Alessandro Tassoni – poet

Writer famed for legendary bucket in a belfry

Alessandro Tassoni was a political
commentator and literary critic

The writer Alessandro Tassoni, who became famous for a poem about an historic battle which included a story about a stolen bucket, was born on this day in 1565 in Modena in Emilia-Romagna.

Tassoni’s bucket, which inspired his mock-heroic poem La secchia rapita (The Rape of the Bucket), is still on public display to this day in the belfry of Modena Cathedral.  

According to some critics, his poem was one of the earliest - and best - Italian poems of its type, and it became very popular in Italy and abroad. 

Tassoni, who also wrote about politics and was a literary critic, was born into a noble family. He lost both of his parents at an early age and was brought up by his grandfather. He first saw the bucket in Modena Cathedral when he was taken there by his grandfather.

At the age of 13, he was taught Latin and Greek and he went on to study philosophy, law, and rhetoric at the universities of Bologna, Pisa, and Ferrara.  

In 1597 he entered the service of Cardinal Ascanio Colonna and went with him to Spain as his first secretary. After his return to Italy, Tassoni went to live in Rome.

He wrote a booklet, le Filippiche, which he published in 1612 anonymously because it attacked the Spanish domination of certain parts of Italy and he was afraid of reprisals. 

But the work became famous enough to attract the attention of Charles Emanuel I Duke of Savoy and in 1618 he hired Tassoni to work for him in Turin and gave him the title of first secretary.

The bucket of Tassoni's famous epic poem today
hangs in the belfry of the Torre della Ghirlandina

Tassoni went to work for Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi in 1626 and then he served under Francesco I d’Este, Duke of Modena. 

The poet died in 1635 in his home town of Modena and a statue of him was later erected in front of the city’s Ghirlandina, the cathedral’s bell tower.

Tassoni is also remembered for his political writing and his works of literary criticism, such as Considerazioni sopra le rime del Petrarca, and Pensieri diversi, an encyclopaedia covering scientific, literary, historical, and philosophical topics, but he is mainly remembered for his satirical poem about the bucket.

La secchia rapita was written by Tassoni between 1614 and 1615 and it was first published in Paris. It couldn’t be published in Italy until Tassoni had modified it to make it comply with the censorship rules imposed by the Catholic Church. 

Tassoni paid to have the first Italian edition bearing his own name published, and the final edition was published in 1630. 

The story related by the poem was loosely based on a war fought between Modena and Bologna in 1325. Most of the events in the poem are fictional, and it refers to a battle that had, in reality, been fought 100 years before the war. But the poem relates what  purports to be an episode when the soldiers from Modena stole a bucket from their Bolognese enemies.

This exploit was not reported by historians from that period. However, a bucket that is claimed to have been the one stolen has been on display in the Torre della Ghirlandina in Modena from Tassoni’s time up to the present day.

In the poem, the theft of the bucket results in a war, in which the Olympian Gods take part, in the tradition of Homer’s Iliad. The war is only resolved when the Pope intervenes to bring it to an end.

The poem references contemporary events and people who were alive at the same time as the author, and its primary purpose was to entertain readers.

For the last 20 years, Tassoni has been remembered in Modena when the city gives out the annual Alessandro Tassoni Literary Award.

The Ducal Palace in Modena, designed by Luigi
Bartolomeo Avanzini, dates back to 1635

Travel tip:

Modena is a city on the south side of the Po Valley in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, known for its car industry, because Ferrari, De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani and Maserati have all been located there. The city is also well-known for its balsamic vinegar. Operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti and soprano Mirella Freni were both born in Modena. One of the main sights in Modena is the huge, Baroque Ducal Palace, begun by Francesco I on the site of a former castle in 1635. His architect, Luigi Bartolomeo Avanzini, created a home for him that few European princes could match at the time. In the Galleria Estense, on the upper floor of the Palazzo dei Musei in Modena, is a one-metre high bust of Francesco I d’Este, Duke of Modena, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Tassoni's statue

Travel tip:

The Cathedral of Modena and its bell tower, Torre della Ghirlandina, are both UNESCO World heritage sites. The tower stands more than 89 metres (292ft) tall and can be seen outside the city from all directions. Inside, there is the Sala della Secchia room, which has 15th century frescoes, and the tower also houses a copy of the oaken bucket, from the War of the Bucket referred to by Tassoni in his poem, which was fought between Modena and Bologna in 1325. The tower was built in 1179, with five floors, and was initially called Torre di San Geminiano. It was renamed after the top of the tower was decorated with two ghirlande - marble railings - during a later renovation. The statue of Alessandro Tassoni, which stands at the foot of the tower, was sculpted by Antonio Cavazza and erected in 1860.

