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Home , Antonio Canova, Ernesto Basile, Gaetano Bresci, Italian unification

Timeline / Before 1800 to After 1930 /

Date Country Theme

1800 - 1814 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

In the Napoleonic age, monumental architecture is intended to celebrate the glory of the new regime. An example of that is the Foro Bonaparte, in the area around the Sforza’s Castle in (a project by Giovanni Antonio Antolini).

1800s - 1850s Italy Travelling

The “Grand Tour” falls out of vogue; it used to be a period of educational travel, popular among the European aristocrats in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its primary destination was Italy. In the second half of the , vanguard artists no longer looked at Roman antiquities and for inspiration.

1807 - 1837 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

In Milan, Luigi Cagnola completes the construction of the Arch of Peace, started during the Napoleonic age and inspired by the Arc du Carrousel in . The stunning architectures of the Napoleonic age use arches, obelisks and allegorical groups of Roman and French classical inspiration.

1809 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837), philosopher, scholar and one of the greatest Italian poets of all times, writes his first poem.

1815 - 1816 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Antonio Canova, acting on behalf of Pio VII, recovers from several pieces of art belonging to the , which had been brought to Paris by , including the Villa Borghese’s archaeological collection.

1815 - 1860 Italy Political Context

Italian “Risorgimento” (movement for national unification).

1815 Italy Political Context

The Congress of decides the restoration of pre-Napoleonic : Kingdom of (, , Sardinia); Kingdom of Two Sicilies ( and ), the Papal States (part of ), Grand Duchy of and other smaller states. Much of (Milan, , etc.) is under the .

1815 - 1859 Italy Economy And Trade

Italy is an agricultural country. Political fragmentation is an obstacle to trade and economic development. The different states use not only different currencies, but also different systems of measurement.

1815 - 1920 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion Date Country Theme

Triumph of the opera (or melodrama), a form of theatre born in the 17th century, in which the characters express themselves by singing. In the 19th century, this form of art becomes very popular in . In Italy, the opera becomes the most important musical genre and overshadows all other musical forms.

1816 Italy Rediscovering The Past

In , inauguration of the Royal Bourbon Museum, whose holdings include the rich collection of archaeological items belonged to Elisabetta Farnese and the pieces excavated in Pompei during the 18th century. All such holdings are personal properties of the .

1816 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Gioachino Rossini (1795–1868), the young director of the San Carlo Theatre of Naples, the most important at the time, puts on stage in the Barber of Seville. The opera, thanks to its easy and passionate pacing, sets a new benchmark for the light operatic , namely, the opera buffa (comic opera).

1818 - 1819 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Construction of the first steamboats. The first steamboat lines in the Mediterranean: Naples shipyards build the steamboat Ferdinando I (for the line Naples–Genoa–); Genoa shipyards build the steamboat Eridano (to be used in the ).

1820 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Edict by Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca (1756–1844) dictating a comprehensive set of measures for the protection of cultural heritage in the Papal States: it is the first comprehensive law on the protection of cultural heritage issued in Italy and it will become a model for the other Italian states.

1820 - 1831 Italy Political Context

In 1820–21 and 1830–31, uprisings in different parts of Italy in favour of national unification and constitutional rule. They meet harsh repression.

1820s - 1850s Italy Economy And Trade

Industrialisation begins at a slower pace compared with other Western European countries. It concentrates in Northern Italy (Piedmont, ) and in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Silk production is the strongest industrial sector.

1821 - 1822 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

Giuseppe Valadier’s neoclassical project for the area next to the Rome northern gate is completed: it encompasses Piazza del Popolo and a new scenographic access to the Pincio hill.

1821 - 1822 Italy Fine And Applied Arts Date Country Theme

Francesco Hayez paints I Vespri Siciliani, a historical painting expressing the new revolutionary and independence ideas that are taking root in Italy.

1821 - 1859 Italy Migrations

Harsh repression of pro-national unification and pro- movement forces many activists – including and – to flee abroad.

1822 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Inauguration of the Vatican Museums’ Braccio Nuovo (new wing), which completes the Chiaramonti Museum, whose construction had started in 1807, under the impulse of Pope Pius VII (Barnaba Chiaramonti). The Museum’s collection was set up by the sculptor and included a large body of archaeological items.

1822 Italy Travelling

The issues the first official ruling in Italy regarding “those who bathe in the sea in the open air”. Around that time, in Viareggio two wooden bathing establishments are built (one for men, the other for women). They are intended for seawater therapy.

