1896 - Eugenio Montale is born at Corso Dogali, 5/1, in Genoa, at 11 pm on October 12, to Domenico Montale (1855-1931) and Giuseppina Ricci (1872-1942). The oldest is Salvatore (1885-1972), followed by Ugo (1887-1963), Ernesto (1889, died shortly after birth), Alberto (1890-1978) and Marianna (1894-1938). He is baptized on November 25 in the parish church of San Tomaso Apostolo, by Don Francesco Dellacasa.

1902 - In October he is enrolled in the Scuola Elementare Maschile Ambrogio Spinola on Via Spinola, which he attends up until the fourth grade. He spends the summer vacations at the villa of Monterosso (Fegina), built by his father Domenico (Domingo) along with other relatives.

1906 - At the beginning of the school year 1906-07 he moves to the Scuola Giano Grillo on Salita delle Battistine, where he receives his elementary school certificate.

1908 - From January 17 he attends the first technical grade at the Istituto Vittorino da Feltre on Via Maragliano, run by the Barnabites (the rector is Father Rodolfo Trabattoni, the vice rector Father Giovanni Semeria) as a day pupil. He receives confirmation on May 21.

1910 - May 5: first communion. Failing the third technical grade, he repeats it in the school year 1910-11.

1911 - Receiving his technical certificate on July 9, he enrolls in the Istituto Tecnico Vittorio Emanuele on Largo della Zecca.

1913 - On February 5 the Montale family moves to Via Privata Piaggio, 8/8.

1915 - He alternates his technical studies with singing lessons (given to him by the former baritone Ernesto Sivori) and frequentation of the Berio Civic Library. In June he takes a diploma in accounting at the Istituto Vittorio Emanuele. He works intermittently at the Ditta G. G. Montale e C., which his father Domingo runs with his cousins Domenico and Lorenzo: the business of the firm, which has its office at Piazza Pellicceria, 5/10, is the "Commerce of ?Colophony? - Turpentine." On October 19, following a first military medical, he is declared temporarily unfit for service (his brothers Salvatore, Ugo and Alberto have been called up in the meantime). On November 10 he writes a light-hearted letter in verse to his former classmate Giacomo Costa.

1916 - His first article comes out in Il Piccolo of Genoa on 28 April: a review of Ruggero Leoncavallo's Goffredo Mameli written on behalf of the music critic, Vittorio Guerriero, and signed by the latter. He is again declared "temporarily unfit for military service" at the medical examination of July 12.

1917 - Certified unfit again at a third medical, on February 12. Between February and August he keeps a diary, which will be published by Mondadori in March 1983 under the title Quaderno genovese, edited by Laura Barile. He makes friends with Mario Bonzi. On August 13 he undergoes a fourth medical: kept under observation at the military hospital of Genoa, he is eventually declared fit. Assigned to the 23rd Infantry Regiment (Oleggio detachment), he sets off for Novara on September 9. Between the end of October and the beginning of November he is sent to the Infantry Technical School in Parma: here he attends a crash course as an officer cadet and meets Sergio Solmi, Francesco Meriano, Cesare Cerati, Ercole Crovella and Marcello Manni.

1918 - In January he is assigned to the Schio Depot of the 158th Infantry Regiment (Liguria Brigade). He sees combat in Vallarsa. On November 3 he enters Rovereto. After a first transfer to Kiens, in Val Pusteria, and a second to the Prisoner of War Detachment at Eremo di Lanzo (Turin), he is sent to the Genoa Depot.

1920 - On May 26 he is demobilized with the rank of lieutenant. He forms a friendship, or acquaintance, with writers and artists like Angelo Barile, Adriano Grande, Camillo Sbarbaro, Francesco Messina and Oscar Saccorotti. Over the course of the summer, at Monterosso, he meets the sixteen-year-old Anna degli Uberti (Arletta - Annetta), who is on vacation with her family at Lorenzo Montale's villa. He reviews Sbarbaro's Trucioli in L'Azione of Genoa on November 10.

1921 - He resumes his singing lessons with Ernesto Sivori.

1922 - He publishes the poem Riviere and the Suite Accordi in issue no. 2 of Primo Tempo (June 15). Scirocco, Tramontana e Maestrale are also published in Giacomo Debenedetti's journal (no. 4-5 of August-September), under the title L'agave su lo scoglio.

1923 - Ernesto Sivori dies on July 23. Anna degli Uberti spends the summer months at Monterosso for the last time. In the autumn Eugenio Montale is in Rome. At the end of the year he publishes an essay on Emilio Cecchi in issue no. 9-10 of Primo Tempo. In the winter of 1923-24 he meets Roberto (Bobi) Bazlen from Trieste in Genoa.

1924 - He contributes (from May 1) to Il Cittadino of Genoa. Under the title Ossi di seppia ("Cuttlefish Bones"), he publishes five poems in Il Convegno of May 31. In Viareggio he meets Enrico Pea, in Carrara, Cesare Vico Lodovici. The plan to take on Montale at the library of the International Institute of Agriculture in Rome, where Alfredo Gargiulo works, comes to nothing.

