6 August

Domenico Modugno – singer and songwriter

Artist who gave us a song that conjures up Italy

Domenico Modugno, who was one of the writers of the iconic Italian song, Volare, died on this day in 1994 in Lampedusa, the island off Sicily.  Modugno wrote Volare with Franco Migliacci and performed it in the Sanremo music festival in 1958 with Johnny Dorelli.  Sometimes referred to as Nel blu dipinto di blu, the song won Sanremo and became a hit all over the world. It was the Italian entry in the 1958 Eurovision song contest. It came only third, yet received two Grammy Awards and sold more than 22 million copies.  Modugno was born in 1928 at Polignano a Mare near Bari in Apulia. After completing his military service he enrolled in drama school and had a number of parts in films while still studying.  The success of Volare proved to be the turning point in his career. He won the Sanremo music festival again in 1959 and came second in 1960.  Read more…

_____________________________________

Marisa Merlini - actress

Fifties star who turned down Oscar-winning role

The actress Marisa Merlini, whose 60-year movie career was at its peak in the 1950s and early 1960s, was born in Rome on this day in 1923.  Although she had built a solid reputation in a string of movies as the foil to the comedic genius of Totó, the role with which Merlini is most often associated is the midwife Annarella in Luigi Comencini’s 1953 romantic comedy Pane, amore e fantasia - Bread, Love and Dreams - which presented an idyllic view of Italian rural life.  The movie won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and Merlini’s performance was hailed by both audiences and critics. Co-star Vittorio De Sica was impressed with Merlini’s acting skills and when he turned to directing he had her earmarked for the part of Cesira, the widowed shopkeeper in La Ciociara, the wartime drama based on Alberto Moravia’s novel Two Women. Read more…

Battle of Meloria

Naval loss that sparked decline of Pisa as trading power

The decline of the Republic of Pisa as one of Italy’s major naval and commercial powers began with a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Meloria on this day in 1284.  A fleet of 72 galleys was routed by the forces of the rival Ligurian Sea port of Genoa in a confrontation fought close to the islet of Meloria, about 10km (6 miles) off the coast, near what is now Livorno.  More than 5,000 Pisan crew were killed with 10 galleys sunk and at least 25 captured before other vessels fled the scene and the Genovese claimed victory.  Pisa and Genoa had once been allies, joining forces to drive the Saracens out of Sardinia in the 11th century, but subsequently became fierce rivals for trade. The city’s participation in the Crusades secured valuable commercial positions for Pisan traders in Syria, and thereafter Pisa grew in strength to rival Genoa and Venice.  Read more…

___________________________________

Barbara Strozzi – composer

One of few 17th century women to have her own music published

The talented singer and composer Barbara Strozzi was baptised on this day in 1619 in the Cannaregio district of Venice.  Strozzi had been recognised by the poet and librettist Giulio Strozzi as his adopted daughter. It was thought at the time she was likely to have been an illegitimate daughter he had fathered with his servant, Isabella Garzoni.  Giulio Strozzi encouraged his adopted daughter’s musical talent, even creating an academy where she could perform to an audience. She became one of only a few women in the 17th century to publish her own compositions.  The Academy of the Unknown - Accademia degli Incogniti - was a circle of intellectuals in Venice that met to discuss literature, ethics, aesthetics, religion and the arts. They were supporters of Venetian opera in the late 1630s and 1640s. Read more…

________________________________________

Book of the Day: Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture, edited by Gino Moliterno

This rigorously compiled A-Z volume offers rich, readable coverage of the diverse forms of post-1945 Italian culture. With over 900 entries by international contributors, this volume is genuinely interdisciplinary in character, treating traditional political, economic, and legal concerns, with a particular emphasis on neglected areas of popular culture. Entries range from short definitions, histories or biographies to longer overviews covering themes, movements, institutions and personalities, from advertising to fascism, and Pirelli to Zeffirelli.  The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture aims to inform and inspire both teachers and students in the following fields: Italian language and literature; Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; European Studies; Media and Cultural Studies; Business and Management; Art and Design. It is extensively cross-referenced, has a thematic contents list and suggestions for further reading.

Gino Moliterno has written extensively in the fields of comparative literature, film studies and Italian studies. He is a lecturer in Italian Film Studies at the Australian National University.

Buy from Amazon

Home

5 August

Felice Casson - politician and magistrate

His investigations revealed existence of Operation Gladio

Felice Casson, the magistrate whose investigations exposed the existence of the NATO-backed secret army codenamed Gladio, was born on this day in 1953 in Chioggia, near Venice.  A former mayor of Venice and a Democratic Party senator, Casson devoted much of his career in the judiciary to fighting corruption and rooting out terrorists.  In 1984, his interest in terrorism led him to examine the unsolved mystery of the Peteano bombing in 1972, in which three Carabinieri officers were killed by a car bomb placed under an abandoned Fiat 500 in a tiny hamlet close to the border with Yugoslavia. Casson discovered flaws in the original investigation into the bombing, which at the time was blamed on the left-wing extremist group the Red Brigades, who would later be responsible for the kidnap and murder of Aldo Moro, a former prime minister.  Read more…

