1903 in Italy

← 1902 1901 1900 1903 in Italy → 1904 1905 1906
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	History of Italy Timeline of Italian history List of years in Italy

The following events occurred in the year 1903 in Italy.

Kingdom of Italy

• Monarch – Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)
• Prime Minister –
  1. Giuseppe Zanardelli (1901–1903)
  2. Giovanni Giolitti (1903–1905)
• Population – 33,004,000

Events

Giovanni Giolitti

The year is marked by the return of Giovanni Giolitti as Prime Minister. He will dominate Italian politics until World War I, a period known as the Giolittian Era in which Italy experienced an industrial expansion, the rise of organised labour and the emergence of an active Catholic political movement. ^[1]

February

• February 13 – Venezuelan crisis. After agreeing to arbitration in Washington, Britain, Germany and Italy reach a settlement with Venezuela, resulting in the Washington Protocols. The naval blockade that began in December 1902 will be lifted, and Venezuela commit 30% of its customs duties to settling claims.

May

• May 31 – Law no. 254 is passed on aimed at improving living conditions for workers and to control housing speculation, with the establishment of a Public Housing Institute (Istituto per la Case Popolari). The law was also known as the Luzzatti law, since it was introduced by the deputy Luigi Luzzatti, a member of the opposition at that time. ^[2]

June

• June 13 – Prime Minister Giuseppe Zanardelli resigns after losing a vote in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. However, after several attempts the Cabinet is reconstructed. The Interior Minister Giovanni Giolitti is replaced. ^[3]

July

• July 31 – Start of the Papal conclave after the death of the 93-year-old Pope Leo XIII. Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was elected on August 4 as Pope Pius X. Pius X's papacy would feature vigorous condemnation of what he termed 'modernists' and 'relativists' whom he regarded as dangers to the Catholic faith (see for example his Oath Against Modernism).

October

• October 21 – Due to ill health Prime Minister Giuseppe Zanardelli resigns. ^[4]

November

• November 3 – Giovanni Giolitti forms a new Cabinet. ^[5]

Births

• January 9 – Gioacchino Colombo, Italian automobile engine designer for Alfa Romeo and Ferrari (d. 1988)
• February 16 – Beniamino Segre, Italian mathematician (d. 1977)
• February 26 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979) ^[6]
• March 18 – Galeazzo Ciano, Italian diplomat and Foreign Minister of Fascist Italy 1936–1943 (d. 1944)
• July 16 – Adalberto Libera, Italian Modernist architect (d. 1963)
• September 13, Leopoldo Rubinacci, Italian politician, lawyer and trade unionist (d. 1969)

Deaths

• July 20 – Pope Leo XIII, Italian Roman Catholic Pope (b. 1810)
• December 26 – Giuseppe Zanardelli, Italian politician and Prime Minister (b. 1826) ^[7]

References

1. Sarti, Italy: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present, pp. 46–48
2. Mazzola (2016), The sustainable city is possible, p. 52
3. Work On Italian Cabinet; Premier Zanardelli Tries in Vain to Get Strengthening Material, The New York Times, June 21, 1903
4. Italian Cabinet Resigns; Its Action Not the Result of the Political Situation but of the Premier's Failing Health, The New York Times, October 22, 1903
5. New Italian Cabinet; Signor Luzzatti, the Minister of the Treasury, a Friend of the United States, The New York Times, November 4, 1903
6. "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1963". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
7. "Signor Zanardelli dead. Ex-Premier of Italy Was Seventy-four Years Old — A Leader in Italy's Struggle Against Austria" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 December 1903. Retrieved 27 November 2021.

• Mazzola, Ettore Maria (2016). The sustainable city is possible: A possible strategy for recovering urban quality and local economies . Rome: Gangemi Editore ISBN   978-88-492-9172-8
• Sarti, Roland (2004). Italy: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present , New York: Facts on File Inc., ISBN   0-81607-474-7