3250 BC Stone Age man preserved in ice
A neolithic herdsman dies high in the Alps - and is perfectly preserved in ice

753 BC First Roman year
This year is later selected by Roman scholars as the date of the founding of Rome, becoming the first year (AUC 1) in Roman chronology

750 BC Etruscans in Italy
The Etruscans establish Italy's first civilization, in the region between the Arno and the Tiber

700 BC Phoenician and Greek Sicily
The island of Sicily is colonized from the eastern Mediterranean by both Phoenicians and Greeks

550 BC Murals in Etruscan tombs
The murals of Etruscan tombs, such as the Tomb of the Lionesses in Tarquinia, give a lively glimpse of an earlier tradition in Greek art

550 BC Etruscans in Rome
An Etruscan dynasty rules in Rome and Etruscan influence is now dominant throughout central Italy

530 BC Greek temples in Paestum
The Greek colonists of Paestum, in southern Italy, build the first of their three superb temples

529 BC Pythagoras in Italy
The Greek mathematician Pythagoras establishes himself, along with his followers, in southern Italy

510 BC Etruscans driven out of Rome
According to legend, the Etruscans are driven from Rome by popular outrage after the rape of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius

510 BC Rome gets senate and consuls
The Roman senate becomes an executive body with two of its members elected annually as consuls, or joint heads of state

500 BC Greeks discover octave
The followers of Pythagoras discover the mathematical basis of the octave

450 BC Earth in orbit say Pythagoreans
The followers of Pythagoras maintain that the earth revolves on its own axis and moves in an orbit

409 BC Carthaginians invade Sicily
A Carthaginian army lands near Marsala to begin the long involvement of Carthage in Sicily

396 BC Rome takes first step towards empire
The Romans capture the nearby Etruscan town of Veii, beginning a long process of territorial expansion

390 BC Celtic tribes sack Rome
Celtic tribes , pushing south through the Alps, reach Rome and sack the city

312 BC Via Appia open to traffic
The first Roman road, the Via Appia, links Rome with Capua

300 BC Roman legion improves on Greek phalanx
The flexibility of the Roman legion transforms the Greek phalanx into an even more effective fighting machine

300 BC Vestal virgins
Vesta, goddess of the hearth, is served in Rome by virgin priestesses who tend the sacred flame in her shrine

299 BC Roman tortoise effective in war
The Roman siege technique is improved by the 'tortoise' which protects the attacking force

281 BC Pyrrhus lands in Italy
Pyrrhus lands in Italy, with 25,000 men and 20 elephants, to fight for the Greek colony of Tarentum against the Romans

264 BC First Punic War
A clash in Sicily, between Rome and Carthage, leads to the First Punic War

264 BC Gladiators fight in Rome
The first gladiatorial contests in Rome are part of the entertainment at a funeral, and soon become popular

260 BC Rapid-response fleet for Rome
A Carthaginian quinquereme, captured by the Romans, is used as the model for the first Roman fleet - constructed in two months

260 BC Roman raven effective at sea
The new Roman fleet wins a decisive victory over the Carthaginians at Mylae, thanks largely to the 'raven' (corvus in Latin)

250 BC Roman numerals
The Romans evolve a system of numerals which, until the end of the Middle Ages, is a handicap to western arithmetic

250 BC Archimedes screw raises water
To help the king of Syracuse extract water from the hold of a ship (so the story goes), Archimedes invents the screw now known by his name

241 BC End of First Punic War
A Roman naval victory at Trapani, off the northwest tip of Sicily, completes the blockade of the Carthaginians and ends the First Punic War

241 BC Sicily is Rome's first province
At the end of the First Punic War, Sicily becomes Rome's first overseas province

227 BC Sardinia and Corsica form a province
Sardinia and Corsica are annexed by Rome, becoming the second Roman overseas province

