1906 in Italy

← 1905 1904 1903 1906 in Italy → 1907 1908 1909
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	History of Italy Timeline of Italian history List of years in Italy

Events from the year 1906 in Italy.

Kingdom of Italy

• Monarch – Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)
• Prime Minister –
  1. Alessandro Fortis (1905–1906)
  2. Sidney Sonnino (1906)
  3. Giovanni Giolitti (1906–1909)
• Population – 33,718,000

Events

Mount Vesuvius immediately before its 1906 eruption

Mount Vesuvius immediately after its 1906 eruption.

The Italian film industry takes shape, led by three major organizations: Cines, founded in 1906 in Rome; and the Turin-based companies Ambrosio Film, founded by pioneering filmmaker Arturo Ambrosio in 1906, and Itala Film. Other companies soon followed in Milan and Naples, and these early companies quickly attained a respectable production quality and were able to market their products both within Italy and abroad.
Giosuè Carducci is the first Italian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1906 "not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces".

January

• January 9 – Mount Vesuvius near Naples initiates activity; indications are that the volcano is becoming increasingly active. ^[1]

February

• February 2 – Prime Minister Alessandro Fortis resigns.
• February 3 – Mount Vesuvius erupts again. ^[2] The next weeks the activity of the volcano increases. ^{[3] [4]}
• February 8 – Sidney Sonnino forms a new Cabinet, representing the Historical Right. ^[5] Giolitti does not openly oppose Sonnino, but his followers of the Historical Left do.
• February 24 – Opening of a Catholic congress in Florence. Creation of the Popular Union (Unione Popolare) and the Italian Catholic Electoral Union (Unione Elettorale Cattolica Italiana, UECI), after the suppression of the Opera dei Congressi ("Work of the Congress") following the encyclical Il fermo proposito  [ de; it ] of Pope Pius X on 11 June 1905. ^{[6] [7]}

April

Main entrance of the 1906 Expo in Milan

• April 5 – Mount Vesuvius in Campania erupts, ^{[8] [9]} killing over 100 people and ejecting the most lava ever recorded from a Vesuvian eruption. Italian authorities were preparing to hold the 1908 Summer Olympics when Mount Vesuvius erupted, devastating the province of Naples. Funds were diverted to the reconstruction of Naples, requiring a new location for the Olympics to be found.
• April 10 – The lava flow from Mount Vesuvius, which had almost ceased, starts again in the direction of Torre Annunziata; reaches the cemetery of that town and then turns in the direction of Pompeii. ^[10]
• April 28 – The Milan International world's fair opens in Milan. ^[11] It would receive 4,012,776 visits and covered 100 hectares (250 acres). ^[12]

May

Simplon Tunnel, 1906

• May 6 – The first Targa Florio, an open road endurance automobile race, starts in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. The race was initiated by Vincenzo Florio and is considered to be the oldest sports car racing event.
• May 18 – Prime Minister Sidney Sonnino is forced to resign. ^[13] He proposed major changes to transform Southern Italy, which provoked opposition from the ruling groups.
• May 19 – The Simplon railway tunnel, connecting Brig, Switzerland and Domodossola, Italy, through the Alps, is inaugurated by the Italian king Victor Emmanuel III and the president of the Swiss Confederation (presiding the Federal Council of Switzerland for that year) Ludwig Forrer. Work on the first tube of tunnel commenced in 1898. ^[14]
• May 29 – Giovanni Giolitti forms a new Cabinet. ^[15] Giolitti's third government (untill December 1909) was known as the "long ministry" (lungo ministero). The strong economic performance and the careful budget management of this government led to currency stability; this was also caused by a mass emigration and especially on remittances that Italian migrants sent to their relatives back home. The 1906–1909 triennium is remembered as the time when "the lira was premium on gold". ^[16]

June

• June 6 – Murder of Gennaro Cuocolo and his wife, Maria Cutinelli, suspected of being police informers, ^[17] and opposing the leadership of the Camorra. ^[18] The murder case would develop into one of the most complicated legal cases of the early twentieth century in Italy against the Camorra. ^[19]

October

• October 1 – Foundation of the Socialist labour union, the Confederazione Generale del Lavoro (General Confederation of Labour) in Milan.

