1896 in Italy

Events from the year 1896 in Italy.

Kingdom of Italy

Events

In 1896, the Banco Ambrosiano was founded in Milan by Giuseppe Tovini, a Catholic advocate, and was named after Saint Ambrose, the 4th century archbishop of the city. Tovini's purpose was to create a Catholic bank as a counterbalance to Italy's "lay" banks, and its goals were "serving moral organisations, pious works, and religious bodies set up for charitable aims." The bank came to be known as the "priests' bank."

February

February 1 – The world première performance of La bohème by Giacomo Puccini took place in Turin at the Teatro Regio and was conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini.

March

March – The first Italian cinema screening by the Lumière brothers occurred in Turin.
March 1 – The Battle of Adwa between Ethiopia and Italy near the town of Adwa, Ethiopia, in Tigray. It was the climactic battle of the First Italo-Ethiopian War, securing Ethiopian sovereignty and ending Italian attempts at its conquest for another three and a half decades. The Italians suffered about 7,000 killed and 1,500 wounded in the battle and subsequent retreat back into Eritrea, with 3,000 taken prisoner. Ethiopian losses have been estimated at around 4,000–5,000 killed and 8,000 wounded. When the news reached Italy, street demonstrations and rioting broke out in major cities.
March 4 – The government of Prime Minister Francesco Crispi collapsed after the humiliating defeat of the Italian army at Adwa in Ethiopia during First Italo-Ethiopian War amidst Italian disenchantment with "foreign adventures".
March 8 – Crispi is succeeded by Antonio di Rudinì as Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior in a cabinet formed by the veteran Conservative, General Ricotti, who retains the Ministry of War.
March 13 – As the result of a pardon recognizing the excessive brutality of the repression of the Fasci Siciliani 120 prisoners are released, including the leaders of the movement Giuseppe de Felice Giuffrida, Rosario Garibaldi Bosco, Nicola Barbato and Bernardino Verro.

April

April 3 – The first European sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport was first published allowing it to cover the first modern 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

July

July 12 – The government of Prime Minister Di Rudini resigns after a proposal of War Minister Ricotti to reduce army personnel.
July 14 – Di Rudini reforms his Cabinet, getting support from Giovanni Giolitti and Giuseppe Zanardelli. Luigi Luzzatti becomes Minister of the Treasury and Luigi Pelloux Minister of War.

September

September 30 – Italy and France sign a treaty whereby Italy virtually recognizes Tunisia as a French dependency.

October

October 23 – The Treaty of Addis Ababa formally ended the First Italo–Ethiopian War on terms mostly favorable to Ethiopia. This treaty superseded a secret agreement between Ethiopia and Italy negotiated days after the decisive Battle of Adowa, in which Ethiopian forces commanded by Menelek II defeated the Italians. The most important concession the Italians made was the abrogation of the Treaty of Wuchale and recognizing Ethiopia as an independent country.

December

December 25 – The first issue of Avanti!, the official voice of the Italian Socialist Party, is published under the direction of Leonida Bissolati. It took its name from its German counterpart Vorwärts.

Births

February 7 – Galliano Masini, Italian opera tenor
February 11 – Bonaventura Tecchi, Italian writer
March 24 – Gianna Manzini, Italian writer
April 8 – Antonio Riva, Italian pilot and a World War I flying ace
May 11 – Filippo De Pisis, Italian painter
May 28 – Jone Morino, Italian film actress
June 1 – Renato Ricci, Italian fascist politician
June 6 – Italo Balbo, Italian Blackshirt
July 14 – Ferdinando Giuseppe Antonelli, Italian cardinal
August 16 – Tina Modotti, Italian photographer, model, actress, and revolutionary political activist
September 2 – Rosetta Pampanini, Italian soprano
September 25 – Sandro Pertini, Italian socialist and President of the Italian Republic from 1978–1985
October 11 – Cesare Andrea Bixio, Italian composer
October 12 – Eugenio Montale, Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1975
October 25 – Luigi Pavese, Italian film actor
October 26 – Maria Zanoli, Italian film actress
October 30 – Antonino Votto, Italian opera conductor
November 19 – Bruno Migliorini, Italian linguist and philologist
November 27 – Giovanni Battista Angioletti, Italian writer and journalist
December 7 – Mario Benzing, Italian novelist and translator
December 19 – Enrico Rastelli, Italian juggler and acrobat

Deaths

January 28 – Giuseppe Fiorelli, Italian archaeologist
March 1 – Giuseppe Galliano, Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Italian army who died in the Battle of Adwa
April 30 – Antonio Cagnoni, Italian composer
May 10 – Luigi Cossa, Italian economist
June 4 – Ernesto Rossi, Italian actor and playwright
July 12 – Giulio Ascoli, Italian mathematician
July 18 – Adolfo Bartoli, Italian physicist
July 19 – Achille Graffigna, Italian composer and conductor
September 9 – Luigi Palmieri, Italian physicist and meteorologist
November 14 – Italo Campanini, Italian opera tenor
November 29 – Guglielmo Acton, Italian naval officer, admiral and politician