8 February

Italo Santelli - fencer

Olympic medallist famous for real ‘duel’

The Olympic fencer Italo Santelli, who famously fought a duel with his team captain over a matter of honour, died on this day in 1945 in Livorno, Tuscany.  Santelli won a silver medal at the 1900 Olympics in Paris with a new style of sabre fencing of his own invention. But after competing for Italy be became coach of Hungary, and it was this conflict of interests that sparked an incident at the 1924 Olympics, also in Paris, that led to Santelli and Adolfo Cotronei, Italy’s team captain, engaging in the infamous duel. Read more...

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Nicola Salvi – architect

Creator of Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain

The architect Nicola Salvi, famous as the designer of the Fontana di Trevi – known in English as the Trevi Fountain and one of the most famous and most visited monuments in Rome – died on this day in 1751. He was working on the Trevi when he passed away, having been engaged on the project since 1732. It had to be finished by Giuseppe Pannini before the giant statue of Oceanus – the Titan God of the Sea in Greek mythology – set in the central niche, was completed by Pietro Bracci. Read more…

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Guercino - Bolognese master

Self-taught artist who became his city's leading painter

The artist known as Guercino was born on this day in 1591 in Cento, a town in what is now Emilia-Romagna region. After the death of Guido Reni he became established as the leading painter in Bologna. His best known works include The Arcadian Shepherds (Et in Arcadia Ego - I too am in Arcadia), which is now on display at the Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica in Rome, and The Flaying of Marsyas by Apollo, which can be found in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence.  The Vatican altarpiece The Burial of Saint Petronilla is considered his masterpiece. Read more...

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Revolt in Padua

When students and citizens joined forces against their oppressors 

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

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Italo Santelli - fencer

Olympic medallist famous for real ‘duel’

Italo Santelli set new standards for
sabre fencing with his own technique

The Olympic fencer Italo Santelli, who famously fought a duel with his former team captain over a matter of honour, died on this day in 1945 in Livorno, Tuscany.

Santelli won a silver medal at the 1900 Olympics in Paris with a new style of sabre fencing of his own invention. Originally from Carrodano in Liguria, he fought for Italy but spent a large part of his career coaching Hungary, who he helped become a formidable power in fencing.

It was this conflict of interests that sparked an incident at the 1924 Olympics, also in Paris, that led to Santelli and Adolfo Cotronei, who was Italy’s team captain, engaging in the infamous duel.

It happened during a match between the Italians and the host nation France in the team foil event when Italy’s Aldo Boni was facing off against Lucien Gaudin. With the match tied at four touches each, the Hungarian judge György Kovacs awarded the winning fifth touch to Gaudin, a decision that sparked immediate consternation in the Italian ranks.

Boni rounded on Kovacs, delivering a verbal tirade. But it was in Italian - beyond the official’s comprehension. It just happened that Santelli, in his capacity as Hungary’s coach, witnessed the whole dispute and was asked to step in as interpreter.

Santelli’s translation did not reflect well on Boni, who was asked to apologise for insulting Kovacs. When he refused, Italy were disqualified and the event ended with France winning the gold, with Belgium taking silver and Hungary the bronze.

Italo Santelli, left, in action at the Paris Olympics of 1900,
in which he won a silver medal in the sabre event

That seemed to be the end of the matter until, on the team’s return to Italy, the captain Cotronei, who was also a journalist, wrote an article in which he alleged that Santelli had deliberately portrayed Boni as the villain on the basis that if the Italians were eliminated, his own Hungary team would have a better chance of finishing in a medal position.

Santelli was outraged but the bullish Cotronei stood by his article and, although accounts vary as to who challenged whom, it was somehow agreed that the two would engage in a duel, a dispute-settling method that had been outlawed in many other parts of the western world but was still part of Italian culture even in the early part of the 20th century. Legislation was being drawn up to ban the practice in Italy - driven by Benito Mussolini, then still Prime Minister rather than dictator - but special dispensation was obtained to allow this one to go ahead.

Thus the the stage was set for a date in August for the two to face each other with sabres in the town of Abbazia, a town about 70km (43 miles) southeast of Trieste that later became Opatija in Croatia but was then on Italian soil.

