A work in progress. Additions are welcome.
11th to 8th century BC...Southern Italy and Sicily settled by Greek colonists
753 BC...Rome is founded
706BC...City of Taranto (known as Taras in Greek) founded by colonists from Sparta (7)
540 BC...Pythagoras sets up school of Philosophy in Croton
510 BC...Croton's army defeats the city of Sybaris ( sybarites; pleasure seekers)
6th to 7th century BC...Heyday of Magna Grecia. Temple of Paestum and Siracusa
473BC... Taranto conquered by the Iapygians (7)
326 BC...Naples falls to the Romans
282 BC...Pyrrhus (pyrrhic victory; won the battle, lost the war) invades southern Italy
279BC...Pyrhuss defeats Romans at Asculum in northern Apulia
275 BC...Pyrrhus defeated at Benevento by Romans
272BC...Romans drive Greeks from Taranto and begin rule of all of Apulia (7)
264 BC..First Punic (Carthaginian) War with Rome
218BC... Hannibal crosses Alps and approaches Rome (7)
216 BC...Canae, in Apulia, is scene of defeat of Rome by Hannibal
212 BC...Archimedes of Siracusa dies
203BC...Hannibal returns to Carthage (7)
170 BC...Appian Way from Brindisi to Rome completed
146BC...Carthage defeated by Rome
73 BC...At Cumae, Spartacus begins slave revolt
65 BC...Horace the poet is born in Venosa
79 AD...Vesuvius erupts and buries Pompei and Herculaneum
324 AD...Christianity becomes the official religion of southern Italy
393 AD...Rome divided between West and the East (Constantinople)
412 AD...Alaric, king of the Goths dies at Cosenza after sacking Rome in 410 AD
490AD... Archangel Michael appears to the Bishop of Siponto in a cave in the Gargano area (7)
535AD to 553AD... Byzantines retain control of Apulia in Gothic-Byzantine War (7)
568 AD... The South is divided between Lombard and Byzantine rulers
590AD... Langobards attack Byzantines in Apulian territory (7)
662AD-667AD...Longobards conquer all of Apulia except lower part of Salento, which remains in Byzantine hands (7)
840AD Saracens capture Bari (7)
842AD...Saracens capture Taranto (7)
871AD...Ludwig II of Germany retakes Bari from Saracens (7)
875AD...Basil I of the Byzantine retakes Apulia from Saracens and Lonobards (7)
916...Muslims defeated at Garigliano by Christian forces
965...Sicily is dominated by Saracens
1015AD... Norman pilgrims ally with Pope Benedict VIII against Byzantines (7)
1042...William, son of Tancred becomes the Duke of Apulia
1047 Emporer Henry III gives Apulia to the Normans as a fief (7)
1053...Norman territories united under Robert Guiscard
1071...Roger, son of William becomes Count of Sicily at Palermo
1071AD...Byzantines are removed from their last outposts at Brindisi and Bari (7)
1085... Robert Guiscard dies at Corfu. His heart is taken to the cathedral at Otranto, his body to Venosa. (7)
1095AD... Boemond, son of Robert Guiscard joins first Crusade. Founds first Crusader state at Antioch. (7)
1111AD...Boemond dies and is buried at Canosa di Puglia. Inscription on tomb simply says Boamundus. (7)
1127AD... Apulia becomes part of Sicilian kingdom of RogerII. (7) 1130...Roger II capture Amalfi and Naples and becomes King of Sicily
1156AD... William II razes Bari because of numerous insurrections originating there
1194...Henry VI of Germany displaces Norman rule
1220...Frederick II crowned in Rome
1240...Completion of Castle Del Monte
1250...Frederick II dies
1266...Charles of Anjou (France) becomes king Of Sicily and Naples
1268... Conradin is executed by Charles to prevent his rightful ascendency
1282...The ' Sicilian Vespers' rids Sicily of Charles I of France
1282...House of Aragon (Spain) takes over
1349...Devastation of the Black Plague
1349...The 'Rose of Auricarro' is discovered near Palo del Colle.
1442...Alfonso of Aragon establishes Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
1468...Turks defeat Albanians who settle in Southern Italy
1480AD...Turks capture Otranto (7)
1503...Southern Italy becomes part of Spanish Empire and feudalism begins
1595... parish records become official duty of the priests
1647...Masaniello begins revolt against Spanish Crown
1669...Eruption Of Mount Etna with much destruction
1707AD...Bourbon rule established in Naples (7)
1713...Austrians rule southern Italy with Treaty of Utrecht
1737...Construction begins on Teatro San Carlo
1748...Bourbon King Charles III defeats Austrians at Vietri
1748...Herculaneum and Pompei excavations begin
1759..Fedinand II becomes King
1790..Foundation of Museo Nazionale in Naples
1799...Birth and fall of the Parthenopean republic in Naples.
1806...Feudalism officially abolished in southern Italy, but not in Sicily
1806...Napoleon reoccupies the Kingdom of Naples. Murat set up as ruler
1816... new administration system for the Kingdom of Naples based on the French model
1820...Carbonari lead unsuccessful revolt against the Bourbon King Ferdinand
1860...Abolishment of tariffs protecting industry in south
1860...Garibaldi enters Naples
1860...Plebescite in south approves annexation of Two Sicilies into the Kingdom of Italy
1861...Piedmont constitution imposed on the south
1861 -1866...116,000 northern Italian troops put down insurgent brigandage in the south
1865...Tavoliere or 'Murge' in Apulia is open to cultivation and land sale
1870...Rome falls and Italian unification becomes complete
1871...General draft begun for all 18 year olds
1876...The Left wins the general Italian election and Agostino DePretis becomes prime minister.
1881 to 1901...Number of southern Italian workers declines by one third
1882 ...Right to vote given to store owners and craftsmen ,only 8 percent of the population
1884 to1887... Cholera epidemics take the lives of over 55,000 people in the south
1887...Francesco Crispi becomes Prime Minister
1887...Trade relations with France are severed
1888...Beginning of trade war with France
1888...Legislation recognizes the right to emigrate
1890...The plant disease Phylloxera destroys most of the grapevines in the south.
1890...Drop in agricultural prices causes a trade war especially with French wine industry
1894...Major land reforms proposed by Prime Minister Crispi to try to quell Sicilian unrest
1894...Large earthquake
1898...bread riots throughout Italy lead to suppression of civil rights
1903...Giovanni Giolitti becomes Prime Minister
1904...The pope rescinds Pius' edict prohibiting Catholic participation in political activity
1908...Earthquake and tidal wave causes massive destruction in Messina and Calabria
1915...Italy enters war after signing the Treaty of London
1951 to 1970...4.5million emigrate from the south, half to north Italy and half abroad.
Sources
1...ITALIAN GENEALOGICAL RECORDS by Trafford R. Cole
2...LA STORIA: FIVE CENTURIES OF THE ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE by Mangione and Morreale
3...THE NORMAN KINGDOM OF SICILY by Donald Matthew
4...VIOLENCE AND GREAT ESTATES IN THE SOUTH OF ITALY:APULIA 1900-1920 by Frank Snowden
5...THE NEW HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN SOUTH edited by Robert Lumley and Jonathan Morris
6...INSIGHT GUIDE: SOUTHERN ITALY editor Roger Williams
7...STONE SHELTERS by Edward Allen
