Category:Italian Diaspora (India)

Italian Diaspora (India)

Timeline

• The first direct contacts between India and Italy dates back to Roman times.

• Merchant Marco Polo published his travelogue The Travels of Marco Polo in which he described the life and customs in India at the end of the 13th century.

• 1310c - Franciscan friar Odoricus Mattiuzzi

• 1420s-1430s - Merchant Niccolò de' Conti

• 1843–1870 - Gaspare Gorresio's translation of the Valmiki Ramayana, the great Hindu epic.

• The Italian unification movement inspired some Indian freedom fighters, and the works of the Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini were translated and widely read by Indian intelligentsia.

• 1931 (dic) - Gandhi's visit to Italy (Milan and Rome). Meeting with Benito Mussolini.

• 1941-1946: Around 68,000 Italian POWs were shipped by the British to India and they were housed in camps across the country. After Sep 1943, when Italy surrendered to the Allies, living conditions improved.

• 1943-45 - Indian troops played a role in liberating Italy from Nazi control.

• 1947 - Establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of India and the Italian Republic.

• 1953 - Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited Italy.

• 1995 - Pres. Oscar Luigi Scalfaro was the first Italian head of state to visit India.

• 2005 - Pres. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi visited India.

• 2007 - Romano Prodi became the first Italian Prime Minister to visit India.

• 2009 - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Italy to attend the 35th G8 summit at L'Aquila.

• 2011 - External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna represented India at the 150th anniversary celebrations of the unification of Italy in Rome In June 2011.

• 2017 - Prime minister Paolo Gentiloni visited India.