Chronology

1870	16 January	Amelia Pincherle born in Venice
1892	3 April	Marriage of Amelia to Joe Rosselli
1898	29 October	Premier of Amelia’s first play, Anima
1903	October	Amelia Rosselli and her sons, Aldo, Carlo and Nello, arrive in Florence
1921	May	Mussolini wins thirty-five seats in parliament
1922	28 October	March on Rome, after which Mussolini becomes prime minister
1924	April	General elections give the fascists a majority
	10 June	Giacomo Matteotti kidnapped and murdered
1925	3 January	Mussolini’s speech to parliament and start of his dictatorship
1926	5 November	Passing of the ‘most fascist’ laws: opposition parties dissolved, anti-fascist organisations closed down, censorship increased, penalties for trying to leave the country illegally. Appointment of Arturo Bocchini as head of police
	25 November	A new law ‘for the defence of the State’ sets up the Special Tribunal with severe penalties – including death – for any opposition activity
1929	11 February	Concordat between the Italian state and the Vatican
1935	3 October	Italian invasion of Ethiopia
1936	5 May	Italian troops enter Addis Ababa
	9 May	Declaration of Italy’s African empire; Victor Emmanuel III becomes Emperor of Ethiopia
	July	Start of the Spanish Civil War
1937	January	Italy leaves the League of Nations
1939	22 May	Mussolini and Hitler sign the Pact of Steel and become Axis partners
1940	10 June	Italy declares war on France and Britain
1943	25 July	Overthrow and imprisonment of Mussolini
	8 September	Armistice with the Allies announced
	23 September	Mussolini sets up the Repubblica Sociale Italiana in Salò
1945	27 April	Mussolini executed by Italian partisans