On This Day in Italy

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September

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September 1st

1271: Election in Viterbo of Pope Gregory X (r. 1271-76), after the longest conclave in history. The conclave lasted almost three years. 
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1529: Birth in Urbino of the painter Taddeo Zuccari (d. 1566).

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September 2nd

1548: Birth in Vicenza of the architect and writer on architecture Vincenzo Scamozzi (d. 1616). 

Vincenzo Scamozzi by Paolo Veronese

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September 3rd

​1602: Death, in Rome, of the sculptor and architect Giacomo della Porta (b. 1532). 

1695: Birth in Bergamo of the virtuoso violinist and composer Pietro Locatelli (d. 1764).

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September 4th

476: Romulus Augustus (c. 465 - after 511), nicknamed Augustulus, the last Roman emperor of the west, was overthrown by Odoacer and sent into exile. He had reigned for little under a year. 

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September 6th

1475: Birth in Bologna of the architect Sebastiano Serlio (d. 1554). A three-part window, which is made up of a large, arched central light flanked by two narrower and shorter rectangular lights, is often known as a Serlian window. 

1577: Birth in Carrara of the sculptor Pietro Tacca (d. 1640).

2007: Death in Modena of the tenor Luciano Pavarotti (b. 1935). 

An example of a Serlian window in Rome

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September 8th

1296: The first stone of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral of Florence, was laid. 

1474: Birth in Reggio Emilia of the poet Ludovico Ariosto (d. 1533).

1504: Michelangelo's statue of David was unveiled in Florence's Piazza della Signoria. The statue remained in the piazza until 1873, when it was moved to the Galleria dell' Accademia.

1943: The Italian government announced that an armistice had been agreed with the Allied forces. 

David, Galleria dell' Accademia, Florence

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September 9th

1737: Birth in Bologna of the scientist Luigi Galvani (d. 1798), who, in 1780, discovered that the muscles of dead frogs' legs twitched when struck by an electrical spark. 

Luigi Galvani

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September 10th

1482: Death of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino (b. 1422), one of the most famous mercenaries of his age and a major patron of the arts. 

Federico da Montefeltro by Piero della Francesca

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September 11th

1599: Execution in Rome of Beatrice Cenci (b. 1577), who was convicted of murdering her father, Count Francesco Cenci. She was beheaded after a lurid murder trial, which gave rise to an enduring legend about her.  Beatrice Cenci was buried in the church of San Pietro in Montorio. Her tragic death inspired the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley to write The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts (1819). 

Portrait of Beatrice Cenci attributed to Guido Reni

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September 12th

​1943: German paratroopers and Waffen-SS commandos rescued the deposed Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini from custody on the Gran Sasso, in Abruzzo.

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September 13th

81 CE: Death of Emperor Titus (r. 79-81). During his reign, Titus completed the Colosseum, which had been begun by his father, the emperor Vespasian (r. 69-79).   

1506: Death in Mantua of the painter Andrea Mantegna (b. 1431). 

1583: Baptism (d.o.b. unknown) in Ferrara of the composer Girolamo Frescobaldi (d. 1643). 

Bust of Mantegna by Gian Marco Cavalli

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September 14th

1322: Death in Ravenna of the poet Dante Aligheri (b. 1265). 

1523: Death of Pope Adrian VI (r. 1522-23), the last non-Italian to be elected pontiff for almost 500 years. He is buried in the church of Santa Maria dell' Anima. 
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1760: Birth in Florence of the composer Luigi Cherubini (d. 1842). 

Tomb of Dante Aligheri, Ravenna

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September 15th

1254: Birth of the Venetian merchant and explorer Marco Polo (d. 1324).  

1616:  José de Calasanz (1557-1648), a Spanish priest, opened in Frascati the first free public school in Europe. 

Plaque to Marco Polo, Venice

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September 16th

1782: Death, in Bologna, of the celebrated castrato Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (b. 1705), better known as Farinelli.  

Farinelli (1734) by Bartolomeo Nazari

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September 17th

​1771: Death of the Scottish writer Tobias Smollett (b. 1721), who is buried in the Tuscan city of Livorno.

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September 18th

​96 CE: Assassination of the Emperor Domitian (r. 81-96) in his palace on the Palatine hill. 
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1587: Birth in Florence of the composer and singer Francesca Caccini (d. 1640). Known locally as la Cecchina, she was the daughter of the composer Giulio Caccini (1551-1618). 

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September 19th

​1985: Death in Siena of the novelist Italo Calvino (b. 1923), who penned Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore (If On a Winter's Night a Traveller). 

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September 20th

​1870: The Capture of Rome. Italian troops occupied the city, leading to the end of Papal rule and the eventual incorporation of Rome into the Kingdom of Italy.

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September 21st

19 BCE: Death of the poet Publius Vergilius Maro (b. 70 BCE), known in English as Virgil, author of the epic poem The Aeneid.      

Monument to Virgil, Mantua

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September 23rd

63 BCE: Birth of Gaius Octavian, who, as Augustus, would become Rome's first emperor (r. 27 BCE - 14 CE).  

Head of Augustus, Vatican Museums

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September 25th

​1534: Death of Pope Clement VII (r. 1523-34). 

Clement VII by Sebastiano del Piombo

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September 27th

1599: Birth of the architect Francesco Borromini. Borromini was born in Bissone, now a small town in Switzerland but then part of the Duchy of Lombardy. 

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September 29th

106 BCE: Birth of the general & politician Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (d. 48 BCE), known in English as Pompey the Great. 
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29 CE: Death of Livia Drusilla (b. 59 BCE), who, as the wife of Augustus, was empress from 27 BCE to 14 CE. 

19th Century Statue of Pompey, Rome

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