Difference between revisions 892000 and 897888 on iowiki

{| class="infobox" cellpadding="1" align="right" style="width:130px;border:1px solid #1111A2;background:#f7f8ff;padding:5px;font-size:80%;margin:5px 1px 5px 5px;"
| style="background: #008000; border:1px solid #008000; text-align: center; padding: 0 2px;" | <big><big>'''[[Historio di Italia|<span style="color: white; text-decoration: #00B0C7;">Historio di Italia</span></div>]]'''</big></big>
|-
|align="center"|[[Arkivo:Flag-map of Italy.svg|200px]]

|-
|style="padding: 0.3em; background-color: #008000"| <center><span style="color: white; text-decoration: #00B0C7;">'''Prehistorio ed Antiqueso'''</span></center>
|-
|style="padding: 0.1em"|
* [[Prehistorio di Italia|Prehistorio]]
* [[Etruscan civilization]] (12th&ndash;6th c. BC)
* [[Magna Graecia]] (8th&ndash;7th c. BC)
* [[Antiqua Roma]] (8th c. BC&ndash;5th c. AD)
* [[Ostrogoths|Ostrogothic domination]] (5th&ndash;6th c.)
|-
|style="padding: 0.3em; background-color: #008000"| <center><span style="color: white; text-decoration: #00B0C7;">'''Mezepoko'''</span></center>
|-
|style="padding: 0.1em"|
* [[Italy in the Middle Ages]]
* [[Bizancana Imperio|Byzantine reconquest of Italy]] (6th&ndash;8th c.)
* [[Lombards|Lombard domination]] (6th&ndash;8th c.)
* [[Kingdom of Italy (medieval)|Italy in the Carolingian Empire and HRE]]
* [[History of Islam in southern Italy|Islam]] and [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|Normans]] in southern Italy
* [[Maritime Republics]] and [[Italian city-states]]
* [[Guelfi e Gibelini]]

|-
|style="padding: 0.3em; background-color: #008000"| <center><span style="color: white; text-decoration: #00B0C7;">'''Moderna ero'''</span></center>
|-
|style="padding: 0.1em"|
* [[Italiana Renesanco]] (14th&ndash;16th c.)
* [[Italian Wars]] (1494&ndash;1559)
* [[History of Italy (1559–1814)|Foreign domination]] (1559&ndash;1814)
* [[Italian unification]] (1815&ndash;1861)
|-
|style="padding: 0.3em; background-color: #008000"| <center><span style="color: white; text-decoration: #00B0C7;">'''Nun-tempala ero'''</span></center>
|-
|style="padding: 0.1em"|
* [[History of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Monarchy]] (1861&ndash;1945)
* [[Military history of Italy during World War I|Italy in World War I]] (1914&ndash;1918)
* [[Italian Fascism|Fascism]] and [[Italian Empire|Colonial Empire]] (1918&ndash;1945)
* [[Military history of Italy during World War II|Italy in World War II]] (1940&ndash;1945)
* [[History of the Italian Republic|Republic]] (1945&ndash;''present'')
* [[Years of Lead (Italy)|Years of Lead]] (1970s&ndash;1980s)

|}
Italiana peninsulo montras evidentajo di habito per anatomiale moderna homi komencas circa 43,000 yari ante nun. Esas atingita da neolitiko* tante frua kam 6000 aK. Italiana bronzo evo komencas cirkum 1500 aK, probabla korespondanta a l'arivo di [[Indo-Europana linguaro|Indo-Europana parolanti]] qua divenos Italiana populi di fera evo; apud frua Italian kulturi, etruskana civilizeso en centrala Italia e grekia kolonii en la sudo dum 8 til 5 yarcenti aK.

Inter italiana populi, Latini, origine situita en Latium* regiono, e lua latina linguo divenos a dominacar la peninsulo kun la romana konquesto di Italia dum triesma yarcento aK.
Romana republiko e plu tarde romana imperio dominacis Italia dum multa yarcenti, e plue establisita la kulturo e civilizeso di westala Europa generale, inkluzanta l'adoptado e posa difuzo di Kristanismo kam statala religio dum fina di quar yarcento.

La [[Fiasko di Westala Imperio|dekado de fiasko di westala imperio]] dum fina di 5ma yarcento esas prenita por indikar la fino di [[lasta antiqueso]]. Lombardiano rejio di Italia esis establisita, quankam parti di peninsulo restita sub bizantina guverno ed influado til 11ma yarcento. Lombardiano rejio esis inkluzata en Francia ed fine Santa Romana Imperio, quankam l'expanso di urbana stati, e specale la potenta maritima republiki dum mezepoka periodo duktis a politikala fragmentigo.
Fine, pos funesta I[[taliana militi]], la peninsula esis dividita inter la granda povi di frua moderna Europa, Hispania ed Austria, e lasta faligita sub Franca imperio di Napoleon 1ma, Papala stati esis reducita a la kontrolo di santa sideyo en Roma.

Kun l'expanso di nationalismo e l'ideo di naciono stato dum 19ma yarcento, la peninsulo esis unigita dum lasta 19ma yarcento. La nova rejio di Italia, establisita ye 1861, quick modernigita e konstruktis larja koloniala imperio, kolonizanta parti di Afrika, e landi alonge Mediteraneo. Tamen, multa regioni di yuna naciono (note, la sudo) restis rurala e povra, inicianta la diasporo italiana. Membro di vinkanta federata povi dum unesma mondomilito, Italia vinkis lua historiala enemiko, Austrian imperio. Balde pose, tamen, la liberala stati krulis a social agiteso; la fashisti, duktanta da Benito Mussolini, prenas la povo e kreita autoritatema diktatoreso. Italia unionis Axala povi dum duesma mondomilito, falanta en sangala civila milito en 1943, kun fashista sedicio fine vinkita en printempo 1945.

En 1946, kom rezulto di [[Italiana konstitucala referovoto|konstitucala referovoto]], la monarkio esis abolisita<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=3437&HistoryID=ac52&gtrack=pthc |title=History of ITALY |publisher=Historyworld.net |accessdate=24 April 2010}}</ref>. La nova [[republiko]] esis proklamita ye 2 di junio 1946. Dum 1950a e 1960a, Italia vidis periodo di rapida moderneso* e sustenita ekonomikala augmento, la ta-nomita [[Italiana ekonomiko miraklo]]. La lando, rivenita a internacionala politiko inter westala demokratika povi, juntita [[Europa ekonomika komuneso]] (qua esis pose konstitutita [[Europana  Uniono]]), [[Unionita nacioni]], NATO, G7 ed Organizuro por ekonomikala kooperado e developado. Italia esas nuna klasifikita kam precipua Europana povo<ref name="jstor.org">{{cite web|url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266(198801)103%3A406%3C154%3APIEGBF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7 |title=jstor.org |publisher=Links.jstor.org |accessdate=24 April 2010}}</ref><ref name="foreignaffairs.org">[http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060501faessay85305/ben-w-heineman-jr-fritz-heimann/the-long-war-against-corruption.html foreignaffairs.org]| Ben W. Heineman, Jr., and Fritz Heimann speak of Italy as a major country or "player" along with Germany, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom, in "The Long War Against Corruption".</ref><ref name="Leonardis, 2003, p. 17" >M. De Leonardis, ''Il Mediterraneo nella politica estera italiana del secondo dopoguerra'', Bologna, Il Mulino, 2003, p. 17</ref><ref name="carabinieri.it">{{cite web|url=http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Editoria/Rassegna%2BArma/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Editoria/Rassegna%252BArma/%26hl%3Den |title=carabinieri.it |publisher=Google  |accessdate=24 April 2010}}</ref><ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=X4xw8-Oj9usC&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=regional+power+italy+in+europe#PPP1,M1 |title=books.google.com |publisher=Google Books |accessdate=24 April 2010 | isbn=978-0-415-14044-7|year=1998}}</ref>.

==Prehistory==
{{PA|Prehistoriala Italia}}
[[File:Matera0005.jpg|thumbnail|left|[[Matera]], qua datizas de paleolitiko* [[10ma yarmilo]] aK, (regiono di [[Basilikata]]).]]

En prehistoriala tempo, Italiana peninsulo esis diferanta de lua nuna formo. Dum la lasta [[glaciala evo]], l'insuli di [[Elba]] e [[Sicilia]] esis konektita kun kontinentala teritorio. [[Adriatika maro]] esis multa plu mikra, dekande komencas a qua esas nuna [[Gargano]] peninsulo, e qua esas nuna la gulfo di [[Venezia]] esas fertila planajo kun humida klimato.

Utensilosilexi deskovrita en Piro norda montras ke antiqua homi asistis en Italia 1.5 miliono ante nun<ref>http://www.researchgate.net/publication/222701100_Out_of_Africa_The_first_evidence_of_Italian_peninsula_occupation/file/d912f507e545a869d9.pdf</ref>. La prezenteso di ''[[homo neanderthalensis]]''* esis demonstrita en arkeologiala konstati datanta en c. 50,000 yari ante (lasta [[Pleistoceno]]). Homo sapiens sapiens aparis dum alta [[Paleolitiko]]*<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/science/fossil-teeth-put-humans-in-europe-earlier-than-thought.html?scp=1&sq=kents%20cavern&st=cse | work=The New York Times | title=Fossil Teeth Put Humans in Europe Earlier Than Thought | date=2 November 2011}}</ref>.

In November 2011 tests conducted at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit in England on what were previously thought to be Neanderthal baby teeth, which had been unearthed in 1964 from the Grotta del Cavallo, were identified as the oldest modern human remains discovered anywhere in Europe, dating from between 43,000 to 45,000 years ago.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Remains of the later prehistoric age have been found in [[Liguria]], Lombardy (stone carvings in [[Valcamonica]]) and in Sardinia ([[nuraghe]]). The most famous is perhaps that of [[Ötzi the Iceman]], the mummy of a mountain hunter found in the [[Similaun]] glacier in South Tyrol, dating to c. 3000 BC ([[Copper Age]]).

[[File:Menhirmonted'accoddi.png|thumbnail|left|Pyramid of [[Monte d'Accoddi]] is an archaeological site in northern [[Sardinia]], [[Italy]], located in the territory of [[Sassari]] near [[Porto Torres]]. [[4th millennium BC]].]]
[[File:Otzi-Quinson.jpg|thumbnail|[[Ötzi]] la maxima olda mumio en mondo deskovresita en sudala Alpi (regioni di [[Trentino-Alto Adige]]) kun extreme rafinita equipo di ta evo, [[4 yarmilo aK]].]]
During the [[Copper Age]], Indoeuropean people migrated to Italy. Approximatively four waves of population from north to the Alps have been identified. A first Indoeuropean migration occurred around the mid-3rd millennium BC, from population who imported copper smithing. The [[Remedello culture]] took over the [[Po Valley]]. A second wave of immigration occurred in the [[Bronze Age]], from the late 3rd to the early 2nd millennium BC, with tribes identified with the [[Beaker culture]] and by the use of bronze smithing, in the Padan Plain, in Tuscany and on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily.

In the mid-2nd millennium BC, a third wave arrived, associated with the Apenninian civilization and the [[Terramare culture]] which takes its name from the black earth (terremare) residue of settlement mounds, which have long served the fertilizing needs of local farmers. The occupations of the Terramare people as compared with their Neolithic predecessors may be inferred with comparative certainty. They were still hunters, but had domesticated animals; they were fairly skillful metallurgists, casting bronze in moulds of stone and clay, and they were also agriculturists, cultivating beans, the vine, wheat and flax.

In the late Bronze Age, from the late 2nd millennium to the early 1st millennium BC, a fourth wave, the [[Proto-Villanovan culture]], related to the Central European [[Urnfield culture]], brought iron-working to the Italian peninsula. Proto-villanovans practiced cremation and buried the ashes of their dead in pottery urns of distinctive double-cone shape. Generally speaking, Proto-Villanovan settlements were centered in the northern-central part of the peninsula. Further south, in [[Campania]], a region where inhumation was the general practice, Proto-villanovan cremation burials have been identified at Capua, at the "princely tombs" of Pontecagnano near Salerno (finds conserved in the Museum of Agro Picentino) and at Sala Consilina.

===Nuragika civilizo===
{{PA|Nuragika civilizo}}
[[File:Nuraghe Su Nuraxi.jpg|thumbnail|[[Su Nuraxi]] [[nuraghe]], [[Sardinia]], [[Italy]], [[2nd millennium BC]].]]
[[File:Boxer monte prama1.JPG|thumbnail|left|[[Giants of Mont'e Prama]], [[Sardinia]], [[Italy]], [[2nd millennium BC]].]]

Located in [[Sardinia]] and [[Corsica]], the [[nuraghe]] civilization lasted from the early [[Bronze Age]] (18th century BC) to the 2nd century AD, when the islands were already Romanized. They take their name from the characteristic nuragic towers, which evolved from the pre-existing megalithic culture, which built [[dolmen]]s and [[menhir]]s. The nuraghe towers are unanimously considered the best preserved and largest megalithic remains in Europe. Their effective use is still debated: some scholars considered them as monumental tombs, others as [[Giants' grave|Houses of the Giants]], other as fortresses, ovens for metal fusion, prisons or, finally, temples for a solar cult.

A warrior and mariner people, the ancient Sardinians held flourishing trades with the other Mediterranean peoples. This is shown by numerous remains contained in the nuraghe, such as amber coming from the [[Baltic Sea]], small bronzes portraying African apes and animals, copper nuggets and weapons from Eastern Mediterranean, [[Mycenae]]an ceramics. It has been hypothesized that the ancient Sardinians, or part of them, could be identified with one of the so-called [[Peoples of the Sea]] (in particular, the [[Sherden]]) who attacked [[ancient Egypt]] and other regions of eastern Mediterranean.

Other original elements of the Sardinian civilization include the temples known as "Sacred Pits", perhaps dedicated to the [[holy water]] related to the Moon and astronomical cycles, the [[Giants' grave]]s, the Megaron temples, several structures for juridical and leisure functions, and some refined statuettes. Some of them have been discovered in [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] tombs, suggesting a strong relationship between the two peoples.

==Feroepoko==
{{PA|Iron Age Italy}}

Italia gradoze eniras la protohistoriala periodo dum 8ma aK, kun l'endukto di [[Feniciana skribajo]] e lua adapto en diversa [[Italiana skribaji|regionala varianti]].

La [[Nomo di Italia|nomo ''Italia'']] esis en origino aplikita nur a parto di qua esas nuna [[Kalabria]], posible de [[Oskana linguo|Oskana]] nomo ''Víteliú'', interpretita kom "[lando] di yuna bovo". Ol ne esas aplikita a tota peninsula (nun sub [[Romana Italio|Romana regulo]]) til 1ma yarcento aK<ref>Pallottino, M., History of Earliest Italy, trans. Ryle, M & Soper, K. in Jerome Lectures, Seventeenth Series, p. 50</ref>.

===Etruska civilizo===
{{PA|Etruscan civilization}}

[[File:Etruscan civilization map.png|thumb|Map of Etruscan civilisation.]]
[[File:Etruscan Painting 1.jpg|thumbnail|left|Etruscan painting, 5th century BC.]]

The [[Etruscan civilization]] flourished in central Italy after 800 BC. The origins of the Etruscans are lost in prehistory. The main hypotheses are that they are indigenous, probably stemming from the [[Villanovan culture]], or that they are the result of invasion from the north or the [[Near East]]. A more recent study has suggested a [[Near East]]ern origin.<ref>{{cite journal  |vauthors=Achilli A, Olivieri A, Pala M, etal |title=Mitochondrial DNA variation of modern Tuscans supports the near eastern origin of Etruscans |journal=Am. J. Hum. Genet. |volume=80 |issue=4 |pages=759–68 |date=April 2007 |pmid=17357081 |pmc=1852723 |doi=10.1086/512822 |url=http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0002-9297(07)61106-9}}</ref> The researchers conclude that their data, taken from the modern Tuscan population, 'support the scenario of a post-Neolithic genetic input from the Near East to the present-day population of Tuscany’. In the absence of any dating evidence there is however no direct link between this genetic input and the Etruscans.