_____________________________________

Antonio Barberini – Cardinal

Pope’s nephew amassed fortune and became patron of the arts

Catholic cardinal, military leader and patron of the arts, Antonio Barberini was born on this day in 1607 in Rome.  As one of the cardinal-nephews of Pope Urban VIII he helped to shape the politics, religion, art and music of 17th century Italy and took part in many papal conclaves.  He is sometimes referred to as Antonio the Younger, or Antonio Barberini Iuniore, to distinguish him from his uncle, Antonio Marcello Barberini.  Antonio was the youngest of six children born to Carlo Barberini and Costanza Magalotti. Like his brothers, he was educated at the Collegio Romano.  His brother, Francesco Barberini, became Grand Inquisitor of the Roman Inquisition.  His uncle, Maffeo Barberini, who was elected as Pope the day after Antonio’s 16th birthday and became Pope Urban VIII, was notorious for nepotism and appointed Antonio as a cardinal. Read more…

_______________________________________

Antonio Cesti – opera composer

Singer and organist wrote operas and church music

Composer Pietro Marc’Antonio Cesti was baptised on this day in 1623 in Arezzo in Tuscany. It was also probably the date of his birth.  One of the leading composers of the 17th century, Cesti is said to have written about 100 operas, although only 15 are known today.  He joined the order of Friars Minor, or Franciscans, a Catholic religious group founded by St Francis of Assisi in 1637.  Cesti studied first in Rome and then moved to Venice, where his first known opera, Orontea, was produced in 1649.  In 1652 he became chapel master to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria at Innsbruck and from 1669 he was vice chapel master to the imperial court in Vienna.  Throughout the 17th century his operas were widely performed in Italy. His most famous operas, Il pomo d’oro, La Dori and Orontea, have survived to this day.  Read more…

Franco Lucentini – author

Writer was one half of a famous literary partnership

The novelist Franco Lucentini, who achieved success with Carlo Fruttero in a remarkable literary association, died on this day in 2002 in Turin.  A news correspondent and editor, Lucentini met Fruttero in 1953 in Paris and they started working together as journalists and translators.  But they were best known for the mystery thrillers they produced together.  After choosing a subject they would take it in turns to write and then edit the material until a novel was complete.  Their most popular books were La donna della domenica (The Sunday Woman), which was later made into a film and La verità sul caso D (The D Case), which was based on an unfinished work by Charles Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.  Lucentini fell foul of the Fascist regime while studying at the University of Rome because of distributing anti-war messages among his fellow students. Read more…

_____________________________________

Leonardo Leo - composer

Baroque musician known for his sense of humour

A prolific composer of comic operas, Leonardo Leo was born on this day in 1694 in San Vito degli Schiavoni (now known as San Vito dei Normanni) in Puglia.  His most famous comic opera was Amor vuol sofferenza - Love requires suffering - which he produced in 1739. It later became better known as La finta frascatana, and received a lot of praise, but Leo was equally admired for his serious operas and sacred music. He has been credited with forming the Neapolitan style of opera composition.  He was enrolled as a young boy as a student at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini in Naples and was a pupil first of Francesco Provenzale and later of Nicola Fago. It has been speculated that he may have been taught by Alessandro Scarlatti, but it has since been proved by music historians that he could not possibly have studied with the composer.  Read more…

_____________________________________

Book of the Day: The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics, edited by Erik Jones and Gianfranco Pasquino

The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics provides a comprehensive look at the political life of one of Europe's most exciting and turbulent democracies. Under the hegemonic influence of Christian Democracy in the early post-World War II decades, Italy went through a period of rapid growth and political transformation. In part this resulted in tumult and a crisis of governability; however, it also gave rise to innovation in the form of Eurocommunism and new forms of political accommodation. The great strength of Italy lay in its constitution; its great weakness lay in certain legacies of the past. Organized crime is one example. A self-contained and well entrenched 'caste' of political and economic elites is another. These weaknesses became apparent in the breakdown of political order in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This ushered in a combination of populist political mobilisation and experimentation with electoral systems design, and the result has been more evolutionary than transformative. Italian politics today is different from what it was during the immediate post-World War II period, but it still shows many of the influences of the past.

Erik Jones is a professor of European Studies and Director of European and Eurasian Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Gianfranco Pasquino, a former member of the Italian Senate is a senior adjunct professor of International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, and was Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna.

Buy from Amazon

Home

4 August

NEW - Anita Garibaldi – national heroine of Italy

Brave wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi was a freedom fighter

Anita Garibaldi, the Brazilian wife of Italy’s revolutionary hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, died in the arms of her husband on this day in 1849 in Mandriole, near Ravenna, in Emilia-Romagna.  She was pregnant and also ill with malaria, but she was having to retreat from Austrian and French troops with the Garibaldian Legion. After her death, her body had to be hurriedly buried, and it was said to have been later dug up by a dog.  A Brazilian revolutionary, Anita had fought alongside Garibaldi in his campaigns, after meeting him in her home country in 1839.  She was born Ana Maria di Jesus Ribeiro in 1821 in Laguna in Brazil. She was the third of ten children born to a poor family.  Anita met Garibaldi, who was a sailor of Ligurian descent, after he had left Europe in 1836 and was fighting on behalf of the separatist Riograndense republic in southern Brazil. Read more…

_______________________________________

Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici - banker

Art enthusiast who was Botticelli’s major patron

The Florentine banker and politician Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, who was a significant figure in Renaissance art as the main sponsor and patron of the painter Sandro Botticelli, was born on this day in 1463.  The great-grandson of Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici, the founder of the Medici bank, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco belonged to the junior, sometimes known as ‘Popolani’ branch of the House of Medici.  In 1476, when he and his brother, Giovanni, were still boys, their father, Pierfrancesco de’ Medici the Elder, died. They became wards, effectively, of their cousin, Lorenzo il Magnifico - Lorenzo the Magnificent - a member of the senior branch of the family and the effective ruler of Florence.  Relations between the two branches were tense and not helped when Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco discovered, on becoming an adult, that Lorenzo had plundered a considerable sum from he and his brother’s joint inheritance. Read more…

