13 April

NEW - Catherine de’ Medici – Queen of France

Florentine girl was the mother of three French kings

Catherine de’ Medici, who married King Henry II of France and gave birth to the three subsequent Kings of France, was born on this day in 1519 in Florence.  Because of her influence over France during the period of the French-Huguenot wars, Catherine is said to have been one of the most important people in Europe during the 16th century.  She was the daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de La Tour d’Auvergne, but within a month of her birth, both her parents had become ill and died. Her paternal grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini cared for her initially, but after her death, Catherine was brought up by her aunt, Clarice de’ Medici. After her uncle, Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici, was elected Pope Clement VII in 1523, he hosted Catherine in stately surroundings in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence.  But in 1527, the Medici were overthrown in Florence and Catherine was taken hostage by Pope Clement VII’s enemies and housed in a series of convents.  The three-year period while she was living in the convent of The Santissima Annunziata delle Murate is believed to have been the happiest of her life. Read more…

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Antonio Meucci - inventor of the telephone

Engineer from Florence was 'true' father of communications

Antonio Meucci, the Italian engineer who was acknowledged 113 years after his death to be the true inventor of the telephone, was born on this day in 1808 in Florence.  Until Vito Fossella, a Congressman from New York, asked the House of Representatives to recognise that the credit should have gone to Meucci, it was the Scottish-born scientist Alexander Graham Bell who was always seen as the father of modern communications.  Yet Meucci’s invention was demonstrated in public 16 years before Bell took out a patent for his device. This was part of the evidence Fossella submitted to the House, which prompted a resolution in June, 2002, that the wealth and fame that Bell enjoyed were based on a falsehood.  It has even been suggested that Bell actually stole Meucci’s invention and developed it as his own while the Italian died in poverty, having been unable to afford the patent.  Meucci’s story began when he was born in the San Frediano area of Florence, which was then part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the first of nine children fathered by a policeman, Amatis Meucci, and his wife, Domenica.  Read more…

Giannino Marzotto - racing driver

Double Mille Miglia winner from a famous family

Giannino Marzotto, a racing driver who twice won the prestigious Mille Miglia and finished fifth at Le Mans, was born on this day in 1928 in Valdagno, a town situated in the mountains about 30km (19 miles) northwest of Vicenza.  He was the great, great grandson of Luigi Marzotto, who in 1836 opened a woollen factory that evolved into the Marzotto Group, one of Italy’s largest textile manufacturers.  Marzotto worked for the company after he retired from motor racing, at one point filling the position of managing director and later company president, before giving up those roles to develop other businesses.  He was one of five sons of Count Gaetano Marzotto, who was the major figure in the Marzotto company in the 20th century, transforming the family business into an international entity and building the Città Sociale, a town adjoining Valdagno characterised by wide, tree-lined boulevards which he built to provide a pleasant and well-appointed community for the workers at the Marzotto factory.  With this wealthy background, Giannino was able to indulge his passion for cars.   Read more…

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Roberto Calvi – banker

Mystery remains over bizarre death of bank chairman

Roberto Calvi, dubbed 'God’s Banker' by the press because of his close association with the Vatican, was born on this day in 1920 in Milan.  In 1982 his body was found hanging from scaffolding beneath Blackfriars Bridge close to London’s financial district. His death is a mystery that has never been satisfactorily solved and it has been made the subject of many books and films.  Calvi was the chairman of Banco Ambrosiano in Milan, which had direct links to Pope John Paul II through his bodyguard, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, who was also head of the Vatican Bank, which had shares in Ambrosiano.  Calvi had been missing for nine days before his body was found by a passer-by in London. At first police treated his death as suicide but a year later a second inquest overturned this and delivered an open verdict.  In October 2002, forensic experts commissioned by an Italian court finally concluded Calvi had been murdered.  Calvi had become chairman of Ambrosiano, Italy’s largest private bank, in 1975 and had built up a vast financial empire.  But three years later the Bank of Italy issued a report claiming Ambrosiano had illegally exported several million lire.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Catherine de' Medici: A Biography, by Leonie Frieda

Orphaned in infancy, Catherine de' Medici was the sole legitimate heiress to the Medici family fortune. Married at 14 to the future Henry II of France, she was constantly humiliated by his influential mistress Diane de Poitiers. When her husband died as a result of a duelling accident in Paris, Catherine was made queen regent during the short reign of her eldest son (married to Mary Queen of Scots and like many of her children he died young). When her second son became king she was the power behind the throne.  In the bestselling Catherine de' Medici: A Biography, we learn that she nursed dynastic ambitions, but was continually drawn into political and religious intrigues between Catholics and Protestants that plagued France for much of the later part of her life. It had always been said that she was implicated in the notorious Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, together with the king and her third son who succeeded to the throne in 1574, but was murdered. Her political influence waned, but she survived long enough to ensure the succession of her son-in-law who had married her daughter Margaret.

Leonie Frieda is also the author of The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance and Francis I: The Maker of Modern France. She lives in London. Her biography of Catherine de' Medici has been translated into eight languages.

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Catherine de’ Medici – Queen of France

Florentine girl was the mother of three French kings

Cristofano dell'Altissimo's portrait of
Catherine de' Medici, in the Uffizi

Catherine de’ Medici, who married King Henry II of France and gave birth to the three subsequent Kings of France, was born on this day in 1519 in Florence.

Because of her influence over France during the period of the French-Huguenot wars, Catherine is said to have been one of the most important people in Europe during the 16th century.

