep hill.  It was once a famous centre of learning and culture, known not just in Italy but also in its glory days throughout Europe, attracting outstanding artists and scholars to enjoy the patronage of the noble rulers. The Ducal Palace - a Renaissance building made famous by Baldassare Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier - is now one of the most important monuments in Italy and is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site. Inside the palace, the National Gallery of the Marche features paintings by Titian and Raphael, and there are more examples of Raphael’s paintings at his house - Casa Natale di Raffaello.  One of many outstanding features of the palace is Federico da Montefelto’s studiolo (study). It is a masterpiece of intarsia (intricate wood inlay) that uses absolute perspective to create optical illusions (trompe l'oeil) of bookshelves, musical instruments, and classical texts, celebrating the intellectual passions of a humanist ruler.

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The Casa di Natale di Raffaele sits
on a steep hill in the city of Urbino

Travel tip:

The Casa Natale di Raffaello (Raphael's Birthplace), located at Via Raffaello, 57 in the steep artisan district of Urbino, is the 15th-century townhouse where the High Renaissance master Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) was born on Good Friday, 1483. Although open to the public as a museum, it is preserved as an intimate, authentic representation of a prosperous, middle-class Renaissance artist's home and workshop. The building is a substantial townhouse that reflects the prestigious social standing of Raphael's father, Giovanni Santi, who served as the official court painter and poet to Duke Federico da Montefeltro.  In 1635 - 115 years after Raphael’s death - the Urbino architect Muzio Oddi purchased and meticulously restored the home. In 1873, the building was officially acquired by the Accademia Raffaello and with generous financial help from the London nobleman, John Morris Moore, the Academy established its permanent headquarters inside the property, dedicated to transforming it into a study centre and historical house-museum. Today, visitors can wander through several historic floors, taking in original architectural elements, period furniture, and Renaissance artefacts.  The focal point of the house is the small room where Raphael was born. Painted directly onto the wall is a stunning, delicate fresco of the Madonna and Child, which the artist, architect and historian Giorgio Vasari documented as painted by  Raphael at around the age of 15, he was still studying under his father or his master, Perugino.

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More reading:

How Federico da Montefeltro was immortalised in a famous portrait

The precocious genius of Raphael

Francesco Maria II della Rovere, the last Duke of Urbino

Also on this day:

1901: The birth of nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi

1913: The birth of footballer Silvio Piola

1936: The birth of businessman and politician Silvio Berlusconi

1964: The birth of politician Giorgio Frassineti

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28 September

Marcello Mastroianni – actor

Film star who immortalised the Trevi Fountain

Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, who grew up to star in some of the most iconic Italian films of the 20th century, was born on this day in 1924 in Fontana Liri, in the province of Frosinone in Lazio.  He was the son of Ida Irolle and Ottone Mastroianni, who ran a carpentry shop. His uncle, Umberto Mastroianni, was a sculptor.  At the age of 14, Marcello made his screen debut as an extra in a 1939 film called Marionette.  His career was interrupted by the Second World War, during which he was interned in a German prison camp. He made several minor film appearances after the war until he landed his first big role in Atto d’accusa, directed by Giacomo Gentilomo, in 1951.  Ten years later, Mastroianni had become an international celebrity, having starred in Federico Fellini’s La dolce vita opposite Anita Ekberg. Read more…

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Pietro Badoglio - soldier and politician

Controversial general who turned against Mussolini

Marshal Pietro Badoglio, who was a general in the Italian Army in both World Wars and became Italy’s wartime prime minister after the fall of Mussolini, was born on this day in 1871 in the village of Grazzano Monferrato in Piedmont.  He was Mussolini’s Chief of Staff between 1925 and 1940, although his relationship with the Fascist dictator was fractious.  Indeed, he ultimately played a key part in Mussolini’s downfall in 1943, encouraging the Fascist Grand Council to remove him as leader and advising King Victor Emmanuel III in the lead-up to Mussolini’s arrest and imprisonment in July of that year, after which he was named as head of an emergency government.  It was Badoglio who then conducted the secret negotiations with the Allies that led to an armistice being signed barely five weeks later. However, historians are divided over whether he should be seen as an heroic figure.  Read more…

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Filippo Illuminato - partisan

