Jump to content

1956 in Italy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1956
in
Italy

Decades:
See also:

Events from the year 1956 in Italy

Incumbents

[edit]

PresidentGiovanni Gronchi

Prime ministerAntonio Segni

Events

[edit]
  • January 25 – February 5: in Cortina d’Ampezzo, 1956 winter Olympics. For the first time, Italy hosts the Olympic Games.
  • February: an extraordinary wave of cold and snow, the second for intensity in the Twentieth century, strikes the whole Italy.
  • February 2: in Partinico the activist Danilo Dolci and 19 laborers are arrested for a “reverse strike” (they cleared an uncultivated land in protest). In the year, there are in Southern Italy several clashes between laborers and police, with 4 dead.
  • February  16: Minister of budget Ezio Vanoni dies from a heart attack, during a debate in the Italian Senate about the economic situation.
  • February 26-March 14: Giovanni Gronchi is the first Italian head of state to visit USA and Canada.
  • April 21: first issue of the tabloid Il giorno, directed by Gaetano Baldacci. The new daily newspaper, politically of center-left, is covertly financed by ENI.
  • April 22: the PCI deputy Francesco Moranino, escaped in Prague, is sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for crimes committed during the Resistance; he's the first MP condemned by a tribunal in the history of Italian Republic.
  • April 23: first session and first sentence of the Constitutional Court, presided by Enrico De Nicola; it abrogates an illiberal article of the Penal code.[1]
  • May 27; local elections
  • June 13: in an interview to Nuovi Argomenti, Palmiro Togliatti comments the publication of Khruschev's secret speech; the PCI secretary criticize the cult of personality but expresses several doubts about the de-Stalinization politicy.[2]
  • August 25: in Pralognan-la-Vanoise, Pietro Nenni and Giuseppe Saragat meets together; the two Socialist leaders discuss about a rapprochement and eventual reunification of PSI and PSDI.
  • October 25: the Hungarian revolution divides the Italian left. The Communist party approves the Russian intervention, that is instead condemned by CGIl, included the communist secretary Giuseppe Di Vittorio (October 27) and by the Socialist Party (November 1)
  • October 29: a manifest signed by 101 Communist intellectuals expresses strong dissent by the PCi position about the Hungarian revolution.
  • November 24-27: in Milan, at the fifth MSI congress, the radical current Ordine Nuovo, headed by Pino Rauti, leaves the party.
  • November 26: a secret agreement between CIA and Italian secret services creates the stay-behind organization Gladio.

Catastrophes

[edit]

Crime news

[edit]
  • October 10: In Terrazzano two lunatics, the brothers Santato, take hostage for a day, in a primary school, 97 children and three schoolmistresses; the children are saved by the sacrifice of a volunteer, the worker Sante Zennaro, killed by the police's friendly fire.

Economy

[edit]

The Vanoni plan for the development of Italian economy, Keynesian in nature, is abandoned after the death of his promoter. Yet, the Prime minister Antonio Segni and the DC secretary Amintore Fanfani support a policy of public intervention, breaking with the liberalism of the former cabinets.

  • February 28: the three employers’ organization, Confindustria, Confcommercio and Confagricoltura constitute a coordination committee, Confintesa.
  • December 22: the State Holding Ministry is instituted.

Art

[edit]

Culture

[edit]
  • Critica e poesia (Critic and poetry) by Mario Fubini

First issue of the magazines

Literature

[edit]

Essays

[edit]
  • Il futuro ha un cuore antico by Carlo Levi (travel book in Russland)

Fiction

[edit]

Poetry

[edit]
  • Fuochi fatui by Camillo Sbarbaro,
  • Versi e poesie by Giacomo Noventa.

Literary awards

[edit]

Theatre

[edit]
  • I tromboni (The windbags) – satirical review by Federico Zardi, with Vittorio Gassman.

Cinema

[edit]

In 1956, Italian cinema was in a phase of transition. Auteur and socially engaged cinema is almost limited to only two titles: The roof, by Vittorio De Sica,   considered the last neorealist film, and The railroad man, a family drama directed and interpreted by Pietro Germi.

Most of the Italian production belongs the popular genres.

Box office

[edit]

The non-Italian films are omitted.

  1. Poveri ma belli - 6,789 million viewiers
  2. The railroad man - - 5,517 million viewiers
  3. Michele Strogoff - 5.067 million viewiers
  4. Guaglione - 4, 968 million viewiers
  5. Totò, Peppino and the hussy - 4,644 million viewiers[3]

Awards

[edit]

Nastri d’argento: The Railroad man (best film), Pietro Germi (Best director, for The railroad man), Anna Magnani (Best actress, for The awakening),

First edition of David di Donatello

Academy awards: Anna Magnani (Best actress for The Rose Tattoo)

Berlin International Film Festival : Elsa Martinelli (Best actress for Donatella)

Music

[edit]

Pop music

[edit]

The year sees the success of the Neapolitan songs by Aurelio Fierro (Guaglione), Renato Carosone (Tu vuo fa’ l’americano) and Domenico Modugno (Io, mammeta e tu) dealing with the topics of love and youth without sentimentality but with lively music and ironic lyrics.[4]

Science

[edit]

Oreste Piccioni proves the existence of antineutron.

Sport

[edit]

Italian championships

[edit]

Italian victories

[edit]

Gold medals

[edit]

At the 1956 Winter Olympics, Italy gets 1 gold and 2 silver medals (all male).

At the 1956 Summer Olympics, Italy gets 8 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze medals (all male).

Births

[edit]

Deaths

[edit]

Sources

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Corte costituzionale -". www.cortecostituzionale.it. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  2. ^ "Palmiro Togliatti, intervista a Nuovi Argomenti". www.associazionestalin.it. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  3. ^ a b Bennati, Fulvio (25 April 2012). "Box Office Italia 1956: Poveri ma Belli". BoxOfficeBenful. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  4. ^ "Top Annuali: 1956". www.hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 2024-05-04.