She was the daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de La Tour d’Auvergne, but within a month of her birth, both her parents had become ill and died.

Her paternal grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini cared for her initially, but after her death, Catherine was brought up by her aunt, Clarice de’ Medici.

After her uncle, Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici, was elected Pope Clement VII in 1523, he hosted Catherine in stately surroundings in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence.

But in 1527, the Medici were overthrown in Florence and Catherine was taken hostage by Pope Clement VII’s enemies and housed in a series of convents.

The three-year period while she was living in the convent of the Santissima Annunziata delle Murate is believed to have been the happiest of her life and the time in which her interest in plants and Tuscan food was fostered. 

It was also a period of great danger for Catherine, as Clement VII had crowned Archduke Charles V of Austria as Holy Roman Emperor in return for his help taking the city.

A depiction of the marriage of Catherine de'
Medici to Henry II of France, in 1533

Charles began to lay siege to Florence and after a while some Florentines called for Catherine to be killed and for her body to be displayed on the walls of the city.

However, the city surrendered to Charles in 1530, and afterwards Clement VII summoned Catherine to Rome where he was said to have greeted her with ‘open arms and tears in his eyes’.

Clement VII then decided to find a suitable husband for Catherine and he accepted the offer from King Francis I of France, who had suggested his second son, Henry, Duke of Orleans. The pontiff regarded this as a good match for Catherine, who was not of royal birth, despite her wealth. 

The wedding took place in Marseille in 1533, when Catherine was still only 14. Three years later, after Henry’s older brother, Francis II, died, Catherine’s husband became heir to the French throne.

The pressure was on for Catherine to produce an heir, and after more than ten years of marriage she gave birth to a son, Francis. Catherine then went on to have another nine children, another two of whom were to become kings of France.

Francis became King Francis II of France and he married Mary Queen of Scots. He died in 1558 and was succeeded by his brother, Charles, who became Charles IX of France and married Elizabeth of Austria. After Charles died in 1574, he was succeeded by his brother, Henry, who became Henry III of France and married Louise of Lorraine. He reigned until he was assassinated in 1589. He had survived his mother by just eight months.

A portrait of Catherine de' Medici
wearing a widow's black cap and veil

Catherine had died in January 1589, probably of pleurisy. She was buried in Blois at first, but her remains were later interred at the Saint Denis basilica in Paris at the request of her husband’s long-time mistress, Diane de Poitiers.  But in 1789, a revolutionary mob tossed Catherine’s bones into a mass grave in Paris along with those of other former kings and queens.

During the reigns of all three of her sons, Catherine played a big part in ruling France. When Charles IX became king at just ten years old, she was appointed Governor of France and had sweeping powers. She also played a key role during the reign of her third son, Henry III. She is said to have taken a hard line against the Calvinist Protestants, known as Huguenots. She has been blamed by historians for her part in the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 when thousands of Huguenots were killed.

There is a long-held belief that Catherine de’ Medici had a strong influence on the cuisine of France by introducing Italian recipes, although this is disputed.

Proponents of this story claim Catherine brought in Italian chefs to the royal kitchen, who introduced the use of herbs and spices from Italy and Catherine’s favourite vegetables, which were not being served in France at the time. Some of today’s classic French recipes are said to have their origins in Tuscan cooking.

However, some experts say France already had a sophisticated cuisine of its own.

Florence's Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore,
with Brunelleschi's enormous brick-built dome

Travel tip: 

The founder of the Medici dynasty, Catherine’s ancestor, Cosimo de’ Medici, became Europe’s richest banker and a great art patron, supporting Fra Angelico, Donatello, Ghiberti, and many others. He also had a great influence on the skyline of Florence by encouraging Filippo Brunelleschi to complete his great dome for Florence’s cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore. The largest dome of its time, it was built without scaffolding and given an inner shell to provide a platform for the timbers that support the outer shell. The architect died in 1446 before it was completed, but his dome remains to this day the largest masonry dome in the world.

The Murate monastery complex now houses bars,
shops, apartments and a restaurant 

Travel tip:

It is said that Catherine de’ Medici’s happiest time was spent living as a young girl in the 15th century convent of the Santissima Annunziata delle Murate in Florence. It was there she is said to have become interested in plants and cookery. Once a closed, religious community, the convent, between Via Ghibellina and Via Agnolo near Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, became a men’s prison for many years, and is where Carlo Levi, the doctor and politician, who wrote Cristo e fermato a Eboli, was held during the Fascist era. It has now been converted into a restaurant and cultural hub following designs by Renzo Piano.

Also on this day:

1808: The birth of engineer and inventor Antonio Meucci

1920: The birth of banker Roberto Calvi

1928: The birth of racing driver Giannino Marzotto

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12 April

Flavio Briatore - entrepreneur

From clothing to luxury resorts via Formula One

The colourful and controversial entrepreneur Flavio Briatore was born on this day in 1950 in Verzuolo, a large village in the Italian Alps near Saluzzo in Piedmont.  Briatore is best known for his association with the Benetton clothing brand and, through their sponsorship, Formula One motor racing, but his business interests have extended well beyond the High Street and the race track.  His empire includes his exclusive Sardinian beach club Billionaire, Twiga beach clubs in Tuscany and Apulia, the Lion under the Sun spa resort in Kenya, the upmarket Sumosan, Twiga and Cipriani restaurants, and the Billionaire Couture menswear line.  Briatore was also for three years co-owner with former F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal of the English football club Queen’s Park Rangers.  He is also the man to whom the contestants must answer in the Italian version of the hit British TV series The Apprentice.  With a fortune estimated at £120m (€140m; $150m), Briatore lives the lifestyle of the super-rich clients he entertains at his clubs and restaurants, owns a £68.2m (€80m; $85m) yacht and has enjoyed the company of a string of beautiful and famous women.  Read more…