Teenager who gave his life for his city

The partisan fighter Filippo Illuminato died on this day in 1943 in Naples.  He was among more than 300 Italians killed in an uprising known as the Quattro giornate di Napoli - the Four Days of Naples - which successfully liberated the city from occupying Nazi forces ahead of the arrival of the first Allied forces in the city on 1 October.  Illuminato’s memory has been marked in a number of ways in the southern Italian city, honoured because he was only 13 years old when he was killed by German gunfire in a street battle in the famous Piazza Trieste e Trento, just a few steps from the Royal Palace. His last act had been to blow up a German armoured car.  Born into a poor family, Illuminato was working as an apprentice mechanic when he decided to join the uprising, which was sparked by a brutal crackdown imposed by the Nazis. Read more…

Alessandro Tassoni – poet

Writer famed for legendary bucket in a belfry

The writer Alessandro Tassoni, who became famous for a poem about an historic battle which included a story about a stolen bucket, was born on this day in 1565 in Modena in Emilia-Romagna.  Tassoni’s bucket, which inspired his mock-heroic poem La secchia rapita (The Rape of the Bucket), is still on public display to this day in the belfry of Modena Cathedral. According to some critics, his poem was one of the earliest - and best - Italian poems of its type, and it became very popular in Italy and abroad.  Tassoni, who also wrote about politics and was a literary critic, was born into a noble family. He lost both of his parents at an early age and was brought up by his grandfather. He first saw the bucket in Modena Cathedral when he was taken there by his grandfather.  At the age of 13, he was taught Latin and Greek and he went on to study philosophy, law, and rhetoric. Read more…

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Book of the Day:  Dolce Vita Confidential: Fellini, Loren, Pucci, Paparazzi and the Swinging High Life of 1950s Rome, by Shawn Levy

1950s Rome. From the ashes of war, the Eternal City is reborn as the epicentre of film, style, boldfaced libertinism and titillating journalism. It's the heyday of fashion icons such as Pucci and Brioni, and the height of 'Hollywood on the Tiber', when a dizzying array of stars flock to Cinecittà, the huge movie studio on the outskirts of Rome. At the bars on Via Veneto the likes of Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor mix with blue bloods and bohemians, while behind them trail street photographers in pursuit of the most unflattering and dramatic portraits of fame.  In a fast-paced, kaleidoscopic narrative, Shawn Levy shows how all roads lead to Federico Fellini's world-conquering movie La dolce vita, starring Marcello Mastroianni and the Swedish bombshell Anita Ekberg. He recreates Rome's stunning ascent with vivid and compelling tales of its glitterati and artists, down to every last outrageous detail of the city's magnificent transformation.  Dolce Vita Confidential exalts the intoxicating, beguiling dreaminess of Rome in its celluloid heyday.

Shawn Levy has written many books, including Rat Pack Confidential, Paul Newman: A Life and The Castle on Sunset.  He is a former film critic of The Oregonian and KGW-TV, a former senior editor of American Film and a former associate editor of Box Office. He has written for numerous magazines and newspapers in the United States and England. 

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27 September

Grazia Deledda - Nobel Prize winner

First Italian woman to be honoured

The novelist Grazia Deledda, who was the first of only two Italian women to be made a Nobel laureate when she won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1926, was born on this day in 1871 in the city of Nuoro in Sardinia.  A prolific writer from the age of 13, she published around 50 novels or story collections over the course of her career, most of them drawing on her own experience of life in the rugged Sardinian countryside.  The Nobel prize was awarded "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general."  Deledda’s success came at the 11th time of asking, having been first nominated in 1913. The successful nomination came from Henrik Schuck, a literature historian at the Swedish Academy.  Born into a middle-class family, Deledda drew inspiration for her characters from her father’s friends and business acquaintances. Read more… 

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Cosimo de’ Medici – banker and politician

Father of Florence used his wealth to encourage great architecture

Today is the date Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici, the founder of the Medici dynasty, celebrated his birthday.  Cosimo and his twin brother, Damiano, were born to Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici and Piccarda Bueri in April 1389, but Damiano survived for only a short time.  The twins were named after the saints Cosmas and Damian, whose feast day in those days was celebrated on 27 September. Cosimo later decided to celebrate his birthday on 27 September, his ‘name day’, rather than on the actual date of his birth.  Cosimo’s father came from a wealthy family and after making even more money he married well. A supporter of the arts in Florence, he was one of the financial backers for the magnificent doors of the Baptistery by Ghiberti, although they were not completed until after his death.  By the time his father died, Cosimo was 40 and had become a rich banker himself. Read more… 

