Italy on this Day

The opera that was a prelude to Giuseppe Verdi making the step up to greatness. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/03/verd...

Giacomo Serpotta – sculptor Sculptor Giacomo Serpotta, who specialised in stucco, was born on March 10, 1656 in Palermo.

A brilliant sculptor whose extraordinary work in stucco adorns churches in Palermo. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/03/giac...

Baroque master whose bold techniques brought new imagination to the architecture of Turin. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/03/guar...

Ten Italian Songs That Defined an Era From Lucio Dalla to Vasco Rossi, ten Italian songs from the late 70s and 80s that have outlasted their era and never stopped playing across Italy.

10 classic Italian songs that defined an era

A 19th century opera and song composer whose work helped add to the identity of Venetian music. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/03/anto...

Pietro Gnocchi – composer Baroque composer and polymath Pietro Gnocchi was born on February 27, 1689.

An 18th century composer and polymath whose music was never published yet is still performed today. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/02/piet...

How a father's wish to make life more comfortable for his sick son led to the invention of the world's favourite luxury spa bath. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/02/cand...

How a father's wish to help his sick son led to the invention of the world's favourite luxury spa bath.

Sanremo: A song contest that defines Italian pop culture Italy's Sanremo Music Festival is an annual singing competition that has served as the heartbeat of Italian popular culture since it was launched in 1951.

After the Winter Olympics, it's the turn of Italy's Sanremo Music Festival to take centre stage.

Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici, founder of the Medici Bank, and the wealth that helped the family rule Florence for the best part of 300 years. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/02/giov...

Romance and revolution with Lord Byron in Ravenna. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/02/lord...

A racing driver and car maker whose vision changed the automobile industry. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/02/vinc...

The theatre and film director who sought to turn photography into a Futurist art form. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/02/anto...

Simone Pianetti – anarchist and mass murderer The mass killer Simone Pianetti, who shot and killed seven fellow villagers in Lombardy who he felt had wronged him, was born on February 7, 1858.

The man from a valley in Lombardy who took calculated revenge on fellow villagers he blamed for his own failed business ventures. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/02/simo...

5 February Premiere of La dolce vita (1960); painter Giovanni Battista Moroni (d:1578); footballer & coach Cesare Maldini (b:1932); poet Giovanni Capurro (b:1859

A cinema masterpiece; a great portrait painter; the head of football's Maldini dynasty; a poet whose most famous verses are set to music; Verdi's penultimate opera; the first woman in Italian football's hall of fame; and a celebrated Sicilian saint. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/02/5feb...

La dolce vita - cinematic masterpiece Federico Fellini's masterpiece, La dolce vita, starring Marcello Mastroianni, was premiered in Milan on February 5, 1960.

La dolce vita - the commentary on the decadence of 1950s Rome that saw Fellini hailed as a cinema genius. www.italyonthisday.com/2022/02/la-d...

Cesare Battisti – patriot and irredentist Cesare Battisti, an Italian patriot who campaigned for the city of Trento and the Trentino region to be returned to Italy at the turn of the 20th century after 600 years of Austrian rule, was born on ...

A traitor in Austria, a national hero in Italy - the story of Cesare Battisti. www.italyonthisday.com/2018/02/cesa...

A pre-WW1 teenage football sensation whose record as Italy's youngest international player is still intact after 116 years. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/02/renz...

Delia Scala - ballerina, actress and TV presenter The ballerina, actress and TV presenter Delia Scala died on January 15, 2004.

A ballet dancer who conquered the big screen and starred in musicals. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/01/deli...

The King of Sardinia whose rule explains why Italy's first monarch was Victor Emmanuel II. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/01/vict...

Giuseppe Gibilisco - pole vaulter The world champion pole vaulter Giuseppe Gibilisco was born on January 5, 1979, in Siracusa.

How Italy's most successful pole vaulter fought back from torment of dark times after doping allegations. www.italyonthisday.com/2026/01/gius...

King Francis II of the Two Sicilies Francis II, the last king of the Two Sicilies, died on December 28, 1894.

The last king of the Italian south. www.italyonthisday.com/2025/12/king...

A Christmas Day lunch for the poor, homeless and refugees is held each year inside Rome’s Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere, organised by volunteers from the Sant’Egidio Community.

The wartime intelligence officer who was dubbed the '007 of art' for his relentless quest to uncover plundered paintings and sculptures. www.italyonthisday.com/2025/12/rodo...

Life is Beautiful - Oscar-winning movie The film Life is Beautiful, which won three Academy Awards, was shown to Italian audiences for the first time on December 20, 1997.

The poignant movie masterpiece that turned Roberto Benigni into an Oscar winner. www.italyonthisday.com/2025/12/life...

Blue skies in Rome today

12 December Piazza Fontana bombing (1969); Marconi's radio breakthrough (1901); author Susanna Tamaro (b:1957); poet Robert Browning (d:1889); Dogaressa Lorendana

Milan bomb that killed 17; a historic moment in communications; a best-selling 20th century novelist; an English poet who died in Venice; inventor of a 16th century plague treatment; architect who shaped modern Urbino; the writer of the first piano music. www.italyonthisday.com/2025/12/12di...

The architect of a world famous opera house who sparked a revolution in theatre design. www.italyonthisday.com/2025/12/giov...

Best things to do in Rome in December 2025 A local's guide to what's on in Rome in December. December is perhaps the most magical time to visit Rome as the Eternal City prepares for the festive season with twinkling decorations, church concert...

A quick guide to the best events and things to do in the Eternal City in December.

Photo of Pope Pius IX

Photo of children's story character Pinocchio.

Photo of Charles 'Lucky' Luciano

Print of 16th century sculptor Pietro Torrigiano

A pope forced to flee Rome; the satirical journalist who created Pinocchio; the boss who brought order to the US Mafia; a sculptor famous for breaking Michelangelo's nose; and a painter who lost his family in the Battle of Monte Cassino. www.italyonthisday.com/2025/11/24no...