On This Day in Italy
June
June 1st
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1846: Death of Pope Gregory XVI (r. 1831-46).
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Pope Gregory XVI, San Paolo fuori le Mura
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June 2nd
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1882: Death of Giuseppe Garibaldi (b. 1807).
1946: A referendum was held to decide whether Italy should remain a monarchy or become a republic. 54 percent of voters chose a republic. |
Giuseppe Garibaldi
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June 3rd
1977: Death in Rome of the film director Roberto Rossellini (b. 1906). Rossellini was one of the most prominent directors of Italian neo-realist cinema.
June 4th
1944: Liberation of Rome by the allied forces.
June 5th
1646: Birth in Venice of Elena Cornaro Piscopia (d. 1684), the first woman in the world to be awarded an academic degree.
1898: Birth of the shoe-designer Salvatore Ferragamo (d. 1960).
1898: Birth of the shoe-designer Salvatore Ferragamo (d. 1960).
June 6th
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1625: Birth in Carrara of the sculptor Domenico Guidi.
1861: Death in Turin of Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, the first prime minister of the Kingdom of Italy. Cavour, as he is generally known, was fifty years old when he died; he had been PM for less than three months! |
Statue of Cavour, Rome
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June 7th
1422: Birth of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino (d. 1482), one of the most famous mercenaries of his age.
June 8th
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1290: Death in Florence of Beatrice di Folco Portinari, Dante’s muse.
1625: Birth of the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini (d. 1712). 1671: Birth of the Venetian composer Tomaso Albinoni (d. 1751). 1768: Death in Trieste of the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann (b. 1717). Wincklemann was murdered by Francesco Arcangeli (1737-68), an unemployed cook who was staying in the same hotel. |
Winckelmann by Anton von Maron
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June 9th
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68: Death of the Emperor Nero (r. 54-68). Nero was thirty-years old when he committed suicide. With his death, the Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end.
1311: The Maestà, a monumental and ground-breaking altarpiece, the work of Duccio di Buoninsegna, was unveiled in the cathedral of Siena. |
Bust of Nero, Capitoline Museums, Rome
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June 10th
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1654: Death in Rome of the sculptor Alessandro Algardi (b. 1595).
1940: Italy entered the Second World War. |
Innocent X by Algardi, Capitoline Museums
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June 11th
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1591: Death in Rome of the architect Martino Longhi the Elder (b. 1534), who designed, inter alia, the bell tower of Palazzo Senatorio.
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Bell tower, Palazzo Senatorio, Rome
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June 12th
The monarchy of the House of Savoy formally came to an end; Umberto II, Italy's fourth and final king, left the country and went into exile, having reigned for only 24 days!
June 13th
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1231: Death of St Antony of Padua (b. 1195). St Antony was born in Lisbon, but he died in Padua, where he is buried in the basilica that bears his name.
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Sant' Antonio dei Portoghesi, Rome
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June 14th
1837: Death in Naples of the poet and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi (b. 1798).
June 15th
1479: Birth in Florence of Lisa Gherardini (d. 1542), the model for Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Mona Lisa.
2019: Death in Rome of the Florentine film director Franco Zeffirelli (b. 1923).
2019: Death in Rome of the Florentine film director Franco Zeffirelli (b. 1923).
June 16th
1313: Birth in the Tuscan town of Certaldo of the writer Giovanni Bocaccio (d. 1375), who penned the Decameron.
June 18th
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1511: Birth in Settignano of the sculptor and architect Bartolommeo Ammannati (d. 1592).
1964: Death in Bologna of the painter Giorgio Morandi (b. 1890). |
Bartolommeo Ammannati by Santi di Tito
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June 19th
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1373: Birth of Francesco Foscari, the longest-serving Doge (r. 1423-57) in Venetian history.
1747: Death of the Venetian composer Alessandro Marcello (b. 1673). |
Doge Francesco Foscari by Lazzaro Bastiani
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June 21st
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1527: Death of the Florentine diplomat, historian and political theorist, Niccolò Machiavelli (b. 1469), author of Il Principe (The Prince).
1547: Death of the Venetian painter Sebastiano Luciani, better known as Sebastiano del Piombo (b. 1485). |
Tomb of Niccolo Macchiavelli, Santa Croce, Florence
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June 22nd
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1633: The Holy Office of the Catholic Church found Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) guilty of heresy and sentenced him to imprisonment. The following day, this was commuted to house arrest, which he remained under for the rest of his life.
1805: Birth in Genoa of Giuseppe Mazzini (d. 1872), politician and leading activist for the unification of Italy. |
Monument to Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoa
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June 23rd
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79 CE: Death of the Emperor Vespasian (r. 69-79), who commissioned the building of the world's most famous amphitheatre, namely the Colosseum.
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The Colosseum, Rome
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June 24th
1519: Death in Ferrara of Lucrezia Borgia (b. 1480), Duchess of Ferrara. Lucrezia was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI (r. 1492-1503) and Vannozza dei Cattanei.
June 27th
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1574: Death of the painter and writer Giorgio Vasari (b. 1511), whose book Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori (The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects), which was first published in 1550, led to him being hailed as the world's first art historian.
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Monument to Giorgio Vasari, Arezzo
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June 28th
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1503: Birth of Giovanni della Casa (d. 1556), who wrote Il Galateo, a very influential guide to the rules of courtly etiquette, which was published two years after his death.
1607: Death in Naples of the architect and engineer Domenico Fontana (b. 1543), who, in 1586, was in charge of moving and re-erecting the ancient Egyptian obelisk in St Peter's Square. 1867: Birth of the Sicilian writer Luigi Pirandello (d. 1936), who, in 1934, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pirandello's most famous work is, perhaps, his play Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore (Six Characters in Search of an Author). |
Obelisk, St Peter's Square, Rome
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June 29th
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1798: Birth in Recanati of the poet and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi (d. 1837).
1861: Death in Florence of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (b. 1806), who is buried in the city's 'English' Cemetery. |
Grave of Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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