2 May

Alessandro Scarlatti - composer

Prolific opera composer was ahead of his time

Baroque composer Alessandro Scarlatti was born on this day in 1660 in Palermo.  He is considered to be the founder of the Neapolitan School of opera, from which modern opera developed, and his two sons, Domenico and Pietro Filippo, also went on to become composers.  Scarlatti is believed to have been a pupil of Giacomo Carissimi in Rome. When his opera Gli equivoci nel sembiante was produced in the city he gained the support of Queen Christina of Sweden, an enthusiastic patron of the arts who had taken up residence there. He became her maestro di cappella and joined the Arcadian Academy she had founded.  Along with composers Bernardo Pasquini and Arcangelo Corelli, he regularly visited her home to perform music he had dedicated to her.  In 1684 Scarlatti became maestro di cappella to the royal family in Naples and produced a series of operas and music for state occasions for them.  Scarlatti also enjoyed the patronage of Ferdinando de' Medici and composed operas for his private theatre near Florence. He was also maestro di cappella for Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni who procured him a post at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.  Read more…

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Giuseppe Morello - gangster

Sicilian established first New York crime ‘family’

The Mafia boss Giuseppe Morello, who is credited with building the first of the New York gangs to be known as a crime ‘family’, was born on this day in 1867 in the notorious Sicilian crime stronghold of Corleone, a small town in a mountainous area 50km (31 miles) inland from the island’s capital, Palermo.  Morello had a deformed right hand with a single finger that was always bent, on account of which he became known as Joe l’artiglio - Joe ‘the claw’.  Along with three half-brothers, Morello established the 107th Street Mob in the East Harlem district of Manhattan in the late 1890s. The gang is recognised as the organisation that would eventually evolve into the Genovese crime family, the oldest of the New York Mafia’s so-called Five Families.  Morello is thought to have been brought up among the criminal underworld in Sicily on account of his widowed mother, Angelina, marrying Bernardo Terranova, a prominent member of the Corleonesi Mafia.  Giuseppe was only six years old at the time but when he reached maturity, he and his half-brothers, Vincenzo, Ciro and Nicolò, began to take part in Mafia activity.  Read more…

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Pietro Frua - car designer

Built business from a bombed-out factory

The car designer and coachbuilder Pietro Frua, who built some of Italy’s most beautiful cars without achieving the fame of the likes of Giovanni Bertone or Battista “Pinin” Farina, was born on this day in 1913 in Turin.  He is particularly remembered for his work with Maserati, for whom he designed the A6G and the Mistral among other models.  The son of a Fiat employee, Carlo Frua, Pietro was an apprentice draughtsman with Fiat and from the age of 17 worked alongside Battista Farina for his brother, Giovanni Farina, who had a coachbuilding business in Turin. He became director of styling for Stabilimenti Farina at the age of just 22.  After being obliged to diversify during the war, when he designed electric ovens and children’s model cars among other things, Frua bought a bombed-out factory building in 1944, restored it to serviceable order and hired 15 workers to help him launch his own business.  The first car he designed in his own studio was the soft-top Fiat 1100C sports car in 1946.  Subsequent work for Peugeot and Renault came his way and in 1955 he was approached by Maserati for the first time.  Read more…

Michele Busiri Vici - architect

Key designer in Costa Smeralda project

The architect Michele Busiri Vici, whose distinctive work featured heavily in the development of the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia as an exclusive holiday playground in the 1960s, was born on this day in 1894 in Rome.  Along with the French architect Jacques Couelle and his fellow Italian, Luigi Vietti, Vici was commissioned by the Aga Khan, Prince Shah Karim al-Husseini, to develop the area at the northeastern tip of the island and build a new resort, Porto Cervo.  The prince, himself said to be worth $13.3 billion as one of the world’s richest royals, assembled a consortium of investors to finance the project, which began in 1961 and remains a destination popular with celebrities, business and political leaders and other wealthy individuals.  Vici’s contributions included the highly distinctive church of Stella Maris in Porto Cervo, the Hotel Romazzino and Hotel Lucia della Muntagna and numerous villas.  He also left his mark on Porto Rafael, a small resort founded by another wealthy individual, Raphael Neville, Count of Berlanga de Duero, in the late 1950s.  There he designed the Piazzetta, a chapel, and private villas.  Read more…

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Marco Pannella - campaigning politician

Radical voice who helped modernise Italian society

The Radical politician Marco Pannella, whose relentless campaigning on civil rights and other issues helped transform modern Italian society, was born on this day in 1930 in Teramo in Abruzzo.  Pannella’s party won only a 3.4 per cent share of vote in the most successful election he fought yet he forced referendums to be held on divorce, abortion, the abolition of nuclear power, the public funding of political parties and many other issues, many of which led to changes in the law.  He was so passionate about the causes for which he campaigned he regularly staged hunger strikes to demonstrate his commitment and to attract publicity.  In 1970, for example, he went 78 days without food, allowing himself to consume only vitamin pills and three cups of coffee per day, losing 27 kilos (60lb) in weight before parliament agreed to hold a debate over the divorce laws.  Pannella’s emotional speeches were legend, as were his broadcasts on Radio Radicale, the radio station he founded in 1976 as a vehicle for his own message, but also as a champion of free speech.  His parents named him Giacinto (Hyacinth) but he found the name embarrassing and went under the name of Marco instead.   Read more…

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Book of the Day: Baroque Music In Focus: Second Edition, by Hugh Benham

Baroque Music in Focus provides a detailed yet concise look into this fascinating and vitally important period of music history, and explores Baroque music and composers in their wider social and historical context. This second edition has been fully revised and updated to keep abreast of the latest scholarship, and now includes colour images throughout, and a glossary and index. In addition there are new, expanded sections on the major genres and works of the Baroque era, as well as in-depth examinations of the lives and careers of the two greatest Baroque composers, Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Frideric Handel. This guide is intended to provide a solid foundation for pupils of all levels who are studying Baroque music, as well as general readers with an interest in the topic. It suggests listening and viewing material to complement the main topics within the book, and is an ideal resource for those wanting to explore the many aspects of Baroque music.