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Giorgio Cantarini - actor

Child star of Oscar-winning Life Is Beautiful

Giorgio Cantarini, who delivered an award-winning performance in the triple Oscar-winning movie Life Is Beautiful when he was just five years old, was born on this day in 1992 in Orvieto.  Cantarini was cast as Giosuè, the four-year-old son of Roberto Benigni’s character, Guido, in the 1997 film, which brought Academy Awards for Benigni as Best Actor and, as the director, for Best Foreign Film. For his own part, Cantarini was rewarded for a captivating performance in the poignant story with a Young Artist award.  Three years later, in Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning blockbuster Gladiator, Cantarini was given another coveted part as the son of Russell Crowe’s character, Maximus.  Born to parents who separated soon after his fifth birthday, Cantarini went to an audition for the part of Giosuè after an uncle read a description in a newspaper article of the kind of child Benigni wanted and told him he was a perfect match.  Cantarini recalled in an interview in 2018 that the audition consisted simply of a conversation with Benigni, with no acting involved. Once shooting began, he was told what to do on a scene-by-scene basis.  Read more…

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Caffarelli – opera singer

Tempestuous life of a talented male soprano

The castrato singer who performed under the stage name of Caffarelli was born Gaetano Maiorano on this day in 1710 in Bitonto in the province of Bari in Puglia.  Caffarelli had a reputation for being temperamental and for fighting duels with little provocation, but he was popular with audiences and was able to amass a large fortune for himself.  One theory is that his stage name, Caffarelli, was taken from his teacher, Caffaro, who gave him music lessons when he was a child, but another theory is that he took the name from a patron, Domenico Caffaro.  When Maiorano was ten years old he was given the income from two vineyards owned by his grandmother to enable him to study music. The legal document drawn up mentioned that the young boy wished to be castrated and become a eunuch. Maiorano became a pupil of Nicola Porpora, the composer and singing teacher, who is reputed to have kept him working from one sheet of exercises for years before telling him there was no more he could be taught because he was the greatest singer in Europe.  In 1726 Maiorano made his debut in Rome, aged 15, under the stage name Caffarellino.  Read more…

Matteo Berrettini - tennis champion

First Italian to reach Wimbledon final

The tennis player Matteo Berrettini, who in 2021 became the first Italian to reach the men’s singles final at the Wimbledon Championships, was born on this day in 1996 in Rome.  Berrettini finished runner-up in the prestigious grass court tournament in South West London, losing in four sets to the world No 1 Novak Djokovic. It was his first appearance in any of the four Grand Slam finals, having previously reached the semi-finals at the US Open in 2019 and the quarter-finals at the French Open in 2021, where he also lost to Djokovic.  A week before the Wimbledon tournament began, Berrettini had won his first ATP 500 level final when he beat the British player Cameron Norrie in the final of the Queen’s Club Championships, also in London and also played on grass.  He proved a popular winner despite home support for his opponent and despite having knocked out another two British players in two-time former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and Dan Evans on the way to the final.  Berrettini climbed to a career-high No 6 in the ATP world rankings in January 2022 after reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open.  Read more…

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Pope Julius I

Day of remembrance for pope who chose the date for Christmas

Pope Julius I died on this day in 352 AD in Rome and soon after his death he was made a saint. His feast day is celebrated on this day every year by Catholics all over the world.  Julius I is remembered for setting 25 December as the official date of birth of Jesus Christ, starting the tradition of celebrating Christmas on that date.  He also asserted his authority against Arianism, a heretical cult that insisted Christ was human and not divine.  Julius was born in Rome but the exact date of his birth is not known. He became pope in 337 AD, four months after his predecessor, Pope Mark, had died.  In 339 Julius gave refuge in Rome to Bishop St Athanasius the Great of Alexandria, who had been deposed and expelled by the Arians.  At the Council of Rome in 340, Julius reaffirmed the position of Athanasius.  He then tried to unite the Western bishops against Arianism with the Council of Sardica in 342. The council acknowledged the Pope’s supreme authority, enhancing his power in ecclesiastical affairs by granting him the right to judge cases of legal possession of Episcopal sees.  Read more…

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Marcello Lippi - World Cup winning coach

Former Juventus manager won Champions League and World Cup

Marcello Lippi, one of Italy's most successful football managers and a World Cup winner in 2006, was born on this day in 1948 in Viareggio on the Tuscan coast.  Lippi, who as Juventus coach won five Serie A titles and the Champions League before taking the reins of the national team, subsequently had a successful career in China, where his Guangzhou Evergrande team won three Chinese Super League championships and the Asian Champions League.  He is the only manager to have won both the European Champions League and the Asian Champions League.  Lippi, who still lives in Viareggio, spent much of his playing career in Genoa with Sampdoria, where he played as a central defender or sweeper.  He began his coaching career at the same club in 1982, looking after the youth team, before taking on his first senior team at Pontedera, a small club in Tuscany playing in the third tier.  It is in the Italian tradition for coaches to gain a grounding in the lower divisions and Lippi did not experience Serie A until Cesena became his fifth club in 1989.  His breakthrough came in 1994 when he achieved UEFA Cup qualification with Napoli, a club at that time in financial turmoil.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Benetton: Rebels of Formula 1, by Damien Smith

