Editing Italy (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Italy}}

=== Prehistory and antiquity ===
{{Main|Prehistoric Italy|Italic peoples|Etruscan civilisation|Greek colonisation|Magna Graecia}}
[[File:Etruscan Painting 1.jpg|thumb|left|[[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] fresco in the [[Monterozzi necropolis]], 5th century BC]]

[[Lower Paleolithic]] artefacts, dating back 850,000 years, have been recovered from [[Monte Poggiolo]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Society|first=National Geographic|title=Erano padani i primi abitanti d'Italia|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.it/scienza/2012/01/20/news/erano_padani_iprimi_abitanti_ditalia-807204|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626220707/http://www.nationalgeographic.it/scienza/2012/01/20/news/erano_padani_iprimi_abitanti_ditalia-807204|archive-date=26 June 2019|access-date=11 March 2019|website=National Geographic}}</ref> Excavations throughout Italy revealed a [[Neanderthal]] presence in the Middle Palaeolithic period 200,000 years ago,<ref>Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers 2001, ch. 2. {{ISBN|0-3064-6463-2}}.</ref> while [[Early modern human|modern humans]] appeared about 40,000 years ago at [[Riparo Mochi]].<ref>42.7–41.5 ka ([[68–95–99.7 rule|1σ CI]]).
{{Cite journal|last=Douka|first=Katerina|display-authors=etal|year=2012|title=A new chronostratigraphic framework for the Upper Palaeolithic of Riparo Mochi (Italy)|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|volume=62|issue=2|pages=286–299|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.11.009|pmid=22189428|bibcode=2012JHumE..62..286D }}; {{Cite web|date=29 January 2010|title=Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria|url=http://www.iipp.it|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015231105/http://www.iipp.it|archive-date=15 October 2013|publisher=IIPP}}</ref>

The [[Ancient peoples of Italy|ancient peoples]] of pre-Roman Italy were [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]], specifically the [[Italic peoples]]. The main historic peoples of possible non-Indo-European or [[pre-Indo-European languages|pre-Indo-European]] heritage include the [[Etruscans]], the [[Elymians]] and [[Sicani]] of Sicily, and the prehistoric [[Sardinians]], who gave birth to the [[Nuragic civilisation]]. Other ancient populations include the [[Rhaetian people]] and [[Camunni]], known for their [[Rock Drawings in Valcamonica|rock drawings in Valcamonica]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rock Drawings in Valcamonica|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/94|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703183257/http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/94|archive-date=3 July 2010|access-date=29 June 2010|publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref> A natural mummy, [[Ötzi]], dated 3400–3100 BC, was discovered in the [[Similaun]] glacier in 1991.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bonani|first1=Georges|last2=Ivy|first2=Susan D.|display-authors=etal|year=1994|title=AMS {{SimpleNuclide|Carbon|14}} Age Determination of Tissue, Bone and Grass Samples from the Ötzal Ice Man|url=http://digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu/objectviewer?o=http%3A%2F%2Fradiocarbon.library.arizona.edu%2FVolume36%2FNumber2%2Fazu_radiocarbon_v36_n2_247_250_v.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Radiocarbon|volume=36|issue=2|pages=247–250|doi=10.1017/s0033822200040534|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720211402/https://digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu/objectviewer?o=http%3A%2F%2Fradiocarbon.library.arizona.edu%2FVolume36%2FNumber2%2Fazu_radiocarbon_v36_n2_247_250_v.pdf|archive-date=20 July 2010|access-date=4 February 2016|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The first colonisers were the [[Phoenicia]]ns, who established [[Emporium (antiquity)|emporium]]s on the coasts of Sicily and Sardinia. Some became small urban centers and developed parallel to [[Greek colonies]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Raclot|first1=Thierry|last2=Oudart|first2=Hugues|date=January 2000|title=CORPS GRAS ET OBESITE Acides gras alimentaires et obésité: aspects qualitatifs et quantitatifs|journal=Oléagineux, Corps gras, Lipides|volume=7|issue=1|pages=77–85|doi=10.1051/ocl.2000.0077|issn=1258-8210|doi-access=free}}</ref> During the 8th and 7th centuries, Greek colonies were established at [[Pithecusae]], eventually extending along the south of the Italian Peninsula and the coast of Sicily, an area later known as [[Magna Graecia]].<ref>Emilio Peruzzi, ''Mycenaeans in early Latium'', (Incunabula Graeca 75), Edizioni dell'Ateneo & Bizzarri, Roma, 1980</ref> [[Ionians]], [[Doric Greek|Doric]] colonists, [[Syracusan]]s, and the [[Achaeans (tribe)|Achaeans]] founded various cities. [[Greek colonization of Italy|Greek colonisation]] placed the [[Italic peoples]] in contact with democratic forms of government and high artistic and cultural expressions.<ref>{{Cite web|title=II 1987: Uomini e vicende di Magna Grecia |url=https://www.bpp.it/Apulia/html/archivio/1987/II/art/R87II015.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204123345/https://www.bpp.it/Apulia/html/archivio/1987/II/art/R87II015.html|archive-date=4 February 2021|access-date=31 January 2021|website=bpp.it}}</ref>

