4 October

The Gregorian Calendar

Why a 16th century Pope decreed that 10 days would not happen

The Gregorian Calendar, which is used today by every country in the world with just four exceptions, was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII on this day in 1582.  The calendar replaced the Julian calendar, which had been implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 BC but which was based on a miscalculation of the length of the solar year and had gradually fallen out of sync with the seasons.  The Catholic Church wanted to make the change because the actual spring equinox - one of the two days in each year when the sun appears directly above the equator - was drifting further away from the ecclesiastical date of the equinox, which in turn determines the date of Easter.  In Christian tradition, Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus three days after his crucifixion, which historical evidence suggests occurred around the time of the spring equinox, nominally dated as March 21. Read more…

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Francesco Solimena - painter

Neapolitan artist who influenced a generation

Francesco Solimena, a prolific painter in the Baroque style who became one of the wealthiest and most influential artists in Europe, was born on this day in 1657 in Canale di Sereno, a village in Campania about 14km (9 miles) southeast of Avellino.  He spent most of his working life in Naples yet his fame spread far beyond and his work was in such demand among his wealthy patrons, including Prince Eugene of Savoy, Louis XIV of France and Pope Benedict XIII, that he acquired a considerable fortune, was given the title of baron and lived in a palace.  His workshop became effectively an academy, at the heart of the Naples cultural scene. Among many who trained there were the leading painters Francesco de Mura, Giuseppe Bonito, Corrado Giaquinto and Sebastiano Conca.  The Scottish portraitist Allan Ramsay was a pupil in his studio in around 1737-38.  Read more…

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Giovanni Battista Piranesi – artist

Genius who put 18th century Rome on the map

Draftsman, printmaker and architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi was born on this day in 1720 in Mogliano Veneto near Treviso in the Veneto.  He became famous for his large prints depicting the buildings of Rome, which stimulated interest in Rome and inspired the neoclassical movement in art in the 18th century.  Piranesi went to Rome to work as a draftsman for the Venetian ambassador when he was 20. There he studied with some of the leading printmakers of the day.  He developed his own, original etching technique, producing rich textures and bold contrasts of light and shadow by means of intricate, repeated bitings of the copperplate.  Among his finest early prints are the Prisons - Carceri - imaginary scenes depicting ancient Roman ruins, which are converted into fantastic dungeons filled with scaffolding and instruments of torture.  Read more…

Ignazio Boschetto - tenor

Talented singer is known for being the funny guy in Il Volo

Ignazio Boschetto, a singer in the award-winning pop and opera trio Il Volo, was born on this day in 1994 in Bologna in the region of Emilia-Romagna.  His Sicilian parents, Vito Boschetto and Caterina Licari, took him back to live in Sicily and he grew up in Marsala in the province of Trapani in the most western part of Sicily.  He has said in interviews that from being about three years old he used to sing operatic arias alone in his room, such as La donna e mobile from Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi, much to the surprise of his parents.  Ignazio could be classed as a lyric tenor, considering the timbre of his voice, which is warm and soft, but strong enough to sing over an orchestra. A complete artist, Ignazio also plays the piano, guitar and drums.  When he was 12 he started to take part in festivals and competitions.  Read more…

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Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lamps light up Assisi in memory of saint

The city of Assisi in Umbria is today celebrating the Feast Day - la festa - of their famous Saint, Francis - Francesco -  who is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.  It is the most important festival in the Franciscan calendar as it commemorates Saint Francis’s transition from this life to the afterlife.  For two days Assisi is illuminated by lamps burning consecrated oil. Special services are held in the Basilica Papale di San Francesco and the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli.  The feast day is also celebrated in other churches all over the world.  Saint Francis was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone in about 1181 in Assisi but he was informally known as Francesco by his family.  A theory is that his father, Pietro di Bernardone, a silk merchant, decided to call his new son Francesco - the Frenchman - because he had been on business in France at the time of the birth.   Read more…

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Bernardino Ramazzini - physician

Pioneer in knowledge of occupational diseases, cancer and malaria

The physician Bernardino Ramazzini, often described as the “father of occupational medicine” and responsible also for pioneering work in the study of cancer and the treatment of malaria, was born in Carpi in Emilia-Romagna on this day in 1633.  Ramazzini’s tour de force, which he completed at the age of 67, was his book De Morbis Artificum Diatriba - Discourse of the Diseases of Workers - which came to be regarded as a seminal work in his field, the lessons from which still influence the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases today.  A student at the University of Parma, Ramazzini was appointed chair of theory of medicine at the University of Modena in 1682 and professor of medicine at the University of Padua from 1700 until his death in 1714.  It was while he was in Parma that he began to take an interest in diseases suffered by workers. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Calendar: The 5000 Year Struggle To Align The Clock and the Heavens, and What Happened To The Missing Ten Days, by David Ewing Duncan

