25 August

NEW - Death of Pliny the Elder

Roman writer was fascinated by nature and geography

The author, philosopher, and naval and army commander who became known as Pliny the Elder died on this day in 79 AD during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Naples in Campania. Pliny had been stationed with the Roman Navy a short distance away at Misenum, on what is now known as the Gulf of Pozzuoli, and had organised a rescue mission after a friend had sent him a message saying that she was stranded at Stabiae. It is thought he died from asphyxiation  caused by the toxic gases coming from the volcano.  Born Gaius Plinius Secundus in either 23 or 24 AD in Como, then called Novum Comum, in Lombardy, Pliny grew up to become a prolific writer, naturalist and philosopher.  He wrote Naturalis Historia - The Natural History - a 37-volume work about the natural world, based on his extensive studies and investigations into nature and geography. He also wrote the 20-volume Bella Germaniae, a history of the German wars, which was used as a source by Roman historians such as Plutarch, Tacitus and Suetonius.  Pliny had some legal education in Rome and became a junior officer in the army at the age of 23.  Read more…

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Ippolito II d’Este – Cardinal

Borgia prince enjoyed the good things in life

Ippolito II d’Este, who became infamous for plundering Hadrian’s Villa to decorate his own home, was born on this day in 1509 in Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna.  He was the second son of Lucrezia Borgia and her husband, Duke Alfonso I d’Este and therefore also a grandson of Pope Alexander VI. He was named after his uncle, Ippolito d’Este.  At the age of ten, Ippolito II inherited the archbishopric of Milan from his uncle, the first of a long list of ecclesiastical appointments he was to be given, which provided him with a good income. He was later given benefices in many parts of France from which he was also able to draw revenue and he was created a Cardinal by Pope Paul III before he had reached the age of 30. A lover of luxuries and the finer things in life, Ippolito II had Palazzo San Francesco in Ferrara refurbished for himself. He also had a palace renovated to provide him with a sumptuous residence in Rome.  He became Governor of Tivoli in 1550 and had the Villa d’Este built there to a design by Mannerist architect Pirro Ligorio.  He became interested in the ruins of the Roman villas in Tivoli and carried out archaeological excavations.  Read more…

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Galileo demonstrates potential of telescope

Scientist unveiled new instrument to Doge of Venice

The scientist and inventor Galileo Galilei demonstrated the wonders of the telescope to an audience of Venetian lawmakers on this day in 1609.  The 90th Doge, Leonardo Donato, and other members of the Venetian senate accompanied Galileo to the top of the campanile of St Mark’s Basilica, where each took it in turn to look through the instrument.  The meeting had been arranged by Galileo’s friend, Paolo Sarpi, who was a scientist, lawyer and statesman employed by the Venetian government. The two were both professors at the University of Padua.  Galileo, whose knowledge of the universe led him to be called the ‘father of observational astronomy’, was for many years wrongly credited with the invention of the telescope when in fact the first to apply for a patent for the device was a Dutch eyeglass maker named Hans Lippershey.  However, Galileo’s work using uncertain details of Lippershey’s design certainly took the idea to a different level.  Whereas Lippershey’s device magnified objects by about three times, Galileo eventually produced a telescope with a magnification factor of 30.  The one he demonstrated on August 25, 1609, is thought to have had a factor of about eight or nine.  Read more…

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Saint Patricia of Naples

Patron saint performs a miracle every week

The feast day of Saint Patricia is celebrated every year in Naples on this day.  The saint, who is also sometimes referred to as Patricia of Constantinople, is one of a long list of patron saints of Naples.  She is less well known than San Gennaro, also a patron saint of the city, who attracts crowds to Naples Cathedral three times a year to witness the miracle of a small sample of his blood turning to liquid.  But Saint Patricia’s blood, which is kept in the Church of San Gregorio Armeno, is said to undergo the same miraculous transformation every Tuesday morning as well as on August 25 each year - her feast day - which was believed to be the day she died in 665 AD.  Saint Patricia was a noble woman, who may have been descended from St Constantine the Great.  She was a devout virgin and travelled to Rome to become a nun in order to escape an arranged marriage.  She received the veil – symbolising her acceptance into the monastic community – from Pope Liberius.  When her wealthy father died, she returned to Constantinople and, renouncing any claim to the imperial crown, distributed her wealth among the poor.  Read more…

