Rossano Brazzi (18 September 1916 – 24 December 1994) was an Italian actor.

Biography[link]

Brazzi was born in Bologna to Adelmo and Maria (née Ghedini) Brazzi. He attended San Marco University in Florence, Italy, where he was raised from the age of four. He made his film debut in 1939.

He was propelled to international fame with his role in the English-language film Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), followed by the leading male role in David Lean's Summertime (1955), opposite Katharine Hepburn. His other notable English-language films include The Barefoot Contessa (1954), The Story of Esther Costello (1957), South Pacific (1958), Count Your Blessings (1959),The Light in the Piazza (1962), and The Italian Job (1969).

Marriages[link]

In 1940, Brazzi married baroness Lidia Bertolini (1921–1981) to whom he was married until her death in 1981. The couple had no children. In 1982, he married Ilse Fischer, a German national, who had been the couple's housekeeper for many years. This marriage was also childless. However, he did father a son (born 24 July 1955) by a relationship with Llewella Humphreys, daughter of Murray Humphreys.

Death[link]

Brazzi died in Rome on Christmas Eve 1994, aged 78, from a neural virus.

Selected filmography[link]

• We the Living (1942)
• Little Women (1949)
• Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
• The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
• Summertime (1955)
• Loser Takes All (1956)
• Legend of the Lost (1957)
• The Story of Esther Costello (1957)
• South Pacific (1958)
• A Certain Smile (1958)
• Count Your Blessings (1959)
• Siege of Syracuse (1960)
• Three Fables of Love (1962)
• Mondo cane (1962)
• The Light in the Piazza (1962)
• Redhead (1962)
• Rome Adventure (1962)
• Dark Purpose (1964)
• Instant Love (1964)
• The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965)
• The Christmas That Almost Wasn't (1966)
• The Bobo (1967)
• Krakatoa, East of Java (1969)
• The Italian Job (1969)
• Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981)
• The Far Pavilions (1984)
• Russicum - I giorni del diavolo (1989) aka The Third Solution

External links[link]

• Rossano Brazzi at the Internet Movie Database

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Rossano
—  Comune  —
Comune di Rossano
Church of Santa Maria del Patire.
Rossano Location of Rossano in Italy
Coordinates: 39°34′N 16°38′E / 39.567°N 16.633°E / 39.567; 16.633
Country	Italy
Region	Calabria
Province	Cosenza (CS)
Government
• Mayor	Giuseppe Antoniotti
Area
• Total	149 km2 (58 sq mi)
Elevation	270 m (890 ft)
Population (31 March 2010)
• Total	38,229
• Density	260/km2 (660/sq mi)
Demonym	Rossanesi
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	87067, 87068
Dialing code	0983
Patron saint	St. Nilus the Younger
Saint day	September 26
Website	portal.comune.rossano.cs.it

Rossano is a town and comune in Southern Italy, in the province of Cosenza (Calabria). The city is situated on an eminence c. 3. km from the Gulf of Taranto. The town is known for its marble and alabaster quarries.

The town is the seat of a Catholic archbishop and has a notable cathedral and castle. Two Popes have been born in the town, along with Saint Nilus the Younger.

History[link]

The Oratory of St. Mark.

Roscianum was the original name of the town under the Roman Empire. In the 2nd century AD, emperor Hadrian built or rebuilt a port here, which could accommodate up to 300 ships. It was mentioned in the Antonine itineraries, as one of the important fortresses of Calabria. The Goths of Alaric I and, in the following century, Totila, were unable to take it.

Antipope John XVI (ca. 945 – 1001) a native of Rossano.^[1]

The Rossanesi showed great attachment to the Byzantine Empire, whose local strategos had his seat here. The Rossano Gospels, a 6th Century illuminated manuscript of great historical and artistic value, is a tangible relic of that period.

The Saracens failed to conquer Rossano, while in 982 Otto II captured it temporarily from the Byzantines. Its Greek character was preserved long after its conquest by the Normans, as noted by its long retention of the Greek Rite over the Latin Rite. The city in fact maintained notable privileges under the subsequent Hohenstaufen and Angevine dominations, but subsequently decayed after the feudalization in 1417.

Passing to the Sforza, and thus to Sigismund of Poland, it was united in 1558 to the crown of Naples by Philip II of Spain in virtue of a doubtful will by Bona Sforza, queen of Poland in favor of Giovanni Lorenzo Pappacoda. Under Isabella of Naples and Bona, the town had been a centre of literary culture; but under the Spaniards it declined.

In 1612, the crown sold the lordship to the Aldobrandini, and in 1637, it passed to the Borghese who retained it until 1806. The city was part of the Neapolitan Republic of 1799, but its conditions did not improve after the Unification of Italy, and much of the population emigrated.

Rossano was the birthplace of Pope John VII and Pope Urban VII. Rossano is also the birthplace of Saint Nilus the Younger, who founded the Abbey of Grottaferrata, and whose "Life" is a valuable source of information about southern Italy in the Tenth Century.