218 BC Hannibal crosses Alps
Hannibal crosses the Alps with his elephants, beginning the Second Punic War

217 BC Hannibal wins at Lake Trasimene
Hannibal surprises and traps a Roman army on a narrow plain beside Lake Trasimene

216 BC Hannibal wins at Cannae
Hannibal destroys a Roman army at Cannae, in the most severe defeat ever suffered by Rome

196 BC Rome 'liberates' Greece
The Romans, after defeating Macedon, announce at the Isthmian Games that all Greek states are now free under Roman protection

185 BC Plautus and Terence copy Greeks
Plautus and Terence, in the second and third century BC, create a Roman drama based on Greek originals

160 BC Cato writes history of Rome
The Roman statesman Cato the Elder writes Origines ('Origins'), a history of Rome which survives only in fragments

149 BC Third Punic War
Rome picks a quarrel with Carthage to begin the Third Punic War

146 BC Destruction of Carthage ends Punic Wars
Carthage is destroyed by the Romans at the end of the Third Punic War

139 BC Secret ballot in Rome
A secret ballot is instituted for Roman citizens, who mark their vote on a tablet and place it in an urn

133 BC Tiberius Gracchus murdered by mob
The tribune Tiberius Gracchus is murdered by a mob which includes Roman senators

121 BC Gaius Graccus murdered by mob
The tribune Gaius Gracchus is murdered by an armed group, led by a consul, after which 3000 of his supporters are rounded up and executed

101 BC Cimbri penetrate northern Italy
A German tribe, the Cimbri, press into northern Italy until they are defeated at Vercellae and driven out of the peninsula

90 BC Social War in Italy
A three-year war, known as the Social War, breaks out between Rome and her Italian allies

88 BC Sulla marches on Rome
The Roman general Sulla takes the unprecedented step of marching upon Rome with a Roman army, to restore his own faction to power

86 BC Athens looted by Romans
Sulla, campaigning to the east, besieges Athens and then allows his army to loot the city

82 BC Sulla marches on Rome again
Sulla takes Rome for the second time, after a battle at the Colline Gate, and then publishes his lethal 'proscriptions'

81 BC Cicero speaks
Cicero, whose speeches become models of oratory, makes his first appearance in a Roman court

75 BC Caesar captured by pirates
Julius Caesar, captured by pirates on his way to Rhodes, warns them that he will crucify them - and later keeps his word

73 BC Spartacus and fellow students rebel
A rebellion by Spartacus and other slaves from a gladiators' training camp at Capua lasts for two years before it is suppressed

60 BC Caesar, Pompey, Crassus form trio
Julius Caesar persuades Pompey and Crassus to join him in a political alliance to their mutual advantage, known now as the first triumvirate

58 BC Caesar in Gaul
At the end of his year as consul, Caesar travels north to become governor of northern Italy and southern France

53 BC End of first triumvirate
The death of Crassus at Carrhae brings to an end the first triumvirate

50 BC Boxing gloves with metal studs
Gladiators have metal studs on their boxing gloves, and a public bout is expected to go on until the loser dies

49 BC Caesar crosses Rubicon
Julius Caesar crosses the river Rubicon (the southern boundary of Gaul) with his army – and in doing so launches a civil war

48 BC Caesar defeats Pompey
Julius Caesar defeats his rival Pompey at Pharsalus, in Greece, and makes himself master of the Roman world

47 BC Cleopatra says her child is Caesar's
Cleopatra gives birth to a son and calls him Ptolemy XV Caesar (later known by the nickname Caesarion)

46 BC Vercingetorix in Caesar's Roman show
Vercingetorix is a prize exhibit in Caesar's great triumph in Rome, but the Celtic chieftain is strangled once the procession is over

45 BC Caesar introduces new calendar
Julius Caesar's new calendar is introduced, at a time when its predecessor has become out of step with the seasons by three months

44 BC Shock on Ides of March
On March 15, the Ides of March, Julius Caesar is stabbed to death during a meeting of the senate