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Jovanotti - musician

Former rapper an important figure in Italian pop culture

The singer-songwriter Lorenzo Cherubini – better known as Jovanotti – was born on this day in 1966 in Rome.  Famous in his early days as Italy’s first rap star, Jovanotti has evolved into one of Italian pop music’s most significant figures, his work progressing from hip hop to funk and introducing ska and other strands of world music to Italian audiences, his increasingly sophisticated compositions even showing classical influences.  He has come to match Ligabue in terms of the ability to attract massive audiences, while his international record sales in the mid-90s were on a par with Eros Ramazzotti and Laura Pausini.  Since his recording debut in 1988 he has sold more than seven million albums.  Although born in Rome, Cherubini came from a Tuscan family and spent much of his childhood and adolescence in Cortona in the province of Arezzo. Read more…

Flaminio Scala - Renaissance writer and actor

Influential figure in growth of commedia dell’arte

The writer, actor and director Flaminio Scala, who is recognised as one of the most important figures in Renaissance theatre, was born on this day in 1552 in Rome.  Commonly known by his stage name Flavio, Scala was the author of the first published collection of scenarios - sketches - from the commedia dell’arte genre.  These scenarios, brought together under the title Il Teatro delle Favole Rappresentative, were short comic plays said to have provided inspiration to playwrights such William Shakespeare and Molière.  They were unusual because the theatre companies were so worried about rival troupes stealing their ideas that publishing them was considered too risky.  Commedia dell’arte was a theatrical form that used improvised dialogue and a cast of masked, colourful stock characters such as Arlecchino, Colombina and Pulcinella. Read more…

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Gracie Fields - actress and singer

English-born performer who made Capri her home 

The English actress, singer and comedian Gracie Fields died on this day in 1979 at her home on Capri, the island on the south side of the Gulf of Naples.  The 81-year-old former forces sweetheart had been in hospital following a bout of pneumonia but appeared to be regaining her health.  The previous day she had walked with her husband, Boris, to the post office on the island to collect her mail.  Some English newspapers reported that Gracie had died in the arms of her husband but that version of events was later corrected. It is now accepted that Boris had already left La Canzone del Mare, the singer's original Capri home overlooking the island's landmark Faraglioni rocks, to work on the central heating at a second property they had bought in Anacapri, on the opposite side of the island, and that Gracie was with her housekeeper, Irena, when she passed away. Read more… 

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Vittorio Vidali - communist revolutionary 

One-time Russian agent ultimately elected Italian deputy and senator

The revolutionary Vittorio Vidali, who operated as a secret agent of the Russian communists in the United States, Mexico and Spain, was born on this day in 1900 in the coastal town of Muggia, near Trieste.  Known at various times by at least five different names, he was implicated in the murder of a fellow agent and in an attempt to assassinate Leon Trotsky, although in neither case could his involvement be proved. After returning to Italy at the end of World War Two, he served as a deputy and then a senator in the Italian parliament.  Vidali was politically active from an early age, joining the Socialist Youth movement in Trieste at the age of 16. At 20 he was one of the founders of the youth federation of the Italian Communist Party (Pci). In the same year - 1921 - he was arrested for his part in rioting at the San Marco shipyards where his father worked.  Read more… 

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Book of the Day: Ashes, by Grazia Deledda 

A mother’s shame, a son’s longing, and the fire that burns between them.  In Ashes - Cenere, Grazia Deledda traces the haunting story of Olì, a woman cast out by her Sardinian village for bearing a child out of wedlock, and her son Anania, who grows up determined to rise above the stigma of his birth. Years later, when their paths cross again, the reunion reveals the deep scars left by poverty, prejudice, and silence. Deledda transforms this simple tale into a searing exploration of maternal sacrifice and the cruel moral codes that condemn love as sin.  Rendered in prose both stark and lyrical, Ashes captures the eternal conflict between the individual and society, purity and passion, pride and forgiveness. Through Olì’s tragic dignity and Anania’s restless search for belonging, Deledda exposes the hidden costs of honor and redemption in a world bound by superstition and judgment.  A work of moral intensity and emotional precision, Ashes stands as one of Deledda’s earliest and most powerful novels - a poignant meditation on guilt, love, and the quiet heroism of those who bear the weight of their choices alone.