Hugh Benham read Music and English at Southampton University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. for his study of the music of John Taverner. As well as Baroque Music in Focus, he is the author of two books on English church music, including John Taverner: His Life and Music.

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1 May

The Portella della Ginestra Massacre

Conspiracy theories behind murder of peasants

Sicily and the whole of Italy was horrified on this day in 1947 when gunmen opened fire on defenceless peasants gathered for a Labour Day celebration in the hills above Palermo, killing 11 and wounding more than 30 in what became known as the Portella della Ginestra Massacre.  The victims included four children between the ages of seven and 15, who were cut down indiscriminately by a gang of men, some on horseback, who appeared suddenly and began firing machine guns as the peasants, numbering several hundred, congregated on a plain along a remote mountain pass between the towns of Piana degli Albanesi and San Giuseppe Jato, where a Labour Day rally had taken place every year since 1893.  Salvatore Giuliano, an outlaw wanted in connection with the killing of a police officer in 1943, was held responsible although many people believed that Giuliano and his gang of bandits were set up as scapegoats in a conspiracy involving the Mafia, wealthy landowners and politicians.  The outrage came only 10 days after a surprise victory by the so-called People’s Block - a coalition of the Italian Communist Party and the Italian Socialist Party - in Sicilian local elections.  Read more…

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Laura Betti - actress and jazz singer

Long-time companion of director Pier Paolo Pasolini

The actress and singer Laura Betti, who appeared in a number of important Italian films in the 1960s and 1970s, including Federico Fellini’s La dolce vita, Bernardo Bertolucci’s Novecento and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema, was born on this day in 1927 in Casalecchio di Reno, in Emilia-Romagna.  In addition to Teorema, which won her the coveted Volpi Cup for best actress at the 1968 Venice Film Festival, Betti appeared in six other Pasolini films as the two developed a special and unlikely relationship.  Betti, a vivacious blonde with striking good looks, had no shortage of suitors among the authors, artists, singers and aspiring actors that made up her circle in Rome in the 1950s, but Pasolini was gay and had no interest in her in a romantic sense.  Yet he became a regular guest at her apartment near the Palazzo Farnese and she wrote many years later that a kind of love developed between them. They met while he was an unknown poet and it was with her encouragement that he realised his aspiration to become a director.  Over time she effectively became his cook and housekeeper.  Read more…

Ignazio Silone – politician and author

Socialist leader became famous for anti-Fascist novels

Writer and political leader Ignazio Silone was born Secondino Tranquilli on this day in 1900 in Pescina dei Marsi in the region of Abruzzo.  Tranquilli became famous under the pseudonym, Ignazio Silone, during World War II for his powerful anti-Fascist novels and he was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature ten times.  Silone’s father, Paolo Tranquilli, died when he was 11 and he lost his mother, Marianna, and other members of his family four years later in the Avezzano earthquake of 1915.  Two years afterwards he joined the Young Socialist group of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), eventually becoming their leader and editor of their newspaper Avanguardia.  He was a founding member of the breakaway Italian Communist Party (PCI) party in 1921 and became one of its covert leaders during the Fascist regime, editing their newspaper in Trieste, Il Lavoratore. His brother, Romolo Tranquilli, was arrested in 1928 for being a member of the PCI and died in prison in 1931 as a result of the severe beatings he had received from the Fascist police.  Silone went to live in Switzerland in 1930 where he declared his opposition to Joseph Stalin and was expelled from the PCI.  Read more…

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Uberto Pasolini - film producer and director

Roman count who found unexpected fame with The Full Monty

The film director and producer Uberto Pasolini, who gained international recognition when his British comedy The Full Monty became one of UK cinema’s biggest commercial success stories in 1997, was born on this day in 1957 in Rome.  A nephew of the great Italian director Luchino Visconti, Pasolini worked for 12 years as an investment banker in England before following his dream to work in the film industry, abandoning his career to work, initially without pay, on the set of the David Puttnam-Roland Joffé film, The Killing Fields, in Thailand.  Puttnam took him on, at first as a location scout, before Pasolini moved to America to become part of Puttnam’s production team in Los Angeles. He set up his own company in London in 1994 and went on to direct some of his own productions, including the critically acclaimed 2008 movie Machan, based on a true story about a group of would-be immigrants from Sri Lanka who overcome visa problems stopping them from moving to the West by pretending to be their country’s national handball team.  Like Luchino Visconti, who was a descendant of the same Visconti family that ruled Milan between the 13th and 15th centuries, Pasolini was from a noble background.  Read more…

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Giovanni Guareschi – writer

Satirical magazine editor first used Don Camillo to fill a gap

Author Giovanni Guareschi, the creator of the fictional character, Don Camillo, was born on this day in 1908 in Roccabianca in Emilia-Romagna.  The popular stories featuring his famous comic creations, the stalwart Italian priest, Don Camillo, and the Communist mayor, Peppone, have since been made into many radio and television programmes and films.  Guareschi, who was christened Giovannino, started his career writing for the Gazzetta di Parma and then became a magazine editor.  He was called up to serve in the army in 1943 but was quickly taken prisoner, along with other Italian soldiers, by the Germans. He wrote a secret diary while he was in the prison camp, Diario Clandestino.  After the war Guareschi founded a weekly satirical magazine, Candido, where his Don Camillo stories first appeared. He had written the introductory story for another publication but lifted it to fill a gap in Candido at the last minute.  His magazine criticised and satirised the Communists but after they were beaten in the 1948 elections he turned his attention to the Christian Democrats instead.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Italian Rebels: Mazzini, Gramsci, and Giuliano, by Raymond Angelo Bellotti