44 BC Octavian is Caesar's heir
Octavian, an 18-year-old student in Apollonia, hears that he has been named by his uncle, Julius Caesar, as his successor and heir

43 BC Octavian, Mark Antony, Lepidus form trio
Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus meet in Bologna and form an alliance known as the second triumvirate

42 BC Octavian wins at Philippi
Octavian and Mark Antony defeat the armies of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, after which Brutus and Cassius commit suicide

37 BC Virgil, poet of Italy
Virgil's reputation is established by his ten Eclogues, influenced by the Italian countryside in the region of his birth near Mantua

34 BC Maecenas buys farm for Horace
Maecenas buys a farm for Horace, in the Sabine hills near Tivoli - the most fruitful of his many acts of patronage

31 BC Octavian wins at Actium
Octavian defeats the forces of Antony and Cleopatra (both are at sea with their fleets) in a battle off the Greek coast at Actium

27 BC Octavian becomes Augustus Caesar
Octavian is given the life-long title of Augustus by the senate in Rome, becoming in effect the first Roman emperor

27 BC Livy writes history of Rome
Livy begins writing and publishing his History of Rome, a task which will occupy him for forty years

23 BC Odes from a Sabine farm
The first three books of Horace's Odes are published, written on his Sabine farm

20 BC Augustan Age
The excellence of the arts, particularly literature, during the reign of Augustus Caesar causes it to be remembered as a golden age of culture

20 BC Ovid publishes love poems
A collection of witty love poems, entitled Amores, brings Ovid an early success

20 BC 50,000-mile road map
Augustus Caesar puts a team of surveyors to work mapping the empire's 50,000 miles of roads, a task which will take them twenty years

20 BC Vitruvius explains architecture
Roman author Vitruvius writes De Architectura, now generally known as The Ten Books of Architecture

19 BC Augustus saves Aeneid
Virgil dies just after completing the Aeneid, and imperial command from Augustus Caesar prevents his executor from destroying the epic

4 Augustus adopts Tiberius as successor
After the death of two of his grandsons, the emperor Augustus formally adopts his stepson Tiberius as his successor

4 Germanicus to be heir to Tiberius
Augustus Caesar insists on Tiberius adopting as his successor Germanicus, a talented young member of the imperial family

5 Germanicus marries granddaughter of Augustus
Germanicus, designated eventual heir to the throne, marries Agrippina, granddaughter of the ruling emperor

10 Pax Romana
The period of stability achieved during the reign of Augustus Caesar has been given the name Pax Romana ('Roman peace')

14 Life rough after Augustus
The death of Augustus introduces half a century of chaos, as the members of his family compete ruthlessly for power

14 Tiberius becomes emperor
Tiberius succeeds his stepfather Augustus Caesar as the Roman emperor

19 Germanicus dies campaigning in Syria
Germanicus, nephew and heir of the emperor Tiberius, dies when far away with the army in Syria

37 Caligula is emperor
Within the tangled and tormented web of the Roman imperial family, Gaius Caesar - nicknamed Caligula - inherits the throne

41 Claudius is emperor
Claudius, after the assassination of his nephew Caligula, is selected as emperor by the praetorian guards

50 Roman surgery on bladder
The Roman surgeon Cornelius Celsus describes in De Medicina how to cut stones from a patient's bladder

50 Seven-day week in Rome
A working week of seven days is adopted in Rome, based on the seven known planets (whose names provide the days)

54 Nero is emperor
The 16-year-old Nero is proclaimed emperor by the praetorian guards after the death of Claudius, supposedly poisoned by toadstools

60 Peter is pope
St Peter, believed to have come to Rome as leader of the Christian community, is subsequently considered the first pope

60 Paul a prisoner in Rome
St Paul arrives in Rome a prisoner, but then spends two years freely preaching Christianity

64 Fire and fiddling in Rome
A great fire in Rome is popularly believed to have been started by Nero, whom legend also accuses of fiddling while the city burns

