On This Day in Italy

March

March 1st
1445: Birth of the Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli (d. 1510).  

1643: Death in Rome of the organist and composer Girolamo Frescobaldi (b. 1583), who is buried in the church of Santi Apostoli. 

1773: Death in Caserta of the Neapolitan architect Luigi Vanvitelli (b. 1700), who is most famous for designing the Reggia di Caserta (Royal Palace of Caserta). 

​1938: Death of the writer Gabriele d' Annunzio (b. 1863).  
Tomb of composer Girolamo Frescobaldi, Santi Apostoli, Rome
Tomb of Girolamo Frescobaldi
March 2nd
480: Birth in Norcia of St Benedict (d. 547). 

​1939: Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli became the last Roman to be elected pope, taking the name Pius XII (r. 1939-58). Pacelli was elected on the day of his 63rd birthday.  
Pope-Pius XII Pacelli
Pope Pius XII
March 3rd
1431: Election of Pope Eugenius IV (r. 1431-47). 
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1768: Death of the Neapolitan composer and teacher of singing Nicola Porpora (b. 1686). His students included such famous castrati as Farinelli and Caffarelli. 
The composer Nicola Antonio Porpora
Nicola Porpora
March 4th
1678: Birth of the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi (d. 1741). Vivaldi was baptised in his parish church of San Giovanni in Bragora. 
Plaque to Antonio Vivaldi, San Giovanni in Bragora, Venice
Plaque to Antonio Vivaldi
March 5th
1534: Death of the painter Antonio Allegri (b. 1489), better known as il Correggio. 

1696: Birth of the Venetian painter Giambattista Tiepolo (d. 1770). 

1827: Death of Alessandro Volta, the scientist who is credited with inventing the electric battery.
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1922: Birth in Bologna of the film director Pier Paolo Pasolini (d. 1975). 
Self-portrait of Tiepolo
Self-portrait of Tiepolo
March 7th
1447: Election of Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447-55).
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1683: Death in Milan of the architect Guarino Guarini (b. 1624), who is, perhaps, most famous for his design of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud in Turin. 

1853: Premiere at Venice's La Fenice of Verdi's opera La Traviata. 
Dome, Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin
Dome, Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin
March 7th
1274: Death of St Thomas Aquinas (b. 1225) at Fossanova Abbey.  
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1475: Birth of the sculptor, painter, architect and poet Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (d. 1564), better known simply as Michelangelo. 

1678: Birth of the Sicilian architect Filippo Juvarra (d. 1736). 

1785: Birth in Milan of the writer Alessandro Manzoni (d. 1873), who is most famous for his novel I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed).
Michelangelo (c. 1545) by Daniele da Volterra
Michelangelo (c. 1545) by Daniele da Volterra
March 8th
1560: Birth of the composer Carlo Gesualdo da Vanosa (d. 1610). 
March 9th
1454: Birth in Florence of the merchant, explorer and navigator Amerigo Vespucci (d. 1512). 
March 10th
1749: Birth in Ceneda (later renamed Vittorio Veneto) of the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte (d. 1838). Da Ponte wrote the libretti for three of Mozart's finest operas: Don Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutte & The Marriage of Figaro.  
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1872: Death in Pisa of Giuseppe Mazzini (b. 1805), politician and activist for Italian unification. 
Statue of the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, Ceneda, later renamed Vittorio Veneto
Statue of Lorenzo da Ponte, Vittorio Veneto
March 11th
222: Assassination of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (r. 218-222), better known as Elagabalus. 

​1544: Birth in Sorrento of the poet Torquato Tasso (d. 1595), whose most famous work is the epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata. 
Bust of Elagabalus
Bust of Elagabalus
March 12th
1863: Birth in Pescara of the writer Gabriele d' Annunzio (d. 1938).  
March 14th
1800: Election in Venice of Pope Pius VII (r. 1800-23). 
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1820: Birth in Milan of Vittorio Emanuele II, who on March 17th 1861 became the first king of Italy. 

