February 1
1542 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1480)
1742 – Sardinia & Austria sign alliance
1743 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer (b. 1657)
1922 – Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (d. 2004)
1941 – Jerry Spinelli, children’s author
1968 – Vince Lombardi resigns as coach of the Green Bay Packers
1980 – Gastone Nencini, Italian cyclist (b. 1930)
1987 – Alessandro Blasetti, Italian film director (b. 1900)
2007 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-born composer (b. 1911)
February 2
962 – Pope John XII crowns German King Otto I the Great Emperor
962 – Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years
1119 – Guido di Borgogna elected Pope Callistus II
1633 – M Rossi’s opera “Erminia sul Giordano,” premieres in Rome
1823 – Rossini’s opera “Semiramide” premieres in Venice
1932 – Al Capone sent to prison (Atlanta GA)
1940 – Frank Sinatra’s singing debut in Indianapolis with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
1959 – Vince Lombardi signs a 5 year contract to coach the Green Bay Packers
February 3
1737 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian Mathematician (b. 1648)
1904 – Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (d. 1975)
1938 – Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)
1939 – Michael Cimino, American film director
1991 – In Italy, the Italian Communist Party is dissolved, and split into the Democratic Party of the Left and the Communist Refoundation Party
February 4
211 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta
362 – Roman Emperor Julian promulgates an edict that recognizes equal rights to all the religions in the Roman Empire
1783 – In Calabria, Italy an earthquate casued 50,000 deaths. One of the world’s most destructive earthquakes. A series of six strong earthquakes, occurring over a two-month period, caused massive destruction
February 5
1428 – King Alfonso V, orders Sicily’s Jews to attend conversion sermons
1916 – Enrico Caruso recorded “O Sole Mio” for the Victor Talking Machine Company
1969 – Vince Lombardi, becomes part owner, vice president, general manager & head coach of Redskins
February 6
46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats the combined army of Pompeian followers and Numidians under Metellus Scipio and Juba at Thapsus
337 Julius I is elected pope
1908 – Amintore Fanfani, Italian politician (d. 1999)
1910 – Alfonso Maria Fusco. Beatified Italian Roman Catholic priest and founder (b. 1839)
1922 – US, UK, France, Italy & Japan sign Washington naval arms limitation
1943 – Fabian Forte, American singer
1976 – Vince Guaraldi, American musician (b. 1928)
February 7
1074 – Battle of Montesarchio wherein the prince of Benevento, Pandulf IV, is killed battling the encroaching Normans
1550 – Giovanni Maria del Monte elected Pope Julius III
1924 – Mussolini government exchanges diplomats with USSR
1941 – Frank Sinatra & Tommy Dorsey Orchestra record “Everything Happens to Me”
1944 – The Nazis launch a counteroffensive at Anzio, Italy, during WWII
February 8
421 – Flavius Constantine becomes emperor Constantine III of West Roman empire
1600 – Vatican convicts scholar Giordano Bruno to death
1849 – New Roman Republic established
February 9
1499 – France & Venice sign treaty against Milan
1849 – Roman Republic declared
1922 – Italian government of Bonomi falls
1954 – Mario Scelba forms new government in Italy
1990 – Galileo flies by Venus
February 10
1798 – Louis Alexandre Berthier invaded Rome, on February 15 proclaimed a Roman Republic and then on February 20 take Pope Pius VI as a prisoner
1947 – Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia
1978 – Frank C Carlucci succeeds John F Blake as deputy director of CIA
February 11
1840 – Gaetano Donizetti’s opera La Fille du Rgiment receives its first performance in Paris.
1843 – Giuseppe Verdi’s Opera “I Lombardi,” premieres in Milan
February 12
55 – Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, Heir to the Roman Emperorship, dies under mysterious curcimstances in Rome, and later Emperor Nero rises to the throne.