Italian Rebels philosophically analyses the role of positive duties in moral theory, the efficacy of theocratic republicanism, viable strategies for political revolutions, the implications of an enduring Sicilian ethos, and the profits and perils of the individual-community continuum, in service of distinctive interpretations of the lives and ideologies of Giuseppe Mazzini, Antonio Gramsci, and Salvatore Giuliano.  Il Risorgimento Italiano, the national unification movement, refers to the period from 1821, the initial unsuccessful Milanese and Piedmontese insurrections against Austria, to 1870, the annexing of Rome into the Kingdom of Italy, which itself was established in 1861. The movement and its aftermath hovered over the lives of the Genoese republican prophet of Italian liberation and unification, the Sardinian communist political theorist imprisoned by The Black Shirts, and the Sicilian separatist murdering and fighting for his life and the honour of his island.  By dissecting the lives and philosophies of Mazzini, Gramsci, and Giuliano, by extracting moral, political, and existential lessons from their aspirations and enterprises, by reflecting on their ideals from our divergent social context, by evaluating their virtues and vices from a wider perspective, we may confront the people that we are and reimagine the people we might become.  

Raymond Angelo Belliotti is State University of New York Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy Emeritus and author of 26 books. 

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30 April

NEW - Francesco Primaticcio - painter, sculptor and architect

Italian who had major influence on French art 

The Mannerist painter, architect and sculptor Francesco Primaticcio, who played an important role in shaping the artistic landscape of France during the 16th century, was born on this day in 1504 in Bologna.  Primaticcio spent almost two thirds of his life in France, where he rose to be superintendent of works at the Château de Fontainebleau, the former medieval castle that was turned into an opulent Renaissance-style palace by François I of France.  Primaticcio trained as an artist in Bologna under Innocenzo da Imola before moving to Mantua to study with Giulio Romano, a former pupil of Raphael whose style helped define Mannerism.  He assisted Romano in his work on the decorations of the Palazzo del Te in Mantua, a project that refined his skills in fresco painting and architectural ornamentation.  Romano’s trust and belief in Primataccio’s talent was such that when François I invited Romano to assist in the redecoration of his expanded Fontainebleau palace in 1532, seeking to enrich the artistic grandeur of his court, Romano sent Primaticcio in his place.  Read more…

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Luigi Russolo – painter and composer

Futurist artist who invented 'noise music'

Luigi Russolo, who is regarded as the first ‘noise music’ composer, was born on this day in 1885 in Portogruaro in the Veneto.  Russolo originally chose to become a painter and went to live in Milan where he met and was influenced by other artists in the Futurist movement.  Along with other leading figures in the movement, such as Carlo Carrà, he signed both the Manifesto of Futurist Painters and the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting as the artists set out how they saw Futurism being represented on canvas, and afterwards participated in Futurist art exhibitions.  Russolo issued his own manifesto, L’arte dei rumori - The Art of Noises - in 1913, which he expanded into book form in 1916.  He stated that the industrial revolution had given modern man a greater capacity to appreciate more complex sounds. He found traditional, melodic music confining and envisioned noise music replacing it in the future.  Russolo invented intonarumori - noise-emitting machines - and conducted concerts using these machines. The audiences reacted with either enthusiasm or hostility to the style of music he produced.  None of these machines survived although they have since been reconstructed for use in performances.  Read more…

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Andrea Dandolo - Doge of Venice

Reign tested by earthquake, plague and war

Andrea Dandolo, the fourth member of the same patrician Venetian family to serve as Doge of the historic republic, was born on this day in 1306.  A notably erudite scholar, Dandolo wrote two chronicles of the history of Venice in Latin and reformed the Venetian legal code by bringing together all of the diverse laws applicable to the Venetian Republic within one legal framework.  He achieved these things despite his reign being marked by a devastating earthquake, a catastrophic outbreak of the Black Death plague and two expensive wars, against Hungary and then Genoa.  Dandolo studied at the University of Padua, where he became a professor of law, a position he maintained until he was elected Doge. He quickly rose to a position of prominence in Venetian life, being appointed Procurator of St Mark’s Basilica, the second most prestigious position in the Venetian hierarchy after the Doge, at the age of just 25.  He was elected Doge in 1343, aged 37.  It was a particularly young age at which to be given the leadership of the Republic, but his family history and the manner in which he had conducted himself as Procurator gained the respect of the Republic’s aristocratic elders.  Read more…

Antonio Sant’Elia - architectural visionary

Futurist’s ideas were decades ahead of his time

The architect Antonio Sant’Elia, best known for producing hundreds of drawings based on his vision of an idealised modern industrial city, was born on this day in 1888 in Como in Lombardy.  Sant’Elia’s life was short - he died in battle barely a year after signing up for military service in the First World War - and his physical legacy comprised only one completed building, a modest villa in the hills above his home city.  Yet, thanks to the boldly imaginative designs he captured in dozens of sketches illustrating how he saw the cities of the future, Sant’Elia is still seen as one of modern architecture’s most influential figures, more than a century after his death.  A builder by trade, in 1912 Sant’Elia set up a design office in Milan with fellow architect Mario Chittone.  He was already a follower of Futurism, the avant-garde artistic, social and political movement that had been launched by the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909.  The Futurists’ admiration for the speed and technological advancement of cars and aeroplanes and the new industrial cities, which they saw as demonstrating the triumph of humanity over nature through invention, aligned with his own rejection of traditional design.  Read more…