=== Ancient Rome ===
{{Main|Ancient Rome|Roman expansion in Italy|Roman Italy}}
{{Multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 220
| image1            = Colosseo 2020.jpg
| caption1          = The [[Colosseum]], widely considered one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering of ancient history
| image2            = Roman Empire Trajan 117AD.png|275
| caption2          = {{legend|#b23938|The [[Roman Empire]] in AD 117 at its greatest extent<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bennett, Julian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qk_tofvS8EsC|title=Trajan: Optimus Princeps : a Life and Times|publisher=Routledge|year=1997|isbn=978-0-415-16524-2}}</ref>}} {{legend|#d28989|[[Vassal state]]s}}
}}

Italy's history goes back to numerous [[List of ancient peoples of Italy|Italic peoples]]—notably including the [[ancient Romans]], who conquered the Mediterranean world during the [[Roman Republic]] and ruled it for centuries during the [[Roman Empire]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last1=Carl Waldman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfv6HKXErqAC |title=Encyclopedia of European Peoples |last2=Catherine Mason |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4381-2918-1 |page=586 |access-date=23 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311102543/https://books.google.com/books?id=kfv6HKXErqAC |archive-date=11 March 2023 |url-status=live}}; {{Cite book |last=Mommsen |first=Theodor |author-link=Theodor Mommsen |title=[[History of Rome (Mommsen)|History of Rome]], Book II: From the Abolition of the Monarchy in Rome to the Union of Italy |publisher=Reimer & Hirsel |year=1855 |location=Leipzig}}; {{Cite book |last=Lazenby |first=John Francis |url=https://archive.org/details/hannibalswarmili00laze |title=Hannibal's War: A Military History of the Second Punic War |date=4 February 1998 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-3004-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hannibalswarmili00laze/page/29 29] |quote=Italy homeland of the Romans. |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

Ancient Rome, a settlement on the [[Tiber|River Tiber]] in central Italy, [[Founding of Rome|founded]] in 753 BC, was ruled for 244 years by a monarchical system.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-11-24 |title=Rome founded {{!}} April 21, 753 B.C. |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/april-21/rome-founded |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> In 509 BC, the Romans, favouring a government of the Senate and the People ([[SPQR]]), [[Overthrow of the Roman monarchy|expelled the monarchy]] and established an oligarchic republic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Roman Republic {{!}} World Civilizations I (HIS101) – Biel |url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-fmcc-boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-roman-republic/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=courses.lumenlearning.com}}</ref>

