Events from the year 1932 in Italy.

Incumbents

* King: Victor Emmanuel III. * Prime Minister:

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

Events

* January 1: the first number of the ''Quaderni di

Giustizia e libertà Giustizia e Libertà (; ) was an Italian anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945.James D. Wilkinson (1981). ''The Intellectual Resistance Movement in Europe''. Harvard University Press. p. 224. The movement was cofounded by ...

'' appears in Paris. * January 4: convention between Italy and Turkey. * January 13: the fascist police vanquishes the Turin Giustizia e libertà group. * January 19: Italian troops seize the oasis of

Kufra Kufra () is a basinBertarelli (1929), p. 514. and oasis group in the Kufra District of southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. At the end of the 19th century, Kufra became the centre and holy place of the Senussi order. It also played a minor role in ...

, center of the Libyan insurgents’ resistance * February 11:

Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

. receives Mussolini in Vatican for the third anniversary of the

Lateran treaty The Lateran Treaty (; ) was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between Italy under Victor Emmanuel III and Benito Mussolini and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle the long-standing Roman question. The treaty and ass ...

; the visit signs the rapprochement of Church and fascism, after the contrasts about the Azione Cattolica. * March 29:

Filippo Turati Filippo Turati (; 26 November 1857 – 29 March 1932) was an Italian sociologist, criminologist, poet and socialist politician. Early life Born in Canzo, province of Como, he graduated in law at the University of Bologna in 1877, and particip ...

dies in Paris. * April 9: The FIAT 508 Balilla, the first Italian people's car, is presented at the Milan Auto Show. * May 5: in Ferrara, 2. Conference of unionist and corporatist studies; in the debate, socialist idea emerges, as the “owner corporations” proposed by Ugo Spirito. * June 17: the antifascists Angelo Sbardellotto and Domenico Bovone are shot in Rome, the first for having planned the Mussolini's assassination, the second for some demonstration dynamite attacks. * July 20: cabinet reshuffle. The ministers Dino Grandi (Foreign Affairs) and Giuseppe Bottaii (Corporations) resign and Mussolini takes on personally their tasks. Grandi becomes Italian ambassador in London. * September 5: International Stresa conference begins. * October 22:

March on Rome The March on Rome () was an organized mass demonstration in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (, PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fascist Party leaders planned a march ...

's Decennial. The anniversary is celebrated with a Mussolini's oratory tour in the mayor Italian cities, an Exhibition of the Fascist revolution (opened the 27) and the opening of Via dell’Impero (28) and the Foro Mussolini (November 5). *October 25: inauguration of the Milan-Torino highway * November 5: amnesty for the Decennial; about two thousands political prisoners are freed from jail and internment. * November 13: in Paris, Conference of the Concentrazione Antifascista. * November 17: new statute of the National Fascisct party. * November 30: Augusto Turati, former Fascist party secretary and director of

La stampa (English: "The Press") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin with an average circulation of 87,143 copies in May 2023. Distributed in Italy and other European nations, it is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. Until the late 1970 ...

, is expelled from the party for his presumed homosexuality. * December 17: the inscription to the Fascist party is made mandatory for the public employees. * December 18: inauguration of Littoria.

Economy

In 1932, the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

touches its peak in Italy too. The unemployed are officially a million (a quarter of the workforce) but the real cipher is even higher; the industrial production is 85% of the one in 1929. The fascist regime answers with a politic of dirigisme, encouraging fusions and business alliances (Law 834) and realizing great public Works, widely publicized but insufficient to solve the problem. The deficit of the state passes from 504 million liras (budget year 1931) to 3 billion 587 million liras. The three main Italian shipping lines ( NGI, Lloyd Sabaudo and Cosoluch STN) merge in the Italia Flotte Riunite. The ICO becomes a S. A. and changes name in Olivetti S. p. A.; the direction passes from Camillo Olivetti to the son Adriano. The firm presents MP1, the first portable typewriter.

Art

* ''Annunciazione'' by Alberto Savinio. Beside the monumentalism of

Marcello Piacentini Marcello Piacentini (8 December 188119 May 1960) was an Italian people, Italian urban theorist and one of the main proponents of Italian Fascist architecture. Biography Early career Born in Rome, he was the son of architect Pio Piacentini. He ...

, the official architect of the regime, the rationalist school flourishes too: Giuseppe Terragni begins the Casa del Fascio in Como and Giuseppe Pagano (director of Casabella, organ of the movement) the Institute of Physic in Rome. In Milan, the BBPR studio and the estate FontanaArte (producing glass lamps, designed by Giò Ponti) are constituted. Inauguration of the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena. Amedeo Maiuri excavates the cave of the Sybil in Pozzuoli.