In the event, Cotronei had to take on not Italo Santelli but his son, Giorgio, another fencer, who had invoked a rule under the 18th century Code Duello that allowed him to substitute for his father, who was keen to defend his honour but was by then in his 61st year.

It was at the 1924 Olympics, again in Paris, that Santelli became
embroiled in a dispute between the Italian team and an official

It was not a fight to the death, thankfully, but blood needed to be drawn for a winner to be declared.  Within only a couple of minutes, the nimbler and more agile Santelli junior had inflicted a cut to Cotronei’s face and the duel was over.

Italo Santelli had been educated at the Scuola Magistrale Militare, a military school in Rome, but in 1896 decided to move to Budapest together with brother Otello, also a fencer, and his wife. Their son, Giorgio, was born in Hungary in 1897, although he kept his Italian citizenship and ultimately emigrated to the United States,

It was while working in Hungary that he developed the new style of sabre fencing, involving a much quicker defence than the classical style. It became known as the "modern style" or the “Santelli style” and historians of the sport sometimes refer to Santelli as “the father of modern sabre fencing.”

Although Cotronei was known for his temper - he fought at least six duels in his lifetime - he and Santelli were said to have been reconciled when they met again at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles and subsequently became friends.

The Abbey Church of Santa Maria Assunta, built from
Carrara marble, is one of La Spezia's attractions

Travel tip:

Santelli’s home village of Carrodano is in the province of La Spezia, a port city of 94,000 inhabitants and Liguria’s second city after Genoa. The home of Italy’s largest naval base and a major commercial port, tucked away in a sheltered gulf, La Spezia is so close to the ruggedly beautiful stretch of coastline known as the Cinque Terre, not to mention the picturesque fishing village of Portovenere, that it tends not to be regarded as a tourist attraction. Yet La Spezia has an atmospheric historic centre of narrow streets, not to mention the recently restored 17th century castle and the impressive black and white Carrara marble of the Abbey Church of Santa Maria Assunta.

One of the canals in Livorno's Venetian quarter

Travel tip:

Santelli spent his final days in another of Italy’s northern Mediterranean port cities, Livorno. The second population area in Tuscany after Florence, Livorno has a population of almost 160,000. Although it is a large commercial port with much related industry, it has many attractions, including an elegant sea front – the Terrazza Mascagni - and an historic centre – the Venetian quarter – with canals, and a tradition of serving excellent seafood.  The Terrazza Mascagni is named after the composer Pietro Mascagni, famous for the opera Cavalleria Rusticana, who was born in Livorno.


More reading:

Valentina Vezzali, the fencer who is Italy's most successful athlete

How Luigi Baccali brought home Italy's first Olympic track gold

Ottavio Missoni: From Olympic hurdler to fashion designer

Also on this day:

1591: The birth of Baroque master Guercino

1751: The death of Trevi Fountain architect Nicola Salvi

1848: Padua revolts against the Austrians

(Picture credits: La Spezia church by Davide Papalini; Livorno canal by Daniel Ventura; via Wikimedia Commons)


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7 February

Vittoria della Rovere - Grand Duchess of Tuscany

Bride who brought the treasures of Urbino to Florence

Vittoria della Rovere, who became Grand Duchess of Tuscany, was born on this day in 1622 in the Ducal Palace of Urbino. Her marriage to Ferdinando II de’ Medici when she was just 11 years old was to bring a wealth of treasures to the Medici family, which can still be seen today in the Palazzo Pitti and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Read more…

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The Bonfire of the Vanities

Preacher Savonarola's war on Renaissance 'excesses'

The most famous 'bonfire of the vanities' encouraged by outspoken Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola took place in Florence on this day in 1497.  Savonarola campaigned against what he considered to be the artistic and social excesses of the Renaissance, organising large communal bonfires and urging Florentines to come forward with items of luxury or vanity to throw on it. Read more…

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Amedeo Guillet – army officer

Superb horseman helped keep the British at bay

The Italian army officer Amedeo Guillet, the last man to lead a cavalry charge against the British Army, was born on this day in 1909 in Piacenza. His daring actions in Eritrea in January 1941, when he led a daybreak charge towards British artillery in the defence of Mussolini’s East African empire, were remembered by some British soldiers as ‘the most frightening and extraordinary’ episode of the Second World War. Read more…

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Little Tony – pop singer

Star from San Marino enjoyed a long career 

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, calling himself Little Tony after the singer, Little Richard. Read more…

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Vittoria delle Rovere – Grand Duchess of Tuscany

Bride who brought the treasures of Urbino to Florence

Vittoria della Rovere, a portrait by the Flemish
painter Justus Sustermans, circa 1639

Vittoria della Rovere, who became Grand Duchess of Tuscany, was born on this day in 1622 in the Ducal Palace of Urbino.

