Bisignano is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza, part of in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is situated on hills in the Crati valley, between the Pollino and Sila National Parks .
Bisignano is the ancient Besidiae recorded by Livy, subsequently Besidianum and Bisidianum, whose founding archaeological remains date back to the 15th/14th century B.C..
In 1054 Bisignano was an independent municipality. It became the residence of a Norman count and later a fief of the Orsini family. In 1641 it became a fief of the Sanseverino family until 1806.
According to Henry Yule, Giovanni de Marignolli, famous for his account of travels in China, was made bishop of Bisignano in 1354. "The bishop, however, seems to have been in no hurry to reside there; thinking perhaps that a man who had spent so many years of his life in travelling to Cathay and back, might be excused from passing the whole of those that remained to him in the wilds of Calabria."
In 1467 Albanian leader Skanderbeg's daughter, wife of the Prince of Bisignano, invited many Albanian families who established various colonies, spoke their own language, and used the Greek Rite. Skanderbeg had previously helped King Ferdinand I of Naples end a French-supported insurrection and been rewarded with the grant of land in Puglia. An alternative version maintains that it was Skanderbeg's niece Irene Castriota, Duchess of San Pietro di Galatina and wife of Pietro Antonio Sanseverino, Prince of Bisignano, who invited Albanians to settle in the area. This was one of the origins of Calabria's Italo-Albanian Arbëreshë community.
Gaetano "Nino" d'Angelo (b. June 21, 1957) is an Italian singer. He was born in San Pietro a Patierno, a suburb of Naples. Nino had a very difficult childhood, and to help his family's poor financial condition he left the school and started working at a very young age.
Thanks to Alberto Lupo he was able to enter the good world but only after enormous sacrifices: his first album, "A Storia Mia" (Neapolitan for "My History") was published using personal and family funds. The album was a hit almost immediately, especially in Sicily where he quickly became one of the most acclaimed singers. He married at an early age: in 1979 he married Annamaria with whom he would have two sons: Antonio and Vincenzo. He also started acting in "sceneggiate" (a typical Neapolitan theatrical form), becoming a very popular representative of the genre. After a while he also started a cinematographic career, with his first movie "Celebrità".
In 1982 he released the album "Un Jeans e Una Maglietta" ("A Pair of Jeans and a T-Shirt") and a film with the same title followed by a great success. The album sold over one million copies and the movie, although apparently simple and with generally low expectations, surpassed the Hollywood movie "Flashdance" at the box office. From this moment on the "D'Angelo Phenomenon" began: he participated in the Sanremo Festival in 1986 with the song "Vai" ("Go"). The critics totally ignored him but his album was the best seller at the time (although it didn't even show up in the official Hit Parade). He traveled the world to perform concerts: Australia, France, Germany, Switzerland, United States.
Ayrton Senna da Silva (pronounced [aˈiɾtõ ˈsenɐ da ˈsiwvɐ] ( listen); 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver. Senna was a three-time Formula One world champion and is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. He died in a crash at Tamburello corner while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix and is the most recent driver to die at the wheel of a Formula One car.
Senna began his motorsport career in karting, moving up to open-wheel racing in 1981, and winning the British Formula 3 championship in 1983. He made his Formula One debut with Toleman-Hart in 1984 before moving to Lotus-Renault the following year and winning six Grands Prix over the next three seasons. In 1988, he joined Frenchman Alain Prost at McLaren-Honda. Between them, they won all but one of the 16 Grands Prix that year and Senna his first World Championship. Prost claimed the championship in 1989, and Senna his second and third championships in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, the Williams-Renault combination began to dominate Formula One. Senna nonetheless managed to finish the 1993 season as runner-up, winning five races and negotiating a move to Williams in 1994.