Also on this day:

1871: The birth of soldier and politician Pietro Badoglio

1924: The birth of actor Marcello Mastroianni

1943: The death of 13-year-old partisan Filippo Illuminato

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27 September

Grazia Deledda - Nobel Prize winner

First Italian woman to be honoured

The novelist Grazia Deledda, who was the first of only two Italian women to be made a Nobel laureate when she won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1926, was born on this day in 1871 in the city of Nuoro in Sardinia.  A prolific writer from the age of 13, she published around 50 novels or story collections over the course of her career, most of them drawing on her own experience of life in the rugged Sardinian countryside.  The Nobel prize was awarded "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general."  Deledda’s success came at the 11th time of asking, having been first nominated in 1913. The successful nomination came from Henrik Schuck, a literature historian at the Swedish Academy.  Born into a middle-class family - her father, Giovanni, was in her own words a “well-to-do landowner” - Deledda drew inspiration for her characters from the stream of friends and business acquaintances her father insisted must stay at their home whenever they were in Nuoro.  She was not allowed to attend school beyond the age of 11 apart from private tuition in Italian.  Read more…

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Gracie Fields - actress and singer

English-born performer who made Capri her home 

The English actress, singer and comedian Gracie Fields died on this day in 1979 at her home on Capri, the island on the south side of the Gulf of Naples.  The 81-year-old former forces sweetheart had been in hospital following a bout of pneumonia but appeared to be regaining her health.  The previous day she had walked with her husband, Boris, to the post office on the island to collect her mail.  Some English newspapers reported that Gracie had died in the arms of her husband but that version of events was later corrected. It is now accepted that Boris had already left La Canzone del Mare, the singer's original Capri home overlooking the island's landmark Faraglioni rocks, to work on the central heating at a second property they had bought in Anacapri, on the opposite side of the island, and that Gracie was with her housekeeper, Irena, when she passed away suddenly.  Fields, born Grace Stansfield in Rochdale, England, in 1898, had visited Capri for the first time in the late 1920s or early 30s, with two artists she had befriended in London, where she was becoming an established star in the revue format.  Read more…

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Cosimo de’ Medici – banker and politician

Father of Florence used his wealth to encourage great architecture

Today is the date Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici, the founder of the Medici dynasty, celebrated his birthday.  Cosimo and his twin brother, Damiano, were born to Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici and Piccarda Bueri in April 1389, but Damiano survived for only a short time.  The twins were named after the saints Cosmas and Damian, whose feast day in those days was celebrated on 27 September. Cosimo later decided to celebrate his birthday on 27 September, his ‘name day’, rather than on the actual date of his birth.  Cosimo’s father came from a wealthy family and after making even more money he married well. A supporter of the arts in Florence, he was one of the financial backers for the magnificent doors of the Baptistery by Ghiberti, although they were not completed until after his death.  By the time his father died, Cosimo was 40 and had become a rich banker himself, which gave him great power. He had also become a patron of the arts, learning and architecture.  The Abizzi family, who ruled Florence, feared his power and also coveted his wealth, so they had Cosimo arrested on the capital charge of having tried to raise himself up higher than others.  Read more…

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Vittorio Vidali - communist revolutionary 

One-time Russian agent ultimately elected Italian deputy and senator

The revolutionary Vittorio Vidali, who operated as a secret agent of the Russian communists in the United States, Mexico and Spain, was born on this day in 1900 in the coastal town of Muggia, near Trieste.  Known at various times by at least five different names, he was implicated in the murder of a fellow agent and in an attempt to assassinate Leon Trotsky, although in neither case could his involvement be proved. After returning to Italy at the end of World War Two, he served as a deputy and then a senator in the Italian parliament.  Vidali was politically active from an early age, joining the Socialist Youth movement in Trieste at the age of 16. At 20 he was one of the founders of the youth federation of the Italian Communist Party (Pci). In the same year - 1921 - he was arrested for his part in rioting at the San Marco shipyards where his father worked.  He became a target for Mussolini’s Blackshirts after organising, with others, an anti-fascist paramilitary group, and fled Italy in 1922, to Germany and then New York, where he met the Italian anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.  From New York he travelled to Russia. Read more…

