5 November

Giovanni Battista Belzoni – archaeologist

The Great Belzoni’s powerful physique helped him remove Egyptian treasures

Explorer and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities, Giovanni Battista Belzoni was born on this day in 1778 in Padua, which was then part of the Republic of Venice.  He became famous for his height and strength and his discovery and removal to England of the seven-ton bust of Ramesses II. Belzoni was born into a poor family. At the age of 16 he went to find work in Rome and studied hydraulics. He was planning to take monastic vows but in 1798 French troops occupied the city and he moved to the Batavian Republic, now the Netherlands, where he earned his living as a barber.  He moved to England in 1803, allegedly to escape going to prison. He was six feet seven inches tall and had a powerful physique. For a while he earned his living as a circus strongman under the name, The Great Belzoni.  Read more…

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Francesco Chiarello - survivor of two World Wars

Calabrian veteran lived to be 109 years old

Francesco Domenico Chiarello, who would live to be one of the world's longest surviving veterans to serve in both World Wars, was born on this day in 1898.  Chiarello was 109 years old when he died in June 2008.  Of soldiers anywhere on the planet who were active in the 1914-18 conflict and were called up again after 1939, only the Frenchman Fernand Goux outlived him.  Goux, from the Loiret department of central northern France, died just five months later, aged 108.  Chiarello also died as one of the last two surviving Italian soldiers from the First World War, outlived only by Delfino Borroni, from just outside Pavia in Lombardy, who was a tram driver during the Second World War.  Borroni recovered from serious injuries sustained in an Allied bombing raid to be 110 years old when he died four months after Chiarello.  Read more…

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Filippo Taglioni - dancer and choreographer

Father of star ballerina was pioneer of Romantic ballet

The dancer and choreographer Filippo Taglioni, who choreographed the original version of the ballet classic La Sylphide for his ballerina daughter Marie Taglioni, was born on this day in 1777 in Milan.  La Sylphide was one of the earliest works to represent a new ballet genre, which became known as Romantic ballet, that gained popularity in the 19th century as an alternative to traditional classical ballet.  Romantic ballet was different in that the characters were recognisable as real people rather than the gods and goddesses and strange creatures from Roman and Greek mythology that populated classical ballet.  The work, which premiered at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra in 1832, cemented Marie Taglioni’s status as the prima ballerina of the Romantic movement, although the only version to survive was choreographed by the Danish master August Bournonville. Read more…

Pietro Longhi - painter

Painter who allowed us to see inside 18th century Venice

The painter Pietro Longhi, who was renowned for his accurate scenes of everyday life in Venice in the 18th century, was born on this day in 1702.  Longhi was originally called Pietro Falca and was the son of a silversmith in Venice, but he changed his name after he began painting.  He started with historical and religious scenes but his work evolved after a stay in Bologna where he encountered Giuseppe Maria Crespi, who was considered one of the greatest Italian painters at the time.  Longhi’s son Alessandro later wrote that his father had a ‘brilliant and bizarre spirit’, which led him to accurately paint people in conversation and show us the love and jealousy going on in the background.  His paintings vividly depict Venetian life and show wonderful details of the clothes and possessions of the upper and middle classes.  Read more…

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Alessandro Malaspina - explorer

Mapped Pacific on four-year epic journey

Alessandro Malaspina, an explorer not so well known as his compatriots, Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Colombus, but whose contribution to mankind’s knowledge of the globe was no less important, was born on this day in 1754 in Mulazzo, a village now in the province of Massa-Carrara, about 120km (75 miles) northwest of Florence.  Like Vespucci and Columbus, Malaspina sailed under the flag of Spain, whose king, Charles III, was an enthusiastic supporter of scientific research and exploration.  He spent much of his life as an officer in the Spanish navy. It was after completing an 18-month circumnavigation of the world on behalf of the Royal Philippines Company that he proposed to the Spanish government that he make an expedition to the Pacific similar to those undertaken by the British explorer James Cook and the Frenchman Comte de la Pèrouse.  Read more…