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Carlo Eduardo Acton – composer and musician

Musical member of the Acton family was born in Naples

Opera composer Carlo Eduardo Acton, who was part of the distinguished Italian-based branch of the Acton family, was born on this day in 1829 in Naples.  Carlo became a concert pianist and is particularly remembered for composing the opera Una cena in convitto. His father, Francis Charles Acton, was the youngest son of General Joseph Acton, and he was also the younger brother of Sir John Acton, the sixth Baronet.  Sir John Acton, Carlo’s uncle, had served as Commander of the naval forces of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Naples while the city was under the rule of King Ferdinand IV. He was the son of Edward Acton, an English physician who had settled in France, and he was the great-grandson of Sir Walter Acton, the second Baronet.  One of Sir John's grandchildren, John Dalberg-Acton (1834-1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an historian, English politician, and writer, also born in Naples. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge from 1895 until his death. He edited the first series of the Cambridge Modern History, served as a Liberal Party MP and is remembered for coining the phrase 'power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely' in a letter to an Anglican bishop.  Read more…

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Alessandro Galilei - architect

Florentine who made mark in Rome

The architect Alessandro Galilei, best known for the colossal Classical façade of the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome, was born on this day in 1691 in Florence.  From the same patrician family as Renaissance polymath Galileo Galilei but not a direct descendant, Galilei’s father was a notary, Giuseppe Maria Galilei. Though his father considered the family to be noble still, their standing had fallen somewhat under Medici rule.  Alessandro studied mathematics and engineering at the prestigious Accademia dei Nobili in Florence, where he was instructed in building techniques and perspective among other things.  As he sought to develop a career, Galilei met John Molesworth, son of the Irish Viscount, Robert Molesworth, who spent three years in Florence as an envoy to the Medici court. Molesworth used his time there to indulge his interests in architecture, art, music, literature and poetry and developed a close friendship with Galilei, whose designs he admired.  He sponsored Galilei to spend time studying in Rome and when his posting in Italy was at an end, invited him to return to London with him.  Read more…

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Vesuvius erupts

Terrible toll of Europe's worst volcanic catastrophe 

Mount Vesuvius erupted on this day in AD 79, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae and causing the deaths of thousands of people.  An eyewitness account of the eruption, in which tons of stones, ash and fumes were ejected from the volcano, has been left behind for posterity by a Roman administrator and poet, Pliny the Younger, who described the event in his letters to the historian Tacitus.  Although there were at least three large eruptions of Vesuvius before AD 79 and there have been many since, the disaster in August AD 79 is considered the most catastrophic volcanic eruption in European history.  Mount Vesuvius had thrown out ash the day before and many people had left the area. But in the early hours of the morning of August 25, pyroclastic flows of hot gas and rock began to sweep down the mountain.  The flows were fast moving and knocked down all the structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the people who had remained. Pliny noted there were also earth tremors and a tsunami in the Bay of Naples.  The remains of about 1500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum (Ercolano) but it is not known what percentage this represents of the overall death toll.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny, by Daisy Dunn

Ash spewed into the sky. All eyes were on Vesuvius. Pliny the Elder sailed towards the phenomenon. A teenage Pliny the Younger waited. His uncle did not come back.  In a dazzling new literary biography, Daisy Dunn introduces Pliny the Younger, the survivor who became a Roman lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, curator of drains, and representative of the Emperor. He was confidant and friend to the great and good, an unparalleled chronicler of the Vesuvius catastrophe, and eyewitness to the terror of Emperor Domitian.  The younger Pliny was adopted by his uncle, admiral of the fleet and author of the Natural History, an extraordinary compendium of knowledge and the world’s first full-length encyclopaedia. The younger Pliny inherited his uncle’s notebooks and carried their pearls of wisdom with him down the years. In The Shadow of Vesuvius breathes vivid life back into the Plinys. Reading from the Natural History and the Younger Pliny’s Letters, Daisy Dunn resurrects the relationship between the two men to expose their beliefs on life, death and the natural world in the first century. Interweaving their work, and positioning the Plinys in relation to the devastating eruption, Dunn’s biography is a celebration of two outstanding minds of the Roman Empire, and their lasting influence on the world thereafter.