The Etruscans are generally believed to have spoken a non-[[Indo-European language]] or an ancient Anatolic language ([[Luwian language|Luvio]]). Some inscriptions in a similar language have been found on the Aegean island of [[Lemnos]]. Etruscans were a monogamous society that emphasized pairing. The historical Etruscans had achieved a form of state with remnants of chiefdom and tribal forms. The Etruscan religion was an [[Etruscan polytheism|immanent polytheism]], in which all visible phenomena were considered to be a manifestation of divine power, and deities continually acted in the world of men and could, by human action or inaction, be dissuaded against or persuaded in favor of human affairs.

[[File:Tomba dei Rilievi (Banditaccia).jpg|thumbnail|Necropolis of Banditaccia located in [[Cerveteri]] in [[Lazio]].]]
[[File:Etruscan pendant with swastika symbols Bolsena Italy 700 BCE to 650 BCE.jpg|thumb|left|[[Etruscan art|Etruscan]] pendant with [[swastika]] symbols, [[Bolsena]], Italy, 700–650 BC. [[Louvre Museum]].]]

Etruscan expansion was focused across the [[Apennines]]. Some small towns in the 6th century BC have disappeared during this time, ostensibly consumed by greater, more powerful neighbors. However, there exists no doubt that the political structure of the Etruscan culture was similar, albeit more aristocratic, to Magna Graecia in the south. The mining and commerce of metal, especially copper and iron, led to an enrichment of the Etruscans and to the expansion of their influence in the Italian peninsula and the western [[Mediterranean]] sea. Here their interests collided with those of the Greeks, especially in the 6th century BC, when [[Phoceans]] of Italy founded colonies along the coast of France, Catalonia and [[Corsica]]. This led the Etruscans to ally themselves with the [[Carthaginians]], whose interests also collided with the Greeks.<ref name="historyone">{{cite book|author=Larissa Bonfante |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=4QaXZky58FIC&pg=PA58&dq=Etruscan+League#PPR5,M1 |title=Etruscan life and afterlife|publisher=Google Books | accessdate=22 April 2009 | isbn=978-0-8143-1813-3|year=1986}}</ref><ref name="historytwo">{{cite book|author=John Franklin Hall |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bUhT7i7XhOAC&pg=PA198&dq=Etruscan+League |title=Etruscan Italy |publisher=Google Books | accessdate=22 April 2009 | isbn=978-0-8425-2334-9|year=1996}}</ref>

Around 540 BC, the [[Battle of Alalia]] led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean Sea. Though the battle had no clear winner, [[Carthage]] managed to expand its sphere of influence at the expense of the Greeks, and Etruria saw itself relegated to the northern [[Tyrrhenian Sea]] with full ownership of [[Corsica]]. From the first half of the 5th century, the new international political situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decline after losing their southern provinces. In 480 BC, Etruria's ally Carthage was defeated by a coalition of Magna Graecia cities led by [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]].<ref name="historyone"/><ref name="historytwo"/>

A few years later, in 474, Syracuse's tyrant [[Hiero I of Syracuse|Hiero]] defeated the Etruscans at the [[Battle of Cumae]]. Etruria's influence over the cities of [[Latium]] and Campania weakened, and it was taken over by Romans and [[Samnites]]. In the 4th century, Etruria saw a [[Gaul|Gallic]] invasion end its influence over the [[Po River|Po]] valley and the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] coast. Meanwhile, [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] had started annexing Etruscan cities. This led to the loss of their north provinces. Etruscia was assimilated by Rome around 500 BC.<ref name="historyone"/><ref name="historytwo"/>

===Magna Graecia===
{{PA|Magna Graecia}}

[[File:Sicily Selinunte Temple E (Hera).JPG|thumb|left|Greek temple of [[Hera]], [[Selinunte]], Sicily.]]
[[File:Magna Graecia ancient colonies and dialects-en.svg|thumb|Ancient Greek colonies and their [[:w:Ancient Greek dialects|dialect]] groupings in Southern Italy.<ref>{{Cite book| author=Roger D. Woodard| title = "Greek dialects", in: The Ancient Languages of Europe| publisher=Cambridge University Press| year=  2008| page = 51| isbn = 978-0-521-68495-8}}</ref>

{{legend|#cea980|NW Greek}}
{{legend|#b5ad96|Achaean}}
{{legend|#eacd85|Doric}}
{{legend|#bebada|Ionian}}]]

In the eighth and seventh centuries BC, for various reasons, including demographic crisis (famine, overcrowding, etc.), the search for new commercial outlets and ports, and expulsion from their homeland, Greeks began to settle in Southern Italy (Cerchiai, pp.&nbsp;14–18). Also during this period, Greek colonies were established in places as widely separated as the eastern coast of the [[Black Sea]], [[Cyrenaica|Eastern Libya]] and [[Marseille|Massalia]] ([[Marseille]]). They included settlements in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian peninsula.

The Romans called the area of Sicily and the foot of [[Italy]] [[Magna Graecia]] (Latin, “Great Greece”), since it was so densely inhabited by the [[Greeks]]. The ancient [[geographer]]s differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely [[Apulia]] and [[Calabria]] — [[Strabo]] being the most prominent advocate of the wider definitions.

With this colonization, [[Greek culture]] was exported to Italy, in its dialects of the [[Ancient Greek language]], its religious rites and its traditions of the independent ''[[polis]]''. An original [[Hellenic civilization]] soon developed, later interacting with the native [[Italic languages|Italic]] and [[Rome|Latin civilisation]]s. The most important cultural transplant was the [[Chalcis|Chalcidean]]/[[Cumaean alphabet|Cumaean]] variety of the [[Greek alphabet]], which was adopted by the [[Etruscans]]; the [[Old Italic alphabet]] subsequently evolved into the [[Latin alphabet]], which became the most widely used alphabet in the world.

Many of the new Hellenic cities became very rich and powerful, like ''Neapolis'' (Νεάπολις, [[Naples]], "New City"), ''[[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]]'', ''[[Akragas|Acragas]]'', and ''[[Sybaris]]''  (Σύβαρις). Other cities in Magna Graecia included ''[[Taranto|Tarentum]]'' (Τάρας), ''[[Locri|Epizephyrian Locri]]'' (Λοκροί Ἐπιζεφύριοι), ''[[Rhegion|Rhegium]]'' (Ῥήγιον), ''[[Crotone|Croton]]'' (Κρότων), ''[[Thurii]]'' (Θούριοι), ''[[Velia|Elea]]'' (Ἐλέα), ''[[Nola]]'' (Νῶλα), ''[[Ancona]]'' (Ἀγκών), ''[[Sessa Cilento|Syessa]]'' (Σύεσσα), ''[[Bari]]'' (Βάριον), and others.

After [[Pyrrhus of Epirus]] failed in his attempt to stop the spread of [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] hegemony in 282 BC, the south fell under Roman domination and remained in such a position well into the [[Migration Period|barbarian invasions]] (the [[Gladiator War]] is a notable suspension of [[Roman Empire|imperial]] control). It was held by the [[Byzantine Empire]] after the [[Decline of the Roman Empire|fall of Rome]] in [[Western Roman Empire|the West]] and even the [[Lombards]] failed to consolidate it, though the centre of the south was theirs from [[Zotto]]'s conquest in the final quarter of the 6th century.

==Romana periodo==
{{PA|Antiqua Roma}}

===Romana Rejio===
{{PA|Founding of Rome|Roman Kingdom}}
[[File:She-wolf suckles Romulus and Remus.jpg|thumb|According to legend, [[founding of Rome|Rome was founded]] in 753 BC by [[Romulus and Remus]], who were raised by a she-wolf.]]
[[File:Rome-Palatin-fonds de cabanes.JPG|thumbnail|left|[[Founding of Rome]], 8th century BC.]]

Poka esas certa pri la historio di Romana Rejio, kom preske ne skribita arkivi de ta ero transvivas, e la historii pri to esis skribita dum [[romana Republiko|republiko]] ed [[Romana Imperio|imperio]] esas larje basita sur legendi. Tamen, la historio di romana rejio komencas kun la [[fundo di Roma|fondajo]] di urbo, tradicionale datita 753 aK kun kolonieti cirkum [[Palatino monteto]] alonge rivero [[Tiber]] en [[centrala Italia]], e finigas kun la renverso di reji ed l'establiso di republiko proxim 509 aK.

The site of Rome had a [[Ford (crossing)|ford]] where the Tiber could be crossed. The Palatine Hill and hills surrounding it presented easily defensible positions in the wide fertile plain surrounding them. All of these features contributed to the success of the city.

The traditional account of Roman history, which has come down to us through [[Livy]], [[Plutarch]], [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], and others, is that in Rome's first centuries it was ruled by a succession of seven kings. The traditional chronology, as codified by [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], allots 243 years for their reigns, an average of almost 35 years, which, since the work of [[Barthold Georg Niebuhr]], has been generally discounted by modern scholarship. The [[Gauls]] destroyed much of Rome's historical records when they sacked the city after the [[Battle of the Allia]] in 390 BC (Varronian, according to [[Polybius]] the battle occurred in 387/6) and what was left was eventually lost to time or theft. With no contemporary records of the kingdom existing, all accounts of the kings must be carefully questioned.<ref>Asimov, Isaac. Asimov's Chronology of the World. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. p. 69.</ref>

According to the [[founding myth]] of Rome, the city was [[founding of Rome|founded]] on 21 April 753 BC by twin brothers [[Romulus and Remus]], who descended from the [[Troy|Trojan]] prince [[Aeneas]]<ref>Adkins, 1998. page 3.</ref> and who were grandsons of the Latin King, [[Numitor]] of [[Alba Longa]].

===Romana Republiko===
{{PA|Roman Republic}}
{{VA|Roman conquest of Italy}}
[[File:RomanItaly.svg|thumbnail|The expansion of Roman power in [[Italy]].]]
[[File:Tavares.Forum.Romanum.redux.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Roman Forum]], the commercial, cultural, and political center of the city and the Republic which housed the various offices and meeting places of the government.]]

According to tradition and later writers such as [[Livy]], the [[Roman Republic]] was established around 509 BC,<ref>Langley, Andrew and Souza, de Philip, "The Roman Times", Candle Wick Press, Massachusetts</ref> when the last of the seven kings of Rome, [[Lucius Tarquinius Superbus|Tarquin the Proud]], was deposed by [[Lucius Junius Brutus]], and a system based on annually elected [[Roman Magistrates|magistrates]] and various representative assemblies was established.<ref>Matyszak, 2003. pages 43–44.</ref> A [[constitution of the Roman Republic|constitution]] set a series of checks and balances, and a [[separation of powers]]. The most important magistrates were the two consuls, who together exercised executive authority as ''[[imperium]]'', or military command.<ref>Adkins, 1998. pages 41–42.</ref> The consuls had to work with the [[Roman Senate|senate]], which was initially an advisory council of the ranking nobility, or [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]], but grew in size and power.<ref>[http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ROME/REPUBLIC.HTM Rome: The Roman Republic] by Richard Hooker. [[Washington State University]]. Written 6 June 1999. Retrieved 24 March 2007.</ref>

In the 4th century BC the Republic came under attack by the [[Gauls]], who initially prevailed and sacked Rome. The Romans then took up arms and drove the Gauls back, led by [[Marcus Furius Camillus|Camillus]]. The Romans [[Roman conquest of Italy|gradually subdued]] the other peoples on the Italian peninsula, including the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]].<ref>Haywood, 1971. pages 350–358.</ref> The last threat to Roman [[hegemony]] in Italy came when [[Taranto|Tarentum]], a major [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] colony, enlisted the aid of [[Pyrrhus of Epirus]] in 281 BC, but this effort failed as well.<ref>[http://www.livius.org/ps-pz/pyrrhus/pyrrhus02.html Pyrrhus of Epirus (2)] and [http://www.livius.org/ps-pz/pyrrhus/pyrrhus03.html Pyrrhus of Epirus (3)] by Jona Lendering. Livius.org. Retrieved 2007-03-21.</ref><ref>Haywood, 1971. pages 357–358.</ref>

In the 3rd century BC Rome had to face a new and formidable opponent: the powerful Phoenician city-state of [[Carthage]]. In the three [[Punic Wars]], Carthage was eventually destroyed and Rome gained control over Hispania, Sicily and North Africa. After defeating the [[Macedon]]ian and [[Seleucid Empire]]s in the 2nd century BC, the Romans became the dominant people of the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref name=Bagnall>Bagnall 1990</ref><ref>[http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ROME/CONQHELL.HTM Rome: The Conquest of the Hellenistic Empires] by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 6 June 1999. Retrieved 22 March 2007.</ref> The conquest of the Hellenistic kingdoms provoked a fusion between Roman and Greek cultures and the Roman elite, once rural, became a luxurious and cosmopolitan one. By this time Rome was a consolidated empire – in the military view – and had no major enemies.

[[File:Meyers b9 s0067b.jpg|thumbnail|[[Italy]], 1st century BC.]]
[[File:Vincenzo Camuccini - La morte di Cesare.jpg|thumb|left|''Death of Caesar'' by [[Vincenzo Camuccini]], 1798.]]

In the mid-1st century BC, the Republic faced a period of political crisis and social unrest. Into this turbulent scenario emerged the figure of [[Julius Caesar]]. Caesar reconciled the two more powerful men in Rome: [[Marcus Licinius Crassus]], his sponsor, and Crassus' rival, [[Pompey]]. The [[First Triumvirate]] ("three men"), had satisfied the interests of these three men: Crassus, the richest man in Rome, became richer; Pompey exerted more influence in the Senate; and Caesar held consulship and military command in [[Gaul]].<ref name=Scullard2>Scullard 1982, chapters VI-VII</ref>

In 53 BC, the Triumvirate disintegrated at Crassus' death. Crassus had acted as mediator between Caesar and Pompey, and, without him, the two generals began to fight for power. After being victorious in the [[Gallic Wars]] and earning respect and praise from the legions, Caesar was a clear menace to Pompey, that tried to legally remove Caesar's legions. To avoid this, Caesar [[Caesar's Civil War|crossed the Rubicon]] River and invaded Rome in 49 BC, rapidly defeating Pompey. With his sole preeminence over Rome, Caesar gradually accumulated many offices, eventually being granted a dictatorship for perpetuity. He was murdered in 44 BC, in the [[Ides of March]] by the ''[[Liberatores]]''.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/caesar_julius.shtml Julius Caesar (100BC – 44BC)]. [http://bbc.co.uk/]. Retrieved 2007-03-21.</ref>

Caesar's assassination caused political and social turmoil in Rome; without the dictator's leadership, the city was ruled by his friend and colleague, [[Mark Antony]]. [[Augustus|Octavius]] (Caesar's adopted son), along with general [[Mark Antony]] and [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)|Marcus Aemilius Lepidus]], Caesar's best friend,<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Caesar*.html] Plutarch, Life of Caesar. Retrieved 2011-10-01</ref> established the [[Second Triumvirate]]. Lepidus was forced to retire in 36 BC after betraying Octavian in [[Sicilian revolt|Sicily]]. Antony settled in Egypt with his lover, [[Cleopatra VII]]. Mark Antony's affair with Cleopatra was seen as an act of treason, since she was queen of a foreign power and Antony was adopting an extravagant and Hellenistic lifestyle that was considered inappropriate for a Roman statesman.<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Antony*.html#ref57] Plutarch, ''Parallel Lives'', ''Life of Antony'', LXXI, 3–5.</ref>

Following Antony's [[Donations of Alexandria]], which gave to Cleopatra the title of "Queen of Kings", and to their children the regal titles to the newly conquered Eastern territories, the war between Octavian and Mark Antony broke out. Octavian annihilated Egyptian forces in the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BC. Mark Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, leaving Octavianus the sole ruler of the Republic.