Births

• May 8 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian film director (died 1977)
• May 12 – Mario Martinelli, politician (died 2001)
• June 2 – Carlo Scarpa, Italian architect (died 1978)
• June 12 – Sandro Penna, Italian poet (died 1977)
• June 13 – Bruno de Finetti, Italian probabilist, statistician and actuary (died 1985)
• July 12 – Pietro Tordi, Italian actor (died 1990)
• August 5 – Ettore Majorana, Italian theoretical physicist who worked on neutrino masses (disappeared 1938)
• October 16 – Dino Buzzati, Italian author and journalist (died 1972)
• November 2 – Luchino Visconti, Italian theatre and cinema director and writer (died 1976)

Deaths

• September 1 – Giuseppe Giacosa, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1847)
• October 9 – Adelaide Ristori, Italian actress (b. 1822)

References

1. Vesuvius and Etna Active; Funicular Railroad Damaged by Three Streams of Lava, The New York Times, January 10, 1906
2. Vesuvius In Eruption; Spouting Fire from a Fissure 400 Meters In Length, The New York Times, February 4, 1906
3. Menaced By Vesuvius; Eruption Now Alarming - Lava Is Causing Destruction, The New York Times, February 14, 1906
4. Vesuvius More Active; Wall Built to Protect the Railway Station Is Threatened, The New York Times, February 18, 1906
5. New Italian Cabinet; Baron Sonnino Premier and Count Guicciardini Foreign Minister, The New York Times, February 9, 1906
6. Bourgin, La formation de l'unité italienne, p. 183
7. Seton Watson, Italy From Liberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925, p. 275
8. Vesuvius Causes Terror; Loud Detonations and Frequent Earthquakes, The New York Times, April 6, 1906
9. Vesuvius Threatens Destruction Of Towns; Bosco Trecase Abandoned, The New York Times, April 7, 1906
10. Pompeii in Peril; Ottajano A Ruin; Fury of Vesuvius Increases, The New York Times, April 11, 1906
11. Pelle, Findling. "Milan 1906". Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. p. 185. ISBN   978-0-7864-3416-9.
12. Pelle, Findling. "Appendix B:Fair Statistics". Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. p. 415. ISBN   978-0-7864-3416-9.
13. Italian Cabinet Resigns; Thursday's Vote Showed Unexpected Strength In the Opposition, The New York Times, May 19, 1906
14. "Inaugurato il tunnel del Sempione". Accadde Oggi (in Italian). Retrieved 26 October 2025.
15. New Italian Ministry; Giolitti Once More Premier, with a Cabinet of Conservatives, The New York Times, May 29, 1906
16. Mola, Storia della monarchia in Italia, p. 74
17. Camorrist Victims Were Police Spies; Evidence Against Alfano and 40 Others Shows Double Dealings of Cuoccolo and His Wife, The New York Times, 27 February 1911
18. Lack Of Jury Halts Camorrists' Trial, The New York Times, 12 March 1911
19. The Cuocolo trial: the Camorra in the dock, Museo criminologico (Retrieved 25 May 2011)

Sources

• Bourgin, Georges (2018) [1929]. La formation de l'unité italienne (in French) (2 ed.). Paris: FeniXX. ISBN   978-2706204326.
• Mola, Aldo Alessandro (2002). Storia della monarchia in Italia (in Italian) (1. ed.). Milan: Bompiani. ISBN   978-8845252945.
• Seton-Watson, Christopher (1967). Italy from liberalism to fascism, 1870–1925. London: Methuen & Co Ltd. ISBN   0-416-18940-7.