Fire at Teatro di San Carlo

Royal theatre reopens quickly after blaze 

The damage wreaked by the 1816 fire, captured in a
painting by an unknown artist

Fire broke out during a dress rehearsal for a ballet at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples on this day in 1816.

The flames spread quickly, destroying a large part of the building in less than an hour.

The external walls were the only things left standing, but on the orders of Ferdinand IV, King of Naples, the prestigious theatre was rebuilt at once.

It was reconstructed following designs drawn up by architect Antonio Niccolini for a horseshoe-shaped auditorium with 1,444 seats. A stunning fresco was painted in the centre of the ceiling above the auditorium depicting a classical subject, Apollo presenting to Minerva the greatest poets of the world.

The rebuilding work took just ten months to complete and the theatre reopened to the public in January 1817.

Teatro di San Carlo had opened for the first time in 1737, way ahead of Teatro alla Scala in Milan and La Fenice in Venice.

Gioachino Rossini is among the former
artistic directors at San Carlo

Built in Via San Carlo close to Piazza Plebiscito, the main square in Naples, Teatro di San Carlo had quickly become one of the most important opera houses in Europe, known for its excellent productions.

The original theatre was designed by Giovanni Antonio Medrano for the Bourbon King of Naples, Charles I, and took only eight months to build.

The official inauguration was on the King’s saint’s day, the festival of San Carlo, on the evening of November 4. There was a performance of Achille in Sciro by Pietro Metastasio with music by Domenico Sarro, who also conducted the orchestra for the music for two ballets.

This was 41 years before La Scala and 55 years before La Fenice opened. San Carlo is now believed to be one of the oldest remaining opera houses in the world, if not the oldest.

Both Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti served as artistic directors at San Carlo and the world premieres of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Rossini’s Mosè were performed there.

During the Second World War the theatre was damaged by bombs but after the liberation of Naples in 1943 it was repaired and was able to reopen.

Between 2008 and 2009 a major refurbishment was carried out but the theatre reopened again to the public in 2010.

Inside Teatro di San Carlo, looking down
from above the royal box

Travel tip:

In the magnificent auditorium, the focal point is the royal box surmounted by the crown of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Opera enthusiasts can take a guided tour of the theatre and see the foyers, the auditorium, the boxes and the royal box. Tours run at 10.30, 11.30, 12.30, 14.30, 15.30 and 16.30 between Monday and Saturday and at 10.30, 11.30 and 12.30 on Sundays. Booking is recommended.

Naples accomodation by Booking.com

Travel Tip:

Close to Teatro di San Carlo in the centre of ‘royal’ Naples, there are many other sights, such as Galleria Umberto I, Caffè Gambrinus, the church of San Francesco di Paola and Palazzo Reale, that are all well worth visiting.


More reading:

The 1996 fire that destroyed La Fenice opera house in Venice

How Pietro Metastasio progressed from street entertainer to renowned librettist

Donizetti - the musical genius born in a darkened basement

Also on this day:

1539: The death of influential marchioness Isabella d’Este

1571: The death of painter Benvenuto Cellini

1912: The birth of poet Antonia Pozzi

1960: The birth of football referee Pierluigi Collina

(Painting: Rossini portrait by Vincenzo Camuccini, Museo del Teatro alla Scala in Milan) 

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Franco Zeffirelli – film director

Shakespeare adaptations made director a household name

Franco Zeffirelli excelled in adapting
classic plays and operas for the big screen

The film, opera and television director Franco Zeffirelli was born on this day in Florence in 1923.

He is best known for his adaptations of Shakespeare plays for the big screen, notably The Taming of the Shrew (1967), with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Hamlet (1990) with Mel Gibson. 

Boldly, he cast two teenagers in the title roles of Romeo and Juliet and filmed the tragedy against the backdrop of 15th century buildings in Serravalle in the Veneto region. His film became the standard adaptation of the play and has been shown to thousands of students over the years.