1824 Italy Rediscovering The Past

In , inauguration of the Royal Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. The Museum holding includes 5,268 Egyptian items brought to Italy by Bernardino Drovetti and bought by the King of Sardinia, Charles Felix of .

1825 - 1827 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Alessandro Manzoni (1785–1873) publishes I promessi sposi (The Betrothed), one of the most widely read Italian novels. His use of the stands out as a model.

1825 Italy Travelling

More than half a million pilgrims visit Rome on the occasion of the Catholic “Holy Year”. In the Roman Catholic tradition, a Holy Year or Jubilee is a year of forgiveness of sins and reconciliation. Other Holy Years were celebrated in 1875 and in 1900. Rome always attracted Catholic pilgrims, especially during Holy Years.

1828 - 1829 Italy Rediscovering The Past

The Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II and Charles X of France finance the archaeological expedition to Egypt headed by Ippolito Rossellini and Jean-Francois Champollion.

1829 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Gioachino Rossini puts on stage in Paris his last opera, Guillaume Tell, featuring the fight of the Swiss people for freedom from Habsburg domination. He wrote 39 Date Country Theme operas, characterised by a style aiming at pure musical beauty (bel canto). Great attention is paid to the sound of the voice and to technical virtuosity, with little emphasis on the different dramatic situations and to the personality of the different characters.

1831 Italy Political Context

Giuseppe Mazzini founds the republican movement for national unification, Giovine Italia ().

1831 - 1835 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Once Rossini has left the stage, his place is taken by (1797– 1848) and (1801–1835). They introduce the new romantic spirit into melodrama and establish a tighter link between words and music. Their style is characterised by greater attention to the psychology of the different characters.

1835 - 1837 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

For the first time, a cholera epidemic hits Italy, killing more than 140,000 (26,000 in and 19,600 in Naples). Its causes remain unknown until the 1880s. Its spread is favoured by poor sanitation in urban centres. Cholera epidemics hit poor people especially and often occasion social unrest.

1837 - 1840 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Naples and Turin are the first Italian towns to have gas street lightning.

1839 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

First Italian railway line (Napoli–Portici, 8 km). In the following years, other railway lines are inaugurated in other Italian states, e.g. Milano– (1840), Pisa- (1844), Padova–Venezia (1846), Torino–Moncalieri (1848). Political fragmentation is an obstacle to the construction of long railway lines.

1842 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Triumph of Nabuccodonosor by (1831–1901) at La Scala Theatre (Milan): it marks the appearance of a new operatic style, in which both voice and music show an entirely new heroic and strength.

1842 Italy Travelling

A seaside hostel is opened in Viareggio (Tuscany) for the treatment of children affected by tuberculosis (the first of its kind in Italy). In Tuscany, experiments of “marine therapy” for children started in the 1820s. By 1882, 21 seaside hostels for medical purposes are active in Italy.

1843 Italy Travelling

First bathing establishment created in .

1847 - 1848 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Date Country Theme

First Italian telegraph line (–Pisa–Livorno).

1848 - 1849 Italy Political Context

Uprisings in different parts of Italy demand constitutional rule and national unification. In Rome and Venice, short-lived republics are proclaimed. King Carlo Alberto () grants a constitution and wages war against the Austrian Empire, but he is defeated.

1848 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Donizetti dies and Verdi remains the only heir to the Italian melodrama, which is increasingly identified with the Risorgimento movement, becoming a “sound track” of the Italian fight for independence and unification.

1850 - 1855 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

The painters of the School of Posillipo (Naples) develop a new style of more natural observation of landscapes and everyday life.

1850s - Italy Travelling

Mountaineering on the becomes a sport and tourism activity. Local people had always climbed mountains. Since the end of the 18th century, scientists had started exploring the Alps for scientific purposes ( was first climbed in 1786). In 1857, Irish mountaineer John Ball starts climbing the Dolomites and writing guidebooks about them.

1851 - 1853 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Verdi composes the so-called popular trilogy (Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata), consolidating his fame and reaching full musical and dramatical maturity.

1852 Italy Political Context

Cavour (Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, 1810–61), the architect of the diplomatic strategies that allowed , becomes prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia (he will remain prime minister until his death).

1854 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

Leopoldo Alinari, with his brothers Romualdo and Giuseppe, opens in Florence one of the first photography workshope – Fratelli Alinari.