Daisy Dunn was born in London in 1987 and read Classics at the University of Oxford, completing a doctorate in Classics and History of Art at University College London. She writes and reviews for many publications, including The Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, and Standpoint, and is editor of Argo, a Greek culture magazine. 

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

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Death of Pliny the Elder

Roman writer was fascinated by nature and geography

A 19th century lithograph depicting the death of Pliny
the Elder by the Spanish painter Ricardo Martí Aguiló

The author, philosopher, and naval and army commander who became known as Pliny the Elder died on this day in 79 AD during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Naples in Campania.

Pliny had been stationed with the Roman Navy a short distance away at Misenum, on what is now known as the Gulf of Pozzuoli, and had organised a rescue mission after a friend had sent him a message saying that she was stranded at Stabiae. It is thought he died from asphyxiation  caused by the toxic gases coming from the volcano.

Born Gaius Plinius Secundus in either 23 or 24 AD in Como, then called Novum Comum, in Lombardy, Pliny grew up to become a prolific writer, naturalist and philosopher.

He wrote Naturalis Historia - The Natural History - a 37-volume work about the natural world, based on his extensive studies and investigations into nature and geography. He also wrote the 20-volume Bella Germaniae, a history of the German wars, which was used as a source by Roman historians such as Plutarch, Tacitus and Suetonius.

Pliny had some legal education in Rome and became a junior officer in the army at the age of 23. He was interested in Roman literature and through this made influential literary friends, who helped him advance his career.

Pliny the Elder was a writer and
lawyer as well as a naval officer

Pliny the Elder’s first book was about the use of missiles by cavalry troops, but it has not survived. Some of its contents were revealed in his Naturalis Historia, where he refers to using the movements of the horse to assist the rider when throwing a javelin.

During the reign of Nero, Pliny lived in Rome, where he witnessed the construction of Nero’s Domus Aurea, or Golden House. As well as pleading law cases, Pliny studied and carried on writing. His second published work was The Life of Pomponius Secundus, a distinguished statesman and poet.

After the death of Nero, Vespasian became emperor and put Pliny to work immediately governing various provinces and he spent time in Africa and Spain. He was trusted by Vespasian right up to the emperor’s death, which was a few months before that of Pliny.

Vespasian had appointed Pliny as praefectus classis in the Roman Navy and the writer was in Misenum with the fleet when Vesuvius erupted in August 79 AD and he saw what he at first thought was an unusual cloud formation in the sky. According to the writing of his nephew, Pliny the Younger, he ordered a fleet of galleys to cross the Gulf of Naples to Stabiae to investigate what was happening and try to rescue his friend, Rectina, and any others who were stranded there.

A 15th century copy of Pliny the Elder's
Naturalis Historia printed in Venice

When cinders and pumice began to fall on the vessel, Pliny was advised to turn back, but he vowed to continue, saying, ‘Fortune favours the bold.’ 

After reaching Stabiae, strong winds prevented his party from leaving again. But later, when they did try to leave because they realised that they were in danger, a plume of hot, toxic gases engulfed them. Pliny, who it is thought may have suffered from asthma, probably died from asphyxiation.

Pliny the Elder never married and he had no children. In his will, he adopted his nephew, who later became known as Pliny the Younger, to enable him to inherit his entire estate. 

Pliny the Elder had deliberately reserved some of his writing on Roman history to be published after his death, knowing it to be controversial and that it could have put his life in danger during the reign of Nero. During his lifetime he had tried to stick to writing about safe topics, such as grammar and nature.

