Pope Paul III establishes Ignatius Loyola and his followers as the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits

Pope Paul III establishes the Roman Inquisition, with the specific task of fighting against the Protestant heresy

The Italian players of the commedia dell'arte first feature in the records in this year

A council of the Roman Catholic church is convened in Trent, to establish the tenets of the Counter-Reformation

A book to teach good handwriting is published by Gianfrancesco Cresci, with examples engraved on copper plates

Palladio publishes I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura ('The Four Books of Architecture'), which include his influential designs for villas

Pope Pius V excommunicates the English queen, Elizabeth I, causing a severe crisis of loyalty for her Catholic subjects

Spanish and Venetian galleys defeat the Turks in the battle of Lepanto

Venice cedes the island of Cyprus to the Turks, in spite of the Christian victory at Lepanto two years earlier

Soft-paste porcelain, in imitation of true porcelain from China, is successfully created for the Medici in Florence

Tasso, in Gerusalemme Liberata ('Jerusalem Liberated'), turns the first crusade into a romantic epic

The new and more accurate Gregorian calendar is introduced by Gregory XIII in the papal states

Venice opens the first modern bank (the Banco della Piazza di Rialto) for safe deposits and credit transfers

The dome of St Peter's is finished, completing nearly a century of construction on Europe's largest church

Dafne is performed in Florence, becoming the first example of a new art form - opera

A performance in the Oratory in Rome, with music by Emilio de' Cavalieri, is in effect the first oratorio

Annibale Carracci completes an influential ceiling fresco in the Farnese palace in Rome

Claudio Monteverdi presents Orfeo, the first opera to win a lasting place in the international repertory

The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens completes an altarpiece in Rome which is an early masterpiece of the baroque

Galileo improves on the Dutch telescope (and doubles his salary by presenting one to his employer)

Galileo, with his new powerful telescope, observes the moons of Jupiter and spots moving on the surface of the sun

Galileo publishes his evidence, from sun spots, proving Copernicus right and Ptolemy wrong on the solar system

The Teatro Farnese in Parma is the first to have a proscenium arch, framing perspective scenery painted on flat wings

Bernini's youthful Pluto and Proserpina, suggesting soft flesh in cold marble, introduces the lively tradition of baroque sculpture

The Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck begins a five-year stay, and a successful career as a portrait painter, in Genoa