His later films include Jane Eyre (1996) and Tea with Mussolini (1999), while he directed several adaptations of operas for the cinema, including I Pagliacci (1981), Cavalleria rusticana (1982), Otello (1986), and La bohème (2008). 

Zeffirelli's name was, in fact, an invention, and a misspelled one to boot.

He was the child of Alaide Garosi, a fashion designer, as a result of an affair with a wool and silk dealer, Ottorino Corsi. Since both his parents were married to other partners, his registered surname could neither be Garosi or Corsi. Instead, his mother intended him to be registered as Zeffiretti - the Italian for 'little breezes' - in a reference to a line in Mozart's opera, Idomeneo. However, it was misspelled in the register and he became Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli.

Zeffirelli worked with Luchino Visconti
in his early days of film direction

Alaide died when Franco was six and he subsequently was looked after within expatriate English community in Florence, an experience that later inspired his film Tea with Mussolini, which was semi-autobiographical.

Zeffirelli studied art and architecture at Florence University before fighting as a partisan during the Second World War.

After the war he worked as a scenic painter in Florence until he was hired by Luchino Visconti, initially as an actor and stage director in his theatre company, and subsequently as assistant director on his 1948 film La terra trema (The Earth Trembles). He also worked with directors Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini in Italy's booming post-war cinema industry.

His focus then switched more to stage design, particularly for opera. His first major design for opera was a 1952-53 production of Gioachino Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri for La Scala in Milan. He maintained his link with opera in theatrical and arena settings throughout his career, working on notable productions of La traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Bohème, Tosca, Falstaff, and Carmen. He became a friend of Maria Callas, eventually directing her in La Traviata in America and in Tosca at the Royal Opera House in London, with Tito Gobbi.

A 17-year-old Olivia Hussey in Zeffirelli's Romeo and
Juliet, which established the director's reputation

The Taming of the Shrew was Zeffirelli's first film as director in 1967. It was originally planned that Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni would take the starring roles but to help fund production it was decided that Taylor and Burton would give the film a higher profile. 

Zeffirelli's major breakthrough came the year after with Romeo and Juliet (1968), which earned $14.5 million dollars at the box office in the United States and made Zeffirelli's name, earning him a nomination for Best Director at the Oscars, although at the same time it set a standard that some critics believe he never quite met in his subsequent work, for all his success. 

As well as Shakespeare adaptations, Zeffirelli made a number of films with religious themes, such as a life of St. Francis of Assisi entitled Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972), then his TV mini-series Jesus of Nazareth (1977), although these attracted criticism from some religious groups for what they perceived as the blasphemous representation of biblical figures. 

Zeffirelli, who received the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1977, is a former senator for the Forza Italia political party and received an honorary knighthood in Britain in 2004. 

UPDATE: Franco Zeffirelli died in Rome in June 2019 at the age of 96.

The Florence floods of 1966 did huge damage
to precious art treasures

Travel tip:

The University of Florence can trace its origins back to the 14th century, but the modern University, where Zeffirelli studied, dates back to 1859, when a number of higher studies institutions were grouped together. When his native Florence was flooded in the 1960s, causing millions of pounds worth of damage to precious art and literary treasures and the buildings housing them, Zeffirelli made a documentary film, Florence: Days of Destruction, to raise funds for the disaster appeal.

Book your stay in Florence with Booking.com

A typical Serravalle palace

Travel tip:

Serravalle, where Zeffirelli filmed Romeo and Juliet, was combined with the town of Ceneda nearby and renamed Vittorio in 1866 in honour of King Vittorio Emanuele II. After the last decisive battle of the First World War had taken place nearby, Vittorio was renamed Vittorio Veneto. The small town of Serravalle is the more picturesque of the two places that make up Vittorio Veneto and its fine 15th century palazzi and pretty arcaded streets made a wonderful backdrop for Zeffirelli’s film.  