1855 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Inauguration of the Egyptian Museum in Florence. The bulk of its holdings are the items collected by Ippolito Rossellini during the 1828–29 Franco-Tuscan expedition to Egypt, together with the Egyptian antiquities that the Medici family had collected during the 18th century.

1855 Italy Political Context Date Country Theme

The Kingdom of Sardinia participates in the as part of the Anglo- French alliance against Russia.

1855 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

The Caffé Michelangelo in Florence becomes a meeting place for artists and republican intellectuals close to Giuseppe Mazzini, in opposition to academic and official environments.

1858 Italy International Exhibitions

An industrial exhibition is held in Turin.

1859 - 1861 Italy Political Context

The Kingdom of Sardinia, backed by France, wages war against the Austrian Empire and annexes Milan. Pro-unification insurrections in central Italy; Garibaldi leads an expedition of 1,000 volunteers in Southern Italy. Italy is unified under King Victor Emanuel II (formerly King of Sardinia) as a constitutional .

1859 - 1902 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

On the eve of Italian national unification, Italy has only 1,758 km of railways (Piedmont 803 km, Lombardy and 500 km, Tuscany 256 km, Papal States 101 km, Kingdom of Two Sicilies 98 km). After unification in 1860, there is great development of railways, which by 1902 total 15,613 km.

1859 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

The Casati Law is passed in the Kingdom of Sardinia (and in 1860 extended to the rest of Italy) that defines the organisation of the educational system, from primary school to university. The system is aimed more at educating the ruling elite than the illiterate masses. Humanities are given a much higher status than scientific and technical education.

1860 Italy Political Context

The right to vote is reserved for a small elite of men who have certain levels of income and education: only 2.2% of the can vote.

1860 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

The unification of Italy leads to urban expansion outside the old city walls, which have lost their defensive value. Medieval urban buildings are often demolished in order to build monumental architecture.

1860 - 1870 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

In opposition to academic painting, the movement (Telemaco Signorini, Vincenzo Cabianca and Silvestro Lega) experiments with “spot painting”, based on the strong contrast between light and shadow.

1861 Italy Rediscovering The Past Date Country Theme

The pre-unification laws on the protection of cultural heritage of the individual Italian states remain in force even after unification. Until 1902, different Italian regions are thus subject to different disciplines.

1861 - 1921 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

Urban growth in Italy: Naples is the biggest city (1861: 447,000; 1921: 772,000), but population growth is higher in Rome, the “political capital city” (1871: 244,000; 1921: 692,000) and in Milan, the “industrial capital city” (1861: 96,000; 1921: 719,000). (Rounded to nearest 1,000.)

1861 Italy International Exhibitions

First Italian National Exhibition of Agricultural and Industrial Products and Fine Arts opens in Florence.

1861 - 1921 Italy Migrations

The Italian population grows from 22 million in 1861 to almost 33 million in 1901, to 38.4 million in 1921. Part of the increases are due to annexations of new territories. During the same period average annual migration to European and Mediterranean countries is 99, 000 in the 1860s and170,000 in the 1910s, peaking in the 1900s at 251,000. Average annual migration to non-European countries is 22,000 in the 1860s and 213,000 in the 1910s, peaking in the 1900s at 351,000. (Figures, rounded to the nearest 1,000, include both permanent and temporary migration.

1862 Italy Economy And Trade

Law on the unification of currencies passed: the lira becomes the Italian currency.

1863 - 1889 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

Construction of the 167.5 m high in Turin, initially conceived as a synagogue. It soon becomes the city’s landmark building.

1863 - 1885 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

Opening of applied art schools, often attached to museums: Industrial Museum of Turin (1863), Artistic Industrial Museum of Rome (1873), Naples (1882) and Palermo (1885).

1863 Italy Travelling

The Club Alpino Italiano is founded in Turin. Its goal is “to promote the knowledge of mountains, and especially of Italian mountains, their ascent and scientific expeditions”. In 25 years, membership reaches 4,500 with 34 local branches. By 1900 it had built 57 mountain huts.

1864 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

A governmental survey reveals the existence of 443 friendly societies (Società di mutuo soccorso), all located in Central and Northern Italy (Milan has 38 societies with a total of 9,923 members, Turin 13 with 14,864 members). Their number Date Country Theme and membership grows considerably over time until the development of modern welfare.