64 Christians in Rome victims of Nero
Early Christian tradition states that both Peter and Paul meet death in Rome as martyrs, possibly as a result of the fire of AD 64

66 Nero performs in Athens
Nero comes to Athens to give some of his officially celebrated performances at the Greek games

69 Year of the four emperors
A rebellion in Spain prompts such chaos that Rome has four emperors within a year, after the suicide of Nero in 68

69 Vespasian proclaimed emperor
Vespasian, proclaimed emperor by his troops in Alexandria, is the survivor among this year's four emperors

79 Titus is emperor
Titus becomes emperor on the death of his father, Vespasian, and begins a brief two-year reign of lavish public generosity

79 Pompeii buried
A sudden eruption of Vesuvius buries the town of Pompeii in volcanic ash, in places twelve feet deep

80 Colosseum grand opening
The Colosseum is inaugurated by the emperor Titus with games lasting 100 days, in which some 9000 large animals are killed

81 Domitian becomes emperor
Dying after a reign of only two years, Titus is succeeded on the imperial throne by his brother, Domitian

98 Tacitus on Britain and Germany
Tacitus begins his career with two specialized but influential works of history, one on Britain and the other on Germany

98 Trajan is emperor
Trajan, succeeding to the imperial throne in AD 98, is sufficiently confident to spend a year in Germany before returning to Rome

100 Isis acquires a following in Rome
A cult develops in Rome of the Egyptian goddess Isis, credited with restoring to life her hushand, Osiris, after he has been hacked to pieces

100 Brutal Roman busts
Sculptors in the Roman empire develop the most brutally realistic convention in the history of portraiture

117 Hadrian is emperor
Hadrian, governing Syria when he is declared emperor, is confident enough to delay almost a year before returning to Rome

120 Spectacular dome for Pantheon
The Pantheon, roofed with the most spectacular dome of antiquity, is built in Rome by Hadrian

125 Suetonius and the Caesars
Suetonius, librarian to Trajan and personal secretary to Hadrian, is well placed to research his racy Lives of the Caesars

134 Coffer dam for Sant'Angelo bridge
The Sant'Angelo bridge in Rome, still standing today, is built for the emperor Hadrian by means of a coffer dam

138 Hadrian selects Antoninus Pius
The emperor Hadrian, with no children of his own, appoints a respected senator, Antoninus Pius, to succeed him

161 Marcus Aurelius is emperor
Marcus Aurelius, for long the designated heir, becomes emperor on the death of Antoninus Pius

165 Marcus Aurelius on horseback
The bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, on the Capitol in Rome, begins a long European tradition of public sculpture

170 Marcus Aurelius meditates
Marcus Aurelius is rare among emperors in writing twelve books of philosophical Meditations

244 Plotinus moves to Rome
Plotinus, moving from Alexandria to Rome, teaches the influential philosophy later known as Neo-Platonism

250 Christians paint catacombs
The Christians of Rome use the catacombs as tomb chambers, and decorate the walls with murals on New Testament themes

274 Sun's birthday is December 25
The emperor Aurelian, grateful for the apparent assistance of a Syrian sun god, establishes the cult of the Unconquered Sun - whose birthday is December 25

284 Diocletian is emperor
Diocletian, commanding an army near the Bosphorus in Thracia, is proclaimed emperor by his troops

306 Constantine proclaimed emperor in York
Constantine's father, recently appoinnted Augustus in the west, dies at York and the young man is proclaimed Augustus in his place by the legions in Britain

312 Constantine wins with Christian emblem
Constantine, preparing for battle against a rival at the Milvian Bridge, orders his men to wear a Christian symbol, the Chi-Rho, on their shields

313 Constantine favours Christians
Constantine meets his co-emperor Licinius in Milan, and persuades him to follow a policy of encouraging the Christians

