4 September

Luigi Cadorna – Marshall of Italy

Tough military leader was blamed for losing crucial battle

Luigi Cadorna, a military General who was made a Marshall of Italy, was born on this day in 1850 in Verbania, on the shore of Lake Maggiore in the Piedmont region.  Cadorna is most remembered for his role as Chief of Staff of the Italian Army during the first part of the First World War.  His father was General Raffaele Cadorna, the Piedmontese military leader whose capture of Rome in 1870 completed the unification of Italy.  Sent by his father to a military school in Milan from the age of 10, he entered the Turin Military Academy when he was 15 and, after graduating at the age of 18, was commissioned as a second lieutenant of artillery.  He participated in the occupation of Rome in 1870 as part of the force commanded by his father.  After becoming a Major, Cadorna was appointed to the staff of General Pianelli and became Chief of Staff of the Verona Divisional Command.  From 1892 he was the Colonel commanding the 10th Regiment of Bersaglieri, where he acquired a reputation for strict discipline and harsh punishment.  He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1898 and subsequently held a number of senior command positions.  Read more…

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Giacinto Facchetti - footballer

The original - and best - attacking full back

The footballer Giacinto Facchetti, who captained Italy at two World Cups and won four Serie A titles plus two European Cups for Inter Milan, died on this day in 2006 in Milan at the age of 64.  He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer. When his funeral took place at the Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, more than 12,000 fans joined the mourners marking his life. His remains were then taken back to his home town of Treviglio in the province of Bergamo.  Apart from being regarded as the model professional and a pillar of moral decency, Facchetti was seen as a player ahead of his time, the first attacking full back who was a master in both disciplines of his game.  Under the coaching of Internazionale’s great Argentine-born coach, Helenio Herrera, he became integral to the defensive system known as catenaccio, of which Herrera was one of the highest profile advocates.  But Facchetti also knew exactly when to turn defence into attack and to exploit his speed and athleticism going forward. Inter were known as a defensive team but they were also one of the best at punishing opponents with rapid breakaway attacks. In more than 600 appearances for Inter, Facchetti scored 75 goals, the most by any defender in the history of football in Italy.  Read more…

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Rita Atria - witness of justice

Tragic teenager who broke Mafia code of omertà

Rita Atria, the girl from a Mafia family in southwest Sicily who famously went to the police after her father and brother were both killed by criminal rivals, was born on this day in 1974 in Partanna, in the province of Trapani. She was just 11 years old when her father, Vito, ostensibly a shepherd but in reality a local Mafia boss, was shot dead by a hit man hired by a rival family. The killing took place in 1985, nine days before her brother, Nicolò, was due to be married. He vowed to avenge his father’s death and spoke openly about knowing who was responsible.  He and his bride, Piera Aiella, a local girl, were both 18 at the time of their marriage. Piera, who had known Nicolò since he was 14, did not wish to marry him but Vito had thought she would make his son a suitable wife, and had made it clear to her that she had little choice in the matter.  They had a child in 1988 and in 1991 moved to the nearby village of Montevago, where Nicolò set up a pizzeria.  The day he opened for business, in June, 1991, he and Piera invited a few friends to a modest celebration party. Read more…

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Amadeus - TV presenter

Former DJ now one of Italian TV’s most familiar faces

The entertainment and game show presenter Amedeo Sebastiani - known professionally as Amadeus - was born on this day in 1962 in Ravenna.  In a small screen career spanning almost 35 years, Amadeus has fronted several major shows for both national broadcaster RAI and for the channels of the privately-owned Mediaset network.  He was the original face of the hit game show L'eredità - The Inheritance - which has been a fixture on Rai Uno since 2002 - and more recently he has become the regular host of Rai Uno’s annual New Year’s Eve variety show L’anno che verrà - The Coming Year.  Amadeus has also presented two of Italy’s biggest song contests, Festivalbar, and the Sanremo Music Festival, of which he is the current host and artistic director.  Sebastiani’s parents were both Sicilian, his father Corrado an accomplished horseman who taught his son to ride and passed on a passion for horses.  After doing his national service at a base in San Giorgio a Cremano near Naples, he worked in radio for the first time in 1979 for a small station in Verona, where he had moved with his family at the age of seven.  Read more…

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Saint Rosalia

Little Saint ended the plague in Palermo

The Feast Day of Saint Rosalia is being celebrated today in Sicily, throughout the rest of Italy, in America, Venezuela and in many other countries.  Saint Rosalia, also known as La santuzza, or the Little Saint, is the patron saint of Palermo as well as three towns in Venezuela.  Centuries after Rosalia’s death, the people of Palermo believed she ended the plague when what they thought were her remains were carried in a procession through the city.  Rosalia was born in Palermo in about 1130 into a noble Norman family that claimed to descend from Charlemagne.  She became devoutly religious and eventually went to live as a hermit in a cave on Mount Pellegrino in Sicily.  There is a story that she was led by two angels to live in the cave and that she wrote on the wall that she had chosen to live there out of her love for Jesus. She is believed to have died in 1166 when she would have been about 36.  In 1624 when Palermo was afflicted by the plague, Rosalia appeared first to a sick woman and then to a hunter to tell them where her remains were to be found. She told the hunter to bring her bones to Palermo to be carried in a procession through the city.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign: The Italian Front, 1915-1918, by John MacDonald and Zeljko Cimpric

From May 1915 to October 1917 the armies of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian empire were locked into a series of 12 battles along the River Isonzo, a sixty-mile front from the Alps to the Adriatic. The campaign was fought in the most appalling terrain for combat, with horrendous casualties on both sides, often exceeding those of the more famous battles of the Great War. Yet this massive struggle is too often neglected in histories of the war which focus on the fighting on the Western and Eastern Fronts. John Macdonald, in this accessible and highly illustrated account, aims to set the record straight. His description of the Isonzo battles, of the battlefields and of the atrocious conditions in which the soldiers lived and fought is supported by a graphic selection of original photographs that record the terrible reality of the conflict. Highly recommended by Great War Magazine, Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign: The Italian Front, 1915-1918 is illustrated with more than 130 excellent and previously unseen photographs.

