Events during the year 1978 in Italy
Incumbents President – Giovanni Leone until 15 June; Sandro Pertini from 9 July Prime Minister – Giulio Andreotti
Events 26 to 28 January – Sanremo Music Festival 1978: Matia Bazar band wins with the song "...e dirsi ciao". 31 January – Third Andreotti government falls after Italian Communist Party withdraws support. 13 March – Fourth Andreotti government formed (until March 1979). 16 March – Former prime minister Aldo Moro kidnapped – the apogee of Italy's Years of Lead. New Andreotti government obtains confidence vote. 7 May – 1977–78 Serie A ends: Juventus wins 18th title. 9 May – Moro's body was found in Rome. 13 May – Basaglia Law approved: gradual dismantling of psychiatric hospitals is initiated. The largest asylum was Mombello Psychiatric Hospital. 22 May – Law No. 194 is signed: Abortion in Italy becomes legal. 11 and 12 June – 1978 Italian referendums. 15 June – President Giovanni Leone resigns under pressure from Lockheed bribery scandal. 29 June to 8 July – 1978 Italian presidential election: President of the Chamber of Deputies Sandro Pertini was elected with 832 votes out of 1,011. He is president until 1985. 6 August – Pope Paul VI dies in Castel Gandolfo. 26 August – Cardinal Albino Luciani, the patriarch of Venice, elected pope – John Paul I. So far, 2026, last Italian pope. 21 September – The Tree of Wooden Clogs by Ermanno Olmi released. 28 September – Pope John Paul I dies in Apostolic Palace, Vatican City. 16 October – Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, the archbishop of Kraków, elected pope – John Paul II (until 2005).
Births 28 January – Gianluigi Buffon, goalkeeper Barbara Labate, enterpreneur
Deaths 9 May – Aldo Moro, former Prime Minister (b. 1916) 30 July – Umberto Nobile, Arctic explorer (b. 1885) 6 August – Pope Paul VI (b. 1897) 22 August – Ignazio Silone, politician and writer (b. 1900) 28 September – Pope John Paul I (b. 1912) 20 November – Giorgio de Chirico, artist (b. 1888) 28 November – Carlo Scarpa, arhitect (b. 1906) Lea Del Bo Rossi, medical researcher (b. 1903)
See also List of Italian films of 1978 1978 in Italian television
References