315 Constantine's first churches
Constantine founds several churches in Rome, among them the first St Peter's

320 Transept introduced in Rome
Constantine's new churches in Rome introduce an important element in church architecture, the transept

320 Roman mosaic at Piazza Armerina
Roman mosaic is at its most lavish in the floors of Piazza Armerina, in central Sicily

325 Constantine executes Licinius
Constantine executes Licinius in Thessalonica on a charge of attempted rebellion, a year after defeating him in battle

390 Emperor rebuked by bishop
St Ambrose asserts the authority of the church, refusing communion to the emperor Theodosius in Milan until he does penance for a massacre

390 Christian mosaics
The church of Santa Pudenziana in Rome begins the great tradition of Christian mosaics

410 Visigoths plunder Rome
Alaric and the Visigoths enter Rome and plunder the city - the first foreign intruders for eight centuries

452 Huns ravage northern Italy
Attila invades and ravages northern Italy, but turns back before reaching Rome - possibly influenced by the diplomacy of Leo I

455 Vandals sack Rome
Gaiseric and the Vandals enter Rome and sack the city, but their violence is perhaps restrained by Leo I

460 Mosaics in Ravenna
The mausoleum of Galla Placidia begins Ravenna's great tradition of Christian mosaic

476 Odoacer ends western empire?
The tribal leader and mercenary Odoacer becomes king of Italy - an event often taken as defining the end of the Roman empire in the west

487 Theodoric invades Italy
Theodoric the Ostrogoth, threatening Constantinople, is cunningly diverted by the emperor into invading Italy

493 Theodoric captures Ravenna
Theodoric wins Ravenna from Odoacer - by inviting Odoacer to a banquet and murdering him during the meal

525 Monk selects AD 1
Dionysius Exiguus, commissioned by the pope to improve chronology, makes an error of at least four years in his selected event for AD 1

525 St Benedict at Subiaco
St Benedict gathers fellow hermits at Subiaco into a series of small monasteries

525 Boethius consoled by philosophy
Boethius, in prison in Pavia and awaiting execution, writes the Consolation of Philosophy

526 Theodoric achieves greatness
By the end of his long reign Theodoric amply justifies his title 'the Great' and his place in legend as Dietrich von Bern

530 St Benedict at Monte Cassino
St Benedict founds a monastery at Monte Cassino and writes a Rule for the monks which becomes the basis of the Benedictine order

535 Belisarius lands in Sicily
Belisarius lands in Sicily at the start of a five-year campaign to recover Ravenna for the Byzantine emperor

547 Justinian and Theodora in mosaic
Justinian and Theodora, each with a retinue of attendants, face each other in mosaic from the walls of San Vitale in Ravenna

568 Lombards reach Po
The Lombards invade northern Italy, and within four years occupy it as far south as the Po

569 Fugitives from Lombards are first Venetians
Fugitives from the Lombard invasion of northern Italy take refuge on islands in the Venetian lagoon - and become the founders of Venice

584 Exarchate of Ravenna
Byzantine Italy is brought under a new administration, or exarchate, based in Ravenna

592 Lombards threaten Rome
Pope Gregory I negotiates with the Lombards who are threatening Rome

610 St Columban reaches Bobbio
St Columban founds a monastery at Bobbio, the furthest outpost of Celtic Christianity

726 Venetians elect doge
The Venetians for the first time elect their own doge, acting independently of the Byzantine governor in Ravenna

756 Pepin helps Rome
Pepin III, after recovering Byzantine territories in Italy from the Lombards, hands control of the region to the pope in Rome

774 Charlemagne rules Lombardy
After two campaigns in Lombardy, Charlemagne establishes himself as king of the Lombards in northern Italy

800 Christmas surprise for Charlemagne
In St Peter's in Rome, on Christmas Day, pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne emperor - supposedly to Charlemagne's surprise

820 Venetians move to Rialto
The Venetians move their administration from the island of Torcello to the Rialto

827 Muslims in Sicily
The Arabs get a foothold in Sicily and begin a slow process, not complete till AD 965, of squeezing the Byzantines out of the island