1865 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

The new-born Italian state approves a civil code that places women in a subordinate position in the family. Boys and girls can inherit equally, but married women need “marital authorisation” to manage their property. Male and female adultery are treated differently. The “defence of honour” is accepted as attenuating circumstance in murder cases.

1865 - 1867 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

The worst of the five cholera epidemics that hit Italy during the 19th century kills more than 160,000. The most affected towns are always Naples and Palermo.

1866 Italy Political Context

Italy participates in the Austro-Prussian War on the side of and annexes Venice.

1866 Italy Economy And Trade

A law confiscates the properties of religious orders and congregations, and establishes a state fund to support the clergy and monks.

1867 Italy Political Context

Uprising in Rome demanding unification with Italy. At the same time, Garibaldi leads an expedition of volunteers that enters the Papal States and tries to seize Rome. Roman rebels are defeated and executed. Garibaldi is defeated by Papal troops backed by a French expeditionary corps (France protects the Papal States).

1867 Italy Economy And Trade

Law on the abolition of religious bodies: the real estate properties of 25,000 religious bodies are auctioned.

1867 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Around 60 per cent of men and 80 per cent of women are unable to sign their marriage certificate because they are unable to write.

1867 Italy Travelling

The Società Geografica Italiana is founded. In 1869-70, it organises an exploratory expedition to East Africa, in 1875 to Tunisia and in 1876 to Ethiopia. Many other journeys to Africa, and also to Central Asia, and Papua follow. Such travels generally combined scientific purposes and political agendas.

1868 - 1883 Italy Migrations

Different circular letters by the Minister of Interior place obstacles on migration: migrants are supposed to have work contracts or to prove they have enough Date Country Theme funding to repatriate. Such circular letters have only limited effect. Landowners put pressure on government to discourage migration.

1868 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Gualberta Alaide Beccari (a feminist with republican ideas, much influenced by Mazzini) founds the periodical La donna, which campaigns for women’s rights. La donna’s main contributor is Anna Maria Mozzoni, who since 1865 had campaigned against “marital authorisation” and for women’s right to vote.

1870 - 1912 Italy Political Context

In 1870, taking advantage of French defeat at the hands of Prussia, the captures Rome, which becomes the capital of Italy. The Pope considers Italian rule on Rome to be illegitimate and bans Catholics from participating in Italian political life. In the following decades the ban is progressively lifted to counter socialist growth.

1870 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

Renewal and urban modernisation of Rome starts with the opening of a long road linking (where the Italian army broke into the city in 1870) to the Quirinale Palace, residence of the King (formerly a papal palace). The headquarters of some ministries are located along this road.

1871 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Fréjus Rail Tunnel under Alps, between Italy and France, inaugurated (12.8 km long).

1871 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

24 December: first world performance of the new opera by Verdi, Aida, set in ancient Egypt, at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo.

1876 Italy Rediscovering The Past

In Rome, Luigi Pigorini founds the National Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum, enriching with new acquisitions the ethnographic and prehistoric collection previously belonging to the Kircher Museum, founded in the 17th century.

1877 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

The “Coppino Law” makes elementary schools mandatory and free of charge.

1880 - 1887 Italy Economy And Trade

Italy is hit by the international agricultural crisis and annual per capita income decreases.

1880 - 1889 Italy Migrations Date Country Theme

Average annual Italian migration (temporary and permanent, to nearest 1,000): France 37,000; USA 24,000; Argentina 39,000; Brazil 22,000.

1880 - 1887 Italy Migrations

As a consequence of agricultural crisis, mass migration starts.

1880 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Anna Maria Mozzoni and Paolina Schiff (an academic) found the League for the Promotion of Women’s Interests, the first feminist organisation in Italy.

1880s - 1910s Italy Travelling

The growth of a European middle class and the improvement of transportation make tourism possible for increasing numbers of European citizens. According to very tentative estimates, 450,000 foreign tourists visited Italy in 1897 and 900,000 in 1911.

1881 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

The first Italian telephone services run by private companies start operating.

1881 Italy International Exhibitions

The first Italian National Industrial Exhibition is held in Milan.

1881 - 1901 Italy Migrations

2,251,463 people migrate from Italy; 67 per cent of them go to the USA.

1881 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

At La Scala Theatre in Milan, premiere of Excelsior, mimic ballet by Luigi Manzotti, music by Romualdo Marenco. Through 11 allegorical scenes glorifying 19th- century scientific and industrial progress (steam-engine, electric light, telegraph, Suez Canal, Fréjus Rail Tunnel, etc.), it celebrates the triumph of Light over Obscurantism.