Her marriage to Ferdinando II de’ Medici was to bring a wealth of treasures to the Medici family, which can still be seen today in the Palazzo Pitti and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Vittoria was the only child of Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, the son of the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria. Her mother was Claudia de’ Medici, a sister of Cosimo II de’ Medici.

As a child it was expected that Vittoria would one day inherit the Duchy of Urbino, but Pope Urban VIII convinced Francesco Maria to leave it to the Papacy and the Duchy was eventually annexed to the Papal States.

Instead, at the age of nine, Vittoria received the Duchies of Rovere and Montefeltro and an art collection.

Vittoria had been betrothed to her Medici cousin, Ferdinando, since the age of one and was sent by her mother to be brought up at the Tuscan court.

Vittoria and her husband, Ferdinando II de' Medici,
also by Sustermans, probably painter in around 1660

The marriage was arranged by Ferdinando’s grandmother, Christina of Lorraine, who had been acting as joint regent of the Duchy with Ferdinando’s mother, Maria Maddalena of Austria. Even after Ferdinando II reached his majority in 1628, the dowager Grand Duchess Christina remained the power behind the throne until her death eight years later.

The wedding between Vittoria and Ferdinando took place in 1633, when she was just 11 years old. Her inheritance was included in her dowry which was offered to the Medici family and her art collection became the property of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Vittoria was educated in a convent and the marriage was not consummated until six years later. Vittoria had two sons who both died soon after birth, but in 1642 gave birth to Cosimo de’ Medici, who was styled Grand Prince of Tuscany.

Shortly after the birth of Cosimo, Vittoria is said to have caught her husband in bed with a page and the couple became estranged.

It was not until 1659 that they were reconciled, after which Vittoria gave birth to their last child, Francesco Maria.

The Villa del Poggio Imperiale, as depicted by the 18th
century Florentine printmaker Giuseppe Zocchi

Ferdinando II died in 1670 and was succeeded by his eldest son, who became Cosimo III.

Vittoria vied with her daughter-in-law, Marguerite Louise d’Orleans, for power, but Cosimo took his mother’s side and assigned to her the day-to-day administration of Tuscany. She was formally admitted into the Grand Duke’s Consulta or Privy Council.

Eventually Cosimo III and Marguerite agreed to separate on condition that Marguerite went to live at the Abbey Saint Pierre de Montmartre in Paris and Vittoria was made guardian of her three grandchildren.

In later life Vittoria spent time living in the Villa del Poggio Imperiale in Arcetri to the south of Florence, to which she transferred some of her art collection. She died at Pisa in 1694 at the age of 72 and was buried at the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence.

Her titles of Rovere and Montefeltro became extinct when her grandson, Gian Gastone de’ Medici, died in 1737 without an heir, ending the Medici line. Vittoria’s only granddaughter, Electress Palatine Anna Maria Luisa, who had married Elector Johann Wilhelm II, willed the contents of the Medici properties to the Tuscan state in 1743, ensuring Vittoria’s inheritance and the art works collected by the Medici for nearly three centuries remained in Florence.

The Ducal Palace at Urbino is thought to have been completed
by the High Renaissance architect Donato Bramante

Travel tip:

Urbino, where Vittoria was born, is inland from the Adriatic resort of Pesaro, in the Marche region. It is a majestic city on a steep hill and was once a centre of learning and culture, known not just in Italy but also in its glory days throughout Europe. The Ducal Palace, a Renaissance building made famous by The Book of the Courtier by Castiglione, is one of the most important monuments in Italy and is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.