The late John Macdonald wrote mainly about management, business and politics but had a special interest in the Great War and the fighting on the Italian Front inspired by a visit to the battlefields in Slovenia and Italy, and he made an in-depth study of the Isonzo battles and the entire campaign.  Zeljko Cimpric is the director of the Kobarid Museum in Kobarid, the town in Slovenia known as Caporetto in Italian, where the eponymous battle took place, about 5km (three miles) from the present-day Italian border.

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(To the best of our knowledge, all material was factually accurate at the time of writing. In the case of individuals still living at the time of publication, some of the information may need updating.)

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3 September

Giuseppe ‘Nino’ Farina – racing driver

The first Formula One world champion

Emilio Giuseppe Farina, driving an Alfa Romeo, became the first Formula One world champion on this day in 1950.  The 43-year-old driver from Turin - usually known as Giuseppe or 'Nino' - clinched the title on home territory by winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.  He was only third in the seven-race inaugural championship going into the final event at the Lombardy circuit, trailing Alfa teammates Juan Manuel Fangio, of Argentina, by four points and his Italian compatriot, Luigi Fagioli, by two.  Under the competition’s complicated points scoring system, Fangio was hot favourite, with the title guaranteed if he was first or second, and likely to be his if he merely finished in the first five, provided Farina did not win.  He could have been crowned champion simply by picking up a bonus point for the fastest lap in the race, provided Farina was no higher than third.  Fagioli could take the title only by winning the race with the fastest lap, provided Farina was third or lower and Fangio failed to register a point.  Farina could win the title only by winning the race, recording the fastest lap and hoping Fangio finished no better than third place.   Read more…

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Pietro Locatelli – musician

Violinist astonished his listeners with his ability

Virtuoso violinist and Baroque composer Pietro Antonio Locatelli was born on this day in 1695 in Bergamo.  He showed an astonishing talent for playing the violin while he was still a young boy and began playing with the orchestra at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo when he was 14.  In 1711, when he was 16 years old, he left to go to Rome and although it is not known whether he studied with Arcangelo Corelli before the composer’s death in 1713, he would have absorbed a lot of his influence by studying with the other eminent musicians in the city.  In 1714 Locatelli wrote to his father, telling him that he was a member of the band of household musicians working for Prince Michelangelo I Caetani, a notable political figure and scholar. While in Rome he made his debut as a composer, producing his XII Concerto Grossi Op I in 1721.  After 1725 his name crops up in Mantua, Venice, Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt and in every city he received rapturous acclaim for his violin performances. Many of his violin concertos were written at this time.  He was known to be in Kassel in Germany in December 1728.  Read more…

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Giuseppe Bottai - Fascist turncoat

Ex-Mussolini minister who fought with Allies

Giuseppe Bottai, who served as a minister in the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini but finished the Second World War fighting with the Allies against Germany, was born on this day in 1895 in Rome.  Bottai helped Mussolini establish the National Fascist Party and served as Minister of National Education under Mussolini between 1936 and 1943. He supported Mussolini’s anti-semitic race laws and founded a magazine that promoted the idea of a superior Aryan race.  However, in 1943, following Italy’s disastrous fortunes in the Second World War, he was among the Fascist Grand Council members who voted for Mussolini to be arrested and removed from office.  Later, after Mussolini was freed from house arrest by German paratroopers and established as head of the Italian Social Republic, Bottai was handed a death sentence and hid in a convent before escaping to join the French Foreign Legion, eventually assisting the Allies in both the invasion of France and the invasion of Germany.  The son of a Roman wine dealer, Bottai studied at the Sapienza University of Rome until Italy declared war against Germany and the Central Powers in 1915.  Read more…

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San Marino - world's oldest sovereign state

Republic founded in 301 as Christian refuge

The Most Serene Republic of San Marino, an independent state within Italy, was founded on this day in 301.  Situated on the north east side of the Apennine mountains, San Marino claims to be the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world.  Of the world's 196 independent countries, it is the fifth smallest, covering an area of just 61 square kilometres or 24 square miles.  It is also the sole survivor of Italy's once all-powerful city state network, having outlasted such mighty neighbours as Genoa and Venice.  San Marino grew from a monastic community, taking its names from Saint Marinus of Alba in Croatia, a Christian who had been working as a stonemason in Rimini when he was forced to flee Roman persecution and escaped to Mount Titano, where he built a church and founded both the city and state of San Marino.  A constitution was written in the 16th century and its status as an independent state was accepted by the papacy in 1631.  San Marino managed to survive the advance of Napoleon's armies in the late 18th century and then had its wish for continued independence honoured during the Italian unification process.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Formula 1: The Official History, by Maurice Hamilton

Experience the legendary history of Formula 1 in this definitive illustrated book. Fully updated for 2024, out on October 10 and with a foreword by Ross Brawn, Formula 1: The Official History is an electrifying account of the F1 phenomenon, telling the complete story of one of the world's most popular, thrilling, and glamorous sports. Bringing together a superbly written account of the history of the sport and an exceptional selection of stunning images from across seven decades of F1 racing, the book charts the FIA Formula One World Championship, decade by decade, from its first race at Silverstone in May 1950 right through to the present day.  Each chapter tells the fascinating stories behind the greatest drivers and teams, important personnel, famous and infamous incidents, as well as key changes to the rules on design, safety and competitiveness. These tales are accompanied by more than 250 exceptional photographs featuring icons past and present, including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen. Accessible and entertaining for any F1 fan, this is the definitive visual history of the sport.

Maurice Hamilton was the Observer's motor racing correspondent from 1990 to 2010 and a summariser on BBC Radio Five Live's motor racing coverage. He has written more than a dozen F1 books, including numerous F1 biographies.

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(To the best of our knowledge, all material was factually accurate at the time of writing. In the case of individuals still living at the time of publication, some of the information may need updating.)