1881 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Giovanni Verga (1840–1922) publishes the novel I malavoglia (published in English as The House by the Medlar-Tree), which describes the life of a family of Sicilian fishermen. Verga was the most important author of the Italian realist school known as verismo.

1882 Italy Political Context

Electoral reform: the right to vote is extended to 7 per cent of the Italian population, by lowering the age limit (from 25 to 21) and the level of income required.

1882 - 1896 Italy Political Context Date Country Theme

Italy’s first African war: in 1882 Italy starts colonial expansion in the Horn of Africa; in 1890, Eritrea becomes an Italian colony. Afterwards, Italy attempts to penetrate into Ethiopia and suffers a crushing defeat at Adwa (the biggest African victory over a colonial army): Italy loses 4,000 Italian and 2,000 colonial soldiers. The Crispi government resigns.

1882 Italy Political Context

The formed (Italy, Germany, -Hungary).

1882 - 1884 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

On the occasion of the 1884 General Exhibition of Turin, construction of the Rocca (castle) and the Medievale (medieval village) in Parco del Valentino (Valentino Park) in order to promote appreciation for 15th-century Piedmont architecture. In 1884, the Municipality of Turin buys part of this area, where it will later locate the Civic Museums.

1882 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

The Gotthard Rail Tunnel between Italy and Switzerland opens (14.9 km). The construction work had started in 1872.

1882 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

Brera Picture Gallery, originally created by Maria Teresa of Austria in 1776, becomes an independent museum.

1882 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

In order to fight malaria, Parliament approves a law on drainage of swamps. Malaria plagues about one-third of Italian territory, where 10 per cent of the population lives.

1882 Italy Travelling

The municipality of Cervia (on the Adriatic Sea) builds a bathing establishment explicitly intended for the middle class: previously a prerogative of the elite, beach tourism starts to become a more widely practised activity.

1883 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

A credit-fuelled “construction fever” explodes in Rome and in the other urban centres.

1883 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

In Milan, the first thermoelectric power station in Europe is inaugurated.

1883 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

Inauguration of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, in the Exhibition Palace by Pio Piacentini. It is intended to focus on “national” art. Date Country Theme

1884 - 1885 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

First experiments of electric street lighting in Turin and Milan.

1884 Italy International Exhibitions

The General Italian Exhibition in Turin attracts 3 million visitors.

1884 - 1885 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Cholera epidemic causes 7,000 deaths in Naples and 2,500 in Palermo (out of a total 21,000 deaths). The government starts programmes of urban renewal in Naples and other towns (the most effective tool to prevent new epidemics).

1885 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

After the 1884–85 cholera epidemic hits Naples (the fourth cholera epidemic hitting the city since 1835), the government starts a redevelopment plan to clear Naples of slums and improve its sewerage and water systems. Similar renewal plans will be extended to other cities.

1886 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Legislation passed prohibiting children under the age of 9 from working in factories and mines and those under the age of 12 from working at night.

1887 Italy Economy And Trade

Adoption of a protectionist policy aimed at boosting industrial development.

1887 Italy Economy And Trade

Federation of Italian Cooperatives is funded (from 1893 known as the League of Cooperatives).

1887 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

After long silence, Verdi composes a new opera on a text by Arrigo Boito: Othello, based on Shakespeare’s tragedy. In Othello, Verdi adopts a more fluent narrative structure that goes beyond the traditional division into separate units (arias, duets, concertatos, ).

1887 - 1914 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Thanks to improved public health services and living conditions there has been a strong decrease in the annual number of deaths by disease since 1887 (e.g. deaths from measles have decreased by 73 percent; from diptheria by 86 per cent; from smallpox by 99 per cent).

1888 - 1889 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

Construction of Piazza Esedra (now Piazza della Repubblica) in Rome, designed by Gaetano Koch. The newly built palaces with porticos around the square are Date Country Theme opposite the Terme di Diocleziano (Baths of Diocletian) and connect the area of Termini railway station to via Nazionale, providing an attractive entrance to the city.

1888 - 1890 Italy Economy And Trade

Tariff war with France.

1888 Italy Migrations

The first law on migration introduces measures aimed at preventing a married woman from migrating without her husband’s consent; at preventing men to migrate to avoid military service; and at granting migrants some protection against abuses.

1888 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

First comprehensive law on health services.

