The Togni Family - Revision history

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‎Image Gallery

Djando at 22:52, 6 December 2025

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Djando: /* Suggested Reading */

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‎Suggested Reading

Djando: /* The Circo Nazionale Togni (1919-1951) */

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‎The Circo Nazionale Togni (1919-1951)

Djando: /* Ferdinando Togni and "Circo Americano" */

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‎Ferdinando Togni and "Circo Americano"

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‎Image Gallery

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‎See Also

Djando: /* The Darix Togni legacy: "Florilegio" */

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‎The Darix Togni legacy: "Florilegio"

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‎The Darix Togni legacy: "Florilegio"

Djando: /* The Darix Togni legacy: "Florilegio" */

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‎The Darix Togni legacy: "Florilegio"

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 File:Darix_Togni_Qatar.jpg|Circo Darix Togni in Qatar (2011)
 File:Bruno_Togni.jpg|Bruno Togni (2022)
 File:Bruno_Togni_-_Guay.jpg|Bruno Togni (2024)
 </gallery>
 [[Category:History|Togni Family]][[Category:Artists and Acts|Togni Family]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Togni Family]][[Category:Equestrians|Togni Family]][[Category:Animal Trainers|Togni Family]][[Category:Elephant Acts|Togni Family]][[Category:Cage Acts|Togni Family]]

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 ===Origins===
-The dynasty was founded by Aristide Togni (1853-1924), a university student who, in the 1870s, ran away and joined the Circo Torinese, a circus company  headed by Giovanni De Bianchi. Like many Italian circuses at the time, the Circo Torinese performed on stage, in theaters. De Bianchi had married Maria de la Garenne (a.k.a. de Lagarein), a Sinti gypsy, who was said to be the granddaughter of a French nobleman who had fled to Italy during the French revolution.
+The Togni dynasty was founded by Aristide Togni (1853-1924), a university student who, in the 1870s, ran away and joined the Circo Torinese, a circus company  headed by Giovanni De Bianchi. Like many Italian circuses at the time, the Circo Torinese performed on stage, in theaters. De Bianchi had married Maria de la Garenne (a.k.a. de Lagarein), a Sinti gypsy, who was said to be the granddaughter of a French nobleman who had fled to Italy during the French revolution.
 Togni married Giovanni's daughter, Teresa De Bianchi. Together, they created a circus company of their own&mdash;which, as legend has it, consisted of a single wagon and a monkey&mdash;and headed for the South of Italy. Circa 1880, they had acquired a small, one-pole big top that could house an audience of forty: the first Circo Togni was born. The couple had eight children, and their circus grew quickly, soon performing under a medium-size big top. It became so popular, apparently, that the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, awarded Circo Togni the title of Circo Nazionale in 1919.

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 * Alessandra Litta Modignani, Sandra Montovani, ''Il circo della memoria'' (Trento, Publistampa Edizioni, 2008) &mdash; ISBN 978-88-902506-7-5
 * Jamila Attou, Ester Bonfante, Arianna Pianesi, ''Darix Togni, dal Nazionale al Florilegio'' (Verona, Edizioni Equilibrando, 2023) &mdash; ISBN 978-88-95424286
 ==See Also==

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 The third Togni generation created the Tognis's three principal signature acts: pyramids on horseback, "jockey," and flying trapeze. By the late 1940s, [[Darix Togni]] (Ercole's son, 1922-1976) became, with his lion act, the starof Circo Nazionale Togni. In that act, Darix began to develop his legendary gladiator character. Circo Togni's large, round cupola allowed the presentation of the Tognis's spectacular cross-flying trapeze act, which had no less than two catchers and nine flyers. Among those, [[Cesare Togni]] (Ugo's son) accomplished a double "casse-cou" (front somersault) to the catcher, with a return to the bar with a triple pirouette.
-Although it survived and performed safely during WWII, the Circo Nazional Togni was devastated by a fire in 1951. Ercole, Ugo, and Ferdinando decided that it was time to split their ever-growing family within three separate circuses.
+Although it survived and performed safely during WWII, the Circo Nazionale Togni was devastated by a fire in 1951. Ercole, Ugo, and Ferdinando decided that it was time to split their ever-growing family within three separate circuses.
 ===Ercole Togni and the Circo Darix Togni (1951-1980)===

