Nicolas Poussin arrives in Rome, where he develops the tradition of French classicism

Claude Lorrain, basing himself like Poussin in Rome, paints classical landscapes suffused in light

The sculptor and architect Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini is given the task of adding the drama of baroque to the newly completed St Peter's in Rome

The Inquisition convicts Galileo of heresy and he denies the truth of Copernicus - on being shown the instruments of torture

The first public opera house, the Teatro San Cassiano, opens in Venice

Galileo's Discorsi, published in Leiden, lays the groundwork for mathematical physics

Evangelista Torricelli, observing variations in a column of mercury, discovers the principle of the barometer

Italian doctor Marcello Malpighi discovers the capillaries, thus completing the evidence for the circulation of the blood

Bernini's great curving colonnade is completed, to form the piazza in front of St Peter's

A maker of harpsichords in Florence, Bartolomeo Cristofori, develops the piano ('soft') and forte ('loud') feature which leads to the piano

Young noblemen, particularly from Britain, visit Italy on the Grand Tour

Canaletto begins to specialize in views of the Venetian canals, finding his main customers among the British

Vivaldi publishes the set of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons

Florence loses her independence when the last Medici duke of Tuscany dies

Italian dramatist Carlo Goldoni makes a success of plays in the ancient commedia dell'arte tradition

Venice's new theatre, the Teatro Novissimo, has machinery which can change the scenes in the blink of an eye

Systematic digging begins near Vesuvius, in an area where ancient fragments are often unearthed - soon discovered to be Pompeii

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo begins a series of frescoes to decorate the prince bishop's residence in Würzburg

Francesco Guardi, previously a painter of figures, begins to specialize in view of Venice, his native city

Italian anatomist Giovanni Battista Morgagni publishes De Sedibus, the work that introduces scientific pathology

Responding to pressure from the Catholic monarchs of Europe, Clement XIV abolishes the Jesuit Order

Italian sculptor Antonio Canova sets up his studio in Rome and begins producing finely modelled nudes in the Greek style

Horatio Nelson, with his ship docked in Naples, meets Lady Hamilton, wife of the British envoy

Virtuoso violinist Nicolo Paganini gives his first public performances, in churches in his native Genoa

Napoleon Bonaparte takes command of the French army of Italy, with astonishingly successful results