Main sights[link]

• The Cathedral (11th century, with massive interventions in the 18th–19th centuries) is the main monument of Rossano. It has a nave with two aisles, and three apses. The bell tower and the baptismal font are from the 14th century, while the remaining decorations are from the 17th and 18th centuries. The church is famous for the ancient image of the Madonna acheropita ("Madonna not made by hands"), now located in the Diocesan Museum, probably dating between 580 and the first half of the eighth century. In 1879, the famous Codex Rossanensis was discovered in the sacristy. It is a Greek parchment manuscript of Matthew and Mark, written in silver on purple-stained parchment, and is one of the oldest pictorial Gospels known. Scholars date the codex from the end of the fifth to the eighth or ninth century; it is probably of Alexandrian origin.

A view of Santa Maria Panaghìa.

• The church of Santa Maria Panaghìa ("St. Mary of All Saints"), an example of Byzantine architecture, with traces of frescoes portraying St. John Chrysostomos.
• The St. Mark Oratory (tenth century, originally dedicated to St. Anastasia) is the most ancient monument of the city and one of the best preserved Byzantine churches in Italy. It was built by St. Nilus the Younger in the tenth century for the ascetic retreat of monks living in the tufa grottos underneath. It is a Byzantine-style edifice with rectangular Greek-cross plan, with five domes on cylindrical drums. Traces of the original wall frescoes remain.
• The church of Santa Chiara (1546–1554) was built by Bona Sforza.
• The church of San Francesco di Paola (late 16th century) has a notable Renaissance portal and a cloister.
• The late-Gothic church of San Bernardino (1428–62) was the first Roman Catholic church in Rossano. It houses the sepulchre of Oliverio di Somma (1536) and a seventeenth-century wooden crucifix.
• Rossano is also the home of the internationally renowned annual Marco Fiume Blues Passion, a free three day open air blues/jazz festival named after a native son who was becoming a giant in the American blues/jazz guitar world before his early demise. The festival occurs in July and is linked to the Cognac Blues Festival in France.

Outside the city are:

The image of Maria Achiropita in the Cathedral.

• The Torre Stellata ("Star Tower") is a 16th century fortification built over an ancient fortress.
• The Abbazia del Pàtire (11th–12th century), an abbey located in a wood outside the city, with some Arab-style mosaics, a Norman apse and ancient portals.

Transportation[link]

Rossano can be reached from the airports of Crotone, Lamezia Terme or Reggio Calabria through SS. 106 Ionica Route. Rossano has a railway station on the secondary branch starting from Sibari, on the line to Crotone.

Notes and references[link]

Notable people[link]

• Saint Nilus the Younger (910-1005 AD), Saint
• Saint Bartholomew the Younger (981-1055 AD), Saint
• Johannes Philagathos (died ca. 1001), Antipope

External links[link]

• "Marco Fiume Blues Passion" Memorial Festival (Italian)
• Comune di Rossano (Italian)
• U Russanìsə Dictionary of Rossano dialect (Italian)
• Rossano Photogallery (Italian)
• VisitRossano Online travel guide (English)

Giorgio Tozzi (January 8, 1923 – May 30, 2011) was an American operatic bass. He was a mainstay for many years with the Metropolitan Opera, and sang principal bass roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide.

Career[link]

Tozzi was born George John Tozzi in Chicago, Illinois.^[1] He studied at DePaul University with Rosa Raisa, Giacomo Rimini and John Daggett Howell, making his professional debut in the Broadway production of Britten's The Rape of Lucretia in 1948 as Tarquinius. His signature roles included Figaro in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Phillip II in Verdi's Don Carlo, Hans Sachs in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust.

In 1957 he portrayed the title role in a nationally broadcast performance of Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov with the NBC Opera Theatre.^[2] In 1958 he created the role of The Doctor in Barber's Vanessa.

Tozzi was the recipient of three Grammy Awards: in 1960 the Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance, Operatic or Choral for The Marriage of Figaro with Erich Leinsdorf; in 1961 the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for Puccini's Turandot, with Erich Leinsdorf; and in 1963 the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for Georg Solti's recording of Verdi's Aida (with Leontyne Price and Jon Vickers). Tozzi also sang the bass part in the recording of Sir Thomas Beecham's version of Handel's Messiah for RCA Victor in 1959.

After dubbing the singing parts for the character of Emile de Becque (acted by Rossano Brazzi) in the 1958 film version of South Pacific, Tozzi spent many years playing the role of de Becque himself in various revivals and road tours of the show, including one at Lincoln Center in the late 1960s. In 1980, Tozzi earned a Tony award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his work as Tony in The Most Happy Fella.

He was a professor at Juilliard, Brigham Young University, and Indiana University. In 2006 he retired as Distinguished Professor of Voice at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.

Tozzi published a novel in 1997, The Golem of the Golden West.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Tozzi was twice married. He first married Catherine Dieringer, who predeceased him; in 1967 he married Monte Amundsen, a singer, with whom he had a son and a daughter.^[4]

Tozzi died on May 30, 2011, in Bloomington, Indiana, aged 88, of a heart attack. He was survived by Amundsen, their children, Eric Tozzi and Jennifer Tozzi Hauser, and three grandchildren.^[5][6]

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Bernheimer, Martin (July 2002). "Giorgio Tozzi". Opera News 67 (1): 46–50.