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Attilio Ariosti – composer

Musical friar was once a rival of Handel

Baroque composer Attilio Malachia Ariosti, who in later life became a rival of Handel in London musical circles, was born on this day in 1666 in Bologna.  He became a Servite Friar, known as Frate Ottavio, when he was 22, but he quickly obtained permission to leave the order and become a composer at the court of the Duke of Mantua and Monferrato.  During his life, Ariosti composed more than 30 operas and oratorios as well as many cantatas and instrumental works.  Ariosti became a Deacon in 1692 and then obtained the post of organist at the Church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Bologna.  His first opera, Tirsi, was performed in Venice in 1697 and that same year he was invited to travel to Berlin by Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, the Queen of Prussia. She was a great-granddaughter of James I of England and the daughter of the Electress Sophia of Hanover. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Great Belzoni: The Circus Strongman Who Discovered Egypt's Ancient Treasure, by Stanley Mayes

This is the truly extraordinary life story of Giovanni Belzoni - engineer, barber, monk, actor and circus strongman (where he earned his title, 'The Great Belzoni'), who became one of the giants of 19th century Egyptian archaeology. Sometimes maligned as a tomb robber, Giovanni Battista Belzoni is perhaps the most important and yet least remembered explorer and archaeologist of the last two hundred years. Giovanni Belzoni was the first person to penetrate the heart of the second pyramid at Giza and the first European to visit the oasis of Siwah and discover the ruined city of Berenice on the Red Sea. In 1823, at the age of 45, Belzoni died of fever trying to reach the mysterious city of Timbuktu. As The Great Belzoni outlines, there has never been a character quite like him in the history of exploration.

Stanley Mayes was a respected historian and biographer, highly regarded for his work on Egypt, archaeology and the history of the Ottoman Empire. He was also a broadcaster and political commentator for the BBC Overseas service and BBC World Service and freelance journalist.

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4 November

NEW - Day of National Unity in Italy

When Italians celebrate First World War victory as well as their unification

Italians gather today in the main piazza of towns and cities throughout the country to celebrate il Giorno dell’Unità Nazionale – National Unity and Armed Forces Day.  The fourth day of November has been an Italian National Day since 1919, established to commemorate the country’s victory in World War I. This event was also considered to be the completion of the process of the Unification of Italy, finally ending Austrian occupation of the northern part of the country, which made it an even more important date in Italian history.  In Rome, the President of Italy and other important officers of the State, pay homage to the Italian unknown soldier, milite ignoto, buried in the Altare della Patria in the centre of the capital.  Close to this day they also visit the Redipuglia War Memorial in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, where the remains of 100,000 soldiers who died during World War I are buried.  Read more…

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Guido Reni - painter

Bolognese artist who idealised Raphael

The leading Baroque painter, Guido Reni, was born on this day in 1575 in Bologna, then part of the Papal States.  He was to become a dominant figure in the Bolognese school of painting, which emerged under the influence of the Carracci, a family of painters in Bologna. He was held in high regard because of the classical idealism of his portrayals of mythological and religious subjects.  Although his father, Daniele, wanted him to follow in his footsteps as a musician, Guido Reni passionately wanted to become an artist and was apprenticed to the Flemish painter Denis Calvaert when he was 10 years old. He focused on studying the works of Raphael, who, for the rest of his life, remained his ideal.  Reni went on to enter the academy led by Ludovico Carracci, the Accademia degli Incamminati - The academy of the newly-embarked - in Bologna. Read more…

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Florence's catastrophic floods

Tuscan capital devastated on same day six centuries apart

More than 3,000 people were believed to have been killed when the River Arno flooded the streets of Florence on this day in 1333.  More than six centuries later, 101 people died when the city was flooded on the same day in 1966, the event taking a staggering toll of priceless books and works of art. The 1333 disaster - the first recorded flood of the Arno - was chronicled for posterity by Giovanni Villani, a diplomat and banker living in the city.  A plaque in Via San Remigio records the level the water allegedly reached in 1333 and another plaque commemorates the level the water reached after the river flooded in 1966, exactly 633 years later.  Villani wrote in his Nuova Cronica (New Chronicle), ‘By noon on Thursday, 4 November, 1333, a flood along the Arno River spread across the entire plain of San Salvi.’  By nightfall, the flood waters had filled the city streets. Read more…