His huge work, Naturalis Historia, which was published just before his death, is thought to have been the first ever encyclopaedia, and it is the earliest known encyclopaedia to have survived to this day. It remained an authority on scientific matters until the Middle Ages.

Statues of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger
flank the entrance to the Duomo di Como

Travel tip:

Como, where Pliny the Elder was born, is a city at the foot of Lake Como in Lombardy, which in Roman times was called Novum Comum, so called because it was a new city built on swampland at the southern tip of the lake that had been drained on the orders of Julius Caesar after he had deemed that the settlement be moved from its former location on nearby hills. Today it is a popular tourist destination because of its proximity to the lake and has many attractive churches, gardens, museums, theatres, parks, and palaces to visit. The Villa Olmo, built in neoclassical style there in 1797 by an aristocratic family, has hosted Napoleon, Ugo Foscolo, Prince Metternich, Archduke Franz Ferdinand I and Giuseppe Garibaldi, to name but a few of the eminent people who have stayed there. The 15th century facade of Como's duomo - the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta - has a portal flanked by Renaissance statutes of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger.

The atrium, with some frescoes still intact, at the
well-preserved Villa San Marco in Castellammare

Travel tip:

The town of Stabiae in Campania, where Pliny the Elder met his death, was an ancient city which used to be situated near the modern town of Castellammare di Stabia. Many Roman villas were built in ancient Stabiae because it was a popular seaside resort for wealthy Romans and, although the town was buried under layers of volcanic ash, like nearby Pompei, some of the villas can still be visited today. They are the largest concentration of well-preserved Roman seaside villas known in the world. Built on the northernmost edge of Varano hill, which offers panoramic views of the Gulf of Naples, they include the Villa San Marco, one of the largest villas ever discovered in Campania, measuring over 11,000 square meters. It has an atrium, courtyard with a pool, triclinium with bay views, colonnaded courtyard, kitchen, and two internal gardens, as well as a private bath complex. The walls are decorated with mosaics and frescoes. At the time of the eruption, the Villa San Marco is thought to have been undergoing repairs following an earthquake and was not occupied.

Also on this day: 

79: Vesuvius erupts, destroying Pompeii and other cities

665: The death of Saint Patricia of Naples

1509: The birth of Borgia cardinal Ippolito II d'Este

1609: Galileo demonstrates the potential of telescope

1691: The birth of architect Alessandro Galilei 

1829: The birth of composer Carlo Eduardo Acton

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24 August

Peppino De Filippo - comedian, actor and playwright

Talented Neapolitan who lived in shadow of his brother

The playwright and comic actor Peppino De Filippo was born Giuseppe De Filippo on this day in 1903 in Naples.  A highly accomplished performer on stage in serious as well as comedy roles, De Filippo also had a list of film credits numbering almost 100, of which he is best remembered for his screen partnership with the brilliant comic actor Totò.  To an extent, however, he spent his career in the shadow of his older brother, Eduardo De Filippo, who after Luigi Pirandello was regarded as the second great Italian playwright of the 20th century.  The two fell out in the 1940s for reasons that were never made clear, although it later emerged that they had many artistic differences.  They were never reconciled, and though Peppino went on to enjoy a successful career and was widely acclaimed it annoyed him that he was always seen as a minor playwright compared with his brother.  When Peppino published an autobiography in 1977, three years before he died, he called it Una famiglia difficile - A Difficult Family. In the book he described his relationship with his sister, Titina, as one of warmth and affection, but portrays Eduardo as something of a tyrant.  Read more…

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Parmigianino - Mannerist painter

Artist from Parma left outstanding legacy

The artist Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola – better known as Parmigianino – died on this day in 1540 in Casalmaggiore, a town on the Po river south-east of Cremona in Lombardy.  Sometimes known as Francesco Mazzola, he was only 37 years old when he passed away but had nonetheless made sufficient impact with his work to be regarded as an important influence on the period that followed the High Renaissance era of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.  Known for the refined sensuality of his paintings, Parmigianino – literally ‘the little one from Parma’ – was one of the first generation of Mannerist painters, whose figures exuded elegance and sophistication by the subtle exaggeration of qualities associated with ideal beauty.  Parmigianino is also thought to have been one of the first to develop printmaking using the technique known as etching and through this medium his work was copied, and circulated to many artistic schools in Italy and other countries in northern Europe, where it could be studied and admired.  Parmigianino’s figures would often have noticeably long and slender limbs and strike elegant poses.  Read more…