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2 September

Andrea Illy – businessman and writer

Family dream was to make the best coffee in the world

Andrea Illy, who is the chairman of coffee makers illycaffè, was born on this day in 1964 in Trieste, the capital city of the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.  The grandson of the founder of illycaffè, Francesco Illy, Andrea represents the third generation of his family to lead the business. His father, Ernesto Illy, was chairman of the company between 1963 and 2004. His sister Anna and brothers Francesco and Riccardo - a former CEO now vice-president - Illy are on the board of directors.  Andrea graduated with a degree in Chemistry from the University of Trieste and went on to study at SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, Harvard Business School and Singularity University in Silicon Valley.  He joined the family firm in 1990 as a supervisor of the quality control department. Inspired by Japanese business methods, Andrea started the Total Quality Programme, which established standards both for the company and the coffee industry in general.  He was appointed CEO of illycaffè in 1994 and chairman of the company in 2005.  He developed the Università del Caffè to spread the culture of coffee throughout the world.  Read more…

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Giuliano Gemma – actor

Talented Roman became award-winning film star

Actor, stuntman and sculptor Giuliano Gemma was born on this day in 1938 in Rome.  He started working in the film industry as a stuntman but was then offered a real part in the film Arrivano i titani (The Titans Arrive), by director Duccio Tessari.  After this his career took off and he appeared in Luchino Visconti’s Il Gattopardo (The Leopard), as Garibaldi’s General.  Gemma starred in many spaghetti westerns, such as A Pistol for Ringo, Blood for a Silver Dollar, Wanted and Day of Anger. He sometimes appeared in the credits of the films under the name Montgomery Wood.  For his portrayal of Major Matiss in Valerio Zurlini’s The Desert of the Tartars, he won a David di Donatello award.  Gemma had many other film roles, often appeared on Italian television and also worked as a sculptor. His daughter, Vera Gemma, also became an actor.  Giuliano Gemma died in October 2013 following a car accident near Rome. He was taken to a hospital in Civitavecchia but pronounced dead shortly after his arrival. Cinecittà in Rome, the hub of the Italian film industry, is a large studio complex to the south of the city, built during the fascist era.  Read more…

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Pietro Ferrero - baker and chocolatier

Humble beginnings of €20 billion company

Pietro Ferrero, the founder of the Ferrero chocolate and confectionery company, was born in Farigliano, a small town in Piedmont, on this day in 1898.  A baker by profession, he moved to nearby Alba in 1926 with his wife and young son, Michele, before deciding to try his luck in Turin, where in 1940 he opened a large pastry shop in Via Sant’Anselmo.  Trading conditions were tough, however, and the business was not a success.  The family returned to Alba in 1942, setting up a smaller bakery in Via Rattazzi, at the back of which Pietro created a kind of confectionery laboratory.  He had hit upon the idea of trying to find alternative materials from which to make products, largely because the high taxes on cocoa beans meant conventional chocolate-based pastries were expensive to make.   Hazelnuts, on the other hand, were plentiful, Piedmont being one of Italy’s major producers. One of his experiments involved combining Gianduja, a traditional Piedmontese hazelnut paste, with about 20 per cent chocolate. Convinced his customers would like the taste, he began manufacturing bars of his chocolate-substitute on site at the bakery.  Read more…

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Marie Josephine of Savoy

Italian noblewoman who became titular Queen of France

Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy, who married the future King Louis XVIII of France, was born Maria Giuseppina Luigia on this day in 1753 at the Royal Palace in Turin.  She became a Princess of France and Countess of Provence after her marriage, but died before her husband actually became the King of France.  Marie Josephine was the third child of prince Victor Amadeus of Savoy and Infanta Maria Antonio Ferdinanda of Spain.  Her paternal grandfather, Charles Emmanuel III, was King of Sardinia and so her parents were the Duke and Duchess of Savoy.  Her brothers were to become the last three Kings of Sardinia, the future Charles Emmanuel IV, Victor Emmanuel I and Charles Felix.  At the age of 17, Marie Josephine was married by proxy to Prince Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, the younger brother of the Dauphin, Louis Auguste, who was fated to become Louis XVI of France and to be executed by guillotine.  After the outbreak of the French Revolution, the Count and Countess of Provence stayed in France with the King and Marie Antoinette.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: A History of Europe in 12 Cafés, by Monica Porter

Since the 17th century, the café, or coffee house, in Europe has been the key gathering place of innovators and mavericks – the writers, artists, philosophers and political figures who formed influential affiliations and gave birth to revolutionary movements that still affect our lives today. It was the type of establishment ideally suited for this role. Unlike the tavern, pub or bar, where one’s senses grow ever duller from alcohol, one can sit for hours in a café with like-minded companions, consuming the coffee that sharpens wits and conversations. No wonder so many new ideas were generated in the legendary cafés of Paris and Vienna, Rome and Venice, Prague, Budapest and other major European cities. In A History of Europe in 12 Cafés, Monica Porter leads the reader on an entertaining waltz through six centuries, nine European countries (plus America) and a wealth of historic episodes featuring some of the most intriguing and noteworthy people who ever lived. As she reveals, playing its vital part in all their stories – at times in the background, at times front and centre – is that enticing venue: the café. The 12 venerable establishments of the book’s title – the oldest dating from 1686, the newest from 1911 – are all still in existence. And so, after learning about their fascinating historical associations, readers can experience these places for themselves, which makes the volume an ideal companion for history buffs, travellers and café-lovers alike.

Monica Porter is a London-based journalist who has written for dozens of British newspapers and magazines. Among her five previously published books is Deadly Carousel: A Singer’s Story of the Second World War, about her own mother Vali Racz's rescue of Jewish friends in Nazi-occupied Budapest in 1944.

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(To the best of our knowledge, all material was factually accurate at the time of writing. In the case of individuals still living at the time of publication, some of the information may need updating.)

