On This Day in Italy

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July

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July 1st
​1592: Death, in Cremona, of the composer Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, the teacher of Claudio Monteverdi.  

1610: Birth of the Roman sculptor Cosimo Fancelli (d. 1688). 

Angel with Veronica's Veil by Fancelli, Ponte Sant' Angelo, Rome

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July 3rd
​1756:  Death, in Rome, of the architect and surveyor Giovanni Battista Nolli (b. 1701), best known for his ichnographic plan of Rome, the Pianta Grande di Roma. 

The Nolli Map of Rome

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July 4th
​1807: Birth of Giuseppe Garibaldi (d. 1882). Garibaldi was born in Nizza, which since 1860 has been the French city of Nice. 

Monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi, Piazzale Garibaldi, Rome

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July 6th
1533: Death, in Ferrara, of the poet Ludovico Ariosto (b. 1474).

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July 7th
​1901: Birth, in Sora, of the film director Vittorio de Sica (d. 1974). Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves) is perhaps his most famous movie. 

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July 8th
1593: Birth of the Roman painter Artemisia Gentileschi.
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1822: Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned in the Gulf of Spezia, when his boat sank in a summer storm. The poet was less than a month short of his thirtieth birthday. His ashes are interred in the 'Protestant' Cemetery in Rome. 

Grave of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Protestant Cemetery, Rome

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July 9th
​1737: Death of Gian Gastone de' Medici, the last member of the Medici family to reign as Grand Duke of Tuscany. 

1856: Death, in Turin, of the scientist Amedeo Avogadro (b. 1776). 

Bust of Gian Gastone de' Medici, Santa Maria Nuova, Florence

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July 10th
​138 CE: Death, in Baiae, of Emperor Hadrian (r. 117-38).
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1510: Death, in Venice, of Caterina Cornaro (b. 1454), the last Queen of Cyprus. 

Head of Emperor Hadrian, Vatican Museums

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July 11th
1593: Death, in Milan, of the painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo (b. 1527), best known for his imaginative depiction of people made entirely of objects, such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books. 

vertumnus-by-giuseppe-arcimboldo

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July 12th
​​1643: Death, in Livorno, of François Duquesnoy (b. 1597), a Flemish Baroque sculptor, who was active in Rome for most of his career.
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1884: Birth, in Livorno, of the painter and sculptor Amadeo Modigliani (d. 1920). 

St Andrew by François Duquesnoy, St Peter's Basilica

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July 13th
​1814: Creation of the Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali (Carabinieri Royal Corps), the oldest of Italy's two national police forces.  

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July 14th
​1902: Collapse of the ancient bell tower of St Mark's Basilica, in Venice. 

Collapse of the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice

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July 15th
​1542: Death, in Florence, of Lisa del Giocondo (b. 1479), the model for Leonardo da Vinci’s painting the Mona Lisa.

1823:  The ancient church of San Paolo fuori le Mura (St Paul Outside the Walls), in Rome, was nearly destroyed by fire. 

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July 16th
​1194: Birth of St Clare of Assisi, one of the first followers of St Francis and the founder of the Order of Poor Clares.

​1228:  Canonisation of St Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226) by Pope Gregory IX (r. 1227-41). 

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July 17th
​1486:  Birth of the Florentine painter Andrea del Sarto (d. 1530). 

Self-portrait

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July 18th
​1610:  Death of the painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (b. 1571). 

Caravaggio (c. 1621) by Ottavio Leoni

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July 20th
​1304: Birth, in Certaldo, of the poet Francesco Petrarca (d. 1374), known in English as Petrarch. 

1609: Death of the painter Federico Zuccari (b. 1539). 

1890: Birth, in Bologna, of the painter Giorgio Morandi (d. 1964). 

1903: Death of Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), one of only three popes to have reigned for twenty-five years or more.

​1937: Death of Guglielmo Marconi (b. 1874), who is credited with the invention of radio. In 1909 Marconi won the Nobel Prize for Physics. 

Photograph (1898) of Pope Leo XIII

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July 21st
​1515: Birth, in Florence, of St Philip Neri (d. 1595). 

St Philip Neri

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July 23rd
1373: Death, in Rome, of St Bridget of Sweden. 

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July 24th
1686: Birth of the Venetian composer Benedetto Marcello (d. 1739). 

​1739: Death, in Brescia, of the Venetian composer Benedetto Marcello (b. 1686). ​

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​July 25th
​1654: Birth, in Castelfranco Veneto, of the composer Agostino Steffani (d. 1728). 

1943: Dismissal and arrest of the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-45), who had ruled Italy since 1922. ​

Benito Mussolini

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July 26th
1684: Death, in Padua, of Elena Cornaro Piscopia (b. 1646), the first woman in the world to be awarded an academic degree.
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July 27th
1498: Death, in Florence, of the humanist and book-seller Vespasiano da Bisticci (b. 1422). 

1835: Birth of the poet Giosuè Carducci (d. 1907), the first Italian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Possible portrait of Vespasiano da Bisticci

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July 29th
​1644: Death of Pope Urban VIII (r. 1623-44).  ​

1883: Birth of Benito Mussolini (d. 1945), who founded and led the Partito Nazionale Fascista. Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943.
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1900: Assassination, in Monza, of Umberto I (r. 1878-1900), the second king of Italy.

Pope Urban VIII by Bernini, Capitoline Museums, Rome

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July 30th
1511: Birth, in Arezzo, of the painter and writer Giorgio Vasari, whose book The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, first published in 1550, led to him being hailed as the world's first art historian.  

1549: Birth, in Florence, of Ferdinando I de' Medici (d. 1609), the third Grand Duke of Tuscany. 
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2007: Death, in Rome, of the film director Michelangelo Antonioni (b. 1912). 

Monument to Giorgio Vasari, Arezzo

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July 31st
1556: Death of St Ignatius of Loyola (b. 1491), the founder of the Jesuits, who is buried in the Chiesa del Gesu in Rome. 

1598: Birth, in Bologna, of the Baroque sculptor Alessandro Algardi (d. 1654). 

1919: Birth, in Turin, of Primo Levi (d. 1987), chemist, writer and holocaust survivor. His most famous book is, perhaps, The Periodic Table. 

Tomb of St Ignatius of Loyola, Chiesa del Gesu, Rome

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