On This Day in Italy
January
January 1st
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153 BCE: For the first time, Roman consuls begin their year in office on January 1st.
45 BCE: The Julian Calendar came into effect. 42 BCE: Roman Senate deified Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE). 1449: Birth of the Florentine banker and statesman Lorenzo de' Medici (d. 1492), also known as Lorenzo il Magnifico. 1793: Death of the Venetian painter Francesco Guardi (b. 1712). |
Statue of Julius Caesar, Rome
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January 2nd
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553: Pope John II (r. 533-35) became the first pontiff to take a new name on election, regarding his birth name Mercurius to be an inappropriate name for a pope.
1557: Death in Florence of the Mannerist painter Jacopo Carucci (b. 1494), better known as il Pontormo. 1953: Death in Milan of the fashion designer Guccio Gucci (b 1881). |
Self-portrait of Pontormo, Florence
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January 3rd
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106 BCE: Birth of Marcus Tullius Cicero (d. 43 BCE).
1521: Pope Leo X (r. 1513-21) issued the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, which excommunicated Martin Luther. 1705: Death of the Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano (b. 1634). 1785: Death of the Venetian composer Baldassare Galuppi (b. 1706). Galuppi, who was born on the island of Burano, was also known as il Buranello. |
Statue of Cicero, Palace of Justice, Rome
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January 4th
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1710: Birth in Jesi of the composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (d. 1736).
1975: Death in Rome of Carlo Levi (b. 1902), author of the book Cristo si è fermato a Eboli (Christ Stopped at Eboli). |
Pergolesi by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro
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January 5th
1667: Birth of the Venetian composer Antonio Lotti (d. 1740).
1740: Death of the Venetian composer Antonio Lotti (b. 1667).
1932: Birth in Alessandria of the academic and writer Umberto Eco (d. 2016), best known for his novel Il nome della rosa.
1740: Death of the Venetian composer Antonio Lotti (b. 1667).
1932: Birth in Alessandria of the academic and writer Umberto Eco (d. 2016), best known for his novel Il nome della rosa.
January 6th
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1537: Death in Rome of the painter and architect Baldassare Peruzzi (b. 1481), who is buried in the Pantheon.
1695: Birth in Milan of the composer Giuseppe Sammartini (d. 1750). |
Tomb of Baldassare Peruzzi, Pantheon
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January 7th
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1655: Death of Pope Innocent X (r. 1644-55), who is buried in the church of Sant' Agnese in Agone.
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Funerary monument to Pope Innocent X
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January 8th
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1324: Death in Venice of Marco Polo (b. 1254).
1337: Death in Florence of the painter and architect Giotto di Bondone. 1642: Death in Florence of Galileo Galilei (b. 1564). |
Plaque to Marco Polo, Venice
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January 9th
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1522: Election of Pope Adrian VI (r. 1522-23). Adrian VI, who is buried in the Roman church of Santa Maria dell' Anima, was the last non-Italian pope until the election of John Paul II in 1978.
1878: Death of Vittorio Emanuele II (r. 1861-78), the first king of Italy, who is buried in the Pantheon. |
Equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II
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January 10th
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49 BCE: Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the river which marked the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and the rest of Italy. According to the historian Suetonius (fl. 40-69 CE), Caesar declared: 'Alea iacta est' ('The die is cast'), as he led his armies across the river, which lies just north of Rimini.
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Statue of Julius Caesar, Palazzo Senatorio, Rome
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January 11th
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1494: Death of the Florentine painter Domenico Ghirlandaio (b. 1449).
1503: Birth in Parma of the painter Francesco Mazzola (d. 1540), better known as il Parmigianino (the little one from Parma). 1801: Death in Venice of the composer Domenico Cimarosa (b. 1749). |
Self-portrait of Domenico Ghirlandaio
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January 12th
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1673: Birth of the Venetian painter Rosalba Carriera (d. 1757).
