1891 – He is born on 22 January in Ales (Cagliari, now Oristano), to Francesco, a civil servant at the office of the registry of Ghilarza, and Giuseppina Marcias. He is the fourth of seven children (Gennaro, Grazietta, Emma, Antonio, Mario, Teresina and Carlo).

 
1894 – He attends a kindergarten run by the nuns of Sorgono.

1895 – His physical abnormality due to Pott’s disease begins to appear, which the family attributes to a presumed fall from a housekeeper’s arms.

1898 – His father is arrested for an administrative irregularity. His mother and the children move to Ghilarza.

1900 – On 27 October, his father was sentenced to more than 5 years of prison, to be served in Gaeta.

1903 – He attends elementary school, earning the highest scores in all subjects. Because of his family’s difficult financial conditions, he interrupts his studies and works for two years at the Direct Taxation Agency and the Land Registry of Ghilarza.

1904 – His father is released from prison and returns to Ghilarza.

1905 – In autumn, he registers for the lower secondary school at the Carta-Meloni Institute of Santu Lussurgiu.

 
1908 – He obtains his diploma at Oristano and registers at the upper-level secondary Dettòri School of Cagliari. He lives with his older brother Gennaro and spends time in the youthful environment of the socialist movement.

1910 – He publishes his first article in the Cagliari newspaper «L’Unione sarda»

1911 – Having achieved his secondary school education, he wins a scholarship to the Carlo Alberto College of Turin for disadvantaged students from the old provinces of the Kingdom of Sardinia. On 16 November, he enrolls in the Faculty of Letters for Modern Philology at the University of Turin.

1913 – He registers for the Turin chapter of the PSI [Italian Socialist Party].

1915 – He interrupts his university studies and concentrates on journalism, intensifying his relationship with the Socialist movement. In December, he is hired by the editorial office of Avanti! He works on the weekly Il Grido del Popolo.

1917 – In September, he takes over the temporary executive direction of the Socialist chapter of Turin, and manages Il Grido del Popolo until December.  

1919 – With Palmiro Togliatti, Angelo Tasca and Umberto Terracini, he founds L’Ordine Nuovo [The New Order], a weekly Socialist newspaper.

1920 – In May, he attends a meeting of Amadeo Bordiga’s abstentionist Communist group in Florence. He participates in the factory occupation movement. In November, he takes part in the Imola conference, where he officially joins the Communist subgroup of the PSI.

1921 – On January 1, the first issue of L’Ordine Nuovo comes out, and he begins managing the daily. He goes to Livorno 15-21 January to attend the XVII PSI Conference, where the Italian Communist Party (PCI) is formed. He joins the central committee of the PCI.

1922 – At the second PCI conference (20-24 March), he is assigned to represent the party in the Communist International (Comintern) Executive Committee. In May, he goes to Moscow and participates in the second conference of the enlarged Executive Committee of the Comintern. Because of his health problems, he is admitted to the Serebryany Bor nursing home, where he meets Eugenia Schucht, who is a patient there, as well as her sister Giulia, in September. He participates in the fourth conference of the Comintern (5 November – 5 December). On 25 October, he has a conversation with Lenin.

 
1923 – Barred from returning to Italy because of the warrant issued for his arrest, he remains in Moscow. In December, he goes to Vienna, assigned by the Comintern with the task of maintaining a connection between the Italian party and the European Communist parties.

1924 – On 12 February, the first issue of L’Unità comes out in Milan. The third series of L’Ordine Nuovo, a fortnightly, begins and is published in Rome. Elected as a deputy for Veneto in the political elections on 6 April, he returns to Italy in May. He joins the Executive Committee of the PCI and moves to Rome. In August, he is elected secretary of the party. On 10 August, Giulia gives birth to their first child, Delio, in Moscow.

1925 – In February, he meets Tatiana Schucht, Giulia’s older sister, in Rome. Between March and April, he returns to Moscow and participates in work for the enlarged Fifth Executive Committee of the Comintern. In autumn, Giulia and Delio join him in Rome.

1926 – At the third PCI conference (Lyons, 20-26 January) he presents a report on the general political situation. Giulia returns to Moscow, where Giuliano is born on 30 August. On 8 November, following the enactment of ‘exceptional’ laws, he is arrested and locked in the prison at Regina Coeli. He is assigned to police custody in Ustica, where he moves on 7 December.

1927 – On 14 January, the military tribunal of Milan issues a warrant for his capture. On 20 January, he is taken to the San Vittore prison in Milan. The hard life of prison has an impact on his health; his sister-in-law Tatiana nurses him.

1928 – On 28 May, a proceeding against him and the managing group of the PCI begins in Rome, at a special tribunal for the defence of the state. On 4 June, he is sentenced to 20 years, 4 months and 5 days of imprisonment. Because of his compromised health conditions, he is sent to the penal institution for the physically and mentally handicapped in Turi.

1929 – In January, he receives permission to write, and on 8 February he begins his first notebook.

1932 – Following amnesty measures and remission for the tenth anniversary of the March on Rome, his sentence is reduced to 12 years and 4 months. He begins drafting the special notebooks. On 30 December, his mother dies in Ghilarza.

1933 – After his illness worsens, on 19 November he leaves the penal institution in Turi. Later, he is admitted to the clinic in Formia. In October, he forwards a request for conditional freedom, which is granted.

1935 – After a new health crisis, he is moved to the Quisisana clinic in Rome. He permanently interrupts his writing in the Notebooks.

1937 – Having just regained full freedom, on 25 April he is stricken by a cerebral haemorrhage. He dies two days later. His sister-in-law Tatiana recovers the Notebooks and his books. Hi ashes, initially sent to the Verano cemetery, will be buried in the Non-Catholic Cemetery of Rome.