On This Day in Italy

May

May 1st
1555: Death of Pope Marcellus II, who reigned for only 22 days. Marcello Cervini degli Spanocchi was the last pope not to change his name.  
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1572: Death of Pope Pius V (r. 1566-72). 
Pope Pius V by Scipione Pulzone
Pope Pius V by Scipione Pulzone
May 2nd
1660: Birth in Palermo of the Baroque composer Alessandro Scarlatti (d. 1725). 
May 3rd
1469: Birth in Florence of the writer Niccolo Macchiavelli (d. 1527), best known for his political treatise Il Principe. 

1758: Death of Pope Benedict XIV (r. 1740-58).  
Portrait of Benedict XIV (1746) by Pierre Subleyras
Benedict XIV (1746) by Pierre Subleyras
May 4th
1655: Birth in Padua of the instrument-maker Bartolomeo Cristofori (d. 1731), who is credited with inventing the piano. 
May 6th
1527: Sack of Rome by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. 
May 8th
1785: Death of the Venetian painter Pietro Longhi (b. 1701).

1906: Birth of the film director Roberto Rossellini (d. 1977).  
May 9th
1946: Abdication of Vittorio Emanuele III (r. 1900-46), the third king of Italy. 
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1978: Assassination of former prime minister Aldo Moro (b. 1916) by the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades). 
May 10th
1482: Death in Pisa of the Florentine mathematician and astronomer, Paolo del Pozzo Toscanelli (b. 1397). 
May 12th
1700: Birth of the Neapolitan architect Luigi Vanvitelli (d. 1773). 
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1797: Fall of the Republic of Venice. Ludovico Manin entered history as the last Doge of Venice.  

1820: Birth of Florence Nightingale (d. 1910) in Firenze, the city that is known in the Anglosphere as Florence.
Lodovico Manin, last Doge of Venice
Lodovico Manin, last Doge of Venice
May 13th
1804: Birth of the Venetian politician Daniele Manin (d. 1857), who, in 1848, led a short-lived insurrection against the city's Austrian rulers. 

1981: Attempted assassination, in Rome's Piazza San Pietro, of Pope John Paul II (r. 1978-2005). 
Monument to Daniele Manin by Luigi Borro, Venice
Monument to Daniele Manin by Luigi Borro, Venice
May 14th
1725: Birth of Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice. 
May 15th
1567: Baptism in Cremona of the composer Claudio Monteverdi (d. 1643). 
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1734: Death in Venice of the artist Sebastiano Ricci (b. 1659).  ​
The composer Claudio Monteverdi (c.1630) by Bernardo Strozzi
Claudio Monteverdi (c.1630) by Bernardo Strozzi
May 16th
1926: Death in San Remo of Mehmed VI (b. 1861), the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. 
Mehmed VI (1918), last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Mehmed VI (1918)
May 17th
1510: Death of the Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli (b. 1445), who is buried in the Chiesa di Ognissanti, in Florence.  
Tomb of Sandro Botticelli, Chiesa di Ognissanti, Florence
Tomb of Sandro Botticelli
May 22nd
1762: Inauguration of the Trevi Fountain by Pope Clement XIII (r. 1758-69). 

1873: Death in Milan of the writer Alessandro Manzoni (b. 1785), who is most famous for his novel I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed).
Trevi Fountain, Rome
Trevi Fountain, Rome
May 23rd
1498: Girolamo Savonarola (b. 1452), the Dominican friar and preacher, was burnt at the stake in Piazza della Signoria, in Florence. 
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1915: Italy entered the First World War. 
Death of Savonarola, Piazza della Signoria, Florence
Death of Savonarola
May 26th
1595: Death in Rome of St Philip Neri (b. 1515), who is buried in the Chiesa Nuova. 
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1805: Coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte as king of Italy, in the cathedral of Milan.     
Tomb of St Philip Neri, Chiesa Nuova, Rome
Tomb of St Philip Neri, Chiesa Nuova, Rome
May 28th
1606: In an altercation in Rome, the celebrated painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) killed Ranuccio Tomassoni. 
May 31st
1594: Death of the Venetian painter Jacopo Robusti (b. 1518), better known as il Tintoretto, who is buried in the church of the Madonna dell' Orto, in Venice.  
Tomb of Tintoretto, church of Madonna dell' Orto, Venice
Tombstone of Tintoretto
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