1889 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Establishment of the Museum of the pre-Roman Antiquities of in the 16th- century Villa Giulia, in Rome. The museum would be later renamed the .

1889 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Establishment of the National Roman Museum, in the stunning structure of the Terme di Diocleziano (Baths of Diocletian) in Rome.

1890 - 1899 Italy Migrations

Average annual Italian migration (temporary and permanent, to nearest 1,000): France 26,000, USA 51,000; Argentina 37,000; Brazil 58,000.

1890 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

The Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni (1863–1945) has a great success, marking the beginning of verismo (Italian realism) in music, which intends to portray the world of peasants and the poor through strong and passionate drama. The singing style changes radically, leaving behind the aesthetics of bel canto and turning to reciting, even shouting, and spoken parts in the most exciting dramatic moments.

1890 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

For the first time, trade unions organise celebrations for May Day as the International Worker’s Day.

1891 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

First Chambers of Labour (territorial trade unions) founded in Milan.

1892 Italy Political Context Date Country Theme

Italian Socialist Party founded.

1892 - 1898 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Hydroelectric power plants are built in Tivoli (1892) and Paderno d’Adda (1898) and the power they generated is transported to, respectively, Rome and Milan.

1893 - 1895 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

Construction of Piazza Vittorio Emanuele (today Piazza della Repubblica) in Florence, after clearing the area of the Ancient Market.

1893 - 1894 Italy Economy And Trade

A comprehensive law on banking establishes the , which starts operating on 1 January 1894.

1893 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Manon Lescaut by Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) has a great success in Turin and Puccini becomes the most promising opera composer of the new generation.

1893 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

At the age of 80, Verdi composes his last opera, Falstaff, an opera buffa that opens new avenues towards the theatre of the 20th century. The music underscores all the subtle nuances of the psychology of the different characters.

1894 - 1913 Italy Economy And Trade

The chemical industry takes off. The production of fertilisers grows from 85,700 tons in 1894 to 1 million tons in 1913.

1894 Italy Travelling

The Touring Club d’Italia is founded. Its main goal is “to make Italians know Italy”. It conceives of tourism as a tool for the cultural growth and modernisation of the country.

1895 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Gugliemo Marconi makes the first successful experiments of radio broadcasts.

1895 - 1913 Italy Economy And Trade

Major growth of iron and steel industry: cast iron production rises from 9,000 tons in 1895 to 426,000 tons in 1913; steel production rises from 50,000 tons in 1895 to 933,000 tons in 1913.

1895 Italy International Exhibitions Date Country Theme

Opening of the First International Art Exhibition of the City of Venice, known as the Venice Biennale. The exhibition – organised to bring the city out of isolation – meets with great public acclaim (224,000 visitors).

1896 - 1914 Italy Economy And Trade

Sustained economic growth (except for short crises in 1900 and 1907–08); industrialisation makes a leap forward.

1897 - 1898 Italy Political Context

Widespread demonstrations and riots against high bread price. The government uses the army to repress protests: in Milan 85 demonstrators are killed.

1898 Italy Political Context

Anarchist Gaetano Bresci kills the King Umberto I, in revenge for the protesters killed in Milan in 1898. Victor Emanuel III becomes .

1899 - 1904 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

Construction of the new Synagogue in Rome (architects: Vincenzo Costa and Osvaldo Armanni), an imposing building of eclectic style, with decorative elements inspired by Assyro-Babylonian architecture.

1899 - 1920s Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

Construction of some remarkable Liberty-style buildings, such as the Villino Florio in Palermo and the new building of Palazzo Montecitorio (seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies in Rome), both by Ernesto Basile, some pavilions for the 1902 national exhibition in Turin, and the small Coppedè neighbourhood in Rome. Overall, however, leaves a smaller mark on Italian cities than eclecticism.

1899 Italy Economy And Trade

In Turin, Giovanni Agnelli founds the car factory .

1900 - 1909 Italy Economy And Trade

Annual per capita income increases by 18.5% during the decade because of industrialisation.

1900 Italy International Exhibitions

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Italian companies participate in many international exhibition, such as the 1900 Paris World Fair.

1900 - 1909 Italy Migrations

Average annual Italian migration (temporary and permanent, to nearest 1,000): France 57,000; USA 233,000; Argentina 73,000; Brazil 30,000. Date Country Theme

1900 - 1909 Italy Migrations

Italians who had migrated to the USA, Argentina and Brazil repatriate to Italy in large numbers during the 1900s: the annual average is 119,857 from the USA; 31,712 from Argentina; 19,864 from Brazil.