Sandrone Dazieri – crime writer

Best-selling novelist in Italy now published in English

Sandrone Dazieri, an Italian author and screenwriter whose first novel published in English received enthusiastic reviews, was born in Cremona on this day in 1964.  A former chef, Dazieri became a best-selling novelist in his mid-30s with Attenti al Gorilla (Beware of the Gorilla), which introduced a complex character, based on himself and even named Sandrone, who suffers from a personality disorder that makes his behaviour unpredictable yet who solves crimes and tackles injustices.  The book spawned a series featuring the same character that not only gained Dazieri enormous popularity among Italian readers but helped him get work as a screenwriter, especially in the area of TV crime dramas.  He is the main writer on the hugely popular Canale 5 series Squadra Antimafia, to which he contributed for seven seasons.  Read more…

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Alfonso II - King of Naples

Ruler forced to abdicate after one year

Alfonso II, who became King of Naples in 1494 but was forced to abdicate after just one year, was born on this day in 1448 in Naples.  Also known as Alfonso II of Aragon, as heir to Ferdinand I he had the title Duke of Calabria from the age of 10. Blessed with a natural flair for leadership and military strategy, he spent much of his life as a condottiero, leading the army of Naples in a number of conflicts.  He contributed to the Renaissance culture of his father’s court, building the splendid palaces of La Duchesca and Poggio Reale, although neither survived to be appreciated today.  Alfonso II also introduced improvements to the urban infrastructure of Naples, building new churches, tree-lined straight roads, and a sophisticated hydraulic system to supply the city’s fountains.  He became King of Naples with the death of his father in January 1494.  Read more…

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First night at Teatro San Carlo 

Oldest opera house in the world opens its doors in Naples

Teatro di San Carlo in Naples was officially opened on this day in 1737, way ahead of La Scala in Milan and La Fenice in Venice.  Built in Via San Carlo, close to Piazza del Plebiscito, the main square in Naples, Teatro di San Carlo quickly became one of the most important opera houses in Europe and renowned for its excellent productions. The theatre was designed by Giovanni Antonio Medrano for the Bourbon King of Naples, Charles I, and took just eight months to build.  The official inauguration was on the King’s saint’s day, the festival of San Carlo, on the evening of 4 November. There was a performance of Achille in Sciro by Pietro Metastasio with music by Domenico Sarro, who also conducted the orchestra for the music for two ballets.  This was 41 years before La Scala and 55 years before La Fenice opened.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Shortest History of Italy, by Ross King

From Michelangelo to Mussolini, Nero to Meloni, Galileo to Garibaldi, here is the sparkling story of the world’s most influential peninsula.  The calendar, the university, the piano; the Vespa, the pistol and the pizzeria… It’s easy to assume that inventions like these could only come from somewhere sure of its place in the world. Yet these pages reveal a land rife with uncertainty even as its influence spread.  From the rise of the Roman Republic to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, from the glories of Renaissance Florence to the long struggle for unification, from Europe’s first operas to the world’s first ghettos, Ross King nimbly charts the checkered course of Italian history. In the last hundred years, film, fashion and Fiat – once bigger than Volkswagen – emerge from the horrors of fascism and world war. The Shortest History of Italy is a majestic sweep across three millennia of history that not only shaped Europe but the wider world.

Ross King is the author of many bestselling and acclaimed books about Italian history and culture, including The Bookseller of Florence, Brunelleschi’s Dome and Leonardo and the Last Supper. He lives just outside Oxford.

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Day of National Unity in Italy

When Italians celebrate First World War victory as well as their unification

Sergio Mattarella, the Italian President, pictured in 2022
paying his respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider

Italians gather today in the main piazza of towns and cities throughout the country to celebrate il Giorno dell’Unità Nazionale – National Unity and Armed Forces Day.

The fourth day of November has been an Italian National Day since 1919, established to commemorate the country’s victory in World War I. This event was also considered to be the completion of the process of the Unification of Italy,  finally ending Austrian occupation of the northern part of the country, which made it an even more important date in Italian history.

In Rome, the President of Italy and other important officers of the State, pay homage to the Italian unknown soldier, milite ignoto, buried in the Altare della Patria in the centre of the capital. 

Close to this day they also visit the Redipuglia War Memorial in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, where the remains of 100,000 soldiers who died during World War I are buried, and the small town of Vittorio Veneto in the Veneto, which was the site of the last decisive battle between the Royal Italian Army and the Austro-Hungarian Army.

The President and his colleagues send a message of gratitude, on behalf of the whole country, to the Italian Armed Forces on this day, and celebrations also take place in individual comuni, provinces, and regions throughout Italy.

When the change of the guards happens on November 4 at Rome's Palazzo del Quirinale, the presidential palace, the 4th Carabinieri cavalry regiment wear high uniform, which happens on only two other occasions during the year. 

Army and navy barracks throughout Italy are open to the public to visit, there are concerts by military bands, and commemoration ceremonies take place in front of the monument to the fallen in each individual comune.

Quattro Novembre is the only Italian national day that has lasted throughout decades of Italian history, through the years of the Kingdom of Italy, the Fascist period, and the republican era. 

In 1922, after the March on Rome that resulted in the Fascists coming into power in Italy, the name of the day was changed to Anniversario della Vittoria - Victory Day - to emphasise Italy’s military power. 

But in 1949, after the end of World War II, the original name was restored to celebrate the country’s armed forces and national unity.

The Redipuglia War Memorial in Friuli-Venezia Giulia
is another site of commemoration on November 4

In 1946, after the birth of the Republic, the national anthem was changed from the Marcia Reale, brought in before Italian unification by the Savoy family in 1831, to il canto degli italiani. 

This is better known by Italians as L’inno di Mameli, or Fratelli d’Italia, and is recognised by sports fans all over the world because it is played before matches involving the Italian national team. 

Goffredo Mameli, who was a fervent patriot, wrote the text for the anthem in 1847 and it was set to music by the composer Michele Novaro.

This was officially played as the Italian national anthem for the first time on the occasion of the National Unity and Armed Forces day on November 4, 1946.

Il Giorno dell’Unità Nazionale remained a public holiday until 1976, but then the calendar of public holidays was reformed because of austerity in Italy and it became a moveable feast, to be celebrated on the first Sunday of November.

But thanks to former president Carlo Ciampi, who worked to encourage Italians to value their symbols and traditions, the holiday has been celebrated more widely this century, although November 4 is now a national day in the Italian calendar, rather than a public holiday, so that it does not affect the working life of the population.

This year, 2025, for the third consecutive year, Italy marks the annual day by opening state-run museums and archaeological sites free of charge.

The Altare della Patria is part of the Monument
to Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of Italy

Travel tip

The foundation stone of the Altare della Patria - originally designed to commemorate King Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy - was laid in 1885 in the presence of his son and successor Umberto I and his family.  The monument, officially opened in 1911 on the 50th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, occupies a site on the northern slope of the Capitoline (Campidoglio) Hill, a few steps from the ruins of the Forum, the heart of ancient Rome. Built in white Botticino marble, the multi-tiered monument is 135m (443 ft) wide, 130m (427 ft) deep, and 70m (230 ft) high, rising to 81m (266ft) including the two statues of a chariot-mounted winged goddess Victoria on the summit of the two propylaea.  The Altare della Patria is actually just one part of the monument, at the front and in the centre, consisting of an inset statue of the goddess Roma and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where two soldiers guard an eternal flame.  Above it is a large bronze horse-back statue of Vittorio Emanuele II himself on a central plinth in front of the broad upper colonnade.  A national symbol of Italy, the monument has an important ceremonial role. On three occasions each year - on Liberation Day (April 25), Republic Day (June 2) and Armed Forces Day (November 4) - the President of the Republic lays a laurel wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to honour those who sacrificed their lives in the service of the country. 