1674: Death in Rome of the composer Giacomo Carissimi (b. 1605). 1856: Birth in Florence of the painter John Singer Sargent (d. 1925). |
Self-portrait by Rosalba Carriera
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January 13th
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86 BCE: Death in Rome of the general and politician Gaius Marius (b. 157 BCE).
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Statue of Gaius Marius, Arpino
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January 14th
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83 BCE: Birth in Rome of Marcus Antonius (d. 30 BCE), the general and politician, who is known in English as Mark Antony.
1539: Death in Ferrara of the Mannerist painter Giovanni Antonio de' Sacchis, better known as Il Pordenone. 1678: Death in Venice of the composer Francesco Cavalli (b. 1602). |
Bust of Mark Antony, Vatican Museums
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January 15th
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1623: Death of Paolo Sarpi, the Venetian prelate, historian and statesman.
1770: Death in Milan of the composer Giuseppe Battista Sammartini (b. circa 1700). |
Statue of Paolo Sarpi, Venice
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January 16th
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27 BCE: The Senate granted Octavian the title Augustus, which, in effect, established him as Rome's first emperor.
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Statue of Augustus, Vatican Museums
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January 17th
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1377: The French Pope Gregory XI (r. 1370-78) made a formal entrance into Rome, thereby returning the seat of the papacy from Avignon to Rome.
1624: Birth in Modena of the architect Guarino Guarini (d. 1683). |
Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin
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January 18th
1987: Death in Rome of the Sicilian painter Renato Guttoso (b. 1911).
January 20th
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1920: Birth in Rimini of the film director Federico Fellini (d. 1993).
1922: Death of Pope Benedict XV (r. 1914-22). |
Pope Benedict XV
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January 22nd
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1506: The Pontifical Swiss Guard was founded by Pope Julius II (r. 1503-13).
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Two Swiss Guards
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January 23rd
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January 23rd
1881: Birth in Milan of the heiress, socialite and muse Luisa Casati (d. 1957), who was renowned for her outlandish dresses. For many years she lived at the Venetian Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal. |
Luisa Casati, 1922
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January 24th
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41 BCE: Assassination of the Emperor Caligula (r. 37-41) by his Praetorian Guards.
1302: Death in Pisa of the Florentine painter Cenni di Pepo, better known as Cimabue (b. 1240). 1705: Birth of the celebrated castrato Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (d. 1782), better known as Farinelli. |
Farinelli (1734) by Bartolomeo Nazari
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January 25th
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1708: Birth in Lucca of the painter Pompeo Batoni (d. 1787).
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Self portrait of Pompeo Batoni
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January 26th
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1582: Birth in Parma of the painter Giovanni Lanfranco (d. 1647), who painted the frescoes in the dome of the church of Sant' Andrea della Valle.
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Sant' Andrea della Valle, Rome
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January 27th
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1302: Dante was exiled from Florence. He was sentenced on charges of corruption and never saw the city again.
1731: Death in Florence of the instrument-maker Bartolomeo Cristofori (b. 1655), who is credited with inventing the piano. 1901: Death in Milan of the composer Giuseppe Verdi (b. 1813). |
Giuseppe Verdi by Giovanni Boldini
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January 29th
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1888: Death of the English poet and painter Edward Lear (b. 1812), who is buried in the Ligurian city of San Remo.
1996: The Gran Teatro La Fenice, the elegant 19th century opera house in Venice, was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt and reopened six years later. |
Edward Lear's Grave, Cemetery Foce, San Remo
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January 30th
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58 BCE: Birth of Livia Drusilla Claudia (d. 29 CE), who, as the wife of Augustus, reigned as empress from 27 BCE to 14 CE.
1722: Birth of the Venetian painter Bernardo Bellotto (d. 1780), the nephew of the illustrious Canaletto. |
Bust of Livia Drusilla, Louvre
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January 31st
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1783: Death in Naples of the castrato Gaetano Majorano (b. 1710), better known as Caffarelli.
1788: Death in Rome of Charles Edward Stuart (b. 1720), better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, or 'the Young Pretender'. He is interred in St Peter's Basilica. |
Charles Edward Stuart (1775)
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