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 In 1976, Americano's big top and equipment were chosen to host the [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]], and its artistic staff to run the show. For 12 years, Enis, Willy and Bruno Togni acted respectively as managing, technical and performance directors of the Festival.
-[[File:Amrican_Circus_in_2003.jpg|thumb|left|400px|The American Circus in 2003]]In the 1970s, Circo Americano began to visit regularly Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, and Yugoslavia, with spectacular advertising campaigns and considerable success. A new generation gradually appeared, taking over animal acts and equestrian presentations. In the late 1970s, the legendary flying trapeze catcher Lee Stath created for the Togni juniors a double-catcher flying act, the Togni-Marilees, featuring the great American flyer, [[Don Martinez]].
+[[File:Amrican_Circus_in_2003.jpg|thumb|left|400px|The American Circus in 2003]]In the 1970s, Circo Americano began to visit regularly Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, and Yugoslavia, with spectacular advertising campaigns and considerable success. A new generation gradually appeared, taking over animal acts and equestrian presentations. In the late 1970s, the legendary flying trapeze catcher Lee Stath created for the Togni juniors a double-catcher flying act, the Togni-Marilees, featuring the great American flyer, [[Don Martinez]], who turned a rare triple-and-a-half somersault to the catcher.
 The new star of the family was Enis's son, [[Flavio Togni|Flavio]] (b.1960): His elephant and horse presentations won him three Silver Clowns at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]]. For the 1991 and 1992 seasons, the entire Circo Americano was booked by Kenneth Feld and brought to the United States, where the Togni family acts starred in the new Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey production. In 2008, Flavio started creating animal acts (tigers and elephants) for major European circuses ([[Arlette Gruss]] and the [[Cirque d'Hiver]]-Bouglione in France, or [[Cirkus Maximum]] in Sweden).
-Willy's sons, Marco and Loris, left the circus (after a remarkable career as flyers) in the 1990s, and became successful illusionists. Bruno's son, Andrea, is a remarkable aerialist and the Director of the [[Accademia del Circo]], the Italian circus school in Verona. Adriana's daughter, Cristina, is an excellent horse trainer. Enis's other son, Daniele is in charge of the management of Circo Americano (renamed ''American Circus'' in the 1990s), which is still touring Europe and remains a major player in the business.
+Willy's sons, Marco and Loris, left the circus (after a remarkable career as flyers) in the 1990s, and became successful illusionists. Bruno's son, Andrea, is a remarkable aerialist and the Director of the [[Accademia del Circo]], the Italian circus school in Verona. Adriana's daughter, Cristina, is an excellent horse trainer. Enis's other son, Daniele was in charge of the management of Circo Americano (renamed ''American Circus'' in the 1990s), and was replaced by Flavio in the late 1990s.
 ===The Darix Togni legacy: "Florilegio"===

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 * Video: [[Flavio_Togni_Video_(1983)|Flavio Togni, elephants and horses]], at the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (1983)
 * Video: [[Togni_Elephants_Video_(1988)|Flavio Togni, elephant act]] at the Spodek Arena in Poland (1988)
 * Video: [[American_Circus-Togni_Video_(2009)|The American Circus in Genoa]], Documentary (2009)
 * Video: [[Togni_Elephants_Video_(2011)|Flavio Togni, elephant act]], at the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (2011)

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 Their revolutionary big top became the most widely copied circus structure in the world. ''Il Florilegio'' was un unmitigated success in Italy, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Holland, Germany, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, and Turkey for more than a decade, often attended by royalty and celebrities. Then, in 2002, Livio Togni was elected to the Italian Senate, and left the circus.
-By 2006, the family operated three circus units: ''Il Florilegio – Amar'' in Algeria, a two-ring circus with a circus-on-ice part managed by Livio Togni's sons, Max and Steve; another unit named ''Darix Togni'', managed by Davio Togni, which successfully performed for two consecutive years (2007 and 2008) in Teheran, Iran; and a third unit which was occasionally used during the winter in Italy or France. Faced with the increasing difficulty to present wild animals in most of Europe, Davio Togni then moved to Russia with his animals, where he has since been touring successfully (as of 2024).
+By 2006, the family operated three circus units: ''Il Florilegio – Amar'' in Algeria, a two-ring circus with a circus-on-ice part managed by Livio Togni's sons, Max and Steve; another unit named ''Darix Togni'', managed by Davio Togni, which successfully performed for two consecutive years (2007 and 2008) in Teheran, Iran; and a third unit which was occasionally used during the winter in Italy or France. Faced with the increasing difficulty to present wild animals in most of Europe, Davio Togni then moved to Russia with his company and his animals, where he has since been touring successfully (as of 2024).
 ==Suggested Reading==