216 BCE: Battle of Cannae, in which Hannibal, the great 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. |
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. |
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). |
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). |
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 painter Guido Reni (b. 1575). |
12 CE: Birth in Antium (modern-day 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. |