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Pope Pius V - Saint

Pontiff dismissed jester and clamped down on heretics

The feast day of Pope Saint Pius V is celebrated every year on this day, the day before the anniversary of his death in 1572 in Rome.  Pius V, who became Pope in 1566, is remembered chiefly for his role in the Counter Reformation, the period of Catholic resurgence following the Protestant Reformation.  He excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England for heresy and for persecuting English Catholics and he formed the Holy League, an alliance of Catholic states against the Turks.  Pius V was born Antonio Ghislieri in Bosco, now Bosco Marengo, in Piedmont. At the age of 14 he entered the Dominican Order, taking the name of Michele. He was ordained at Genoa in 1528 and then sent to Pavia to lecture.  He became a bishop under Pope Pius IV but after opposing the pontiff was dismissed. After the death of Pius IV, Ghislieri was elected Pope Pius V in 1566. His first act on becoming Pope was to dismiss the court jester and no Pope has had one since.  Protestantism had by then conquered many parts of Europe and Pius V was determined to prevent it getting into Italy. He therefore took a personal interest in the activities of the Inquisition in Rome and appeared to be unmoved by the cruelty practised.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: A Day at Château de Fontainebleau, by Guillaume Picon

Imbued with more than eight centuries of history, A Day at Château de Fontainebleau offers unique historical insight into the lives of more than 34 French sovereigns who inhabited and enhanced this great architectural monument. A visit to the exceptionally well-preserved Fontainebleau - one of the few royal residences left intact during the French Revolution - offers unparalleled access to French history, art, and architecture. From François I to Napoleon, and from Marie-Antoinette to Joséphine, Fontainebleau sweeps the reader back in time to experience the traditions and customs of great figures throughout the history of France. Comprising more than 1,500 rooms on 130 acres of parkland and gardens, and situated 37 miles south of Paris, Fontainebleau welcomes more than 500,000 visitors a year. This book features superb images illustrating the artisanal decorative details of the château and the spectacular works of art still housed within. From hunting excursions to the grand parties and spectacles that took place at Fontainebleau, A Day at Château de Fontainebleau is a private invitation inside a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of France’s most beautiful historical monuments. Exquisite photographs by Eric Sander offer rare access to parts on the chateau usually closed to the public, including the Napoléon III’s office, Marie-Antoinette’s Turkish-style boudoir, Madame de Maintenon’s apartments, the Imperial Theater, the medieval keep, François I’s Cour Ovale, Henri IV’s Gallery of Stags, the Salle des Colonnes, Diana Gallery, and many rare objects from the impeccably well-preserved monument.

Guillaume Picon is a French historian, author and cultural projects manager based in Paris. He is the author of many books including The History of France Explained by Painting and Orient Express: The Story of a Legend.

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Francesco Primaticcio - painter, sculptor and architect

Italian who had major influence on French art 

A woodcut  portrait of Francesco
 Primaticcio from about 1648

The Mannerist painter, architect and sculptor Francesco Primaticcio, who played an important role in shaping the artistic landscape of France during the 16th century, was born on this day in 1504 in Bologna.

Primaticcio spent almost two thirds of his life in France, where he rose to be superintendent of works at the Château de Fontainebleau, the former medieval castle that was turned into an opulent Renaissance-style palace by François I of France.

Primaticcio trained as an artist in Bologna under Innocenzo da Imola before moving to Mantua to study with Giulio Romano, a former pupil of Raphael whose style helped define Mannerism.

He assisted Romano in his work on the decorations of the Palazzo del Te in Mantua, a project that refined his skills in fresco painting and architectural ornamentation.

Romano’s trust and belief in Primataccio’s talent was such that when François I invited Romano to assist in the redecoration of his expanded Fontainebleau palace in 1532, seeking to enrich the artistic grandeur of his court, Romano sent Primaticcio in his place.

Primaticcio soon became one of the leading artists at Fontainebleau, where he worked alongside Giovanni Battista di Jacopo, the Florentine painter also known as Rosso Fiorentino.

Following Fiorentino's death in 1540, Primaticcio took control of the artistic direction at Fontainebleau, overseeing the decoration of its grand halls and galleries.

His work at Fontainebleau was characterized by stucco reliefs, elaborate frescoes, and mythological themes, which became hallmarks of the French Mannerist style. Niccolò dell'Abbate, a Mannerist painter from Modena, was one of his team.

The Château de Fontainebleau, southeast of Paris,
where Primaticcio spent much of his working life

Primataccio’s compositions featured elongated figures, dynamic movement, and intricate detailing, influencing generations of French artists to follow.

He returned to Rome for a couple of years to purchase artworks for François I. He also took casts of the best Roman sculptures in the papal collections, some of which were recreated in bronze to decorate the parterres at Fontainebleau.

Primaticcio’s crowded compositions and graceful figures set a precedent for French painting. His masterpiece, the Salle d’Hercule, occupied him and his team for decades, showcasing his ability to blend classical mythology with courtly elegance.

Other notable works at Fontainebleau included scenes from the Life of Alexander the Great, for the bedchamber of the duchesse d’Étampes, and eight mythological scenes for the ceiling of the Galerie d’Ulysse. He is noted as one of the first artists in France to replace religious themes with those of classical mythology.