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1 September

NEW - Michele Giuttari – crime writer and police officer

Cop-turned-novelist with inside knowledge of police investigations

Michele Giuttari, who headed the police in Florence and used his experience working on investigations into Mafia activities and dangerous criminals to become a successful crime writer, was born on this day in 1950 in Novara di Sicilia, a village in the province of Messina in Sicily.  After studying for a degree in Jurisprudence at the University of Messina, Giuttari qualified as a lawyer. He joined the Polizia di Stato as a commissario in 1978 and later rose through the ranks to take charge of the Florentine police between 1995 and 2003.  Giuttari first served in Calabria, where he held positions in the Squadra Mobile of Reggio Calabria and Cosenza. He then joined the Anti-Mafia investigation department and served first in Naples and then in Florence, where he became head of the Judicial Investigation section, and succeeded in jailing several key Mafia figures.  During his time in command of the Squadra Mobile in Florence, Giuttari was responsible for reopening the Monster of Florence case and proving that the so-called monster was not simply a lone serial killer but was, in fact, a group of killers.  Read more…

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Tullio Serafin – opera conductor

Toscanini’s successor furthered the career of Callas

The man who helped Maria Callas develop her singing talent, musician and conductor Tullio Serafin was born on this day in 1878 in Rottanova near Cavarzere in the Veneto, on the Adige river just south of the Venetian Lagoon.  Serafin studied music in Milan and went on to play the viola in the orchestra at Teatro alla Scala under the baton of Arturo Toscanini.  He was later appointed assistant conductor and then took over as musical director at the theatre when Toscanini left to go to New York.  Serafin conducted at La Scala between 1909 and 1914, from 1917 to 1918 and then returned briefly at the end of the Second World War.  He became a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1924 and stayed with them for ten years before returning to Italy to become artistic director at the Teatro Reale in Rome.  During his career he helped the development of many singers, including Rosa Ponselle, Magda Olivero and Joan Sutherland.  Serafin’s most notable success was with Maria Callas, with whom he collaborated on many recordings. He is credited with helping the American-born singer achieve a major breakthrough in 1949.  Read more…

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Scipione Borghese – Cardinal and art collector

Pope’s nephew used position to acquire wealth to buy art

Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who was a patron of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Caravaggio and established a magnificent art collection during his life, was born on this day in 1576 in Artena just outside Rome.  As the nephew of Pope Paul V, Borghese was given the official title of Cardinal Nephew - cardinale nipote - and he had great power as the effective head of the Vatican government. He amassed an enormous fortune through the papal fees and taxes he gathered and he acquired vast amounts of land. He was able to use his immense wealth to assemble a large and impressive art collection.  Cardinal Borghese was the son of Francesco Caffarelli and Ortensia Borghese. When his father suffered financial difficulties, his uncle, Camillo Borghese, stepped in to pay for his education.  After Camillo Borghese was elected as Pope Paul V, he made his nephew a Cardinal and gave him the right to use the Borghese name and coat of arms.  Borghese was given many honours by his uncle, the Pope, who entrusted him with the management of the papal finances as well as the finances of the Borghese family.  Read more…

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Vittorio Gassman - actor

Stage and screen star once dubbed ‘Italy’s Olivier’

Vittorio Gassman, who is regarded as one of the finest actors in the history of Italian theatre and cinema, was born on this day in 1922 in Genoa.  Tall, dark and handsome in a way that made him a Hollywood producer’s dream, Gassman appeared in almost 150 movies but he was no mere matinée idol.  A highly respected stage actor, he possessed a mellifluous speaking voice, a magisterial presence and such range and versatility in his acting talent that the Hollywood columnist Sheilah Graham once called him ‘the Lawrence Olivier of Italy’.  He enjoyed a career that spanned five decades. Inevitably, he is best remembered for his screen roles, although by the time he made his movie debut in 1945, he had appeared in more than 40 productions of classic plays by Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Ibsen, Tennessee Williams, and others.  On screen, his major successes included his portrayal of the handsome scoundrel Walter opposite Silvana Mangano in Giuseppe De Santis's neorealist melodrama Riso amaro (Bitter Rice, 1948), and several commedia all’italiana classics, including Mario Monicelli’s I soliti ignoti (released in the US as Big Deal On Madonna Street, 1958).  Read more…

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Guido Deiro - vaudeville star

Accordion player who wowed America

The musician Guido Deiro, who was the first artist to become a star playing the piano-accordion, was born on this day in 1886 in an Alpine village north of Turin.  For a while, in the early part of the 20th century, he and his brother Pietro were among the highest-paid performers on the booming American vaudeville circuit. Using his stage name, which was simply ‘Deiro’, he made more than 110 recordings, which sold in large numbers.  He ‘covered’ many popular hits and well known classical and operatic pieces and wrote compositions of his own, the most famous of them the song Kismet, which became the theme song for the Broadway musical and was used in two film versions of the story, which was based on a play by Edward Knoblauch.  Deiro became something of a celebrity and was seldom short of glamorous female company. He was married four times, on the first occasion to his fellow vaudeville star Mae West, who would go on to become much more famous as a movie actress.  He was born Count Guido Pietro Deiro in the village of Salto Canavese, near Courgnè, about 45km (28m) north of Turin. His family were long-standing rural nobility.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: A Florentine Death, by Michele Giuttari

Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara knows that the beautiful surface of his adopted city, Florence, hides dark undercurrents. When called in to investigate a series of brutal and apparently random murders, his intuition is confirmed.  Distrusted by his superiors and pilloried by the media, Ferrara finds time running out as the questions pile up. Is there a connection between the murders and the threatening letters he has received? Are his old enemies, the Calabrian Mafia, involved? And what part is played by a beautiful young woman facing a heart-rending decision, a priest troubled by a secret from his past, and an American journalist fascinated by the darker side of life?  Ferrara confronts the murky underbelly of Florence in an investigation that will put not only his career but also his life on the line. One reviewer described A Florentice Death as having “all the hallmarks of becoming a classic of the genre - a highly atmospheric tale of murder, the mafia and the rarely explored criminal underbelly of Florentine life. Ferrara is set to run and run.”

