March 6 - Sanremo:
Marco Masini wins with the Flying Man at the 54th edition of the Italian Song Festival.
March 20 - second world day against the war; millions of people take to the streets all over the world, hundreds of thousands in
Rome.
April 13 - in
Iraq four Italians were kidnapped. They are Maurizio Agliana, Umberto Cupertino, Fabrizio Quattrocchi and Salvatore Stefio. Quattrocchi l was killed, and the other three were freed after 56 days.
8 June - the three Italian hostages and a Pole are released in
Iraq during a targeted action.
1 September - in the
Mazara del Vallo area, a 3 years old girl named
Denise Pipitone disappears while playing in the street. the issue will be closed to be reopened in 2021.
November 25 - the President of the Italian Republic
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi grants pardon to Graziano Mesina, known as "Grazianeddu", former red primrose of Sardinian banditry.
December 7 - after three years of restructuring, the Teatro alla Scala in
Milan reopens with the opera L'Europarecognata by
Antonio Salieri.