istoryworld
Events relating to italy
The first English newspaper (Corante) appears, promising reports 'from Italy, Germany, Hungarie, Spaine and France'
Bernini's youthful Pluto and Proserpina, suggesting soft flesh in cold marble, introduces the lively tradition of baroque sculpture
The Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck begins a five-year stay, and a successful career as a portrait painter, in Genoa
Nicolas Poussin arrives in Rome, where he develops the tradition of French classicism
Claude Lorrain, basing himself like Poussin in Rome, paints classical landscapes suffused in light
The sculptor and architect Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini is given the task of adding the drama of baroque to the newly completed St Peter's in Rome
The Inquisition convicts Galileo of heresy and he denies the truth of Copernicus - on being shown the instruments of torture
Francesco Borromini begins work on his intricate baroque masterpiece, the Monastery of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (1634-43), in Rome
The first public opera house, the Teatro San Cassiano, opens in Venice
Galileo's Discorsi, published in Leiden, lays the groundwork for mathematical physics
Evangelista Torricelli, observing variations in a column of mercury, discovers the principle of the barometer
Italian doctor Marcello Malpighi discovers the capillaries, thus completing the evidence for the circulation of the blood
Bernini's great curving colonnade is completed, to form the piazza in front of St Peter's
19-year-old Alessandro Scarlatti has a great success in Rome with Gli Equivoci nel Sembiante, the first of his 115 operas
The first teacher of the virtuoso harpsichordist Domenico Scarlatti is his father, Alessandro
In his opera La Caduta de' Decemviri, Alessandro Scarlatti introduces a new form of prelude, later known as the Italian overture, which is an important stage in the development of the symphony
A maker of harpsichords in Florence, Bartolomeo Cristofori, develops the piano ('soft') and forte ('loud') feature which leads to the piano
In a friendly keyboard contest in Rome between Handel and Domenico Scarlatti, the result is a draw – Handel being the winner on the organ and Scarlatti on the harpsichord
The violinist Archangelo Corelli composes his Christmas Concerto, the best known of his influential group of twelve Concerti Grossi
Young noblemen, particularly from Britain, visit Italy on the Grand Tour
Canaletto begins to specialize in views of the Venetian canals, finding his main customers among the British
Vivaldi publishes the set of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons
Florence loses her independence when the last Medici duke of Tuscany dies
Italian dramatist Carlo Goldoni makes a success of plays in the ancient commedia dell'arte tradition
Venice's new theatre, the Teatro Novissimo, has machinery which can change the scenes in the blink of an eye
