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Southern Italy

macroregion of Italy

25 dated entries naming Southern Italy, drawn from 25 separate years between 306 CE and 1944 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Mezzogiorno in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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4th century

  • 306October 28 – Maxentius, son of former Western Emperor Maximian, leads a revolt by the Praetorian Guard and members of the Senate in Rome, and is proclaimed Emperor. Southern Italy supports Maxentius, as do Africa, Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily. Maxentius recalls Maximian from retirement, who joins his son in Rome.source

6th century

  • 542March – Totila bypasses Rome and begins his expedition in Southern Italy. He captures Beneventum and receives the submission of the provinces of Apulia, Lucania and Bruttium.source
  • 546December 17 – Sack of Rome: After almost a year's siege, the capture of a grain fleet sent by the exiled Pope Vigilius near the mouth of the Tiber, and failure of troops of the Byzantine Empire under Belisarius to relieve the city, the Ostrogoths under King Totila plunder Rome and destroy its fortifications. He then withdraws to Apulia (Southern Italy).source
  • 553Gothic War: Frankish invasion — Two Frankish-Alemanni dukes, brothers Lothair and Buccelin, cross the Alps from Germany with a force of 75,000 men, mostly Frankish infantry. In the Po Valley, they win an easy victory over a much smaller Byzantine force at Parma, and are joined by remnants of the Gothic armies, bringing the total strength of the invaders to about 90,000 men. Narses, gathering his forces as quickly as possible, marches north to harass the Franks, but is not strong enough to engage them in battle. In Samnium (Southern Italy) the brothers divide their forces: Lothaire goes down the east coast, then returns to the north, to winter in the Po Valley. Buccelin follows the west coast into Calabria, where he spends the winter — his army being seriously wasted by attrition and disease.source

7th century

  • 651Radoald, duke of Benevento (Italy)source
  • 663Emperor Constans II launches an assault against the Duchy of Benevento (Southern Italy). Taking advantage of the fact that Lombard king Grimoald I is engaged against Frankish forces from Neustria, Constans disembarks at Taranto, and besieges Lucera and Benevento.source

8th century

  • 747Bubonic plague breaks out in Sicily, Calabria (Southern Italy), and Monemvasia (modern Greece).source
  • 793King Charlemagne orders a 3 kilometre long channel dug from Treuchtlingen to Weißenburg (the Rhine and Danube river basins), to improve the transportation of goods between the Rhineland and Bavaria. Charlemagne's son, Pepin of Italy, campaigns against the Lombards in Benevento (Southern Italy).source

9th century

  • 817Prince Grimoald IV is assassinated by a complot of Lombard nobles vying for his throne. He is succeeded by Sico as ruler of Benevento (Southern Italy), who is forced to pay an annual tribute of 7,000 solidi to Louis I.source
  • 836July 4 – Pactum Sicardi: Prince Sicard of Benevento signs a 5-year armistice with the duchies of Sorrento, Naples and Amalfi. He recognizes the trade of merchants among the three cities in Southern Italy.source
  • 847The Saracens, under the Berber leader Kalfun, capture the Byzantine city of Bari (Southern Italy). He becomes the first ruler of the Emirate of Bari, and expands his influence on the Italian mainland with raids.source
  • 871February 2 – Franco-Lombard forces, aided by a Croatian fleet (of Sclaveni), led by Emperor Louis II, capture Bari, capital of the Emirate of Bari in Southern Italy.source
  • 900Spring – Atenulf I, Lombard prince of Capua, conquers the Duchy of Benevento. He deposes Duke Radelchis II and unites the two southern Lombard duchies in Mezzogiorno (Southern Italy). The Byzantines offer a strategic alliance to Atenulf who directs a campaign against the Saracens. They establish themselves on the banks of the Garigliano River. From here, Arab warbands launch frequent raids in Campania.source

11th century

  • 1005Spring – The Republic of Pisa conducts a military offensive against the Saracen strongholds in Southern Italy. The Pisan fleet sacks the city of Reggio Calabria. Pisa becomes one of the four commercial Maritime Republics (the other three are Genoa, Venice and Amalfi), which fight each other for control of the Mediterranean Sea.source
  • 1006Summer – An Arab Saracen fleet appears before Pisa, but departs again. The Pisans take their fleet to sea and chase the Arabs down to Southern Italy where, in the Battle of Reggio Calabria, the Pisan fleet defeats the Arabs.source
  • 1016Melus of Bari makes a second attempt against Byzantine-held Southern Italy. To support his cause, he hires Norman mercenaries, unwittingly triggering the rise of Norman rule over southern Italy.source
  • 1038Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor ("the Elder") travels to Southern Italy and holds court in Troia. He orders Pandulf IV of Capua to restore the territories of Monte Cassino. Pandulf holes himself up in the fortress of Sant'Agata de' Goti, and dispatches tribute (300 lb of gold) and his son as hostage to Troia as a token of peace. Conrad accepts his offer, but the son escapes. Conrad goes on the offensive and seizes Capua, and gives it to Guaimar IV of Salerno.source
  • 1042Autumn – Norman mercenaries assemble at Matera and decide to elect William Iron Arm as count of Melfi and leader of the Normans in Southern Italy.source
  • 1061Spring – Robert de Grandmesnil, his nephew Berengar, half-sister Judith (future wife of Roger I), and eleven monks of the Abbey of Saint-Evroul, are banished by Duke William II ("the Bastard") of Normandy for violence, and travel to Southern Italy.source

13th century

  • 1268August 23 – Battle of Tagliacozzo: The army of Charles of Anjou defeats the Ghibellines supporters of Conradin of Hohenstaufen, marking the fall of the Hohenstaufen Family from the Imperial and Sicilian thrones, and leading to the new chapter of Angevin domination in Southern Italy.source

20th century

  • 1902September 14–30 – Prime Minister Zanardelli undertakes a journey through Basilicata – one of the poorest regions in Italy – to see for himself the problems in the Mezzogiorno.source
  • 1905September 8 – The 7.2 Mw Calabria earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 557 and 2,500 people.source
  • 1908December 28 – The 7.1 Mw Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 75,000 and 200,000.source
  • 1913November 2 – Second round of Italian general election. The two historical parliamentary factions, the liberal and progressive Left and the conservative and monarchist Right, formed a single liberal and centrist group, known as The Liberals, under the leadership of Giovanni Giolitti, which narrowly retained an absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies, while the Radical Party emerged as the largest opposition bloc. Both groupings did particularly well in Southern Italy, while the Italian Socialist Party gained eight seats and was the largest party in Emilia-Romagna.source
  • 1944March 3 – Italy: in one of the deadliest railway disasters in history, over 500 clandestine passengers die of carbon monoxide poisoning when a steam freight train stops in a railway tunnel near Balvano, Basilicata, Southern Italy.source

Named in the same entries