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Carlo Gambino - Mafia Don

Sicilian thought to be model for Mario Puzo's Godfather

Carlo Gambino, who would become one of the most powerful Mafia Dons in the history of organised crime, was born on this day in 1902 in Palermo, Sicily.  For almost two decades up to his death in 1976, he was head of the Gambino Crime Family, one of the so-called Five Families that have sought to control organised crime in New York under one banner or another for more than a century.  He is thought to have been the real-life Don that author Mario Puzo identified as the model for Vito Corleone, the fictional Don created for the best-selling novel, The Godfather.  During Gambino's peak years, the family's criminal activities realised revenues of an estimated $500 million per year.  Yet Gambino, who kept a modest house in Brooklyn and a holiday home on Long Island, claimed to make a living as a partner in a company that advised on labour relations.  Despite coming under intensive surveillance by the FBI, he managed to avoid prison during a life spent almost exclusively in crime.  Everything he did was planned meticulously to avoid detection, even down to communicating with associates through coded messages.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: A History of Neapolitan Drama in the Twentieth Century, by Mariano D’Amora

In a world that tends to homologate, thus becoming, in every aspect of our lives, grey, flat and uniform, so creating the world of universal similarity (including language), does it still make sense today to talk about vernacular theatre? Tackling such a question implies uncovering the reasons for the disappearance of the many regional theatres that were present in Italy in the 19th century. There is no doubt that first the unification of the country in 1861, and then the language policies of Fascism in the 1930s were the final nails in the coffin for local theatres. It is also true, however, that what really determined their downsizing was the progressive loss of connection with their own environment. If we give an essentially superficial interpretation to the adjective “vernacular”, and in a play we see a canovaccio (plot) that the local star uses as a vehicle to show his talent through a series of modest mannerisms, then “vernacular” implies the death certificate of this type of theatre (once the star dies, his alleged dramaturgy dies with him and his mannerisms). On the contrary, if we identify in this adjective the theatre’s healthy attempt to develop a local, social and cultural analysis of its environment, it opens a whole new meaning and acquires a perspective that a national theatre can never aspire to. This is the case of Neapolitan theatre. As D’Amora explains in A History of Neapolitan Theatre in the Twentieth Century, it managed to survive and thrive, producing plays that were capable of critically describing modern and contemporary reality. Neapolitan playwrights forcefully proclaimed their roots as a primary source for their work. The city, in fact, became a direct expression of that cultural microcosm which provided them with the living flesh of their plots.

Mariano D’Amora has taught Drama at Buckinghamshire New University, the University of Naples “Parthenope”, the University of Rome and Royal Holloway, University of London.

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

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23 August

Rita Pavone - teenage singing star

Precocious talent who conquered America

Rita Pavone, who was one of Europe's biggest teenage singing stars in the 1960s, was still performing live concerts as recently as 2014 and sang at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2020, was born on this day in 1945 in Turin. The singer had her first hit single when she was just 17 years old and enjoyed success at home and in America during a career that spanned more than five decades, going on to become an accomplished actress on television and in the theatre.  She announced she was quitting show business in 2006 but came out of retirement in 2013 to record two studio albums as a tribute to the stars who had influenced her in throughout her career, then embarking on a series of live concerts in Italy in 2014 and performing in Toronto, Canada exactly 50 years after her first appearance there.  In 2016, she appeared in Ballando Con le Stelle - the Italian equivalent of the US show Dancing With the Stars and Britain's Strictly Come Dancing - and finished third with partner Simone Di Pasquale, reaching the final despite being the oldest competitor.  Pavone spent her early years living in a two-room apartment in Turin.  She was the third of four children yet it was not until 1959 that the family was able to move somewhere bigger.  Read more…

