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220Mil BC |
Bacteria and single-celled animals and plants from this period became encased in tree resin on the northern edge of the Tethys Ocean. Scientists in 2006 studied the organisms in amber of this time from a town in the Italian Dolomites. Ciliates and amoeba in the amber appeared identical to modern examples. Links: Italy, Micronesia, HistoryBC 
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4Mil BC |
In 2007 Italian researchers found the skeleton of a 33-foot prehistoric whale about 100 yards below ground in the Tuscan countryside. The skeleton dated to 4 million years ago, to the Pliocene epoch. Links: Italy, Whales, HistoryBC
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43000 BC 41000 BC |
Home sapiens populations were living in Italy by this time. Links: Italy, Anthropology, HistoryBC
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28000 BC |
In 2010 it was reported that starch grains found on 30,000-year-old grinding stones suggest that prehistoric man may have dined on an early form of flat bread, contrary to his popular image as primarily a meat-eater. The grinding stones were discovered at sites in Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic. Links: Italy, Russia, Food, Czech Rep., HistoryBC
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11000 BC |
A Paleolithic burial in San Teodoro Cave, Sicily, revealed an arrowhead embedded in the pelvis bone of an adult female. Another arrowhead is known from the vertebra of a child buried in the Grotte des Enfants on the Italian coast. Links: Italy, Sicily, Anthropology, HistoryBC
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3300 BC |
German hikers Erica and Helmut Simon found a well-preserved prehistoric corpse, dated to about this time. He was later named Oetzi (Frozen Fritz). He was found on Sep 19, 1991, in a glacier on the Hauslabjoch Pass, about 100 yards from Austria in northern Italy. It was kept at the Univ. of Innsbruck for study. In 1998 analysis indicated that the Ice Man had internal parasites and carried the woody fruit of a tree fungus as a remedy. Tattoos on the body were also found to be placed over areas of active arthritis. A flint arrow was also found in his back. In 2007 forensic researchers said he died either from hitting his head on a rock when he passed out or because his attacker hit him in the head. Links: Austria, Italy, Germany, HistoryBC
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1780 BC |
Vesuvius erupted about this time and entombed settlements 15km northwest of the volcano. The Avellino event left evidence at the Nola site that people were able to flee the eruption. Links: Italy, Volcano, HistoryBC
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690 BC |
The underground burial chamber of a warrior prince in the Etruscan town of Veio dated to about this time. It was decorated with roaring lions and migratory birds. Links: Italy, HistoryBC, Etruria
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620 BC |
Ostia was founded by the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius, who was thought to have ruled in the late seventh century BC. It was founded about this time at the mouth of the Tiber River. Nearby salt flats provided a valuable source of salt for preserving meat. Around 400BC it was conquered by Rome and turned into a naval base. Links: Italy, Romans, HistoryBC
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400 BC 300 BC |
An Etruscan gate was built in Volterra, northern Tuscany. The arch remained standing into the 21st century. Links: Italy, HistoryBC
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396 BC |
Roman legions sacked the Etruscan city of Veio, after a ten-year siege, ended the city's long conflict with Rome. Links: Italy, Romans, HistoryBC, Etruria
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233 BC |
General Quintus Fabius Maximus led a Roman victory against the Ligurian tribes northwest of Italy. Links: Italy, Romans, HistoryBC
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206 BC |
Rome destroyed Carthaginian forces at the Battle of Metaurus in northern Italy. Links: Italy, Carthage, Romans, HistoryBC
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80 BC 70 BC |
The Romans built the Flavian Amphiteatre and named it after the family name of Emperor Vespasian. The Colosseum could seat 50,000 spectators and had underground chambers, dens and passageways, an area known as the hypogeum. Links: Italy, Romans, HistoryBC
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45 BC Mar |
Caesar defeated the least of his rivals and was proclaimed dictator for life. Links: Italy, Romans
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44 BC |
Caesar began building a colony at Butrint, Albania. Titus Pomponius Atticus described the area as "the quietest, coolest, most pleasant place in the world." Links: Albania, Italy, HistoryBC
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37 BC |
Virgil (b.70BC), Roman poet, authored the 4th of his Eclogues. This included text regarding the newborn son of Consul Polio in which Virgil said the child would initiate a golden age in which lion and lamb would lie together amid peace and plenty. Early Christians took this as a prediction of Christ. Links: Italy, Poet, Romans
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28 BC |
In Rome the mausoleum of Emperor Augustus(d.14AD) was built. Links: Italy, Romans, Architect, HistoryBC
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9 BC |
The Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace), ordered by Augustus Caesar, was constructed in Rome. In 2005 the Museum of the Ara Pacis opened in Rome. Links: Italy, Romans, Architect, HistoryBC
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4 |
Gaius Caesar (24), the nephew and adopted heir of Caesar Augustus, died. Links: Italy, Romans
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10 Oct 13 |
Italy became the latest NATO ally to detail plans to scale down its military presence and hand over territory to Afghan security forces by the end of next year. Links: Italy, NATO, Afghan
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65 |