Primataccio’s design for the ceiling of the chapel of the Hotel de Guise in Paris, executed in 1557, was his last major work. For the last decade of his life, he worked with the sculptor Germain Pilon on the tomb of Henri II in the abbey church of Saint-Denis near Paris.  He designed the Valois Chapel at Saint-Denis, which was completed after his death. 

After the death of François I in 1547, Primaticcio remained a court painter under Henri II and François II, continuing to shape the artistic direction of France. His stylistic innovations influenced the development of French Mannerism, to which he introduced a quiet French elegance. 

Primaticcio died in 1570 in Paris. His contributions to the School of Fontainebleau cemented his reputation as a master of Mannerism. His ability to merge Italian Renaissance techniques with French artistic traditions ensured his place among the most influential artists of the 16th century.

Mantua's Palazzo del Te was considered
to be Giulio Romano's greatest work

Travel tip:

The Palazzo del Te in Mantua, where Primaticcio worked for part of his time in the city, was designed for Federico Gonzaga as a summer residence. It is a fine example of the Mannerist school of architecture and is considered to be Giulio Romano’s masterpiece. The name for the palace came about because the location chosen had been the site of the Gonzaga family stables at Isola del Te on the edge of the marshes just outside Mantua’s city walls. After the building was completed in about 1535, a team of plasterers, carvers and painters worked on the interior for ten years until all the rooms were decorated with beautiful frescoes.

The porticoed square adjoining the Basilica
di Santa Maria dei Servi in Bologna

Travel tip:

In his youth, Primaticcio trained in Bologna, his home city, in the workshop of Innocenzo di Pietro Francucci da Imola, a painter and draughtsman generally known as Innocenzo da Imola. Visitors to Bologna can see some of Innocenzo's work in the Basilica of Santa Maria dei Servi, a great example of Gothic architecture that stands on Strada Maggiore, a street in central Bologna that is part of the Roman Via Emilia. It runs, with its porticoes between medieval houses, buildings and churches, from Piazza di Porta Ravegnana to Porta Maggiore. The church also houses a Madonna enthroned with the Child and angels by Cimabue.

Also on this day:

1306: The birth of Andrea Dandolo, Doge of Venice

1885: The birth of composer Luigi Russolo

1888: The birth of architect Antonio Sant’Elia

The feast day of Pope Saint Pius V (d:1572)

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29 April

Sara Errani - tennis champion

Six-times Grand Slam doubles winner reached No 5 in singles

Tennis star Sara Errani, who was born in Bologna on this day in 1987, is one of the most successful Italian tennis players of all time.  She and former partner Roberta Vinci's career record of five Grand Slam doubles titles is unparalleled.  No other Italian combination has won more than one Grand Slam title.  Errani won her sixth Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2024, winning the mixed doubles with an Italian partner in Andrea Vavassori. In the same year, Errani and her new women's doubles partner, Jasmine Paolini, were runners-up in the French Open but returned to the Roland Garros clay courts two months later to win the women's doubles gold medal at the Paris Olympics.  At the age of 38, Errani announced that the 2025 French Open would be her last singles tournament. Undeterred by failing to qualify for the main draw in the singles, she increased her tally of Grand Slam doubles titles to eight by winning the women's doubles with Paolini and the mixed with Vavassori.  The women's doubles title - her first in a Grand Slam since the last of her successes with Vinci in 2014 - took her ahead of her former partner as the most successful Italian women's doubles player, although she was unable to match the feats of compatriots Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta in winning a Grand Slam singles title. Read more... 

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Liberation of Fornovo di Taro

How Brazilian soldiers hastened Nazi capitulation

The town of Fornovo di Taro in Emilia-Romagna acquired a significant place in Italian military history for a second time on this day in 1945 when it was liberated from Nazi occupation by soldiers from the Brazilian Expeditionary Force fighting with the Allies.  Under the command of General João Baptista Mascarenhas de Morais, the Brazilians marched into Fornovo, which is situated about 25km (16 miles) south-west of Parma on the east bank of the Taro river, at the conclusion of the four-day Battle of Collecchio.  It was in Fornovo that the 148th Infantry Division of the German army under the leadership of General Otto Fretter-Pico offered their surrender, along with soldiers from the 90th Panzergrenadier Division and the 1st Bersaglieri and 4th Mountain Divisions of the Fascist National Republican Army.  In total, 14,779 German and Italian troops laid down their arms after Fretter-Pico concluded that, with the Brazilians surrounding the town, aided by two American tank divisions and one company of Italian partisans, there was no hope of escape.  Although the total capitulation of the German and Fascist armies in Italy was not officially announced until May 2 in Turin, the surrender in Fornovo effectively brought the war in the peninsula to an end.  Read more…

Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini - painter

Venetian artist who made mark in England

The painter Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, who is regarded as one of the most important Venetian painters of the early 18th century, was born on this day in 1675 in Venice.   He played a major part in the spread of the Venetian style of large-scale decorative painting in northern Europe, working in Austria, England, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.  With a style that had influences of Renaissance artist Paolo Veronese and the Baroque painters Pietro da Cortona and Luca Giordano, he is considered an important predecessor of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo in the development of Venetian art.  A pupil of the Milanese painter Paolo Pagani, Pellegrini began travelling while still a teenager, accompanying Pagano to Moravia and Vienna.  After a period studying in Rome, he returned to Venice and married Angela Carriera, the sister of the portraitist Rosalba Carriera.  Soon afterwards, he accepted the commission to decorate the dome above the staircase at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in 1709.  Pellegrini spent a significant part of his career in England, where he was invited, along with Marco Ricci, the nephew of Sebastiano Ricci, by Charles Montagu, the future Duke of Manchester.  Read more…