Measuring the daily and yearly cycle of the cosmos has never been entirely straightforward. The year 2000 was alternatively the year 2544 (Buddhist), 6236 (Ancient Egyptian), 5761 (Jewish) or simply the year of the Dragon (Chinese). The story of the creation of the Western calendar is a story of emperors and popes, mathematicians and monks, and the growth of scientific calculation to the point where, bizarrely, our measurement of time by atomic pulses is now more accurate than Time itself: the Earth is an elderly lady and slightly eccentric – she loses half a second a century. Days have been invented (Julius Caesar needed an extra 80 days in 46BC), lost (Pope Gregory XIII ditched ten days in 1582) and moved (because Julius Caesar had thirty-one in his month, Augustus determined that he should have the same, so he pinched one from February. The Calendar links politics and religion, astronomy and mathematics, Cleopatra and Stephen Hawking. It was first published as millions of computer users still wondered what would happen after December 31, 1999…

David Ewing Duncan is a writer and traveller. The author of three previous books, this is his first UK publication. He is also the curator of the Smithsonian exhibition of The Calendar.

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3 October

NEW - Giovanni Comisso - writer

Novelist and journalist with distinctive literary voice

The writer Giovanni Comisso, one of Italy’s most distinctive literary voices of the 20th century, was born on this day in 1895 in Treviso in the Veneto region.  He was acclaimed for his novel Giorni di guerra - Days of War - which drew on his experiences serving as a telegraph engineer in the First World War. Comisso’s work won critical praise for being deeply attuned to the emotional and philosophical currents of his time.  For much of his life, Comisso led a peripatetic career as a journalist and art dealer, as well as a writer. He travelled extensively across Europe, North Africa, and the Far East, taking work as a correspondent for Italian newspapers such as Corriere della Sera and La Gazzetta del Popolo.  For a while, he lived in Paris with the Italian painter Filippo De Pisis within the city’s bohemian postwar artistic community.  Read more…

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Francesco Bianchini - jockey

19th century rider who contested Palio di Siena 55 times

The jockey Francesco Bianchini, who holds the record for the most consecutive participations in the historic Palio di Siena horse race, was born on this day in 1808 in Siena.  Bianchini, who raced under the name of Campanino, rode in 44 editions of the famous event, in which horses and riders represent 10 of the city of Siena’s 17 contrade or districts, without missing one between his debut in 1827 and the second running of the twice-yearly race in 1847. He rode in 55 editions in total before he retired for good in 1860, at the age of 51, chalking up a total of nine wins. In his career, he rode for all bar two of the 17 contrade.  Held in July and again in August every summer in the medieval square at the centre of Siena, the Piazza del Campo, with occasionally an extra race to commemorate a special event or anniversary, the Palio can be a brutal affair.  Read more…

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Eleonora Duse – actress

Performer 'became' the person she played with her whole being

Regarded as one of the greatest acting talents of all times, Eleonora Duse was born on this day in 1858 in Vigevano in Lombardy.  Often simply known as Duse, she was admired for her total assumption of the roles she played. In 1947, the film, Eleonora Duse, was made about her life.  She began acting at the age of four, joining her father and grandfather in the profession. She worked in a troupe with her family, travelling from city to city. Duse became famous for creating Italian versions of roles made famous by the French actress, Sarah Bernhardt.  Duse toured South America, Russia and the US, beginning the tours as an unknown actor, but leaving in her wake a general recognition of her genius.  She had an affair with the Italian poet, Arrigo Boito, who was the librettist for the composer, Giuseppe Verdi.  They carried out their relationship in a clandestine manner. Read more… 

Ruggero Raimondi - opera star

Singer overcame shyness to become a great bass-baritone

The bass-baritone singer Ruggero Raimondi, who would become famous for his performances in the operas of Verdi, Rossini, Puccini and Mozart, was born on this day in Bologna in 1941.  Blessed with a mature voice at an early age, he was soon encouraged to pursue a career in opera and enrolled at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan at the age of only 16, later continuing his studies in Rome at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.  He won a national competition for young singers in Spoleto and made his debut in the same Umbrian city in 1964 in the role of Colline in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème in 1964. Soon afterwards, he appeared in the leading role of Procida in Verdi’s I vespri siciliani at the Rome Opera House.  Raimondi was also studying accountancy, wary that his ambitions in opera might not materialise.  Read more…

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Alessandro Mazzinghi - boxing champion

Tuscan fighter held world title twice

The boxer Alessandro 'Sandro' Mazzinghi, who won the world light middleweight championship twice in his 64-fight career, was born on this day in 1938 in Pontedera in Tuscany.  Mazzinghi won the title for the first time at the Velodromo Vigorelli in Milan in September 1963, defeating the American Ralph Dupas, defending his title successfully in a rematch in Sydney, Australia in December of the same year.  He lost the crown to fellow Italian Nino Benvenuti in 1965 at the San Siro football stadium in Milan but regained it at the same venue in May 1968, defeating  the South Korean Ki-Soo.  He did so after recovering from an horrific car crash in January 1964 that claimed the life of his young wife, Vera, only 12 days after they were married.  The couple had been on their way home to Pontedera from a gala dinner in Montecatini Terme in Tuscany.  Read more… 