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (b.4BC) (aka Seneca the younger), Roman intellectual, died. He was a Stoic philosopher and playwright and wrote a version of "Medea." Seneca was Nero's teacher. Nero had Seneca compose his speeches. Seneca and his colleague were ordered by Nero to contrive the murder of Agripinna. He was forced to commit suicide after the conspiracy of Caius Piso to murder Nero. His wife Paulina cut her wrists together with Seneca but Nero ordered that she be saved. Seneca's blood did not flow well and he asked for poison which was refused. He then requested a hot bath to increase the blood flow and apparently was suffocated by the steam. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Links: Italy, Romans, Quote
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71 |
Vespasian and his son Titus paraded the treasure plundered from Jerusalem in triumph through the streets of Rome. They used the 50 tons of gold and silver to help finance the building of the Colosseum. Links: Italy, Romans, Israel, Jews
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75 |
The treasure plundered from Jerusalem in 70AD by the Romans under Vespasian and his son, Titus, was put on public display in the Temple of Peace in the Roman Forum and stayed there into the early 5th century. Links: Italy, Romans, Jews
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129 Sep 22 |
Claudius Galenus (d.~199-217), Greek physician and scholar, was born. Some sources put his birth in 131. Galen went to Rome in 162 AD and made his mark as a practicing physician. Galen developed the first typology of temperament in his dissertation “De temperamentis,” and searched for physiological reasons for different behaviors in humans. Links: Italy, Greece, Medical
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135 |
Roman Emperor Hadrian sent 12 divisions under Julius Severus to quell the Jewish rebellion led by Simon Bar Kokhba, who was killed at Bethar. An estimated 600,000 Jews were killed. Hadrian ordered Jerusalem plowed under and Aelia Capitolina was built on the site. He barred Jews from returning and survivors dispersed across the empire. Judea was renamed Syria-Palestina. Links: Italy, Romans, Palestine, Syria, Jews
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138 Jul 10 |
Publius A. Hadrianus (b.76), Roman emperor (117-138), died. He was responsible for Hadrian's Wall in Britain, begun in 122. Links: Italy, Romans
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158 |
Apulieus of Madaura (~124-~180), Romanised Berber and author of “The Golden Ass” (aka the Metamorphoses) defended himself at the Roman basilica in Sabratha (Libya) against charges of witchcraft in an oration known as Pro de se magia, or more commonly the Apologia. The Golden Ass is the only Latin novel which has survived in its entirety, and is an imaginative, irreverent, and amusing work which relates the ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, who experiments in magic and is accidentally turned into an ass. Links: Italy, Libya, Romans, Writer
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182 |
Roman Emp. Commodus executed the brothers Sextus Quintilius Maximus and Sextus Quintilius Condianus for alleged conspiracy. Their Villa dei Quintili, several miles from the center of Rome and comparable to Hadrian’s villa in Tivoli, was identified in 1828. Links: Italy, Romans
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192 Dec 31 |
Lucius A.A. Commodus (b.161), Emperor of Rome (180-192), was murdered. His mistress Marcia, Chamberlain Eclectus, and praetorian prefect Laetus hired the wrestler Narcissus to strangle Commodus after they found their names on an imperial execution list. Links: Italy, Romans
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203 |
Lucius Septimus Severus (d.211), emperor of Rome, returned to visit home at Leptis Magna (Libya). Links: Italy, Libya, Romans
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211 Feb 4 |
Lucius Septimius Severus (64), emperor of Rome (193-211), died. Links: Italy, Romans
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217 Apr 8 |
Caracalla (b.188), [Marcus Antonius], Roman emperor (198-217), was murdered in his baths. Links: Italy, Romans
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258 |
A red agate cup with gold handles, the Santo Caliz, was sent to Spain by Pope Sixtus II and St. Laurence as Rome went under siege by the Persians. In 1437 the church moved it to the Cathedral of Valencia. Links: Italy, Spain, Vatican, Persia
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305 |
San Gennaro, a pious bishop, was beheaded by Roman Emp. Diocletian. In the 14th century Naples began celebrating the miracle of San Gennaro, whereby the city’s archbishop shakes a vial allegedly containing blood from Gennaro. Links: Italy, Vatican, Romans, Scam
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313 |
Constantine met with the eastern emperor at Milan, capital of the late Roman Empire. They agreed on a policy of religious tolerance. The Edict of Milan legalized Christianity, but also allowed Romans religious choice. Links: Italy, Byzantium, Romans
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554 Aug 14 |
Ravenna became the seat of the Byzantine military governor in Italy. Links: Italy, Byzantium
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1008 |
The Univ. of Bologna (Italy) was founded. It was later recognized as the oldest university in Europe. Links: Italy, Education
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1053 Jun 18 |
In Italy Richard of Aversa helped win the Battle of Civitate, inflicting a decisive defeat over the papal army, which had joined Byzantium in an alliance against the Normans. Links: Italy, France, Byzantium, Vatican
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1077 Jan 28 |
Pope Gregory VII pardoned German emperor Henry IV at Canossa in northern Italy. Henry had insisted that he reserved the right to "invest" bishops and other clergymen, despite the papal decree, but became penitent when faced with permanent excommunication. Links: Italy, Germany, Vatican, Holy Roman Empire
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1094 Oct 8 |