===Romana Imperio===
{{PA|Roman Empire|Roman Italy}}
[[File:Roman Empire Trajan 117AD.png|thumb|The [[Roman Empire]] at its greatest extent under [[Trajan]] in AD 117.]]
[[File:Lightmatter colosseum.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Colosseum]] in [[Rome]], built in the 1st century.]]

In 27 BC, Octavian was the sole Roman leader. His leadership brought the [[zenith]] of the Roman civilization, that lasted for four decades. In that year, he took the name ''[[Augustus (honorific)|Augustus]]''. That event is usually taken by historians as the beginning of Roman Empire. Officially, the government was republican, but Augustus assumed absolute powers.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/augustus.shtml Augustus (63 BC. – AD14)] from [[BBC Online|bbc.co.uk]]. Retrieved 2007-03-12.</ref><ref name="autogenerated14">Langley, Andrew and Souza, de Philip:"The Roman Times" pg.14, Candle Wick Press, 1996</ref> The Senate granted Octavian a unique grade of [[Proconsul]]ar ''imperium'', which gave him authority over all Proconsuls (military governors).<ref name="Abbott, 269">Abbott, 269</ref>

The unruly provinces at the borders, where the vast majority of the legions were stationed, were under the control of Augustus. These provinces were classified as [[imperial provinces]]. The peaceful [[senatorial provinces]] were under the control of the Senate. The Roman legions, which had reached an unprecedented number (around 50) because of the civil wars, were reduced to 28.

[[File:Bestiarii.jpg|thumb|left|This [[mosaic]] depicts some of the [[Gladiators]] entertainments that would have been offered at the games.]]

Under Augustus's rule, Roman literature grew steadily in the [[Golden Age of Latin Literature]]. Poets like [[Vergil]], [[Horace]], [[Ovid]] and [[Lucius Varius Rufus|Rufus]] developed a rich literature, and were close friends of Augustus. Along with [[Maecenas]], he stimulated patriotic poems, as Vergil's epic ''[[Aeneid]]'' and also historiographical works, like those of [[Livy]]. The works of this literary age lasted through Roman times, and are classics. Augustus also continued the shifts on the calendar promoted by [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]], and the month of August is named after him.<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html] Suetonius, ''The Twelve Caesars'', ''Augustus'', XXI.</ref> Augustus' enlightened rule resulted in a 200 years long peaceful and thriving era for the Empire, known as ''[[Pax Romana]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/447447/Pax-Romana |title=Pax Romana |publisher=Britannica Online Encyclopedia}}</ref>

[[File:Prima tetrarchia Diocletianus.PNG|thumbnail|The [[Roman Empire]] in 3rd century.]]

Despite its military strength, the Empire made few efforts to expand its already vast extent; the most notable being the [[Roman conquest of Britain|conquest of Britain]], begun by emperor [[Claudius]] (47), and emperor [[Trajan]]'s conquest of [[Trajan's Dacian Wars|Dacia]] (101–102, 105–106). In the 1st and 2nd century, Roman legions were also employed in intermittent warfare with the [[Germanic tribes]] to the north and the [[Parthian Empire]] to the east. Meanwhile, armed insurrections (e.g. the Hebraic insurrection in [[Judea]]) (70) and brief civil wars (e.g. in 68 AD the [[year of the four emperors]]) demanded the legions' attention on several occasions.

After the death of Emperor [[Theodosius I]] (395), the Empire was divided into an [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern]] and a [[Western Roman Empire]]. The Western part faced increasing economic and political crisis and frequent barbarian invasions, so the capital was moved from [[Mediolanum]] to [[Ravenna]]. In 476, the last Western Empreror [[Romulus Augustulus]] was deposed by [[Odoacer]]; for a few years Italy stayed united under the rule of Odoacer, but soon after it was divided between several barbarian kingdoms, and did not reunite under a single ruler until thirteen centuries later.

==Mezepoko==
{{PA|Italia dum Mezepoko}}
[[File:Italy Lothar II.svg|thumbnail|Italian Lombard kingdom (781-1014).]]
[[File:Aghlabids Dynasty 800 - 909 (AD).svg|thumbnail|[[Emirate of Sicily]] (831-1072).]]

Odoacer's rule came to an end when the [[Ostrogoths]], under the leadership of [[Theodoric the Great|Theodoric]], conquered Italy. This led to the [[Gothic War (535–554)|Gothic War]] against the armies of Byzantine Emperor [[Justinian]], that devastated the whole country with famine and epidemics, ultimately allowing another Germanic tribe, the [[Lombards]], to take control over vast regions of Italy. In 751 the Lombards seized [[Exarchate of Ravenna|Ravenna]], ending the Byzantine presence in central Italy. Facing a new Lombard offensive, the Papacy appealed to the [[Franks]] for aid.

[[File:Chlothar II.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Franks|Frankish]] King [[Chlothar II]] fighting the [[Lombards]].]]

In 756 Frankish forces defeated the Lombards and gave the Papacy legal authority over much of central Italy, thus establishing the [[Papal States]]. In 800, [[Charlemagne]] was crowned emperor of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] by the Pope in [[Saint Peter's Basilica]]. After the death of Charlemagne (814), the new empire soon disintegrated under his weak successors. The equilibrium created through the great emperor's charisma fell apart.

The subsequent vacuum of authority saw the beginning of Islamic attacks in the southern regions, and the rising power of the [[Medieval commune|commune]]s in the north. In 852, the Saracens took Bari and founded an [[emirate]] there. Islamic rule over Sicily was effective from 902, and the complete rule of the island lasted from 965 until 1061. The turn of the millennium marked the end of the darkest period of Italian history. In the 11th century, trade slowly recovered as the cities started to grow again. The Papacy regained its authority, and undertook a long struggle against the [[Holy Roman Empire]].

The [[Investiture controversy]], a conflict over two radically different views of whether secular authorities such as kings, counts, or dukes, had any legitimate role in appointments to ecclesiastical offices such as [[Diocese|bishoprics]], was finally resolved by the [[Concordat of Worms]] in 1122, although problems continued in many areas of Europe until the end of the medieval era. In the north, a [[Lombard League]] of communes launched a successful effort to win autonomy from the Holy Roman Empire, defeating Emperor [[Frederick Barbarossa]] at the [[Battle of Legnano]] in 1176. In the south, the [[Normans]] occupied the Lombard and Byzantine possessions, ending the six century old presence of both powers in the peninsula.

The few independent city-states were also subdued. During the same period, the Normans also ended Muslim rule in Sicily. In 1130, [[Roger II of Sicily]] began his rule of the Norman [[Kingdom of Sicily]]. Roger II was the first King of Sicily and had succeeded in uniting all the Norman conquests in Southern Italy into one kingdom with a strong centralized government. In 1155, Emperor [[Manuel Komnenos]] attempted to regain Southern Italy from the Normans, but the attempt failed and in 1158 the Byzantines left Italy. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily lasted until 1194 when Sicily was claimed by the German [[Hohenstaufen Dynasty]]. The Kingdom of Sicily would last under various dynasties until the 19th century.

[[File:Casteldelmonte.jpg|thumb|left|[[Castel del Monte, Apulia|Castel del Monte]], built in 1240-50 by Holy Roman Emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]].]]
[[File:Naval Jack of Italy.svg|thumb|right|Italy's [[Naval Jack]], featuring the coats of arms of the four major [[Maritime Republics]]. Clockwise from upper left: [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]], [[Republic of Pisa|Pisa]], [[Republic of Amalfi|Amalfi]].]]

Between the 12th and 13th centuries, Italy developed a peculiar political pattern, significantly different from feudal Europe north of the Alps. As no dominant powers emerged as they did in other parts of Europe, the oligarchic [[city-state]] became the prevalent form of government. Keeping both direct Church control and Imperial power at arms length, the many independent city states prospered through commerce, based on early capitalist principles ultimately creating the conditions for the artistic and intellectual changes produced by the [[Renaissance]].<ref>Stark, Rodney, ''The Victory of Reason'', New York, Random House, 2005</ref>

Italian towns had appeared to have exited from Feudalism, so that their society was based on merchants and commerce.<ref>Skinner, Quentin, ''The Foundations of Modern Political Thought'', vol I: ''The Renaissance''; vol II: ''The Age of Reformation'', Cambridge University Press, p. 69</ref> Even northern cities and states were also notable for their [[merchant republics]], especially the [[Republic of Venice]].<ref>Martin, J. and Romano, D., Venice Reconsidered, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, 2000</ref>  Compared to feudal and absolute monarchies, the Italian independent communes and [[merchant republics]] enjoyed relative political freedom that boosted scientific and artistic advancement.<ref name="ReferenceA">Ferguson, Niall, ''The Ascent of Money: The Financial History of the World''. Penguin, 2008</ref>

Thanks to their favorable position between East and West, Italian cities such as Venice became international trading and banking hubs and intellectual crossroads. Milan, Florence and Venice, as well as several other Italian city-states, played a crucial innovative role in financial development, devising the main instruments and practices of banking and the emergence of new forms of social and economic organization.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

During the same period, Italy saw the rise of numerous [[Repubbliche Marinare|Maritime Republics]], the most notable being [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]], [[Republic of Pisa|Pisa]] and [[Amalfi]]. From the 10th to the 13th centuries these cities built fleets of ships both for their own protection and to support extensive trade networks across the Mediterranean, leading to an essential role in the [[Crusades]]. Venice and Genoa soon became Europe's main gateways to trade with the East, establishing colonies as far as the [[Black Sea]] and often controlling most of the trade with the [[Byzantine Empire]] and the Islamic Mediterranean world. The [[county of Savoy]] expanded its territory into the peninsula in the [[late Middle Ages]], while Florence developed into a highly organized commercial and financial city-state, becoming for many centuries the European capital of silk, wool, banking and jewelry.

== Renesanco ==
{{PA|Italiana Renesanco}}
Italy was the main center of the [[Renaissance]], whose flourishing of the arts, architecture, literature, science, historiography and political theory influenced all of Europe.<ref>J. R. Hale, '' A Concise Encyclopaedia of the Italian Renaissance''</ref><ref>J. H. Plumb, ''The Italian Renaissance - A Concise Survey of its History and Culture''  (1985)</ref>

By the [[late Middle Ages]], central and southern Italy, once the heartland of the Roman Empire, was far poorer than the north. Rome was a city largely in ruins, and the [[Papal States]] were a loosely administered region with little law and order. Partly because of this, the Papacy [[Avignon Papacy|had relocated to Avignon]] in France. Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia had for some time been under foreign domination. The Italian trade routes that covered the Mediterranean and beyond were major conduits of culture and knowledge. The city-states of Italy expanded greatly during this period and grew in power to become de facto fully independent of the [[Holy Roman Empire]].

[[File:Vitruvian.jpg|thumb|left|150px|''The [[Vitruvian man]]'' by [[Leonardo da Vinci]], representing the ideal human proportions as described by Roman architect [[Vitruvius]], is a quintessential masterpiece of the Renaissance.]]
[[File:David von Michelangelo.jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[Michelangelo's David]], one of the symbols of Italian Renaissance.]]
[[File:Duomo neve.jpg|thumb|The [[Santa Maria del Fiore]] cathedral in [[Florence]], which has the biggest brick dome in the world,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tripleman.com/index.php?showimage=737 |title=The Duomo of Florence &#124; Tripleman |publisher=tripleman.com |accessdate=25 March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brunelleschisdome.com/ |title=Brunelleschi's Dome |publisher=Brunelleschi's Dome.com |accessdate=25 March 2010}}</ref> and is considered a masterpiece of Italian architecture and world architecture.]]
[[File:Sandro Botticelli - La nascita di Venere - Google Art Project - edited.jpg|thumb|Botticelli's [[The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)|''The Birth of Venus'']], ca. 1468.]]

The [[Black Death]] in 1348 inflicted a terrible blow to Italy, killing perhaps one third of the population.<ref>Stéphane Barry and Norbert Gualde, "The Biggest Epidemics of History"-La plus grande épidémie de l'histoire, in L'Histoire n°310, June 2006, pp.45–46</ref> The recovery from the demographic and economic disaster led to a resurgence of cities, trade and economy which greatly stimulated the successive phase of the [[Humanism]] and [[Renaissance]] (15th–16th centuries) when Italy again returned to be the center of [[Western civilization]], strongly influencing the other European countries with Courts like [[House of Este|Este]] in [[Ferrara]] and [[De Medici]] in [[Florence]].

The Renaissance was so called because it was a "rebirth" not only of economy and urbanization, but also of arts and science. It has been argued that this cultural rebirth was fuelled by massive rediscoveries of ancient texts that had been forgotten for centuries by Western civilization, hidden in [[monastery|monastic]] libraries or in the [[Muslim world|Islamic world]], as well as the translations of [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Arabic language|Arabic]] texts into [[Latin]]. The migration west into Italy of intellectuals fleeing the crumbling [[Eastern Roman Empire]] at this time also played a significant part.

The Italian Renaissance began in Tuscany, centered in the city of Florence. It then spread south, having an especially significant impact on Rome, which was largely rebuilt by the Renaissance popes. The Italian Renaissance peaked in the late 15th century as foreign invasions plunged the region into turmoil. The Renaissance ideals first spread from Florence to the neighbouring states of Tuscany such as [[Siena]] and [[Lucca]]. Tuscan architecture and painting soon became a model for all the city-states of northern and central Italy, as the Tuscan variety of Italian language came to predominate throughout the region, especially in literature.

=== Literaturo, filozofio e cienco ===
Naraci di [[Renesanco literaturo]] maxim-multa-kaze komencas kun [[Petrarch]] (maxim bona konocita por l'elegante polisita lokala idiomo [[soneto]] serio di ''[[Canzoniere]]'' e por la frenezio por libro kolekto qua il inicis) e lua amiko e nuntempala [[Boccaccio]] (autoro di [[Decameron]]). Famoza lokala idiomo poeti di 15ma yarcento inkludas renesanco epika autori L[[Luigi Pulci]] (''[[Morgante]]''), [[Matteo Maria Boiardo]] (''[[Orlando Innamorato]]''), e [[Ludovico Ariosto]] (''[[Orlando Furioso]]'').