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Book of the Day: Britain and Italy in the Era of the Great War: Defending and Forging Empires, by Stefano Marcuzzi

This is an important reassessment of British and Italian grand strategies during the First World War. Stefano Marcuzzi sheds new light on a hitherto overlooked but central aspect of Britain and Italy's war experiences: the uneasy and only partial overlap between Britain's strategy for imperial defence and Italy's ambition for imperial expansion. Taking Anglo-Italian bilateral relations as a special lens through which to understand the workings of the Entente in World War I, he reveals how the ups-and-downs of that relationship influenced and shaped Allied grand strategy. In Britain and Italy in the Era of the Great War,  Marcuzzi considers three main issues – war aims, war strategy and peace-making – and examines how, under the pressure of divergent interests and wartime events, the Anglo-Italian 'traditional friendship' turned increasingly into competition by the end of the war, casting a shadow on Anglo-Italian relations both at the Peace Conference and in the interwar period.

After taking his doctorate at the University of Oxford, Stefano Marcuzzi joined the European University Institute (Florence), working on EU-NATO cooperation in the Mediterranean. Now he is an analyst in Emerging Challenges at the NATO Defense College Foundation in Rome. 

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Giovanni Comisso - writer

Novelist and journalist with distinctive literary voice

Giovanni Comisso spent much of his 
writing life travelling abroad

The writer Giovanni Comisso, one of Italy’s most distinctive literary voices of the 20th century, was born on this day in 1895 in Treviso in the Veneto region.

He was acclaimed for his novel Giorni di guerra - Days of War - which drew on his experiences serving as a telegraph engineer in the First World War. Comisso’s work won critical praise for being deeply attuned to the emotional and philosophical currents of his time.

For much of his life, Comisso led a peripatetic career as a journalist and art dealer, as well as a writer. He traveled extensively across Europe, North Africa, and the Far East, taking work as a correspondent for Italian newspapers such as Corriere della Sera and La Gazzetta del Popolo.  For a while, he lived in Paris with the Italian painter Filippo De Pisis, leading what he described as a “disorderly and frenetic” existence within the city’s bohemian postwar artistic community.

Comisso was born into a comfortable, middle-class household, the son of an agricultural merchant. He attended the Antonio Canova classical high school in Treviso but failed his final exams and signed up for military service, taking a telegraph engineering course in Florence. By that time he had met Arturo Martini, a Trevisan sculptor six years his senior, with whom he developed a strong friendship.  Martini helped him find a publisher for his first collection of poems, also painting his portrait for the cover.

In common with so many young Italian men, the course of Comisso's life abruptly changed with the outbreak of World War One. His service with the Telegraph Corps of Engineers took him to the front line in the war against Austria-Hungary. He took part in the Battle of Caporetto, a disastrous defeat for the Italians in November 1917, and the Battle of the Piave River in June 1918, a decisive victory that was probably the beginning of the end for Austria-Hungary.

Following the armistice, he was transferred to Fiume - the city that is now Rijeka in Croatia but to which Italy felt they had an historic claim. He was there in September, 1919, when a rebel army led by the Italian Army officer Gabriele D'Annunzio occupied the city in a response to what Italians perceived as the unfairness of post-war division of territory by their allies. 

Comisso deserted and joined the rebel troops, an experience that deepened his fascination with rebellion and individualism. The occupation was short-lived but Fiume subsequently became part of Italy under the 1924 Treaty of Rome.

Giorni di guerra, the novel that
drew on Comisso's war experience

While in Fiume, he enjoyed sailing in the Adriatic, which inspired his first novel, The Port of Love, published in 1924.

In the same year, Comisso completed the studies he had abandoned before WW1 and obtained a degree in law at the University of Siena. He never practised, instead combining travelling with writing, earning a living as a correspondent for a number of Italian newspapers and magazines. At different times, he ran a bookshop in Milan and was an art dealer in Paris. 

Among his varied experiences, his time aboard a sailing ship based in Chioggia, at the southern end of the Venetian Lagoon, led him to write Gente di Mare - Seafarers - which won him the Bagutta Prize in 1929.

In December of that year, as a special correspondent for Corriere della Sera, he made the Grand Tour of the Far East, visiting China, Japan, Siberia, and Russia, which he travelled across to reach Moscow. His trip lasted seven months. 

Back in Italy, he published his great wartime novel, Giorni di guerra, which initially caused him some problems with the Fascist regime, who were unhappy that it portrayed the Italian military in a raw, unheroic light. 

Comisso used the money he had earned from his newspaper work and literature to buy a house and some land in Zero Branco, a town in the Treviso area, about 14km (nine miles) to the southwest of the city.

He published books of his writings in Paris and the Far East, although his travelling was not finished. The Gazzetta del Popolo, based in Turin, sent him on a tour of the entire Italian peninsula, from which he reported his observations, and then to East Africa to document the birth of the new Fascist Empire.

