November Almanac

[The 9th month of the year, until the Romans moved New Year’s Day from March to January.]

Nov 1  – Writer and artist Benvenuto Cellini is born in 1500

            – Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel is first exhibited to the public in 1512

Nov 2  – Italian publisher Arnoldo Mondadori is born in 1889

            – Auto designer Giovanni Battista “Pinin” Farina is born in Turin in 1893

Nov 3  – Dr. Alfonso DiMino dies in 2001.  Held 50 patents ranging from producing office carbon paper to early micro-chips, packaging adhesives, and medical therapeutics.

Nov 4  – In 1966, with torrential rains and 90-mile per hour winds, the Arno River floods the city of Florence.  Property damage, which includes an enormous number of art treasures, is estimated at over one billion dollars.

            – In 1852, Camillo Benso di Cavour, a later architect of Italy’s reunification, is named Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardegna.

            – In 1950, the Italian Government hosts the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms at Rome.

            – World War II Medal of Honor winner John Basilone is born in 1916.  The medal was for heroism on Guadalcanal in 1942, and he was killed in action on Iwo Jima in 1945.

            – Armed Forces Day in Italy celebrates the victory of Vittorio Veneto in 1918 and the end of hostilities on the Italian Front in the First World War.

Nov 5 – In 1918, Austria-Hungary surrenders to Italy a week before the Armistice in France.

            – Ella T. Grasso is elected governor of Connecticut in 1994. The first female elected to a governorship.

Nov 6  – Boxer Tony Canzoneri is born in 1908 in Louisiana. A three-division world champion, held a total of five world titles in lightweight boxing.

Nov 7 – In 1925, Colonel Francesco De Pinedo of the Royal Italian Air Force lands at Rome after piloting his Savoia-Marchetti S-16 hydroplane from Italy to Japan and back, logging over 30,000 miles.

Nov 8 – In 1934, Italian novelist Luigi Pirandello is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Nov 9  – The Hulk, actor/bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno is born in 1951.

Nov 10 – In 1862, Giuseppe Verdi’s La Forza del Destino premiers in St. Petersburg, Russia.

              – In 1494, the first book of accounting was published by Fra Luca Pacioli. It explained to the world the Italian method of double-entry bookkeeping, a mainstay of today’s capitalism.

              – Pope Leo I dies in A.D. 461.  He is credited with turning away Attila the Hun from sacking Rome.

Nov 11 – Vittorio Emanuele III, King of Italy, is born in 1869.

              – Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is born in 1974 in Los Angeles, CA

Nov 12 – In 1926, the Italian government agreed to repay its First World War debt to the United States with an interest rate fixed at 0.4 percent.

Nov 13 – Quarterback Vinnie Testaverde is born in 1963.  He played 21 seasons with seven different teams.

              – Balloonist Ben Abruzzo and his partners are the first to cross the Pacific Ocean in 1981.

Nov 14 – In 1900, Italy and France reach an agreement defining their respective colonial interests in North Africa.  However, the presence of 100,000 Italian settlers in French Tunisia will continue to be problematic.

Nov 15 – In 1914, the newspaper Il Popolo D’Italia is founded by Benito Mussolini advocating Italy’s entry into the European war.

              – Pioneering Egyptologist Giovanni Battista Belzoni is born in 1778.

Nov 16 – Emperor Tiberius Caesar is born in 42 B.C.  Jesus of Nazareth is crucified during his reign.

Nov 17 – The Four Seasons composer/singer Bob Gaudio is born in 1942.

Nov 18 – Actress Brenda Vaccaro is born in 1939.

Nov 19 – In 1901, Italian entrepreneur Luigi Bezzera patents the Espresso Coffee Maker in Milan.

              – In 1941, the Italian Army’s crack Ariete Division fights a gallant defense against overwhelming British & Empire forces at El Gobi in the Western Desert, allowing Rommel’s Afrika Corps to safely retreat.

Nov 20 – Italian American activist John La Corte dies in 1991.  He lobbied tirelessly to have the new bridge spanning Brooklyn to Staten Island named for explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano.

Nov 21 – The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is dedicated in 1964. Named for the Italian explorer

Giovanni da Verrazzano who first sailed into New York Harbor in 1524 for the French.

Nov 22 – British actor Tom Conti is born in 1941.

Nov 23 – Tenor Enrico Caruso makes his American debut in New York in 1903 in Rigoletto.

              – Botanist Prospero Alpini is born in 1553.  He introduced coffee and bananas to Europe as well as medicines from other lands.

Nov 24 – Former NFL President Paul Tagliabue in born in 1940.

Nov 25 – In 1848, disguised as a common priest, Pope Pius IX flees to Gaeta (across the border from his Papal States) in the midnight hours after revolutionaries take control the Rome and declare the establishment of a secular republic.

              – Joltin’ Joe diMaggio, baseball great, is born in 1914 in Martinez, California.

              – Angelo Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) is born in 1881

Nov 26 – Film director Bernardo Bertolucci dies in 2018.  His film The Last Emperor won an Academy Award in 1987. It was the first time the Chinese Communist government allowed filming in Beijing’s Forbidden City.

Nov 27 – In 1926, the Albanian government signs a treaty establishing a de facto Italian protectorate over Albania. The two governments agree to work together to maintain the Albania’s territorial integrity with the Italians promising not to interfere in Albanian affairs.

              – Italian physicist Giovanni Giorgi is born in 1871. He developed the Giorgi International System of Measurement (also known as “mksa”). He contributed greatly to hydroelectric technology, urban trolley development, and electrical distribution networks.

Nov 28 – The “Father of French Opera” Jean-Baptiste Lully is born Giovanni Battista Lulli in Italy in 1632.

              – Criminologist Cesare Beccaria dies in 1794.  His writings influenced the Founding Fathers “no cruel and unusual punishment, more humane treatment of prisoners, and a ban on the death penalty.”

Nov 29 – In 1906, the Italian automobile manufacturer Lancia & Company is founded at Torino

              – Composer Giacomo Puccini, (Madama Butterfly) dies in 1924 before completing Turandot with its signature song “Nessun Dorma”.

              – Composer Gaetano Domenico Donizetti is born in 1797.

              –Jazz great Chuck Mangione is born in 1940

              – Architect Andrea Palladio is born in 1508.

Nov 30 – In 1609, Galileo begins his first telescopic observations of the surface of the moon.

              – Genovese Admiral Andrea Doria is born in 1466

              – Actor Richard Crenna is born in 1926