The Palazzo Pitti in Florence, as seen from the Giardini
Boboli behind the palace, was Vittoria's home

Travel tip:

Palazzo Pitti, where Vittoria lived as Grand Duchess of Tuscany, was originally built for the banker, Luca Pitti, in 1457 in the centre of Florence. He wanted to outshine the Medici family, but they later bought it from his bankrupt heirs and made it their main residence in 1550. Today visitors can look round the richly decorated rooms and see treasures from the Medici collections. The Palatine Gallery contains 16th and 17th century paintings, including works by Raphael. The Treasury, which was once known as the Silver Museum, displays Medici household treasures, such as silver tableware, stone vases and precious jewellery.



More reading:

Gian Gastone de' Medici - the last Medici to rule Florence

Why Cosimo II de' Medici sponsored and supported Galileo Galilei

The life of Claudia de' Medici, Vittoria's mother

Also on this day:

1497: Savonarola lights his Bonfire of the Vanities

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

1941: The birth of '60s pop star Little Tony

(Picture credits: Ducal Palace by Zyance; Palazzo Pitti by Stefan Bauer via Wikimedia Commons)


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6 February

Beatrice Cenci - Roman heroine

Aristocrat's daughter executed for murder of abusive father

Beatrice Cenci, the daughter of an aristocrat whose execution for the murder of her abusive father became a legendary story in Roman history, was born on this day in 1577 in the family's palace off the Via Arenula, not far from what is now the Ponte Garibaldi in the Regola district.  When Cenci was beheaded at Castel Sant'Angelo in September 1599, most of the onlookers convinced were convinced an injustice had taken place. Read more…

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Ugo Foscolo – poet

Revolutionary who expressed his feelings in verse

The writer Ugo Foscolo, who became a revolutionary who wrote poetry and novels that reflected the feelings of many Italians during the turbulent years of the French revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and Austrian rule, was born Niccolò Foscolo on this day in 1778 on the island of Zakynthos, now part of Greece, but then part of the Republic of Venice.  Foscolo’s talent was probably not sufficiently appreciated until after his death. Read more...

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Girolamo Benivieni - poet

Follower of Plato, Dante and Savonarola

The poet Girolamo Benivieni, who turned Marsilio Ficino’s translation of Plato’s Symposium into verse, was born on this day in 1453 in Florence. His poem was to influence other writers during the Renaissance and some who came later, including Pietro Bembo and Baldassare Castiglione. At one time, Benivieni fell under the spell of controversial preacher Girolamo Savonarola. Read more...

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Amintore Fanfani - politician

Former prime minister who proposed "third way"

Amintore Fanfani, who was six times Italy’s prime minister and had a vision of an Italy run by a powerful centre-left alliance, was born on this day in 1908.  His commitment to finding a “third way” between communism and the free market became a major influence on centre-left politicians not only in Italy but in other parts of the world. The American president John F Kennedy told colleagues it was reading a book by Fanfani that persuaded him to dedicate his life to politics. Read more…

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Girolamo Benivieni – poet

Follower of Plato, Dante and Savonarola

Girolamo Benivieni, pictured as an old man in
a painting attributed to Ridolfo Ghirlandaio

The poet Girolamo Benivieni, who turned Marsilio Ficino’s translation of Plato’s Symposium into verse, was born on this day in 1453 in Florence.

His poem was to influence other writers during the Renaissance and some who came later.

As a member of the Florentine Medici circle, Benivieni was a friend of the Renaissance humanists Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Angelo Poliziano, commonly known as Polician.

Ficino translated Plato’s Symposium in about 1474 and wrote his own commentary on the work.

Benivieni summarised Ficino’s work in the poem De lo amore celeste - Of Heavenly Love - These verses then became the subject of a commentary by Pico della Mirandola.

As a result of all these works, Platonism reached such writers as Pietro Bembo and Baldassare Castiglione and the English poet, Edmund Spencer.

Benivieni later fell under the spell of Girolamo Savonarola, the fiery religious reformer, and he rewrote some of his earlier sensual poetry as a result. He also translated a treatise by Savonarola into Italian, Della semplicità della vita cristiana - On the Simplicity of the Christian life - and he wrote some religious poetry of his own.

Benivieni's tombstone behind the statue of
Savonarola in the Church of San Marco

He took part in Savonarola’s Bonfire of the Vanities and documented the destruction of art works worth ‘several thousand ducats’ at the time.