1925 - He publishes the article "Stile e tradizione" in the January issue of Baretti. He contributes to Il Lavoro of Genoa (from March 28), La Rassegna (from February-April) and L'Esame (from April). In May 1925 he signs the "counter-manifesto" drawn up by Benedetto Croce in response to Gentile's manifesto of Fascist intellectuals. In the second half of June Ossi di seppia is published by Piero Gobetti. The November-December issue of L'Esame carries Montale's Omaggio a Italo Svevo.

1926 - He contributes to Il Quindicinale (from January 30), L'Italia che scrive (from June), La Fiera letteraria (from September 19) and Solaria (from December).

1927- He contributes to L'Ambrosiano of Milan (from January 17). Hired by the Bemporad publishing house, he moves to Florence at the beginning of February. His first home is the Pensione Colombini at Via del Pratellino, 7.

1928 - The second edition of Ossi di sepia, with an introduction by Alfredo Gargiulo, is brought out by Ribet on January 3.

1929 - On March 26 he takes over from Bonaventura Tecchi as director of the Gabinetto Vieusseux. He contributes to Pegaso (from June). He goes to stay at the house of Drusilla Tanzi and Matteo Marangoni at Via Benedetto Varchi, 6. In August he is in Chamonix, in September in Paris.

1931 - The third edition of Ossi di seppia (with a cover by Scipione) is published by Carabba. His poem La casa dei doganieri ("The Coastguards' House") wins the Premio del Antico Fattore on May 27. Domingo Montale dies at Genoa in June.

1932 - La casa dei doganieri e altri versi is brought out by Vallecchi. In August he is in London, from where he goes to Vienna.

1933 - He meets Irma Brandeis (Clizia). He spends August at Eastbourne. He contributes to Pan (from December 1).

1937 - He contributes to Letteratura (from January).

1938 - On October 15 Marianna Montale dies in Milan. On December 1 the board of the Gabinetto Vieusseux decides "to relieve Doctor Eugenio Montale of the office of director."

1939 - He devotes himself assiduously to his translation work. In April he moves with Drusilla Tanzi into an apartment on the top floor of Viale Duca di Genoa (now Viale Giovanni Amendola), 38/a. Between May and June his plan to join Irma Brandeis in the United States is dropped for good. On October 14 Giulio Einaudi publishes Le occasioni ("The Occasions").

1941 - Subjected to a medical examination at the military hospital in Florence, he is discharged on the grounds of a "constitutional neuropsychasthenic syndrome."

1942 - Giuseppina Ricci dies at Monterosso in November.

1943 - On June 24, St. John's Day, Finisterre ("Land's End") is brought out in Lugano on the initiative of Gianfranco Contini and the lawyer Pino Bernasconi.

1944 - He contributes to the Nazione del Popolo (from January 4). In the winter months Umberto Saba and Carlo Levi stay with him in the house on Viale Duca di Genoa. In August he is received by Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli in his apartment at Via Cavour, 81. In September Drusilla Tanzi is hospitalized at the Clinica Palumbo on Via Venezia for a grave form of spondylitis.

1945 - He is a member of the Committee for Culture and Art appointed by the Tuscan Committee of National Liberation. He joins the Action Party. Together with Alessandro Bonsanti, Arturo Loria and Luigi Scaravelli, he founds the fortnightly Il Mondo, whose first issue comes out on April 7. The second, enlarged edition of Finisterre is published at Barbera. During the summer vacations at Vittoria Apuana he starts to paint, mostly in the company of Raffaele De Grada.

1946 - He contributes to the Corriere d'informazione (from January 2) and the Nuovo Corriere della Sera (from February 3). The "imaginary interview" entitled "Intenzioni" appears in the January issue of La Rassegna d'Italia. On October 5 Il Mondo ceases publication.

1948 - After writing the anonymous editorial "Missione interrotta" ("Mission Interrupted," January 31) at the time of Gandhi's death, he is hired as an editor at the Nuovo Corriere della Sera. He moves to the Albergo Ambasciatori di Milano in Florence. In March and June he is in England. In September his Quaderno di traduzioni ("Notebook of Translations") is published by the Edizioni della Meridiana. In December he is sent to Beirut, where the third UNESCO conference is being held.

1949 - In January he meets Maria Luisa Spaziani (Volpe) in Turin.

1950 - In July he is sent to New York for the inauguration of the Rome-New York-Rome air route. In August he attends the meeting of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. In September he travels in Brittany and is awarded the Premio San Marino for poetry.

1951 - In the fall he moves to Via Bigli, 11.

1952 - At the International Congress for the Freedom of Culture in Paris he gives the lecture "The Loneliness of the Artist" on May 21.

1953 - In March-April he is again in Paris.

1954 - In September he takes on the job of music critic of the Corriere d'informazione.

1955 - In August he is in Normandy.