______________________________________

Pope Urban VII

Pope for just 12 days but introduced world's first smoking ban

Pope Urban VII was born Giovanni Battista Castagna on this day in 1521 in Rome.  Although his 12-day papacy in 1590 was the shortest in history, he is remembered as being the first person in the world to declare a ban on smoking.  He was against the use of tobacco generally, threatening to excommunicate anyone who ‘took tobacco in the porchway of, or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe, or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose’.  The ban is thought to have been upheld for the most part until 1724, when Pope Benedict XIII, himself a smoker, repealed it.  Castagna was the son of a nobleman of Genovese origin and studied in universities all over Italy. He obtained a doctorate in civil law and canon law from the University of Bologna.  He served as a constitutional lawyer to Pope Julius III and was then ordained a priest.  Read more…

Lucrezia Maria Romola de’ Medici – noblewoman

Daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent supported popes and poets

Lucrezia Maria Romola de’ Medici, who as a newborn baby inspired Sandro Botticelli’s depiction of baby Jesus in one of his paintings, was born on this day in 1470 in the Republic of Florence.  After her brother became Pope Leo X, Lucrezia helped him fund papal building projects in Florence and Rome. She also raised money to pay a ransom and secure the release of her husband when he was taken prisoner by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.  She had 11 children, many of whom were to play an important part in the history of Renaissance Europe.  Lucrezia was the eldest daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici and Clarice Orsini. After her birth, Botticelli painted Our Lady of the Magnificat, which is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and used her image as a baby as the model for the figure of the newborn Christ in his masterpiece.  Read more…

______________________________________

Giovanni Spadolini - politician

The first non-Christian Democrat to lead Italian Republic

Giovanni Spadolini, who was the Italian Republic’s first prime minister not to be drawn from the Christian Democrats and was one of Italy's most respected politicians, died on this day in 1994.  In a country where leading politicians and businessmen rarely survive a whole career without becoming embroiled in one corruption scandal or another, he went to the grave with his reputation for honesty intact.  Although he was an expert on Italian unification and became a professor of contemporary history at the University of Florence when he was only 25, a background that gave him a deep knowledge of Italian politics, he first built a career as a journalist.  He became a political columnist for several magazines and newspapers, including Il Borghese, Il Mondo and Il Messaggero, and was appointed editor of the Bologna daily II Resto del Carlino in 1955, at the age of 30.  Read more…

______________________________________

Book of the Day: The Hero's Way: Walking with Garibaldi from Rome to Ravenna, by Tim Parks

In the summer of 1849, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italy's legendary revolutionary hero, was finally forced to abandon his defence of Rome. He and his men had held the besieged city for three long months, but now it was clear that only surrender would prevent slaughter and destruction at the hands of a much superior French army.  Against all odds, Garibaldi was determined to turn defeat into moral victory. On the evening of 2 July, riding alongside his pregnant wife Anita, he led 4,000 hastily assembled volunteers out of the city to continue the struggle for national independence in the countryside. Hounded by both French and Austrian armies, the garibaldini marched hundreds of miles through Umbria and Tuscany, then across the Apennines, Italy's mountainous spine, until, after 32 exhausting days of skirmishes and adventures, 250 survivors boarded fishing boats on the Adriatic coast in an ill-fated attempt to reach the independent Republic of Venice.  It would be ten years before Garibaldi would astonish the world when his revolutionary campaign in Sicily became the catalyst to the unification of Italy. This is the lesser-known story, brought vividly to life by bestselling author Tim Parks, who in the blazing summer of 2019, together with his partner Eleonora, followed Garibaldi and Anita's arduous journey. The Hero's Way is a fascinating portrait of Italy past and present, and a celebration of determination, creativity, desperate courage and profound belief.

Tim Parks was born in Manchester, grew up in London and lives in Milan. His novels and non-fiction works include Europa, A Season with Verona, Teach Us to Sit Still, Italian Ways and Italian Life, and he has translated from Italian works by Alberto Moravia, Italo Calvino, Roberto Calasso, Antonio Tabucchi, Niccolò Machiavelli and others.

Buy from Amazon

Home

Anita Garibaldi – national heroine of Italy

Brave wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi was a freedom fighter

Anita Garibaldi met her future husband
in Brazil and they married in Uruguay

Anita Garibaldi, the Brazilian wife of Italy’s revolutionary hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, died in the arms of her husband on this day in 1849 in Mandriole, near Ravenna, in Emilia-Romagna.

She was pregnant and also ill with malaria, but she was having to retreat from Austrian and French troops with the Garibaldian Legion. After her death, her body had to be hurriedly buried, and it was said to have been later dug up by a dog.

A Brazilian revolutionary, Anita had fought alongside Garibaldi in his campaigns, after meeting him in her home country in 1839.

She was born Ana Maria di Jesus Ribeiro in 1821 in Laguna in Brazil. She was the third of ten children born to a poor family. At the age of 14 she was forced to marry, but her husband later abandoned her to join the Brazilian Imperial Army.