The Italian Peninsula, named ''Italia'', was consolidated into a unified entity during Roman expansion, the conquest of new territories often at the expense of the [[Samnite Wars|other Italic tribes]], [[Roman–Etruscan Wars|Etruscans]], [[Roman–Gallic wars|Celts]], and [[Pyrrhic War|Greeks]]. A permanent association, with most of the local tribes and cities, was formed, and Rome began the conquest of Western Europe, North Africa, and the [[History of the Middle East#Greek and Roman Empire|Middle East]]. In the wake of [[Julius Caesar]]'s assassination in 44 BC, Rome grew into a massive empire stretching from [[Roman Britain|Britain]] to the borders of [[Mesopotamia (Roman province)|Persia]], engulfing the whole Mediterranean basin, in which Greek, Roman, and other cultures merged into a powerful civilisation. The long reign of the first emperor, [[Augustus]], began an age of peace and prosperity. Roman Italy remained the [[metropole]] of the empire, homeland of the Romans and territory of the capital.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Morcillo|first=Marta García|title=The Glory of Italy and Rome's Universal Destiny in Strabo's Geographika, in: A. Fear – P. Liddel (eds), Historiae Mundi. Studies in Universal History. Duckworth: London 2010: 87-101. |url=https://www.academia.edu/362374|url-status=live|journal=Historiae Mundi: Studies in Universal History|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114073554/https://www.academia.edu/362374|archive-date=14 January 2022|access-date=20 November 2021}}; {{Cite book|last=Keaveney|first=Arthur|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ojoOAAAAQAAJ|title=Arthur Keaveney: ''Rome and the Unification of Italy''|date=January 1987|publisher=Croom Helm|isbn=978-0-7099-3121-8|access-date=20 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240211000835/https://books.google.com/books?id=ojoOAAAAQAAJ|archive-date=11 February 2024|url-status=live}}; {{Cite book|last=Billanovich|first=Giuseppe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fVylk1KUS84C&dq=Italia+domina+provinciarum&pg=PR13|title=Libreria Universitaria Hoepli, Lezioni di filologia, Giuseppe Billanovich e Roberto Pesce: ''Corpus Iuris Civilis, Italia non erat provincia, sed domina provinciarum'', Feltrinelli, p.363|publisher=Roberto Pesce|year=2008|isbn=978-8-8965-4309-2|language=it|access-date=20 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240211000801/https://books.google.com/books?id=fVylk1KUS84C&dq=Italia+domina+provinciarum&pg=PR13#v=onepage&q=Italia%20domina%20provinciarum&f=false|archive-date=11 February 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Roman Empire was among the largest in history, wielding great economical, cultural, political, and military power.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-04 |title=The Roman Empire at its greatest expansion |url=https://trizioeditore.it/en/blogs/notizie/impero-romano-massima-espansione-mappa-storia |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Trizio Editore |language=en}}</ref> At its greatest extent, it had an area of {{Convert|5|e6km2|abbr=off}}.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Taagepera|first=Rein|author-link=Rein Taagepera|year=1979|title=Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D|journal=Social Science History|volume=3|issue=3/4|pages=115–138|doi=10.2307/1170959|jstor=1170959}}; {{Cite journal|last1=Turchin|first1=Peter|last2=Adams|first2=Jonathan M.|last3=Hall|first3=Thomas D|year=2006|title=East–West Orientation of Historical Empires|url=http://peterturchin.com/PDF/Turchin_Adams_Hall_2006.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Journal of World-Systems Research|volume=12|issue=2|page=222|doi=10.5195/JWSR.2006.369|issn=1076-156X|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160517210851/http://peterturchin.com/PDF/Turchin_Adams_Hall_2006.pdf|archive-date=17 May 2016|access-date=6 February 2016|doi-access=free}}</ref> The [[Legacy of the Roman Empire|Roman legacy]] has deeply influenced Western civilisation shaping the modern world. The widespread use of [[Romance languages]] derived from Latin, [[Roman numerals|numerical system]], modern Western alphabet and calendar, and the emergence of Christianity as a world religion, are among the many legacies of Roman dominance.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Richard|first=Carl J.|title=Why we're all Romans: the Roman contribution to the western world|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2010|isbn=978-0-7425-6779-5|edition=1st pbk.|location=Lanham, MD|pages=xi–xv}}</ref>

=== Middle Ages ===
{{Main|Italy in the Middle Ages}}
After the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]], Italy fell under the [[Kingdom of Italy (476–493)|Odoacer's kingdom]], and was seized by the [[Ostrogoths]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sarris|first=Peter|title=Empires of faith: the fall of Rome to the rise of Islam, 500–700|publisher=Oxford UP|year=2011|isbn=978-0-1992-6126-0|edition=1st. pub.|location=Oxford|page=118}}</ref> Invasions resulted in a chaotic succession of kingdoms and the supposed "[[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Ages]]". The invasion of another [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribe]] in the 6th century, the [[Lombards]], reduced Byzantine presence and ended political unity of the peninsula. The north formed the [[Kingdom of the Lombards|Lombard kingdom]], central-south was also controlled by the Lombards, and other parts remained Byzantine.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of Italy|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/Lombards-and-Byzantines|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929150112/https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/Lombards-and-Byzantines|archive-date=29 September 2022|access-date=29 September 2022|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>
[[File:Marco Polo Mosaic from Palazzo Tursi.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.7|[[Marco Polo]], 13th-century explorer]]

The Lombard kingdom was absorbed into [[Francia]] by [[Charlemagne]] in the late 8th century and became the Kingdom of Italy.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Carolingian and post-Carolingian Italy, 774–962|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/Carolingian-and-post-Carolingian-Italy-774-962|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007160553/https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/Carolingian-and-post-Carolingian-Italy-774-962|archive-date=7 October 2022|access-date=7 October 2022|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> The Franks helped form the [[Papal States]]. Until the 13th century, politics was dominated by relations between the [[Holy Roman Emperor]]s and the Papacy, with city-states siding with the former ([[Ghibellines]]) or with the latter ([[Guelphs]]) for momentary advantage.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nolan|first=Cathal J.|title=The age of wars of religion, 1000–1650: an encyclopedia of global warfare and civilization |publisher=Greenwood Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-3133-3045-2|edition=1. publ.|location=Westport (Connecticut)|page=360}}</ref> The Germanic emperor and Roman pontiff became the [[universal power]]s of medieval Europe. However, conflict over the [[Investiture Controversy]] and between Guelphs and Ghibellines ended the imperial-feudal system in the north, where cities gained independence.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jones|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Jones (historian)|title=The Italian city-state: from Commune to Signoria|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-1982-2585-0|location=Oxford|pages=55–77}}</ref> In 1176, the [[Lombard League]] of city-states, defeated Holy Roman Emperor [[Frederick Barbarossa]], ensuring their independence.

