1919	31 July: Primo Levi is born in Turin in a house where he will live for the rest of his life.
1934	Attends public high school Massimo D'Azeglio in Turin.
1937	Enrolls at the University of Turin to major in chemistry.
1938	Fascist government issues the first racial laws. The Jews are forbidden to attend public schools, but since Levi was already enrolled, he is allowed to complete his studies.
1941	July: Graduates from the University of Turin summa cum laude. Finds semi-legal employment in an asbestos cave near Lanzo, in Piedmont. His name is kept off the payroll.
1942	Moves to Milan, where he works for the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Wander.
1943	July: Fall of the Fascist government and arrest and imprisonment of Mussolini. Levi joins Partisan forces in the Aosta region, north of Turin, to fight against Fascist forces. -13 December: Arrested with two fellow partisans and, upon admitting to being Jewish, is sent to the concentration camp of Carpi-Fossoli, near Modena.
1944	22 February: From the concentration camp at Carpi-Fossoli, now under the control of German forces, Levi and other prisoners are deported to Auschwitz. Of the 650 prisoners who were taken to Auschwitz with Levi, only 15 men and 8 women will return home.
1945	27 January: Levi and other prisoners are liberated from Auschwitz by Russian units. -19 October: Returns to Turin.
1946	Finds employment at Duco-Montecatini, a paint factory in Avigliana, outside Turin.
1947	Resigns from his job at Duco.- First publication of Se questo è un uomo (If This is a Man) (Survival in Auschwitz). Following rejection by Einaudi publisher, his manuscript is accepted and published by De Silva. Twenty-five hundred copies are printed, most of which will go unsold and then be lost in the Florence flood of 1966. -September: Marries Lucia Morpurgo, who will bear him two children: Lisa Lorenza (1948) and Renzo (1957). -December: Accepts a position as a chemist in the laboratory of a small paint company, SIVA, outside Turin.
1956	Encouraged by the interest many young people had shown in his experiences, Levi resubmits his work to Einaudi; this time it is accepted for publication.
1958	Einaudi publishes Se questo è un uomo (Survival in Auschwitz).
1963	April: Publication of La tregua (The Reawakening).
	-September: La tregua receives the Campiello Literary Prize.
1965	La tregua is translated into English and published under the title The Truce.
1966	Levi writes Storie naturali, a collection of short stories, published under the pseudonym Damiano Malabaila.
1967	Receives the Bagutta literary prize for Storie naturali.
1971	Publication of Vizio di forma, Levi's second collection of short stories.
1973	Travels extensively to the Soviet Union for work reasons. This experience will serve as inspiration for his book La chiave a stella (The Monkey's Wrench).
1975	Decides to take early retirement from SIVA but will stay on for two more years as a consultant. -Publication of Il sistema periodico (The Periodic Table), for which he receives the Premio Prato per la Resistenza. -Submits for publication L'osteria di Brema, a small collection of poems. Later the collection it will be enlarged and published under the title Ad ora incerta.
1977	Ends his association with SIVA to devote himself full-time to writing.
1978	Publication of La chiave a stella (The Monkey's Wrench). The book is well received. -July: La chiave a stella receives the Strega literary prize.
1981	Publication of La ricerca delle radici, a personal anthology including writers and works that Levi considers central to his own cultural formation. -October: Publication of Lilit e altri racconti (Moments of Reprieve).
1982	April: Publication of Se non ora, quando? (If Not Now, When?). -June: Se non ora, quando? receives the Viareggio literary prize. -September: Se non ora, quando? receives the Campiello literary prize. -Levi returns for a second visit to Auschwitz.
1983	April: Levi's translation of Kafka's The Trial is published.
1984	November: English translation of The Periodic Table is published in the United States.
1985	January: Publication of L'altrui mestiere (Other People's Trades), a collection of writings, mostly essays, that had appeared in the Turin daily La Stampa between the years 1975 and 1985. -English translation of If Not Now, When? is published in the United States. -April: Visits the United States to promote If Not Now, When? and is invited to lecture at several universities.
1986	April: Publication of I sommersi e i salvati (The Drowned and the Saved). -English translation of The Monkey's Wrench is published in the United States Moments of Reprieve, the English translation of an abridged version of Lilit e altri racconti, is published in the United States. -November: Publication of Racconti e saggi.
1987	April 11: Dies in the house where he was born. -May: Publication of Autoritratto di Primo Levi, Ferdinando Camon's extensive and very useful interview with Primo Levi.
1988	The Drowned and the Saved, English translation of I sommersi e i salvati, appears in the United States. -Collected Poems, English translation of the collection of poems Ad ora incerta, appears in the United States.
1989	Dialogue, English translation of Dialogo, a valuable document in the form of an exchange of views between Primo Levi and the physicist Tullio Regge, appears in the United States. -The Mirror Maker, an English translation of portions of Racconti & saggi and of some additional essays, is published in the United States. -Conversations with Primo Levi, the English translation of Autoritratto di Primo Levi, appears in print in the United States, as does Other People's Trades, the English version of L'altrui mestiere.
1990	May: The Sixth Day and Other Tales, an abridged version of the English translation of Storie naturali and of Vizio di forma, appears in the United States.