On this day: birth of Lorenzino de’ Medici
On 23 March 1514, Lorenzino de’ Medici, the man who assassinated his cousin and ruler of Florence, was born in Florence.
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Category: History of Italy
On this day: Death of disgraced financier Michele Sindona
On 22 March 1986, disgraced banker Michele Sindona died in hospital after being poisoned with cyanide. Just four days earlier, he received a life sentence for ordering the murder of a lawyer investigating his financial empire.
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On this day: Saint Angela Merici born
On 21 March 1474, Angela Merici was born in Desenzano del Garda, then part of the Republic of Venice. She would go on to found the Ursuline Order, the first community of women in the Catholic Church dedicated specifically to the education of girls.
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On this day: Antonio da Ponte, architect, dies
On 20th March 1597, Venetian architect Antonio da Ponte died in Venice, leaving behind one of the most recognisable landmarks in the world: the Rialto Bridge.
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Italian Unification Explained – Creating Modern Italy
On 17 March 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed, formally bringing into existence the unification of a single Italian state for the first time since antiquity. The event marked the culmination of a long and complex process known as the Risorgimento, through which a fragmented peninsula of states, foreign territories and competing political visions […]
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The Fall of the Roman Empire
The fall of the Roman Empire remains one of the most studied events in world history. For centuries Rome had dominated the Mediterranean basin, ruling an empire that stretched from Britain to the Middle East. Yet by the late 5th century AD the Western Roman Empire had collapsed, marking a major turning point in European […]
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What was the Roman Empire?
A high-level overview of the empire that shaped Italy and Europe. The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful and influential states in world history. At its height, it controlled vast territories across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, shaping politics, law, language and culture for centuries.
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Ancient necropolis reveals unusual Samnite child burials
Archaeologists working in southern Italy have uncovered a 2,400-year-old burial ground containing dozens of tombs from the ancient Samnite civilisation including child burials.
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The Samnite Wars: Rome’s decisive struggle for Italy
Long before the Roman Empire dominated the Mediterranean, the Roman Republic fought a series of conflicts that would determine its control of the Italian peninsula. Among the most decisive were the Samnite Wars, a set of three major wars fought between Rome and the Samnites during the fourth and early third centuries BC.
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On this day: death of Giuseppe Mazzini, unification leader
The revolutionary thinker Giuseppe Mazzini, one of the key figures behind the movement for Italian unification, died on 10th March 1872 in Pisa.
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