Unconventional, flamboyant, ground-breaking, colourful, controversial ― the Benetton Formula 1 team was all of those things. Defying perceptions as the rebels of Formula 1, Benetton achieved great success, particularly in the two glorious seasons of 1994 and 1995 when the team swept aside the big names ― Williams, McLaren and Ferrari ― to claim back-to-back World Championship titles for up-and-coming Michael Schumacher. This book tells the entire 1986–2001 history of the Benetton team for the first time with insightful contributions from many of the key participants, including Flavio Briatore, Alessandro Benetton, Pat Symonds and Rory Byrne. With a lavish array of images accompanying the authoritative text, Benetton: Rebels of Formula 1 is a book that will delight all Formula 1 enthusiasts.

Damien Smith has been a motorsport journalist for nearly 30 years. An award-winning former editor of Motor Sport and editor-in-chief of Autosport, F1 Racing and Motorsport News, he works today as a freelance contributor to Motor Sport, Autosport and more, and also writes a weekly column as motor sport editor of Autocar.

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11 April

Primo Levi - Auschwitz survivor

Celebrated writer killed in fall in Turin

Primo Levi, an Auschwitz survivor who wrote a number of books chronicling his experiences of the Holocaust, died on this day in Turin in 1987.  He was 67 years old and his body was found at the foot of a stairwell in the apartment building where he lived, having seemingly fallen from the third floor.  A chemist by profession, Levi died in the same building in which he was born in July 1919, in Corso Re Umberto in the Crocetta district of the northern Italian city.  Apart from his periods of incarceration, he lived in the same apartment, a gift from his father to his mother, almost all his life.  His death was officially recorded as suicide, the verdict supported by his son's statement that his father had suffered from depression in the months leading to his death.  He had undergone surgery for a prostate condition and was worried about the failing health of his 92-year-old mother.  Some of his friends, however, doubted that he would have taken his own life and believed he had fallen accidentally.  They argued that while other survivors never recovered from the mental scarring, Levi had emerged with "soul and psyche intact" and retained a hopeful and positive outlook.  Read more…

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Donato Bramante - architect and painter

Father of High Renaissance style left outstanding legacy

The architect and painter Donato Bramante, credited with introducing High Renaissance architecture to Rome, died on this day in 1514 in Rome, probably aged around 70.  Bramante, who was also a perspectivist painter, worked in Milan before moving to Rome, where he produced the original designs for St Peter’s Basilica and built several buildings and structures considered to be masterpieces of early 16th century architecture.  These include the Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio on the summit of the Janiculum Hill, the Chiostro di Santa Maria della Pace near Piazza Navona, the Cortile del Belvedere and Scala del Bramante in the Vatican and the Palazzo della Cancelleria, located between Campo de' Fiori and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.  Bramante was born Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio in around 1444 to a well-to-do farming family in Fermignano, a town in what is now the Marche region, a few kilometres south of Urbino. He was also known as Bramante Lazzari.  Little is known of his early life, although it is possible he worked on the construction site of Federico da Montefeltro's Palazzo Ducale in Urbino, having trained under its architect, Luciano Laurana.  Read more…

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Renato Cesarini - footballer and coach

Marchigiano who played for Italy and Argentina

Renato Cesarini, an attacking footballer who played for the national teams of both Italy and Argentina and whose name became part of the Italian language, was born on this day in 1906 near Senigallia, the port and resort town in Marche.  Cesarini’s family emigrated to Buenos Aires when he was an infant. He acquired Argentine citizenship and began his playing career in the Buenos Aires area, playing for Chacarita Juniors at a time when football in the South American country was still an amateur game.  He returned to Italy in 1929 to sign for Juventus, with whom he won five consecutive league championships.  His habit of scoring late goals, both for club and country, prompted a journalist to begin describing the last minutes of a match as the zona Cesarini.  The phrase not only became part of the language of football was adopted more broadly in different contexts, such as when a deadline loomed to complete a task or an agreement in an industrial dispute was reached just in time to avert a scheduled strike.  Cesarini was also a dual international, playing for both Argentina and Italy national teams.  Read more…

Rachele Mussolini - wife of Il Duce

Marriage survived 30 years despite dictator's infidelity

Rachele Mussolini, the woman who stayed married to Italy’s former Fascist dictator for 30 years despite his simultaneous relationship with his mistress, Claretta Petacci, and numerous affairs, was born on this day in 1890.  The daughter of Agostino Guidi, a peasant farmer, and Anna Lombardi, she was born, like Benito Mussolini, in Predappio, a small town in what is now Emilia-Romagna.  They met for the first time when the future self-proclaimed Duce had a temporary teaching job at her school.  They were married in December 1915 in a civil ceremony in Treviglio, near Milan, although by that time she had been his mistress for several years, having given birth to his eldest daughter, Edda, in 1910.  Mussolini had actually married another woman, Ida Dalser, in 1914 but the marriage had broken down despite her bearing him a son, Benito junior, and Mussolini returned to Rachele.  Her father had cautioned her against marrying Mussolini, whom he considered to have no prospects, but when Agostino died, his widow became the lover of Mussolini’s father, Alessandro, himself a widower.  Read more…

