July Almanac
July 1 – In 1899, F.I.A.T. (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino), Giovanni Agnelli establishes the Italian Automobile Factory of Torino.
– In 2005, the Italian Government abolishes compulsory military service, converting Italy’s armed forces to full volunteer enlistment for the first time in the nation’s history.
July 2 – Inventor Guglielmo Marconi receives a patent on his wireless telegraphy system, forerunner of radio, in 1897.
– The city of Siena runs its annual Palio horse race.
July 3 – Marie DeMedici dies in 1642. She introduced the Italian arts to France which included cooking, ballet and opera.
July 4 – The Altar of Augustan Peace (Ara Pacis Augustae) is consecrated in 13 B.C. It commemorated the start of the Roman Peace (Pax Romana) and the completion of Italian unity, known as Roman Italy.
– Reunification patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi is born in Nizza (now Nice, France) in 1804.
July 5 – In 1907, the Italian Parliament approves legislation limiting the work week to six days with Sundays off for workers in both the public and private sectors.
– In 1882, the East African Port of Assab (now part of Eritrea) is officially declared Italy’s first overseas colony. It was purchased by an Italian shipping company in 1869 from a local sultan.
July 6 – Goffredo Mameli dies defending Rome from the French Army in 1849. Italy’s national anthem is based on his poem Fratelli d’Italia.
July 7 – In 1881, the character Pinocchio is introduced to the world when the first chapter of a 36 episode series entitled Storia di un Burattino (“Tale of a Marionette”) by Carlo Collodi is published in the Italian children’s magazine Giornale per Bambini.
July 8 – Explorer Giovanni Verrazzano returns from the New World to France in 1524. His voyage was the beginning of France’s claims in North America.
July 9 – Argentine’s national flag, designed by Italo-Argentine General Manuel Belgrano, is adopted in 1816.
July 10 – In 1976, an explosion at the Icmesa Chemical Factory near Seveso in northern Italy releases a lethal cloud of Tetraclorodibenzodioxin (Agent Orange) into the atmosphere.
– Boxing champ Jake LaMotta, made famous in the film Raging Bull, is born in 1921
– U.S. Representative Geraldine Ferraro wins the Democratic nomination for the first female U.S. Vice President in 1984. She and Walter Mondale lose the election.
July 11 – In 1982, Italy wins the World’s Soccer Cup, defeating the West Germans at Madrid.
– Fashion designer Giorgio Armani is born in 1934
July 12 – Gaius Julius Caesar is born in 100 B.C.
– Automobile body designer Nuccio Bertone is born at Torino in 1912
July 13 – In 1814, the Royal Carabinieri, Italy’s National Police Force is established in Piemonte by King Vittorio Emanuele I di Savoia.
– Vocalist Frank Sinatra records his first record Our Love in 1939, but never released. The master was auctioned for $14,000 in 2006.
– The “Father of Chemistry,” Stanislao Cannizzaro, is born in Sicily in 1826
July 14 – Italian American immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are unjustly convicted of murder in 1921. They were executed in 1927, but exonerated in 1977 by the Governor of Massachusetts.
– Cardinal Jules Mazarin is born in Pescina, Italy in 1602, as Giulio Mazarini. He was a famous prime minister of France during the early reign of Louis XIV.
July 15 – In 1933, General Italo Balbo’s Royal Italian Air Force fleet of two dozen Savoia Marchetti seaplanes lands on Lake Michigan after a historic formation flight across the Atlantic to Chicago’s Century of Progress World’s Fair.
– Mother Frances Cabrini is born in 1850. She was the first U.S. citizen to be made a saint in 1946 for her extensive charitable works.
July 16 – Baseball great Joe DiMaggio hits safely in his 56th consecutive game in 1941.
July 17 – In 1894, an Italian expeditionary forces enter the Sudan and defeats the Dervishes at the Battle of Kassala.
– Bicycle manufacturer Edoardo Bianchi is born in 1865, at Milano
– In 1918, Italian forces block the German attack at Epernay, France during the 2nd battle of the Marne.
July 18 – In 1909, Luigi di Savoia, the Duke of Abruzzi, sets a new world’s mountain climbing altitude record, scaling 24,607 feet up Mount Chogolisa in the Karakoram Range of Tibet.
– Navigator Alvise Ca’ da Mosto dies in 1488. He claimed the Cape Verde Islands for Portugal.
– In 216 BC, the disastrous battle of Cannae, Italy costs Rome and its Italic allies 80,000 dead at the hands of Hannibal during the Second Punic War
– The Great Fire of Rome begins on this night in 64 AD.
– Marine corporal Anthony Casamento dies in 1987 after a successful struggle to obtain the Congressional Medal of Honor for his courageous stand against Japanese forces on Guadalcanal in 1942.
– Manager of the Champion NY Yankees, Joe Torre, is born in 1941.
July 19 – In 1943, five hundred American aircraft bomb Rome for the first time, killing an est. 3,000 civilians.
July 20 – 1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi’s spectacular victory over Bourbon forces at Milazzo completes the liberation of Sicily.
– Poet Petrarch is born in 1304. He wrote in Italian rather than Latin, ushered in the Renaissance
July 21– In 1927, Italian cyclist Alfredo Binda wins the first World Cycling Championship Race in Nürburgring, Germany.
July 22 – In 1939, the first U.S. invented television broadcast in Italy is transmitted at Rome by Ente Italiano Audizioni Radiofoniche.
July 23 – In 1844, Italian revolutionaries Attilio and Emilio Bandiera are executed by the Bourbon Government after their failed attempt to spark an insurrection in South Italy.
July 24 – In 1943, the Fascist Grand Council votes in favor of Dino Grandi’s motion calling for Benito Mussolini’s resignation from power.
July 25 – Italy sends four army divisions to the Austrian border to block Hitler’s attempt to annex that nation in 1934. The British, French and Americans do nothing. Germany backs down.
– Mussolini is arrested by the Italian king in 1943.
July 26 – Italy’s luxury liner Andrea Doria sinks in 1956 with a loss of 52 lives. A later inquiry faults the crew of the Swedish freighter Stockholm for the collision.
– U.S. Attorney General Charles Bonaparte creates the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1912.
July 27 – Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan and patron of Leonardo da Vinci, is born in 1452.
July 28 – Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi dies in 1741. His Four Seasons is still a classic.
– Actor Ben Gazzara is born in 1930
July 29 – In 1900, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by anarchist Gaetano Bresci at Monza.
– Benito Mussolini, Italian leader and founder of Fascism is born in 1883 in Predappio, Italy
– Celebrity attorney Melvin Belli is born in 1907
July 30 – In 1610, Galileo announces his discovery of rings circling the planet Saturn
– In 1789, Italo-Spanish Admiral Alessandro Malaspina sails from Cadiz, Spain on a voyage around the world. He mapped in detail the Pacific coasts of the Americas up to Alaska.
July 31 – Italo-Argentine and medical doctor Arturo Illia is elected President of Argentina in 1963. He is removed by a military coup in 1966.