1911 in Italy

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Years:	1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914

See also: 1910 in Italy, other events of 1911, 1912 in Italy.

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Events from the year 1911 in Italy.

Kingdom of Italy

• Monarch – Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)
• Prime Minister –
  1. Luigi Luzzatti (1910–1911)
  2. Giovanni Giolitti (1911–1914)
• Population – 35,033,000

Events

Italian artillery battery during the Italo-Turkish War.

• March-April – Italy celebrates the 50th anniversary of Italian unification with a series of exhibitions in Rome (International Exhibition of Art), Florence and Turin (Turin International).
• March 1 – Italian nationalists start to publish a weekly newspaper, L'Idea Nazionale, organ of the Italian Nationalist Association, on the anniversary of the Battle of Adwa. The Italian press began a large-scale lobbying campaign in favour of an invasion of Libya at the end of March 1911. It was fancifully depicted as rich in minerals, well-watered, and defended by only 4,000 Ottoman troops. Also, the population was described as hostile to the Ottoman Empire and friendly to the Italians: the future invasion was going to be little more than a "military walk".
• March 30 – Prime Minister Luigi Luzzatti resigns and is succeeded by Giovanni Giolitti.
• June 4 – On the 50th anniversary of the unification of Italy, a crowd of one million people turned out in Rome to watch the unveiling of Il Vittoriano, a 250 foot high monument in honor of King Victor Emmanuel II.^[1]
• September 11 – An eruption of Mount Etna on Sicily sends a lava stream 2,000 feet wide and four feet deep, and leaves 20,000 homeless, between Linguaglossa and Randazzo.^[2]
• September 29 – Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire over claims in Libya. The Italo-Turkish War would go on until October 18, 1912. The Italian fleet appeared off Tripoli in the evening of September 28, but only began bombarding the port on October 3. The city was conquered by 1,500 sailors, much to the enthusiasm of the interventionist minority in Italy. Another proposal for a diplomatic settlement was rejected by the Italians, and the Turks determined therefore to defend the province.

As a result of this conflict, Italy captured Ottoman Tripolitania. These territories together formed what became known as Italian Libya. During the conflict, Italian forces also occupied the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea.

• October 24-26 – The 1911 Tripoli massacre: a series of massacres by the Italian army of Libyan civilians of the Tripoli region, and the preceding massacre of Italian captured troops at Sciara Sciat.^[3]
• November 1 – World's first combat aerial bombing mission takes place in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War. Second Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti of Italy drops several small bombs.
• November 5 – Italy annexes Tripoli and Cyrenaica (this act is confirmed by an act of the Italian Parliament on February 25, 1912). Many Italians are expelled from the Ottoman Empire (70,000 were living in Constantinople, Smyrna or Beirut).

Sports

• April 2 – The French rider Gustave Garrigou wins the 5th Milan–San Remo bicycle race.
• May 14 – Giovanni "Ernesto" Ceirano wins the 1911 Targa Florio endurance automobile race on Sicily.
• May 18–June 6 – The Italian rider Carlo Galetti wins the 3rd Giro d'Italia stage bicycle race.
• June 18 – Pro Vercelli wins the 1910–11 Italian Football Championship.
• November 2 – The French rider Henri Pélissier wins the 7th Giro di Lombardia bicycle race.

Births

• December 3 – Nino Rota, Italian composer (d. 1979)

Deaths

• April 25 – Emilio Salgari, Italian writer (b. 1862)
• May 16 – Lorenzo Panepinto, Italian politician and teacher involved in the Fasci Siciliani (Sicilian Leagues), killed by the Sicilian Mafia (b. 1865)

References

1. "Italy's Tribute to Victor Emmanuel", New York Times, June 5, 1911
2. "Havoc from Etna Volcano", New York Times, September 13, 1911
3. Geoff Simons (2003). Libya and the West: From Independence to Lockerbie. I.B.Tauris. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-86064-988-2.