476    Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself King of Italy, thus ending Western Roman Empire.

489    Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths defeats Odoacer at the Battle of Isonzo, forcing his way into Italy.

1071    Bari falls to Robert Guiscard, ending Byzantine rule in Italy.

1310    Duccio's Maestà Altarpiece, a seminal artwork of the early Italian Renaissance, is unveiled and installed in the Siena Cathedral in Siena, Italy.

1341    Sack of Saluzzo (Italy) by Italian-Angevine troops under Manfred V of Saluzzo.

1343    A tsunami, caused by the earthquake in the Tyrrhenian Sea, devastates Naples (Italy) and the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, among other places.

1377    More than 2,000 people of the Italian city of Cesena are slaughtered by Papal Troops (Cesena Bloodbath).

1497    The bonfire of the vanities occurs in which supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy.

1498    Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy, on the orders of Pope Alexander VI.

1503    Important victory of the Great captain at the Battle of Cerignola, ruling a small Spanish armies over a French four times bigger in number, in Cerignola, next Bari, Southern Italy. It is noted as the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms.

1509    Pope Julius II places the Italian state of Venice under interdict.

1582    Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1582    Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day is skipped in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1582    Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day is skipped in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1582    Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1582    Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1582    Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1582    Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1582    Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1582    Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1582    Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1582    Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.

1616    The first non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy.

1629    An earthquake in Naples, Italy, kills about 10,000 people.

1649    The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.

1693    Mt. Etna erupts in Sicily, Italy. A powerful earthquake destroys parts of Sicily and Malta.

1786    Mont Blanc on the French – Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr Michel-Gabriel Paccard.

1796    First Coalition: Napoleon I of France wins a decisive victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.

1800    The French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquers Italy.

1842    Giuseppe Verdi's third opera, ''Nabucco'', receives its première performance in Milan; its success establishes Verdi as one of Italy's foremost opera writers.

1848    Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the ''Statuto Albertino'' that will later represent the first constitution of the ''Regno d'Italia''

1852    Count Camillo Benso di Cavour becomes the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon expands to become Italy.

1859    Battle of Solferino (Battle of the Three Sovereigns): Sardinia and France defeat Austria in Solferino, northern Italy.

1866    Italy and Prussia ally against Austrian Empire.

1866    Battle of Custoza: an Austrian army defeats the Italian army during the Austro-Prussian War.

1882    The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed.

1883    In Milan in Italy inaugurated the first central European electricity power station.

1889    Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, which gives Italy control over Eritrea.

1890    Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government.

1896    Battle of Adowa: an Ethiopian army defeats an outnumbered Italian force, ending the First Italo–Ethiopian War.

1896    Ethiopia defeats Italy in the Battle of Adwa, marking the first victory of an African nation over a colonial power.

1896    Prime Minister Francesco Crispi resigns following the Italian defeat at the Battle of Adowa.

1900    In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci.

1909    The first Giro d'Italia starts from Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna will be the winner.

1911    Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

1911    First use of aircraft in war: An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War.

1911    After declaring war on the Ottoman Empire on September 29, 1911, Italy annexes Tripoli and Cyrenaica.

1912    Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.

1912    Italy occupies the Greek island of Rhodes.

1912    Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire.

1915    An earthquake in Avezzano, Italy kills 29,800.

1915    World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.

1916    World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship ''Leonardo da Vinci'' in Taranto.

1916    World War I: Italy declares war on Germany.

1917    The first U.S. troops arrive in France to fight alongside Britain, France, Italy, and Russia against Germany, and Austria-Hungary in World War I.

1917    Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany on the Austro-Italian front of World War I (lasts until 19 November - also called Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo).

1917    Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany on the Austro-Italian front of World War I (lasts until 19 November - also called Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo).

1917    World War I: Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany. The young unknown Oberleutnant Erwin Rommel captures Mount Matajur with only 100 Germans against a force of over 7000 Italians.

1918    The Austro-Hungarian battleship {{Ship|SMS|Szent István}} sinks after being torpedoed by an Italian MAS motorboat.

1918    World War I: Austria-Hungary surrenders to Italy.

1919    In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.

1920    Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.

1921    Italian Fascists shoot from the ''Parenzana'' train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia): two children are killed, two mangled and three wounded.

1922    The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.

1922    March on Rome: Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government.

1922    Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy.

1922    Former Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI goes into exile in Italy.

1924    In accordance with the Treaty of Rome, Fiume becomes annexed as part of Italy.

1924    World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress (World Society of Savings Banks).

1925    Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.

1929    The Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words.

1934    Adolf Hitler and Mussolini meet in Venice, Italy; Mussolini later describes the German dictator as "a silly little monkey".

1935    Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy invades Ethiopia under General de Bono.

1936    Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1936    Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.

1936    Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia appeals for aid to the League of Nations against Italy's invasion of his country.

1936    Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaims the Rome-Berlin Axis, establishing the alliance of the Axis Powers.

1937    Spanish Civil War: Spanish Republican forces defeat the Italians at the Battle of Guadalajara.

1938    At 2:00 am, Britain, France, Germany and Italy sign the Munich Agreement, allowing Germany to occupy the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.

1939    Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.

1939    World War II: Italy invades Albania.

1939    World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.

1940    An Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Greek cruiser ''Elli'' at Tinos harbour during peacetime, marking the most serious Italian provocation prior to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in October.

1940    World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.

1940    World War II: Greece rejects Italy's ultimatum. Italy invades Greece through Albania, marking Greece's entry into World War II.

1942    World War II: Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy.

1942    World War II: RMS ''Laconia'', carrying civilians, Allied soldiers and Italian POWs is torpedoed off the coast of West Africa and sinks with a heavy loss of life.

1943    World War II: The British destroyers {{HMS|Eclipse|H08|6}} and {{HMS|Laforey|G99|6}} sink the Italian submarine ''Ascianghi'' in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser {{HMS|Newfoundland|59|6}}.

1943    World War II: Allied forces capture the Italian city of Palermo.

1943    World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by his own Italian Grand Council and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio.

1943    World War II: The Allies land at Salerno and Taranto, Italy.

1943    World War II: Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, is rescued from house arrest on the Gran Sasso in Abruzzi, by German commando forces led by Otto Skorzeny.

1943    World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign an armistice aboard the Royal Navy battleship {{HMS|Nelson|28|6}} off Malta.

1943    World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.

1943    A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks numerous cargo and transport ships, including an American Liberty ship, the John Harvey, with a stockpile of World War I-era mustard gas.

1944    World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio, Italy.

1944    World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy.

1944    In Bologna, Italy, the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio is destroyed in an air-raid.

1944    World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle.

1944    World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy, begins.

1944    The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy kills 26 and causes thousands to flee their homes.

1944    Ardeatine Massacre: German troops kill 335 Italian civilians in Rome.

1945    Brazilian forces liberate the town of Montese, Italy, from German Nazi forces.

1945    World War II: The German Army in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies.

1945    The Italian commune of Fornovo di Taro is liberated from German forces by Brazilian forces.

1946    The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy.

1946    Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum the king of Italy Umberto II di Savoia is exiled.

1947    Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia.

1947    The Constituent Assembly of Italy approves the Constitution of Italy.

1949    The entire Torino football (soccer) team (except for one player who did not take the trip due to an injury) is killed in a plane crash at the Superga hill at the edge of Turin, Italy.

1951    Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.

1954    First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio.

1955    Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sri Lanka join the United Nations.

1957    The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg).

1963    In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.

1964    The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.

1964    In Copenhagen, Denmark, Gigliola Cinquetti wins the ninth Eurovision Song Contest for Italy singing "Non ho l'età" ("I'm not old enough").

1965    The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.

1966    An Air India Boeing 707 jet crashes on Mont Blanc, on the border between France and Italy, killing 117.

1966    Two-thirds of Florence, Italy is submerged as the River Arno floods; together with the contemporaneous flood of the Po River in northern Italy, this leads to 113 deaths, 30,000 made homeless, and the destruction of numerous Renaissance artworks and books.

1968    The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying 10 crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, Italy, to Lod, Israel.

1973    King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan while in Italy undergoing eye surgery.

1974    A bomb explodes in the ''Italicus Express'' train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22.

1976    The Seveso disaster occurs in Italy.

1978    Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped and is later killed by his captors.

1980    A bomb explodes at the railway station in Bologna, Italy, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.

1980    A series of earthquakes in southern Italy kills approximately 4,800 people.

1982    US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.

1985    The Val di Stava dam collapses killing 268 people in Val di Stava, Italy.

1991    Italian ferry ''Moby Prince'' collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy killing 140.

1992    Anti-Mafia Judge Paolo Borsellino is killed by a Mafia car bomb in Palermo, Italy together with five police officers.

1997    An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and the Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse.

1998    Cavalese cable-car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.

1999    In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece ''The Last Supper'' is put back on display.

2000    Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.

2003    Human evolution: The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old footprints of an upright-walking human have been found in Italy.

2005    The car of released Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena is fired on by US soldiers after it runs a roadblock in Iraq, causing the death of an Italian Secret Service Agent and injuring two passengers.

2005    The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.

2007    Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigns from office. His resignation is rejected by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano.

2009    A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 307.

2010    A train derailed near Merano, Italy, after running into a landslide, causing nine deaths and injuring 28 people.