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Roberto Assagioli – psychiatrist

Harsh imprisonment sparked new psychiatric theories

Roberto Assagioli, the pioneering psychiatrist who founded the science of psychosynthesis, died on this day in 1974 in Capolona in the province of Arezzo in Tuscany.  His innovative psychological movement, which emphasised the possibility of progressive integration, or synthesis, of the personality, aimed at finding inner peace and harmony. It is still admired and is being developed by therapists and psychologists today.  Assagioli explained his ideas in four books - two published posthumously - and the many different pamphlets he wrote during his lifetime. In 1940 the psychiatrist had to spend 27 days in solitary confinement in prison, having been arrested by Mussolini’s Fascist government for praying for peace and encouraging others to join him. He later claimed this experience helped him make his psychological discovery.  Assagioli was born under the name of Roberto Marco Grego in 1888 into a middle-class, Jewish background in Venice.  His father died when he was two years old and his mother remarried quickly to Alessandro Emanuele Assagioli. As a young child Roberto was exposed to art and music and learnt many different languages.  Read more…

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Pino Presti – bass player and composer

Talented musician could sing, play guitar, write songs and conduct

Pino Presti, one of the most important personalities in the Italian music business, was born Giuseppe Prestipino Giarritta on this day in 1943 in Milan.  He is a bass guitar player, arranger, composer, conductor and record producer and his work ranges between the different music genres of pop, jazz, funk, latin and dance.  His father, Arturo Prestipino Giarritta, was a well-known violinist and Presti began studying piano and music theory at the age of six.  He taught himself to play the bass guitar and began playing professionally at the age of 17, having developed his own special technique using either the pick or thumb.  Presti was a pioneer of electric bass and was probably the first to play a Fender Jazz Bass in Italy.  His talent for playing the instrument led him to collaborate with the major Italian pop artists of the 1960s, including the famous singer, Mina, who is Italy's all-time top-selling female recording artist. Presti arranged and conducted 86 tracks and composed four songs for her, also sometimes backing her as a singer.  Among the many other artists he worked with were Bobby Solo, Gigliola Cinquetti and Adriano Celentano.  Read more…

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Giovanni Minzoni - priest

Devout Catholic murdered for opposing Fascists

Don Giovanni Minzoni, a Catholic priest whose name is commemorated in many street names around Italy, was murdered by Fascist thugs in the small town of Argenta in Emilia-Romagna on this day in 1923.  A parish priest in the town, midway between the cities of  Ferrara and Ravenna, Don Minzoni was attacked at around 10.30pm as he returned to his rectory in the company of Enrico Bondanelli, a parishioner, when he was set upon by two men who were attached to a Fascist militia in Casumaro, almost 50km (31 miles) from Argenta on the other side of Ferrara. He was pelted with stones and, when the blows made him fall to the ground, was beaten. What proved to be the fatal blow was struck with a heavy walking stick. He had a fractured skull and, despite being helped home by Bondanelli and neighbours, died a couple of hours later. His attackers were later named as Giorgio Molinari and Vittore Casoni, who were allegedly acting on the orders of Italo Balbo, a Blackshirt Commander who would later be seen as an heir to dictator Benito Mussolini.  Don Minzoni, a former military chaplain, had made no secret of his opposition to the Fascist regime. Read more…

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Recording of the Day: Italian Hits of the 60s, Various Artists

Italians share a great love of music from north to south and, despite the language barrier, Italy has made a significant and important contribution to both British and American popular music. Many of the major American stars - Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, Mario Lanza - came from immigrant families and several pop hits of the 1950s started life as Italian hits. This wonderful collection features 40 Italian hits, and even if you do not recognise the Italian titles, you will surely know many of the tunes. Rita Pavone’s first single, La partita di pallone, which sold over one million copies, features on Disc One of Italian Hits of the 60s, while major Italian artists such as Domenico Modugno, Adriano Celentano, Gianni Morandi, Peppino di Capri, Nilla Pizzi and Mina are also included.

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

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