August 2nd
216 BCE: Battle of Cannae, in which Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, inflicted one of the worst ever defeats on the Roman army. 1921: Death, in Naples, of the tenor Enrico Caruso (b. 1873). 1980: A terrorist bomb exploded at Bologna's railway station killing 85 people and injuring 200. The attack was the deadliest in the period known as 'gli anni del piombo' ('the years of lead'), which lasted from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. |
August 3rd
1546: Death of the Florentine architect Antonio Sangallo the Younger (b. 1484). 1667: Death, in Rome, of the Baroque architect Francesco Borromini (b. 1599), who is buried in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. Borromini was honoured in 1652 by Pope Innocent X (r. 1644-55) and made a knight of Christ. |
August 12th
1612: Death of the Venetian composer and organist Giovanni Gabrieli (b. 1557), who is buried in the church of Santo Stefano. 1633: Death, in Florence, of the composer Jacopo Peri (b. 1561), who is often credited with the invention of opera. 1752: Death, in Naples, of the Venetian sculptor Antonio Corradini (b. 1688). |
August 17th
1686: Birth of the Neapolitan composer and teacher of singing Nicola Porpora (b. 1768). His most famous students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. 1740: Election of Pope Benedict XIV (r. 1740-58). 1750: Birth, in Legnago, of the composer Antonio Salieri (d. 1825). 1916: Death, in Verona, of the Futurist painter and sculptor Umberto Boccioni (b. 1882). |
August 18th
1559: Death of Pope Paul IV (r. 1555-59), who created the Jewish Ghetto in Rome. Paul IV is buried in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. 1642: Death, in Bologna, of the Baroque painter Guido Reni (b. 1575). |
August 31st
12 CE: Birth, in Antium (Anzio), of Caligula (r. 37-41), the third emperor of Rome. 161: Birth of Commodus, son of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-80) and Faustina. Commodus (r. 180-93) was the first Roman emperor to be born to the purple, in other words he was born during the actual reign of his father. 1870: Birth, in Chiaravalle, of Maria Montessori (d. 1952), the physician and educator. |