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Jovanotti - musician

Former rapper an important figure in Italian pop culture

The singer-songwriter Lorenzo Cherubini – better known as Jovanotti – was born on this day in 1966 in Rome.  Famous in his early days as Italy’s first rap star, Jovanotti has evolved into one of Italian pop music’s most significant figures, his work progressing from hip hop to funk and introducing ska and other strands of world music to Italian audiences, his increasingly sophisticated compositions even showing classical influences.  He has come to match Ligabue in terms of the ability to attract massive audiences, while his international record sales in the mid-90s were on a par with Eros Ramazzotti and Laura Pausini.  Since his recording debut in 1988 he has sold more than seven million albums.  Although born in Rome, Cherubini came from a Tuscan family and spent much of his childhood and adolescence in Cortona in the province of Arezzo, where he now has a home.  He began to work as a DJ at venues in and around Cortona, mainly playing dance music and hip hop, which at the time was scarcely known in Italy. After finishing high school he went back to Rome because he felt he had a better chance of launching a musical career via the capital’s club scene.  Read more…

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Flaminio Scala - Renaissance writer and actor

Influential figure in growth of commedia dell’arte

The writer, actor and director Flaminio Scala, who is recognised as one of the most important figures in Renaissance theatre, was born on this day in 1552 in Rome.  Commonly known by his stage name Flavio, Scala was the author of the first published collection of scenarios - sketches - from the commedia dell’arte genre.  These scenarios, brought together under the title Il Teatro delle Favole Rappresentative, were short comic plays said to have provided inspiration to playwrights such William Shakespeare and Molière.  They were unusual because the theatre companies were so worried about rival troupes stealing their ideas that publishing them was considered too risky.  Commedia dell’arte was a theatrical form that used improvised dialogue and a cast of masked, colourful stock characters such as Arlecchino, Colombina and Pulcinella. The characters tended to be exaggerated versions of social stereotypes. Figures of authority, such as doctors or city officials, were often portrayed as buffoons, while the servants were much more lovable and sympathetic.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Grazia Deledda: A Legendary Life, by Martha King

What made a young Sardinian woman in the 19th century think that she could become a famous writer, especially considering the time and her position, her gender and lack of education? Yet Grazia Deledda achieved such status in the literary world that publishers in Italy vied for her fiction. Nearly seventy years after her death, her novels continue to be reprinted and translated, and critical appreciation of her work continues to grow. This - the first full length biography of Deledda in English for an adult audience - is the story of a woman who overcame obstacles that would discourage most people, and went on to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926. Grazia Deledda: A Legendary Life, part of the Troubador Italian Studies series, charts her life and work from her childhood in Sardinia to her death in Rome.

Martha King went to Italy from Austin, Texas, with a grant to finish a translation of Leopardi's Libaldone. She thought that she might stay "a year or two", but never left. She has published extensively on Italian literature since the late 1970s.

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26 September

Enzo Bearzot - World Cup-winning coach

Led Italy to 1982 triumph in Spain

Enzo Bearzot, the pipe-smoking coach who plotted Italy’s victory at the 1982 World Cup in Spain and at the same time changed the way the national team traditionally played, was born on September 26, 1927 in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northwest Italy.  Italy had a reputation for ultra-defensive and sometimes cynical football but in 44 years had won only one major competition, the 1968 European championships, a much lower-key affair than the current four-yearly Euros, which Italy hosted.  But Bearzot was an admirer of the so-called ‘total football’ philosophy advanced by the Dutch coach Rinus Michels, with which the Netherlands national team reached two World Cup finals in the 1970s, albeit without winning.  Italy did not impress at the start of their Spain adventure, recording three fairly lacklustre draws in their group matches, and were expected to be eliminated in the second group phase when they were obliged to play Argentina, the holders, and a Brazil side brimming with brilliant players.  Bearzot and the team attracted scathing criticism in the Italian press.  Read more…

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Anna Magnani - Oscar-winning film star

