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As a young boy, [|Mussolini] would spend time helping his father in his blacksmithing. Mussolini's early political views were heavily influenced by his father, [|Alessandro Mussolini], a revolutionary socialist who supported 19th century Italian nationalist figures with humanist tendencies. In 1902, at the anniversary of Garibaldi's death, Benito Mussolini made a public speech in praise of the republican nationalist. The conflict between his parents about religion meant that, unlike most Italians, Mussolini was not baptised at birth and would not be until much later in life. However, as a compromise with his mother, Mussolini was sent to a boarding school run by Salesian monks. Mussolini was rebellious and was soon expelled after a series of behaviour related incidents, including throwing stones at the congregation after Mass, stabbing a fellow student in the hand and throwing an inkpoy at a teacher. After joining a new school, Mussolini achieved good grades, and qualified as an elementary schoolmaster in 1901.

Benito Mussolini was the [|leader of Italy] from 1922 to 1943, during the time of WWII. He was the leader of [|fascism], and was also the man responsible for Italy's alliance with Germany in the Axis power. During a time of much political chaos, Mussolini, founder of the fascist party, presented himself to the rest of Italy and declared that he could end the political madness. He was welcomed to attempt to fix Italy, so Mussolini slowly began to take apart the currently non-functional democratic government and inserted himself as [|dictator of Italy]. He gave himself the nickname [|"Il Duce"]. Mussolini tried to create an Italian empire in Europe, but things went downhill when he declared war on Great Britain and France.



[|Bartholomeau Dias] Bartholomeau Dias was a navigator and explorer from Portugal. He was well educated, because he came from a noble family. He was born in 1457. He was in the royal Portuguese court and held the title Sailing Master of the Portuguese man-of-war Sao Cristovao. October 10th, 1486 King John II of Portugal appointed Bartholomeau to sail around the southern tip of Africa to meet with the Christian ruler of the Indies named Prester John. Many explorers used his aps for their voyages. Later in 1497, he accompanied Vasco de gama on a trip to India. In 1500, Dias accompanied Pedro Álvares Cabral on the voyage that resulted in the discovery of Brazil. This voyage mysteriously took a course to the New World and Cabral discovered Brazil - the expedition then turned back towards the south coast of Africa. On May 24th, 1500 Dias died in a violent storm along the Cape of Good Hope.

Leon Battista Alberti - Palazzo Rucellai

Leon Battista Alberti designed an built the Palazzo Rucellai in the Piazza de' Rucelli. He accompished the feat between 1446 and 1451. The building is very solid, and has three levels. The ground floor was for business, because the Rucelli family were powerful bankers. The second floor, the piano nobile, was the main reception floor. The third story was private rooms and bedrooms for the family only. The fourth floor was hidden under the roof of the building. The entire palace is built around a central courtyard. Leon was a humanist, so naturally his works reflected that. His palace reflected much ancient architecture from Rome. Some say that it can similar qualities to the Colosseum. Each layer of the building represents a classical order. The Tuscan order is the base floor, an Alberti original instead of an Ionic order, and a simplified Corinthia layer for the top. The Roman influence could be seen in the vaulted ceilings, arches, pilasters, and entablatures.

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