Hotels in Serravalle by Booking.com



More reading:

Why Luchino Visconti was called 'the aristocrat of Italian cinema'

The genius of Vittorio De Sica

Sophia Loren - glamorous star is one of just three Italian Oscar-winning actors

Also on this day:

1602: The birth of Baroque painter Michelangelo Cerquozzi

1799: The death of biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani, pioneer of artificial insemination

1937: The birth of Vittorio Emanuele, heir to the last King of Italy

1944: The birth of actress and singer Claudia Mori

(Picture credits: Zeffirelli in 2008 by Alexey Yushenkov; Serravalle palace by Paolo Steffan; via Wikimedia Commons)

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Lateran Treaty

How the Vatican became an independent state inside Italy 

The boundary map of the Vatican City as it appeared
in the Lateran Treaty, signed on February 11, 1929

An agreement between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See, recognising the Vatican as an independent state within Italy, was signed on this day in 1929.

The Lateran Treaty settled what had been known as ‘The Roman Question’, a dispute regarding the power of the Popes as rulers of civil territory within a united Italy.

The treaty is named after the Lateran Palace where the agreement was signed by prime minister Benito Mussolini on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III and Cardinal Pietro Gasparri on behalf of Pope Pius XI.

The Italian parliament ratified the treaty on June 7, 1929. Although Italy was then under a Fascist government, the succeeding democratic governments have all upheld the treaty.

The Vatican was officially recognised as an independent state, with the Pope as an independent sovereign ruling within Vatican City. The state covers approximately 40 hectares (100 acres) of land.

The papacy recognised the state of Italy with Rome as its capital, giving it a special character as ‘the centre of the catholic world and a place of pilgrimage.’

The Lateran Palace, where the agreement recognising
the Vatican City as an independent state was signed

The Prime Minister at the time, Benito Mussolini, agreed to give the church financial support in return for public support from the Pope.

In 1947 the Lateran Treaty was incorporated into the new, democratic Italian constitution.

During the Risorgimento, the struggle to unite Italy in the 19th century, the Papal States had resisted being incorporated into the new nation. Italian troops had invaded the Romagna in 1860 and the rest of the Papal States, including Rome, were occupied by the army in 1870.

For the next 60 years, relations between the Papacy and the Government were hostile and the status of the Pope had become known as ‘The Roman Question’.

Travel Tip:

The Lateran Palace was the main papal residence in Rome between the fourth and 14th centuries. It is in Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, next to the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, the first Christian Basilica in Rome and now the Cathedral Church of the city. Some distance away from the Vatican, the palace is now an extraterritorial property of the Holy See, with similar rights to a foreign embassy.

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The Via della Conciliazione, built on the orders of Mussolini

Travel tip:

Via della Conciliazione, the wide avenue along which visitors approach Saint Peter’s Basilica from Castel Sant’Angelo, was built on the orders of Mussolini as a symbol of reconciliation beween the Holy See and the Italian state after the Lateran Treaty was signed. Roughly 500 metres long, the vast colonnaded street designed by Marcello Piacentini was intended to link the Vatican to the heart of Rome. At the time it had the opposite effect as many buildings were demolished and residents had to be displaced.


More reading:

How Marcello Piacentini's architectural designs reflected Fascist ideals

Victor Emmanuel III abdicates

Soldiers enter Rome in the final act of unification

Also on this day:

1791: The birth of architect Louis Visconti, who designed Napoleon's tomb in Paris

1881: The birth of Futurist artist Carlo Carrà

1917: The birth of film director Giueppe De Santis

1948: The birth of footballer Carlo Sartori

1995: The birth of singer Gianluca Ginoble

(Picture credits: Photo: Lateran Palace by MarkusMark; Via della Conciliazione by Martin Falbisoner; via Wikimedia Commons)

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Ernesto Teodoro Moneta – Nobel Prize winner

Supporter of Garibaldi was also an ‘apostle for peace’

Ernesto Teodoro Moneta

Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, who was at times both a soldier and a pacifist, died on this day in 1918.