Anita met Garibaldi, who was a sailor of Ligurian descent, after he had left Europe in 1836 and was fighting on behalf of the separatist Riograndense republic in southern Brazil. They fell in love immediately and she joined him on his ship, the Rio Pardo.

She soon saw military action in battles at Imbituba, and Laguna, during which she fought at the side of her lover.

Anita was said to have been a skilled horsewoman, who taught Garibaldi about the Gaucho culture of the Pampas of southern Brazil. It was claimed by one of Garibaldi’s comrades that she had the strength and courage of a man, with the charm and tenderness of a woman. She was reputed to have been very beautiful with an oval-shaped face and remarkable eyes.

During one battle, Anita and Garibaldi became separated and Anita was captured. Her guards told her Garibaldi was dead, but she did not believe them. She asked if she could search the battleground for his body and they agreed, but she could not find him, which gave her hope.

Garibaldi and Anita fought together
in the defence of Rome in 1849

When she came across a horse, she mounted it and escaped at a gallop. The soldiers chased her and shot and killed her horse and so she waded into a river to escape from them. 

After they had given her up for dead, she spent four days wandering, without food or drink, in woodland in the area, until she encountered someone who gave her something to eat.

Eventually, Anita was able to get in touch with the rebels and she was reunited with Garibaldi in Vacaria. 

A few months later, their first child, Menotti, was born. He had a skull deformity resulting from Anita’s fall from the horse, but he grew up to be a freedom fighter and accompanied Garibaldi on his campaigns in Italy.

In 1841, Anita and Garibaldi moved to Montevideo in Uruguay and they were married there in 1842. They went on to have another three children.

After Garibaldi took command of the Uruguayan fleet, Anita participated in his defence of Montevideo against Argentina in 1847.

Anita accompanied Garibaldi when he returned to Italy to join in the revolutions of 1848, where he fought against the Austrians.

In 1849, Garibaldi joined in the defence of the newly-proclaimed Roman Republic against Neapolitan and French intervention. But after Rome fell to the French at the end of June that year, Garibaldi and Anita found themselves forced to flee with their troops from the French and Austrian soldiers.

A magazine illustration imagines Anita with
Garibaldi in the last moments of her life

After Anita’s death in the farmhouse in Mandriole, Garibaldi continued to honour her memory. When he hailed Victor Emmanuel II as King of the newly-united Italy, 12 years later, he was wearing Anita’s striped scarf over his south American poncho.

Anita Garibaldi is recognised as a national heroine in Brazil and has squares named after her and a museum dedicated to her memory,

In Italy, her legacy was used by Mussolini in 1932, when there was a discussion about removing Garibaldi’s statue from the top of the Gianicolo. 

Mussolini not only refused to remove the statue of Garibaldi, but also said he would erect a statue of Anita Garibaldi on the same hill. The resulting statue depicted her mounted on a rearing horse holding her baby son close to her, while brandishing a pistol, as she leads her husband’s army to victory.

Garibaldi carries Anita through the 
Comacchio lagoons (Pietro Bauvier)

Travel tip:

Fattore Guiccioli, the farmhouse where Anita Garibaldi died in Mandriole, is in the countryside between Casal Borsetti and Sant’Alberto, just south of the lagoons of Comacchio. Garibaldi stumbled across the farmhouse while looking for shelter for him and Anita as they made their escape across Romagna. The building now houses an exhibition of relics and mementoes of Garibaldi’s flight through the area. There is a replica of Anita’s death bed, as the original one was burnt during the Nazi occupation of Italy during World War II, and there are two paintings dedicated to her. A memorial stone marks the site of her original burial place near the farmhouse. 

The tomb of Anita Garibaldi on the Gianicolo
hill in Rome, topped by an equestrian statue

Travel tip:

The Gianicolo, or Janiculum, one of the hills outside the walls of ancient Rome, has monuments to many Italian patriots who fought during the Risorgimento for the unification of Italy. It is regarded as one of the best locations to enjoy a scenic view of the centre of the city, with its domes and bell towers. When Anita’s statue was erected there in 1932, the event was celebrated with a three-day commemoration ceremony. On the first day, Anita’s remains were brought to Rome, on the second day, her remains were interred in the base of the monument built in her memory, which was placed near the equestrian statue of her husband, and on the third day, her monument was inaugurated officially by Mussolini.

 

Also on this day:

1463: The birth of banker Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici

1470: The birth of noblewoman Lucrezia Maria Romola de’ Medici

1590: The birth of Pope Urban VII

1994: The death of politician Giovanni Spadolini

Home

3 August

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger - architect

Talented Florentine was commissioned by the Popes

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who left his mark on Rome during the Renaissance, died on this day in 1546 in Terni in Umbria.  Sangallo was the chief architect on St Peter’s Basilica from 1520 onwards and built many other beautiful churches and palaces in the city and throughout the Papal States.  He was born Antonio Cordiani in Florence in 1484. His grandfather had been a woodworker and his uncles, Giuliano and Antonio da Sangallo, were architects.  The young man followed his uncles to Rome to pursue a career in architecture and took the name Sangallo himself.  He became an assistant to Donato Bramante, for whom he prepared sketches. Recognising his talent, Bramante gave Sangallo projects to complete with no more than an outline of the design and motifs.  Sangallo’s first major commission was for the Church of Santa Maria di Loreto in 1507. Read more…

_______________________________________

Francesco Ferruccio - military leader

Florentine soldier celebrated in Italy’s national anthem 

Francesco Ferruccio, the military leader whose heroic attempt to defend Florence against the powerful army of the Holy Roman Empire is recalled in Italy’s national anthem, died on the battlefield on this day in 1530.  A Florentine by birth, Ferruccio had been charged with leading the army of the Republic of Florence as the city came under attack during the War of the League of Cognac, when the Pope Clement VII connived with the emperor Charles V to overthrow the republic and restore power in Florence to his own family, the Medici.  Despite being outnumbered, Ferruccio’s soldiers engaged the Imperial forces at Gavinana, just outside Florence, killed their leader and drove them back, only for the enemy to be reinforced by the arrival of 2,000 German mercenaries under the leadership of the condottiero, Fabrizio Maramaldo.  Read more...

