ISSN 1759-6939 RIVISTA No. 396 2013/14 The Magazine of the British-Italian Society RIVISTA The Magazine of the British-Italian Society Co-Editors: Georgina Gordon-Ham and Alexandra Richardson No. 396 2013/2014 E-mail address: [email protected] www.british-italian.org Printed by EVONPRINT Ltd © The British-Italian Society 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS – EARTHQUAKES AND ERUPTIONS 4 – BIS POLICY ON GRANTS AND FUNDING 35 – THE DEADLY SISTERHOOD 5 – ITALY’S PASSION FOR CRICKET 36 – THE 2012 LECONFIELD LECTURE 6 – THREE TUSCANS IN LONDON 37 – CHRISTMAS DINNER 7 – JOHN CHARLES BECKWITH 40 – PAVIA – THE ENGLISH SPEAKING TOWN 7 – HOLLYWOOD ON THE TIBER 41 – PRIMO LEVI’S “IF THIS IS A MAN” 8 – TRAIN STORY 43 – FORGOTTEN GIFTS 10 – THE FORGOTTEN RIVIERA 44 – QUEEN BEE OF TUSCANY – AGM 12 – THE LORD OF MILAN 48 – WE ARE ALL WINEMAKERS 13 – THE INCOMPARABLE CAETANI FAMILY 50 – GIUSEPPE VERDI AND THE BRITISH 15 – THE BRITISH GRAND MASTER 17 – AUGUSTUS HARE 52 – NOTES FROM TRIESTE 20 – SIDEBAR: “Italy is Never Out” 53 – ANTHONY CLARKE 24 – MINESTRA NEL SACCHETTO 53 – SARDIGNA IN BELGRAVIA 26 – ROMA SOTTERRANEA 54 – THE HANBURY GARDENS AT LA MORTOLA 29 – COLLECTING ART AND THE PALE RIDER 55 – WHICH RARELY HAPPENS… 30 – BOOK REVIEWS 58 – SULLE TRACCE DEGLI STUART A ROMA 33 – SNIPPETS 65 EDITORIAL Dear Members The Society’s activities this year have been, as always, interesting and varied, down family recipe, her very special for which, many thanks to our Events organiser Susan Kikoler and to the minestra Andrenelli, while Mauro Sanna Trustees. From a talk on the geological ingredients of Italy to a wishful list of spreads the tasty image of Sardinia to gifts intended for the Emperor of China, with stopovers to hear about some all of Belgravia. Italian (and English) flair makes an appearance as well with a of this year’s interesting books, on the powerful ladies of the Renaissance, piece on……train design. Read on for further enlightenment. on Primo Levi and on a notable “Queen Bee” of Florence. We had outings We have always liked turning the spotlight on to lesser known people in as well on the calendar: in April, members were treated to a soirée of vino the Anglo-Italian spectrum and the story of Herbert Kilpin and Milan’s AC at the Dalla Terra Wine Bar in Covent Garden. Enologo Giuseppe Gullo ably football team is just such an example. Our story list continues with many guided us through tastings of nine wines. To stave off stomach rumblings, more treats in store, so do settle in for a further read. these wines came with an array of nibbles. Gullo had a challenging time, Earlier this year, our Chairman Charles de Chassiron formally announced speaking above the din of conversation but we all came away feeling more that we would, after five years in the job, be relinquishing the editorship oenologically educated. In May, too, there was an outing – a full-day visit of RIVISTA. Without question, it has been one of the most rewarding and this time to Cambridge, beginning at St. John’s College. Following lunch, creative challenges either one of us has ever undertaken. And for that, Charles Avery guided members through the Italian sculpture collection at we both have a debt of gratitude to Charles for placing so much trust in the Fitzwilliam Museum. As a finale to the season, there was a BIS supported us. We have worked well together as a team and formed a strong bond concert presented by the Southbank Sinfonia. of friendship. We have learned to be supportive of one another where And now to return to the subject of wine! This issue of RIVISTA opens with the story ideas are concerned…even the more unconventional ones! We are, entertaining but wise observations about home winemaking in the Italian it goes almost without saying, also indebted to our members for coming countryside as recounted by Sara Capella. Read her article before making forth with so many good article ideas over the last five years. It simply any rash moves. The second successive Briton to step into the role of Grand would not have worked without you! Also thank you to Elisabetta and Master of the Knights of Malta agreed to be interviewed by our magazine and John. UN GRANDE GRAZIE A TUTTI I NOSTRI COLLABORATORI! we give you our profile of him in our pages. Ian Grainger contributed with a We would like to remind members about The British-Italian Society’s humorous, lawyerly look at the rise and fall of Ferdinandea, that capricious new logo and website with its new twenty-first century dynamic look now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t volcanic island off the southern coast of and choice of options. Also, please note the editors' new e-mail address: Sicily, with a coda courtesy of Alexandre