In 1902 a new working law limited the working day for women to 11 hours and prohibited employment of children under the age of 12. Socialist trade unionism enjoys rapid growth in 1901–02. In 1902 nearly 250,000 industrial workers were organized in the Socialist national federations. The main labour organizations, the Camera del Lavoro also expanded rapidly: from 14 in 1900 to 76 in 1902.
June 30 – Italy and France sign a secret treaty whereby France agreed to back Italy's claims in Libya, while Italy supported French influence in Morocco. Italy was to remain neutral in case of German aggression against France, undermining the Triple Alliance.
August 1 – The conviction of the former Deputy from Palermo, Raffaele Palizzolo, for the murder in 1893 of Emanuele Notarbartolo, former mayor of Palermo and former director general of the Banco di Sicilia, is hailed as a big blow against the Sicilian Mafia. The Assize Court in Bologna convicted Palizzolo and two others to 30 years of imprisonment.
August 29 – General strike in Florence in support of a labour conflict at the Pignone iron works. Six thousands troops are called out to maintain order. With the exception of the metal workers of the Pignone iron works, most strikers returned to work on September 2.
September
September 8 – Five persons are killed and 10 wounded in Candela during a strike of 400 peasants over a dispute with landowners over wages. The strikers blocked all the roads in the area and the military was called out resulting in violent clashes that ended in troops firing at the strikers.
September 14–30 – Prime Minister Zanardelli undertakes a journey through Basilicata – one of the poorest regions in Italy – to see for himself the problems in the Mezzogiorno.
September 26 – A violent cyclone hits the east coast of Sicily. The town of Catania is flooded; 300 lives are lost in Modica. The Cathedral of Belpasso was partly destroyed burying worshippers in the ruins. 600 people were reported dead.
November 15 – Prime Minister Zanardelli presents social reforms, including a reduction of the tax on salt, partial abolition of the land tax for small holdings and exemption of income tax for workmen's wages, as well as a Divorce Bill.
November 26 – In response the social reforms presented by the government, conservative opposition leaderSidney Sonnino introduces a reform bill to alleviate poverty in southern Italy. The bill provides for a reduction of the land tax in Sicily, Calabria and Sardinia, the facilitation of agricultural credit, the re-establishment of the system of perpetual lease for small holdings dissemination and enhancement of agrarian contracts in order to combine the interests of farmers with those of the land-owners.
December
December 9 – Start of the Venezuelan crisis, in which Britain, Germany and Italy sustain a naval blockade on Venezuela in order to enforce collection of outstanding financial claims and President Cipriano Castro's refusal to pay foreign debts and damages suffered by European citizens in the 1892 Venezuelan civil war.