______________________________________

Omero Antonutti - actor and voice dubber

Narrator of Oscar-winning Life is Beautiful had long career

The actor Omero Antonutti, who acted in around 60 films and was the Italian voice of many international stars, was born on this day in 1935 in Basiliano, a village about 13km (eight miles) west of the city of Udine in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeast Italy.   His most acclaimed performance came in Padre padrone, a 1977 film directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, a Palme d’Or winner at Cannes that was considered by many critics to be the co-directing brothers’ finest work.  Antonutti worked with the Taviani brothers again on La notte di San Lorenzo (1982), which won the Grand Prix du Jury at Cannes, and Kaos (1984), in which he took the part of the playwright Luigi Pirandello in a film based on some of Pirandello’s own short stories.  He was often asked to portray significant figures in dramatisations of real-life events. Read more…

La Scala - opera and ballet theatre

First night at the world’s most famous opera house

Milan’s Teatro alla Scala was officially inaugurated on this day in 1778.  Known to Italians simply as La Scala, the theatre has become the leading opera house in the world and many famous artists have appeared there. A fire had destroyed the Teatro Regio Ducale, which had previously been the home of opera in Milan. A group of 90 wealthy patrons, the owners of private boxes in the theatre, wrote to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este asking that a new theatre be built.  The new theatre was built on the site of the former Church of Santa Maria alla Scala, which is how the theatre got its name. The church was deconsecrated and demolished to make way for the theatre.  With the cost of the project met by the 90 patrons, who paid in advance for boxes, the new theatre was designed by neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini and officially opened on August 3, 1778. Read more…

______________________________________

Imperia Cognati - courtesan

Prostitute who became a celebrity

Imperia Cognati, who acquired celebrity status in Rome in the early 16th century as a courtesan to a number of rich and powerful figures, was born on this day in 1486.  Courtesans were originally the female companions of courtiers of the papal court, whose duties required them to be educated and familiar with etiquette, so that they could participate in the formalities of court life and in polite conversation.  In time, however, in some cases their companionship became more intimate and they became the mistresses of their courtiers, who in the papal court were clerics not permitted to marry. Courtesans were often the companions of several clients. They were in effect a new class of prostitute, refined and educated enough to hold their own in polite society. Cognati was the companion of Agostino Chigi, a Sienese banker closely associated with Pope Alexander VI. Read more…

_______________________________________

Book of the Day: The Making of St. Peter's Basilica and The Transformation of Rome, by Francesco Bonavita

The Making of St. Peter's Basilica and the Transformation of Rome captures the awe-inspiring story of one of the world's greatest architectural and spiritual landmarks. St. Peter's Basilica is a testament not only to the endurance of Christian faith but also to humanity's creative spirit and resilience through times of hardship, persecution, and triumph.  The book begins with the Basilica's origins alongside a Roman arena and ancient necropolis, tracing its early transformation under Emperor Constantine and the evolving vision of subsequent leaders. As the first millennium of Christianity unfolded, popes and emperors contributed to its structure, shaping both the building and the Christian narrative itself. In the early Renaissance, a new ambition to revive and expand St. Peter's inspired not only a massive restoration but a revolutionary urban renewal movement. Artistic visionaries - Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bernini and others - brought this masterpiece to life, making it an enduring wonder of the world and a symbol of both faith and artistic ingenuity.

Francesco Bonavita, a native of Rome, is a distinguished scholar and educator with a deep background in the Italian Renaissance, particularly the Mannerist movement in art. He has written numerous works on Italian culture and second language pedagogy. 

Buy from Amazon

Home

2 August

Francis Marion Crawford – author

Novelist found inspiration while living in Sorrento

The American writer Francis Marion Crawford was born on this day in 1854 in Bagni di Lucca in Tuscany.  A prolific novelist, Crawford became known for the vividness of his characterisations and the realism of his settings, many of which were places he had visited in Italy.  He chose to settle in later life in the coastal resort of Sorrento in Campania where he even had a street named after him, Corso Marion Crawford.  Crawford was the only son of the American sculptor, Thomas Crawford. He spent his childhood going backwards and forwards between Italy and America and studied at various American and European Universities.  He spent some time in India where he found the inspiration for his first successful novel, Mr Isaacs, which was published in 1882.  In 1883 he returned to Italy to settle there permanently. Read more… 

_______________________________________

Pietro Mascagni – composer

One opera was enough to build reputation of musician

Pietro Mascagni, the creator of the opera Cavalleria rusticana, died on this day in 1945 in Rome, at the age of 81.  Cavalleria rusticana was an outstanding success when it was first performed in Rome in 1890 and was said to have single-handedly brought the Verismo movement, in which the characters were ordinary people rather than gods, mythological figures or kings and queens, into Italian opera.  The opera’s beautiful intermezzo was used in the soundtrack of the 1980 film Raging Bull and a production of the opera was used as the setting for the climax of the 1990 film The Godfather Part III, with Michael Corleone’s son Anthony playing Turridu, the opera’s male protagonist. The film ends with the intermezzo playing.  In 2001 Andrea Bocelli recorded a song entitled Mascagni on his Cieli di Toscana album incorporating an excerpt from Cavalleria rusticana. Read more… 