Grazia Deledda was an Italian writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926. She was the first Italian woman to receive the prize. She wrote 33 novels and more than 250 short stories

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26 September

NEW - Romano Mussolini - jazz musician and painter

Dictator’s son forged successful career in music

Romano Mussolini, the youngest son of Benito Mussolini, who grew up to enjoy success as a jazz musician and a painter, was born on this day in 1927 at the family home in Carpena, a hamlet outside Forlì in the Emilia-Romagna region.  Although he began his career with the anonymity of an assumed name, in time he became a central figure in Italy's post-war contemporary jazz scene under his true identity.  His peak achievement came in 1963, when his band, the Romano Mussolini All Stars, recorded the album Jazz allo Studio 7, winning the prestigious Italian Critics Award, raising his profile enough to play on tour alongside such jazz icons as Chet Baker, Duke Ellington, and Dizzy Gillespie.   Yet despite his musical fame, Romano considered painting to be his true creative passion and his expressive, figurative style achieved national and international recognition. Read more…

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Enzo Bearzot - World Cup-winning coach

Led Italy to 1982 triumph in Spain

Enzo Bearzot, the pipe-smoking coach who plotted Italy’s victory at the 1982 World Cup in Spain and at the same time changed the way the national team traditionally played, was born on this day in 1927 in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northwest Italy.  Italy had a reputation for ultra-defensive and sometimes cynical football but in 44 years had won only one major competition, the 1968 European championships, a much lower-key affair than the current four-yearly Euros, which Italy hosted.  But Bearzot was an admirer of the so-called ‘total football’ philosophy advanced by the Dutch coach Rinus Michels, with which the Netherlands national team reached two World Cup finals in the 1970s, albeit without winning.  Italy did not impress at the start of their Spain adventure, recording three fairly lacklustre draws in their group matches. Read more… 

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Anna Magnani - Oscar-winning film star

Roman one of only three Italians to land best actor award

Anna Magnani, who found fame for her performance in Roberto Rossellini's neorealist classic movie Rome, Open City and went on to become one of only three Italian actors to win an Academy Award, died on this day in Rome in 1973.   She had been suffering from pancreatic cancer and her death at the age of just 65 shocked her fans and close friends.  Rossellini, with whom she had a tempestuous affair before he ditched her for the Swedish actress, Ingrid Bergman, was at her bedside along with her son, Luca.  The American playwright Tennessee Williams, who wrote the part of Serafina in his play The Rose Tattoo specifically with Magnani in mind, was so devastated he could not bring himself to attend her funeral.  Instead he sent 20 dozen roses to signify the bond they developed while working together.  When Williams was in Rome they would meet for cocktails. Read more… 

St Francis Basilica struck by earthquake

Historic art works damaged in double tremor

The historic Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi suffered serious damage on this day in 1997 when two earthquakes struck in the central Apennines.  The quakes claimed 11 lives in the Assisi area and forced the evacuation of 70 per cent of buildings in the Umbrian town, at least temporarily, because of safety fears.  Many homes were condemned as unsafe for occupation and residents had to be housed in makeshift accommodation.  The event also caused considerable damage to frescoes painted in the 13th century by Giotto and to other important works by Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti and Simone Martini.  The first quake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter Scale, struck shortly after 2.30am and was felt as far away as Rome, some 170km (44 miles) to the south.  A series of smaller tremors kept residents on edge through the night.  Yet the biggest quake was still to come. Read more… 

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Book of the Day:  My Father II Duce: A Memoir by Mussolini's Son, by Romano Mussolini. Introduced by Alexander Stille. Translated by Ana Stojanovic

Romano Mussolini’s memoir, My Father: Il Duce, explores Benito Mussolni's relationship with his family, behind-the-scenes accounts of his arrest at Villa Savoia, his private life at Villa Carpena, interactions with figures such as Clara Petacci, and his final days. Historians and reviewers note that the memoir reflects a son's affectionate and uncritical view, largely omitting the political atrocities, aggressive military campaigns, and human cost of the fascist regime. Stille's introductory essay is widely considered vital for framing the book as an emotional family reminiscence rather than an objective historical text.

Alexander Stille has written numerous books and his journalism has appeared in the Boston Globe, the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, the Toronto Globe & Mail and the New Yorker. He is also the San Paolo Professor of International Journalism at Columbia and a noted scholar on Italian political culture.

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