February 13
1130 – Pope Honorius II dies this day and Gregorio Papareschi is elected to succeed him as Innocent II, but Cardinal Pierleone is elected as an antipope, and Innocent flees to France
1503 – Disfida di Barletta – Famous challenge between 13 Italian and 13 French knights in Barletta province of Bari
1633 – Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before Inquisition for professing belief that earth revolves around the Sun
1816 – Teatro San Carlo in Naples destroyed by fire
1961 – Frank Sinatra launches Reprise label under Warner Brothers Records
February 14
270 – St. Valentine died, marking Valentines Day
1076 – Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
February 15
1922 – Marconi begins regular broadcasting transmissions from Essex
1959 – Antonio Segni forms Italian government
February 16
1740 – Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (d. 1813)
1907 – Giosuè Carducci, Italian writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1835)
1970 – Angelo Peruzzi, Italian footballer
February 17
1568 – Holy Roman Emperor agrees to pay annual tribute to Sultan for peace
1904 – The Giacomo Puccini opera Madam Butterfly premieres at La Scala
1958 – Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare of Assisi (1193~1253) the patron saint of television
February 18
1564 – Michelangelo dies in Rome
1583 – Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer (b. 1503)
1743 – Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, last of the Medicis (b. 1667)
1745 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (d. 1827)
1954 – John Travolta, American actor
1972 – Giulio Andreotti sworn in as premier of Italy
February 19
197 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies
1605 – Orazio Vecchi, Italian composer (b. 1550)
1653 – Luigi de Rossi, Italian composer (b. 1597
1914 – Riccardo Zandonai’s opera “Francesco da Rimini,” premieres in Turin
1953 – Massimo Troisi, Italian actor (d. 1994)
1977 – Gianluca Zambrotta, Italian footballer
1986 – Adolfo Celi, Italian actor (b. 1922)
February 20
1816 – Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville debuts at Teatro Argentina, with a fiasco
1898 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian automobile manufacturer, designer and racing car driver (d. 1988)
1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player (italian decent)
1946 – Richard Cocciante, French-Italian singer and songwriter
1953 – Riccardo Chailly, Italian conductor
1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer dies (b. 1916)
February 21
1776 – Vincenzo Lavigna, composer (Birthday)
1814 – Nicolo Gabrielli, composer (Birthday)
1910 – Carmine Galante, Italian-born gangster (d. 1979)
1946 – Vito Rizzuto, Sicilian-born alleged mafia boss
1980 – Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer
2007 – Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigns from office. His resignation is rejected by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano
2004 – Guido Molinari, Canadian artist (b. 1933) (Italian decent)
February 22
1288 – Girolamo Masci elected Pope Nicolas IV
1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city’s throne
1500 – Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian humanist (d. 1564)
1632 – Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published
1727 – Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer (b. 1661)
February 23
1919 – Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy
1966 – Aldo Moro forms Italian government
1975 – Michael Cornacchia, American actor (Italian descent)
February 24
303 – Galerius, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Empire
1510 – Pope Julius II excommunicates the republic of Venice
1607 – Claudio Monteverdi’s opera “Orfeo,” premieres in Mantua
February 25
138 – The Emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor
1643 – Marco da Gagliano, Italian composer (b. 1582)
1497 – Italians troops reconquer Taranto on France
1682 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist (d. 1771)?1866 Benedetto Croce, Italian philosopher (d. 1952)
1873 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (d. 1921)
1948 – Aldo Busi, Italian writer
February 26
364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor
1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples
1923 – Italian nationalist & fascists merge (blue-shirts & black-shirts)
1991 – Bill Veeck & Tony Lazzeri elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
February 27
1746 – Gian Francesco Fortunati, composer (Birthday)
1888 – Roberto Assagioli, Italian Psychologist (Birthday)
1901 – Marino Marini, Italian sculptor/painter (Birthday)
1935 – Mirella Freni, Modena Italy, lyric soprano, Madame Butterfly (Birthday)
1950 – Franco Moschino, fashion Designer (Birthday)
1963 – Francesco Cancellotti, Italy, tennis star (Birthday)
February 28
1912 – Clara Petacci, Italian mistress of Benito Mussolini (d. 1945)
1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver and one-time F1 world champion
1942 – Dino Zoff, Italian footballer
1957 – John Turturro, American actor
February 29
1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies
1792 – Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
1944 – Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian illustrator
1972 – Antonio Sabato, Jr., actor, Jagger Cates-General Hospital
1944 – Dennis Farina, born in Chicago, Illinois, actor, Mike Torello-Crime Story