April 1st 1605: Election of Pope Leo XI, who reigned for less than a month.
April 2nd 1709: Death of the Baroque painter Giovanni Battista Gaulli (b. 1639), better known as Il Baciccio. 2005: Death of John Paul II (r. 1978-2005), the second longest-reigning pope in history.
April 3rd 1688: Death of the Roman sculptor Cosimo Fancelli (b. 1618), who was a pupil of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
April 4th 896: Death of Pope Formosus (r. 891-896). Less than a year after his death his body was exhumed and put on trial at what came to be known as the 'Cadaver Synod'. The pope was found guilty of various crimes and his body was thrown into the Tiber. It was later retrieved and reburied. 1566: Death of the painter Daniele Ricciarelli, better known as Daniele da Volterra (b. 1509). Shortly after Michelangelo's death (February 18th, 1564), Volterra was hired to paint over the naked genitalia in the master's fresco of the Last Judgement, in the Sistine Chapel, which earned him the nickname Il Braghettone (the Breeches-maker).
April 6th 1520: Death of the great Renaissance painter Raphael (b. 1483), who is buried in the Pantheon.
April 7th 1655: Election of Pope Alexander VII (r. 1655-67). 1761: Death of the Roman architect Gabrielle Valvassori (b. 1683). 1926: Attempted assassination of Benito Mussolini by Violet Gibson, a 49-year-old Irish woman.
April 8th 1341: In a ceremony on the Capitoline Hill, Francesco Petrarca (1304-74) was crowned poet laureate. 1378: Election of Urban VI (r. 1378-89), the last non-cardinal to be elected pope. 1665: Canonisation of Francis of Sales (1567-1622), the soi-disant 'Gentleman Saint', by Pope Alexander VII (r. 1655-67).
April 9th 1555: Election of Pope Marcellus II, who only reigned for 22 days. Marcello Cervini degli Spanocchi was the last pope to retain his own name on becoming pontiff.
April 10th 1585: Death of Pope Gregory XIII (r. 1572-85), who is, perhaps, best remembered for revising the Julian calendar. The new Gregorian calendar came into effect in October 1582.
April 11th 1514: Death of the architect Donato Bramante (b. 1444).
April 12th 352: Death of Pope Julius I (r. 337-52), who is thought to have set December 25th as the official date of the birth of Jesus, thus creating Christmas. 1671: Canonisation of St Cajetan, co-founder of the Theatines, by Pope Clement X (r. 1670-76).
April 14th 1762: Birth of the architect Giuseppe Valadier (d. 1839).
April 16th 1782: Death of the architect and engraver Giuseppe Vasi (b. 1710), best known for his views of Rome. April 18th 1936: Death of the composer Ottorino Respighi (b. 1879). The tone poem Fontane di Roma is, perhaps, his most famous composition.
April 19th 65: Death, by suicide, of the philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca (b. 4 CE). 1689: Death of Christina, Queen of Sweden (b. 1626). 2005: Election of Pope Benedict XVI (r. 2005-13).
April 21st 753 BCE: Foundation of the city of Rome, according to legend. 1922: Death of Alessandro Moreschi (b. 1858), the last surviving castrato to have served in the Cappella Sistina. 2025: Death of Pope Francis (r. 2013-25).
April 22nd 1857: Death of the architect and engraver Luigi Rossini (b. 1790), famous for his views of Rome. 1883: Death of the Roman sculptor Ignazio Jacometti (b. 1819).
April 24th 1585: Election of Pope Sixtus V (r. 1585-90).
April 25th 1472: Death of the Renaissance polymath Leon Battista Alberti (b. 1404). 1595: Death of the poet Tarquato Tasso (b. 1544), who penned the epic poem Gerusalemme liberata.
April 26th 121 CE: Birth of Marcus Aurelius, the last of the so-called 'Five Good Emperors'.
April 27th 1605: Death of Pope Leo XI, who reigned for just 27 days. 1937: Death of Antonio Gramsci (b. 1891), Marxist intellectual and author of a set of essays known as the Quaderni del Carcere (Prison Notebooks). Gramsci is buried in the Non-Catholic Cemetery. 2014: Canonisation of Pope John XXIII (r. 1958-63) and Pope John Paul II (r. 1978-2005) by Pope Francis (r. 2013-).
April 29th 1380: Death of St Catherine of Siena (b. 1347), who is interred in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. 1670: Election of Pope Clement X (r. 1670-76). Clement X was almost eighty-years old at the time, which makes him the oldest pope ever elected. 1788: Death of the Florentine sculptor Filippo della Valle (b. 1698).
April 30th 1555: Death of Pope Marcellus II, who only reigned for 22 days.