St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice was dedicated. Remains believed to have belonged to St Mark, the Evangelist, were buried there. Links: Italy, Venice
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1094 |
Gondoliering began in Venice as a strictly male profession. Links: Italy, Venice
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1150 |
The municipality of Genoa raised 400 lira by granting to investors the tax revenue raised from stallholders in the marketplace over a term of 29 years. This became the first recorded public bond. Links: Italy, Money, Taxes
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1202 |
The Hindu-Arabic numbering system was introduced to the West by Italian mathematician Fibonacci (Leonardo of Pisa). The Fibonacci series is a sequence of numbers where each new number is the sum of the previous two. Fibonacci wrote “Liber abaci” describing how algebraic methods developed in India and how they could be used in business and commerce. Links: Italy, India, Math
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1222 |
A group of professors broke free from the Univ. of Bologna, under the control of the Catholic Church, and created the Univ. of Padua, independent of Catholic constraints. Links: Italy, Vatican, Education
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1231 |
Pope Gregory IX established the Papal Inquisition to deal with heresy, although he did not approve the use of torture as a tool of investigation or for penance. Links: Italy, Vatican
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1267 |
Giotto (d.1337), Italian painter, was born about this time. Links: Artist, Italy
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1275 |
The Carta Pisana, the earliest known portolan chart, appeared about this time. Portolan charts are navigational maps based on realistic descriptions of harbors and coasts. Links: Italy, Maps
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1280 |
About this time someone near Pisa, Italy, riveted 2 small magnifying lenses to form the 1st optical device that could be worn on the bridge of the nose. Links: Italy, Inventor
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1295 |
Jacobellus Barovier, founder of a glass-making family, was born. His sons, Antonio and Bartolomeo in 1348 registered as "fioliare" (glassmakers) in Murano, across the lagoon from Venice, Italy. The Barovier firm merged with the Murano-based Toso firm in the 1930s. Links: Italy, Venice, Glass
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1297 Jan 7 |
Francois Grimaldi (Francois the Crafty) of Genoa disguised himself as a monk and appeared at the fortress on the Rock of Monaco. Once inside he called his reinforcements and seized the place. Links: Italy, Monaco
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1303 |
The Padova Chapel was completed. Giotto began painting a fresco cycle there with scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Links: Artist, Italy
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1305 |
Giotto finished a cycle of frescoes inside the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. Links: Artist, Italy
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1321 Sep 14 |
Dante Alighieri, author of the "Divine Comedy," died of malaria just hours after finishing writing "Paradiso." The poem was completed in Italian rather than Latin. It helped make Italian the dominant linguistic force in European literature for the next few centuries. In 2006 Barbara Reynolds authored “Dante: The Poet, the Political Thinker, the Man.” Links: Italy, Poet, Writer
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1333 Nov 4 |
In Florence, Italy, the Arno River flooded causing some 3,000 deaths. Links: Italy, Florence, Flood
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1337 Jan 8 |
Giotto (b.c.1267), Italian artist, died. His frescoes showed a new realism and vitality. Art historians later held that the Renaissance dawned in Florence with Giotto's paintings. He cracked the formal stylization of Byzantine painting and reinvented the ancient art of creating depth on a flat surface. In 2000 art historians found evidence that Pietro Cavallini re-introduced depth in his paintings in Rome around 1190. Links: Artist, Italy, Renaissance
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1347 1350 |
The Black Death: A Genoese trading post in the Crimea was besieged by an army of Kipchaks from Hungary and Mongols from the East. The latter brought with them a new form of plague, Yersinia pestis. Infected dead bodies were catapulted into the Genoese town. One Genoese ship managed to escape and brought the disease to Messina, Sicily. The disease quickly became an epidemic. It moved over the next few years to northern Italy, North Africa, France, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, the Low countries, England, Scandinavia and the Baltic. There were lesser outbreaks in many cities for the next twenty years. An estimated 25 million died in Europe and economic depression followed. In 2005 John Kelly authored “The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time.” Links: Austria, Italy, Spain, Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Mongolia, Microbiology, Sicily
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1348 Jun 9 |
Ambrogio Lorenzetti (b.1290), Italian painter of the Sienese school, died. His work included the 3 murals titled “War,” “Peace” and “Good Government,” in the Chamber of Peace of Siena’s town hall. Links: Artist, Italy
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1348 |
The Black Plague struck the Mediterranean Basin. Links: Italy, Spain, France, Microbiology
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1348 |
The population of Siena, Italy, dropped from 97,000 to 45,000 in a few months due to the Black Plague. Bernardo Tolomei, nearly blind founder of the Benedictine Congregation of Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto in the 1340s, died along with 82 of his monks after leaving the safety of his monastery to tend to plague victims in Siena. In 2009 the Vatican declared him a saint. Links: Italy, Microbiology
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