City-states—e.g. [[Milan]], [[Florence]], [[Venice]]—played a crucially innovative role in financial development by devising banking practices, and enabling new forms of social organisation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Niall|first=Ferguson|title=The Ascent of Money: The Financial History of the World|publisher=Penguin|year=2008}}</ref> In coastal and southern areas, maritime republics dominated the Mediterranean and monopolised trade to the Orient. They were independent [[Thalassocracy|thalassocratic]] city-states, in which merchants had considerable power. Although oligarchical, the relative political freedom they afforded was conducive to academic and artistic advancement.<ref name="Lane">{{Cite book|last=Lane|first=Frederic C.|title=Venice, a maritime republic|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=1991|isbn=978-0-8018-1460-0|edition=4. print.|location=Baltimore|page=73}}</ref> The best-known maritime republics were Venice, [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]], [[Republic of Pisa|Pisa]], and [[Duchy of Amalfi|Amalfi]].<ref>G. Benvenuti – Le Repubbliche Marinare. Amalfi, Pisa, Genova, Venezia – Newton & Compton editori, Roma 1989; Armando Lodolini, ''Le repubbliche del mare'', Biblioteca di storia patria, 1967, Roma. {{Cite book|last=Peris|first=Persi|title=Conoscere l'Italia|publisher=Istituto Geografico De Agostini|year=1982|pages=74}}; {{Cite web|title=Repubbliche Marinare|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/repubbliche-marinare|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829104758/http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/repubbliche-marinare|archive-date=29 August 2019|access-date=13 September 2019|website=Treccani.it|publisher=Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana|language=it}}; {{Cite web|title=Repubbliche marinare|url=https://thes.bncf.firenze.sbn.it/termine.php?id=29771|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101131949/https://thes.bncf.firenze.sbn.it/termine.php?id=29771|archive-date=1 January 2020|access-date=13 September 2019|website=thes.bncf.firenze.sbn.it|publisher=[[National Central Library (Florence)]]|language=it}}</ref> Each had dominion over overseas lands, islands, lands on the Adriatic, Aegean, and Black seas, and commercial colonies in the Near East and North Africa.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zorzi|first=Alvise|author-link=Alvise Zorzi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IP5OAAAAMAAJ&q=%22even+in+countries+where+aid+is+near+at+hand+%22+%22attack+from+the+sea%22|title=Venice: The Golden Age, 697 – 1797 |publisher=Abbeville Press|year=1983|isbn=0-8965-9406-8|location=New York|page=255|access-date=16 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202182132/https://books.google.com/books?id=IP5OAAAAMAAJ&q=%22even+in+countries+where+aid+is+near+at+hand+%22+%22attack+from+the+sea%22|archive-date=2 February 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Multiple image
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| image1            = Naval Jack of Italy.svg
| width2            = 280
| image2            = Republik Venedig Handelswege01-IT.png
| alt2              = Map
| footer            = Left: flag of the [[Italian Navy]]. Clockwise, from upper left: the coat of arms of [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]], [[Republic of Pisa|Pisa]] and [[Duchy of Amalfi|Amalfi]].<br/>Right: trade routes, colonies of the [[Genoese colonies|Genoa]] and [[Stato da Màr|Venice]].
}}

Venice and Genoa were Europe's gateways to the East, and producers of fine glass, while Florence was a centre of silk, wool, banking, and jewellery. The wealth generated meant large public and private artistic projects could be commissioned. The republics participated in the [[Crusades]], providing support, transport, but mostly taking political and trading opportunities.<ref name=Lane/> Italy first felt the economic changes which led to the [[commercial revolution]]: Venice was able to [[Sack of Constantinople|sack Byzantine's capital]] and finance [[Marco Polo]]'s voyages to Asia; the first universities were formed in Italian cities, and scholars such as [[Thomas Aquinas|Aquinas]] obtained international fame; capitalism and banking families emerged in Florence, where [[Dante]] and [[Giotto]] were active around 1300.<ref name="See">{{Cite web |last=Sée |first=Henri |title=Modern Capitalism Its Origin and Evolution |url=http://www.efm.bris.ac.uk/het/see/ModernCapitalism.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007010542/http://www.efm.bris.ac.uk/het/see/ModernCapitalism.pdf |archive-date=7 October 2013 |access-date=29 August 2013 |website=University of Rennes |publisher=Batoche Books}}</ref> In the south, Sicily had become an [[Emirate of Sicily|Arab Islamic emirate]] in the 9th century, thriving until the [[Italo-Normans]] conquered it in the late 11th century, together with most of the Lombard and Byzantine principalities of southern Italy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ali |first=Ahmed Essa with Othman |title=Studies in Islamic civilization: the Muslim contribution to the Renaissance |year=2010 |publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought |location=Herndon, VA |isbn=978-1-56564-350-5 |pages=38–40}}</ref> The region was subsequently divided between the [[Kingdom of Sicily]] and [[Kingdom of Naples]].{{efn|Kingdom of Naples is used by historians, but not by its rulers, who kept the original 'Kingdom of Sicily' (i.e., there existed two Kingdoms of Sicily).}}<ref>Eleni Sakellariou, ''Southern Italy in the Late Middle Ages: Demographic, Institutional and Economic Change in the Kingdom of Naples, c.1440–c.1530'' (Brill, 2012), pp. 63–64.</ref> The [[Black Death]] of 1348 killed perhaps a third of Italy's 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; "[http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/plague/effects/death_toll.shtml Plague]". Brown University. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831003435/http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/plague/effects/death_toll.shtml|date=31 August 2009}}</ref>

