Umberto I, King of Italy or Humbert I of Italy (Umberto Ranieri Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Eugenio di Savoy), (14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900) was the King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his death. He was deeply loathed in left-wing circles, especially among anarchists, because of his hard-line conservatism and support of the Bava Beccaris massacre in Milan. He was killed by anarchist Gaetano Bresci two years after the incident. He was the only head of the Italian state to be assassinated.

Reign
While on a tour of the kingdom, accompanied by Premier Benedetto Cairoli, he was attacked by an anarchist, Giovanni Passannante, during a parade in Naples on (November 17, 1878). The king warded off the blow with his sabre, but Cairoli, in attempting to defend him, was severely wounded in the thigh. The would-be assassin was condemned to death, but the king commuted the sentence to one of penal servitude for life. The incident upset the health of Queen Margherita for several years.

First assassination attempt
The reign of Umberto I was a time of social upheaval, though it was later claimed to have been a tranquil belle époque. Social tensions mounted as a consequence of the relatively recent occupation of the kingdom of the two Sicilies, the spread of socialist ideas, public hostility to the colonialist plans of the various governments, especially Crispi's, and the numerous crackdowns on civil liberties. The protesters included the young, then left-wing, Benito Mussolini.

Turmoil
In foreign policy Umberto I approved the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Germany, repeatedly visiting Vienna and Berlin. Many in Italy, however, viewed with hostility an alliance with the former Austrian enemies in the independence wars, who were still occupying areas claimed by Italy.
He was also favourably disposed towards the policy of colonial expansion inaugurated in 1885 by the occupation of Massawa. He was suspected of aspiring to a vast empire in north-east Africa, a suspicion which tended somewhat to diminish his popularity after the disaster of Adowa on 1 March 1896.

Alliances and colonialism

Main article: Bava-Beccaris massacre The Bava Beccaris massacre
Being increasingly unpopular, Umberto I was victim of yet another murder attempt, by an unemployed ironsmith, Pietro Acciarito, who tried to stab him near Rome on 22 April 1897.
Finally, he was murdered with four revolver shots by the Italo-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci in Monza, on the evening of 29 July 1900. Bresci claimed he wanted to avenge the people killed by Bava Beccaris. Official propaganda of the day gave the assassinated King the nickname "the Good".
He was buried in the Pantheon in Rome, by the side of his father Victor Emmanuel II, on 9 August 1900. He was also the last Savoy to be buried there, as his son and successor Victor Emmanuel III died in exile.

Titles and honours as King of Italy

"Remember to be a king all you need to know is how to sign your name, read a newspaper and mount a horse".