Bologna railway station bombed

Biggest terrorist atrocity in Italy's history killed 85

Italy suffered the most devastating terrorist outrage in its history on this day in 1980 with the bombing of Bologna's main railway station.   A massive 23kg (51lbs) of explosive packed into a suitcase left in a crowded waiting room was detonated at 10.25am, creating a blast that destroyed much of the main building of the station and badly damaged a train on one of the platforms.  Many people, locals and tourists, Italians and foreign nationals, were caught up in the explosion. Some were killed instantly, others died as a result of the roof of the waiting room collapsing on to the victims. There were 85 deaths and more than 200 other people were wounded.  The bomb was clearly placed to cause mass casualties. It was the first Saturday in the traditional August holiday period and the explosive-laden suitcase was left in a room with air conditioning, then still relatively rare in Italy. Read more… 

_______________________________________

Carlo Savina - film composer and musical director

Worked on major scores including The Godfather and Fellini’s Amarcord

Musical director Carlo Savina, who arranged soundtracks written by such luminaries of the film music industry as Ennio Morricone and Nino Rota, was born on this day in 1919 in Turin.  Savina was also a prolific film composer in his own right and is credited with writing or arranging the scores of at least 200 movies in a career spanning more than 35 years. He won a David di Donatello award for Best Music for the 1985 crime drama The Pizza Connection, directed by Damiano Damiani and starring Michele Placido, a version of which was released in the United States as The Sicilian Connection.  Yet Savina is more frequently remembered for his work with Rota on the multi-award winning soundtrack of the first film in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather trilogy in 1972 and with Federico Fellini the following year on Amarcord. Read more… 

____________________________________

Book of the Day: Mr Isaacs: A Tale of Modern India, by F Marion Crawford

Mr Isaacs, A Tale of Modern India is a novel written in the late 19th century. The story is set against the backdrop of British-controlled India and explores themes of adventure, social hierarchy, and personal identity through the eyes of the protagonist, Paul Griggs, as he navigates his interactions with the enigmatic Mr Isaacs, a Persian merchant deeply entrenched in the complex socio-political fabric of the time. At the start of the novel, the narrator reflects on the nature of freedom and tyranny, particularly in Eastern societies, framing Mr Isaacs as a character shaped by these dynamics. Paul Griggs arrives in Simla, a hill station where the British elite retreat during the summer, and encounters Mr Isaacs. The opening chapters emphasize Isaacs' striking appearance and demeanor while hinting at his complex past, involving his rise from slavery to wealth and influence as a dealer in precious stones. Through their conversations, Griggs becomes intrigued by Isaacs' views on life and love, particularly as he hints at romantic interest in the beautiful Miss Westonhaugh, which sets the stage for deeper explorations of cultural clashes and personal aspiration throughout the story.

Francis Marion Crawford was an American writer noted for his many novels, especially those set in Italy, and for his classic weird and fantastic stories. Crawford was born in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, the only son of the American sculptor Thomas Crawford and Louisa Cutler Ward, the brother of writer Mary Crawford Fraser (aka Mrs Hugh Fraser), and the nephew of Julia Ward Howe, the American poet.

Buy from Amazon

Home

1 August

NEW - Ottavio Bottecchia - cycling champion

First Italian to win the Tour de France

Ottavio Bottechia, who was the first of the seven Italian riders so far to have won the classic Tour de France cycle race, was born on this day in 1894 in San Martino di Colle Umberto, a village in the province of Treviso about 50km (31 miles) north of Venice.   Bottechia, who took up cycling as a sport only after serving with a cycle battalion of the Bersaglieri Corps, an elite, highly-mobile infantry force deployed by the Royal Italian Army in World War One, won the Tours de France of both 1924 and 1925.  Such was his dominance of both those races that he achieved the distinction - unique at the time - of wearing the leader’s yellow jersey for all 15 stages in 1924, a feat he almost repeated the following year, when he held the lead for 13 stages.  His successes brought him fame and financial reward yet his life began in hardship. Read more… 

_______________________________________

Paolo De Poli – enameller and painter

Artist devoted his life to an ancient technique

A painter who became fascinated with the ancient art of enamelling, Paolo De Poli was born on this day in 1905 in Padua.  At first De Poli experimented with enamelling small, decorative objects but after he mastered his craft he moved on to creating large panels for the interiors of ships, hotels and public buildings.  De Poli trained in drawing and embossing on metal at the art school Pietro Selvatico of Padua and then studied oil painting in Verona. He embarked on a career as a portrait and landscape painter.  In 1926 he participated for the first time in the Biennale di Venezia with the oil painting Still Life.  While travelling in the 1930s he visited art museums and archaeological sites and became interested in the traditional art of working with vitreous enamel.  From 1933 onwards, he devoted himself to creating enamel works on metal.  Read more…