=== Early modern period ===
{{Main|Italian Renaissance|History of early modern Italy}}
[[File:Italy 1494.svg|thumb|upright=.8|left|[[List of historic states of Italy#Late Middle Ages|Italian states]] before the [[Italian Wars]] in 1494]]

During the 1400s and 1500s, Italy was the birthplace and heart of the [[Renaissance]]. This era marked the transition from the medieval period to the modern age and was fostered by the wealth accumulated by merchant cities and the patronage of dominant families.<ref name="strathern">Strathern, Paul ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (2003)</ref> Italian polities were now regional states effectively ruled by princes, in control of trade and administration, and their courts became centres of the arts and sciences. These princedoms were led by political dynasties and merchant families, such as the [[Medici]] of Florence. After the end of the [[Western Schism]], newly elected [[Pope Martin V]] returned to the [[Papal States]] and restored Italy as the sole centre of Western Christianity. The [[Medici Bank]] was made the credit institution of the Papacy, and significant ties were established between the Church and new political dynasties.<ref name="strathern"/><ref>[http://www.florentine-society.ru/Medici_Chapel_Mysteries.htm Peter Barenboim, Sergey Shiyan, ''Michelangelo: Mysteries of Medici Chapel'', SLOVO, Moscow, 2006]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511133416/http://www.florentine-society.ru/Medici_Chapel_Mysteries.htm|date=11 May 2011}}. {{ISBN|5-8505-0825-2}}.</ref>
[[File:Leonardo self.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|[[Leonardo da Vinci]], quintessential [[Renaissance man]], in a self-portrait ({{circa}} 1512)]]

In 1453, despite activity by [[Pope Nicholas V]] to support the Byzantines, the city of [[Constantinople]] fell to the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]]. This led to the migration of [[Greek scholars in the Renaissance|Greek scholars]] and texts to Italy, fuelling the rediscovery of Greek [[humanism]].<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, ''Renaissance'', 2008, O.Ed.; Har, Michael H. ''History of Libraries in the Western World'', Scarecrow Press Incorporate, 1999. {{ISBN|0-8108-3724-2}}.

Norwich, John Julius, ''A Short History of Byzantium'', 1997, Knopf. {{ISBN|0-6794-5088-2}}.</ref> Humanist rulers such as [[Federico da Montefeltro]] and [[Pope Pius II]] worked to establish [[ideal city|ideal cities]], founding [[Urbino]] and [[Pienza]]. [[Pico della Mirandola]] wrote the ''[[Oration on the Dignity of Man]]'', considered the manifesto of the Renaissance. In the arts, the Italian Renaissance exercised a dominant influence on European art for centuries, with artists such as [[Leonardo da Vinci]], [[Botticelli]], [[Michelangelo]], [[Raphael]], [[Giotto]], [[Donatello]], and [[Titian]], and architects such as [[Filippo Brunelleschi]], [[Andrea Palladio]], and [[Donato Bramante]]. Italian [[List of Italian explorers|explorers]] and navigators from the maritime republics, eager to find an alternative route to the Indies to bypass the Ottomans, offered their services to monarchs of Atlantic countries and played a key role in ushering the [[Age of Discovery]] and colonization of the Americas. The most notable were: [[Christopher Columbus]], who opened the Americas for conquest by Europeans;<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, 1993 ed., Vol. 16, pp. 605ff / Morison, ''Christopher Columbus'', 1955 ed., pp. 14ff</ref> [[John Cabot]], the first European to explore North America since the [[Norsemen|Norse]];<ref>{{Cite web|year=2007|title=''Catholic Encyclopedia'' "John & Sebastian Cabot"|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03126d.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518005335/https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03126d.htm|archive-date=18 May 2020|access-date=17 May 2008|publisher=newadvent}}</ref> and [[Amerigo Vespucci]], for whom the continent of [[Naming of the Americas|America]] is named.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Eric Martone|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHJ1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109|title=Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2016|isbn=978-1-6106-9995-2|page=504|access-date=22 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240211001055/https://books.google.com/books?id=MHJ1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109|archive-date=11 February 2024|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Greene|first=George Washington|author-link=George Washington Greene|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1qsuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PAPA13|title=The Life and Voyages of Verrazzano|publisher=Folsom, Wells, and Thurston|year=1837|location=Cambridge University|page=13|access-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240211000806/https://books.google.com/books?id=1qsuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PAPA13#v=onepage&q&f=false|archive-date=11 February 2024|url-status=live|via=Google Books}}</ref>

