On This Day in Italy
August
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August 1st
1464: Death of the Florentine banker and politician Cosimo de' Medici (b. 1389). |
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August 2nd
216 BCE: Battle of Cannae, in which Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, inflicted one of the worst ever defeats on the Roman army. 1980: A 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). |
Head of Hannibal
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August 3rd
1546: Death of the Florentine architect Antonio Sangallo the Younger (b. 1484). 1667: Death of the Baroque architect Francesco Borromini (b. 1599), who is buried in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, in Rome. Borromini was honoured in 1652 by Pope Innocent X (r. 1644-55) and made a knight of Christ. |
Portrait of Borromini, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome
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August 4th
1525: Death of the Florentine sculptor Andrea della Robbia (b. 1435). |
Alessandri Crucifixion by Andrea della Robbia
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August 6th
1221: Death, in Bologna, of St Dominic, founder of the Dominicans. Dominic de Guzmán was born in Spain on August 8th, 1170. 1619: Birth, in Venice, of the composer and singer Barbara Strozzi (d. 1677). 1623: Election of Pope Urban VIII (r. 1623-44). |
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August 7th
1960: Death, in Florence, of the shoe-designer Salvatore Ferragamo (b. 1898). |
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August 9th
1776: Birth, in Turin, of the scientist Amedeo Avogadro (d. 1856). |
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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. |
Tomb of Giovanni Gabrieli, Santo Stefano, Venice
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August 13th
1608: Death, in Florence, of the Flemish sculptor Jean de Boulogne (b. 1529), who is better known as Giambologna. |
Abduction of a Sabine Woman by Giambologna
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August 14th
1988: Death, in Modena, of Enzo Ferrari (b. 1898). |
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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 of the composer Antonio Salieri (d. 1825). 1916: Death, in Verona, of the Futurist painter and sculptor Umberto Boccioni (b. 1882). |
Nicola Porpora
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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). |
Funerary monument to Pope Paul IV
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August 19th
14 CE: Death of Augustus, a few weeks short of his seventy-sixth birthday. Augustus was Rome's first and longest-reigning emperor. |
Head of Augustus, Vatican Museums
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August 20th
1561: Birth, in Rome, of the composer Jacopo Peri (d. 1633), who is often credited with the invention of Opera. Peri is buried in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. |
Tomb of Jacopo Peri, Santa Maria Novella
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August 24th
410: Sack of Rome by the Visigoths led by their king, Alaric. 1540: Death of the painter Francesco Mazzola, also known as il Parmigianino (b. 1503). |
Self Portrait of Parmigianino
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August 25th
1960: Opening of the Summer Olympics in Rome. |
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August 27th
1576: Death of the painter Tiziano Vecellio, known in English as Titian, who is buried in the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice. |
Tomb of Titian in Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice
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August 31st
161 CE: 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 in the purple, in other words he was born during the reign of his father. 1870: Birth, in Chiaravalle, of Maria Montessori (d. 1952), the physician and educator. |
Commodus as Hercules, Capitoline Museums, Rome
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