On This Day in Italy
March
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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 Girolamo Frescobaldi
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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
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March 3rd
1431: Election of Pope Eugenius IV (r. 1431-47). 1768: Death of the Neapolitan composer and teacher of singing Nicola Porpora (b. 1686). His most famous students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. |
Nicola Porpora
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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
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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. 1922: Birth, in Bologna, of the film director Pier Paolo Pasolini (d. 1975). |
Self-portrait of Tiepolo
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March 6th
1447: Election of Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447-55). 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 La Fenice, in Venice, of Verdi's opera La Traviata. |
Dome, Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin
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March 7th
1274: Death of St Thomas Aquinas (b. 1225) at Fossanova Abbey. 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
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March 8th
1560: Birth of the composer Carlo Gesualdo (d. 1610).
1560: Birth of the composer Carlo Gesualdo (d. 1610).
March 9th
1454: Birth, in Florence, of the merchant, explorer and navigator Amerigo Vespucci (d. 1512).
1454: Birth, in Florence, of the merchant, explorer and navigator Amerigo Vespucci (d. 1512).
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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. 1872: Death, in Pisa, of Giuseppe Mazzini (b. 1805), politician and activist for Italian unification. |
Statue of Lorenzo da Ponte, Vittorio Veneto
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March 11th
222: Assassination of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (r. 218-222), better known as Elagabalus, aged 18. 1544: Birth, in Sorrento, of the poet Torquato Tasso (d. 1595), whose most famous work is the epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata. |
Bust of Elagabalus
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March 12th
1863: Birth, in Pescara, of the writer Gabriele d' Annunzio (d. 1938).
1863: Birth, in Pescara, of the writer Gabriele d' Annunzio (d. 1938).
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March 14th
1800: Election, in Venice, of Pope Pius VII (r. 1800-23). 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. |
Pope Pius VII by Sir Thomas Lawrence
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March 15th
44 BCE: Assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March. Caesar was killed by his fellow senators in the Curia Pompeia, part of the Roman Theatre of Pompey. |
Bust of Julius Caesar, Vatican Museums
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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). 1978: Kidnapping, in Rome, of Aldo Moro (a former Prime Minister) by the Red Brigades. |
Monument to Pergolesi, Jesi
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March 17th
1861: Creation of the Kingdom of Italy, with Turin as its capital. Vittorio Emanuele II was the first king (r. 1861-78). 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, Turin
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March 18th
1944: Last major eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
1944: Last major eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
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March 19th
1721: Death of Pope Clement XI (r. 1700-21). |
Pope Clement XI by Bartolomeo Pincellotti, Urbino
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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.
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.
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March 21st
547: Death 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. |
St Benedict, Abbazia delle Tre Fontane, Rome
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March 23rd
59 CE: Murder of Agrippina the Younger (b. 15 CE), mother of the emperor Nero and wife of the emperor Claudius. 1919: Benito Mussolini founded the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which, in 1921, became the,Partita Nazionale Fascista (National Fascist Party). |
Benito Mussolini
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March 24th
1455: Death of Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447-55).
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).
1455: Death of Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447-55).
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).
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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). 1867: Birth, in Parma, of the conductor Arturo Toscanini (d. 1957). |
St Catherine of Siena (1961) by Francesco Messina
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March 26th
1881: Birth, in Florence, of the fashion designer Guccio Gucci (d. 1953).
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.
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.
1472: Birth, in Prato, of the painter Bartolomeo da Pagholo (d. 1517), better known as Fra Bartolomeo.
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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
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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.
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.