A defensive alliance known as the [[Italic League]] was formed between Venice, Naples, Florence, Milan, and the Papacy. [[Lorenzo de' Medici|Lorenzo ''the Magnificent'' de Medici]] was the Renaissance's greatest patron, his support allowed the League to [[Siege of Otranto|abort invasion]] by the Turks. The alliance, however, collapsed in the 1490s; the invasion of [[Charles VIII of France]] initiated a series of wars in the peninsula. During the [[High Renaissance]], popes such as [[Pope Julius II|Julius II]] (1503–1513) fought for control of Italy against foreign monarchs; [[Pope Paul III|Paul III]] (1534–1549) preferred to mediate between the European powers to secure peace. In the middle of such conflicts, the Medici popes [[Pope Leo X|Leo X]] (1513–1521) and [[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]] (1523–1534) faced the [[Protestant Reformation]] in Germany, England and elsewhere.

In 1559, at the end of the [[Italian wars]] between France and the Habsburgs, about half of Italy (the southern Kingdoms of [[kingdom of Naples|Naples]], [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]], [[Kingdom of Sardinia|Sardinia]], and the [[Duchy of Milan]]) was under Spanish rule, while the other half remained independent (many states continued to be formally part of the Holy Roman Empire). The Papacy launched the [[Counter-Reformation]], whose key events include: the [[Council of Trent]] (1545–1563); adoption of the [[Gregorian calendar]]; the [[Jesuit China mission]]; the [[French Wars of Religion]]; end of the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648); and the [[Great Turkish War]]. The Italian economy declined in the 1600s and 1700s.

[[File:Flag of Repubblica Cispadana1.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|left|Flag of the [[Cispadane Republic]], the first [[Flag of Italy|Italian tricolour]] adopted by a sovereign Italian state (1797)]]
During the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1700–1714), Austria acquired most of the Spanish domains in Italy, namely Milan, Naples and Sardinia; the latter was given to the House of Savoy in exchange for Sicily in 1720. Later, a branch of the Bourbons ascended to the throne of Sicily and Naples. During the [[Napoleonic Wars]], north and central Italy were reorganised as [[Sister Republics]] of France and, later, as a [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Kingdom of Italy]].<ref>Napoleon Bonaparte, "The Economy of the Empire in Italy: Instructions from Napoleon to Eugène, Viceroy of Italy", ''Exploring the European Past: Texts & Images'', Second Edition, ed. Timothy E. Gregory (Mason: Thomson, 2007), 65–66.</ref> The south was administered by [[Joachim Murat]], Napoleon's brother-in-law. 1814's [[Congress of Vienna]] restored the situation of the late 18th century, but the ideals of the [[French Revolution]] could not be eradicated, and re-surfaced during the [[political upheaval]]s that characterised the early 19th century. The first adoption of the [[Flag of Italy|Italian tricolour]] by an Italian state, the [[Cispadane Republic]], occurred during [[Flags of Napoleonic Italy|Napoleonic Italy]], following the French Revolution, which advocated national [[self-determination]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Maiorino |first1=Tarquinio |title=Il tricolore degli italiani. Storia avventurosa della nostra bandiera |last2=Marchetti Tricamo |first2=Giuseppe |last3=Zagami |first3=Andrea |publisher=Arnoldo Mondadori Editore |year=2002 |isbn=978-8-8045-0946-2 |page=156 |language=it}}

[http://www.esteri.it/MAE/EN/Benvenuti_in_Italia/Conoscere_Italia/bandieraInno.htm The tri-coloured standard]. Getting to Know Italy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (retrieved 5 October 2008). {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223131121/http://www.esteri.it/MAE/EN/Benvenuti_in_Italia/Conoscere_Italia/bandieraInno.htm|date=23 February 2008}}.</ref> This event is celebrated by [[Tricolour Day]].<ref>Article 1 of the law n. 671 of 31 December 1996 ("National celebration of the bicentenary of the first national flag")</ref>