Renaissance scholars such as [[Niccolò de' Niccoli]] and [[Poggio Bracciolini]] scoured the libraries in search of works by such classical authors as [[Plato]], [[Cicero]] and [[Vitruvius]]. The works of [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] and [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic]] writers (such as [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], [[Euclid]], and [[Ptolemy]]) and [[Islamic science|Muslim scientists]] were imported into the Christian world, providing new intellectual material for European scholars. 15th century writers such as the poet [[Poliziano]] and the Platonist philosopher [[Marsilio Ficino]] made extensive translations from both Latin and Greek. Other Greek scholars of the period were two monks from the monastery of Seminara in Calabria. They were [[Barlaam of Seminara]] and his disciple [[Leonzio Pilato]] of Seminara. Barlaam was a master in Greek and was the initial teacher to Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio of the language. Leonzio Pilato made an almost word for word translation of Homer's works into Latin for Giovanni Boccaccio.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/homp421.htm|title=History of Medieval Philosophy
421|work=nd.edu|accessdate=25 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/70836/Giovanni-Boccaccio/756/Petrarch-and-Boccaccios-mature-years#ref233443|title=Giovanni Boccaccio|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|accessdate=25 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://abuss.narod.ru/renaissance/cambridge05.htm|title=Paul Oskar Kristeller HUMANISM (The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy)|author=. .|work=narod.ru|accessdate=25 August 2015}}</ref>

In the early 16th century, Baldassare Castiglione with the ''[[Book of the Courtier]]'' laid out his vision of the ideal gentleman and lady, while [[Niccolò Machiavelli]] in ''[[The Prince]]'', laid down the foundation of [[modern philosophy]], especially modern [[political philosophy]], in which the effective truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal. It was also in direct conflict with the dominant Catholic and [[scholasticism|scholastic]] doctrines of the time concerning how to consider politics and ethics.<ref name=counter>{{Harvcoltxt|Bireley|1990}}</ref><ref>Although he makes many references to classical sources, these references do not include the customary deference to [[Aristotle]] which was to some extent approved by the church in his time. {{Harvcoltxt|Strauss|1958|p=222}} says that "Machiavelli indicates his fundamental disagreement with Aristotle's doctrine of the whole by substituting "[[Chance (Ancient Greek concept)|chance]]" (''caso'') for "[[Nature (philosophy)|nature]]" in the only context in which he speaks of "the beginning of the world." Strauss gives evidence that Machiavelli was knowingly influenced by [[Democritus]], whose philosophy of nature was, like that of [[modern science]], [[materialism|materialist]].</ref>

===Arkitekturo, skulturo e pikturo===
[[Italian Renaissance painting]] exercised a dominant influence on subsequent European painting (see [[Western painting]]) for centuries afterwards, with artists such as [[Giotto di Bondone]], [[Masaccio]], [[Piero della Francesca]], [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]], [[Perugino]], [[Michelangelo]], [[Raphael]], [[Botticelli]], [[Leonardo da Vinci]], and [[Titian]].

The same is true for [[Renaissance architecture|architecture]], as practiced by [[Filippo Brunelleschi|Brunelleschi]], [[Leone Alberti]], [[Andrea Palladio]], and [[Bramante]]. Their works include [[Florence Cathedral]], [[St. Peter's Basilica]] in Rome, and the [[Tempio Malatestiano]] in Rimini. Finally, the Aldine Press, founded by the printer [[Aldo Manuzio]], active in Venice, developed [[Italic type]] and the small, relatively portable and inexpensive printed book that could be carried in one's pocket, as well as being the first to publish editions of books in ancient Greek.

Yet cultural contributions notwithstanding, some present-day historians also see the era as one of the beginning of economic regression for Italy (due to the opening up of the Atlantic trade routes and repeated foreign invasions) and of little progress in experimental science, which made its great leaps forward among Protestant culture in the 17th century.

=== Incessant warfare ===

[[File:Italy 1494.svg|thumb|Italian states in 1494.]]
[[File:Uccello Battle of San Romano Uffizi.jpg|thumb|''[[The Battle of San Romano]]'' by [[Paolo Uccello]] (ca. 1438-40).]]

In the 14th century, Northern Italy and upper Central Italy were divided into a number of warring [[Italian city-states|city-states]], the most powerful being [[Milan]], [[Florence]], [[Pisa]], [[Siena]], [[Genoa]], [[Ferrara]], [[Mantua]], [[Verona]] and [[Venice]]. High Medieval Northern Italy was further divided by the long running battle for supremacy between the forces of the Papacy and of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Each city aligned itself with one faction or the other, yet was divided internally between the two warring parties, [[Guelf]]s and [[Ghibelline]]s.

Warfare between the states was common, invasion from outside Italy confined to intermittent sorties of [[Holy Roman Emperors]]. Renaissance politics developed from this background. Since the 13th century, as armies became primarily composed of [[mercenaries]], prosperous city-states could field considerable forces, despite their low populations. In the course of the 15th century, the most powerful city-states annexed their smaller neighbors. Florence took [[Pisa]] in 1406, Venice captured [[Padua]] and [[Verona]], while the [[Duchy of Milan]] annexed a number of nearby areas including [[Pavia]] and [[Parma]].

The first part of the Renaissance saw almost constant warfare on land and sea as the city-states vied for preeminence. On land, these wars were primarily fought by armies of mercenaries known as ''[[condottiere|condottieri]]'', bands of soldiers drawn from around Europe, but especially Germany and Switzerland, led largely by Italian captains. The mercenaries were not willing to risk their lives unduly, and war became one largely of sieges and maneuvering, occasioning few pitched battles. It was also in the interest of mercenaries on both sides to prolong any conflict, to continue their employment. Mercenaries were also a constant threat to their employers; if not paid, they often turned on their patron. If it became obvious that a state was entirely dependent on mercenaries, the temptation was great for the mercenaries to take over the running of it themselves—this occurred on a number of occasions.<ref>Jensen 1992, p. 64.</ref>

At sea, Italian city-states sent many fleets out to do battle. The main contenders were Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, but after a long conflict the Genoese succeeded in reducing Pisa. Venice proved to be a more powerful adversary, and with the decline of Genoese power during the 15th century Venice became pre-eminent on the seas. In response to threats from the landward side, from the early 15th century Venice developed an increased interest in controlling the ''terrafirma'' as the Venetian Renaissance opened.

On land, decades of fighting saw Florence, Milan and Venice emerge as the dominant players, and these three powers finally set aside their differences and agreed to the [[Peace of Lodi]] in 1454, which saw relative calm brought to the region for the first time in centuries. This peace would hold for the next forty years, and Venice's unquestioned hegemony over the sea also led to unprecedented peace for much of the rest of the 15th century. In the beginning of the 15th century, adventurers and traders such as [[Niccolò Da Conti]] (1395–1469) traveled as far as Southeast Asia and back, bringing fresh knowledge on the state of the world, presaging further European voyages of exploration in the years to come.

=== L'Italiana Militi ===
[[File:Battle of Pavia 1525.PNG|thumbnail|left|''[[Battle of Pavia|The Battle of Pavia]]'' by Ruprecht Heller, 1529.]]
[[File:Habsburg Map 1547.jpg|thumbnail|Italy and the Spanish Empire in 1547.]]

The foreign invasions of Italy known as the [[Italian Wars]] began with the 1494 invasion by France that wreaked widespread devastation on Northern Italy and ended the independence of many of the city-states. Originally arising from dynastic disputes over the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples, the wars rapidly became a general struggle for power and territory among their various participants, marked with an increasing number of alliances, counter-alliances, and betrayals. The French were routed by Emperor [[Charles V of Habsburg|Charles V]] at the [[Battle of Pavia]] (1525) and again in the [[War of the League of Cognac]] (1526–30). Eventually, after years of inconclusive fighting, with the [[Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis]] (1559) France renounced all its claims in Italy thus inaugurating a long Spanish hegemony over the Peninsula.<ref>{{cite web|title=Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/99311/Peace-of-Cateau-Cambresis|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|accessdate=4 December 2014}}</ref>

Much of Venice's hinterland (but not the city itself) was [[Ottoman–Venetian War (1499–1503)|devastated by the Turks]] in 1499 and again invaded and plundered by the [[League of Cambrai]] in 1509. In 1528 most of the towns of Apulia and Abbruzzi had been sacked. Worst of all was the 6 May 1527 [[Sack of Rome (1527)|Sack of Rome]] by Spanish and German troops that all but ended the role of the Papacy as the largest patron of Renaissance art and architecture. The long [[Siege of Florence (1529–1530)]] brought the destruction of its suburbs, the ruin of its export business and the confiscation of its citizens' wealth. Italy's urban population fell in half, ransoms paid to the invaders and emergency taxes drained the finances. The wool and silk industries of Lombardy collapsed when their looms were wrecked by invaders. The defensive tactic of scorched earth only slightly delayed the invaders, and made the recovery much longer and more painful.<ref>John Julius Norwich, ''The Italians: History, Art and the Genius of a People'' (1983) p 165-66.</ref>

==Moderna ero==
{{PA|Early Modern Italy}}

The history of Italy in the [[Early Modern period]] was characterized by foreign domination and economic decline. Nonetheless, following the [[Italian Wars]] (1494 to 1559), Italy saw a long period of relative peace, first under [[Habsburg Spain]] (1559 to 1713) and then under [[Habsburg Austria]] (1713 to 1796) in which some important cultural and scientific achievements were made. During the [[Napoleonic era]], Italy was invaded by the [[First French Empire|French Empire]] and divided into a number of [[client state of the French Republic|client states]]. The [[Congress of Vienna]] (1814) restored the situation of the late 18th century, which was however quickly overturned by the incipient movement of [[Italian unification]].

===The 17th century===

[[File:Doktorschnabel 430px.jpg|thumbnail|150px|Physician attire for protection from the Bubonic plague or Black death, 1656.]]

The 17th century was a tumultuous period in Italian history, marked by deep political and social changes. These included the increase of Spanish influence over the Peninsula, as well as of the power of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church at the peak of the [[Counter Reformation]], the Catholic reaction against the [[Protestant Reformation]]. Despite important artistic and scientific achievements, such as the discoveries of [[Galileo]] in the field of astronomy and physics and the flourishing of the [[Baroque]] style in architecture and painting, Italy experienced overall economic decline.

Effectively, in spite of Italy having given birth to some great explorers such as [[Cristopher Columbus]], [[Amerigo Vespucci]] and [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]], the discovery of the [[New World]] undermined the importance of Venice and other Italian ports as commercial hubs by shfting Europe's center of gravity westward towards the Atlantic.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Martin|first1=John|last2=Romano|first2=Dennis|title=Venice reconsidered : the history and civilization of an Italian city-state, 1297 - 1797|date=2002|publisher=Johns Hopkins Univ. Press|location=Baltimore|isbn=978-0801873089|page=405|edition=Johns Hopkins paperbacks|accessdate=6 December 2014}}</ref> In addition, Spain’s involvement in the [[Thirty Years’ War]] (1618–48), financed in part by taxes on its Italian possessions, heavily drained Italian commerce and agriculture; so, as Spain declined, it dragged its Italian domains down with it, spreading conflicts and revolts (such as the Neapolitan 1647 tax-related "[[Revolt of Masaniello]]").<ref>{{cite web|title=The 17th-century crisis|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/297474/Italy/27710/The-17th-century-crisis|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|accessdate=6 December 2014}}</ref>

The [[Black Death]] returned to haunt Italy throughout the century. The [[Italian plague of 1629–31|plague of 1630]] that ravaged [[northern Italy]], notably Milan and Venice, claimed possibly one million lives, or about 25% of the population.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hays|first1=J. N.|title=Epidemics and pandemics their impacts on human history|date=2005|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=978-1851096589|page=103|accessdate=6 December 2014}}</ref> The plague of 1656 killed up to 43% of the population of the [[Kingdom of Naples]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Fusco|first1=Idamaria|title=The plague in the Kingdom of Naples (1656-58): diffusion and mortality|url=http://www.iseg.utl.pt/aphes30/docs/progdocs/IDAMARIA%20FUSCO.pdf|publisher=Istituto di Studi sulle Società del Mediterraneo|accessdate=6 December 2014}}</ref> Historians believe the dramatic reduction in Italian cities population (and, thus, in economic activity) contributed to Italy's downfall as a major commercial and political centre.<ref>{{cite web|title=This Day In HISTORY. November 30, 1630|url=http://www.historychannel.com.au/classroom/day-in-history/973/16000-venetians-die-of-plague-this-month|publisher=[[History (TV channel)|History]]|accessdate=6 December 2014}}</ref> By one estimate, while in 1500 the GDP of Italy was 106% of the French GDP, by 1700 it was only 75% of it.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Maddison|first1=Angus|title=Contours of the world economy, 1-2030 AD : essays in macro-economic history|date=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0199227204|page=379, table A.4|edition=1st|accessdate=7 December 2014}}</ref>

===The 18th century===

The [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1701–14) was triggered by the death without issue of the last Habsburg king of Spain, [[Charles II of Spain|Charles II]], who fixed the entire Spanish inheritance on [[Philip, Duke of Anjou]], the second grandson of King [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] of France. In face of the threat of a French hegemony over much of Europe, a [[Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg)|Grand Alliance]] between Austria, England, the Dutch Republic and other minor powers (within which the [[Duchy of Savoy]]) was signed in [[Treaty of The Hague (1701)|The Hague]]. The Alliance successfully fought and defeated the Franco-Spanish "Party of the Two Crowns", and the subsequent [[Treaty of Utrecht]] and [[Treaty of Rastatt|Rastatt]] saw control of much of Italy (Milan, Naples and Sardinia) pass from Spain to Austria, while Sicily was ceded to the Duchy of Savoy. However, Spain tried again to retake territories in Italy and to claim the French throne in the [[War of the Quadruple Alliance]] (1718-1720), but was again defeated. As a result of the [[Treaty of The Hague (1720)|Treaty of The Hague]], Spain agreed to abandon its Italian claims, while Duke [[Victor Amadeus II of Savoy]] agreed to exchange Sicily with Austria, for the island of Sardinia, after which he was known as the [[King of Sardinia]].

===The Age of Napoleon===
[[File:Italia 1796-es.svg|thumbnail|Italian states in 1796.]]

At the end of the 18th century, Italy was almost in the same political conditions as in the 16th century; the main differences were that [[Austria]] had replaced Spain as the dominant foreign power after the [[War of Spanish Succession]] (and that too was not true with regards to Naples and Sicily), and that the dukes of [[Savoy]] (a mountainous region between Italy and France) had become kings of [[Sardinia]] by increasing their Italian possessions, which now included Sardinia and the north-western region of [[Piedmont]].

This situation was shaken in 1796, when the French [[Army of Italy (France)|Army of Italy]] under [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] invaded Italy, with the aims of forcing the [[First Coalition]] to abandon [[Sardinia]] (where they had created an anti-revolutionary [[Kingdom of Sardinia|puppet-ruler]]) and forcing Austria to withdraw from Italy. The first battles came on 9 April, between the French and the Piedmontese, and within only two weeks [[Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia]] was forced to sign an armistice. On 15 May the French general then entered Milan, where he was welcomed as a liberator. Subsequently beating off Austrian counterattacks and continuing to advance, he arrived in the [[Veneto]] in 1797. Here occurred the [[Veronese Easters]], an act of rebellion against French oppression, that tied down Napoleon for about a week.

Napoleon conquered most of Italy in the name of the French Revolution in 1797-99. He consolidated old units and split up Austria's holdings. He set up a series of new republics, complete with new codes of law and abolition of old feudal privileges.  
Napoleon's [[Cisalpine Republic]] was centered on Milan. Genoa the city became a republic while its hinterland became the [[Ligurian Republic]]. The [[Roman Republic (18th century)|Roman Republic]] was formed out of the papal holdings while the pope himself was sent to France. The [[Neapolitan Republic (1799)|Neapolitan Republic]] was formed around Naples, but it lasted only five months before the enemy forces of the Coalition recaptured it. In 1805 he formed the [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Kingdom of Italy]], with himself as king and his stepson as viceroy. In addition, France turned the Netherlands into the [[Batavian Republic]], and Switzerland into the [[Helvetic Republic]]. All these new countries were satellites of France, and had to pay large subsidies to Paris, as well as provide military support for Napoleon's wars. Their political and administrative systems were modernized, the metric system introduced, and trade barriers reduced. Jewish ghettos were abolished. Belgium and Piedmont became integral parts of France.<ref>Alexander Grab, ''Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe'' (2003) pp 62-65, 78-79, 88-96, 115-17, 154-59</ref>

In 1805, after the French victory over the [[Third Coalition]] and the [[Peace of Pressburg (1805)|Peace of Pressburg]], Napoleon recovered Veneto and [[Dalmatia]], annexing them to the Italian Republic and renaming it the [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Kingdom of Italy]]. Also that year a second satellite state, the [[Ligurian Republic]] (successor to the old [[Republic of Genoa]]), was pressured into merging with France. In 1806, he conquered the [[Kingdom of Naples]] and granted it to his brother and then (from 1808) to [[Joachim Murat]], along with marrying his sisters [[Elisa Bonaparte|Elisa]] and [[Paolina Bonaparte|Paolina]] off to the princes of [[Felice Pasquale Bacciocchi|Massa-Carrara]] and [[Camillo Filippo Ludovico Borghese|Guastalla]]. In 1808, he also annexed Marche and Tuscany to the Kingdom of Italy.