1900 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Law on “state quinine” passed: in order to fight malaria, the state will produce quinine and sell it at a low price not only in the 5,000 pharmacies, but also in the 27,000 tobacconists.

1901 - 1914 Italy Political Context

Almost uninterrupted rule by , who allows more freedom of action to trade unions, introduces some social reforms and makes some openings for Socialists and Catholics.

1901 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo paints The Fourth Estate, showing workers on strike. The painting will become an icon of the workers’ movement.

1901 Italy Migrations

Comprehensive law on migration creates the Commissariato generale per l’emigrazione and introduces other measures aimed at ensuring migrants’ welfare, such as medical inspections on boats.

1901 - 1910 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Giacomo Puccini consolidates his reputation. He develops a very personal language that is deeply rooted in the Italian melodic tradition, despite his attention to international trends and his choice of exotic subjects (Madama Butterfly, La fanciulla del West, Turandot).

1901 Italy Travelling

Liguria (the region of Genoa) is the Italian region with the highest number of foreigners (12,000). It has a mild climate that attracts foreigners escaping north Europe’s harsh climate for health reasons. All through the 19th and early 20th centuries, many foreigners affected by tuberculosis and other illness resided in Italy for extended periods.

1902 - 1909 Italy Rediscovering The Past

First Italian national laws on the protection of cultural heritage. The new laws establish the principle of inalienability of national heritage and create a state administration (with national and local branches) dedicated to caring for cultural heritage.

1902 - 1903 Italy Rediscovering The Past Date Country Theme

The Italian state buys the 15th-century building of Villa Borghese in Rome and the park around it, including the astounding collection of paintings and that the villa housed. The villa will be transformed into the Borghese Gallery and Museum.

1902 Italy International Exhibitions

First International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin, featuring the best production of architecture, furniture and applied arts.

1902 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Legislation passed prohibiting children under the age of 12 from working, women from working in mines and under-age women from working at night. First provisions for maternity leave (four weeks after delivery).

1904 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936), Italian dramatist, novelist, poet and short story writer, publishes the novel Il fu Mattia Pascal. In 1934, he will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1904 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

First general strike at a national level held as a protest at police violence against workers (in repeated instances, the police had opened fire against workers on strike, killing several of them).

1904 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Law on free distribution of quinine to peasants and workers in malaria-infested areas.

1905 Italy Economy And Trade

Nationalisation of the railways.

1905 Italy Travelling

The Automobile Club d’Italia is founded.

1906 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Ethnographer Lamberto Loria (1855–1913) creates an Ethnography Museum in Florence.

1906 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Simplon Tunnel between Domodossola (Italy) and Brig (Switzerland) inaugurated. The construction works had started in 1898. At the time, it was the longest tunnel in the world (19.7 km). Date Country Theme

1906 Italy International Exhibitions

International Exhibition in Milan to celebrate the opening of the Simplon Tunnel. The main focus is on transport. There are 35,000 exhibitors, coming from dozens of different countries, and more than 5 million visitors.

1906 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Italian poet Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907) is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1906 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Sibilla Aleramo (pseudonym of Rina Faccio, 1876–1960) publishes Una donna (A woman), a fictionalised memoir that describes a woman’s desperate struggle to assert her individuality in a male-dominated society. The book is considered a feminist manifesto.

1906 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

The Confederazione Generale del Lavoro (CGL – national confederation of trade unions) is founded. Argentina Altobelli becomes Secretary General of the Farm Workers Union (the first woman to become national union leader).

1909 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

Filippo Marinetti publishes the Futurist Manifesto in Le Figaro.

1909 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (b. Alexandria, Egypt, 1876, d. Bellagio, Italy, 1944) publishes the Futurist Manifesto. The Futurist artistic movement emphasised speed, energy, vitality, and the power of machine and technology. Marinetti also glorified violence and war, which he considered “the world’s only hygiene”.

1910 - 1919 Italy Migrations

Average annual Italian migration (temporary and permanent, to nearest 1,000): France 44,000; USA 157,000; Argentina 32,000; Brazil 13,000.

1910 - 1912 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Maternity fund for female workers established. Voluntary pension fund established.

1911 - 1912 Italy Political Context

Italo-Turkish war: Italy gains possession of Libya and the Dodecanese Islands.