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Battle of Ravenna

Thousands die in pointless conflict of the Italian Wars

French forces inflicted appalling casualties upon a largely Spanish Holy League army on this day in 1512 at Molinaccio just outside Ravenna.  The French, under the command of their brilliant 21-year-old leader Gaston de Foix, had taken Brescia in Lombardy by storm in February and then marched on Ravenna intending to provoke the papal Holy League army into battle. They also had an Italian contingent of soldiers with them under the command of Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara.  Ramon de Cardona, Spanish viceroy of Naples and commander of the Holy League forces, led an army through the papal states of the Romagna to relieve Ravenna, passing Forlì and advancing north along the Ronco river.  Both sides had learned the new rules of warfare in the gunpowder age and were reluctant to assault well defended earthworks with cavalry or infantry.  They indulged in an artillery duel and had to manoeuvre unwieldy cannons to find effective lines of fire.  But after two hours they changed tactics and both cavalry and infantry threw themselves forward in assaults. The casualties were heavy as horsemen clashed in swirling melees and infantry swarmed over ramparts and ditches.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Periodic Table, by Primo Levi. Translated by Raymond Rosenthal

Primo Levi's The Periodic Table is a collection of short stories that elegantly interlace the author's experiences in Fascist Italy, and later in Auschwitz, with his passion for scientific knowledge and discovery. This Penguin Modern Classics edition is translated by Raymond Rosenthal with an essay on Primo Levi by Philip Roth.  A chemist by training, Primo Levi became one of the supreme witnesses to 20th century atrocity. In these haunting reflections inspired by the elements of the periodic table, he ranges from young love to political savagery; from the inert gas argon - and 'inert' relatives like the uncle who stayed in bed for 22 years - to life-giving carbon. 'Iron' honours the mountain-climbing resistance hero who put iron in Levi's student soul, 'Cerium' recalls the improvised cigarette lighters which saved his life in Auschwitz, while 'Vanadium' describes an eerie post-war correspondence with the man who had been his 'boss' there.  

Primo Levi did not come to the wide attention of the English-reading audience until the last years of his life. He is considered to be one of the century's most compelling voices, and The Periodic Table is his most famous book. Raymond Rosenthal was an American translator, best known for translating the Italian works of Primo Levi into the English language. He also translated works by Pietro Aretino, Aldo Busi, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Vasco Pratolini, Pietro Citati, Giovanni Verga and Pietro Redondi.

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10 April

NEW - Angelina Mango - singer-songwriter

2024 Sanremo winner whose parents both competed for coveted prize

The singer-songwriter Angelina Mango, whose career reached its high point so far when she won Italy’s annual Sanremo Festival in 2024, was born on this day in 2001 in the town of Maratea in Basilicata.  Mango’s father, Pino Mango, who died in 2014, was a seven-times contestant at Sanremo between 1985 and 2007, achieving his highest finish on his final appearance, when Chissà se nevica - Who Knows if it Snows - placed fifth on the overall vote.  Her mother, Laura Valente, twice trod the stage at the Ariston Theatre - Sanremo’s host venue since 1977 - as the lead singer with the group Matia Bazar, finishing fourth in 1993 with Dedicato a te (Dedicated to You).  Angelina Mango’s victory came at the first attempt at the age of 22 when her song La noia (Boredom), which she co-wrote, won the most votes in a strong field.  She was the first female singer to win Sanremo since Arisa triumphed with Contravento (Against the Wind) in 2014.  Following a tradition whereby the winner of the Festival of Italian Song, to give Sanremo its official title, is invited to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, she performed a shortened version of La noia in the final of that competition in Malmo in May. Read more…

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Giovanni Aldini - physicist

Professor thought to given Mary Shelley the idea for Frankenstein

The physicist and professor Giovanni Aldini, whose experiment in trying to bring life to a human corpse is thought to have inspired Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, was born on this day in 1762 in Bologna.  The nephew of Luigi Galvani, who discovered the phenomenon that became known as galvanism, one of Aldini’s goals in life was to build on his uncle’s work in the field of bioelectricity.  Galvani’s discovery that the limbs of a dead frog could be made to move by the stimulation of electricity sparked an intellectual argument with his rival physicist Alessandro Volta that he found uncomfortable. When he was then removed from his academic and public positions after Bologna became part of the French Cisalpine Republic in the late 18th century, Galvani was unable to progress his experiments as he would have liked.  Aldini essentially picked up his uncle’s mantle and was determined to discover whether the effect of an electrical impulse on the body of a frog could be reproduced in a human being.  His most famous experiment came in 1803, when he was given permission to test his electrical equipment on the corpse of George Forster shortly after he had been hanged at Newgate Prison in London.  Read more…

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Agostino Bertani – physician and politician

Compassionate doctor was Garibaldi’s friend and strategist

Agostino Bertani, who worked with Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi to liberate Italy, died on this day in 1886 in Rome.  He had been a surgeon in Garibaldi’s corps in the Austro-Sardinian War of 1859 and personally treated Garibaldi’s wounds after the military leader lost the Battle of Aspromonte in 1862.  Bertani became a hero to the Italian people for his work organising ambulances and medical services during Garibaldi’s campaigns and he became a close friend and strategist to the military leader.  Born in Milan in 1812, Bertani's family had many friends with liberal ideals and his mother took part in anti-Austrian conspiracies.  At the age of 23, Bertani graduated from the faculty of medicine at the Borromeo College in Pavia and became an assistant to the professor of surgery there.  He took part in the 1848 uprising in Milan and directed a military hospital for Italian casualties. He organised an ambulance service for soldiers defending Rome in 1849 and distinguished himself by his service in Genoa with Mazzini during the cholera epidemic of 1854.  In 1860 Bertani was one of the strategists who planned the attack on Sicily and Naples known as the Expedition of the Thousand.  Read more…