828 Bones of St Mark
The Venetians, acquiring from Alexandria some bones believed to be those of St Mark, build St Mark's to house the valuable relic

950 Medical school at Salerno
Medieval Europe's first institute of higher education is established, with the founding of the medical school at Salerno

962 Otto I crowned in Rome
The imperial coronation of Otto I by Pope John XII in St Peter's puts in place the formal role of a Holy Roman emperor

1075 Investiture controversy
Pope Gregory VII decrees that only the church may make ecclesiastical appointments, thus initiating the investiture controversy between pope and emperor

1077 Penitence at Canossa
The emperor Henry IV stands as a penitent outside the pope's castle at Canossa, so as to be released from excommunication.

1082 Venice favoured by Byzantines
Venice acquires valuable trading privileges from Constantinople, her merchants being excused all dues and customs in the Byzantine empire

1091 Sicily captured by Christians
Roger I, the first Norman count of Sicily, completes the conquest of the island from the Muslims

1100 Communes in northern Italy
Many of the towns of northern Italy acquire virtual independence as self-governing communes

1132 Capella Palatina in Palermo
Work begins on the exquisite palace chapel in Palermo, built for the Norman kings of Sicily

1139 Crossbow a weapon of mass destruction
Pope Innocent III and the second Lateran council outlaw the crossbow as a weapon causing unacceptable devastation

1144 Pope calls for new crusade
The fall of Edessa prompts the pope, Eugenius III, to call for a second crusade to defend the Latin kingdom

1150 Medici in Florence
The Medici move into Florence from their country home in the Mugello valley

1197 Three-year-old inherits Sicily and Germany
The three-year old Frederick II has a claim to the thrones of both Sicily and Germany on the death of his father, the emperor Henry VI

1200 Mosaics in Venice
In the cathedral on Torcello, and in St Mark's, Venetian mosaics are a culmination in the west of the Byzantine tradition

1202 Fourth crusade sails from Venice
The fleet of the fourth crusade departs from Venice - only to be diverted from its purposes by Venetian guile

1204 Venice takes Corfu and Crete
Venice takes the useful islands of Corfu and Crete as part of the spoils of the fourth crusade

1204 Latin empire in Constantinople
A Latin empire is set up in Constantinople on the same basis as the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem

1205 Loot for Venice
Many of the treasures adorning the church of San Marco in Venice are loot taken from Constantinople during the fourth crusade

1210 St Francis visits the pope
St Francis and eleven companions tell Innocent III of their wish for a life of holy poverty in the bustle of the towns

1212 Children's Crusade
Participants in the Children's Crusade suffer disaster after the waters of the Mediterranean fail to part for them

1215 St Dominic visits the pope
St Dominic and his companions tell Innocent III of their wish to teach and preach in the bustle of the towns

1216 Dominican friars - official
The Dominicans are formally established by Pope Honorius III as Ordo Fratrum Praedicatorum, the Order of the Friars Preachers

1223 Franciscan friars - official
The Franciscans are formally established by Honorius III as Ordo Fratrum Minorum, the Order of the Friars Minor

1233 Inquisition begins work
Gregory IX sends Dominican friars to root out the remains of the Catharist heresy in France, thus launching the Inquisition

1250 Palio in Siena
The Palio, in which horses race round the Campo in Siena, is held from this time

1253 Churches for St Francis in Assisi
Construction begins of two basilicas, one above the other on a hillside in Assisi, in memory of St Francis

1255 Pope offers Sicily to English prince
The pope, eager to fill the vacant throne of Sicily, offers it to a son of Henry III of England but gets no firm response

1256 Augustinian friars established
Pope Alexander IV establishes a third order of preaching friars, the Augustinians

1259 New pulpit for Pisa
Nicola Pisano completes a pulpit for Pisa, borrowing details from Roman sarcophagi - an early example of a new interest in the classical past