=== Unification ===
{{Main|Unification of Italy}}
The [[birth of the Kingdom of Italy]] was the result of efforts of Italian nationalists and monarchists loyal to the [[House of Savoy]] to establish a united kingdom encompassing the entire [[Italian Peninsula]]. By the mid-19th century, rising [[Italian nationalism]] led to revolution.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Risorgimento in 'Dizionario di Storia'|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/risorgimento_(Dizionario-di-Storia)|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922035556/https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/risorgimento_(Dizionario-di-Storia)|archive-date=22 September 2022|access-date=22 September 2022|website=treccani.it|language=it-IT}}</ref> Following the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815, the political and social Italian unification movement, or [[Risorgimento]], emerged to unite Italy by consolidating the states and liberating them from foreign control. A radical figure was the patriotic journalist [[Giuseppe Mazzini]], founder of the political movement [[Young Italy]] in the 1830s, who favoured a unitary republic and advocated a broad nationalist movement. 1847 saw the first public performance of "[[Il Canto degli Italiani]]", which became the national anthem in 1946.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Maiorino|first1=Tarquinio|last2=Marchetti Tricamo|first2=Giuseppe|last3=Zagami|first3=Andrea|title=Il tricolore degli italiani. Storia avventurosa della nostra bandiera|year=2002|publisher=Arnoldo Mondadori Editore|language=it|isbn=978-8-8045-0946-2|page=18}}; {{Cite web|title=Fratelli d'Italia|url=https://www.quirinale.it/page/inno|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426052752/https://www.quirinale.it/page/inno|archive-date=26 April 2023|access-date=1 October 2021|language=it}}</ref>
{{Multiple image
| align             = right
| image1            = Giuseppe Mazzini.jpg
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| image2            = Giuseppe Garibaldi 1861.jpg
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| footer            = [[Giuseppe Mazzini]] (left), highly influential leader of the Italian revolutionary movement; and [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] (right), celebrated as one of the greatest generals of modern times<ref name="scholar and patriot">{{cite web |url={{Google books|iWK7AAAAIAAJ |page=PA133 |keywords=Garibaldi+one+of+the+greatest+generals+of+modern+time |text= |plainurl=yes}}|title=Scholar and Patriot|publisher=Manchester University Press|via=Google Books}}</ref> and as the "Hero of the Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in South America and Europe,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Giuseppe Garibaldi (Italian revolutionary)|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225978/Giuseppe-Garibaldi|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226091529/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225978/Giuseppe-Garibaldi|archive-date=26 February 2014|access-date=6 March 2014}}</ref> who fought in many military campaigns that led to [[Italian unification]]
}}

The most famous member of Young Italy was the revolutionary and general [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]]<ref>Denis Mack Smith, ''Modern Italy: A Political History'', (University of Michigan Press, 1997) p. 15. A literary echo may be found in the character of Giorgio Viola in Joseph Conrad's ''[[Nostromo]]''.</ref> who led the republican drive for unification in southern Italy. However, the Italian monarchy of the House of Savoy, in the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Kingdom of Sardinia]], whose government was led by [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]], also had ambitions of establishing a united Italian state. In the context of the [[Revolutions of 1848|1848 liberal revolutions]] that swept Europe, an unsuccessful [[First Italian War of Independence]] was declared against [[Austria-Hungary|Austria]]. In 1855, Sardinia became an ally of Britain and France in the [[Crimean War]].<ref>Enrico Dal Lago, "Lincoln, Cavour, and National Unification: American Republicanism and Italian Liberal Nationalism in Comparative Perspective". ''The Journal of the Civil War Era'' 3#1 (2013): 85–113.; William L. Langer, ed., ''An Encyclopedia of World Cup History''. 4th ed. 1968. pp 704–7.</ref> Sardinia fought the Austrian Empire in the [[Second Italian War of Independence]] of 1859, with the aid of France, resulting in liberating [[Lombardy]]. On the basis of the [[Plombières Agreement]], the Sardinia ceded [[Savoy]] and [[Nice]] to France, an event that caused the [[Niçard exodus]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=28 August 2017|title="Un nizzardo su quattro prese la via dell'esilio" in seguito all'unità d'Italia, dice lo scrittore Casalino Pierluigi|url=https://www.montecarlonews.it/2017/08/28/notizie/argomenti/altre-notizie-1/articolo/un-nizzardo-su-quattro-prese-la-via-dellesilio-in-seguito-allunita-ditalia-dice-lo-scrittore.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219165302/http://www.montecarlonews.it/2017/08/28/notizie/argomenti/altre-notizie-1/articolo/un-nizzardo-su-quattro-prese-la-via-dellesilio-in-seguito-allunita-ditalia-dice-lo-scrittore.html|archive-date=19 February 2020|access-date=14 May 2021|language=it}}</ref>