1972: Death of the publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli (b. 1926), who accidentally blew himself up while trying to ignite a terrorist bomb. Feltrinelli had become famous for his decision to translate and publish Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago.  
Portrait of Pope Pius VII by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Pope Pius VII by Sir Thomas Lawrence
March 15th
44 BCE: Assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March. Caesar was killed by his fellow senators in the Curia Pompeia, a part of the Theatre of Pompey.
Bust of Julius Caesar, Vatican Museums, Rome
Bust of Julius Caesar, Vatican Museums
March 16th
37 BCE: Death of the Emperor Tiberius (r. 14-37).

1736: Death of the composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (b. 1710). 

1940: Birth in Parma of the film director Bernardo Bertolucci (d. 2018). 
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1978: Kidnapping in Rome of Aldo Moro (a former Prime Minister) by the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades). 
Monument to Pergolesi, Jesi
Monument to Pergolesi, Jesi
March 17th
1861: Creation of the Kingdom of Italy, with Turin as its capital. Vittorio Emanuele II was the first king (r. 1861-78). 
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1976: Death in Rome of the film director Luchino Visconti (b. 1906), whose credits include The Leopard and Death in Venice. 
Statue of King Vittorio Emanuele II, first king of Italy, Turin
Statue of King Vittorio Emanuele II, Turin
March 18th
1944: Last major eruption of Mount Vesuvius. 
March 19th
1721: Death of Pope Clement XI (r. 1700-21). 
Statue of Pope Clement XI by Bartolomeo Pincellotti, Urbino
Pope Clement XI by Bartolomeo Pincellotti, Urbino
March 20th
43 BCE: Birth in Sulmona of the Latin poet Publius Ovidius Naso. Known in English as Ovid, the author of The Metamorphoses, died in exile in Tomis, a town on the Black Sea, in 17 or 18 CE.  
March 21st
​547: Death in the Abbey of Montecassino of St Benedict of Nursia (b. 1480). 

1496: The bronze equestrian statue of the condottiero Bartolommeo Colleoni, the work of Andrea del Verrocchio and Alessandro Leopardi, was unveiled in Venice. 
Statue of St Benedict, Abbazia delle Tre Fontane, Rome
St Benedict, Abbazia delle Tre Fontane, Rome
March 23rd
59 CE: Death of Agrippina the Younger (b. 15 CE), the daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder. Agrippina the Younger was the great-granddaughter of the emperor Augustus (r. 27 BCE - 14 CE), the great-niece of the emperor Tiberius (r. 14-37), the sister of the emperor Caligula (r. 37-41), the wife of the emperor Claudius (r. 41-54), who was also her uncle, and the mother of the emperor Nero ( r. 54-68). 
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1919: Benito Mussolini founded the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which, in 1921, became the,Partita Nazionale Fascista (National Fascist Party). 
Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
March 24th
1455: Death of Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447-55). 
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1926: Birth of the playwright Dario Fo, who, in 1996, won the Nobel Prize for Literature. His most famous play is, perhaps, Morte accidentale di un anarchico (Accidental Death of an Anarchist).  
March 25th
1347: Birth of Caterina Benincasa (d. 1380), who would become St Catherine of Siena. 

1436: Consecration of the Duomo in Florence by Pope Eugenius IV (r. 1431-47). 

1541: Birth in Florence of Francesco de' Medici, second Grand Duke of Tuscany (r. 1574-87).
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1867: Birth in Parma of the conductor Arturo Toscanini (d. 1957). 
Statue of St Catherine of Siena (1961) by Francesco Messina, Gardens of Castel Sant' Angelo, Rome
St Catherine of Siena (1961) by Francesco Messina
March 26th
1881: Birth in Florence of the fashion designer Guccio Gucci (d. 1953). 
March 27th
1378: Death of Pope Gregory XI (r. 1370 -78), who returned the papacy from Avignon to Rome. Gregory XI was the last French pope. 
March 28th
1472: Birth in Prato of the painter Bartolomeo da Pagholo (d. 1517), better known as Fra Bartolomeo. 
March 29th
1516: Creation of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice. The decree was issued by Doge Leonardo Loredan (r. 1501-21).  
Aerial view of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice
Aerial view of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice
March 30th
1282: Outbreak in Palermo of what came to be known as the Sicilian Vespers, a popular rebellion against the rule of the French-born King Charles I of Anjou.   
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