Moneta was only 15 when he was involved in the Five Days of Milan uprising against the Austrians in 1848, but in later life he became a peace activist.

He won the Nobel Peace prize in 1907, but publicly supported Italy’s entry into the First World War in 1915. On the Nobel Prize official website he is described as ‘a militant pacifist’.

Moneta was born in 1833 to aristocratic parents in Milan. He fought next to his father to defend his family home during the revolt against the Austrians and then went on to attend the military academy in Ivrea.

In 1859 Moneta joined Garibaldi’s Expedition of the Thousand and fought in the Italian army against the Austrians in 1866.

He then seemed to become disillusioned with the struggle for Italian unification and cut short what had been a promising military career.

For nearly 30 years Moneta was editor of the Milan democratic newspaper, Il Secolo. Through the columns of his newspaper he campaigned vigorously for reforms to the army which would strengthen it and reduce waste and inefficiency.

During this time Moneta also wrote his work Wars, Insurrection and Peace in the 19th Century, in which he describes the development of the international peace movement.

He wrote articles for pamphlets and periodicals and gave lectures campaigning for peace. In 1887 he founded the Lombard Association for Peace and Arbitration, which called for disarmament.

Alongside Louis Renault, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1907.

But Moneta’s Italian patriotism led him to support the Italian conquest of Libya in 1912 and later publicly express his agreement with Italy’s entry into the First World War.

Travel tip:

There is a monument to Moneta in the Porta Venezia Gardens in Milan. The inscription reads: ‘Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, garibaldine, thinker, journalist, apostle of peace among free people.’  The gardens are the largest public park in the city and a rare area of greenery in Milan. They are next to the Bastioni di Porta Venezia, part of the walls built to defend Milan in the 16th century.

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The Battle of the Oranges in Ivrea, in which fighting
can be particularly intense. 

Travel tip:

Ivrea, where Moneta attended a military academy, is a town in the province of Turin in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. It has a 14th century castle and the ruins of a first century Roman theatre that would have been able to hold 10,000 spectators. During the annual carnival before Easter, Ivrea stages the Battle of the Oranges, where teams of locals on foot throw oranges at teams riding in carts.

Ivrea hotels from Booking.com



More reading:

Garibaldi and the Expedition of the Thousand

How the people of Milan rose up against the Austrians in the Five Days of Milan

Grazia Deledda - the first Italian woman to win a Nobel Prize

Also on this day:

1482: The death of sculptor Luca della Robbia

1791: The birth of painter Francesco Hayez

1821: The birth of painter Roberto Bompiani

1944: The birth of author and politician Raffaele Lauro

1953: The founding of energy giant ENI

1966: The birth of footballer Andrea Silenzi

(Picture credit: Battle of the Oranges by Gio via Wikimedia Commons)

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Pope Gregory XV

Legally-trained pontiff was against witchcraft and for secret ballots

Gian Lorenzo Bernini's marble bust of
Gregory XV, which he sculpted in 1621

Gregory XV, who was christened Alessandro Ludovisi, became Pope on this day in 1621.

He was the last Pope to issue a papal ordinance against witchcraft with his ‘Declaration against Magicians and Witches’, put out in March 1623.

He was already 67 years of age and in a weak state of health when he was chosen as Pope and relied heavily on his 25-year-old nephew, Ludovico Ludovisi, to assist him in his duties.

Born in Bologna in 1554, the young Alessandro Ludovisi was educated at a Jesuit college in Rome before going to Bologna University to study law.

He worked in various roles for the church until he was appointed Archbishop of Bologna in 1612, having at some stage been ordained.

In 1616 he was sent by Pope Paul V to mediate between Charles Emmanuel 1, Duke of Savoy and Philip III of Spain, who were involved in a dispute. The Pope elevated him to the rank of Cardinal in the same year.

He went to Rome after the death of Pope Paul V to take part in the conclave. He was chosen as Pope on February 9, 1621, the last Pope to be elected by acclamation.

