May Almanac
May 1 – In 1820, the Carbonari, a clandestine organization of revolutionaries dedicated to the liberation of Italy from foreign occupation, launches an insurrection in Nola (near Naples).
May 2 – Leonardo Da Vinci dies in France in 1519.
May 3 – Political theorist and historian Niccolo Machiavelli is born in 1469. America’s Founding Fathers based much of its political system on Machiavelli’s writings. He believed that human nature does not change.
– Rock singer Frankie Valli of the Four Seasons is born in 1937.
May 4 – In 1912, Italian troops seize the Island of Rhodes, off Turkey, during the Italo-Turk War. Rhodes and the rest of the Dodecanese Islands were given to Greece in 1947 as Italian war reparations.
– Inventor of the piano (pianoforte), Bartolomeo Cristofari, is born in 1655.
May 5 – In 1947, the Royal Crest of the House of Savoia is officially retired as the Italian government formally adopts the Stemma Repubblicana as the new national emblem.
– In 1936, the Italo-Ethiopian War ends as victorious Italian troops enter Addis Ababa.
– Alitalia, Italy’s national airline begins operations in 1947.
May 6 – In 1976, nearly one thousand lives are lost when a violent earthquake devastates northeastern Italy.
– In 1947, former German General Albert Kesselring is condemned to death by Italian courts for war crimes during the Nazi occupation of Italy.
– In 1906, the premiere edition of the Targa Florio, an unusually challenging cross country auto race across winding and rocky Sicilian roads, begins.
– Italian-American financier Amadeo Giannini is born in San Jose, CA in 1870. He founded the Bank of America and TransAmerica. He first developed branch banking and financed Hollywood films, Disney, and the Golden Gate Bridge
– Screen actor Rudolph Valentino is born in Castellaneta, Italy in 1895
May 7 – Six-term U.S. Senator “Pete” Domenici (R-NM) is born in 1932
May 8 – The world’s first published health enthusiast, Luigi Cornaro, dies in 1566 at age 98. Among other things, he recommended a diet of eggs and wine.
May 9 – In 1946, in an attempt to save the monarchy after Italy’s disastrous involvement in World War II, King Vittorio Emanuele III abdicates the throne in favor of his son, Crown Prince Umberto.
– In 1936, Mussolini announces that newly conquered Abyssinia (Ethiopia) was annexed as part of the new Italian Empire..
– American aviator Cesare Sabelli dies in 1984. He is credited with the first airborne radio transmission in 1928. Fittingly, the call was made to Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the wireless, then in London.
May 10 – The first elected female American governor (Ella Grasso – Connecticut, 1975-1980) is born in 1919.
May 11 – In 1860, the liberation of Sicily and Southern Italy from the 400-year Bourbon rule begins as Garibaldi and his army of one thousand volunteers land at Marsala.
– Today’s Istanbul, Turkey was founded in A.D. 330 as Nova Roma by Roman Emperor Constantine to defend the eastern half of the Roman Empire and make it Christian. It was renamed Constantinople and it extended the life of the Empire until 1453 (2,206 years since the founding of Rome.)
– In 1882, to strengthen the Kingdom’s position in European affairs, the Italian Parliament approves a bill to expand the Royal Army to 850,000 men.
May 12 – In 1957, the Vatican issues a plea to Italian racing fans to curb their excessive enthusiasm after three competitors and ten spectators are killed in the Mille Miglia open-road auto race.
– Yankee catcher Yogi Berra is born in 1925 in St. Louis.
– Italic general Napoleon of France ends the 1100-year independence of the Republic of Venice in 1797. The city was founded by Romans escaping barbarians in the 6th century.
May 13 – In 1909, the first running of the Giro D’Italia, Italy’s famous cross-country cycling competition, begins.
– In 1950, Italians Giuseppe Farina and Luigi Fagioli, both driving Alfa Romeos, take 1st and 2nd place respectively at the premier edition of the Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England.
May 14 – In 1946, bakery owner Pietro Ferrero begins mass production of a chocolate and hazelnut spread, which he calls “Nutella”. The product’s success and a growing line of candies, cookies, soft drinks, including Tic Tac breath mints turns his company into an international confectionery giant.
– In 1926, the dirigible Norge, designed and piloted by Royal Italian Air Force Colonel Umberto Nobile, lands at Teller, Alaska, completing the first, complete aerial crossing of the Arctic Ocean.
May 15 – In 1768, Genova cedes the island of Corsica to France, making Napoleon Bonaparte, born there the following year, a French citizen. Despite its political identity Corsica will remain linguistically and culturally Italic for centuries.
– The father of Grand Opera, Claudio Monteverdi is born in Cremona in 1567.
May 16 – In 1527, the Medici are expelled from Florence
– In 1792, Teatro La Fenice opens in Venice.
– Actor Henry Fonda is born in 1905. The Fonda family were Italian Protestants who fled to Holland during the 17th century.
– Maria Gaetana Agnesi is born in 1718 at Milan. She was the first female professional mathematician in history
May 17 – Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli dies in 1510.
May 18 – In 1684, a French fleet commanded by Marquis Abraham de Quesnay, without a formal declaration of war, bombards Genoa as a punitive act for the city’s alliance with Spain.
– Filmmaker Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life) is born in 1897.
– Crooner Perry Como is born in 1913.
May 19 – In 1920, Italy & Switzerland are linked by railroad when the 12-mile long Simplon Tunnel, the world’s longest, is opened through the Alps
May 20 – In 1920, Italian aviators Arturo Ferrarin and Gino Capaninini complete an 11,330 mile flight from Rome to Tokyo.
May 21 – In 1892, Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci premiers at La Scala.
– Anatomist Girolamo Fabricius dies in 1619. He founded the science of embryology.
May 22 – Italy signs the “Pact of Steel” with Germany in 1939
May 23 – Judged guilty of heresy, the fiery Dominican reformer Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in 1498 in Florence. Predating Martin Luther, his anti-materialism was made famous by his legendary “Bonfire of the Vanities.”
May 24 – In 1915, Italy enters World War I on the side of the Allies.
May 25 – Actress/Model Connie Sellecca is born in 1955.
May 26 – In 1955 – Grand Prix World Champion Alberto Ascari is killed when his Ferrari crashes during a test run at Monza.
May 27 – In 1910, Italian aircraft designer Gianni Caproni‘s first aeroplane, the CA1, successfully completes its test flight over Taliedo
May 28 – House of Representative member, since 1987, Peter DeFazio (D-OR) is born in 1947
May 29 – In 1176, a coalition of Italian cities defeats the invading German armies of Frederick I (Barbarossa) at the Battle of Legnano.
– The first Italian-American detective on the New York City police force, Joseph Petrosino, is born in Naples in1860. He was assassinated in Sicily by the Black Hand. He started NYPD’s first Bomb Squad. The 1960s movies Black Hand and Pay or Die are based on his crime fighting.
May 30 – The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., in 1922. The colossal figure of Lincoln was carved by the Piccirilli Bros. from a Daniel French design.
May 31 – Prince Ranier III of Monaco is born in 1923. His Grimaldi family dynasty was founded in the year 1017.
– Geophysicist Filippo Cecchi, inventor of the seismograph, is born in 1822, in Ponte Buggianese