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Rafael Sabatini – writer

Author of swashbucklers had the ‘gift of laughter’

Rafael Sabatini, who wrote successful adventure novels that were later made into plays and films, was born on this day in 1875 in Iesi, a small town in the province of Ancona in Le Marche.  Sabatini was the author of the international bestsellers, Scaramouche and Captain Blood, and afterwards became respected as a great writer of swashbucklers with a prolific output.  He was the son of an English mother, Anna Trafford, and an Italian father, Vincenzo Sabatini, who were both opera singers.  At a young age he was exposed to different languages because he spent time with his grandfather in England and also attended school in both Portugal and Switzerland, while his parents were on tour.  By the time Sabatini went to live in England permanently, at the age of 17, he was already proficient in several languages. Although his first attempts at writing were in French when he was at school in Switzerland, he is said to have consciously chosen to write in English, saying at the time that all the best stories had been written in English.  Sabatini wrote short stories in the 1890s, some of which were published in English magazines.   Read more…

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Book of the Day: History of Tennis: Legendary Champions and Magical Moments, by Richard Evans

Tennis, the much-loved sport, is a game for the ages dating back to 16th-century royal court matches played by King Henry VIII. History of Tennis captures the sport's long history, never short of theatrics, rivalries, power plays, political controversies, and inspiring personal stories. Beautiful historic and contemporary images of gripping matches like the unforgettable Bjorn Borg versus John McEnroe tie break match in 1980, to behind-the-scenes moments with tennis legends, and never-before-seen shots, grace each page accompanied by Richard Evans’s intriguing stories and unique insight detailing the evolution of this majestic sport by decade. Starting as a European royal pastime and gaining popularity in England and France, the sport made its way to America in the late 1870s as the new game of lawn tennis, creating along the centuries legendary tennis superstars such as Bill Tilden, Suzanne Lenglen and the Four Musketeers, Fred Perry, Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, and Steffi Graf. Now one of the most highly watched sports globally with top-billing icons such as Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, and Naomi Osaka, there is no stopping the power of this all enthralling game. History of Tennis is a must-have volume for lifelong fans and those intrigued by the sporting theatre and grand culture of tennis.

Richard Evans is a British sports journalist, author, and historian. His journalistic career in tennis began at Wimbledon in 1960 and he has written 23 books, including biographies of Ilie Nastase and John McEnroe. In 2024 he was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame for his contributions to the game.

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28 April

Nicola Romeo - car maker

Engineer used profits from military trucks to launch famous marque

Nicola Romeo, the entrepreneur and engineer who founded Alfa Romeo cars, was born on this day in 1876 in Sant’Antimo, a town in Campania just outside Naples.  The company, which became one of the most famous names in the Italian car industry, was launched after Romeo purchased the Milan automobile manufacturer ALFA - Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili.  After making substantial profits from building military trucks in the company’s Portello plant during the First World War, in peacetime Romeo switched his attention to making cars. The first Alfa Romeo came off the production line in 1921.  The cars made a major impact in motor racing, mainly thanks to the astuteness of Romeo in hiring the up-and-coming Enzo Ferrari to run his racing team, and the Fiat engineer Vittorio Jano to build his cars.  Away from the track, the Alfa Romeo name sat on the front rank of the luxury car market.  Romeo’s parents, originally from an area known as Lucania that is now part of the Basilicata region, were not wealthy but Nicola was able to attend what was then Naples Polytechnic – now the Federico II University – to study engineering.  Read more…

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The death of Benito Mussolini

Fascist dictator captured and killed on shores of Lake Como

Benito Mussolini, the dictator who ruled Italy for 21 years until he was deposed in 1943, was killed by Italian partisans on this day in 1945, at the village of Giulino di Mezzegra on the shore of Lake Como.  The 61-year-old leader of the National Fascist Party had been captured the previous day in the town of Dongo, further up the lake, as he attempted to reach Switzerland along with his mistress, Claretta Petacci, and a number of Fascist officials.  With Nazi Germany on the brink of defeat, Mussolini had been planning to board a plane in Switzerland in order to fly to Spain.  Mussolini was said to have donned a Luftwaffe helmet and overcoat in the hope that he would not be recognised but the disguise did not work.  Fearing that the Germans would try to free him, as they had two years earlier when Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III placed him under house arrest in mountainous Abruzzo, the partisans hid Mussolini and the others in a remote farmhouse.  The following morning, along the coast of the lake at Mezzegra, their captives were made to stand against a wall and shot dead. The executions were said to have been carried out by a partisan who went under the name of Colonnello Valerio.  Read more…

Andrea Moroni – architect

Cousin of brilliant painter left mark on Padua

Andrea Moroni, who designed many beautiful buildings in Padua and the Veneto region, died on this day in 1560 in Padua.  Born into a family of stonecutters in Albino near Bergamo in Lombardy, Moroni was the cousin and contemporary of Giovan Battista Moroni, the brilliant Bergamo painter, who was also born in Albino.  Moroni the architect has works attributed to him in Brescia, another city in Lombardy about 50km (31 miles) east of Bergamo. He is known to have been in the city between 1527 and 1532 where he built a choir for the monastery of Santa Giulia.  He probably also designed the building in which the nuns could attend mass in the monastery of Santa Giulia and worked on the church of San Faustino.  As a result, he made his name with the Benedictine Order and obtained commissions for two Benedictine churches in Padua, Santa Maria di Praglia and the more famous Santa Giustina.  His contract with Santa Giustina was renewed every ten years until his death and he settled down to live in Padua.  Read more…

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Escape from San Vittore prison

How a terrorist and a mass murderer brought fear to streets of Milan

Milan citizens were left cowering in fear on this day in 1980 when police engaged in a prolonged shootout in the streets around San Vittore prison, which is situated less than three kilometres from the Duomo.  It followed an escape from the 19th century institution organised jointly by the notorious criminal and mass killer Renato Vallanzasca and the Red Brigades terrorist Corrado Alunni.  Vallanzasca, the head of the Milanese crime gang Banda della Comasina, had been in jail for much of the last eight years and was serving a life sentence for his role in a number of kidnappings and armed robberies, which had resulted in the deaths of a number of police officers, bank staff and members of the public.  Alunni, who had been a member of both the Red Brigades and the Communist terror group Prima Linea, had been jailed in 1978 after his arrest following an armed attack on a carabinieri patrol in the city of Novara in Piedmont.  In the days leading up to their escape attempt, the two had managed to smuggle a number of firearms into the prison and discussed how they would force prison guards to open the gates.  Read more…

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Baldus de Ubaldis – lawyer

Legal opinions have stood the test of time

An expert in mediaeval Roman law, Baldus de Ubaldis died on this day in 1400 in Pavia.  De Ubaldis had written more than 3,000 consilia - legal opinions - the most to remain preserved from any mediaeval lawyer.  His work on the law of evidence and gradations of proof remained the standard treatment of the subject for centuries after his death.  De Ubaldis was born into a noble family in Perugia in 1327. He studied law and received the degree of doctor of civil law when he was 17.  He taught law at the University of Bologna for three years and was then offered a professorship at Perugia University where he remained for 33 years.  De Ubaldis subsequently taught law at Pisa, Florence, Padua, Pavia and Piacenza.  He taught Pierre Roger de Beaufort, who became Pope Gregory XI, whose immediate successor, Urban VI, summoned De Ubaldis to Rome in 1380 to consult with him about the anti-pope, Clement VII. The lawyer’s view on the legal issues relating to the schism are laid down in his Questio de schismate.  One of the best works of De Ubaldis is considered to be his commentary on the Libri Feudorum, a compilation of feudal law provisions.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Alfa Romeo: An Illustrated History, 1910–2020, by Christian Schön

For more than 110 years, Alfa Romeo has set the standard for elegant, sophisticated, and racy Italian automobiles. The first Alfa Romeo, the Tipo 24HP, rolled off the line in 1910 and paved the way for such classic and well-known models as the Tipo 33 Stradale, Guilia, Giulietta, Alfasud, Alfetta, and the Stelvio - Alfa Romeo’s first SUV.  Automotive writer and Alfa Romeo buff Christian Schön celebrates the 110th anniversary of Alfa Romeo by taking a deep dive into the people, places, races, and especially the cars that are part of Alfa Romeo’s rich history and heritage. The book includes: a timeline of all the important events and milestones in Alfa Romeo’s 110-year history, 1910–2020; special sections on Alfa Romeo’s auto designs, engines, technology, concept cars, factories, and advertising, as well as the Alfa Romeo Museum in Milan and the key personnel responsible for Alfa Romeo’s rise to the top; an in-depth look at Alfa Romeo’s racing history, including five world championship titles, a dozen European championships, 11 victories in the legendary Mille Miglia endurance race, and a victory in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM); and exciting behind-the scenes stories and more than 350 colour and black-and-white images. Alfa Romeo: An Illustrated History tells the full story of 110 years of Alfa Romeo, the cars, the people, the racing, and the heritage.

Christian Schön bought his first Alfa Romeo shortly after passing his driving test. As a journalist, he has been involved with the brand for more than three decades, not least as the author of several books celebrating its most famous models. 

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27 April

NEW - Charles Emmanuel III – King of Sardinia-Piedmont

Savoy king won new territory and power for his descendants

Charles Emmanuel III, a skilled soldier who ruled over Sardinia and the region of Piedmont, was born on this day in 1701 in Turin.  He became king after his father, Victor Amadeus II, abdicated his throne in 1730. Charles Emmanuel later had his father arrested when he tried to intervene in affairs of state, and had him confined to a castle for the remainder of his years.  Charles Emmanuel had a military and political education and, after he became an adult, other European countries often sought his aid in conflicts because of his skills. After becoming King of Sardinia-Piedmont, he joined in the War of the Polish Succession on the side of France and Spain.  The war was supposedly to determine who was going to be the next King of Poland, but its main results were a redistribution of Italian territory and an increase in Russian influence over Polish affairs.  Charles Emmanuel sent troops to occupy Milan and then scored a brilliant success at the Battle of Guastalla, which took place in Emilia-Romagna in 1734. After the subsequent Treaty of Vienna, he gained the cities of Novara and Tortona in Piedmont.  Read more…

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Vittorio Cecchi Gori - entrepreneur

Ex-president of Fiorentina who produced two of Italy’s greatest films

Vittorio Cecchi Gori, whose chequered career in business saw him produce more than 300 films and own Fiorentina’s football club but also saw him jailed for fraudulent bankruptcy, was born on this day in 1942 in Florence.  The son of Mario Cecchi Gori, whose production company he inherited, he provided the financial muscle behind two of Italy’s greatest films of recent years, Il Postino (1994), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful (1997), which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film.  He was also involved with the 1992 Oscar winner Mediterraneo, directed by Gabriele Salvatores, which also won in the Best Foreign Language film category.  Vittorio’s legacy from his father also included Fiorentina football club, of which he was president from 1993 to 2002.   With Cecchi Gori’s backing, while his involvement with the movie business was generating such huge profits, Fiorentina enjoyed great times.  He invested heavily in new players and persuaded the club’s icon, the Argentine forward Gabriel Batistuta, to stay after the viola were relegated in 1993.  Read more…

