1891 in Italy

Events from the year 1891 in Italy.

[Kingdom of Italy]

Events

January

January 1 – In Genoa the first Camera del Lavoro is founded, following the example of the Bourse du Travail in Paris.
January 15 – Foundation of Critica Sociale by Filippo Turati and Anna Kuliscioff, the most influential Marxist review in Italy from 1891 to 1898, tackling all the serious public problems of 1890s: banking scandals, repression of the Fasci Siciliani unrest, the colonial war in Africa, and food riots.
January 31 – The administration of Prime Minister Francesco Crispi resigns after a fierce disagreement with the Historical Right about the budget.

February

February 6 – Crispi is succeeded by Antonio di Rudinì forming a coalition cabinet with a part of the Left under Giovanni Nicotera. His Minister of Finance Luigi Luzzatti imprudently abolished the system of frequent clearings of banknotes between banks, a measure which facilitated the duplication of part of the paper currency and hastened the bank crisis of 1893 and the resulting Banca Romana scandal.

March

March 24 – Two secret Anglo-Italian protocols in 1891, left most of Ethiopia in Italy's sphere of influence.

April

April 20 – Critica Sociale publishes the programme of Milan's Socialist League, which aims to establish a socialist party.

May

May 1 – The first official Fascio dei Lavoratori was founded on Labour Day in Catania by Giuseppe de Felice Giuffrida. In Rome a rally organized by socialists and anarchists to celebrate the May 1 claim of an eight-hour workday ends with a wave of arrests.
May 6 – The Treaty of the Triple Alliance is renewed including the amendments made in two additional treaties of 1887, to Italy's aspirations in the Mediterranean and territorial compensation for Italy in case of Austrian expansion in the Balkans.
May 15 – Pope Leo XIII issued the Rerum novarum encyclical addressing the condition of the working classes and outlining the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights to property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism.
May 29 – In the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Giovanni Bovio proposes the abandonment of the African expansion policy, but his proposal, supported only by the Extreme Left, is rejected on 6 June.

October

October 27 – The Nicotera Regulation, by interior minister Giovanni Nicotera, made prostitution in Italy fully legal in private houses, with strict regulations. A system of sifilicomi was also set up, under the belief that they were the main sources of spreading venereal diseases. Although prostitutes found this regulated system oppressive, they developed ways to resist it.

Births

January 1 – Alessandro De Stefani, Italian screenwriter
January 2 – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect, urban planner and engraver
January 21 – Aldo Silvani, Italian film actor
January 22 – Antonio Gramsci, Italian writer, politician, political philosopher, and one of the most important Marxist thinkers in the 20th century
January 30 – Francesco Pricolo, Italian aviator
February 2 – Antonio Segni, Italian Christian Democratic politician and President of the Italian Republic from 1962–1964
February 5 – Renato Petronio, Italian rower
February 9 – Pietro Nenni, Italian socialist politician and national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party
February 15 – Dino Borgioli, Italian lyric tenor
February 16 – Pietro Parente, Italian theologian, cardinal, and inquisitor in the Holy Office of the Roman Catholic Church
March 16 – Alfonsina Strada, Italian cyclist, the only woman to have ridden the Giro d'Italia in 1924 when the organisers mistook her for a man
March 31 – Bruno Fattori, Italian poet
April 4 – Giani Stuparich, Italian author
April 19 – Riccardo Bacchelli, Italian writer
April 20 – Aldo Finzi, Jewish-Italian Fascist politician, executed in the Ardeatine massacre
April 26 – Alberto Gianni, Italian underwater diver
May 26 – Enrico Del Debbio, Italian architect
June 20 - Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, Italian operatic soprano
June 21 – Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian engineer and architect
July 13 – Franco Casavola, Italian Futurist composer and theorist
July 19 – Luigi Cimara, Italian film actor
August 14 – Giuseppe Fioravanzo, Italian admiral
August 29 – Mario Berlinguer, Italian lawyer and politician
September 1 – Ferdinando Innocenti, founder of the Innocenti company and the creator of the Lambretta motorscooter
September 2 – Maria Capuana, Italian mezzo-soprano
November 10 – Enrica Calabresi, Italian zoologist, herpetologist, and entomologist
November 18 – Gio Ponti, Italian architect and industrial designer
November 27 – Giovanni Breviario, Italian opera tenor
December 7 – Alessandro Zenatello, Italian painter

Deaths

January 1 – Antonio Stoppani, Italian geologist and palaeontologist
January 30 – Carlo Cristofori, Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
February 1 – Corradino D'Ascanio, Italian aeronautical engineer
February 8 – Antonio Brilla, Italian sculptor and ceramic artist
February 18 – Ferdinando Acton, Italian naval officer, admiral, politician and Minister for the Navy
February 22 – Agostino Magliani, Italian financier and Minister of Finance
February 28 – Giovanni Morelli, Italian art critic and political figure
March 25 – Stefano Jacini, Italian statesman and economist
May 17 – Ignazio Florio Sr. Italian entrepreneur and politician, member of the rich Florio economic dynasty, one of the wealthiest Italian families during the late 19th century
May 29 – Giulio Litta, Italian composer
June 8 – Carlo Maria Curci, Italian theologian
June 8 – Giovanni Caselli, Italian physicist and inventor of the pantelegraph
July 3 – Stefano Golinelli, Italian piano virtuoso and composer
July 21 – Franco Faccio, Italian composer and conductor
August 15 – Pietro Rosa, Italian architect and topographer
November 11 – Raffaele Ferlotti, Italian opera baritone
November 14 – Antonio Beretta, Italian politician and Milan's first mayor
November 28 – Ferdinando Palasciano, Italian physician and politician
December 17 – Amos Cassioli, Italian painter