Lucrezia de’ Medici supported him in his writing and they shared an interest in the works of Dante Alighieri. In 1506 Benivieni published an edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy with maps by Antonio Manetti and commentaries by Benivieni and Manetti.

He drafted a letter for Lucrezia to send to her brother, Pope Leo X, seeking his assistance in bringing Dante’s body back to Florence from Ravenna where he was buried.

Benivieni also used his connection with Lucrezia to advance his ideas on church reform with her brother, and later with her cousin, Pope Clement VII.

In 1530 he wrote a letter to Pope Clement in defence of Savonarola, seeking to have his reputation restored within the Church.

He died in 1542, a few months before his 90th birthday and was buried in the Church of San Marco in Florence next to his friend, Pico della Mirandola.

The Church of San Marco in Florence is close to where
the fiery priest Girolamo Savonarola lived

Travel tip:

The Church of San Marco, where Girolamo Benivieni and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola are buried together, is in Piazza di San Marco to the north of the Galleria dell’Accademia, which houses Michalangelo’s David. The original tombstone is in Latin. It says: ‘Here lies Giovannni Mirandola; known both at the Tagus and the Ganges and maybe even the antipodes. He died in 1494 and lived for thirty-two years. Girolamo Benivieni, to prevent separate places from disjointing after death the bones of those whose souls were joined by Love while living, provided for this grave where he too is buried. He died in 1542 and lived for eighty-nine years and six months.’ Next to the church is the convent of San Marco, now the Museo Nazionale di San Marco, where Savonarola and the painters, Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolomeo, once lived.

The tomb of Dante Alighieri adjoins the
Basilica of San Francesco in Ravenna

Travel tip:

A tomb built for Dante in the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence still remains empty. Dante died while living in exile in Ravenna in about 1321. He was buried at the Church of San Pier Maggiore in Ravenna and a tomb was erected there for him in 1483. Florence has made repeated requests for the return of Dante’s remains to the city but Ravenna has always refused.


More reading:

The Bonfire of the Vanities - preacher Savonarola's war on Renaissance 'excesses'

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola – the philosopher who wrote the 'Manifesto of the Renaissance'

Pietro Bembo - the poet and scholar who became Lucrezia Borgia's lover

Also on this day:

1577: The birth of Roman heroine Beatrice Cenci

1778: The birth of the poet and revolutionary Ugo Foscolo

1908: The birth of six-times Italian prime minister Amintore Fanfani


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5 February

Cesare Maldini - footballer and coach

Enjoyed success with AC Milan as player and manager

The footballer and coach Cesare Maldini, who won four Serie A titles and an historic European Cup as a centre half with AC Milan and later coached the club with success in domestic and European football and took the Italian national team to a World Cup quarter-final, was born on this day in 1932 in Trieste.  When Maldini’s Milan beat Benfica 2–1 in London in May 1963, they became the first Italian club to win the European Cup. Read more...

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Saint Agatha of Sicily – Christian martyr

Huge crowds turn out for feast day in Catania

One of the largest festivals in the Roman Catholic calendar takes place on February 5 every year to celebrate the life of the Christian martyr Saint Agatha of Sicily.  In Catania, which adopted her as the patron saint of the city, hundreds of thousands of people line the streets to watch up to 5,000 citizens hauling a silver carriage said to weigh 20 tons (18,140kg), bearing a huge statue and containing the relics of the saint, who died in 251AD. Read more…

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Carolina Morace - footballer and coach

Prolific goalscorer first woman in Italian Football Hall of Fame

Footballer and coach Carolina Morace, the first woman to be inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame, was born on this day in 1964 in Venice. Morace played for 20 years for 10 different clubs and was the leading goalscorer in the Women's Serie A on 12 occasions, including a run of 11 consecutive seasons from 1987 to 1998. She also scored 105 goals in 153 appearances for the Italy national team. Read more…

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Giovanni Battista Moroni – artist

Portrait painter left visual record of a changing society

Giovanni Battista Moroni, who was considered one of the greatest portrait painters of the 16th century, died on this day in 1578 while working on a painting at a church near Bergamo in Lombardy.  His legacy of portraits provides an illuminating insight into life in Italy in the 16th century, as he received commissions from merchants trying to climb the social ladder as well as from rich noblemen.  Read more…

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