1940 in Italy

← 1939 1938 1937 1940 in Italy → 1941 1942 1943
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	History of Italy Timeline of Italian history List of years in Italy

Events from the year 1940 in Italy.

Incumbents

• King – Victor Emmanuel III
• Prime Minister – Benito Mussolini

Events

• 18 March – In a meeting with Adolf Hitler at the Brenner Pass, Benito Mussolini undertakes to bring Italy into World War II. ^[1]
• 10 June – Count Ciano, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, relays Italy's declaration of war to André François-Poncet, the French Ambassador to Italy, declaring war on both the United Kingdom and France. This begins Italy's participation in World War II. ^[2]
• 28 October – Italy declares war on Greece, starting the Greco-Italian War, a theater of World War II. ^{[3] [4]}

Literature and culture

Main article: 1940 in literature

• 16 March – Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian writer and film director
• 31 July – Fleur Jaeggy, Swiss-Italian fiction writer

Cinema

See also: List of Italian films of 1940

Births

• 3 January – Leo de Berardinis, Italian stage actor, theatre director (d. 2008) ^[5]
• 19 January – Paolo Borsellino, judge and magistrate (d. 1992) ^[6]
• 17 April – Ira von Fürstenberg, socialite and actress (d. 2024) ^[7]
• 26 April – Giorgio Moroder, composer
• 24 June
  • Augusto Fantozzi, lawyer, tax expert, academic, businessman and politician (d. 2019) ^[8]
  • Vittorio Storaro, cinematographer^{[ citation needed ]}
• 16 October – Ivan Della Mea, singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
• 24 October – Giacomo Bulgarelli, Italian association football player (d. 2009)
• 2 November – Gigi Proietti, actor, singer, and comedian (d. 2020) ^[9]
• 26 November – Gianni De Michelis, politician (d. 2019) ^[10]
• 5 December – Paolo Pillitteri, politician (d. 2024) ^[11]
• 18 December – Ilario Castagner, football player and manager (d. 2023)

Deaths

Main article: Deaths in 1940

Further information: Category:1940 deaths

• 28 April – Luisa Tetrazzini, Italian opera singer (b. 1871)
• 28 June – Italo Balbo, Italian Fascist leader (b. 1896)
• 10 July – Pietro Frugoni, Italian general (b. 1851)

See also

• Italian Campaign (World War II)

References

1. Burgwyn, H (1997). Italian foreign policy in the interwar period, 1918-1940. Westport, Conn: Praeger. p. 211. ISBN   9780275948771.
2. "1940: Italy Declares War on Britain". The New York Times . 11 June 1940. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
3. Karageorgiou, Kathy (28 October 2024). "'We shouldn't ignore our history': Greeks share why we must continue to celebrate OXI Day". The Greek Herald . Retrieved 7 June 2025.
4. "HT This Day: October 29, 1940 -- Mussolini marches into Greece". Hindustan Times . 28 October 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
5. (in Italian) Leo de Berardinis on the Italian Encyclopedia Treccani
6. "Obituary: Paolo Borsellino" . Independent.co.uk . 20 July 1992. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01.
7. Princess Ira Von Fürstenberg, icon of Marbella's jet set, dies at 83
8. "Augusto Fantozzi, morto a Roma il tributarista che fu ministro e commissario di Alitalia". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 13 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
9. Gigi Proietti (13 November 2013). Tutto sommato: Qualcosa mi ricordo. Rizzoli. ISBN   978-8858662687.
10. "Biographies" (PDF). The World Politics Forum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
11. Milan: Former Mayor Paolo Pillitteri Dies at 84