1956 - On June 15 Neri Pozza brings out La bufera e altro (published in English as The Storm, and Other Poems). In September he wins the Premio Marzotto for poetry. On December 20 La Farfalla di Dinard (The Butterfly of Dinard) is published, again by Neri Pozza

1959 - Anna degli Uberti dies in Rome on April 29. In November Eugenio Montale is awarded the Legion of Honor.

1961 - On April 21 he is given an honorary degree by the Faculty of Letters of Milan University.

1962 - In May he is in Greece, at the invitation of the Italian Institute of Culture. In July 23 he marries Drusilla Tanzi in a religious ceremony at the parish church of Sant'Ilario at Montereggi (Fiesole). On December 7 he receives the Premio Internazionale Feltrinelli of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei at La Piccola Scala in Milan. The Officina Bodoni of Verona publishes Satura (edition for the wedding of Alessandra Fagiuoli and Gabriele Crespi, celebrated at Formia on December 22). For Christmas 1962-New Year 1963 Scheiwiller brings out Accordi & Pastelli ("Harmony and Pastels").

1963 - On April 30 he celebrates a civil marriage with Drusilla Tanzi in Florence. In August Drusilla Tanzi breaks her thighbone in a fall. She dies in the Milan Polyclinic on October 20. Gina Tiossi remains at Eugenio Montale's side.

1964 - In January he is sent to the Holy Land in the retinue of Paul VI.

1965 - On April 24 he gives the final report at the International Congress of Dantesque Studies in the Salone del Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. On October 28 he celebrates the centenary of Dante at the Maison de l'UNESCO in Paris.

1966 - On January 27 Vanni Scheiwiller publishes Il colpevole ("The Culprit"). On February 7 the Letters written by Montale to Svevo and Svevo to Montale are brought out by the De Donato - "Leonardo da Vinci" press. In June the essays and articles of Auto da fé are published by Il Saggiatore. In the autumn the Tipografia C. Bellabarba of San Severino Marche prints fifty copies of Xenia.

1967 - In January he is invited to the Italian Institute of Culture in Paris. On June 13 he is appointed a senator for life by the president of the Republic, Giuseppe Saragat. In September he moves from Via Bigli, 11 to Via Bigli, 15.

1969 - In April Fuori di casa is published by Ricciardi.

1971 - In January Mondadori brings out Satura. Vanni Scheiwiller prints La poesia non esiste ("Poetry Does Not Exist") on February 8, the Seconda maniera of Marmeladov on October 12 and Diario del '71 at Christmas.

1972 - In November the Officina Bodoni publishes Il poeta. Diario; Rizzoli brings out Nel nostro tempo ("In Our Time").

1973 - Giorgio Lucini brings out Trentadue variazioni ("Thirty-Two Variations"). In March Mondadori publishes the Diario del '71 e del '72. On November 30 Eugenio Montale retires from his job as an editor at Il Corriere della Sera.

1975 - On October 23 the news of the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Eugenio Montale is made public. On December 10 he receives the prize in Stockholm. On December 12 he gives the speech Is Poetry Still Possible? at the Swedish Academy. The speech is published as È ancora possibile la poesia? by Italica. For Christmas 1975-New Year 1976 Vanni Scheiwiller brings out Otto poesie ("Eight Poems").

1976 - In September Massimiliano Boni publishes Michelangelo poeta, edited by Armando Brissoni. In November Mondadori brings out Montale's writings Sulla poesia ("On Poetry"), edited by Giorgio Zampa.

1977 - At the end of April Montale meets Jorge Luis Borges. In June Mondadori publishes Laura Barile's bibliography of his work, Bibliografia montaliana, and in September the Quaderno di quattro anni ("Notebook of Four Years"). On October 29 the honorary citizenship of Florence is conferred on Montale. In November Mondadori publishes Montale's complete poems in one volume, Tutte le poesie.

1978 - On March 29 he receives from the ambassador of the United States Richard Gardner the appointment as honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

1980 - Last summer at Forte dei Marmi. On November 29 Einaudi brings out the critical edition of Eugenio Montale's poetry, L'opera in versi, edited by Rosanna Bettarini and Gianfranco Contini.

1981 - In January Le Monnier publishes I miei scritti sul "Mondo" (da Bonsanti a Pannunzio) ("My Writings in Il Mondo (from Bonsanti a Pannunzio)"), edited by Giovanni Spadolini. In May Mondadori brings out Altri versi e poesie disperse ("Other Verses and Lost Poems"), edited by Giorgio Zampa. Hospitalized at the beginning of August in the Casa di Cura San Pio X, Eugenio Montale dies at 9.27 pm on Saturday September 12. On September 14 his state funeral is held in the cathedral in the presence of the president of the Republic, Sandro Pertini. On September 15 Eugenio Montale is buried in the cemetery of San Felice at Ema (Florence), alongside his wife Drusilla Tanzi. A few days later, in October, Mondadori publishes Montale's writings on music under the title Prime alla Scala, edited by Gianfranca Lavezzi.