Comisso's final home in the village of Santa Maria
del Rovere, on the outskirts of Treviso

World War Two had devastating consequences for Comisso, whose family home in Piazza Fiumicelli was destroyed when Treviso was bombed in April 1944, although his mother and her housekeeper had been evacuated to Zero Branco.  

Meanwhile, his companion, Guido, with whom he shared his own home, was arrested by the Fascists, then released on condition that he joined a combat unit of the new Italian Social Republic, from which he deserted only to be shot dead by partisans, who suspected him of spying.

Comisso’s writing continued to be honoured. He won the Viareggio Prize in 1952 with Capricci italiani - Italian whims - and the Strega Prize in 1955 with Un gatto attraversa la strada - A Cat Crosses the Road - two collections of short stories.

After the deaths of his mother and both Arturo Martini and Filippo De Pisis, Comisso left Zero Branco to rent an apartment in Treviso, but moved again, to a house in Santa Maria del Rovere, on the outskirts of Treviso, where he continued to write.

His final work, a collection of stories entitled Attraverso il tempo - Through Time - was published just a few months before his death, in hospital in Treviso, in January 1969.

Comisso’s writing, distinguished by its lyrical prose, existential undertones, and a tension between rootedness and escape, left an indelible mark on Italian literature.

The pretty Piazza dei Signori is the 
square at the heart of Treviso

Travel tip:

For many visitors to Italy, Treviso is no more than the name of the airport at which they might land en route to Venice, yet it is an attractive city worth visiting in its own right, rebuilt and faithfully restored after the damage suffered in two world wars. Canals are a feature of the urban landscape – not on the scale of Venice but significant nonetheless – and the Sile river blesses the city with another stretch of attractive waterway, lined with weeping willows. The arcaded streets have an air of refinement and prosperity and there are plenty of restaurants, as well as bars serving prosecco from a number of vineyards. The prime growing area for prosecco grapes in Valdobbiadene is only 40km (25 miles) away to the northeast. Treviso’s main sights include its historic squares, medieval walls, unique fountains, and art-filled museums.  Piazza dei Signori is the heart of Treviso’s historic centre, a 13th-century square lined with elegant cafés, boutiques, and civic buildings.  The city’s well-preserved walls date back to the 15th century and once protected the city. The Porta San Tomaso entrance to the city is a grand marble city gate from the 16th century, adorned with ornate carvings and the winged lion of Venice.

Hotels in Treviso from Hotels.com

The National Theatre in Rijeka, where the
architecture bears a heavy Italian influence

Travel tip:

Rijeka is a vibrant port city on Croatia’s northern Adriatic coast, yet between 1924 to 1947, it was known as Fiume and part of the Kingdom of Italy. During this period, Italian was the official language, and many public buildings, schools, and cultural institutions reflected Italian styles and values. Architecture flourished, with neoclassical and rationalist designs still visible today, especially in the city centre, while the Italian community thrived, contributing to Rijeka’s literary, musical, and culinary traditions. After World War II, the city was ceded to Yugoslavia, and many Italians left or were expelled. Yet traces of Italian heritage remain in street names and inscriptions, while many buildings still bear Italian influence.  The city’s dual identity is reflected in its cuisine, blending Mediterranean and Central European flavours.

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Also on this day: 

The minister who persuaded Italy to switch sides in WW1

A poet who drew inspiration from the landscapes of the Veneto

How Gabriele d’Annunzio influenced Mussolini

Also on this day:

1808: The birth of record-breaking Palio jockey Francesco Bianchini

1858: The birth of actress Eleonora Duse

1938: The birth of world champion boxer Alessando Mazzinghi

1941: The birth of bass-baritone star Ruggero Raimondi

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2 October

Antonio Di Pietro – magistrate and politician

Former policeman who led mani pulite corruption investigations

The politician and former magistrate Antonio Di Pietro, who uncovered wide-ranging corruption in the Italian government in a scandal that changed the landscape of Italian politics, was born on this day in 1950 in Molise.  Di Pietro was the lead prosecutor in the so-called mani pulite - clean hands - trials in the early 1990s, which led to many politicians and businessmen being indicted and to the collapse of the traditional Socialist and Christian Democratic parties.  The Christian Democrats had been the dominant force in Italian politics since the formation of the Italian Republic at the end of the World War Two but after several high-profile arrests, resignations and poor results in the 1992 general election and 1993 local elections the party was disbanded in 1994.  The Italian Socialist Party was dissolved in the same year after the resignation of party secretary and former prime minister Bettino Craxi. Read more…

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Nino Bixio – soldier and politician