In 1809, Bonaparte occupied Rome, for contrasts with the pope, who had excommunicated him, and to maintain his own state efficiently,<ref>Dalle grandi rivoluzioni alla Restaurazione. La biblioteca di Repubblica, 2004. pp.342</ref> exiling the Pope first to Savona and then to France.

After Russia, the other states of Europe re-allied themselves and defeated Napoleon at the [[Battle of Leipzig]], after which his Italian allied states, with Murat first among them, abandoned him to ally with Austria.<ref>Dalle grandi rivoluzioni alla Restaurazione. La biblioteca di Repubblica, 2004. pp.349</ref> Defeated at Paris on 6 April 1814, Napoleon was compelled to renounce his throne and sent into exile on Elba. The resulting [[Congress of Vienna]] (1814) restored a situation close to that of 1795, dividing Italy between Austria (in the north-east and Lombardy), the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]], the Kingdom of the [[Two Sicilies]] (in the south and in Sicily), and [[History of Tuscany|Tuscany]], the [[Papal States]] and other minor states in the centre. However, old republics such as [[Venice]] and [[Genoa]] were not recreated, Venice went to Austria, and Genoa went to the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]].

On Napoleon's escape and return to France (the [[Hundred Days]]), he regained Murat's support, but Murat proved unable to convince the Italians to fight for Napoleon with his [[Proclamation of Rimini]] and was beaten and killed. The Italian kingdoms thus fell, and Italy's Restoration period began, with many pre-Napoleonic sovereigns returned to their thrones. Piedmont, Genoa and Nice came to be united, as did Sardinia (which went on to create the State of Savoy), while Lombardy, Veneto, Istria and Dalmatia were re-annexed to Austria. The dukedoms of Parma and Modena re-formed, and the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples returned to the Bourbons. The political and social events in the restoration period of Italy (1815–1835) led to popular uprisings throughout the peninsula and greatly shaped what would become the Italian Wars of Independence. All this led to a new [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]] and [[Italian unification]].

Artz emphasizes the benefits the Italians gained from the French Revolution: 
:For nearly two decades the Italians had the excellent codes of law, a fair system of taxation, a better economic situation, and more religious and intellectual toleration than they had known for centuries.... Everywhere old physical, economic, and intellectual barriers had been thrown down and the Italians had begun to be aware of a common nationality.<ref>Frederick B. Artz, ''Reaction and Revolution: 1814-1832 '' (1934) pp 142-43</ref>

==Unigo (1814 til 1861)==
{{PA|Italiana unigo}}
[[File:Italia 1843.svg|thumbnail|Italian states (1815-1859).]]

The ''[[Risorgimento]]'' was the political and social process that unified different states of the [[Italian peninsula]] into the single nation of Italy.

It is difficult to pin down exact dates for the beginning and end of Italian reunification, but most scholars agree that it began with the end of [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleonic]] rule and the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815, and approximately ended with the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1871, though the last [[irredentism|"città irredente"]] did not join the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]] until the Italian victory in [[World War I]].

As Napoleon's reign began to fail, other national monarchs he had installed tried to keep their thrones by feeding those nationalistic sentiments, setting the stage for the revolutions to come. Among these monarchs were the viceroy of Italy, [[Eugène de Beauharnais]], who tried to get Austrian approval for his succession to the Kingdom of Italy, and [[Joachim Murat]], who called for Italian patriots' help for the unification of Italy under his rule.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.regione.piemonte.it/cultura/risorgimento/immagine/00402.htm|title=Proclamation of Rimini|year=1815|accessdate=21 February 2008}}</ref> Following the defeat of Napoleonic France, the [[Congress of Vienna]] (1815) was convened to redraw the European continent. In Italy, the Congress restored the pre-Napoleonic patchwork of independent governments, either directly ruled or strongly influenced by the prevailing European powers, particularly Austria.

At the time, the struggle for Italian unification was perceived to be waged primarily against the [[Austrian Empire]] and the [[Habsburg]]s, since they directly controlled the predominantly Italian-speaking northeastern part of present-day Italy and were the single most powerful force against unification. The Austrian Empire vigorously repressed nationalist sentiment growing on the Italian peninsula, as well as in the other parts of Habsburg domains. Austrian Chancellor Franz Metternich, an influential diplomat at the Congress of Vienna, stated that the word ''Italy'' was nothing more than "a geographic expression."<ref>{{cite book|title=Between Salt Water And Holy Water: A History Of Southern Italy|author=Astarita, Tommaso|year=2000|page=264}}</ref>

Artistic and literary sentiment also turned towards nationalism; and perhaps the most famous of proto-nationalist works was [[Alessandro Manzoni]]'s [[The Betrothed (Manzoni novel)|''I Promessi Sposi'' (The Betrothed)]]. Some read this novel as a thinly veiled allegorical critique of Austrian rule. The novel was published in 1827 and extensively revised in the following years. The 1840 version of ''I Promessi Sposi'' used a standardized version of the [[Languages of Italy|Tuscan dialect]], a conscious effort by the author to provide a language and force people to learn it.

[[File:Italia 1843-fr.png|thumbnail|Italian unification in 1860.]]
[[File:Giuseppe Mazzini.jpg|thumb|left|[[Giuseppe Mazzini]].]]
Those in favour of unification also faced opposition from the [[Holy See]], particularly after failed attempts to broker a confederation with the [[Papal States]], which would have left the Papacy with some measure of autonomy over the region. The pope at the time, [[Pius IX]], feared that giving up power in the region could mean the persecution of Italian Catholics.<ref>{{cite book|title=Pio Nono: A Study in European Politics and Religion in the Nineteenth Century|author=E.E.Y. Hales|publisher=P.J. Kenedy|year=1954}}</ref>

Even among those who wanted to see the peninsula unified into one country, different groups could not agree on what form a unified state would take. [[Vincenzo Gioberti]], a Piedmontese priest, had suggested a confederation of Italian states under rulership of the Pope. His book,''Of the Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italians'', was published in 1843 and created a link between the Papacy and the Risorgimento. Many leading revolutionaries wanted a republic, but eventually it was a [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy|king]] and his [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour|chief minister]] who had the power to unite the Italian states as a monarchy.

One of the most influential revolutionary groups was the [[Carbonari]] (coal-burners), a secret organization formed in southern Italy early in the 19th century. Inspired by the principles of the [[French Revolution]], its members were mainly drawn from the middle class and intellectuals. After the Congress of Vienna divided the Italian peninsula among the European powers, the ''Carbonari'' movement spread into the Papal States, the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]], the [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]], the [[Duchy of Modena]] and the [[Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia]].

The revolutionaries were so feared that the reigning authorities passed an ordinance condemning to death anyone who attended a Carbonari meeting. The society, however, continued to exist and was at the root of many of the political disturbances in Italy from 1820 until after unification. The ''Carbonari'' condemned [[Napoleon III]] to death for failing to unite Italy, and the group almost succeeded in assassinating him in 1858. Many leaders of the unification movement were at one time members of this organization. (Note: Napoleon III, as a young man, fought on the side of the 'Carbonari'.)

Two prominent radical figures in the unification movement were [[Giuseppe Mazzini]] and [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]]. The more conservative constitutional monarchic figures included the [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour|Count of Cavour]] and [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy|Victor Emmanuel II]], who would later become the first [[Kings of Italy|king of a united Italy]].

[[File:Italy 1864 de.svg|thumbnail|Italian kingdom in 1864.]]
[[File:Risorgimento, Giuseppe Garibaldi.jpg|thumbnail|left|[[Giuseppe Garibaldi]], hero of Italian unification.]]
Mazzini's activity in revolutionary movements caused him to be imprisoned soon after he joined. While in prison, he concluded that Italy could – and therefore should – be unified and formulated his program for establishing a free, independent, and republican nation with Rome as its capital. After Mazzini's release in 1831, he went to [[Marseille]], where he organized a new political society called [[Young Italy (historical)|''La Giovine Italia'' (Young Italy)]]. The new society, whose motto was "God and the People," sought the unification of Italy.

The creation of the Kingdom of Italy was the result of concerted efforts by Italian nationalists and monarchists loyal to the [[House of Savoy]] to establish a united kingdom encompassing the entire [[Italian Peninsula]].

The [[Kingdom of Sardinia]] industrialized from 1830 onward. A constitution, the [[Statuto Albertino]] was enacted in the year of revolutions, 1848, under liberal pressure. Under the same pressure, the [[First Italian War of Independence]] was declared on Austria. After initial success the war took a turn for the worse and the Kingdom of Sardinia lost.

Garibaldi, a native of [[Nice]] (then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia), participated in an uprising in [[Piedmont]] in 1834, was sentenced to death, and escaped to South America. He spent fourteen years there, taking part in several wars, and returned to Italy in 1848.

After the [[Revolutions of 1848]], the apparent leader of the Italian unification movement was Italian nationalist [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]]. He was popular amongst southern Italians.{{sfn|Smith|1997|page=15}} Garibaldi led the Italian republican drive for unification in southern Italy, but the northern Italian monarchy of the [[House of Savoy]] in the [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia]] whose government was led by [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]], also had the ambition of establishing a united Italian state. Though the kingdom had no physical connection to Rome (deemed the natural capital of Italy), the kingdom had successfully challenged [[Austrian Empire|Austria]] in the [[Second Italian War of Independence]], liberating [[Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia|Lombardy-Venetia]] from Austrian rule. The kingdom also had established important alliances which helped it improve the possibility of Italian unification, such as [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and France in the [[Crimean War]].

===Southern Question===
[[File:Carmine Crocco foto.jpg|thumbnail|[[Carmine Crocco]]]]
The transition was not smooth for the south (the "[[Mezzogiorno]]"). The entire region south of Naples was afflicted with numerous deep economic and social liabilities.<ref>Nelson Moe, ''The View from Vesuvius: Italian Culture and the Southern Question'' (2002)</ref> Transportation was difficult, soil fertility was low with extensive erosion, deforestation was severe, many businesses could stay open only because of high protective tariffs, large estates were often poorly managed, most peasants had only very small plots, and there was chronic unemployment and high crime rates.<ref name="Roland Sarti 2004 pp 567">Roland Sarti, ''Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present'' (2004) pp 567–8</ref>

Cavour decided the basic problem was poor government, and believed that could be remedied by strict application of the Piedmonese legal system. The main result was an upsurge in [[brigandage in the Two Sicilies|brigandage]], which turned in a bloody civil war that lasted almost ten years. The insurrection reached its peak mainly in [[Basilicata]] and northern [[Apulia]], headed by the brigands [[Carmine Crocco]] and Michele Caruso.<ref>Giuseppe Massari, Stefano Castagnola, ''Il brigantaggio nelle province napoletane'', Fratelli Ferrario, 1863, p.17, 20</ref>

With the end of the southern riots, there was a heavy outflow of millions of peasants in the [[Italian diaspora]], especially to the United States and South America. Others relocated to the northern industrial cities such as Genoa, Milan and Turin, and sent money home.<ref name="Roland Sarti 2004 pp 567"/>

==Liberal Italy (1861–1922)==
{{PA|Kingdom of Italy}}

Italy became a [[nation-state]] belatedly on 17 March 1861, when most of the states of the peninsula were united under king [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy|Victor Emmanuel II]] of the [[House of Savoy]], which ruled over [[Piedmont (Italy)|Piedmont]]. The architects of Italian unification were [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]], the Chief Minister of Victor Emmanuel, and [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]], a general and national hero. In 1866 Prussian Prime Minister [[Otto von Bismarck]] offered Victor Emmanuel II an alliance with the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] in the [[Austro-Prussian War]]. In exchange Prussia would allow Italy to annex Austrian-controlled [[Venice]]. King Emmanuel agreed to the alliance and the [[Third Italian War of Independence]] began. The victory against Austria allowed Italy to annex Venice. The one major obstacle to Italian unity remained Rome.

In 1870, France started the [[Franco-Prussian War]] and brought home its soldiers in Rome, where they had kept the pope in power. Italy marched in to take over the Papal State.  Italian unification was completed, and the capital was moved from Florence to Rome.<ref>The [[Vatican City]] by the [[Lateran Treaty]] of 1929 became an independent country, an enclave surrounded by Italy.</ref>

[[File:Camillo Benso Cavour di Ciseri.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]], the first Prime Minister in the history of Italy.]]
In [[Northern Italy]], industrialisation and modernisation began in the last part of the 19th century. The [[Mezzogiorno|south]], at the same time, was overpopulated, forcing millions of people to search for a better life abroad. It is estimated that around one million Italian people moved to other European countries such as France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and [[Luxembourg]].

Parliamentary democracy developed considerably in the 20th century. The Sardinian [[Statuto Albertino]] of 1848, extended to the whole [[Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946)|Kingdom of Italy]] in 1861, provided for basic freedoms, but the electoral laws excluded the non-propertied and uneducated classes from voting.

Italy's political arena was sharply divided between broad camps of left and right which created frequent deadlock and attempts to preserve governments, which led to instances such as conservative Prime Minister [[Marco Minghetti]] enacting economic reforms appease the opposition such as the nationalization of railways. In 1876, Minghetti lost power and was replaced by the [[Liberalism and radicalism in Italy|Democrat]] [[Agostino Depretis]], who began a period of political dominance in the 1880s, but continued attempts to appease the opposition to hold power.

===Depretis===
Depretis began his term as Prime Minister by initiating an experimental political idea called ''[[Trasformismo]]'' (transformism). The theory of ''Trasformismo'' was that a cabinet should select a variety of moderates and capable politicians from a non-partisan perspective. In practice, ''trasformismo'' was authoritarian and corrupt, Depretis pressured districts to vote for his candidates if they wished to gain favourable concessions from Depretis when in power. The results of the 1876 election resulted in only four representatives from the right being elected, allowing the government to be dominated by Depretis. Despotic and corrupt actions are believed to be the key means in which Depretis managed to keep support in southern Italy. Depretis put through authoritarian measures, such as the banning public meetings, placing "dangerous" individuals in internal exile on remote penal islands across Italy and adopting militarist policies. Depretis enacted controversial legislation for the time, such was abolishing arrest for debt, making elementary education free and compulsory while ending compulsory religious teaching in elementary schools.{{sfn|Smith|1997|pages=95–107}}

The first government of Depretis collapsed after his dismissal of his Interior Minister, and ended with his resignation in 1877. The second government of Depretis started in 1881. Depretis' goals included widening suffrage in 1882 and increasing the tax intake from Italians by expanding the minimum requirements of who could pay taxes and the creation of a new electoral system called which resulted in large numbers of inexperienced deputies in the Italian parliament.{{sfn|Smith|1997|page=123}} In 1887, Depretis was finally pushed out of office after years of political decline.

