November 1st 1512: Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel were unveiled to the public. 1786: Arrival of the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), who wrote in his diary: 'Yes, I have finally arrived in the capital of the world'. 1950: Proclamation by Pope Pius XII (r. 1939-58) of the Dogma of the Assumption of Mary.
November 2nd 1975: Murder of the film director Pier Paolo Pasolini (b. 1922).
November 4th 1921: Burial of the Ignoto Milite (Unknown Soldier) at the Monument to King Victor Emanuel II. On this day in 1918, the Armistice of Villa Giusti was signed bringing to an end the war between Italy and Austria-Hungary. November 5th 1807: Death of the Swiss Neoclassical painter Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann (b. 1741). Kauffman is buried in the church of Sant’ Andrea delle Fratte.
November 9th 324: Consecration of St John Lateran by Pope Sylvester I (r. 314-35). 1778: Death of the Venetian print-maker and architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi (b. 1720), who is buried in Santa Maria del Priorato, the only church he designed.
November 10th 1549: Death of Pope Paul III (r. 1534-49), who built Palazzo Farnese.
November 11th 1563: Death of the Florentine Mannerist painter Francesco Salviati (b. 1510).
November 14th 1556: Death of Giovanni della Casa (b. 1503), who wrote Il Galateo, a very influential guide to courtly etiquette, which was published two years after his death.
November 16th 42 BCE: Birth of the Emperor Tiberius (r. 14-37). 1729: Death of the Roman architect and engraver Alessandro Specchi (b. 1666). Specchi designed the Palazzo de Carolis on Via del Corso.
November 18th 1626: Consecration of St Peter's Basilicaby Pope Urban VIII (r. 1623-44). The construction of the new basilica had begun, 120 years earlier, on April 18th 1506.
November 19th 1523: Election of Pope Clement VII (r. 1523-34). 1665: Death of the French painter Nicholas Poussin (b. 1594), who is buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina.
November 20th 1977: Death of the artist Giorgio de Chirico (b. 1888), who is interred in the church of San Francesco a Ripa.
November 23rd 1682: Death of the French painter Claude Lorrain (b. 1600), who is buried in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi. 1700: Election of Pope Clement XI (r. 1700-21). November 25th 1985: Death of the writer Elsa Morante (b. 1912), whose most famous novel is La Storia (History).
November 26th 2018: Death of the film director Bernardo Bertolucci (b. 1941).
November 27th 8 BCE: Death of the Latin poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus (b. 65 BCE), known in English as Horace.
November 28th 1680: Death of the sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini (b. 1598), who is interred in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. 1907: Birth of the writer Alberto Moravia (d. 1990), whose most famous novel is, perhaps, Il Conformista. November 30th 1647: Death of the painter Giovanni Lanfranco (b. 1582), who executed the frescoes in the dome of the church of Sant' Andrea della Valle. 1830: Death of Pope Pius VIII (r. 1829-30). 1957: Death of Beniamino Gigli (b. 1890), widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation.