Events from the year 1944 in Italy.

Incumbents

*King:

Victor Emmanuel III The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

; from the 5 June, his functions were performed by the prince

Umberto Umberto is a masculine Italian given name. It is the Italian form of Humbert. People with the name include: * King Umberto I of Italy (1844–1900) * King Umberto II of Italy (1904–1983) * Prince Umberto, Count of Salemi (1889–1918) * Umberto I ...

as “Lieutenant of the Kingdom”. *

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Pietro Badoglio Pietro Badoglio, 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, 1st Marquess of Sabotino (, ; 28 September 1871 – 1 November 1956), was an Italian general during both World Wars and the first viceroy of Italian East Africa. With the fall of the Fascist regime ...

(Until 24 April, “government of experts”; until 18 June,

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

with the six parties of the CLN),

Ivanoe Bonomi Ivanoe Bonomi (18 October 1873 – 20 April 1951) was an Italian politician and journalist who served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1921 to 1922 and again from 1944 to 1945. Background and earlier career Ivanoe Bonomi was born in Mantua, I ...

(starting 18 June; till December 12, national unity government with the six parties of the CLN; later, national unity government but without

PSI Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to: Alphabetic letters * Psi (Greek) (Ψ, ψ), the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet * Psi (Cyrillic) (Ѱ, ѱ), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek Arts and entertainment * "Psi" as an abbreviation ...

and Pd'A.) Northern Italy is formally ruled by the

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

’s

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

. The effective power in Italy was in the hands of the German and allied occupiers. From spring to autumn, several free republics were constituted by the Italian partisans (particularly

Ossola The Ossola (, also Valle Ossola or Val d’Ossola) is an area of Italy situated to the north of Lago Maggiore. It lies within the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Its principal river is the Toce, and its most important town Domodossola. Et ...

), but they had all fallen to the Germans and fascists by the end of the year.

Events

*January 8–10 - Verona trial *January 17/May 18:

battle of Monte Cassino The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino, was a series of four assaults made by the Allies against German forces in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The ultimate objective was ...

*January 22: landings in

Anzio Anzio (, also , ) is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome. Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a Port, fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine I ...

*January 30 – February 2 -

Battle of Cisterna The Battle of Cisterna took place during World War II, on 30 January–2 February 1944, near Cisterna, Italy, as part of the Battle of Anzio, part of the Italian Campaign. The battle was a clear German victory which also had repercussions on th ...

*March 1/7: general strike in the Northern Italy *March 2/3 -

Balvano train disaster The Balvano train disaster was the deadliest railway accident in Italian history and one of the worst railway disasters ever. It occurred on the night between 2–3 March 1944 in Balvano, Basilicata. Over 500 people in a steam-hauled, coal-burning ...

*March 18: the Badoglio cabinet is acknowledged by the Soviet Union and, later, by the Allied. *March 24 -

Ardeatine massacre The Ardeatine massacre, or Fosse Ardeatine massacre ( it, Eccidio delle Fosse Ardeatine), was a mass killing of 335 civilians and political prisoners carried out in Rome on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops during the Second World War ...

*June 3: foundation of the

CGIL The Italian General Confederation of Labour (; CGIL) is a national trade union based in Italy. It was formed by agreement between socialists, communists, and Christian democrats in the "Pact of Rome" of June 1944. In 1950, socialists and Christi ...

, gathering the unions of every political tendency *June 4:

liberation of Rome The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The ope ...

*June 9: institution of the Corp of the Freedom's Volunteer, military organization of the

Italian resistance The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...

. *June 16 – July 18 -

Battle of Ancona The Battle of Ancona was a battle involving forces from Poland serving as part of the British Army against German forces that took place from 16 June–18 July 1944 during the Italian campaign in World War II. The battle was the result of an Alli ...

*August 12 -

Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre The Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre was a German war crime committed in the hill village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema in Tuscany, Italy, in the course of an operation against the Italian resistance movement during the Italian Campaign of World War I ...

*August 22:

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

is freed by the Italian partisans and by the Allied army. *August 25: the

Gothic line The Gothic Line (german: Gotenstellung; it, Linea Gotica) was a German Defense line, defensive line of the Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign of World War II. It formed Generalfeldmarschall, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's la ...

offensive begins. *September 4–15 -

Battle of Gemmano The Battle of Gemmano took place during World War II, between the dates of September 4th, and September 15th of 1944. The battle occurred in the area of the Gothic Line, near the Apennine Mountains in northern Italy, which would soon turn out t ...

*September 29 -

Marzabotto massacre The Marzabotto massacre, or more correctly, the massacre of Monte Sole, was a World War II war crime consisting of the mass murder of at least 770 civilians by Nazi troops, which took place in the territory around the small village of Marzabotto, ...

*November 13: in a radio proclamation,

Harold Alexander Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, (10 December 1891 – 16 June 1969) was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction in both the First and the Second World War and, afterwards, as Governor Ge ...

announces the end of the Allied offensive and asks the Italian partisans to cease military operations. *December 26–28 -

Battle of Garfagnana The Battle of Garfagnana ( it, Battaglia della Garfagnana), known to the Germans as Operation Winter Storm (''Unternehmen Wintergewitter'') and nicknamed the "Christmas Offensive" (Italian: ''Offensiva di Natale''), was a successful Axis offensiv ...

*December 28: the CLNAI (

National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy The Committee of National Liberation for Northern Italy (, CLNAI) was set up in February 1944 by Partisan (military), partisans behind Nazi Germany, German lines in the Italian Social Republic, a German puppet state in Northern Italy. It enjoyed t ...

) is acknowledged as representative of Italian government in the occupied territory.

Literature and culture

* '' L’Adalgisa'' (

Carlo Emilio Gadda Carlo Emilio Gadda (; November 14, 1893 – May 21, 1973) was an Italian writer and poet. He belongs to the tradition of the language innovators, writers that played with the somewhat stiff standard pre-war Italian language, and added elements of ...

) * ''Kaputt'' (

Curzio Malaparte Curzio Malaparte (; 9 June 1898 – 19 July 1957), born Kurt Erich Suckert, was an Italian writer, filmmaker, war correspondent and diplomat. Malaparte is best known outside Italy due to his works ''Kaputt'' (1944) and ''La pelle'' (1949). The f ...

) *'' The naked streets'' (by

Vasco Pratolini Vasco Pratolini (19 October 1913 – 12 January 1991) was an Italian writer of the 20th century. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times. Biography Born in Florence, Pratolini worked at various jobs before entering the li ...

). *''

Il marito in collegio ''Il marito in collegio'' is a 1977 Italian comedy film directed by Maurizio Lucidi. It is based on the novel with the same name by Giovanni Guareschi. Plot A gas station attendant (Enrico Montesano) falls in love with a Lombard noblewoman ( Si ...

'' (The husband in the boarding school, by Giovanni Guareschi) *'' Ascolto il tuo cuore, città'' (Listening to your heart, city, by

Alberto Savinio Alberto Savinio , born as Andrea Francesco Alberto de Chirico (25 August 1891 – 5 May 1952) was a Greek-Italian writer, painter, musician, journalist, essayist, playwright, set designer and composer. He was the younger brother of 'metaphysical ...

). In the freed Italy, the first cultural magazines inspired to the antifascist beliefs appear : ''Aretusa'', ''Mercurio'', ''La nuova Europa'' and ''

Rinascita ''Rinascita'' (Italian: ''Rebirth'') was a political and cultural magazine published in Rome, Italy between 1944 and March 1991. It was one of the media outlets of Italian Communist Party (PCI). History and profile ''Rinascita'' was founded in ...

'' (official review of the

PCI PCI may refer to: Business and economics * Payment card industry, businesses associated with debit, credit, and other payment cards ** Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, a set of security requirements for credit card processors * Pro ...

). In Florence, ''Italia e Civiltà'', voice of the more moderate fascist wing, goes out for a few months.

Cinema

In spite of the tragic war situation, a fair number of new Italian movies, generally realized before the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

, goes out in cinemas, ( Sorelle Materassi, by Poggioli;

The innkeeper ''The Innkeeper'' (Italian: ''La locandiera'' also known as ''Mirandolina'') is a 1944 Italian historical comedy film directed by Luigi Chiarini and starring Luisa Ferida, Armando Falconi and Osvaldo Valenti.Reich & Garafalo p.28 The film is an a ...

, by Chiarini ;

La donna della montagna LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on Figure 8 ( ...

, by

Castellani Castellani is a surname of Italians, Italian origin meaning 'castellan'. Notable people with the name include: * Aldo Castellani (1874–1971), Italian pathologist and bacteriologist * Andrea Castellani (born 1972), former Italian rugby union play ...

). A limited film production goes on North Italy. Vivere ancora, began by

Leo Longanesi Leopoldo Longanesi (30 August 1905 27 September 1957) was an Italian journalist, publicist, screenplayer, playwright, writer, and publisher. Longanesi is mostly known in his country for his satirical works on Italian society and people. He also ...

in Rome the last year, is completed in Turin by

Francesco de Robertis Francesco De Robertis (1902–1959) was an Italian screenwriter, film editor and director. His semi-documentary film-making style of the early 1940s has been credited as an influence on the development of Italian neorealism.Bondanella, p. 32 Sele ...

. In Venice, the authorities of the

try to establish a new

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios we ...

, called Cinevillaggio but the studios realize only a dozen of movies, of poor artistic value. In Rome,

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: ''Sciuscià'' and ''Bicycle Thieves'' (honorary) ...

directs

The gates of heaven ''The Gates of Heaven'' ( it, La porta del cielo) is a 1945 Italian drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. The film was made during the German occupation of Rome, with support from the Vatican. This and another film ''The Ten Commandments'' a ...

, produced by the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

. The processing of the movie, protracted for seven months, allows many antifascists, as De Sica himself, to wait in relative tranquility for the liberation of the city.

Births

*January 5 -

Franco Ferrini Franco Ferrini (born 5 January 1944) is an Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom * ...

, screenwriter *April 6 -

Anita Pallenberg Anita Pallenberg (6 April 1942 – 13 June 2017) was a German-Italian actress, artist, and model. A style icon and "It Girl" of the 1960s and 1970s, Pallenberg was credited as the muse of the Rolling Stones: she was the romantic partner of the ...

, film actress and model (d. 2017) *September 24 -

Enzo Sciotti Enzo Sciotti (24 September 1944 – 11 April 2021) was an Italian artist and illustrator. Sciotti was known for his illustrations of more than 3000 movie posters, typically for horror films, including '' The Beyond'', ''Demons'', ''The Blood of ...

, artist and illustrator (d. 2021)

Deaths

*January 11 (executed by firing squad): **

Emilio De Bono Emilio De Bono (19 March 1866 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian general, fascist activist, marshal, and member of the Fascist Grand Council (''Gran Consiglio del Fascismo''). De Bono fought in the Italo-Turkish War, the First World War and the ...

, military leader, 77 **

Galeazzo Ciano Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 19 ...

, politician, 40 **

Giovanni Marinelli Giovanni Marinelli (18 October 1879 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian Fascist political leader. Marinelli was born in Adria, Veneto. A wealthy man, he contributed to Fascist success by financing the March on Rome. As secretary of the National ...

, politician, 64 *March 24 - Pietro Pappagallo *March 27 - Eduino Francini, partisan, 18 (killed in action) *September 22 -

Pietro Caruso Pietro Caruso (10 November 1899 in Maddaloni – 22 September 1944 in Rome) was an Italian Italian Fascism, Fascist and head of the Rome police in 1944. Born in Campania in 1899, he fought in the Bersaglieri in the final months of World War I an ...