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From Rome to the North Pole

Aeronautical history launched from Ciampino airport

On this day in 1926, an airship took off from Ciampino airport in Rome on the first leg of what would be an historic journey culminating in the first flight over the North Pole.  The expedition was the brainchild of the Norwegian polar explorer and expedition leader Roald Amundsen, but the pilot was the airship's designer, aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile, who had an Italian crew.  They were joined in the project by millionaire American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth who, along with the Aero Club of Norway, financed the trip which was known as the Amundsen-Ellsworth 1926 Transpolar Flight.  Nobile - born in Lauro, near Avellino in Campania - designed the 160 metres long craft on behalf of the Italian State Airship factory, who sold it to Ellsworth for $75,000.  Amundsen named the airship Norge, which means Norway in his native tongue.  The first leg of the flight north was due to have left Rome on 6 April but was delayed due to strong winds until the 10th.  The first stop-off point was at the Pulham Airship Station in England, from where it took off again for Oslo on 12 April. Three days later Nobile, Amundsen, Ellsworth and the crew flew on to Gatchina, near Leningrad, the journey taking 17 hours because of dense fog.  Read more…

Nilde Iotti – politician

The 'best President of the Republic that Italy never had'

Leonilde Iotti, who was later known as Nilde Iotti and became Italy’s most important and respected female politician, was born on this day in 1920 in Reggio Emilia.  She was both the first female president of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian parliament and the longest serving, occupying the position from 1979 to 1992.   Her father, Egidio, was a socialist trade unionist but he died when she was a teenager. Thanks to a scholarship, she was able to attend the Catholic University of Milan. She graduated in 1942 and joined the National Fascist Party, which she was obliged to do in order to become a teacher.  Iotti was an underground member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and during World War II she was an active member of the Resistance movement, setting up and leading women’s defence groups.  After the war, Iotti was elected to the Constituent Assembly and was one of the 75 members who drafted the Constitution in 1946.  It was at this time that she started her relationship with the PCI leader, Palmiro Togliatti, who was 27 years older than her. They stayed together until his death in 1964.  To begin with their relationship was kept secret but, after an attempt on his life in 1948, it became public knowledge.  Read more…

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The Moby Prince disaster

Tragic toll of collision between ferry and tanker

The worst maritime catastrophe to occur in Italian waters in peacetime took place on this day in 1991 when a car ferry collided with an oil tanker near the harbour entrance at Livorno on the coast of Tuscany.  The collision sparked a fire that claimed the lives of 140 passengers and crew and left only one survivor.  The vessels involved were the MV Moby Prince, a car ferry en route from Livorno to Olbia, the coastal city in north-east Sardinia, and the 330-metres long oil tanker, Agip Abruzzo.  The ferry departed Livorno shortly after 22.00 for a journey scheduled to last eight and a half hours but had been under way for only a few minutes when it struck the Agip Abruzzo, which was at anchor near the harbour mouth.  The ferry’s prow sliced into one of the Agip Abruzzo's tanks, which contained 2,700 tonnes of crude oil.  The impact caused some oil to spill into the sea and a large amount to be sprayed over the ferry.  A fire broke out, which set light to the oil both on the surface of the water and on the ferry itself.  Within moments, the Moby Prince was engulfed in flames.  Although the loss of life was so tragically large the toll might have been much worse.  Read more…

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Jacopo Mazzoni – philosopher

Brilliant scholar could recite long passages from Dante

Jacopo Mazzoni, a University professor with a phenomenal memory who was a friend of Galileo Galilei, died on this day in 1598 in Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna.  Mazzoni, also sometimes referred to as Giacomo Mazzoni, was regarded as one of the most eminent scholars of his period. His excellent powers of recall made him adept at recalling passages from Dante, Lucretius, Virgil and other writers during his regular debates with prominent academics. He relished taking part in memory contests, which he usually won.  Mazzoni was born in Cesena in Emilia-Romagna in 1548 and was educated at Bologna in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, rhetoric and poetics. He later attended the University of Padua where he studied philosophy and jurisprudence.  He became an authority on ancient languages and philology and promoted the scientific study of the Italian language.  Although Mazzoni wrote a major work on philosophy, he became well known for his works on literary criticism, in particular for his writing in defence of Dante’s Divine Comedy - Discorso in Difesa Della Commedia della Divina Poeta Dante - published in 1572.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Eurovision! A History of Modern Europe Through the World's Greatest Song Contest, by Chris West

An entertaining look at the changing face of the Eurovision Song Contest and the political and cultural influences behind its kitsch and glitzy façade. Do you think the world of the Eurovision Song Contest, with its crazy props, even crazier dancers, and crazier still songs has nothing to do with serious European politics? Think again. The contest has been a mirror for cultural, social and political developments in Europe ever since its inauguration, when an audience in dinner jackets and ball gowns politely applauded each song. It has been a voice of rebellion across the Iron Curtain, an inspiration for new European nations in the 1990s and 2000s, the voice of liberation for both sexual and regional minorities. It even once triggered a national revolution.  Eurovision! charts both the history of Europe and the history of the Eurovision Song Contest over the last six decades, and shows how seamlessly they interlink — and what an amazing journey it has been.