===Crispi===
[[Francesco Crispi]](1818-1901) was Prime Minister for a total of six years, from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896.  Historian R.J.B. Bosworth says of his foreign policy that Crispi:
:pursued policies whose openly aggressive character would not be equaled until the days of the Fascist regime. Crispi increased military expenditure, talked cheerfully of a European conflagration, and alarmed his German or British friends with this suggestions of preventative attacks on his enemies.  His policies were ruinous, both for Italy's trade with France, and, more humiliatingly, for colonial ambitions in East Africa. Crispi's lust for territory there was thwarted when on 1 March 1896, the armies of Ethiopian Emperor Menelik routed Italian forces at Adowa, ... In what has been defined as an unparalleled disaster for a modern army. Crispi, whose private life (he was perhaps a trigamist) and personal finances...were objects of perennial scandal, went into dishonorable retirement.<ref>{{cite book|last=R.J.B. Bosworth|title=Italy and the Wider World: 1860-1960|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=VL1vjYQRR-0C&pg=PA29|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|page=29}}</ref>

Crispi had been in the Depretis cabinet minister and was once a Garibaldi republican.  Crispi's major concerns before during 1887-91 was protecting Italy from Austria-Hungary.  Crispi worked to build Italy as a great world power through increased military expenditures, advocation of expansionism,  and trying to win Germany's favor even by joining the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] which included both Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882 which remained officially intact until 1915. While helping Italy develop strategically, he continued ''trasformismo'' and was authoritarian, once suggesting the use of martial law to ban opposition parties. Despite being authoritarian, Crispi put through liberal policies such as the Public Health Act of 1888 and establishing tribunals for redress against abuses by the government.{{sfn|Smith |1997|pages=128-32}}

The overwhelming attention paid to foreign policy alienated the agricultural community which needed help.  Both radical and conservative forces in the Italian parliament demanded that the government investigate how to improve agriculture in Italy.{{sfn|Smith|1997|pages=136-38}} The investigation which started in 1877 and was released eight years later, showed that agriculture was not improving, that landowners were swallowing up revenue from their lands and contributing almost nothing to the development of the land. There was aggravation by lower class Italians to the break-up of communal lands which benefited only landlords.  Most of the workers on the agricultural lands were not peasants but short-term labourers who at best were employed for one year. Peasants without stable income were forced to live off meager food supplies, disease was spreading rapidly, plagues were reported, including a major [[cholera]] epidemic which killed at least 55,000 people.{{sfn|Smith|1997|page=137}}

[[File:1905 Fiat 24-32 HP Tonneau.jpg|thumb|250px|A 1905 [[Fiat]] advertisement.]]

The Italian government could not deal with the situation effectively due to the mass overspending of the Depretis government that left Italy in huge debt. Italy also suffered economically because of overproduction of grapes for their vineyards in the 1870s and 1880s when France's vineyard industry was suffering from vine disease caused by insects. Italy during that time prospered as the largest exporter of wine in Europe but following the recovery of France in 1888, southern Italy was overproducing and had to split into which caused greater unemployment and bankruptcies.{{sfn|Smith|1997|page=139}} In 1913 male universal suffrage was allowed. The Socialist Party became the main political party, outclassing the traditional liberal and conservative organisations.

Starting from the last two decades of the 19th century, Italy developed its own colonial Empire. It took control of  [[Somalia]] and [[Eritrea]]. Its attempt to occupy [[Ethiopia]] failed in the [[First Italo–Ethiopian War]] of 1895–1896. In 1911, [[Giovanni Giolitti]]'s government sent forces to occupy Libya and declared war on the [[Ottoman Empire]] which held [[Libya]]. Italy soon conquered and annexed [[Tripoli]] and the [[Dodecanese Islands]]. Nationalists advocated Italy's domination of the [[Mediterranean Sea]] by occupying [[Greece]] as well as the Adriatic coastal region of [[Dalmatia]].{{sfn|Bosworth|2005|page=49}}

===Italy in World War I===
{{VA|Military history of Italy during World War I|Italian Campaign (World War I)}}

The [[First World War]] (1914–1918) was an unexpected development that forced the decision whether to honor the alliance with Germany. At first Italy remained neutral, saying that the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] was only for defensive purposes. Public opinion in Italy was sharply divided, with Catholics and socialists recommending peace. However, extreme nationalists saw their opportunity to gain their "irredenta" – that is, the border regions that were controlled by Austria.<ref name="Thomas Nelson Page 1992">Thomas Nelson Page, ''Italy and the world war'' (1992) [http://books.google.com/books?id=9RUitonph38C&hl=en&dq=intitle:Italy intitle:world intitle:war&ei=qL56TKnCCYH58AbBr6HDBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA full text online at Google]</ref>

[[File:Sacrario Militare di Redipuglia.jpg|thumb|The [[military cemetery]] of [[Fogliano Redipuglia|Redipuglia]], resting place of approximately 100,000 Italian soldiers. More than 650,000 died on the battlefields of [[World War I]]. The total deaths for Italy amounted to 1,240,000.]]
The nationalists won out, and in April 1915, the Italian government secretly agreed to the [[London Pact]]. Italy would declare war on the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] in exchange for promises of major territorial rewards. Italy entered the war with an army of 875,000 men, but the army was poorly led and lacked heavy artillery and machine guns, their war supplies having been largely depleted in [[Italo-Turkish War|the war of 1911–12]] against Turkey.<ref name="Thomas Nelson Page 1992"/>

Italy proved unable to prosecute the war effectively, as fighting raged for three years on a very narrow front along the [[Battles of the Isonzo|Isonzo River]], where the Austrians held the high ground. In 1916, Italy declared war on Germany, which provided significant aid to the Austrians. Some 650,000 Italian soldiers died and 950,000 were wounded, while the economy required large-scale Allied funding to survive.<ref name="Thomas Nelson Page 1992"/>

Before the war the government had ignored labor issues, but now it had to intervene to mobilize war production. With the main working-class Socialist party reluctant to support the war effort, strikes were frequent and cooperation was minimal, especially in the Socialist strongholds of Piedmont and Lombardy. The government imposed high wage scales, as well as collective bargaining and insurance schemes.<ref>Luigi Tomassini, "Industrial Mobilization and the labour market in Italy during the First World War," ''Social History,'' (January 1991), 16#1 pp 59–87</ref>

Many large firms expanded dramatically. The workforce at Ansaldo grew from 6,000 to 110,000 as it manufactures 10,900 artillery pieces, 3,800 warplanes, 95 warships and 10 million artillery shells. At Fiat the workforce grew from 4,000 to 40,000. Inflation doubled the cost of living. Industrial wages kept pace but not wages for farm workers. Discontent was high in rural areas since so many men were taken for service, industrial jobs were unavailable, wages grew slowly and inflation was just as bad.<ref>Tucker, ''European Powers in the First World War,'' p 375-76</ref>

Italy blocked serious peace negotiations, staying in the war primarily to gain new territory to the north. The [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Treaty of St. Germain]] awarded the victorious Italian nation the Southern half of the [[County of Tyrol]], [[Trieste]], [[Istria]], and the city of [[Zadar]]. Italy did not receive other territories promised by the Pact of London, so this victory was considered "[[Mutilated victory|mutilated]]". Subsequently, after the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)|Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922]], Italy formally annexed the [[Dodecanese]] (''Possedimenti Italiani dell'Egeo''), that she had occupied during the war.

==Fascist Italy, World War II and Civil War==

=== Rise of Fascism into power ===
{{main|Italian Fascism|}}
[[File:Kingdom of Italy 1919 map.svg|thumbnail|Italian kingdom in 1919.]]
[[File:Fiume cheering D'Annunzio.jpg|thumb|left|Italian nationalist militias occupying [[Fiume]] (today Rijeka, Croatia) in 1919.]]

In 1919, at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], Italy was denied the execution of wartime secret [[Treaty of London (1915)|Treaty of London]] (1915) it had concorded with the [[Triple Entente]];<ref>The Fascist Experience by Edward R. Tannenbaum, p. 22</ref> wherein Italy was to leave the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] and join the enemy, by [[declaration of war|declaring war]] against the [[German Empire]] and [[Austria-Hungary]], in exchange for territories ([[Istria]] and [[Dalmatia]]), at war’s end, upon which the Kingdom of Italy held claims. The disrespect for the promises caused widespread indignation among Italian nationalists, while poet and adventurer [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]] led an expedition to occupy ethnic Italian [[Fiume]], assigned to Yugoslavia.

At the same time, the so-called ''[[Biennio Rosso]]'' took place in the two years following the [[World War I|first world war]] in a context of economic crisis, high unemployment and political instability. The 1919–20 period was characterized by mass strikes, worker manifestations as well as self-management experiments through land and factories occupations. In [[Turin]] and [[Milan]], [[workers councils]] were formed and many [[factory occupations]] took place under the leadership of [[anarcho-syndicalist]]s. The agitations also extended to the agricultural areas of the [[Padan plain]] and were accompanied by peasant strikes, rural unrests and guerilla conflicts between left-wing and right-wing militias.

[[File:Giacomo Matteotti 2.jpg|thumb|150px|Socialist leader [[Giacomo Matteotti]] was murdered a few days after he openly denounced Fascist violence during the 1924 elections.]]
Thenceforth, the [[National Fascist Party]] of [[Benito Mussolini]] successfully exploited the claims of Italian nationalists and the quest for order and normalization of the middle class. In 1920, old Prime Minister Giolitti was reappointed in a desperate attempt to solve Italy's deadlock, but his cabinet was weak and threatened by a growing socialist opposition. Giolitti believed that the Fascists could be toned down and used to protect the monarchy from the socialists. He decided to include Fascists on his electoral list for 1921 elections.{{citation needed|date=March 2012}} In the elections, the Fascists did not make large gains, but Giolitti's government failed to gather a large enough coalition to govern and offered the Fascists placements in his government. The Fascists rejected Giolitti's offers and joined with socialists in bringing down his government.{{sfn|Bosworth|2005|page=112}}

[[Image:March on Rome.jpg|thumb|left|[[Benito Mussolini]] during the [[March on Rome]] in 1922.]]
In October 1922, Mussolini took advantage of a general strike to announce his demands to the Italian government to give the Fascist Party political power or face a coup. With no immediate response, a group of 30,000 Fascists began a long trek across Italy to Rome (the [[March on Rome]]), claiming that Fascists were intending to restore law and order. The Fascists demanded Prime Minister [[Luigi Facta]]'s resignation and that Mussolini be named to the post.

Although the Italian Army was far better armed than the Fascist militias, the liberal system and King [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy|Victor Emmanuel III]] were facing a deeper political crisis. The King was forced to choose which of the two rival movements in Italy would form the government: Mussolini's Fascists, or the marxist [[Italian Socialist Party]]. He selected the Fascists.

Upon taking power, Mussolini formed a coalition with nationalists and liberals. In 1923, Mussolini's coalition passed the electoral [[Acerbo Law]], which assigned two thirds of the seats to the party that achieved at least 25% of the vote. The Fascist Party used violence and intimidation to achieve the threshold in the 1924 election, thus obtaining control of Parliament. Socialist deputy [[Giacomo Matteotti]] was assassinated after calling for a nullification of the vote because of the irregularities.

Over the next four years, Mussolini eliminated nearly all checks and balances on his power. In 1926, he passed a law that declared he was responsible to the king alone, making him the sole person able to determine Parliament's agenda. Local governments were dissolved, and appointed officials replaced elected mayors and councils. In 1928, all political parties were banned, and parliamentary elections were replaced by plebiscites in which the Grand Council of Fascism nominated a single list of candidates.

[[File:Mussolini mezzobusto.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Official portrait of [[Benito Mussolini]].]]
Duggan (2012), using private diaries and letters, and secret police files, argues that Mussolini enjoyed a strong, wide base of popular support among ordinary people across Italy. Mussolini elicited emotional responses unique in modern Italian history, and kept his popularity despite the military reverses after 1940. Duggan argues that his regime exploited Mussolini's appeal and forged a cult of personality that served as the model that was emulated by dictators of other fascist regimes of the 1930s.<ref>Christopher Duggan, ''Fascist Voices: An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy'' (2012) [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fascist-Voices-Intimate-History-Mussolinis/dp/1847921035/ excerpt]</ref>

=== Religion ===
In 1929 Mussolini and the Catholic Church came to an agreement that ended a standoff that reached back to 1860 and had alienated the Church from the Italian government. The Orlando government had started the process of reconciliation during the World War, and the pope furthered it by cutting ties with the Christian Democrats in 1922.<ref>Smith, ''Italy,'' pp 40-443</ref> Mussolini and the leading fascists were atheists but they recognized the opportunity of warmer relations with Italy's large Catholic element.

The [[Lateran Treaty|Lateran Accord of 1929]] was a treaty that recognized the pope as the sovereign of the tiny [[Vatican City]] inside Rome, which gave it independent status and made the Vatican an important hub of world diplomacy. The Concordat of 1929 made Catholicism the sole religion of the state (although other religions were tolerated), paid salaries to priests and bishops, recognized church marriages (previously couples had to have a civil ceremony), and brought religious instruction into the public schools. In turn the bishops swore allegiance to the Italian state, which had a veto power over their selection. A third agreement paid the Vatican 1750 million lira (about $100 million) for the seizures of church property since 1860. The Church was not officially obligated to support the Fascist regime; the strong differences remained but the seething hostility ended. The Church especially endorsed foreign policies such as support for the anti-Communist side in the Spanish Civil War, and support for the conquest of Ethiopia. Friction continued over the Catholic Action youth network, which Mussolini wanted to merge into his Fascist youth group.<ref>Kenneth Scott Latourette, ''Christianity In a Revolutionary Age A History of Christianity in the 19th and 20th Century: Vol 4 The 20th Century In Europe'' (1961) pp 32-35, 153, 156, 371</ref> In 1931 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical ''[[Non abbiamo bisogno]]'' ("We Have No Need") that denounced the regime's persecution of the church in Italy and condemned "pagan worship of the State."<ref>{{cite book|author=Eamon Duffy|title=Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes; Second Edition|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MTWM6PjNvBMC&pg=PA340|year= 2002|publisher=Yale University Press|page=340|isbn=9780300091656}}</ref>

=== Foreign politics ===
[[File:S25.jpeg|thumb|150px|left|Spanish Republican poster against "the Italian invader".]]
[[File:RegioniIrredenteItalia.jpg|thumbnail|[[Italian irredentism]] map.]]

Lee identifies three major themes in Mussolini's foreign-policy.  The first was a continuation of the foreign-policy objectives of the preceding Liberal regime.   Liberal Italy had allying itself with Germany and Austria, and had great ambitions in the Balkans and North Africa.  Ever since it had been badly defeated in Ethiopia in 1896, there was a strong demand for seizing that country. Second was a profound disillusionment after the heavy losses of the First World War.  The small territorial gains from Austria were not enough to compensate for the war's terrible costs; other countries especially Poland and Yugoslavia received much more and Italy felt cheated.  Third was Mussolini's promise to restore the pride and glory of the old Roman Empire.<ref>{{cite book|last=Stephen J. Lee|title=European Dictatorships, 1918-1945|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=u-mm5UDlzBEC&pg=PA157|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|pages=157–58}}</ref>

Mussolini promised to bring Italy back as a [[great power]] in Europe, building a "New Roman Empire" and holding power over the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. In propaganda, Fascists used the ancient Roman motto "''[[Mare Nostrum]]''" ([[Latin]] for "Our Sea") to describe the Mediterranean. The Fascist regime engaged in interventionist foreign policy in Europe. In 1923, Italian soldiers captured the Greek island of [[Corfu]] after the assassination of [[Enrico Tellini|General Tellini]]. In 1925, Italy forced Albania to become a ''de facto'' [[protectorate]]. Relations with France were mixed. The Fascist regime planned to regain Italian-populated areas of France,<ref name="Smith_3">Smith. 1983. p172</ref> but with the rise of Nazism, it became more concerned of the potential threat of Germany to Italy. Due to concerns of German expansionism, Italy joined the [[Stresa Front]] with France and the United Kingdom, which existed from 1935 to 1936. The Fascist regime held negative relations with Yugoslavia, as it continued to claim Dalmatia.