Culture

* ''La dottrina del fascismo'' (The fascism's theory) – by

Giovanni Gentile Giovanni Gentile ( , ; 30 May 1875 – 15 April 1944) was an Italian pedagogue, philosopher, and politician. He, alongside Benedetto Croce, was one of the major exponents of Italian idealism in Italian philosophy, and also devised his own sys ...

and

, voice of the Italian Encyclopaedia. * ''Colloqui con Mussolini'' (Talking with Mussolini) – by Emil Ludwig and

. * ''Storia d’Europa nel secolo decimonono'' (History of Europe in the Nineteenth century) – by

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce, ( , ; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography, and aesthetics. A Cultural liberalism, poli ...

. * ''Principi di scienza delle finanze'' (Principles of financial science) – by

Luigi Einaudi Luigi Numa Lorenzo Einaudi (; 24 March 1874 – 30 October 1961) was an Italian politician, economist and banker who served as President of Italy from 1948 to 1955 and is considered one of the founding fathers of the 1946 Italian institutional ...

. * ''Il soviet e l’anarchia'' (Soviet and anarchy) – by Camillo Berneri. Edoardo Weiss founds the Italian Psychoanalytic Society and the ''Italian Revue of Psychoanalysis''. First issue of La settimana enigmistica and

Topolino ''Topolino'' (from the Italian language, Italian name for Mickey Mouse) is an Italian digest-sized comic series featuring Disney comics. The series has had a long running history, first appearing in 1932 as a comics magazine. Since 2013, it has ...

, again now two of the most popular weeklies in Italy.

Literature

* ''Stampe dell’Ottocento'' (Nineteenth-century engravings) – by Aldo Palazzeschi. * ''Singolare avventura di viaggio'' (Strange travel adventure) – by Vitaliano Brancati; the book is forbidden by the fascist censure for its erotic content. Cesare Pavese begins its literary work, with ''Ciau Masin'' (a collection of poems and tales, published posthumously) and the translation of

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 Epic (genre), epic novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is centered on the sailor Ishmael (Moby-Dick), Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Captain Ahab, Ahab, captain of the whaler ...

Hermeticism Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical and religious tradition rooted in the teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretism, syncretic figure combining elements of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. This system e ...

is the prevailing poetic movement, with Salvatore Quasimodo (''Oboe sommerso'') and the debuting Alfonso Gatto (''Isola''). * ''La casa dei doganieri'' by Eugenio Montale. * ''L’el di di mort, alegher'' (It's All Souls’ Day, be merry), by Delio Tessa, poems in

Milanese dialect Milanese (endonym in traditional orthography , ) is the central variety of the Western dialect of the Lombard language spoken in Milan, the rest of its metropolitan city, and the northernmost part of the province of Pavia. Milanese, due to t ...

. UTET launches the series of books for children ''La scala d’oro''.

Literary awards

* Bagutta prize: Leonida Repaci, ''Storia dei fratelli Rupe''. * Viareggio prize: Antonio Foschini, ''L’avventura di Villon''.

Theatre

* ''Trovarsi'' (To find themselves) – by

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

. * ''L’ultimo scugnizzo'' (The last scugnizzo) – by Raffaele Viviani. The Neapolitan De Filippo brothers ( Eduardo, Titina and Peppino) get fame nationwide, thanks to the success of ''Natale in Casa Cupiello'' (premiered in Christmas 1931.) In the year, the company stages three new plays (''Ditegli sempre di sì, Gennariniello, Chi è cchiu' felice 'e me!'') and seven single acts by Eduardo, beyond various pieces by Peppino and other authors.

Cinema

In 1932, the Italian cinema is, overall, in a period of stasis with 18 feature films produced and only 2 companies active (

Cines The Società Italiana Cines (''Italian Cines Company'') is a film company specializing in production and distribution of films. The company was founded on 1 April 1906. A major force in the European film industry before the First World War, the ...

and Caesar Film). Cines under the direction of the writer

Emilio Cecchi Emilio Cecchi (14 July 1884 – 5 September 1966) was an Italian Literary criticism, literary critic, Art criticism, art critic and screenwriter. One English language source describes him as "an 'official' - although radically anti-academic - in ...

produces a series of valuable art documentaries and establishes a

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

studio of its own (previously, the Italian versions of the foreign movies were realized abroad). Renè Clair's '' A nous la libertè'' is the first film dubbed in Italy, with the voice of Gino Cervi. The production is composed mostly by escapist comedies ( Telefoni bianchi): '' Five to nil'' and '' Three lucky fools'' by

Mario Bonnard Mario Bonnard (24 December 1889 – 22 March 1965) was an Italian actor and film director. Career Bonnard was born and died in Rome. He began his cinematic career as an actor becoming a popular romantic lead in numerous silent films made befo ...