The former head of the Florence police force, as well as writing novels drawing on his experience, Michele Giuttari has worked as a special advisor to the interior ministry in Rome, with a remit to monitor Mafia activity.

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(To the best of our knowledge, all material was factually accurate at the time of writing. In the case of individuals still living at the time of publication, some of the information may need updating.)

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Michele Giuttari – crime writer and police officer

Cop-turned-novelist with inside knowledge of police investigations

Michele Giuttari's novels draw on his experience
as a high-ranking Italian police officer

Michele Giuttari, who headed the police in Florence and used his experience working on investigations into Mafia activities and dangerous criminals to become a successful crime writer, was born on this day in 1950 in Novara di Sicilia, a village in the province of Messina in Sicily.

After studying for a degree in Jurisprudence at the University of Messina, Giuttari qualified as a lawyer. He joined the Polizia di Stato as a commissario in 1978 and later rose through the ranks to take charge of the Florentine police between 1995 and 2003.

Giuttari first served in Calabria, where he held positions in the Squadra Mobile of Reggio Calabria and Cosenza. He then joined the Anti-Mafia investigation department and served first in Naples and then in Florence, where he became head of the Judicial Investigation section, and succeeded in jailing several key Mafia figures.

During his time in command of the Squadra Mobile in Florence, Giuttari was responsible for reopening the Monster of Florence case and proving that the so-called monster was not simply a lone serial killer but was, in fact, a group of killers.

After retiring from serving in the Polizia di Stato, Giuttari started crime writing and has now written a series of novels featuring his character, Commissario Michele Ferrara, the latest, entitled Sangue sul Chianti (Blood on Chianti), having been published in 2021.

Seven novels in the Ferrara series have been published in English, the first of which - entitled A Florentine Death - will fascinate readers who are interested in learning about the methods or seeing into the minds of the Italian police. The book had been published in Italy under the title Scarabeo.

Michele Giuttari has made many appearances on
television in Italy to talk about his life and work

The hero, Commissario Ferrara - the equivalent of Chief Superintendent in the English police - is the head of the Squadra Mobile in Florence, about which Giuttari can write with authority. He can describe what really happens in  murder investigations, interviewing suspects, and organising armed police operations.

As well as providing an authentic account of police procedure in a multiple murder investigation, Giuttari delivers a cleverly plotted mystery that becomes increasingly more gripping as it reaches its dramatic conclusion.

A Death in Tuscany, the second Commissario Ferrara novel published in English, is also fascinating because it offers even more glimpses behind the scenes of an Italian police station and gives the readers the feeling that they are on the inside of a major police investigation.

In this novel, the reader finds out more about the man behind the job title and about his earlier life in Sicily.

Ferrara finds he is up against the Mafia as well as ruthless drugs bosses, and even his own Commissioner, who is enraged both by his unorthodox behaviour during the investigation and because he has fallen foul of the Carabinieri, pressures Giuttari himself has obviously experienced at times during his career.

The Death of a Mafia Don
is available in English  

The next in the series - The Death of a Mafia Don - starts with a bomb exploding near Commissario Ferrara’s car in the centre of Florence, leaving the head of the Squadra Mobile injured. There is an urgent need to find out who was responsible to prevent further atrocities, but with Ferrara  unconscious and in hospital, his loyal colleagues are forced to start the investigation without him.

This is a fast moving novel about terrorism and Mafia activity in Italy seen from the perspective of the security forces. It shows the way the police and the Carabinieri often work together and there is a realistic portrait of Florence as the backdrop for the action.

Former policeman Giuttari has now achieved international success with his crime novels, which have been published in more than 100 countries, and he has won several literary awards, including the Fenice Europa for La Loggia degli Innocenti and the Camaiore Letteratura Gialla for Il Basilisco.

In a film made about the Monster of Florence murders, the character of Giuttari was played by the actor Giorgio Colangeli.

A typical street in historic
Novara di Sicilia

Travel tip:

Situated about 70km (43 miles) southwest of Messina in the northeastern corner of Sicily, Michele Guittari’s beautiful home village of Novara di Sicilia is rich in history and traditions. Built on a hillside at the point where the Nebrodi mountains meet the Peloritani range, it was founded and inhabited by Greeks, then by Romans and Arabs and later conquered by the Normans. The remains of a Norman castle can be found near the Chiesa di San Giorgio. In the village’s historic centre, the Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta, built in the 16th century, has a sandstone façade typical of the area, with a wide staircase leading to an essentially Renaissance interior. Just 5km (3.5 miles) from the centre of the village is the Abbazia di Santa Maria, which dates back to the 12th century and is said to be the best example of a Cistercian building in Sicily. 

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The Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta - Cosenza's
duomo - lies at the heart of the mediaeval city

Travel tip:

Calabria is a part of Italy which did not traditionally attract large numbers of overseas tourists but is becoming more popular thanks to beautiful coastal towns and villages such as Tropea, San Nicola Arcella and Pizzo, while the inland city of Cosenza - where Michele Giuttari once worked - has been described as epitomising the “unkempt charm of southern Italy” with a history that can be traced back to the third century, when there was a settlement called Consentia, the capital of the Brutti tribe. Over subsequent years, the area was captured by the Visigoths, the Lombards, the Saracens, the Normans and the Spanish before the Risorgimento and unification saw it become part of the new Italy.  At the heart of the mediaeval old city, with its network of steep, narrow streets, is a cathedral originally built in the 11th century and modified many times subsequently.  The old town also boasts the 13th century Castello Svevo, built on the site of a Saracen fortification, which hosted the wedding of Louis III of Naples and Margaret of Savoy,  but which the Bourbons used as a prison.