______________________________________

Kaspar Capparoni - actor

Found fame co-starring with crime-fighting dog

The actor Kaspar Capparoni, an accomplished performer on stage and screen whose fame received its biggest boost after he starred alongside a German Shepherd dog in the TV crime series Il Commissario Rex, was born in Rome on this day in 1964.  Capparoni played the part of Commissioner Lorenzo Fabbri, a homicide detective who is accompanied in his work by a talented police dog known as Rex, whose ever-growing range of skills are often key to solving the crimes Fabbri is charged with investigating.  Il Commissario Rex, which was screened by Italian national broadcaster Rai between 2008 and 2015, revived a show previously shown on TV in Austria but which had ceased production in 2004 after 11 years.  Capparoni portrayed Commissioner Fabbri for four seasons, working alongside two German Shepherds in the Rex role. Read more… 

Cosimo de' Medici

Banker who founded the Medici dynasty

The first of the Medici rulers of Florence, Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici, died on this day in 1464 in Careggi in Tuscany.  Cosimo had political influence and power because of the wealth he had acquired as a banker and he is also remembered as a patron of learning, the arts and architecture.  Cosimo, who is sometimes referred to as Cosimo the Elder (il Vecchio) was born into a wealthy family in Florence in 1389. His father was a moneylender who then joined the bank of a relative before opening up his own bank in 1397.  The Medici Bank opened branches in Rome, Geneva, Venice and Naples and the Rome branch managed the papal finances in return for a commission.  The bank later opened branches in London, Pisa, Avignon, Bruges, Milan and Lubeck, which meant that bishoprics could pay their money into their nearest branch for the Pope to use.  Read more…

______________________________________

Antonio Cotogni – baritone

Singer who moved the composer Verdi to tears

Antonio ‘Toto’ Cotogni, who achieved international recognition as one of the greatest male opera singers of the 19th century, was born on this day in 1831 in Rome.  Cotogni’s fine baritone voice was particularly admired by the composer Giuseppe Verdi and music journalists wrote reviews full of superlatives after his performances.  Cotogni studied music theory and singing from an early age and began singing in churches and at summer music festivals outside the city.  He made his opera debut in 1852 at Rome’s Teatro Metastasio as Belcore in Gaetano Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore.  After that he did not sing in public for a while, concentrating instead on building up his repertoire.  After singing in various Italian cities outside Rome he was signed up to sing at Rome’s Teatro Argentina in 1857 in Lucia di Lammermoor and Gemma di Vergy, also by Donizetti. Read more…

______________________________________

Francesca Scanagatta - soldier

Woman pretended to be a man to join Austrian army

Francesca Scanagatta, an Italian woman who served in the Imperial Austrian army for seven years while pretending to be a man, was born on this day in 1776 in Milan.  Scanagatta – sometimes known as Franziska – was a small and apparently rather plain girl, who was brought up in Milan while the city was under Austrian rule. She admired the Austrian soldiers to the extent of wishing she could join the army, yet knew that as a girl she would not be allowed to.  Even so, it did not stop her dreaming and throughout her childhood and teenage years she worked on becoming physically stronger through exercise while reading as much literature as she could about the army.  By contrast, her brother Giacomo hated the idea of joining up. He was rather effeminate in nature and the very thought of becoming a soldier filled him with dread.  Read more…

____________________________________

The Arab conquest of Sicily

Fall of Taormina put island in Muslim control

The Arab conquest of Sicily, which began in 827, was completed on this day in 902 with the fall of Taormina, the city in the northeast of the island that was the last stronghold of the Byzantine Empire, which had been in control for more than 350 years.  The island had been coveted by powers around the Mediterranean for centuries and raids by Saracens, as the Muslim Arabs from Roman Arabia became known, had been taking place since the mid-7th century without threatening to make substantial territorial gains.  However, in 827 the commander of the island's fleet, Euphemius, led a revolt against Michael II, the Byzantine Emperor, and when he and his supporters were at first driven from the island by forces loyal to Michael II, he turned to the Aghlabids, the rulers of Ifriqiya, the area of north Africa now known as Tunisia, for help.  Read more…

_______________________________________

Book of the Day: The Official History of the Tour de France (2025): Revised and Updated, by Luke Edwardes-Evans, Serge Laget and Andy McGrath 

The Official History of the Tour de France - fully revised and updated for 2025 - is a celebration of one of the greatest annual sporting events on the planet, and the premier competition in world cycling.  Through more than 300 photographs, rarely seen documents and items of memorabilia, this book covers more than a century of fascinating stories about the Tour and its many iconic features, from the gruelling challenges of its mountain climbs to its unmistakable yellow jersey.  This revised and updated edition includes an authoritative narrative account of each major era, from the origins of the event in the early 20th century, right up to and including the thrilling 2024 Tour. There are features on superstar cyclists and memorable moments from each period of the Tour's rich history, plus a foreword from legendary Tour de France champion Bernard Hinault. A must-read for cycling fans everywhere, this is the definitive illustrated book on the Tour.  

Luke Edwardes-Evans is a freelance writer who regularly contributes articles to Cycling Weekly. He is the author of The Official Tour de France Bike Maintenance Book and co-author (with Serge Laget) of The Official Treasures of the Tour de France.  Andy McGrath is a staff writer for Cycling Weekly and Cycle Sport magazines. 

Buy from Amazon

Home

Ottavio Bottecchia - cycling champion

First Italian to win the Tour de France

Bottecchia triumphed despite
coming from a poor background

Ottavio Bottechia, who was the first of the seven Italian riders so far to have won the classic Tour de France cycle race, was born on this day in 1894 in San Martino di Colle Umberto, a village in the province of Treviso about 50km (31 miles) north of Venice.

