1895 in Italy

Kingdom of Italy

• Monarch – Umberto I
• Prime Minister – Francesco Crispi

Events

January

• January 13 - Battle of Coatit between Italy and Ethiopian proxies led by Tigrian warlord Ras Mengesha Yohannes in what is now Eritrea. It was the opening battle of the First Italo–Ethiopian War, and was a significant victory for the Italians, as they rebuffed an invasion force.

March

• March 25 - Italian troops occupy Adigrat in Ethiopia and use it as a base to support their advance south to Mek'ele.

April

• April 12 - Foundation of the Italian Republican Party by Giovanni Bovio, Arcangelo Ghisleri, Napoleone Colajanni and Valentino Armirotti amongst others.
• April 24 - The Supreme Court decides that former Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti cannot not be tried by an ordinary civil court, as Giolitti had argued since he had made his accusations against the involvement of current Prime Minister Crispi in the Banca Romana scandal in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Only the Senate could hear the case. Giolitti had been accused of embezzlement of judiciary document as well as libel against Crispi and his wife, and had been summoned before the courts after the Public Prosecutor, sustained by lower courts, had started the prosecution.
• April 30 - The first Venice Biennale, I Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia, holds its first exhibition before growing into a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The exhibition is opened by the Italian King and Queen, Umberto I and Margherita di Savoia and would be seen by 224,000 visitors.

May

• May 18 - the first motor race in Italy is held. It is run on a course from Turin to Asti and back, a total of. Five entrants start the event; only three complete it. It is won by Simone Federman in a four-seat Daimler Omnibus, at an average speed of.
• May 19 - an earthquake hits Tuscany; four people are killed in Florence.
• May 26 - first round of the Italian general election. Crispi wins significantly.

June

• June 2 - Second round of the Italian general election. The "ministerial" left-wing bloc remained the largest in Parliament, winning 334 of the 508 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, giving Prime Minister Francesco Crispi a huge majority. The constitutional opposition is reduced to 104; 47 radicals and 15 socialist are elected including Rosario Garibaldi Bosco, who is in prison because of the Fasci Siciliani revolt.

July

• July 24 - The Government decides to present the evidence of former Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti about the role of current Prime Minister Crispi in the Banca Romana scandal and other matters – known as the "Giolitti envelope" –, to the Chamber of Deputies and have a special commission examine them. In June 1895, the French newspaper Le Figaro had published the package of documents compromising Crispi with evidence that he had concealed financial transactions and debts contracted by Crispi, his family and friends with the Banca Romana from the parliamentary inquiry in 1893.

December

• December 7 - Battle of Amba Alagi, the first in a series of battles between General Oreste Baratieri and Emperor Menelik. The defeat of the Italians shocked Prime Minister Francesco Crispi, who agreed to advance another 20 million lire to ensure that a disaster could be stopped.
• December 13 - The Chamber declines to indict former Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti, who had asked to be brought for the Senate, as part of the Banca Romana scandal.

Births

• January 16 - Rodolfo Lipizer, Italian violinist, professor of music, and orchestra conductor
• January 25 - Paolo Marella, Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
• February 6 - Mario Camerini, Italian film director
• March 10 - Giuditta Rissone, Italian film actress
• March 14 - Renzo Provinciali, Italian lawyer and anarchist
• April 3
• * Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer
• * Luigi Traglia, Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
• April 10
• * Elena Aiello, Italian Roman Catholic professed religious
• * Giovanni Brunero, Italian professional road racing cyclist
• April 12 - Giovanni Panico, Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
• April 15 - Corrado Alvaro, Italian journalist and writer
• April 19 - Antonio Locatelli, Italian aviator and journalist
• May 2 - Lando Ferretti, Italian Fascist journalist, politician and sports administrator
• May 6 - Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor and early sex symbol of the 1920s, known as the "Latin Lover"
• May 15 - Pietro Lazzari, Italian artist and sculptor
• May 30 - Simone Fernando Sacconi, Italian violin maker and restorer
• June 4 – Dino Grandi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Justice, president of the Parliament of Italy, and member of the Grand Council of Fascism
• June 27 Anna Banti, Italian novelist, art historian, and translator
• July 4 - Massimo Campigli, born Max Ihlenfeld, Italian painter and journalist
• July 13 - Rino Parenti, Italian fascist leader
• July 25
• * Maria Zamboni, Italian opera soprano
• * Gino Cavalieri, Italian film actor
• September 3 - Giuseppe Bottai, Italian lawyer, economist, journalist and Fascist
• September 28 - Stephen Ferrando, Italian missionary belonging to the Salesians of Don Bosco
• October 3 - Giovanni Comisso, Italian writer
• October 5 - Antonio Sacconi, Italian chess master
• October 6 - Nando Bruno, Italian film actor
• November 27 - Adolfo Franci, Italian screenwriter
• November 29 - Lodovico Rocca, Italian composer

Deaths

• March 15 - Cesare Cantù, Italian historian
• April 7 - Ulisse Cambi, Italian sculptor
• June 22 - Amilcare Malagola, Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
• September 21 - Silvestro Lega, Italian realist painter
• October 22 - Ruggero Bonghi, Italian scholar, writer and politician
• November 21 - Andrea Verga, Italian psychiatrist and neurologist
• December 17 - Antonio Carlo Napoleone Gallenga, Italian author and patriot
• December 22 - Melchiorre Delfico, Italian artist and a master of the Neapolitan art of caricature