Hotels in Cosenza from Expedia

Also on this day:

1576: The birth of Cardinal and art collector Scipione Borghese

1878: The birth of conductor Tullio Serafin

1886: The birth of vaudeville star Guido Deiro 

1922: The birth of actor Vittorio Gassman

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31 August

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo – aristocrat and businessman

Former driver who led Ferrari to Formula One success

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, a former racing driver, chairman of Ferrari and Fiat and president of employers’ federation Confindustria, was born on this day in 1947 in Bologna.  He is one of the founders of NTV, an Italian company that is Europe’s first private, open access operator of 300km/h (186 mph) high-speed trains.  Montezemolo is a descendant of an aristocratic family from Piedmont, who served the Royal House of Savoy for generations. He is the youngest son of Massimo Cordero dei Marchesi di Montezemolo and Clotilde Neri, niece of the surgeon, Vincenzo Neri. His uncle was a commander in the Italian Navy in World War II and his grandfather and great grandfather were both Generals in the Italian Army.  After graduating with a degree in law from Rome Sapienza University in 1971, Montezemolo studied for a master’s degree in international commercial law at Columbia University.  His sporting career began at the wheel of a Giannini Fiat 500. He then drove briefly for the Lancia rally team, before joining the auto manufacturing conglomerate Fiat. In 1973 he moved to Ferrari, where he became Enzo Ferrari’s assistant. Read more…

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Amilcare Ponchielli - opera composer

Success of La Gioconda put musician on map

The opera composer Amilcare Ponchielli was born on this day in 1834 in Paderno Fasolaro, near Cremona, about 100km south-east of Milan in what is now Lombardia.  Ponchielli's works in general enjoyed only modest success, despite the rich musical invention for which he was later applauded.  One that did win acclaim in his lifetime, however, was La Gioconda, which was first produced in 1876 and underwent several revisions but remained unaltered after 1880.  Well known for the tenor aria, Cielo e mar, and the ballet piece, Dance of the Hours, La Gioconda is the only opera by Ponchielli still performed today and many recordings have been made, featuring some of the biggest stars of recent times.  Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi and Montserrat Caballé are among those to have played the role of Gioconda, written for soprano, while the lead tenor part of Enzo, whose affections are sought both by Gioconda and another major character, Laura, has been taken by Giuseppe Di Stefano, Carlo Bergonzi, Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo among others.  Ponchielli had such a talent for music that he won a scholarship to Milan Conservatory at nine years old.  Read more…

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Gino Lucetti – failed assassin

Anarchist tried to kill Mussolini with grenade

Gino Lucetti, who acquired notoriety for attempting to assassinate Italy’s Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in Rome in 1926, was born on this day in 1900. A lifelong anarchist, part of a collective of like-minded young men and women from Carrara in Tuscany, he planned to kill Mussolini on the basis that doing so would save the lives of thousands of potential future victims of the Fascist regime.  Lucetti hatched his plot while in exile in France, where he had fled after taking a Fascist bullet in the neck following an argument in a bar in Milan, clandestinely returning several times to Carrara to finalise the details.  After enlisting the help of other anarchists, notably Steffano Vatteroni, who worked as a tinsmith in Rome, and Leandro Sorio, a waiter originally from Brescia, he returned to Rome to carry out the attack.  Vatteroni was able to obtain information about Mussolini’s movements from a clerical worker in the dictator’s Rome offices, including details of his regular motorcades through the city. These were carefully choreographed affairs in which cheering citizens lined the streets, enabling Mussolini to present an image to the world of a popular leader.  Read more…

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Altiero Spinelli - political visionary

Drafted plan for European Union while in Fascist jail

Altiero Spinelli, a politician who is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the European Union, was born on this day in 1907 in Rome.  A lifelong Communist who was jailed for his opposition to the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, he spent much of the Second World War in confinement on the island of Ventotene in the Tyrrhenian Sea, one of an archipelago known as the Pontine Islands.  It was there that he and two prisoners, Ernesto Rossi and Eugenio Colorni, agreed that if the forces of Fascism in Italy and Germany were defeated, the only way to avoid future European wars was for the sovereign nations of the continent to join together in a federation of states.  The document they drew up, which became known as the Ventotene Manifesto, was the first document to argue for a European constitution and formed the basis for the Movimento Federalista Europeo, which Spinelli, Rossi and some 20 others launched at a secret meeting in Milan as soon as they were able to leave their internment camp.  In a nutshell, the Ventotene Manifesto put forward proposals for creating a European federation of states so closely joined together they would no longer be able to go to war with one another.  Read more…

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Isabella de’ Medici – noblewoman

Tuscan beauty killed by her husband

Isabella Romola de’ Medici, the daughter of the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, was born on this day in 1542 in Florence.  She was said to have been beautiful, charming, educated and talented and was the favourite child of her father, Cosimo I de’ Medici.  But she died at the age of 33, believed to have been murdered by the husband her family had chosen for her to marry.  While Isabella was growing up she lived first in Palazzo Vecchio and later in Palazzo Pitti in Florence with her brothers and sisters. Her brother, Francesco, who was a year older than her, eventually succeeded his father as Grand Duke of Tuscany.  The Medici children were educated by tutors in classics, languages and the arts and Isabella particularly loved music.  When Isabella was 11 she was betrothed to 12-year-old Paolo Giordano Orsini, heir to the Duchy of Bracciano in Tuscany, because her father wanted to secure the southern border of Tuscany and his relationship with the Orsini family.  Five years later, when Isabella was 16, they were married at the Medici country estate, Villa di Castello.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Ferrari: The Golden Years, by Leonardo Acerbi

Ferrari's sporting history, from the origins to 1988, the year of Enzo Ferrari's death, narrated in 400 pages and more than 700 photos, most of which previously unpublished and drawn from the publisher's own archive. More than a book, Ferrari: The Golden Years is a unique and prestigious document that reviews year by year, from 1947 to 1988, the true sporting epic of Ferrari. Page by page, we find champions of the calibre of Tazio Nuvolari, Alberto Ascari, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve and many others, who in Formula 1 and elsewhere won world titles at the wheel of unforgettable cars such as the 500 F2, the 158 F1, the Testa Rossa, the 250 GTO, the 330 P4 and the successful 312 T family, from the 1950s through to the late 1980s. This new enlarged edition includes not only champion drivers, but also the men and the mechanics who lived in close contact with the "Drake". They are described in specific text boxes: from Romolo Tavoni to Mauro Forghieri, from Franco Gozzi to Marco Piccinini, from Ermanno Cuoghi to Giulio Borsari, all accompanied by contextual texts by Leonardo Acerbi, a Ferrari historian of great experience. The book contains a unique collection of images, many in black and white but also a series of rare colour shots, the majority by Franco Villani, a great reporter long associated with the Prancing Horse. An album allowing us to relive one of the greatest sporting stories of all time.

