1885 was a year rich in local, national and international events, chronicled in detail by Il secolo. For a sampling of the year’s events, see the featured issues below (clicking on an image will take you to the issue in the digital library).
January 26th
February 14th
This is a double issue devoted to the Italian Carnival.
March 7th
This issue celebrates the centennial of the birth of the novelist Alessandro Manzoni.
August 4th
Starting August 4, one of the newspaper correspondents in Africa (Ettore Mosca – most likely a pseudonym) is back to Italy, and proposes detailed articles about the Italian presence in Africa. On August 4, for example, the front page is entirely devoted to the theme, with illustrations. This issue contains: Un po’ di luce sulle cose d’Africa; Ancora sul suicidio del col. Putti; Corrispondenza Telegrafica del secolo: Il suicidio del colonello Putti; Dissidio fra i ministeri della guerra e della marina; Le notizie sanitarie.
Other Events from 1885
- Il secolo follows the Italian military expedition to Abissinia (from the January 16 issue onward); two correspondents are expressly sent to Africa by the newspaper to write about the campaign.
- On March 18 and 19, but also in several issues to follow, the protests of university students in Rome are chronicled.
- On May 6, the newspaper records the 50th suicide in Montecarlo ever since the beginning of the gambling season (December 1884); Il secolo regularly denounces gambling deaths.
- Throughout June and July, the newspaper offers detailed notes and correspondences from the trial to journalist and author Pietro Sbarbaro, a trial that involves publisher Angelo Sommaruga as well.