1260 Sweet new style in Italy
A new form of poetry is written in northern Italy, described later by Dante as a sweet new style - the dolce stil nuovo

1263 Pope offers Sicily to French prince
Pope Urban IV offers Sicily to a French prince, Charles of Anjou, who marches south in 1266 to fight for the kingdom

1266 Thomas Aquinas and scholasticism
Thomas Aquinas begins the outstanding work of medieval scholasticism, his Summa Theologiae

1271 Marco Polo leaves home
Marco Polo, aged seventeen, sets off from Venice on his journey to the east

1274 Dante glimpses love of his life
Dante, aged nine, is overwhelmed by the beauty of Beatrice - a child a year younger than himself who later becomes his poetic inspiration

1281 Violence in church service in Sicily
An incident in a church service sparks the uprising known as the Sicilian Vespers, in which 2000 French are killed overnight in Sicily

1295 Marco Polo back in Venice
Marco Polo is back in Venice after an absence of 25 years in the east

1298 Siena protects Campo
The authorities in Siena publish strict regulations for the design of the buildings around a new central piazza, the Campo

1298 Marco Polo in prison in Genoa
Marco Polo, in prison in Genoa, is persuaded by a fellow prisoner to narrate his adventures

1300 Pope promotes Holy Year
Boniface VIII declares a Jubilee or Holy Year, with plenary indulgences for pilgrims who make their way to Rome

1300 New powers for Italian signori
The Italian communes employ powerful leaders, or signori, in a trend which leads away from oligarchy and towards princely rule

1300 Double-entry book-keeping in Italy
The bankers of northern Italy develop a method of accountancy - double-entry book-keeping - which will have lasting significance

1302 Dante sentenced to death
Dante, a member of the White faction in Florence, is sentenced to death by the Blacks - and never returns to his native city

1305 Scrovegni employs Giotto
Enrico degli Scrovegni employs Giotto to paint the cycle of frescoes in his chapel in Padua

1307 Dante begins Divine Comedy
Dante, in exile from Florence, begins work on The Divine Comedy - completing it just before his death, 14 years later

1308 Siena employs Duccio
The cathedral authorities in Siena commission from Duccio the great altarpiece which becomes known as the Maestà

1309 Pope moves to Avignon
Clement V moves the papacy to Avignon, in a move which is expected to be temporary but which lasts for nearly seventy years

1320 Italian Gothic takes bright new direction
In places such as Siena and Orvieto, Italian architects add a blaze of colour to the more restrained northern pattern of Gothic

1320 Florence and banking
Florence becomes a centre of international finance, with the Bardi and Peruzzi families acting as bankers to Europe's rulers

1327 Petrarch sees Laura in church
Petrarch glimpses Laura in a church in Avignon and falls helplessly in love with her - or so he tells us

1340 New palace for Venetian doge
The Doge's Palace, begun in its present form in this year, is only one of the spectacular beauties of Venetian Gothic

1341 Petrarch as poet laureate in Rome
A laurel wreath is placed on the brow of Petrarch in Rome, in a renewal of interest in the classical world

1345 New old bridge in Florence
The bridge now known as Ponte Vecchio is constructed in Florence (replacing an older old bridge)

1345 Pala d'Oro takes present form
The great Byzantine altarpiece of St Mark's, the Pala d'Oro, is adjusted to take its present form

1345 Florence's banks crash
Edward III of England, defaulting on his massive debts, drives the Florentine banking families of Bardi and Peruzzi into bankruptcy

1347 Cola di Rienzo tribune in Rome
Cola di Rienzo, appointed tribune of the people, enjoys a few months of dictatorial powers in Rome before the citizens tire of him

1349 Boccaccio's characters flee from Black Death
Boccaccio begins his Decameron, supposedly the stories told by young Florentine men and women sheltering from the Black Death