Dumas Père. From the remote [email protected] valleys to the west of Turin comes the little-known story of John Charles Beckwith and his promotion of education for the Valdensian community, as A word at this juncture is in order to say a few words about the cover art for described by co-editor Alexandra. From the extreme northwest, we move the final issue under our watch. On the front is a work by Richard W. West, an to the extreme northeast where Anthony Cooke leads us through plenty of Irish painter who painted in and around Alassio at the turn of the 19th century. historic caffés whilst telling us all about Trieste’s past and present. It would We felt that it tied in with the piece which Georgina wrote for this issue on be unthinkable to let 2013 slip by without a fulsome bow to Giuseppe Verdi. the lure that the western Riviera held for many northerners. This painting is It is, after all, the bicentenary of the composer’s birth and Simon Bainbridge, entitled “Alassio Santana” and like some 76 others, it hangs in the premises of who edited Kobbe’s Illustrated Opera Book, generously volunteered to write the English Library at Alassio. And on the back cover of RIVISTA, we could not about the Maestro’s professional experiences in England for us. We have resist a bow to Ian Grainger’s article on Ferdinandea. Might it also just be a two articles in this issue from Liguria: Patrick Fairweather brings us up to hidden allusion to two editors closing their editorship with a bang? date on the situation of the Hanbury Garden at La Mortola, while elsewhere, Linda Northern and Vanessa Hall-Smith take over from now and we are Co-editor Georgina charts the historic popularity of the Western Riviera confident that they will continue to give you a lively and varied RIVISTA amongst the English. and will bring fresh new ideas to the job. We wish them much success and Let it not be said that we have forgotten the pleasures of the table. Elisabetta just as much fun as we have had. Pesciolini Venerosi shares a nostalgic reflection on a cherished handed- Georgina Gordon-Ham and Alexandra Richardson 2 BENVENUTA! On behalf of the Society, I would like to welcome very warmly to As members will know, the Society has a traditionally close London the new Director of the Italian Cultural Institute, Caterina relationship with the Institute, and indeed our forebears helped Cardona, who arrived last March. She comes directly from Rome, to create the conditions for its foundation in the early 1950s. This where for the last 12 years – in fact ever since it opened - she has relationship continues today, with an overlap of members, and been scientific director of the marvellous gallery Le Scuderie del with the holding every year of our prestigious Leconfield Lecture Quirinale. She has wide experience of planning and arranging major each November in the Institute’s splendid aula. Indeed art exhibitions, including this year’s major one on Titian, the opening Dott.ssa Cardona was quick to offer us the venue again for of which in March 2013, just before she left Rome for London, was 2013, for which we are all very grateful. attended by President Giorgio Napolitano. Her role at the Institute will of course extend very much wider than the visual arts, and will I am sure that we all wish her a very productive and enjoyable embrace the whole range of Italian culture, which so interests us all. stay among us – Buona permanenza a Londra! She has already made a very active start in presenting these riches Charles de Chassiron to the British public and in revitalising the Institute’s work. Chairman SIR GUY MILLARD REMEMBERED RIVISTA regrets to announce the death this year of Sir Guy Millard, 96. Millard served as Ambassador to Italy from 1973 to 1976 following postings in Hungary and Sweden, also as ambassador. After his retirement, he was Chairman of the BIS between1977 and 1983. WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS Mr and Mrs John Arnott Mr Ben Downing Mr Maurice MacSweeney Ms Maria Barry Ms Sarah Dunant Mr E Marston Ms Emma-Louise Bassett Lady Mayella Figgis Ms Jacqueline McKay Miss Susan L Betts Mr Ivan Fowler Ms Alessia Mosci Dr Anthea Brook Ms Leonie Frieda Ms Stefania Pignatelli Ms Margherita Calderoni Ms Mariarosa Gatti Mr Philip Rouse Dott.ssa Caterina Cardona Mr Giuseppe Gullo Mr A. Swinson Ms Mariangela Cireddu Mr Hussain Haider Mr Ian Thomson Mr Pierluigi Congedo Mr Luca Ilari Prof Marina Warner Mr John Connor Mr Jonathan Keates Mr and Mrs Stephen Wickett Ms Giulia Cristoforo Ms Sybil Kretzmer Mrs Sheila Woodward Anna de Chassiron and Ben Grindley Ms Mary Laven Seasons’ Greetings TO ALL, INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING CORPORATE MEMBERS: Finmeccanica UK Ltd.