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Piazza Flaminio shows off the Renaissance charm
of the Serravalle section of Vittorio Veneto

Travel tip

Vittorio Veneto is a picturesque town in the province of Treviso north of Venice. It was formed in 1866 by the merging of two towns - Serravalle. Ceneda, with Roman and ecclesiastical roots, and Serravalle, known for its medieval architecture and mercantile past. The name honours Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy’s first king, and the region of Veneto. The town became well known for its proximity to the decisive moment of Italy’s World War One campaign, the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in October-November 1918, when Italian forces under the command of General Armando Diaz defeated the Austro-Hungarian army. The victory is commemorated in museums and monuments throughout the town. The districts of Ceneda and Serravalle retain distinct identities, linked by the elegant Viale della Vittoria. Visitors are drawn to its cultural heritage, wine traditions, and proximity to Venice and the Dolomites. The 15th century buildings surrounding Serravalle’s Piazza Flaminio were used by the director Franco Zeffirelli to represent the city of Verona in his adaptation of Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, a film known for its authentic Italian Renaissance atmosphere.

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More reading:

Armado Diaz, the Neapolitan general who led decisive victory over Austria-Hungary

The history of the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument 

The Festa della Liberazione

Also on this day:

1333: Florence devastated as River Arno floods

1448: The birth of Alfonso II, King of Naples

1575: The birth of Baroque painter Guido Reni

1737: The inauguration of Teatro di San Carlo in Naples

1964: The birth of crime writer Sandrone Dazieri

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3 November

Villa Giusti armistice

Talks held at villa in Padua ended First World War in Italy

An armistice signed between Italy and Austria-Hungary at Villa Giusti near Padua ended World War I on the Italian front on this day in 1918.  After the Allied troops were victorious in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the Austria-Hungary commanding officers asked for a ceasefire and for peace talks. They were invited to Villa Giusti at Mandria just outside Padua, which was owned by Count Giusti del Giardino, a former mayor of Padua and an Italian senator. The principal signatories on the Italian side were Tenente Generale Pietro Badoglio and Maggior Generale Scipione Scipioni. Leading the Austria-Hungary delegation was General Viktor Weber Edler von Webenau. During the war, the Villa Giusti had been the temporary residence of King Victor Emmanuel III when he was away from the front. The armistice signed on 3 November ended the fighting. Read more…

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Vincenzo Bellini - opera composer

Short but successful career of Sicilian musical genius

The talented composer of the celebrated opera, Norma, was born Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini on this day in 1801 in Catania in Sicily. Bellini became known for his long, flowing, melodic lines, which earned him the nickname, ‘The Swan of Catania’. He enjoyed great success during the bel canto era of Italian opera in the early part of the 19th century and many of his operas are still regularly performed today.  Born into a musical family, Bellini showed early talent. It was claimed he could sing an aria at 18 months and could play the piano by the age of five. Although some writers have said these are exaggerations, Bellini is known to have already begun composing music by his teens.  He was given financial support by the city of Catania to study music at a college in Naples and while he was there he was profoundly influenced by meeting the composer Gaetano Donizetti. Read more…

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Monica Vitti - actress

Star of Antonioni classics also excelled in comedy roles

The actress Monica Vitti, who became famous as the star of several films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni during the early 1960s, was born on this day in 1931 in Rome.  Antonioni, with whom she had a romantic relationship that lasted a decade, cast her as his female lead in L'avventura (1960), La notte (1961), and L'eclisse (1962), three enigmatically moody films once described as a "trilogy on modernity and its discontents".  She also starred for him in his first colour film, Il deserto rosso (1964), which continued in a similar vein.  Her performance earned her a second of four Golden Grail awards. Vitti was also honoured with five David di Donatello awards as Best Actress from the Italian Film Academy.  After splitting with Antonioni, Vitti excelled in comedy, working with directors such as Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi, Alberto Sordi and Ettore Scola.  Read more…