Roman one of only three Italians to land best actor award

Anna Magnani, who found fame for her performance in Roberto Rossellini's neorealist classic movie Rome, Open City and went on to become one of only three Italian actors to win an Academy Award, died on this day in Rome in 1973.   She had been suffering from pancreatic cancer and her death at the age of just 65 shocked her fans and close friends.  Rossellini, with whom she had a tempestuous affair before he ditched her for the Swedish actress, Ingrid Bergman, was at her bedside along with her son, Luca.  The American playwright Tennessee Williams, who wrote the part of Serafina in his play The Rose Tattoo specifically with Magnani in mind, was so devastated he could not bring himself to attend her funeral.  Instead he sent 20 dozen roses to signify the bond they developed while working together.  When Williams was in Rome they would meet for cocktails on the roof-top terrace of her home, overlooking the city, always at eight o'clock - "alle venti" in Italy, where times are generally expressed according to the 24-hour clock.  They would sign off letters and telegrams to one another with the words "Ci vediamo alle venti" or "See you at eight."  Read more…

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St Francis Basilica struck by earthquake

Historic art works damaged in double tremor

The historic Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi suffered serious damage on this day in 1997 when two earthquakes struck in the central Apennines.  The quakes claimed 11 lives in the Assisi area and forced the evacuation of 70 per cent of buildings in the Umbrian town, at least temporarily, because of safety fears.  Many homes were condemned as unsafe for occupation and residents had to be housed in makeshift accommodation.  The event also caused considerable damage to frescoes painted in the 13th century by Giotto and to other important works by Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti and Simone Martini.  The first quake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter Scale, struck shortly after 2.30am and was felt as far away as Rome, some 170km (44 miles) to the south.  A series of smaller tremors kept residents on edge through the night.  Yet the biggest quake, measured at 5.7 initially but later revised upwards to 6.1, was still to come. With tragic consequences, it occurred at 11.43am, just as a party of Franciscan monks, journalists, town officials and experts from the Ministry of Culture had decided to venture inside the basilica to inspect the damage.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: The Match: The Story of Italy v Brazil 1982, by Piero Trellini

The Match is a multi-award-winning book first published in Italy in 2019. The book has been reprinted numerous times, with translated versions published to great acclaim in Spain and Latin America. It also inspired the 2022 Sky Sports TV series Italy v Brazil 3-2 – La Partita. This is the eagerly awaited English edition.  The book tells the tale of an extraordinary sports event – a match described by Time magazine in 2010 as the most beautiful game in football history: Italy v Brazil at Spain 82.  Piero Trellini delves into the stories and lives of the many great players and characters who shone on that day and lit up that unforgettable match – from Paolo Rossi to Sócrates, from Enzo Bearzot to Zico – as well as some forgotten figures who all played their part.  The Match takes us on a fascinating journey through the 1982 World Cup, and includes fresh insight and fascinating anecdotes on the historical and sporting links between the two countries. Italy, a nation historically at the forefront of football, did not arrive in Spain as favourites, with widespread doubts about their chances, not least in the Italian press. This is one of the reasons why their triumph that summer is still celebrated in Italy above any others by the azzurri.

Piero Trellini is an award-winning Italian writer whose journalistic work has appeared in La Repubblica and many other leading Italian newspapers. He has spent most of his life researching and reliving the Italy-Brazil match of 1982, collecting stories, anecdotes and memorabilia, including the referee’s whistle used that day. The Match won the 2020 Bancarella Sport Prize, the Mastercard Letteratura Prize, the Massarosa Jury Award, was named Book of the Year by TuttoSport and the book with the best narrative by Corriere della Sera. In the UK, it was named Titan Wealth Football Book of the Year for 2024 at the prestigious Charles Tyrwhitt Sports Book Awards.

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25 September

NEW - Francesco Borromini - architect

Rival of Bernini and Da Cortona was pioneer of Roman Baroque

The architect Francesco Borromini, who was a pivotal figure alongside Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona in the development of the Roman Baroque style in the 17th century, was born on this day in 1599 in the village of Bissone, now in Switzerland but at that time part of the Duchy of Lombardy.  Borromini, who was born Francesco Castelli, gained widespread recognition for his innovative design of the small San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane church on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, which was his first independent commission and is regarded by some historians as one of the starting points for Italian Baroque.  His other major works include the church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, which was part of Rome’s Sapienza University, the Re Magi Chapel, the Palazzo Spada and the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte. As Francesco Castelli, he began his career as a stonemason, following in the footsteps of his father, Giovanni, who was in the service of the noble Visconti Borromeo family. He began his apprenticeship in the trade at just nine years old, moving to Milan even though he was still a boy. His father believed he would gain more practical experience there and it is thought he cut some of the stone used in the building of Milan Cathedral’s magnificent Gothic facade.  Read more…

