April 20:
Giorgio Napolitano was
re-elected President with 738 votes in the sixth ballot amid widespread protests by MPs eager to elect
Stefano Rodotà. Napolitano is the first President in the
history of Italy to be re-elected for a second term.
During the government swearing ceremony, a man shot outside
Palazzo Chigi and wounded two
Carabinieri and a bystander.
May 3: Twenty people were injured and more than one hundred houses were damaged in a series of tornadoes in
Northern Italy.
May 7: The cargo ship Jolly Nero impacts the control tower of the port of
Genoa, with the consequent collapse of the latter and the killing of 11 people.
July 28: A coach has
plunged off a flyover in southern Italy, leaving 39 people dead and 8 injured.
August 4: Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of
tax fraud and sentenced to four years imprisonment.
October 3: At least
339 African migrants have died and 50 are missing after a boat carrying them to Europe sank off the southern Italian island of
Lampedusa.
October 18: Italian government conducted
Operation Mare Nostrum to tackle the significant increase of migratory flows to Europe.[2]
November 17–19: At least 18 people died in
Sardinia following the
massive floods caused by Cleopatra cyclone.
November 27: The Senate expelled former Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi form his seat in Parliament following his conviction for tax fraud.[3]