Bottechia, who took up cycling as a sport only after serving with a cycle battalion of the Bersaglieri Corps in World War One, won the Tours de France of both 1924 and 1925.

Such was his dominance of both those races that he achieved the distinction - unique at the time - of wearing the leader’s yellow jersey for all 15 stages in 1924, a feat he almost repeated the following year, when he held the lead for 13 stages.

His successes brought him fame and financial reward yet his life began in hardship. Born into a poor peasant family, he was named Ottavio for the simple reason that he was the eighth out of nine children. He went to school for only a year before his father insisted he find a job, working first as a shoemaker, then a bricklayer. 

His service with the Bersaglieri Corps, an elite, highly-mobile infantry force deployed by the Royal Italian Army, earned him a bronze medal for military valour as a result of what he endured in ferrying messages, supplies and weapons on a folding bicycle across the treacherous Austrian front. He survived malaria, gas attacks, and several spells as a prisoner. 

After the war, Bottecchia moved to France to work as a builder but returned to Italy and began racing competitively. Despite having only a borrowed bicycle, he won a number of events and caught the eye of Teodoro Carnielli, a bicycle manufacturer, who gave him the gift of a racing bike and encouraged him to pursue the sport professionally.

Bottecchia’s breakthrough came in 1923 when he placed fifth in the Giro d’Italia, which was considered an extraordinary feat for a rider without a team to support him. Henri Pélissier, a leading French cyclist, invited him to join the Automoto-Hutchinson team, for whom he competed in the Tour de France for the first time, winning a stage and finishing second overall.

A garlanded Bottecchia on his victory lap after
his first triumph in the Tour de France, in 1924

The following year, 1924, he made history as the first Italian to win the Tour de France, wearing the yellow jersey from start to finish, something no rider had previously accomplished. His riding style was described as rhythmic and effortless, like the swing of a pendulum. He repeated his triumph in 1925, solidifying his status as a cycling legend.

Nicknamed Il muratore del Friuli - The Bricklayer of Friuli - his victories came to be seen as symbols of perseverance and national pride, his story one of rising from obscurity to dominate the most prestigious race in cycling.

His success enabled him to buy a house in San Martino and open a workshop for the construction of bicycles. He seemed set up for comfortable life.

Yet Bottechia died tragically young, at the age of just 32. In the early summer of 1927, after a relatively lean start to the year in terms of success, he had gone back to the area of Friuli-Venezia Giulia where he had trained previously, hoping it would help him recapture his form.

On June 3 - only 10 days after his brother, Giovanni, had been struck by a car and killed near Conegliano, Veneto - Ottavio was found unconscious by the roadside while training near the Tagliamento river, north of Udine, with a fractured skull, a broken collarbone and other injuries. He died 12 days later in a hospital in Gemona.

There was an assumption that he had lost control of his bicycle and that his death was accidental, yet the bicycle itself was undamaged and there were no signs that he had swerved to avoid a car or been forced off the road. 

The uncertainty over the cause of his death gave rise to all manner of theories, including political assassination, given that he was quite outspokenly anti-Fascist in his views. Another story alleged that the farmer who originally claimed to have found Bottecchia by the roadside had actually killed him, albeit accidentally, in trying to stop him stealing grapes from his vines. 

Today, Bottecchia’s legacy endures. A museum in his home town commemorates his life, and his name lives on through the Bottecchia bicycle brand, which Carnielli built up after his death. A monument can be found at the roadside where his body was discovered.

The village of San Martino di Colle Umberto, with
the church of San Martino Vescovo in the foreground

Travel tip:

San Martino di Colle Umberto, where Bottecchia was born, is a picturesque village in the province of Treviso, north of Venice. Built across two of the hills that form the Colle Umberto, it offers sweeping views of the Prealpi Bellunesi and surrounding countryside, including the town of Vittorio Veneto.  The heart of the village is the Chiesa di San Martino Vescovo, a Renaissance-style church dating back to the 15th century which features a striking campanile and a seven-arched portico.  During the dominance of the Republic of Venice, San Martino and Colle Umberto became popular retreats for Venetian nobility, drawn to the peaceful hills and scenic beauty.  The village is part of the UNESCO-listed Prosecco Hills. 

A palace in the pretty
town of Serravalle

Travel tip:

Vittorio Veneto is a town of some 28,000 people in the province of Treviso, situated between the Piave and Livenza rivers at the foot of the mountain region known as the Prealpi Bellunesi  It was formed from the joining of the communities of Serravalle and Ceneda in 1866 and named Vittorio in honour of Victor Emmanuel II.  The Veneto suffix was added in 1923 to commemorate the decisive Battle of Vittorio Veneto in 1918, which was a turning point in World War One. The town’s name became a symbol of Italian victory.  Ceneda, once a bishopric, and Serravalle, a medieval trading hub, both retain their own character - Serravalle enchants with winding alleys, Renaissance palaces, and the Cathedral of Santa Maria Nova, while Ceneda offers a more ecclesiastical atmosphere with its bishop’s palace and quiet piazzas.  

Also on this day:

827: The Arab conquest of Sicily

1464: The death of banker and dynasty founder Cosimo de’ Medici

1776: The birth of soldier Francesca Scanagatta

1831: The birth of baritone Antonio Cotogni

1905: The birth of enameller and painter Paolo De Poli

1964: The birth of actor Kaspar Capparoni 

Home