Patriotic general helped to unify Italy

A leading personality during the unification of Italy, Nino Bixio was born Gerolamo Bixio on this day in 1821 in Genoa.  Bixio helped to organise Giuseppe Garibaldi’s Expedition of the Thousand in 1860 against the Kingdom of the two Sicilies, and he took part in the capture of Rome in 1870, which completed the unification process.  Bixio’s parents had made him join the navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia, with whom he served until returning to Italy in 1846, when he joined Giovine Italia, a political movement founded by Giuseppe Mazzini, who had written to Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, asking him to unite and lead Italy.  The following year in Genoa, Bixio is said to have seized the bridle of Charles Albert’s horse and cried out: “Pass the Ticino, Sire, and we are all with you” - a reference to the Ticino river, which his army would have to cross in order to drive out the Austrians in northern Italy.  Read more…

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Saint Charles Borromeo

Great reformer earned appreciation after his death

Charles (Carlo) Borromeo, a leading Catholic figure who led the movement to combat the spread of Protestantism, was born on this day in Milan in 1538.  Part of the noble Borromeo family, he became a Cardinal and brought in many reforms to benefit the Church, which made him unpopular at the time. But he was held in high regard after his death and was quickly made a saint by Pope Paul V.  Borromeo was born at the Castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, near Milan. His father was Count of Arona and his mother was part of the Medici family.  When his uncle, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Medici became Pope Pius IV in 1559, Borromeo was brought to Rome and given a post in the Vatican.  The following year the Pope made him a Cardinal and asked him to organise the last session of the Council of Trent, which was being held in Trento to reform the Church and counter the spread of Protestantism.  Read more…

Joe Profaci - Mafia boss

Sicilian who influenced profile of Mario Puzo’s Godfather

The Mafia boss Giuseppe ‘Joe’ Profaci, one of the real-life gangsters who influenced the author Mario Puzo as he created the character of his fictional mob boss Vito Corleone in The Godfather, was born in Villabate in Sicily on this day in 1897.  It was after studying Profaci’s crime career that Puzo decided that Corleone, who is thought to have been based largely on one of Profaci's fellow mob bosses, Carlo Gambino, should hide his criminal activities behind his ‘legitimate’ identity as an olive oil importer, mirroring what Profaci did in real life in New York.  Profaci is believed to have started importing olive oil before he became heavily involved in crime but chose to keep the business going as one of a network of legitimate companies, so that he could mask the proceeds of his crime empire and satisfy the authorities that he was paying his taxes.  Read more…

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

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--popularly but not exclusively associated with the mafia--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 mobilization 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.  The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics provides a comprehensive look at the political life of one of Europe's most exciting and turbulent democracies.

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.

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1 October

NEW - Milly Carlucci - TV host

Former actress is the face of Ballando con le Stelle

The television host and former actress Milly Carlucci was born on this day in 1954 in Sulmona, a picturesque town in central Abruzzo, about 52km (32 miles) inland from the coastal city of Pescara.  With a career spanning nearly five decades, Carlucci has been a well known and popular personality on Italian variety television since the late 1970s, establishing a reputation for elegance and professionalism and a list of credits that grew rapidly through the ‘80s and ‘90s.  But it is in her current and most enduring role, as the presenter of the pro-celebrity dance contest Ballando con le Stelle - the Italian version of the US hit Dancing with the Stars and the UK’s Strictly Come Dancing - that she has established herself as a giant of small-screen entertainment.  Having fronted the show from its inception in 2005, Carlucci is also its artistic director and project manager.  Read more… 

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Walter Mazzarri - football coach

Former Watford manager with outstanding record in Italy

The football coach Walter Mazzarri, whose disappointing spell in English football as Watford manager contrasts with a fine record as a coach in his native Italy, was born on this day in 1961 in San Vincenzo, a resort on the coast of Tuscany.  Mazzarri won promotion to Serie A with his local club Livorno and kept tiny Calabrian team Reggina in Serie A against the odds for three consecutive seasons, on the last occasion despite an 11-point deduction for involvement in an alleged match-fixing scandal.  He subsequently had two seasons as coach of Sampdoria, qualifying for the UEFA Cup by finishing sixth in the first of those campaigns and then reaching the final of the Coppa Italia. After that he was appointed head coach of Napoli, guiding them to sixth - their best Serie A finish for 25 years.  Read more…

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Leonello d’Este - Marquis of Ferrara

Ruler who spent money on the arts and education

Leonello d’Este, who is remembered as a dedicated patron of the arts, literature and culture, died on this day in 1450 in Ferrara.  Leonello was Marquis of Ferrara and Duke of Modena and Reggio Emilia from 1441 to 1450.  An illegitimate son of Niccolo III d’Este, Leonello was favoured by his father as his successor ahead of his legitimate children.  As he was well educated and popular with the common people, he was considered by his father to be the most suitable heir.  During his rule over Ferrara, Leonello transformed the city and reformed the University of Ferrara, actions which influenced the political and artistic achievements of his successors.  Leonello was tutored by Guarino Veronese, who instructed him on the traits of a desirable ruler and how to govern. Veronese was later appointed as a professor at the University of Ferrara.  Read more…

