1905 in Italy

Events from the year 1905 in Italy.

Kingdom of Italy Monarch – Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946) Prime minister – Giovanni Giolitti (1903–1905) Tommaso Tittoni (1905) Alessandro Fortis (1905–1906) Population – 33,489,000

Events

The year was marked by a crucial decision regarding the future of the railways – a choice between private ownership and state control – and the legal position of the railway workers. In February, the government introduced a bill proposing the full nationalisation of the railway system. The terms on which Prime Minister Alessandro Fortis agreed to take over the railways were so generous to the former private companies that the Historical Far Left denounced him for yielding to the interests of big business.Seton Watson, Italy From Liberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925, 255-256

February February – Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti brings a bill to the Chamber of Deputies for the nationalization of the railways that makes it a crime to stop or disturb railway service. The railway unions order a slowdown.Ashley, Making Liberalism Work, p. 65

March March 5 – Pleading illness Giolitti resigns over the issue of national railways.Italian Ministry Out; Whole Cabinet Resigns Owing to the Illness of Premier Giolitti, The New York Times, March 5, 1905 March 12 – An interim government under Tommaso Tittoni takes over. March 28 – On the recommendation of Giolitti, Alessandro Fortis forms a new government, he is the first Jewish prime minister of Italy. The government undertakes the nationalization of the railways, after confronting a railroad strike in April that could have paralyzed transportation in the country.

April April – The Italian government acquired control (from a private Italian company called SACI) of the coastal area around Mogadishu, and creates the colony of Italian Somaliland. April 17 – Railroad workers go on strike on the eve of the presentation of the new railway bill to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.Italian Railroad Men To Begin Strike To-Day; Trains to be Run by Soldiers and Navy Engineers, The New York Times, April 17, 1905 Fewer than half of the railwaymen complied. Fortis remained steadfast, and after four days, the strikers gradually returned to work.Seton Watson, Italy From Liberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925, 256 April 22 – The strike of railway workers ends with an agreement over arbitration between the government and railroad men.Italian Strike Ended; Arbitration Between Government and Railroad Men Planned, The New York Times, April 22, 1905 The Ferrovie dello Stato (State Railways) is instituted, taking control over the majority of the national railways, which were private until then, with a total of of lines. Railroad workers became public employees, which deprived them of the right to strike.Sarti, Italy: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present, p. 290

June June 11 – Pope Pius X promulgates the encyclical , which establishes Azione Cattolica as a non-political lay organization under the direct control of bishops. It was established after an earlier similar organization, Opera dei Congressi was disbanded in 1904 because many of its members were siding with modernism. Catholics were allowed by the pope to vote "to help the maintenance of the social order", but without lifting the Non Expedit of 1868 that prohibited Italian Catholics to participate in political elections in the Kingdom of Italy and, by extension, in Italian national political life. (Because of the Catholic opposition to the unification of Italy and capture of the Papal States).Clark, Modern Italy: 1871 to the present, p. 176 June 17 – The first Italian airship, the or Dirigibile Italia, designed and built by Count Almerico da Schio, took flight on from the city of Schio.

July July 1 – The three principal railway companies in Italy are brought together with a number of private operators into the nationalised Ferrovie dello Stato (State Railways), or FFSS, with a total of 10,557 km (6,560 mi) of lines.

September

September 8 – An earthquake strikes southern Italy with a magnitude of 7.2, damaging parts of Lipari Island and Messina Province, and killing between 557 and 2,500 people. The earthquake particularly affects the Calabria region, destroying as many as 25 villages, and 14,000 homes. Fortis visited the area and introduced a special law to aid these southern regions. This measure was the first real acknowledgment by the Italian state of the fundamental problems underlying southern underdevelopment.Fortis, Alessandro , Historical Dictionary of modern Italy

December December 3 – Foreign Minister Tittoni resigns over his proposal to reduce the duty on Spanish wine in connection with an Italo-Spanish commercial treaty that created turmoil among the rural classes.Italian Ministers Resign; Premier Fortis Asks for Resignation of the Entire Cabinet, The New York Times, December 4, 1905 December 17 – The government of Prime Minister Fortis resigns because of the proposal to reduce the duty on Spanish wine in connection with an Italo-Spanish commercial treaty.Three Cabinets Resign; Italian, Greek, and Montenegrin - Italy's Modus with Spain Rejected, The New York Times, December 18, 1905 December 23 – Fortis forms a new government, without Tittoni.New Italian Cabinet; Fortis Again Premier, The New York Times, December 24, 1905

Births January 8 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer (d. 1988) February 1 – Emilio G. Segrè, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989) April 13 – Bruno Rossi, Italian experimental physicist (d. 1993) May 5 - Maria Caniglia, Italian operatic soprano (d. 1979) June 21 - Tino Bianchi, Italian actor (d. 1996) July 13 - Eugenio Pagnini, Italian modern pentathlete (d. 1993) July 15 - Anita Farra, Italian actress (d. 2008) September 15 – Bernardo Mattarella, Italian politician (d. 1971) October 15 - Bruna Castagna, Italian operatic mezzo-soprano (d. 1983) October 29 - Giuseppe Alessi, Italian politician, president of Sicily (d. 2009)

Deaths June 18 – Carmine Crocco, Italian brigand and folk hero (b. 1830) August 31 – Francesco Tamagno, Italian opera singer (b. 1850) September 14 – Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Franco-Italian explorer (b. 1852)

References

Ashley, Susan A. (2003). Making Liberalism Work: The Italian Experience, 1860-1914, Westport (CT): Praeger Publishers, Clark, Martin (2008). Modern Italy: 1871 to the present, Harlow: Pearson Education, Sarti, Roland (2004). Italy: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present, New York: Facts on File Inc.,