Chris West is an author and ghostwriter. His books include Journey to the Middle Kingdom, The Beermat Entrepreneur and First Class: a History of Britain in 36 Postage Stamps. He has been a Eurovision fan since watching Sandie Shaw padding to victory in 1967. 

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Angelina Mango - singer-songwriter

2024 Sanremo winner whose parents both competed for coveted prize

Angelina Mango represented Italy at
Eurovision after winning at Sanremo

The singer-songwriter Angelina Mango, whose career reached its high point so far when she won Italy’s annual Sanremo Festival in 2024, was born on this day in 2001 in the town of Maratea in Basilicata.

Mango’s father, Pino Mango, who died in 2014, was a seven-times contestant at Sanremo between 1985 and 2007, achieving his highest finish on his final appearance, when Chissà se nevica - Who Knows if it Snows - placed fifth on the overall vote.

Her mother, Laura Valente, twice trod the famous stage at the Ariston Theatre - Sanremo’s host venue since 1977 - as the lead singer with the group Matia Bazar, finishing fourth in 1993 with Dedicato a te (Dedicated to You).

Angelina Mango’s victory came at the first attempt at the age of 22 when her song La noia (Boredom), which she co-wrote, won the most votes in a strong field.

She was the first female singer to win Sanremo since Arisa triumphed with Contravento (Against the Wind) in 2014.

Following a tradition whereby the winner of the Festival of Italian Song, to give Sanremo its official title, is invited to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, Mango presented a shortened version of La noia in the final in Malmo in May, finishing a respectable seventh out of 25 contestants.

Mango grew up in Lagonegro, a small town in the northern part of Basilicata where her father was born. She wrote her first song at the age of six, entitled Mi sono innamorata di me (I Fell in Love with Myself). Growing up close to her older brother, Filippo, she was performing for audiences even before entering her teens, singing in a band called Black Lake, in which Filippo played the drums. 

Angelina Mango's father, Pino, performing at his
first Sanremo Festival, 39 years before his daughter

Her voice was good enough for her to sing backing vocals on some of her father’s recordings and even record a duet with him, a version of The Beatles hit Get Back, which featured on what proved tragically to be his final studio album, L’amore e invisibile (Love is Invisible), in May 2014.

In December of the same year, while performing in a charity concert, Pino - generally known simply as Mango - suffered a fatal heart attack on stage at the age of 60.

Pino’s death had a profound effect on Angelina’s life. She quit high school and in 2016 moved with her mother and brother to Milan, her mother’s home city. She enrolled to study modern literature at another high school but dropped out after a month.

When Filippo, who is five years older, began to play the drums in a band in Milan, she joined as a singer.  Audiences began to appreciate her vocal talent and in 2020 she released her first single and EP. In 2021 she performed in Milan Music Week and entered Sanremo Giovani, a competition for up-and-coming young artists that runs parallel to the main festival, although she did not make the televised final rounds.

After signing a contract with Sony Music, her first major break came in 2022 when she participated in Amici di Maria De Filippi, a talent show on Canale 5, Italy’s biggest commercial television channel, in which she won the singing section and finished second overall.

Eyecatching costumes are part of
Angelina Mango's performing style

The appearance provided the platform for a series of successful singles and she was invited to perform at a number of important concerts, including the New Year’s Eve special - Capodanno in musica - on Canale 5.

More singles followed, with Che t’o dico a fa’ (What Did I Tell You to Do?) climbing to No 2 in the Italian singles charts, followed by a sell-out tour.

Success at Sanremo came in February 2024, her performances at the festival, which spans five nights and is broadcast live on Rai Uno, including an emotional interpretation of La rondine - The Swallow - a song written by her father.

Three months after Sanremo, Mango released her first album, Poké melodrama. She was invited to perform the single Melodrama during the final of Amici di Maria De Filippi. The album’s songs became part of the soundtrack of the Italian summer and Poké Melodrama reached No 1 in the Italian album charts.  Another single from the album, Per due come noi - For Two Like Us - a duet performed with Olly, the singer-songwriter and rapper who would win Sanremo 2025, climbed to No 1 in the singles chart.

The only downside of an otherwise highly successful 2025 came right at the end, when a major new tour of Italy had to be cancelled after just three performances when Angelina developed inflammation of the pharynx, which meant she was unable to sing.

The enormous statue of Christ the Redeemer 
looms over Maratea and the surrounding area

Travel tip:

Maratea, the town where Angelina Mango was born, today refers to a collection of settlements near the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea of which the most interesting is Maratea itself, an historic hilltop village of steep, narrow streets and 44 churches around a charming central square, Piazza Buraglia, which has an elegant fountain at its centre and a variety of shops, bars and restaurants. Lively in the evenings, it has been likened to the famous Piazzetta di Capri, but without the hordes of visitors. The coastline below the village, a natural paradise of fine sandy beaches interspersed with rocky cliffs, has seen Maratea referred to as the Pearl of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Looming above the area is the enormous statue of Christ the Redeemer, a structure made from a mixture of concrete, white cement and marble from Carrara that was erected at the summit of nearby Monte San Biagio in 1965. At 21 metres (69ft) high and with an arm span of 19m (62ft), it is second in size only to the Christ of Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro. 

