1914 in Italy

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Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
Years:	1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917

See also: 1913 in Italy, other events of 1914, 1915 in Italy.

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Events from the year 1914 in Italy.

Kingdom of Italy

• Monarch – Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)
• Prime Minister –
  1. Giovanni Giolitti (1911–1914)
  2. Antonio Salandra (1914–1916)
• Population – 35,701,000

Events

Despite Italy's official alliance to the German Empire and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance, the country initially remained neutral in the initial stage of World War I, claiming that the Triple Alliance was only for defensive purposes.

• March 21 – Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti resigns. The conservative Antonio Salandra takes over. The government attempts to win the support of nationalists and moves to the political right.^[1]

• June – Red Week after the killing of three anti-militarist demonstrators in Ancona. Many elements of the left protest and the Italian Socialist Party declares a general strike. Various acts of civil disobedience occur in major cities and small towns such as seizing railway stations, cutting telephone wires, and burning tax-registers. However, only two days later the strike was officially called off, though the civil strife continued. Militarist nationalists and anti-militarist leftists fought on the streets until the Italian Royal Army forcefully restored calm after having used thousands of men to put down the various protesting forces.^[1]
• August 3 – At the outbreak of World War I, the government, led by the conservative Antonio Salandra, declares that Italy would not commit its troops, maintaining that the Triple Alliance had only a defensive stance and Austria-Hungary had been the aggressor. In reality, both Salandra and the minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonino Paternò Castello, begin to probe which side would grant the best reward for Italy's entrance in the war and to fulfil Italy’s irrendentist claims. Although the majority of the cabinet (including former Prime Minister Giolitti) is firmly against intervention, numerous intellectuals, including Socialists such as Ivanoe Bonomi and Leonida Bissolati declare in favour of intervention. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war was Gabriele d'Annunzio who helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.
• August 20 – Pope Pius X dies. The Papal conclave assembles and elects Pope Benedict XV on September 3, 1914. He immediately declares the neutrality of the Holy See in World War I.
• October 16 – Foreign Minister Paternò Castello dies and is succeeded by Sidney Sonnino, who continues to follow the negotiating strategy set by Paternò Castello.
• October 18 – Benito Mussolini, chief editor of the socialist newspaper Avanti!, declares in favour of intervention on the side of the Triple Entente. He is expelled from the Italian Socialist Party.
• November 15 – Mussolini founds the newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia ("The People of Italy") advocating militarism and irredentism. The paper was subsidized by the French and industrialists on the pretext of influencing Italy to join the Entente Powers and became the foundation for the Fascist movement in Italy after World War I.
• November 29 – Italy, although officially neutral, occupies the port of Vlorë in Albania pretending to protect Albanian territories from a Greek invasion.
• December 4 – Giolitti speaks in Parliament in favour of neutrality.

Sports

• April 5 – The Italian rider Ugo Agostoni wins the 8th Milan–San Remo bicycle race.
• May 24–25 – The Italian driver Giovanni "Ernesto" Ceirano wins the 1914 Targa Florio endurance automobile race on Sicily.
• May 24–June 6 – The Italian rider Alfonso Calzolari wins the 6th Giro d'Italia stage bicycle race.
• July 12 – Casale F.B.C. wins the 1913–14 Italian Football Championship.
• October 25 – The Italian rider Lauro Bordin wins the 10th Giro di Lombardia bicycle race.

Births

• February 22 – Renato Dulbecco, Italian-born virologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2012)
• June 14 – Anna Maria Ortese, Italian short story writer and poet (d. 1998)
• June 27 – Giorgio Almirante, Italian politician, the founder and leader of the Italian Social Movement (d. 1988)
• August 1 – Bruno Visentini, Italian politician, senator, minister, lecturer and industrialist (d. 1995)
• September 14 – Pietro Germi, Italian actor, screenwriter, and director (d. 1974)
• September 16 – Andrea Rizzoli, Italian entrepreneur, publisher and film producer (d. 1983)
• September 26 – Luigi Gui, Italian politician and philosopher (d. 2010)

Deaths

• March 19 – Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (b. 1850)
• October 16 – Antonino Paternò Castello, Marquis di San Giuliano, Italian diplomat and Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1852)

See also

• List of Italian films of 1914

References

1. Clark, Modern Italy: 1871 to the present, p. 217-18

• Clark, Martin (2008). Modern Italy: 1871 to the present, Harlow: Pearson Education, ISBN 1-4058-2352-6