His nephew, Ludovico, was made a cardinal and he used his energy and talents to benefit the Church during Gregory’s pontificate.

Gregory changed the way Popes were elected, bringing in the method of secret ballot for future papal conclaves.

He also made the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius Loyola, a saint.

After Gregory’s death in 1623 he was buried in the Church of Sant’Ignazio in Rome.

The Church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome, where Pope
Gregory XV and his nephew are buried

Travel tip:

Pope Gregory XV and his nephew, Cardinal Ludovisi, are both buried in a chapel of the Church of Sant’Ignazio in Campo Marzio in Rome, which they built. After Ignatius Loyola had been made a Saint in 1622, Pope Gregory XV had suggested to his nephew that a new church dedicated to the founder of the Jesuits should be erected next to the Jesuit College he had attended as a child.

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Travel tip:

Alessandro Ludovisi studied law at Bologna University, which was founded in 1088 and is the oldest university in the world. The oldest surviving building, the Archiginnasio, is now a library, open Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm, and on Saturdays from 9am to 2pm. It is just a short walk from Piazza Maggiore and the Basilica di San Petronio in the centre of the city.

Try Booking.com for Bologna hotels


More reading:

The papal election that tore apart the Roman Catholic Church

John II - the first pope to take a regnal name

The Borgia pope who married off children to secure power

Also on this day:

1770: The birth of classical guitar composer Ferdinando Carulli

1891: The birth of politician Pietro Nenni

1953: The birth of world boxing champion Vito Antuofermo

1953: The birth of tragic missionary Ezechiele Ramin

(Picture credit: Church of Sant'Ignazio by Lalupa via Wikimedia Commons)

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Revolt in Padua

When students and citizens joined forces against their oppressors 

The Caffè Pedrocchi in Padua witnessed fighting
in the 1848 uprising against the Austrians

An uprising against the Austrian occupying forces, when students and ordinary citizens fought side by side, took place on this day in Padua in 1848.

A street is now named Via VIII Febbraio to commemorate the location of the struggle between the Austrian soldiers and the students and citizens of Padua, when both the University of Padua and the Caffè Pedrocchi briefly became battlegrounds.

The Padua rebellion was one of a series of revolts in Italy during 1848, which had started with the Sicilian uprising in January of that year.

The Austrians were seen as arrogant and aggressive by ordinary citizens and the ideas of Giuseppe Mazzini and Camillo Benso Cavour about a united Italy were becoming popular with progressive thinkers.

Many students supported the ideas of
the revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini

Students and professors at Padua University had been meeting in rooms at the University and in Caffè Pedrocchi to discuss their discontent.

The uprising began with the storming of a prison and prisoners being set free. Then many ordinary citizens came to fight alongside the students against the armed Austrians, who clubbed the Paduans with their guns as well as firing at them.

You can still see a hole in the wall of the White Room inside Caffè Pedrocchi made by a bullet fired by an Austro-Hungarian soldier at the students.

Both Paduans and Austrian soldiers were killed and wounded in the fighting. Many people were arrested by the soldiers and in a crackdown later, some students and professors were expelled from the university.

The revolt was short lived and there was no other rebellion  in Padua against the Austrians. But the 8 February uprising was thought to have encouraged Charles Albert of Savoy, King of Sardinia-Piedmont, to later declare war on Austria.

In 1866 Italy finally expelled the Austrians from the Veneto and Padua became annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.


Travel tip:

Right in the centre of Padua, the Caffè Pedrocchi has been a meeting place for business people, students, intellectuals and writers for nearly 200 years. Founded by coffee maker Antonio Pedrocchi in 1831, the café was designed in neoclassical style and each side is edged with Corinthian columns. It quickly became a centre for the Risorgimento movement and was popular with students and artists because of its location close to Palazzo del Bò, the main university building. It became known as 'the café without doors', as it was open day and night for people to talk, read, play cards and debate. Caffè Pedrocchi is now a Padua institution and a 'must see' sight for visitors. You can enjoy coffee, drinks and snacks all day in the elegant surroundings.