1350 Condottieri corner war market
Armies of mercenaries, led by condottieri, conduct Italian warfare at an often extortionate rate

1350 Boccaccio inspired by Petrarch
Boccaccio, visiting Petrarch in Florence, is inspired to devote himself to the pursuit of classical studies

1364 Mechanical clock in Padua
A great clock is completed in Padua, regulated mechanically by foliot and escapement

1377 Pope returns to Rome
The papal curia returns to Rome in what would seem a conclusive move if there were not, two years later, two popes - one of them elected back in Avignon

1378 Hawkwood captain general of Florence
John Hawkwood, a condottiere in command of the White Company, is appointed captain general of Florence

1379 Great Schism in papacy
The French cardinals, objecting to the new Italian pope, elect their own man as Clement VII - and thus inaugurate the Great Schism of the papacy

1380 Venice triumphs over Genoa
The Venetian blockade of Chioggia costs Genoa her fleet and ends Genoese rivalry with Venice in the eastern Mediterranean

1384 Visconti enlarges Milan
Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the signore of Milan, sets about enlarging his territory - seizing Vicenza, Verona and Padua between 1384 and 1388

1400 Majolica in Italy
Majolica, or tin-glazed earthenware, reaches Italy from Majorca and thus gets its name

1406 Pisa taken by Florence
Pisa is captured by Florence, to be followed a few years later by the purchase of the seaport of Livorno

1409 Two popes too many
The Council at Pisa elects a new pope, Alexander V, without persuading the other two to resign - bringing the total to an unprecedented three

1411 Donatello employed on Orsanmichele
The linen drapers of Florence commission a statue of St Mark from Donatello, who carves for Orsanmichele the first free-standing Renaissance sculpture

1415 Brunelleschi studies Roman ruins
Filippo Brunelleschi begins studying the ruins of classical Rome, with a view to rediscovering classical architecture

1418 Brunelleschi wins competition
A competition is launched for an architect to construct a dome above Florence's cathedral, and is won by Brunelleschi

1423 Brancacci employs Masaccio
Masaccio paints some of the frescoes in the chapel of a Florentine silk merchant, Felice Brancacci, in Santa Maria del Carmine

1430 Work begins on Pazzi chapel
Work begins in Florence on Brunelleschi's Pazzi chapel, which encapsulates in miniature the new ideals of Renaissance architecture

1433 Cosimo arrested
Cosimo de' Medici, arrested by a rival faction, escapes with his life thanks to bribes and well-placed friends

1436 Alberti explains perspective
Perspective fascinates Italian Renaissance painters after the publication of Alberti's treatise on the subject, De Pictura

1439 Greek Orthodox attend church council in Florence
Florence acquires first-hand experience of Greek culture when Greek Orthodox priests join in a debate on theology, in particular the question of Filioque

1442 Naples captured for Aragon
Naples is captured by Alfonso V, breaking the link with France and uniting Sicily and Naples as an Aragonese kingdom

1443 Fra Angelico in San Marco
The Dominican convent of San Marco, in Florence, is provided with a serenely beautiful series of frescoes by Fra Angelico and his assistants

1450 Piero in San Sepolcro
Piero della Francesca paints masterpieces in his small home town of San Sepolcro

1450 Sforza rules Milan
Francesco Sforza, a soldier of fortune, wins power in Milan

1450 Uccello fascinated by perspective
Paolo Uccello is interested in the laws of perspective, in works such as The Battle of San Romano

1460 Oil paint moves south
Oil paints, long familiar in the Netherlands, begin to be adopted in Italy in place of tempera

1460 Mantegna's art both classical and modern
Andrea Mantegna combines an interest in classical detail and recently discovered perspective

1462 Platonic Academy in Florence
In keeping with his personal interest in Plato, Cosimo de' Medici founds a Platonic Academy in Florence

1464 Cosimo is father of fatherland
After his death in 1464, Cosimo de' Medici acquires the posthumous title pater patriae – father of the fatherland