Leonardo Acerbi has worked in motoring journalism and publishing for a number of years. He is the attentive historian of Ferrari and of the Mille Miglia race, and author of the prestigious books Ferrari: 60 years, Ferrari - All the Cars: A complete Guide and Mille Miglia Story: 1927-1957. 

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(To the best of our knowledge, all material was factually accurate at the time of writing. In the case of individuals still living at the time of publication, some of the information may need updating.)

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30 August

Andrea Gabrieli - composer

Father of the Venetian School

The Venetian composer and organist Andrea Gabrieli, sometimes known as Andrea di Cannaregio, notable for his madrigals and large-scale choral works written for public ceremonies, died on this day in 1585.  His nephew, Giovanni Gabrieli, is more widely remembered yet Andrea, who was organist of the Basilica di San Marco – St Mark’s – for the last 19 years of his life, was a significant figure in his lifetime, the first member of the Venetian School of composers to achieve international renown. He was influential in spreading the Venetian style of music in Germany as well as in Italy.  Little is known about Andrea’s early life aside from the probability that he was born in the parish of San Geremia in Cannaregio and that he may have been a pupil of the Franco-Flemish composer Adrian Willaert, who was maestro di cappella at St Mark’s from 1527 until 1562.  In 1562 – the year of Willaert’s death – Andrea is on record as having travelled to Munich in Germany, where he met and became friends with Orlando di Lasso, who wrote secular songs in French, Italian, and German, as well as Latin.  There was evidence in the later work of Di Lasso of a Venetian influence. Read more…

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Joe Petrosino - New York crime fighter

Campanian immigrant a key figure in war against Mafia

Joe Petrosino, a New York police officer who dedicated his life to fighting organised crime, was born Giuseppe Petrosino in Padula, a southern Italian town on the border of Campania and Basilicata, on this day in 1860.  The son of a tailor, Prospero Petrosino, he emigrated to the United States at the age of 12.  The family lived in subsidised accommodation in Mulberry Street, part of the area now known as Little Italy on the Lower East Side towards Brooklyn Bridge, where around half a million Italian immigrants lived in the second half of the 19th century.  Giuseppe took any job he could to help the family, at first as a newspaper boy and then shining shoes outside the police headquarters on Mulberry Street, where he would dream of becoming a police officer himself.  In 1878, by then fluent in English and known to everyone as Joe, Petrosino became an American citizen but it took him five years and repeated applications to realise his dream of joining the police. At 5ft 3ins he was technically too short to meet the criteria for an officer but after the police began to use him as an informant it was decided he could be of use in the fight against Italian organised crime.  Read more…

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Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo – painter and printmaker

Famous artist’s son developed his own style

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, who became famous for his paintings of Venetian life and of the clown, Pulcinella, was born on this day in 1727 in Venice.  Also known as Giandomenico Tiepolo, he was one of the nine children born to the artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and his wife, Maria Guardi, the sister of painters Francesco and Giovanni Guardi. Perhaps not surprisingly, Giandomenico inherited the talent to go into the same profession as his father and uncles and, by the age of 13, he had become the elder Tiepolo’s chief assistant. His younger brother, Lorenzo, also became a painter and worked as an assistant to his father.  By the age of 20, Giandomenico was already producing his own work for commissions. However, he continued to accompany his father when he received his major commissions in Italy, Germany and Spain.  He assisted his father with a grand stairwell fresco for a prince’s palace in Wurzburg in Bavaria in 1750 and with decorations for the Villa Valmarana ai Nani in Vicenza in 1757 and the Royal Palace of Madrid in 1770.  The elder Tiepolo died while in Madrid and after Giandomenico returned to live in Venice.  Read more…

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Emanuele Filiberto – Duke of Savoy

Ruler who made Turin the capital of Savoy

Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, who was nicknamed testa di ferro (iron head) because of his military prowess, died on this day in 1580 in Turin.  After becoming Duke of Savoy he recovered most of the lands his father Charles III had lost to France and Spain and he restored economic stability to Savoy.  Emanuele Filiberto was born in 1528 in Chambery, now part of France. He grew up to become a skilled soldier and served in the army of the emperor Charles V, who was the brother-in-law of his mother, Beatrice of Portugal, during his war against Francis I of France. He distinguished himself by capturing Hesdin in northern France in July 1553.  When he succeeded his father a month later he began the reacquisition of his lands.  His brilliant victory over the French at Saint Quentin in northern France in 1557 on the side of the Spanish helped to consolidate his power in Savoy. The peace of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559 ended the wars between Charles V and the French Kings and restored part of the Duchy of Savoy back to Emanuele Filiberto on the understanding that he would marry Margaret of France, the sister of King Henry II.   Read more…

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Recording of the Day: Gabrieli: The Glory of Venice, featuring the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and Stephen Cleobury

The Gabrieli family's music, particularly that of Andrea and Giovanni, is synonymous with the vibrant and innovative musical scene of Renaissance Venice. Gabrieli: The Glory of Venice is a stunning collection that showcases the duo's mastery of polyphony, counterpoint, and the use of instruments, particularly brass and choir. The album features a wide range of works, from grand, multi-part motets to intimate instrumental pieces. The music is filled with energy, passion, and a sense of grandeur that reflects the opulence of Venice itself. The performers, often featuring renowned ensembles like the King's College Choir or the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, deliver outstanding interpretations. Their technical skill, musicality, and understanding of the Venetian style are evident in every note. The album's sonic landscape is breathtaking. The interplay between voices and instruments creates a rich and textured tapestry that transports the listener to the heart of Renaissance Venice, offering a glimpse into the cultural and religious life of a city that was a centre of trade, art, and music.

