History of Italy: Articles in English archives - Page 3 of 31

Gaetano Casanova, father of the famous lothario

On this day: birth of actor Gaetano Casanova

April 2, 2026April 2, 2026Deborah CaterLeave a Comment

Gaetano Casanova, the Italian actor and ballet dancer best remembered as the father of Europe’s most celebrated seducer, was born on 2 April 1697 in Parma.

Fragment of portrait of Joachim Murat, Prince d’Empire, Grand Duke of Clèves and of Berg, King of Naples under the name of Napoleon in 1808 (1767-1815), Marshal of France in 1804 By François Gérard - [1] See full portrait:[2], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=264241

On this day: Gioacchino Murat issues Rimini Proclamation

March 30, 2026March 30, 2026Deborah CaterLeave a Comment

On 30 March 1815, a declaration was made in the Adriatic city of Rimini that would echo through Italian history for generations. “Italians! The hour has come to engage in your highest destiny… From the Alps to the straits of Sicily, there is but one cry — Italian independence.” The words were stirring, visionary, and […]

La Pieta by Fra Bartolommeo Por Fray Bartolomeo - The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202., Dominio público, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=147745

On this day: birth of artist Fra Bartolommeo

March 28, 2026March 28, 2026Deborah CaterLeave a Comment

Born 28 March 1472 in Savignano di Prato, Tuscany, Fra Bartolommeo, a Dominican friar and High Renaissance master, whose figures were said to move “with a seraphic grace that must have struck the young Raphael with the force of revelation.”

Francesco I Grand Duke of Tuscany By Alessandro Allori - [2], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99729525

On this day: birth of Francesco I, Grand Duke of Tuscany

March 25, 2026March 25, 2026Deborah CaterLeave a Comment

Born in Florence on 25 March 1541, the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francesco I, left behind a legacy of art, alchemy, political ambiguity, and a death that has puzzled historians for more than four centuries.

Bronze sculpture of Julius Caesar in Rome. Image credit: © Hornet83—iStock/Getty Images

Julius Caesar: the man who changed Rome forever

March 24, 2026March 24, 2026Deborah CaterLeave a Comment

Julius Caesar remains, more than two thousand years after his death, one of the most recognisable figures in all of human history. His name became a title — Kaiser in German, Tsar in Russian — and his life a byword for ambition, brilliance, and the perils of absolute power. But who was the man behind […]

Dario Fo in Venice, 1985 By Gorupdebesanez - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31061838

On this day: writer Dario Fo born

March 24, 2026March 24, 2026Deborah CaterLeave a Comment

On 24 March 1926, one of the most provocative and prolific figures in twentieth-century theatre was born in the small Lombardy town of Leggiuno Sangiano, in the Province of Varese. Dario Fo would go on to write more than 80 plays, win the Nobel Prize in Literature, be banned from Italian television, and spend a […]