Attilio Pavesi - Olympic cycling champion

Rider from Emilia-Romagna won Italy's first road racing gold 

Attilio Pavesi, the first winner of an individual Olympic gold medal in Italian cycling history, was born on this day in 1910 in the small town of Caorso in Emilia-Romagna.  At the Los Angeles Olympics of 1932, Pavesi won the individual road race and picked up a second gold medal as a member of the Italian quartet that won the team classification in the same race.  Italy had already won gold medals for the team pursuit in track cycling - indeed, they won that title for the fourth time in a row in 1932 - but had not enjoyed success on the road before Pavesi's triumph.  Pavesi, the last of 11 children born to Angelo, a poultry farmer, and his wife Maria, was a natural all-round sportsman, excelling at running, long jump, swimming, diving, gymnastics and football as he grew up.  He was such a strong swimmer he once saved a boy from drowning in a local river.   Read more…

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Sylvano Bussotti – composer, opera director and writer

Renaissance man with many strings to his bow

The multi-talented Sylvano Bussotti, a leading composer who was part of Italy’s avant-garde movement, was born on this day in 1931 in Florence.  Bussotti was also a painter, set and costume designer, opera director and writer. His operas and ballets were performed at the most prestigious theatres in Italy and abroad and he served as artistic director of La Fenice in Venice, the Puccini festival in Tuscany and the music section of the Venice Biennale.  Before he was five years old, Bussotti was learning to play the violin and he soon became a prodigy. He was also introduced to painting early in his life by his older brother and uncle.  At the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, he studied harmony and counterpoint and learnt the piano, but he was unable to complete his studies and receive any official qualifications because of the start of World War II. Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, edited by Zygmunt G Barański 

This collection of essays provides a comprehensive account of the culture of modern Italy. Contributions focus on a wide range of political, historical and cultural questions. The volume provides information and analysis on such topics as regionalism, the growth of a national language, social and political cultures, the role of intellectuals, the Church, the left, feminism, the separatist movements, organised crime, literature, art, design, fashion, the mass media, and music. While offering a thorough history of Italian cultural movements, political trends and literary texts over the last century and a half, the volume also examines the cultural and political situation in Italy today and suggests possible future directions in which the country might move. Each essay contains suggestions for further reading on the topics covered. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture is an invaluable source of materials for courses on all aspects of modern Italy.

Zygmunt G Barański is Emeritus Professor of Romance Languages & Literatures with the University of Notre Dame and the Professor of Italian Emeritus with the University of Cambridge. 

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Milly Carlucci - TV host

Former actress is the face of Ballando con le Stelle

Milly Carlucci is host and artistic director of the
hit Italian TV show Ballando con le Stelle

The television host and former actress Milly Carlucci was born on this day in 1954 in Sulmona, a picturesque town in central Abruzzo, about 52km (32 miles) inland from the coastal city of Pescara.

With a career spanning nearly five decades, Carlucci has been a well-known and popular personality on Italian television since the late 1970s, establishing a reputation for elegance and professionalism and a list of credits that grew rapidly through the ‘80s and ‘90s.

But it is in her current and most enduring role, as the presenter of the pro-celebrity dance contest Ballando con le Stelle - the Italian version of the US hit Dancing with the Stars and the UK’s Strictly Come Dancing - that she has established herself as a giant of small-screen entertainment.

Having fronted the show from its inception in 2005, Carlucci is also its artistic director and project manager. Now into its 20th season, Ballando con le Stelle has become a flagship for the state television network Rai and is currently its longest-running variety show still on air.

Born Camilla Patrizia Carlucci, she was brought up in a household in which discipline was a virtue instilled in her from an early age. Her father, Luigi Carlucci, reached the rank of General in the Italian Army. Her mother, Maria, was known for her cultural refinement and interest in the arts, which helped nurture Milly’s creative instincts.

Carlucci on the set of the 2025
edition of Ballando con le Stelle

The Carlucci family moved frequently due to her father’s military postings, and Milly spent much of her childhood in Udine, in the northwest of the country, before settling in Rome. 

She attended the Terenzio Mamiani high school in Rome’s Prati district, where he shone in her studies but also revealed a talent for roller skating, winning an Italian championship as a member of the successful Skating Folgore Roma team.

Carlucci enrolled at Sapienza University of Rome to study architecture, but her interest in performance and natural ability to command a stage gradually eclipsed her academic pursuits. Articulate as well as elegant, in 1972 she entered and won the Miss Teenager Italy beauty contest.

This victory opened doors into modelling and television. She also studied classical dance and took part in amateur theatre productions, honing the stagecraft and composure that would become her trademarks. 

At times required to join the ranks of the showgirls that at the time were ever-present backdrop in Italian variety shows, Carlucci soon began to land presenting roles, first at the local Rome television station, GBR, and then with Rai, for whom she fronted various light entertainment shows including the Italian version of Jeux Sans Frontières. It was this show that made her famous, and she presented it for four seasons.