, ''One night with'' you by Ferruccio Biancini, '' The telephone operator'' by Nunzio Malasomma, ''The last'' ''adventure'' by

Mario Camerini Mario Camerini (6 February 1895 – 4 February 1981) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Camerini began his career in the film industry in 1920, working for his cousin the director Augusto Genina. Camerini went on to direct his own fi ...

. Besides, some films about opera ('' Pergolesi'', by

Guido Brignone Guido Brignone (6 December 1886 – 6 March 1959) was an Italian film director and actor. He was the father of actress Lilla Brignone and younger brother of actress Mercedes Brignone. Brignone was born in Milan, Italy. He was the first Italian ...

) and two propaganda movies exalting the bravery of the Italian people (the aviation docudrama ''The blue fleet'' by

Gennaro Righelli Gennaro Righelli (12 December 1886 – 6 January 1949) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and acting, actor. He directed more than 110 films in Italy and Germany between 1910 and 1947. In 1930, he directed the first Italian sound fil ...

and the sport drama '' Palio'', by

Alessandro Blasetti Alessandro Blasetti (3 July 1900 – 1 February 1987) was an Italian film director and screenwriter who influenced Italian neorealism with the film ''Four Steps in the Clouds''. Blasetti was one of the leading figures in Italian cinema during the ...

) are realized. Two films are on a higher level: '' The table of the poor'', by Alessandro Blasetti, a dramedy about the Naples fallen noblemen and '' What scoundrel men are!'' by Mario Camerini, idyll between two commoners, a car-driver, and a saleswoman. The Camerini's film, considered a forerunner of neo-realism, makes the young protagonist

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. Widely considered one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, four of the fil ...

a movie star and launches the song '' Parlami d’amore Mariù''. In September, Venice hosts the First International Film Festival.

Music

* '' Maria Egiziaca'' and ''Huntingtower'', by Ottorino Respighi. * '' La donna serpente'' by Alfredo Casella. * '' Pinotta'' by Pietro Mascagni.

Science

In Cambridge, Giuseppe Occhialini, in collaboration with Patrick Blackett, studies the creation process of the

positron The positron or antielectron is the particle with an electric charge of +1''elementary charge, e'', a Spin (physics), spin of 1/2 (the same as the electron), and the same Electron rest mass, mass as an electron. It is the antiparticle (antimatt ...

. In Genoa,

Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess of Marconi ( ; ; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian electrical engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegraphy, wireless tel ...

lights by radio the Sydney Exposition in Australia.

Sport

Italian championships

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

; Angelo Schiavio (

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

) and Pedro Petrone (

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

) are head-gunners, with 25 goals. *

Cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

: Learco Guerra. *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

: Società Ginnastica Triestina (male) and Gioiosa Milano (female).

Italian victories

* Mitropa Cup: Bologna FC. * Grand Prix Season: Tazio Nuvolari on

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...

. *

Mille Miglia The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts :it:Franco Mazzotti, Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi. It took place in Italy 24 times f ...

: Mario Uberto Baconin Borzacchini and Amedeo Bignami on Alfa Romeo *

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships is an alpine skiing competition organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). History The inaugural world championships in alpine skiing were held in 1931. It consisted of Downhill (ski competition), ...

: Paola Weisinger (female downhill). Oddone Piazza is the first Italian boxer to compete for the world title (

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

), against William “Gorilla” Jones.

Cycling

* UCI Road world championship:

Alfredo Binda Alfredo Binda (11 August 1902 – 19 July 1986) was an Italian road bicycle racing, road cyclist of the 1920s and 1930s. He was the first to win five editions of the Giro d'Italia, and a three-time UCI Road World Championships – Men's road rac ...

. * Giro d’Italia: Antonio Pesenti (the final stage is broadcast by radio for the first time). * Milan-Sanremo : Alfredo Bovet (native Swiss). *

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia (), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Cycling monument, Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cycli ...

: Antonio Negrini.

Gold metals

At the 1932 Summer Olympics, Italy gets 12 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze metals (all male). *

Sport of athletics Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping and throwing. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, cross-country running, and racewalking. ...

: Luigi Beccali ( 1500 meters). *

: individual road race ( Attilio Pavesi), road race and

team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

. *

Fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

épée The (, ; ), also rendered as epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contains a ...

( Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici) and

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

( Gustavo Marzi) *

Gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

: Romeo Neri ( individual all-around and

parallel bars Parallel bars are floor apparatus consisting of two wooden bars approximately long and positioned at above the floor. Parallel bars are used in artistic gymnastics and also for physical therapy and home exercise. Gymnasts may optionally wear ...

), Savino Guglielmetti ( vault) and team all-around. *

Shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

Renzo Morigi Renzo Morigi (28 February 1895 – 13 April 1962) was an Italian pistol sports shooter who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics. In 1932, he won the gold medal in the 25 metre rapid fire pistol event. Personal life Morigi served in the Italian ...

(25 m rapid pistol). *

Wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

: Giovanni Gozzi (Greco-Roman featherweight).

Births

*5 January:

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

, philosopher and novelist (d. 2016) *11 January: Fernando Di Leo, director (d. 2003) *22 January: Giovanni Raboni, poet (d. 2004) *5 February: Cesare Maldini, football player and coach (d. 2016) *1 March: Luigi Petroselli, Mayor of Rome (d. 1981) *21 March: Gianfranco Funari, TV presenter (d. 2008) *31 March: Tullio De Mauro, linguist and Minister of Education (d. 2017) *21 April: Jula De Palma, singer *22 April: Jimmy il Fenomeno, actor (d.

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

) *11 May: Valentino, fashion designer. *12 May: Umberto Bindi, singer-songwriter (2002). *13 May : Gianni Boncompagni, TV author (d. 2017) *19 June: Anna Maria Pierangeli (d. 1971) and Marisa Pavan (twins), Italian actresses. *13 July: Dana Ghia, actress, singer and model *15 July:

Giuseppe Ferrara Giuseppe Ferrara (15 July 1932 – 25 June 2016) was an Italian film director and screenwriter.

, director (d. 2016). *25 July: Luigi Berlinguer, Minister of Education. *12 August: Franco Tatò, manager. *19 August: Lucio Magri, journalist and politician (d. 2011). *29 August: Pietro Valpreda, anarchist (d. 2002) *8 October: Antonio Pizzinato, syndicalist. *11 October: Sergio Toppi, cartoonist (d. 2012). *23 November: Bruno Visintin, boxer (d. 2015). *25 November: Alighiero Noschese, impersonator (d. 1979). *5 December: Giampaolo Rugarli, novelist (d. 2014) *30 December: Paolo Villaggio, comic actor (d. 2017) *31 December: Enzo Mari, modernist artist and furniture designer (d.

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

)

Deaths

* 1 March: Dino Campana, poet (b. 1885) * 3 March: Alfieri Maserati, founder of

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

(b. 1887) * 10 March:

Paolo Boselli Paolo Boselli (; 8 June 1838 – 10 March 1932) was an Italian politician who served as the 34th prime minister of Italy during World War I. Biography Boselli was born in Savona, Liguria. Boselli was the first professor of science at the Uni ...

, Prime minister (b. 1838) * 29 March:

, socialist politician (b. 1857) * 20 April:

Giuseppe Peano Giuseppe Peano (; ; 27 August 1858 – 20 April 1932) was an Italian mathematician and glottologist. The author of over 200 books and papers, he was a founder of mathematical logic and set theory, to which he contributed much Mathematical notati ...

, mathematician (b. 1858) * 22 April: Umberto Cagni, admiral and explorer (b. 1863). * 22 July:

Errico Malatesta Errico Malatesta (4 December 1853 – 22 July 1932) was an Italian anarchist propagandist, theorist and revolutionary socialist. He edited several radical newspapers and spent much of his life exiled and imprisoned, having been jailed and expel ...

, anarchist (b. 1853) * 23 July: Giustino Fortunato, scholar and politician (b. 1848) * 9 August: Sante Ceccherini, general and fencer (b. 1863) * 19 August: Leone Wollemborg, pioneer of the Italian cooperatives (b. 1859) * 11 November: Augusto Murri, physician (b. 1841) *''date unknown'': Vittorio Alinari, photographer (b. 1859)

Sources

* ''Cronologia Universale : dalla preistoria all’età contemporanea''. Torino : UTET, 1979. ISBN 8802034680 * ''Storia d'Italia: cronologia 1815-1990''. Novara: De Agostini, 1991. ISBN 8840294406 *
I fatti e le notizie dell’anno 1932
'. *
Storia d’Italia nel secolo ventesimo. Strumenti e fonti
', care of Claudio Pavone. *
Film italiani 1932
'

References

{{Years in Italy 1930s in Italy Years of the 20th century in Italy