The Basilica di Sant'Antonio in Padua

Travel tip:

The University of Padua was established in 1222 and is one of the oldest in the world, second in Italy only to the University of Bologna . The main university building, Palazzo del Bò in Via VIII Febbraio in the centre of Padua, used to house the medical faculty. You can take a guided tour to see the lectern used by Galileo when he taught at the university between 1592 and 1610. Other sights that are a must-see on a visit to Padua include the 13th century Basilica di Sant'Antonio.



More reading:

Giuseppe Mazzini - hero of the Risorgimento

Sicilian revolt that sparked a year of uprisings

The Five Days of Milan

Also on this day:

1591: The birth of Baroque master Guercino

1751: The death of Trevi Fountain architect Nicola Salvi



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Little Tony – pop singer

Star from San Marino enjoyed a long career 

Little Tony in a scene from the 1967 film Cuore Matto...matto
 de legare. His song Cuore Matto was a huge hit.

Singer and actor Little Tony was born Antonio Ciacci on this day in 1941 in Tivoli near Rome.

His parents were both born in the Republic of San Marino and so Little Tony was Sammarinese and never applied for Italian citizenship.

He became successful in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Britain as the lead singer of Little Tony and His Brothers.

He had formed a group with his brothers, Alberto and Enrico, in 1957, calling himself Little Tony after the singer, Little Richard.

The brothers were signed up by a record company, who released their versions of a series of American songs in Italy.

After being invited to appear on a British TV show, they released their first single in the UK , ‘I can’t help it’, which was their 11th in Italy. Their third single, ‘Too Good’, reached No 19 in the UK singles chart in 1960.

The group returned to Italy to appear at the Sanremo Festival where they came second. Then Little Tony began working as a solo singer and film actor.

Listen to Little Tony performing his hit song Cuore Matto

His hit song Cuore matto - Crazy Heart - was number one for nine consecutive weeks in 1967.

In 1975 he recorded an album Tony canta Elvis - Tony Sings Elvis - paying tribute to Elvis Presley.

Despite suffering a heart attack in 2006, he carried on singing and his last album, poignantly entitled Non finisce qui - This is Not the End, recorded in 2008, spent a week in the Top 100 chart.

Little Tony died in 2013 at the age of 72.

The Maritime Theatre in the remains of the Villa Adriana,
a UNESCO world heritage site at Tivoli

Travel tip:

Tivoli, where Little Tony was born, is a town in Lazio about 30 kilometres north east of Rome. It is famous as the location for Villa Adriana (Hadrian’s Villa), a large Roman archaeological site. The villa was built for the Roman Emperor Hadrian during the second century AD as a retreat from Rome. Now a UNESCO world heritage site, the ruins are a popular tourist destination.

Find a hotel in Tivoli with Hotels.com

The city of San Marino, overlooked by the spectacular
fortress of Guaita.

Travel tip:

Little Tony was a citizen of the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, an independent state within Italy, situated on the north east side of the Apennine mountains and surrounded by romantic battlements and towers, which can be seen from miles away against the skyline. San Marino claims to be the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world. It is allowed to use the euro as currency, but has its own postage stamps. The republic’s football team compete in the FIFA World Cup. Every year, a festival is held on 3 September to celebrate the founding of the republic in 301.

Find San Marino hotels with Expedia.co.uk

More reading:

The enduring fame of pop singer Patty Pravo

How '60s star Bobby Solo found fame after Sanremo disqualification

Eros Ramazotti - the Sanremo winner with 65 million sales

Also on this day:

1622: The birth of Vittoria della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany

1497: Firebrand preacher Savanarola's Bonfire of the Vanities

1909: The birth of Amedeo Guillet, the last army office to lead a charge against the British

(Picture credits: San Marino panorama by Jernej Gosar; Villa Adriana by Marie-Lan Nguyen)


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