During the [[Spanish Civil War]] between the socialist Republicans and nationalists led by [[Francisco Franco]], Italy sent arms and over 60,000 troops to aid the nationalist faction. This secured Italy's naval access to Spanish ports and increased Italian influence in the Mediterranean. During all the 1930s, Italy strongly pursued a policy of naval rearmament; by 1940 the [[Regia Marina]] was the fourth largest navy in the world.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R69173, Münchener Abkommen, Staatschefs.jpg|thumb|left|alt=[[Neville Chamberlain|Chamberlain]], [[Édouard Daladier|Daladier]], [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]], Mussolini, and Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano, as they prepared to sign the Munich Agreement|From left to right, Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini and Italian Foreign Minister [[Count Ciano]] at the signing of [[Munich Agreement]].]]

Mussolini and [[Adolf Hitler]] first met in June 1934, as the issue of Austrian independence was in crisis. Mussolini sought to ensure that Nazi Germany would not become hegemonic in Europe. To do this, he opposed German plans to annex Austria after the assassination of Austrian Chancellor [[Engelbert Dollfuss]], and promised the Austrians military support if Germany were to interfere. Public appearances and propaganda constantly portrayed the closeness of Mussolini and Hitler and the similarities between Italian Fascism and German [[Nazism|National Socialism]]. While both ideologies had significant similarities, the two factions were suspicious of each other, and both leaders were in competition for world influence. [[File:Hitler and Mussolini June 1940.jpg|thumb|Mussolini and Hitler in June, 1940.]]In 1935 Mussolini decided to invade [[Ethiopian Empire|Ethiopia]]. The [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War]] resulted in the international isolation of Italy, as France and Britain quickly abandoned their trust of Mussolini. The only nation to back Italy's aggression was Nazi Germany. After being condemned by the [[League of Nations]], Italy decided to leave the League on 11 December 1937 and Mussolini denounced the League as a mere "tottering temple".<ref>Gilbert, Martin (introduction).1939. The Illustrated London News: Marching to War, 1933–1939. Toronto, Canada: Doubleday Canada Ltd. Pp 137</ref> At this point, Mussolini had little choice but to join Hitler in international politics, thus he reluctantly abandoned its support of Austrian independence. Hitler proceeded with the ''[[Anschluss]]'', the annexation of Austria, in 1938. Mussolini later supported German claims on [[Sudetenland]], a province of [[Czechoslovakia]] inhabited mostly by [[Germans]], at the [[Munich Conference]]. In 1938, under influence of Hitler, Mussolini supported the adoption of anti-semitic [[Manifesto of Race|racial laws]] in Italy. After Germany annexed [[Czechoslovakia]] in March 1939, Mussolini decided to occupy [[Albania]] to avoid becoming second-rate member of the Axis. On 7 April 1939, [[Italian invasion of Albania|Italy invaded Albania]].

As war approached in 1939, the Fascist regime stepped up an aggressive press campaign against France claiming that Italian people were suffering in France.{{sfn|Smith|1997|page=397}} This was important to the alliance as both regimes mutually had claims on France, Germany on German-populated [[Alsace-Lorraine]] and Italy on the mixed Italian and French populated [[Nice]] and [[Corsica]]. In May 1939, a formal alliance with Germany was signed, known as the [[Pact of Steel]]. Mussolini felt obliged to sign the pact in spite of his own concerns that Italy could not fight a war in the near future. This obligation grew from his promises to Italians that he would build an empire for them and from his personal desire to not allow Hitler to become the dominant leader in Europe.{{sfn|Smith|1997|page=401}} Mussolini was repulsed by the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] agreement where Germany and the [[Soviet Union]] agreed to partition the [[Second Polish Republic]] into German and Soviet zones for an impending invasion. The Fascist government saw this as a betrayal of the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]], but decided to remain officially silent.{{sfn|Smith|1997|page=401}}

=== World War II and the fall of Fascism ===
{{Main|Military history of Italy during World War II}}

When Germany [[Invasion of Poland (1939)|invaded Poland]] on 1 September 1939 beginning [[World War II]], Mussolini chose to stay [[non-belligerent]], although he declared his support for Hitler. In drawing out war plans, Mussolini and the Fascist regime decided that Italy would aim to annex large portions of Africa and the Middle East to be included in its colonial empire. Hesitance remained from the King and military commander [[Pietro Badoglio]] who warned Mussolini that Italy had too few [[tank]]s, [[armoured vehicle]]s, and aircraft available to be able to carry out a long-term war and Badoglio told Mussolini "It is suicide" for Italy to get involved in the [[European Theater of World War II|European conflict]].{{sfn|Smith|1997|page=405}} Mussolini and the Fascist regime took the advice to a degree and waited as France was invaded by Germany before deciding to get involved.

As France collapsed under the German ''[[Blitzkrieg]]'', Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940, fulfilling its obligations towards the Pact of Steel. Mussolini hoped to quickly capture [[Savoy]], Nice, Corsica, and the African colonies of [[Tunisia]] and [[Algeria]] from the French, but Germany signed an armistice (June 22: [[Second Armistice at Compiègne]]) with Marshal [[Philippe Pétain]] establishing [[Vichy France]], that retained control over southern France and colonies. This decision angered the Fascist regime.{{sfn|Smith|1997|page=406}} In summer 1940, Mussolini ordered the invasion of [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]], but Italian forces were soon driven back by the British (see [[Operation Compass]]). Hitler had to intervene with the sending of the [[Afrika Korps]] of General [[Erwin Rommel]], that was the mainstay in the [[North African campaign]]. [[File:El Alamein Italian prisoners 1942.jpg|thumb|left|Italian prisoners in El Alamein, November 1942.]]Continuing indications of Italy's increasing subordinatation to Germany arose during the disastrous [[Greco-Italian War]]. Mussolini had intended the [[Greco-Italian War|invasion of Greece]] to prove Italy's strategic autonomy, but the Greeks humiliatingly put Italian forces on the defensive.{{sfn|Smith|1997|pages=408-409}} Because of a putsch in [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], Germany began a [[Balkans Campaign (World War II)|Balkans Campaign]] which had as result the dissolution of this country and Greece's defeat. On that occasion, Italy gained south Slovenia and part of Dalmatia. But despite territorial achievements, the Italian Empire was a ''[[paper tiger]]'' by 1942: it was faltering as its economy failed to adapt to the conditions of war, and Italian cities were being heavily bombed by the Allies. Also, despite Rommel's advances, the campaign in North Africa began to fail in late 1942. Complete collapse came with the decisive defeat at [[Second Battle of El Alamein|El Alamein]].

By 1943, Italy was losing on every front. By January of the year, half of the Italian forces serving in Russia had been destroyed,{{sfn|Smith|1997|page=412}} the African campaign had failed, the Balkans remained unstable, and Italians wanted an end to the war.{{sfn|Smith|1997|pages=412-413}} In July 1943, the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] [[Allied invasion of Sicily|invaded Sicily]] in an effort to knock Italy out of the war and establish a foothold in Europe. On 25 July, [[25 Luglio|Mussolini was ousted]] by the [[Gran Consiglio del Fascismo|Great Council of Fascism]] and arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III, who appointed General [[Pietro Badoglio]] as new [[Prime Minister of Italy|Prime Minister]]. Badoglio stripped away the final elements of Fascist rule by banning the Fascist Party, then signed an [[Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces|armistice with the Allied armed forces]] and the Kingdom of Italy joined the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in their war against [[Nazi Germany]].

===Civil War, Allied advance and Liberation===
[[File:Germaniamica.jpg|thumb|150px|Italian Social Republic poster saying: ''"Germany is truly your friend"''.]]
{{further|Italian Civil War|Liberation of Italy}}

Soon after being ousted, Mussolini was rescued by a German commando in [[Gran Sasso raid|Operation Eiche]] ("Oak"). The Germans brought Mussolini to northern Italy where he set up a Fascist puppet state, the [[Italian Social Republic]]. Meanwhile, the Allies advanced in southern Italy. In September 1943, [[Four days of Naples|Naples]] rose against the occupying German forces. The Allies organized some royalist Italian troops into the [[Italian Co-Belligerent Army]], while troops loyal to Mussolini continued to fight alongside Nazi Germany in the ''Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano'', the [[National Republican Army]]. In addition, a large [[Italian resistance movement]] started a long [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]] against the German and Fascist forces.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-316-1181-11, Italien, Benito Mussolini mit italienischen Soldaten.jpg|thumb|left|Mussolini reviewing adolescent soldiers, late 1944.]]

The Germans, often helped by Fascists, committed several [[War crimes of the Wehrmacht|atrocities]] against Italian civilians in occupied zones, such as the [[Ardeatine massacre]] and the [[Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre]]. On 4 June 1944, the German occupation of Rome came to an end as the Allies advanced. As the Allies advanced north, they encountered increasingly difficult terrain, as mountains offered excellent defensive position to Axis forces. The final Allied victory over the Axis in Italy did not come until the spring offensive of 1945, after Allied troops had breached the [[Gothic Line]], leading to the surrender of German and Fascist forces in Italy on 2 May shortly before Germany finally surrendered ending World War II in Europe on 8 May. It is estimated that between September 1943 and April 1945 some 60,000 Allied and 50,000 German soldiers died in Italy.{{#tag:ref|In ''Alexander's Generals'' Blaxland quotes 59,151 Allied deaths between 3 September 1943 and 2 May 1945 as recorded at AFHQ and gives the breakdown between 20 nationalities: United States 20,442; United Kingdom, 18,737; France, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal and Belgium 5,241; Canada, 4,798; India, Pakistan, Nepal 4,078; Poland 2,028; New Zealand 1,688; Italy (excluding irregulars) 917; South Africa 800; Brazil 275; Greece 115; [[Jewish Brigade|Jewish volunteers]] from the [[British Mandate in Palestine]] 32. In addition 35 soldiers were killed by enemy action while serving with pioneer units from Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Seychelles, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Cyprus and the West Indies<ref name="Blax11">Blaxland (1979), p. 11</ref>|group=nb}}

Mussolini was captured on 27 April 1945, by [[Partito Comunista Italiano|communist]] [[Italian partisans]] near the [[Switzerland|Swiss]] border as he tried to escape Italy. On the next day, he was executed for high treason, as sentenced in absentia by a tribunal of the [[National Liberation Committee|CLN]]. Afterwards, the bodies of Mussolini, his mistress, and about fifteen other Fascists were taken to [[Milan]] where they were displayed to the public. Days later on 2 May 1945, the German Army (''[[Wehrmacht Heer]]'') in Italy surrendered.
The government of Badoglio had remained in being for some nine months. On 9 June 1944 he was replaced as Prime Minister by the 70-year-old anti-fascist leader [[Ivanoe Bonomi]]. In June 1945 Bonomi was in turn replaced by [[Ferruccio Parri]], who in turn gave way to [[Alcide de Gasperi]] on 4 December 1945. Finally, De Gasperi supervised the transition to a Republic following the abdication of Vittorio Emanuele III on 9 May 1946, the one-month-long reign of his son [[Umberto II of Italy|Umberto II]] and the [[Italian constitutional referendum, 1946|Constitutional Referendum]] that abolished the monarchy; De Gasperi briefly became acting Head of State as well as Prime Minister on 18 June 1946, but ceded the former role to Provisional President [[Enrico de Nicola]] ten days later.

==Italian Republic (1946)==
{{main|History of the Italian Republic}}

=== Birth of the Republic ===
{{Main|Italian constitutional referendum, 1946}}

[[File:Umberto4.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Umberto II]], the last King of Italy, was exiled to Portugal.]]
[[File:Alcide de Gasperi 2.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Alcide De Gasperi]], Prime Minister 1945–53, is revered as a founding father of modern Italy and Europe.]]

The aftermath of World War II left Italy with a destroyed economy and a divided society. Following Victor Emmanuel III's abdication, his son, the new king [[Umberto II of Italy|Umberto II]], was pressured by the threat of another civil war to call a [[Italian constitutional referendum, 1946|Constitutional Referendum]] to decide whether Italy should remain a monarchy or become a republic. On 2 June 1946, the republican side won 54% of the vote and Italy officially became a republic. All male members of the [[House of Savoy]] were barred from entering Italy, a ban which was only repealed in 2002. Under the [[Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947]], the eastern border area was annexed by [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], while Italy lost all its overseas possessions.

The [[Italian general election, 1946|General Elections of 1946]], held at the same time as the Constitutional Referendum, elected 556 members of a [[Constituent Assembly of Italy|Constituent Assembly]], of which 207 were [[Democrazia Cristiana|Christian Democrats]], 115 [[Partito Socialista Italiano|Socialists]] and 104 [[Partito Comunista Italiano|Communists]]. A [[Italian Constitution|new constitution]] was approved, setting up a [[parliamentary system|parliamentary]] democracy. In 1947, under American pressure, the communist were expelled from the government. The [[Italian general election, 1948]] saw a landslide victory for Christian Democrats, that dominated the system for the following forty years. Italy joined the [[Marshall Plan]] and [[NATO]]. By 1950, the economy had largely stabilized and started booming.<ref>Christopher Duggan, ''  Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796'' (2008) ch 27</ref> In 1957 Italy was a founding member of the [[European Economic Community]], which later transformed into the European Union (EU).

=== The economic miracle ===
[[File:Roma 1998 08 14 Fiat 600.jpg|thumb|left|[[Fiat 600]], iconic middle-class dream car and status symbol of the 1950-60s.]]
{{Main|Italian economic miracle}}

In the 1950s and 1960s the country enjoyed prolonged economic boom, which was accompanied by a dramatic rise in the standard of living of ordinary Italians.<ref>Modern Italy 1871–1995 by Martin Clark</ref> The so-called [[Italian economic miracle]] lasted almost uninterrupted until the "[[Hot Autumn]]'s" massive strikes and social unrest of 1969–70, that combined with the later [[1973 oil crisis]], gradually cooled the economy, that has never returned to its heady post-war growth rates.

It has been calculated that the Italian economy experienced an average rate of growth of GDP of 5.8% per year between 1951–63, and 5.0% per year between 1964–73.<ref>{{Cite book| author=Nicholas Crafts, Gianni Toniolo| title = Economic growth in Europe since 1945| publisher=Cambridge University Press| year=  1996| page = 428| isbn = 0-521-49627-6}}</ref> Italian rates of growth were second only, but very close, to the [[West Germany|German]] rates, in Europe, and among the [[OEEC]] countries only Japan had been doing better.<ref>{{Cite book| author=Ennio Di Nolfo| title = Power in Europe? II: Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, and the Origins of the EEC 1952–57| publisher=de Gruyter| year=  1992| location = Berlin| page = 198| isbn = 3-11-012158-1}}</ref>
Between 1955 and 1971, around 9 million people are estimated to have been involved in inter-regional migrations in Italy, uprooting entire communities.<ref>{{Cite book| author=Paul Ginsborg| title = A history of contemporary Italy| publisher=Palgrave Macmillan| year=  2003| location = New York| page = 219| isbn = 1-4039-6153-0}}</ref> Emigration was especially directed to the factories of the so-called "industrial triangle", a region encompassed between the major manufacturer centers of [[Milan]] and [[Turin]] and the seaport of [[Genoa]].

The needs of a modernizing economy demanded new transport and energy infrastructures. Thousands of miles of railways and highways were completed in record times to connect the main urban areas, while dams and power plants were built all over Italy, often without regard for geological and environmental conditions. Strong urban growth led to uncontrolled urban sprawl.

The natural environment was constantly under threat by wild industrial expansion, leading to ecological disasters like the [[Vajont Dam]] collapse and the [[Seveso disaster|Seveso]] chemical accident. The boom had also a huge impact on Italian society and culture. The pervasive influence of mass media and [[consumerism]] on society has often been fiercely criticized by intellectuals like [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]] and film directors like [[Dino Risi]], [[Vittorio De Sica]] and [[Ettore Scola]], that stigmatized selfishness and immorality that characterized miracle's years.