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Nino Cerruti - fashion designer

Turn of fate led to a life in haute couture 

The fashion designer Nino Cerruti, who used the family textile business as the platform on which to build one of the most famous names in haute couture, was born on this day in 1930 in Biella in northern Piedmont.  At its peak, the Cerruti brand became synonymous with Hollywood glitz and the movie industry, both as the favourite label of many top stars and the supplier of clothing ranges for a string of box office hits.  Yet Cerruti might have lived a very different life had fate not intervened. Although Lanificio Fratelli Cerruti - the textile mills set up by his grandfather, Antonio, and his great uncles, Stefano and Quintino - had been the family firm since 1881, Nino wanted to be a journalist.  But when his father, Silvio, who had taken over the running of the business from Antonio, died prematurely, Nino was almost obligated to take over, even though he was only 20 years old.  However, despite the sacrifice of his ambitions and his studies, Cerruti threw himself into developing the business. He saw the potential in repositioning Cerruti as a fashion label and invested in a modernisation plan for the family weaving workshops in Biella as well as acquiring two further factories in Milan.  Read more…

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Agostino Bassi – biologist

Scientist who rescued the silk industry in Italy

Bacteriologist Agostino Bassi, who was the first to expound the parasitic theory of infection, was born on this day in 1773 at Mairago near Lodi in Lombardy.  He developed his theory by studying silkworms, which helped him discover that many diseases are caused by microorganisms.  This was 10 years in advance of the work of Louis Pasteur.  In 1807 Bassi began an investigation into the silkworm disease mal de segno, also known as muscardine, which was causing serious economic losses in Italy and France.  After 25 years of research and carrying out various experiments, Bassi was able to demonstrate that the disease was contagious and was caused by a microscopic parasitic fungus.  He concluded that the organism, at the time named botrytis paradoxa, but now known as beauvaria bassiana in his honour, was transmitted among the worms by contact and by infected food.  These findings enabled Bassi to rescue the economically important silk industry in Italy by recommending using disinfectants, separating the rows of feeding caterpillars and keeping farms clean.  Read more…

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Zucchero Fornaciari – singer

Sweet success for writer and performer

The singer-songwriter now known simply as Zucchero was born Adelmo Fornaciari on this day in 1955 in Roncocesi, a small village near Reggio Emilia.  In a career lasting more than 30 years, he has sold more than 50 million records and has become popular all over the world.  He is hailed as ‘the father of the Italian blues’, having introduced blues music to Italy, and he has won many awards for his music. He has also been given the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.  As a young boy, Zucchero lived in the Tuscan seaside resort of Forte dei Marmi, where he sang in the choir and learned to play the organ at his local church.  He became fond of soul music and began to write his own songs and play the tenor saxophone. He started playing in bands while studying veterinary medicine but gave up his studies to follow his dream of becoming a singer.  He took the stage name of Zucchero, the Italian word for sugar, which was a nickname one of his teachers had given him.  Zucchero took part in the Sanremo song contest for the second time in 1985 and although his song Donne did not win, it went on to become a hit single.  Read more…

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Book of the Day: Orders of Architecture, by R A Cordingley

A complete reference to the classical orders of architecture, this magnificently illustrated volume covers the Greek, Roman, and Renaissance periods. In addition to its fully representative selection of works by Italian and French Renaissance architects, Orders of Architecture features a fine series of measured drawings derived from still-extant monuments of Greek and Roman antiquity. Since the "Orders" created by the Renaissance builders were based upon the earlier structures, this book provides a means of critical comparison as well as an excellent perspective on the growth and significance of the architectural orders. Eighty black-and-white plates by Augustus Pugin and other distinguished artists depict details of works by such architects as Vitruvius, Palladio, Vignola, Serlio, and Lescot. Featured Greek buildings include the Parthenon, the temples of Apollo and Jupiter, the Portico of Augustus, the Aqueduct of Hadrian, and others. More than twenty Roman structures include the Pantheon, the Colosseum and buildings in the adjacent forum, and the temples of Paestum.

Reginald Annandale Cordingley was a professor at Manchester University and Durham University and an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. As well as being a working architect, who among other projects restored parts of Durham Cathedral, he pioneered the study of regional architecture, devising and perfecting its recording system.

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