La cambiale di matrimonio - opera

Rossini’s first professional work premieres in Venice

La cambiale di matrimonio - the first opera by Gioachino Rossini to be performed before a paying audience - premiered at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice on this day in 1810.  Although the Pesaro-born composer, who would go on to write 39 operas including Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola (Cinderella), had tried his hand at the genre earlier, La cambiale di matrimonio was the first to be staged in public. Rossini had written the one-act farce - translated in English as The Bill of Marriage or The Marriage Contract - in the space of just a few days while he was an 18-year-old student. Based on an 18th-century play of the same name by Camillo Federici, La cambiale di matrimonio revolves around the attempts by a London merchant, Tobias Mill, to marry off his daughter, Fanny, to a somewhat mature Canadian businessman by the name of Slook.  Read more…

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Giovanni Leone - controversial politician

First president to resign over a scandal

The politician Giovanni Leone, who served both as prime minister of Italy and president during a career that spanned seven decades but which was ultimately overshadowed by scandal, was born on this day in 1908 in Naples.  A co-founder, with his father, Mauro, of the Christian Democracy in 1943, Leone was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1948, served as prime minister for brief periods in 1963 and 1968 and was elected president in 1971.  He occupied the Palazzo Quirinale, the main Rome residence of the president, for seven years but was forced to resign after being implicated in the Lockheed bribery scandal, the first president to step down over such an impropriety.  The accusation levelled at him was that he accepted payment from the American aircraft manufacturer in connection with the purchase of Hercules military transport planes. Read more…

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Annibale Carracci - painter

Bolognese master produced his most influential work in Rome

The Baroque painter Annibale Carracci was born on this day in 1560 in Bologna.  Annibale and his followers were to become highly influential in the development of Roman painting, bringing back the classical tradition of the High Renaissance.  He was probably apprenticed as a painter with members of his own family in Bologna. But his talents began to develop during a tour of northern Italy in the 1580s. He lodged in Venice with the painter Jacopo Bassano, whose style of painting influenced him for a time.  Annibale has been credited with rediscovering the early 16th century painter Correggio, who had almost been forgotten outside Parma. Annibale’s Baptism of Christ, painted in 1585 for the Church of San Gregorio in Bologna, is a brilliant tribute to him.  In 1582 Annibale opened a studio in Bologna with his brother, Agostino Carracci. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Italian Empire and the Great War, by Vanda Wilcox

The Italian Empire and the Great War brings an imperial and colonial perspective to the Italian experience of the First World War. Italy's decision to enter the war in 1915 built directly on Italian imperial ambitions from the late 19th century onwards, and its conquest of Libya in 1911–12. The Italian empire was conceived both as a system of overseas colonies under Italian sovereignty, and as an informal global empire of emigrants; both were mobilized to support the war in 1915–18. The war was designed to bring about 'a greater Italy' both literally and metaphorically.  Italy fought a global war, sending troops to the Balkans, Russia, and the Middle East, though with limited results. Italy's newest colony, Libya, was also a theatre of the war effort, as the anti-colonial resistance there linked up with the Ottoman Empire, Germany, and Austria to undermine Italian rule. The book describes how Italian race theories underpinned this expansionism, informing a colonial approach to military occupation in Europe as well as the conduct of its campaigns in Africa. After the war, Italy's failures at the Peace Conference meant that the 'mutilated victory' was an imperial as well as a national sentiment. Events in Paris are analysed alongside the military occupations in the Balkans and Asia Minor as well as efforts to resolve the conflicts in Libya, to assess the rhetoric and reality of Italian imperialism.

Vanda Wilcox is the author of Morale and the Italian Army in the First World War (2016) and editor of Italy in the Era of the Great War (2018). She has taught at John Cabot University and Trinity College, Rome Campus, and most recently at NYU Paris.

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