Carlucci enjoyed a brief career
as a pop singer in the 1980s

For a while, Carlucci had a parallel career in acting, appearing in popular Italian films such as The Taming of the Scoundrel (1980), Pappa e ciccia (1983), and Tomorrow I'm Getting Married (1984). Her role as Urania in The Adventures of Hercules (1985) further cemented her status as a screen favourite.

Blessed also with a beautiful singing voice, she was briefly a recording artist as well, releasing a number of pop singles and two albums in the 1980s.

However, it was television hosting that has truly defined Carlucci’s legacy. Apart from a few years in the 1980s when she worked for Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest networks, she has been a fixture on Rai for the best part of five decades, with a long list of successes from the popular game show Scommettiamo che...? (Shall we bet that…?), which she co-hosted with the late Fabrizio Frizzi, to the more recent Il cantante mascherato, the Italian version of The Masked Singer.

She has also become established as Rai’s go-to host for special events in the entertainment world. Having proved herself on big occasions such as the Sanremo Italian Song Festival, on which she was a co-host with Pippo Baudo in 1992, she was the long-running host of the annual Pavarotti & Friends concerts (1995 to 2003), in which the great operatic tenor performed in duets with famous guests. She hosted the David di Donatello film awards in 1997 and 1998, as well as 17 editions of the prestigious Ischia International Journalism Award.

Milly Carlucci at the funeral of her friend,
Luciano Pavarotti, in Modena in 2007

Yet nothing has come close to the success of Ballando con le Stelle, in which celebrities and sports stars dance with professional partners over 12 episodes, with couples marked by judges in the studio and by the viewing public, and eliminated one-by-one until a champion emerges at the end of the series.

Carlucci has been the host for every series so far, until this year alongside co-host Paolo Belli, whose Big Band provides the musicians. Belli is starring in the 2025 edition as a competitor. The panel of judges includes the fashion and set designer Guillermo Mariotto, whom Carlucci has known since the 1990s and was one of the original panel in 2005. The head judge since 2007 has been Glasgow-born Carolyn Smyth, who has been a dance teacher based in Italy since 1982. 

Beyond entertainment, Carlucci has also been active in humanitarian work. In 1996, she was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, using her platform to advocate for children’s rights and global development initiatives.

She has been married since 1985 to engineer Angelo Donati, with whom she has two children. Her two younger sisters, Gabriella and Anna Carlucci, have also had careers in the entertainment industry, Gabriella as a presenter, Anna as an actress, writer and director.

Gabriella also served for 12 years as a member of the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian parliament, representing Puglia.

Sulmona's elegant Piazza Garibaldi includes a
section of the town's 13th-century aqueduct 

Travel tip:

Nestled in the heart of Abruzzo, Sulmona is an historic town renowned for its cultural heritage, dramatic mountain backdrop, and artisanal traditions. Surrounded by the Majella National Park, it offers sweeping views of rugged peaks and verdant valleys. The town’s origins trace back to Roman times, its history visible in ancient Roman ruins, medieval churches, and Renaissance palaces. The town’s centerpiece is the elegant Piazza Garibaldi, framed by arcades and overlooked by an imposing aqueduct built in the 13th century. Nearby, the Gothic-style Church of Santa Maria della Tomba and the Palazzo Annunziata showcase centuries of architectural evolution, the palace a rare example of early Renaissance architecture in Sulmona that survived the earthquake of 1706.  Sulmona is famously the birthplace of the Roman poet Ovid, whose legacy is honoured with a statue and museum. Equally famous is its production of confetti - sugar-coated almonds crafted into elaborate floral arrangements, an Italian  confectionery tradition that dates back to the 15th century. 

Look for accommodation in Sulmona with Expedia

Its tree-lined boulevards give Rome's Prati
district something of a Parisian feel

Travel tip:

Carlucci went to school in the Prati district of Rome, close to the Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica, which is now an affluent residential neighbourhood that is also popular with tourists for offering a relatively quiet place to stay that still provides easy access to the city’s historical centre. It has many authentic Roman trattorie as well as a host of bars and pubs.  Located just north of the Vatican and west of the Tiber River, the area was developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was designed with wide boulevards and a grid layout - distinct from the winding alleys of Rome’s historic centre. This gives Prati a Parisian feel, its streets lined with stately buildings and Art Nouveau facades. Its main thoroughfare, Via Cola di Rienzo, is a hub for upscale shopping, featuring Italian fashion boutiques, gourmet food shops, and stylish cafés. Prati is also the home of the vast Palazzo di Giustizia in Piazza Cavour that houses the Supreme Court.