The church of St Nicholas sits atop a promontory
in the mediæval village of Lagonegro in Basilicata

Travel tip: 

Situated in the valley of the Noce river some 27km (17 miles) northeast of Maratea, Lagonegro, where Angelina Mango grew up and the birthplace of her father, Pino, is a picturesque mediæval village that probably took its name from the dark waters of an Apennine lake once located nearby. The village is divided into two parts: the old village, which clings to a promontory around the ruins of the feudal castle, in which the Church of St. Nicholas, dating back to the 10th century, is the most prominent feature, and the new part, characterised by a large tree-lined square known locally as the "Piano". The old village, enclosed by the remains of the medieval towers and walls, is accessed via a scenic flight of steps leading to an entrance gate known as the Porta di Ferro.  Lagonegro attracts tourists in the winter, thanks to the ski slopes of nearby Mount Sirino, and in summer for its walking trails among the cool forests.

Also on this day:

1598: The death of philosopher Jacopo Mazzoni

1762: The birth of physicist and professor Giovanni Aldini

1886: The death of physician and Garibaldi strategist Agostino Bertani

1920: The birth of politician Nilde Iotti

1926: An airship leaves Rome to make the first flight over the North Pole

1991: Moby Prince car ferry disaster

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9 April

Gian Maria Volonté – actor

Brilliant talent who played ‘spaghetti western’ parts for fun

Gian Maria Volonté, recognised as one of the finest character actors Italy has produced, was born on this day in 1933 in Milan.  Trained at the Silvio D’Amico National Academy of the Dramatic Arts in Rome, Volonté became famous outside Italy for playing the villain to Clint Eastwood’s hero in two movies in Sergio Leone’s western trilogy that were part of a genre dubbed the ‘spaghetti westerns’.  However, he insisted he accepted the chance to appear in A Fistful of Dollars (1964) – in which he appeared under the pseudonym John Wells - and For a Few Dollars More (1964) simply to earn some money and did not regard the parts of Ramon and El Indio as serious.  In Italy, it was for the much heavier roles given to him by respected directors such as Elio Petri and Francesco Rosi that he won huge critical acclaim.  A person known for a tempestuous private life, he was very strong playing complex and neurotic characters, while his left-wing political leanings attracted him to roles in which he had to portray individuals from real life.  He was a particular favourite of Rosi, the neorealist director who directed him in five movies.  Read more…

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Treaty of Lodi

When the battles stopped (briefly) in northern Italy

The Treaty of Lodi, which brought peace between rival states in the north of Italy for 40 years, was signed on this day in 1454 at Lodi in Lombardy.  Also known as the Peace of Lodi, it established a balance of power among Venice, Milan, Naples, Florence and the Papal States.  Venice had been faced with a threat to its commercial empire from the Ottoman Turks and was eager for peace and Francesco Sforza, who had been proclaimed Duke by the people of Milan, was also keen for an end to the costly battles.  By the terms of the peace, Sforza was recognised as ruler of Milan and Venice regained its territory in northern Italy, including Bergamo and Brescia in Lombardy.  The treaty was signed at the Convent of San Domenico in Via Tito Fanfulla in Lodi, where a plaque today marks the building, no longer a convent.  Milan’s allies, Florence, Mantua and Genoa, and Venice’s allies, Naples, Savoy and Montferrat, had no choice but to agree.  A 25-year mutual defensive pact was agreed to maintain existing boundaries and an Italian league, Lega Italica, was set up.  The states promised to defend one another in the event of an attack.  Read more…

Patty Pravo - pop singer of enduring fame

Venetian artist's career has spanned 50 years

The pop singer Patty Pravo was born Nicoletta Strambelli on this day in 1948. Her career spans more than 50 years since she took her first steps on the road to fame with the release of her first single, Ragazzo Triste.  Pravo has recorded 27 albums and 52 singles, selling more than 110 million records, making her the third biggest selling Italian artist of all time.  Her album, Eccomi, was released in February 2016 following her ninth appearance at the Sanremo Music Festival, and she promoted the album with a tour of Italy. Born in Venice, she grew up in an intellectual environment. Family friends included Cardinal Angelo Roncalli - the future Pope John XXIII - the actor Cesco Baseggio, the soprano Toti dal Monte and the American poet Ezra Pound, who lived in Venice and would take the young Nicoletta for walks and buy her ice cream.  She would spend time too at the house of Peggy Guggenheim, the American socialite and art collector.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: A History of Italian Cinema Paperback, by Peter Bondanella and Federico Pacchioni

The second edition of A History of Italian Cinema is the much anticipated update from the author of the bestselling Italian Cinema - which has been published in four landmark editions and celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2023. Building upon decades of research, Peter Bondanella and Federico Pacchioni reorganise the previous edition in order to keep the book fresh and responsive not only to the actual films being created in Italy in the 21st century but also to the rapidly changing priorities of Italian film studies and film scholars.  The new edition brings the definitive history of the subject, from the birth of cinema to the present day, up to date with a revised filmography as well as more focused attention on the melodrama, the crime film, and the historical drama. The book is expanded to include a new generation of directors as well as to highlight themes such as gender issues, immigration, and media politics. Accessible, comprehensive, and heavily illustrated throughout, this is an essential purchase for any fan of Italian film.

Peter Bondanella is the author of a number of groundbreaking books, including Hollywood Italians, The Cinema of Federico Fellini, and The Films of Roberto Rossellini. In 2009, he was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and the Arts for his contributions to the history of Italian cinema and his translations or editions of Italian literary classics (Dante, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Vasari, Cellini).  Federico Pacchioni is Sebastian Paul & Marybelle Musco Chair of Italian Studies at Chapman University, Orange, California, USA.

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