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Renato Rascel - actor, singer and songwriter

Film and TV star who wrote the iconic song Arrivederci Roma

Renato Rascel, whose remarkable career encompassed more than 60 movies, a hit 1970s TV series, representing Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest and writing one of the most famous Italian songs of all time, was born on this day in 1912 in Turin.  Rascel was Italy’s entry at Eurovision 1960 in London, singing Romantica, with which he had won the Sanremo Music Festival earlier in the year. Romantica finished eighth overall in London.  He is arguably most famous, however, for the song Arrivederci Roma, which he wrote for the 1955 film of the same name, in which he starred with the Italian-American tenor and actor Mario Lanza, which was subsequently released for English and American cinema audiences with the title Seven Hills of Rome.  Arrivederci Roma quickly became a favourite Italian song and scores of big-name singers recorded cover versions, including Bing Crosby, Connie Francis, Dean Martin, Dionne Warwick, Nat King Cole, Perry Como and Vic Damone.  Only a year earlier, Rascel had written the best-selling Italian song of 1954 in Te voglio bene tanto tanto (I Love You So Much).  Read more…

Antonio Gramsci - left-wing intellectual

Communist leader who Mussolini could not gag

Antonio Gramsci, one of the more remarkable intellectuals of left-wing Italian politics in the early 20th century, died on this day in 1937 in Rome, aged only 46.  A founding member and ultimately leader of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), he was arrested by Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime in November 1926 and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.   In failing health, he was granted his release after a campaign by friends and supporters but died without leaving the clinic in which he spent his final two years.  The conditions he encountered in jail led him to develop high blood pressure, angina, tuberculosis and acute gastric disorders.  Yet he found sufficient energy while imprisoned  to study the social and political history of Italy in extensive detail and to record his thoughts and theories in notebooks and around 500 letters to friends and supporters.  Many of his propositions heavily influenced the political strategy of communist parties in the West after the Second World War following the publication of his Prison Notebooks.  Gramsci was born in January 1891 in the small town of Ales, in a mountainous inland part of Sardinia.  Read more…

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Cesare Bianchi - head chef

From shores of Lake Como to London’s Café Royal

Cesare Bianchi, who rose from humble beginnings to become head chef at London’s prestigious Café Royal in the 1930s, was born on this day in 1897 in Cernobbio, a village on Lake Como in northern Italy.  He moved to England when he was only 16, hoping to build a career in catering and soon found work doing odd jobs in a London kitchen. However, he had been in the city barely a year when the outbreak of the First World War meant he had to return to his homeland for national service.  In his case, it was with the Alpini, Italy’s mountain brigades, with whom he was an interpreter.  Eager to resume his career in England, once the war was over Cesare took a job at the Palace Hotel in Aberdeen.  It was there he met Martha Gall, the woman who would become his wife.  They were married in 1921 and Martha soon gave birth to their daughter, Patricia.  Ambitious, Cesare persuaded his wife to leave Scotland behind so that he could make another attempt to establish himself in London.  His culinary talents took him a long way as he worked his way up from modest beginnings to land a place in the kitchen at the Café Royal in Regent Street.  Read more…

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Popes John XXIII and John Paul II made saints

Crowd of 800,000 in St Peter's Square for joint canonisation

Pope Francis declared Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II as saints at a ceremony during Mass in Rome’s St Peter’s Square on this day in 2014.  Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world converged on the Vatican to attend the ceremony, which celebrated two popes recognised as giants of the Catholic Church in the 20th century.  There was scarcely room to move in St Peter's Square, the Via della Conciliazione and the adjoining streets.  The crowd, probably the biggest since John Paul II’s beatification three years earlier, was estimated at around 800,000, of which by far the largest contingent had made the pilgrimage from John Paul’s native Poland to see their most famous compatriot become a saint.  Thousands of red and white Polish flags filled the square.  In his homily, Pope Francis said Saints John XXIII and John Paul II were “priests, bishops and popes of the 20th century. They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them God was more powerful, faith was more powerful”.  He added that the two popes had “co-operated with the Holy Spirit in renewing and updating” the Catholic Church.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: A History of Savoy: Gatekeeper of the Alps, by John Dormandy

Savoy and its Alps were for seven centuries an independent state at the centre of Europe, separating France from the patchwork of principalities that made up Italy. Merchants, clerics, pilgrims, diplomats as well as privileged young Englishmen on the Grand Tour, regularly used the Alpine passes. But it was the need of European armies to cross Savoy which made its rulers powerful as the Gatekeepers of the Alps. It allowed the Duchy of Savoy to prosper and survive when all the other great duchies of Burgundy, Milan, Provence and Dauphin' disappeared at the end of the fifteenth century. Savoy successfully resisted the pressure from Protestant Geneva on its doorstep, but was the first country to succumb to the French Revolution. In A History of Savoy, John Dormandy explains how by judiciously switching alliances during the European wars beginning at the end of the seventeenth century, the House of Savoy finally gained a crown. The conspiracy concocted by Napoleon III and Cavour led directly to the unification of Italy and the definitive annexation of Savoy to France in 1860. Simultaneously, the Alps that had been the source of Savoy's power, now became the source of its prosperity as a centre of tourism.

John Dormandy was born in Budapest and educated in Geneva, Paris, London and New York. As Professor of Vascular Surgery at London University, he authored five medical books and more than two hundred research papers. Over the past 25 years he has regularly visited Savoy and is a member of the Soci't' Savoisienne d'Histoire and the Acad'mie Florimontane.

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