Stay in the Prati district with Hotels.com

More reading:

Pippo Baudo - record-breaking host of Sanremo song contest 

How Maria De Filippi became one of the most popular faces on Italian TV

The former actress who became the face of Sunday afternoons

Also on this day:

1450: The death of Leonello d’Este, Marquis of Ferrara

1910: The birth of Olympic cycling champion Attilio Pavesi

1931: The birth of composer and avant-garde artist Sylvano Bussotti

1961: The birth of football coach Walter Mazzarri

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30 September

Massimo Bottura - chef and food activist

Leading restaurateur who set up project to feed hungry

The chef and restaurateur Massimo Bottura, whose Osteria Francescana in his hometown of Modena has twice been named as the world’s best restaurant, was born on this day in 1962.  Bottura is also the founder, in partnership with his American-born wife, the former actress and artist Lara Gilmore, of Food for Soul, a non-profit organisation that sets out to combat waste and feed the hungry through a network of refectories in major cities around the world.  The Food for Soul project was launched in 2015 with a refettorio in Greco, a poor district of northern Milan, and has expanded to the extent that it now numbers seven similar dining rooms for the hungry and homeless, in London, Paris and Rio de Janeiro as well as at three other locations in Italy.  As a young man, Bottura’s passions were food and football. Read more…

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Pierina Legnani - ballerina

Italian dancer who conquered St Petersburg

The ballerina Pierina Legnani, considered by many ballet historians to be one of the greatest dancers in history, was born on this day in 1863 in Milan.  Legnani's legacy was the 32-turn fouetté en tournant in which the dancer essentially spins on the point of one foot for 32 revolutions while maintaining perfect balance.  No ballerina had completed 32 turns before Legnani, who is said to have tried it out at the Alhambra Theatre in London before introducing the move to the wider world in 1893 on her debut at the Imperial Ballet in St Petersburg in Russia, where she was performing in the title role of Cinderella.  It came in the final act on the night of the premiere and caused a sensation, with many critics hailing her as the supreme ballerina of her generation.  Her feat set a new standard for future ballerinas as a yardstick of strength and technique.  Read more…

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Angelo Cerica - Carabinieri general

First job was to arrest Mussolini

General Angelo Cerica, the police commander tasked with arresting the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini after he was deposed as party leader in 1943, was born on this day in 1885 in Alatri, in the Ciociaria region of Lazio, about 90km (56 miles) south of Rome.  Mussolini was arrested on July 25 as he left his regular meeting with the King, Vittorio Emanuele III, the day after the Fascist Grand Council had voted to remove him from power.  The monarch had informed him that General Pietro Badoglio, former chief of staff of the Italian army, would be replacing him as prime minister.  Cerica had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Carabinieri, Italy’s paramilitary second police force, only two days previously, succeeding General Azolino Hazon, who had been killed in a bombing raid.  He was hand-picked for the job by General Vittorio Ambrosio. Read more… 

Monica Bellucci - actress and model

Movie actress who became face of Dolce & Gabbana

The actress and model Monica Bellucci, who has appeared in more than 60 films in a career that began in 1990, was born on this day in 1964 in Città di Castello in Umbria.  Bellucci, who is associated with Dolce & Gabbana and Dior perfumes, began modelling to help fund her studies at the University of Perugia, where she studied law with ambitions of a career in the legal profession.  But she was quickly brought to the attention of the major model agencies in Milan and soon realised she had the potential to follow a much different career.  Bellucci, whose father Pasquale worked for a transport company, soon began to attract big-name clients in Paris and New York as well as Italy, but decided not long into her modelling career that she would take acting lessons.  She claimed to have been inspired by watching the Italian female movie icons Claudia Cardinale and Sophia Loren. Read more…

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Girolamo Mercuriale – physician

Doctor went from hero to villain and back again

Girolamo Mercuriale, who is believed to have written the first book about sports medicine and one of the first books about the benefits of physical exercise, was born on this day in 1530 in Forlì.  He published his most famous book, De Arte Gymnastica, in 1569 in Venice, having studied Greek and Roman medical literature and learnt about the attitude of athletes in ancient times to diet, exercise and hygiene.  Girolamo was the son of a doctor, Giovanni Mercuriale, and he was sent to Bologna, Padua and Venice to study medicine. After receiving his doctorate in philosophy and medicine in 1555 in Venice he went to Rome on a political mission, where he had access to many of the important libraries housing classical manuscripts.  His book is believed to be the first to explain the principles of physical therapy, now known as physiotherapy.  Read more…

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Book of the day: Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef, by Massimo Bottura

Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef is a tribute to three-Michelin star restaurant, Osteria Francescana and the 25-year career of its chef, Massimo Bottura, 'the Jimi Hendrix of Italian chefs'. Voted No 1 in the San Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2016.  Osteria Francescana - in Modena - is Italy's most celebrated restaurant. At Osteria Francescana, chef Bottura  takes inspiration from contemporary art to create highly innovative dishes that play with Italian culinary traditions.  Divided into four chapters, each one dealing with a different period, the book features 50 recipes and accompanying texts explaining Bottura's inspiration, ingredients and techniques. Illustrated with photography by Stefano Graziani and Carlo Benvenuto, Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef is the first book from Bottura - the leading figure in modern Italian gastronomy.

Massimo Bottura is celebrated worldwide for communicating personal, cultural and political stories through his dishes while questioning traditions in Italian cooking. By tearing recipes apart, then examining, reevaluating and re-building them, Bottura aims to catapult the Italian Kitchen into the future.

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