1941 in Italy

Incumbents

• King – Victor Emmanuel III
• Prime Minister – Benito Mussolini

Events

• 3 January – World War II – North African Campaign – The Battle of Bardia occurs between Italian and Allied forces, mainly of the Australian Army, leading to the routing of the Italian Army and the fall of Bardia.
• 22 January – World War II – North African Campaign – The British capture Tobruk, capturing around 30 thousand Italian soldiers and intact port facilities.
• 11 February – World War II – North African Campaign – The German Afrika Korps, led by Erwin Rommel, a major general in the German Army, arrives in Italian Libya to support the Italian forces in the region.
• 6 April – World War II – Balkans Campaign – The Axis Powers, including Italy, invades Yugoslavia.
• 10 April – World War II – North African Campaign – Italian forces in Libya, in conjunction with the Afrika Korps, besiege Tobruk.
• 17 April – World War II – Balkans Campaign – Yugoslavia capitulates to the Axis invasion.
• 27 April – World War II – Balkans Campaign – Greece capitulates to a German led invasion following the failure of Italy's previous invasion in 1940.
• 19 June – World War II – The Axis Powers, including Italy, expel all United States consuls and diplomatic staff, with a vacation date of 15 July.
• 22 June – World War II – Eastern Front – Italy declares war on the Soviet Union, as a part of Operation Barbarossa, the Axis-invasion of the Soviet Union.
• 11 July – World War II – Seventeen Italian ships are seized in the United States under the Espionage Act of 1917.
• 27 September – World War II – Italy, Germany, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. The Tripartite Pact creates a defensive pact between the three powers, intended against any potential intervention by the United States in either the European theatre or the Second Sino-Japanese War.
• 11 December – World War II – Italy, in conjunction with Germany, Italian [declaration of war on the United States|declare war] on the United States, following the United States declaration of war on Japan and the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• 18 December – World War II – Mediterranean and [Middle East theatre of World War II|Mediterranean Front] – Italy's Regia Marina launches a raid on Alexandria, a city in Egypt, disabling two battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet of the British Royal Navy.

Births

• 19 June – Gilberto Benetton, businessman and co-founder of Benetton Group
• 23 July – Sergio Mattarella, president of Italy since 2015
• 3 October – Andrea de Adamich, racing driver
• 1 December – Federico Faggin, physicist, engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur

Deaths

• 15 February – Guglielmo Pecori Giraldi, general of the Italian 1st Army during World War I
• 25 June – Luigi Capello, general during the Italo-Turkish War and World War I
• 8 September – Giuseppe Amisani, painter
• 29 December
• *Tullio Levi-Civita, mathematician
• *Luigi Albertini, politician and founder of Corriere della Sera