===The Years of Lead===
{{main|Years of lead (Italy)}}
[[File:Stragedibologna-2.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Bologna massacre|Attack]] of the far-right terrorist group [[Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari|NAR]] at the [[Bologna]] railway station on 2 August 1980, which caused the death of 85 people.]]
Italy faced political instability in the 1970s, which ended in the 1980s. Known as the [[History of Italy (1970s-1980s)|Years of Lead]], this period was characterized by widespread social conflicts and terrorist acts carried out by extra-parliamentary movements. The assassination of the leader of the [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy]] (DC), [[Aldo Moro]], led to the end of a "[[historic compromise]]" between the DC and the [[Italian Communist Party|Communist Party]] (PCI). In the 1980s, for the first time, two governments were managed by a republican ([[Giovanni Spadolini]] 1981–82) and a socialist ([[Bettino Craxi]] 1983–87) rather than by a Christian-democrat.

At the end of the Lead years, the PCI gradually increased their votes thanks to [[Enrico Berlinguer]]. The [[Italian Socialist Party|Socialist party]] (PSI), led by [[Bettino Craxi]], became more and more critical of the communists and of the [[Soviet Union]]; Craxi himself pushed in favour of US president [[Ronald Reagan]]'s positioning of [[Pershing II]] missiles in Italy.

===Tangentopoli scandal===
[[File:Craxi coins.jpg|thumb|[[Bettino Craxi]], viewed by many as the symbol of [[Tangentopoli]], leader of the [[Italian Socialist Party|Socialist Party]] and Prime Minister from 1983 to 1987, is greeted by a salvo of coins as a sign of loathing by protesters.]]

From 1992 to 1997, Italy faced significant challenges as voters disenchanted with political paralysis, massive government debt, extensive corruption, and organized crime's considerable influence collectively called the political system [[Tangentopoli]]. As Tangentopoli was under a set of judicial investigations by the name of [[Mani pulite]] (Italian for "clean hands"), voters demanded political, economic, and ethical reforms. The Tangentopoli scandals involved all major parties, but especially those in the government coalition: between 1992 and 1994 the [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|DC]] underwent a severe crisis and was dissolved, splitting up into several pieces, among whom the [[Italian People's Party (1994–2002)|Italian People's Party]] and the [[Christian Democratic Center]]. The [[Italian Socialist Party|PSI]] (along with other minor governing parties) completely dissolved.<ref>Sarah Waters,  "‘Tangentopoli’ and the emergence of a new political order in Italy." ''West European Politics'' (1994): 17#1 pp:169-182.</ref><ref>Donald Sassoon, "Tangentopoli or the democratization of corruption: Considerations on the end of Italy's first republic." ''Journal of Modern Italian Studies'' (1995) 1#1 pp: 124-143.</ref>

===The Second Republic (1992–present)===
[[File:Map of Italy-it.svg|thumbnail|left|Italy today.]]

The [[Italian general election, 1994|1994 elections]] also swept media magnate [[Silvio Berlusconi]] (leader of "[[Pole of Freedoms]]" coalition) into office as Prime Minister. Berlusconi, however, was forced to step down in December 1994 when his [[Lega Nord]] partners withdrew support. The Berlusconi government was succeeded by a [[technical government]] headed by Prime Minister [[Lamberto Dini]], which left office in early 1996.

In [[Italian general election, 1996|April 1996, national elections]] led to the victory of a centre-left coalition under the leadership of [[Romano Prodi]]. Prodi's first government became the third-longest to stay in power before he narrowly lost a vote of confidence, by three votes, in October 1998. A new government was formed by [[Democrats of the Left]] leader and former communist [[Massimo D'Alema]], but in April 2000, following poor performance by his coalition in regional elections, D'Alema resigned.

The succeeding centre-left government, including most of the same parties, was headed by [[Giuliano Amato]] (social-democratic), who previously served as Prime Minister in 1992–93, from April 2000 until June 2001.
In 2001 the centre-right [[Italian general election, 2001|formed the government]] and [[Silvio Berlusconi]] was able to regain power and keep it for a complete five-year mandate, becoming the longest government in post-war Italy. Berlusconi participated in the US-led [[multinational coalition in Iraq]].

The [[Italian general election, 2006|elections in 2006]] returned Prodi in government, leading an all-encompassing centre-left coalition of 11 parties ([[The Union (political coalition)|The Union]]). Prodi won with only a slim majority in the Senate, also due to the new proportional [[electoral law]] introduced by Berlusconi and [[Roberto Calderoli|Calderoli]] in 2005. In the first year of his government, Prodi had followed a cautious policy of economic liberalization and reduction of public debt. His government, in loss of popularity, was anyway sacked by the end of support from centrist MPs led by [[Clemente Mastella]].

[[File:Silvio Berlusconi crop.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Silvio Berlusconi]], Prime Minister of Italy for almost ten years between 1994 and 2011.]]
Berlusconi won the [[Italian general election, 2008|general election in 2008]], with the [[People of Freedom]] party (fusion of his previous [[Forza Italia]] party and of Fini's [[National Alliance (Italy)|National Alliance]]) against [[Walter Veltroni]] of the [[Democratic Party (Italy)|Democratic Party]]. In 2010, Berlusconi's party saw the splintering of [[Gianfranco Fini]]'s new faction, which formed a parliamentary group and voted against him in a no-confidence vote on 14 December 2010. Berlusconi's government was able to avoid no-confidence thanks to support from sparse MPs, but has lost a consistent majority in the lower Chamber. On 16 November 2011, Berlusconi's resignation, the famous economist [[Mario Monti]] sworn in as new Prime Minister at the head of a [[technocracy|technocratic]] government.

On 24 and 25 February 2013 a [[Italian general election, 2013|new election]] was held; the centre-left coalition of [[Pier Luigi Bersani]], leader of the [[Democratic Party (Italy)|Democratic Party]], win a majority in the Chamber of Deputies but not in the Senate. It was shocking the result of the [[anti-establishment]] [[Five Star Movement]], founded by the former comedian [[Beppe Grillo]], which gain 25.5% of votes, becoming the first party in the country.

On 24 April, Giorgio Napolitano gave to the Vice-Secretary of the Democratic Party, [[Enrico Letta]], the task of forming a government, having determined that [[Pier Luigi Bersani]] could not form a government because it did not have a majority in the Senate. Letta formed a [[Grand coalition (Italy)|grand coalition]] government, supported also by [[The People of Freedom]] of [[Silvio Berlusconi]] and [[Civic Choice]] of [[Mario Monti]].
 
Letta's cabinet lasted until 22 February 2014 (for a total of 300 days), as the government fell apart after the Democratic Party retired its support of Letta in favour of [[Matteo Renzi]], the 39-year-old mayor of Florence and nicknamed "Il Rottamatore" (the scrapper), who succeeded Letta as Prime Minister at the head of a new [[Grand coalition (Italy)|grand coalition]] [[Renzi Cabinet|government]] with [[New Centre-Right]], [[Civic Choice]] and [[Union of the Centre (2008)|Union of the Centre]]. The cabinet is the youngest government of Italy up to date, with an average age of 47. In addition, it is also the first in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers.

== Referi ==
<references/>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=nb}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==

===Surveys===
* Coppa, Frank J. ed. ''Dictionary of Modern Italian History'' (1985)
* Di Scala, Spencer M. ''Italy: From Revolution to Republic, 1700 to the Present.'' (1998) 436pp [http://www.questia.com/read/98920663 online edition]
* Domenico, Roy. ''The Regions of Italy: A Reference Guide to History and Culture'' (2002) [http://www.questia.com/read/102135404?title=The%20Regions%20of%20Italy%3a%20A%20Reference%20Guide%20to%20History%20and%20Culture online edition]
* Duggan, Christopher. ''The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796'' (2008) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0618353674 excerpt and text search]
* Hearder, Henry, and D. P. Waley; ''A Short History of Italy: From Classical Times to the Present Day'' (1963) [http://www.questia.com/read/1149043 online edition]
* Holmes, George. ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy'' (2001) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0192854445 excerpt and text search]
* Killinger; Charles L. ''The History of Italy'' (2002) [http://www.questia.com/read/101544720 online edition]
* Smith, Denis Mack. ''Modern Italy: A Political History'' (1997)

===Geography and environment===
* Armiero, Marco, and Marcus Hall, eds.  ''Nature and History in Modern Italy'' (Ecology and History Series) (Ohio University Press, 2010) 295 pp.&nbsp;ISBN 978-0-8214-1916-8  [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=31962 online review]
* [[Lorenzo Arnone Sipari|Arnone Sipari, Lorenzo]], ed. ''Scritti scelti di Erminio Sipari sul Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo (1922–1933)'' (Nature and Parks series) (Trento, 2011) 349 pp.&nbsp;ISBN 978-88-97372-05-9
* Delano-Smith, Catherine. ''Western Mediterranean Europe: A Historical Geography of Italy, Spain, and Southern France Since the Neolithic'' (1980)

===Ancient===
* Cary, M. and H. H. Scullard. ''A History of Rome: Down to the Reign of Constantine'' (3rd ed. 1996), 690pp
* Forsythe, Gary. ''A Critical History of Early Rome'' (2005) 400pp
* Grant, Michael. ''History of Rome'' (1997)
* Heather, Peter. ''The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians'' (2006) 572pp
* Scullard, H. H. ''A History of the Roman World 753–146 BC'' (5th ed. 2002), 596pp

===Medieval===
* Abulafia, David. ''Italy in the Central Middle Ages: 1000–1300'' (Short Oxford History of Italy) (2004) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0199247048 excerpt and text search]
* Bullough, Donald A. ''Italy and Her Invaders'' (1968)
* Herlihy, David, Robert S. Lopez, and Vsevolod Slessarev, eds., ''Economy, Society and Government in Medieval Italy'' (1969)
* Hyde, J. K. ''Society and Politics in Medieval Italy'' (1973)
* La Rocca, Cristina. ''Italy in the Early Middle Ages: 476–1000'' (Short Oxford History of Italy) (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0198700482 excerpt and text search]
* Smith, Denis Mack. ''Medieval Sicily, 800–1713'' (1968)
* Tobacco, Giovanni. ''The Struggle for Power in Medieval Italy: Structures of Political Power'' (1989)
* Wickham, Chris. ''Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society, 400–1000'' (1981)

===Renaissance===
* {{cite book |first=John Rigby |last=Hale |authorlink=John Rigby Hale |year=1981 |title=A concise encyclopaedia of the Italian Renaissance |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |oclc=636355191}}.
* Kohl, Benjamin G. and Allison Andrews Smith, eds. ''Major Problems in the History of the Italian Renaissance'' (1995).
* Najemy, John M. ''Italy in the Age of the Renaissance: 1300–1550'' (The Short Oxford History of Italy) (2005) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0198700407 excerpt and text search]
* White, John. ''Art and Architecture in Italy, 1250–1400'' (1993)

===Early modern===
* Cochrane, Eric. ''Italy, 1530–1630'' (1988) [http://www.questia.com/read/52710416?title=Italy%201530-1630 online edition]
* Carpanetto, Dino, and Giuseppe Ricuperati. ''Italy in the Age of Reason, 1685–1789'' (1987) [http://www.questia.com/read/55015369?title=Italy%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20Reason%2c%201685-1789 online edition]
* Marino, John A. ''Early Modern Italy: 1550–1796'' (Short Oxford History of Italy) (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0198700423 excerpt and text search]
* Venturi, Franco. ''Italy and the Enlightenment'' (1972)
* Woolf, Stuart. ''A History of Italy, 1700–1860'' (1988)

===Risorgimento===
* Beales. D.. and E. Biagini, ''The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy'' (2002)
* Collier, Martin. ''Italian Unification 1820–71'' (2003)
* Davis, John A. ed. ''Italy in the Nineteenth Century: 1796–1900'' (2000) 300pp [http://www.questia.com/read/115250399?title=Italy%20in%20the%20Nineteenth%20Century%3a%201796-1900 online edition]
* Farmer, Alan. "How was Italy Unified?, ''History Review'' 54, March 2006
* Laven, David. ''Restoration and Risorgimento: Italy 1796-1870'' (2012)
* Pearce, Robert, and Andrina Styles,''The Unification of Italy 1815–70''(3rd edition, 2006)
* Riall, Lucy. ''Risorgimento: The History of Italy from Napoleon to Nation State'' (2009)
* Smith, Denis Mack. ''Cavour'' (1985)
* Stiles, A. ''The Unification of Italy 1815–70'' (2nd edition, 2001)

===Since 1860===
* {{cite book|last=Bosworth |first=Richard J. B. |title=Mussolini's Italy |year=2005 |ref=harv}}
* Cannistraro, Philip V. ed. ''Historical Dictionary of Fascist Italy'' (1982)
* Clark, Martin. ''Modern Italy: 1871–1982'' (1984, 3rd edn 2008)
* De Grand, Alexander. ''Giovanni Giolitti and Liberal Italy from the Challenge of Mass Politics to the Rise of Fascism, 1882–1922'' (2001)
* De Grand, Alexander. ''Italian Fascism: Its Origins and Development'' (1989)
* ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' (12th ed. 1922) comprises the 11th edition plus three new volumes 30-31-32 that cover events 1911-1922 with very thorough coverage of the war as well as every country and colony. Included also in 13th edition (1926) [[s:1922 Encyclopædia Britannica|partly online]]
** [http://books.google.com/books?id=CMYUAAAAQAAJ full text of vol 30 ABBE to ENGLISH HISTORY online free]
* Ginsborg, Paul. ''A History of Contemporary Italy, 1943–1988'' (2003). [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1403961530 excerpt and text search]
* Lyttelton, Adrian. ''Liberal and Fascist Italy: 1900–1945'' (Short Oxford History of Italy) (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0198731981 excerpt and text search]
* McCarthy, Patrick ed. ''Italy since 1945'' (2000)
* {{cite book|last=Smith |first=D. Mack |title=Modern Italy: A Political History |year=1997 |url=http://www.questia.com/read/7696309?title=Italy%3a%20A%20Modern%20History |publisher=The University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor |isbn=0-472-10895-6 |ref=harv}}
* Toniolo, Gianni. ''An Economic History of Liberal Italy, 1850–1918'' (1990)
* Toniolo, Gianni, ed. ''The Oxford Handbook of the Italian Economy since Unification'' (Oxford University Press, 2013) 785 pp. [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=43490 online review]
* Williams, Isobel. ''Allies and Italians under Occupation: Sicily and Southern Italy, 1943-45'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). xiv + 308 pp. [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=43968 online review]
* Zamagni, Vera. ''The Economic History of Italy, 1860–1990'' (1993) 413 pp.&nbsp;ISBN 0-19-828773-9.

===Historiography===
* Azzi, Stephen Corrado.   "The Historiography of Fascist Foreign Policy," ''Historical Journal'' (1993) 36#1 pp.&nbsp;187–203 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2639522 in JSTOR]
* Boardman, Jonathan. ''Umbria: A Cultural History'' (Signal Books; 2012). Charts a complex history of literature, religion, art, migration, and industry.
* Foot, John. ''Italy's Divided Memory'' (Palgrave Macmillan; 262 pages; 2010). Describes regional, political, and other divisions in Italian public memory of history.
* Pasquino, Gianfranco. "Political History in Italy," ''Journal of Policy History'' July 2009, Vol. 21 Issue 3, pp 282–97, on 20th century historians; covers Italian politics after World War II, and works of Silvio Lanaro, Aurelio Lepre, and Nicola Tranfaglia. Also discusses rise of the Italian Communist party, the role of the Christian Democrats in Italian society, and the development of the Italian parliamentary Republic.

==External links==
* [http://www.miol.it/stagniweb/foto6.asp?File=mappe_va&Tipo=index&Righe=50&Col=4 Detailed Maps of the History of Italy]
* [http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_Italy:_Primary_Documents History of Italy: Primary Documents]
* [http://www.italyrevisited.org/ Italy Revisited (historical photo archives)]