1911 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

In Rome, inauguration of the neoclassical monument to King Victor Emanuel II (built after clearing the Capitol Hill area of medieval buildings) and of the new building for the National Gallery of Modern Art, built for the Fine Arts International Date Country Theme Exhibitions, combining elements of different styles (neoclassical, neo-Renaissance, Liberty).

1911 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Italy is the first country to use a plane in war (the Italo-Turkish war, for the conquest of Libya). Planes cannot carry heavy weights, so the pilot carries in his pocket 1 kg bombs that he drops manually.

1911 Italy International Exhibitions

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Italian unification, international exhibitions are organized in Rome, Florence and Turin.

1912 Italy Political Context

The right to vote is extended to all men above the age of 30 (or aged 21 if they completed primary school). The Pope allows Catholics to vote.

1912 - 1920 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

Giorgio de Chirico’s first metaphysical paintings (L’enigma dell’ora, 1912; Le muse inquietanti, 1916; Ettore e Andromaca, 1917; Il Grande Metafisico, 1917).

1912 Italy Economy And Trade

Law establishes state monopoly of life insurance and creates the Istituto nazionale delle assicurazioni (INA).

1913 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

Umberto Boccioni made the Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, considered a masterpiece of Italian Futurism.

1913 Italy Migrations

Italian migration reaches its peak: 870,000 Italians migrate abroad.

1913 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Grazia Deledda (1871–1936) publishes the novel Canne al vento. Thirteen years later, she will be awarded the Nobel Prize (the second woman to be Nobel laureate in literature).

1913 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Average life expectancy, which in 1861 was 30 years, is now 47 years.

1915 - 1918 Italy Political Context

Italy participates in on the side of the UK, France and Russia, despite widespread opposition to entering the war. On the Austrian front, Italy suffers a crushing defeat at Caporetto in 1917, but wins in 1918. In Libya, Arab revolt: Date Country Theme Italy keeps control only of coastal towns. Casualties are 650,000 military deaths, 950,000 wounded, 600,000 prisoners of war or missing.

1915 - 1918 Italy Economy And Trade

When the war breaks out, the state takes a leading role in organising industrial production. Dramatic growth of steel, mechanic, chemical and textile productions. Workers in industries of strategic value are submitted to military discipline.

1918 - 1919 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

600,000 die in the Spanish influenza pandemic.

1919 Italy Political Context

Introduction of universal male suffrage and of an electoral system of proportional representation. The Popular Party (antecedent to the Christian Democrats) is founded. Mussolini creates the first Fascio di combattimento (embryo of the Fascist Party).

1919 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Law 1176/1919 abolishes “marital authorisation” and allows women to practise most professions and to take up public employment. But some limitations on women working persist: they are still not allowed to become magistrates, diplomats and police officers or reach the highest grades in the civil service.

1919 - 1920 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

The “Two Red Years”: 2 million unemployed. Introduction of compulsory old- age, unemployment and disability insurances. High inflation and decrease of salaries. Intense workers’ mobilisation: strikes and occupations of land, factories and shipyards. Trade unions achieve minimum wage, 8-hour working day and recognition of factory commissions.

1919 Italy Travelling

The Ente nazionale per le industrie turistiche (ENIT – a state-funded body aimed at promoting ) is founded. In the last decades of the 19th century, local associations and bodies aimed at promoting tourism started to be created, under public or private initiative.

1920 - 1922 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Philosopher, senator and minister of education (1920–21) Benedetto Croce promotes the approval of the first law on safeguarding the natural landscape.

1920 Italy International Exhibitions

First Milan Fair of industrial products: 1,233 exhibitors (including 224 foreigners) and 360,000 visitors.

1921 Italy Rediscovering The Past Date Country Theme

Inauguration of the National Museum of Palazzo Venezia, in the 15th-century palace that used to house the Embassy of the in Rome. The museum progressively focuses on applied arts: ceramics, furniture, silverware, jewellery, arms and armours, carpets and a variety of other items dating from the Middle Ages to modern times.

1921 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

The number of motorvehicles grows rapidly; by 1921 there are 30,000 motorcyles, 34,000 cars, 1,000 buses and 22000 trucks circulating in Italy.

1921 Italy Economy And Trade

Electricity production is 4,450 million kWh.

1921 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Some 12 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women are unable to sign their marriage certificate because they cannot write, a considerable improvement in literacy rates since 1867.

1926 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Puccini’s last opera Turandot, which he left unfinished, is performed at La Scala in Milan under the direction of Arturo Toscanini.