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(To the best of our knowledge, all material was factually accurate at the time of writing. In the case of individuals still living at the time of publication, some of the information may need updating.)

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29 August

Libero Grassi - anti-Mafia hero

Businessman brutally murdered after refusing to pay

Libero Grassi, a Palermo clothing manufacturer, died on this day in 1991, shot three times in the head as he walked from his home to his car in Via Vittorio Alfieri, a street of apartment buildings not far from the historic centre, at 7.30am.  It was a classic Mafia hit to which there were no witnesses, at least none prepared to come forward. Such killings were not uncommon in the Sicilian capital as rival clans fought for control of different neighbourhoods.  Yet this one was different in that 67-year-old Grassi had no connection with the criminal underworld apart from his brave decision to stand up to their demands for protection money and refuse to pay.  Grassi owned a factory making underwear, which he sold in his own shop.  He employed 100 workers and his business had a healthy turnover. In a struggling economy, he was doing very well.  Of course, the Mafia wanted their cut.  Grassi began receiving demands, first by telephone, then in person, that he fall in line with other Palermo businesses and pay a pizzo, the term used for the monthly payment the mob collects from businesses in the city in a racket worth today in the region of €160 million a year.  Read more…

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Ugo Nespolo - artist and designer

Painter and sculptor worked in theatre, advertising and literature

The contemporary artist Ugo Nespolo, whose broad range of work includes paintings and sculpture, theatre sets and costumes, advertising posters, book layouts, commercial designs and experimental films, was born on this day in 1941 in the village of Mosso Santa Maria in the Biellese Prealps, about 70km (43 miles) northeast of Turin. As well as an enormous output of artworks influenced by Pop Art, conceptual art and Arte Povera among others and numerous sculptures in glass and ceramic, Nespolo created unique set and costume designs for a number of major opera and theatre productions and was associated with several prestigious advertising campaigns, including for the drinks manufacturer Campari and the chocolatier Caffarel.  Nespolo is described as having an insatiable artistic and intellectual appetite and a belief that no artist should confine himself to a single medium. He is said to have inherited those characteristics from his father, whose restless nature compelled him frequently to change jobs and where he - and his family - lived.  His interest in art was probably nurtured by his father’s brother, himself a painter.  Read more…

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Tiziana ‘Tosca’ Donati - singer

Versatile performer whose range spans musicals to sacred songs

The singer Tiziana Donati, who performs under the stage name Tosca, was born on this day in 1967 in Rome.  Winner of the Sanremo Festival in 1996, Tosca has recorded 10 studio albums, released the same number of singles and has recorded duets with many other artists.  She has enjoyed a successful stage career, appearing in numerous theatrical productions, and has been invited to perform songs for several movies, including the title track for Franco Zeffirelli’s version of Jane Eyre in 1996. She also sang and spoke the part of Anastasia in the Italian dubbed version of the Disney cartoon of the same name.  At Christmas in 1999, she participated in concerts in churches in Italy where she performed Latin songs set to music by Vincenzo Zitello and Stefano Melone.  Following this she began a collaboration with the Vatican, taking part in several televised events to commemorate the Jubilee of 2000, and was chosen to sing the Mater Iubilaei, the Marian anthem of the Jubilee, in a ceremony led by Pope John Paul II.  Throughout 2000, she toured with Musica Caeli, a concert made up of never-before performed sacred chants.  Read more…

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Leonardo De Lorenzo – flautist

Flair for the flute led to international career

Leonardo De Lorenzo, a brilliant flute player who passed on his knowledge of the instrument to others through his books, was born on this day in 1875 in Viggiano in the province of Potenza.  De Lorenzo started playing the flute at the age of eight and then moved to Naples to attend the music conservatory of San Pietro a Majella.  He became an itinerant flautist until he was 16, when he moved to America, where he worked in a hotel. He returned to Italy in 1896 to do his military service in Alessandria and became a member of a military band directed by Giovanni Moranzoni, whose son was to become a famous conductor of the orchestra at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.  De Lorenzo then began a career as a flautist and toured Italy, Germany, England and South Africa, joining an orchestra in Cape Town for a while. Eventually he returned to Naples to continue his studies.  When he travelled to America again, he became the first flautist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Gustav Mahler. He was warned never to answer back to Mahler, who had a reputation for being unpleasant.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection, by Diego Gambetta

Blood ceremonies, obscure symbols, elaborate codes, brutal executions: the arcane remnants of a defunct culture? The Mafia, this book suggests, is not nearly as bizarre as all that, not nearly as remote as we might think. In fact, as Diego Gambetta's analysis unfolds, the Mafia begins to resemble any other business. In a society where trust is in short supply, this business sells protection, a guarantee of safe conduct for commercial and social transactions. It grudgingly shares the market with other concerns like itself, of which it is merely the most successful. The author develops his elegant economic theory with ample evidence, much of it based on the remarkable work done by Judge Giovanni Falcone and his colleagues in Palermo and Agrigento in the 1980s. Drawing on the confessions of eight Mafiosi and the trials their revelations triggered, Gambetta is able to explain all manner of peculiar Mafia marketing strategies that have been endlessly misinterpreted in the past. The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection makes illuminating - and unexpected - comparisons between the business of protection and ordinary industries, such as automotive insurance, and advertising. Gambetta teases out the subtle distinctions between protection and extortion, in which the protector himself poses a threat. This new approach reshapes traditional interpretations of the Mafia - its origins, functions, and social consequences. Applying informal economic analysis, Gambetta shows how such a recognized evil can perform a real service, and how such a recognizable service can inflict great harm on a society.

Diego Gambetta is an Italian-born social scientist. A former professor of Sociology at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of All Souls College and a former professor of social theory at the European University Institute in Florence, he is now a Carlo Alberto Chair at the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin.

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(To the best of our knowledge, all material was factually accurate at the time of writing. In the case of individuals still living at the time of publication, some of the information may need updating.)

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