1893 in Italy


Events from the year 1893 in Italy.

[Kingdom of Italy]

Events

The year is characterized by the Banca Romana scandal, discrediting the whole political system, and increasing violence in Sicily as a result of the Fasci Siciliani, a popular movement of democratic and socialist inspiration in 1891–1894.

January

  • January 18 – An official report confirms the serious state of affairs in the Banca Romana: a deficiency of cash, cooked accounts, a note circulation of 135 million lire instead of the 75 million permitted by law, a great quantity of bad debts due to building speculation. The next day the governor of the bank, Bernardo Tanlongo, and several of his subordinates are arrested.
  • January 20 – Caltavuturo massacre in Caltavuturo in the Province of Palermo, where local authorities killed 13 and wounded 21 peasants that occupied communal land they claimed was theirs. The claim for land reform was one of the demands of the Fasci Siciliani.

February

  • February 1 – Murder of Emanuele Notarbartolo, former mayor of Palermo and former director general of the Banco di Sicilia by the Sicilian Mafia. Raffaele Palizzolo, a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, was regarded as the mastermind of the assassination. The series of trials over the following decade split Sicilian society in two and astonished public opinion. The conviction of Palizzolo in August 1902, would be hailed as a big blow against the Mafia. The Assize Court in Bologna convicted Palizzolo and two others to 30 years of imprisonment.

March

May

July

  • 31 July – A peasant conference at Corleone drafted model agrarian contracts for labourers, sharecroppers and tenants and presented them to the landowners. When those refused to negotiate, a strike against landowners and against state taxes broke out over a large part of western Sicily. The so-called Patti di Corleone, are considered by historians to be the first trade union collective contract in capitalist Italy.

August

  • August 10 – A new Bank Act liquidates the Banca Romana and reforms the whole system of note issue, restricting the privilege to the new Banca d'Italia – mandated to liquidate the Banca Romana – and to the Banco di Napoli and the Banco di Sicilia, and providing for stricter state control.
  • August 16–17 – Massacre of Italian workers of the Compagnie des Salins du Midi in Aigues-Mortes by French villagers and workers. The New York Times, reporting from the trial of ringleaders later in the year, reported that "ten men were killed and twenty-six wounded". Anti-French riots erupt in Italy. In Rome the windows of the French Embassy were smashed and for a while the angry mob seemed to get out of hand.
  • August 23 – Start of a three day popular revolt in Naples incited by horse-cab drivers notoriously linked to the Camorra, who called for a strike against the agreement between the city administration and the Belgian tram company Société Anonyme des Tramways Provinciaux, which provides for the extension of the tramway line to other parts of the city. The coachmen created riots and wreak havoc on the streets of Naples together with thousands of other demonstrators descending from the working-class neighbourhoods. Carriages that did not participate in the strike were attacked and a tram was burnt down. The police fired on the demonstrators, injuring some of them and killing a boy. His corpse is carried in a tumultuous procession and continuous clashes with the police, from San Carlo all'Arena to the Prefecture. The riot spreads, shops are attacked, shop windows smashed. Devastations multiply, but do not result in looting.

September

October

  • In October, a congress of sulfur miners was held in Grotte in the province of Agrigento which was attended by some 1,500 people, including workers and small producers. The sulphur workers were those who most participated in the establishment of the Fasci. The miners demanded that the minimum age to be raised to 14 years for those who worked in the sulfur mines, the decrease of working hours and setting a minimum wage. Small producers demanded measures to avoid exploitation by large owners. The minimum-age measure was meant to improve the situation for the carusi, minors that worked in conditions of near-slavery that sparked public outrage and inspired many complaints.

November

  • November 23 – At the opening of the Italian Parliament, the Italian Chamber of Deputies insists that the sealed report of the commission that investigated the Banca Romana scandal will be read immediately. Amidst increasing disorder the report is read and the conclusions of the commission that former Prime Minister Crispi, Prime Minister Giolitti, and former Finance Minister Luigi Luzzatti, had been aware of the conditions of the Banca Romana but had held back that information, is hailed with shouts for the resignation of Giolitti. Rival deputies exchange insults and push and pull each other over seats and desks over a dispute to impeach the government. While the President of the Chamber, Giuseppe Zanardelli, and the minister left the session, deputies refused orders to leave until the light was turned off at 10:00 PM and opposition deputies were cheered by a large crowd on the street.
  • November 24 – The government headed by Giovanni Giolitti has to resign as a result of the Banca Romana scandal after the Chamber presented the report of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on banks. The Commission concluded that press charges that Giolitti had used the bank's money in the last election campaign could not be proved although it declined to affirm that was disproved.
  • November 27 – Giuseppe Zanardelli, President of the Chamber of Deputies, is charged with the formation of a new Cabinet.

December

Sports

  • September 7 – The Genoa Cricket & Athletics Club, the oldest Italian soccer club, is formed by British expatriates. In its earliest years, it principally competed in athletics and cricket. Association football was secondarily practised.

Births

Deaths