In 1860–1861, Garibaldi led the drive for unification in Naples and Sicily.<ref>Mack Smith, Denis (1997). ''Modern Italy; A Political History''. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. {{ISBN|0-4721-0895-6}}.</ref> [[Teano]] was the site of a famous meeting between Garibaldi and [[Victor Emmanuel II]], the last king of Sardinia, during which Garibaldi shook Victor Emanuel's hand and hailed him as [[King of Italy]]. Cavour agreed to include Garibaldi's southern Italy in a union with the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860. This allowed the Sardinian government to [[Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy|declare a united Italian kingdom]] on 17 March 1861,<ref>{{Cite news|date=17 March 2017|title=Everything you need to know about March 17th, Italy's Unity Day|url=https://www.thelocal.it/20170317/everything-to-know-about-march-17th-italys-unity-unification-risorgimento-day|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617212538/https://www.thelocal.it/20170317/everything-to-know-about-march-17th-italys-unity-unification-risorgimento-day|archive-date=17 June 2017|access-date=17 July 2017}}</ref> with Victor Emmanuel II as its first king. In 1865, the kingdom's capital was moved from Turin to Florence. In 1866, Victor Emmanuel II, allied with [[Prussia]] during the [[Austro-Prussian War]], waged the [[Third Italian War of Independence]], which resulted in Italy annexing [[Veneto|Venetia]]. Finally, in 1870, as France abandoned Rome during the [[Franco-Prussian War]], the Italians [[Capture of Rome|captured the Papal States]], unification was completed, and the capital moved to Rome.<ref name="scholar and patriot"/>

=== Liberal period ===
{{Main|Kingdom of Italy|Italian diaspora|Italian Empire|Military history of Italy during World War I}}
{{Multiple image
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| footer            = [[Victor Emmanuel II]] (left) and [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]] (right), leading figures in unification, became respectively the first King and prime minister of unified Italy.
}}

Sardinia's constitution was extended to all of Italy in 1861, and provided basic freedoms for the new state; but electoral laws excluded the non-propertied classes. The new kingdom was governed by a parliamentary constitutional monarchy dominated by liberals. As northern Italy quickly industrialised, southern and northern rural areas remained underdeveloped and overpopulated, forcing millions to migrate and fuelling [[Italian diaspora|a large and influential diaspora]]. The [[Italian Socialist Party]] increased in strength, challenging the traditional liberal and conservative establishment. In the last two decades of the 19th century, Italy developed into [[Italian Empire|a colonial power]]<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=The Italian Colonial Empire |url=http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=italian_colonial |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224012449/http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=italian_colonial |archive-date=24 February 2012 |access-date=17 June 2012 |publisher=All Empires |quote=At its peak, just before WWII, the Italian Empire comprehended the territories of present time Italy, Albania, Rhodes, Dodecanese, Libya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the majority of Somalia and the little concession of Tientsin in China}}</ref> by subjugating [[Italian Eritrea|Eritrea]], [[Italian Somalia|Somalia]], [[Italian Tripolitania|Tripolitania]], and [[Italian Cyrenaica|Cyrenaica]] in Africa.<ref>(Bosworth (2005), p. 49.)</ref> In 1913, male universal suffrage was adopted. The pre-[[World War I]] period was dominated by [[Giovanni Giolitti]], prime minister five times between 1892 and 1921.
[[File:Sacrario militare di Redipuglia agosto 2014.JPG|thumb|The [[Redipuglia War Memorial]] is a [[World War I memorials|World War I memorial]]. It is the largest war memorial in Italy and one of the largest in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rai.it/ufficiostampa/assets/template/us-articolo.html?ssiPath=/articoli/2021/10/Redipuglia-Il-sacrario-della-Grande-Guerra-c1dc61c5-9a1c-44c8-b203-9d16d943d7ec-ssi.html#:~:text=Il%20sacrario%20militare%20di%20Redipuglia,caduti%20durante%20la%20Grande%20Guerra.|title=Redipuglia. Il sacrario della Grande Guerra|language=it|access-date=23 June 2024|archive-date=25 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240625213329/https://www.rai.it/ufficiostampa/assets/template/us-articolo.html?ssiPath=/articoli/2021/10/Redipuglia-Il-sacrario-della-Grande-Guerra-c1dc61c5-9a1c-44c8-b203-9d16d943d7ec-ssi.html#:~:text=Il%20sacrario%20militare%20di%20Redipuglia,caduti%20durante%20la%20Grande%20Guerra.|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

[[Italian entry into World War I|Italy entered into the First World War]] in 1915 with the aim of completing national unity, so it is also considered the Fourth Italian War of Independence,<ref>{{Cite web|date=6 March 2015|title=Il 1861 e le quattro Guerre per l'Indipendenza (1848–1918) |url=http://www.piacenzaprimogenita150.it/index.php?it%2F176%2Fil-1861-e-le-quattro-guerre-per-lindipendenza-1848-1918|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319075828/http://www.piacenzaprimogenita150.it/index.php?it%2F176%2Fil-1861-e-le-quattro-guerre-per-lindipendenza-1848-1918|archive-date=19 March 2022|access-date=12 March 2021|language=it}}</ref> from a historiographical perspective, as the conclusion of the [[unification of Italy]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=La Grande Guerra nei manifesti italiani dell'epoca|url=http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/export/MiBAC/sito-MiBAC/Contenuti/MibacUnif/Eventi/visualizza_asset.html_1239896580.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923183754/http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/export/MiBAC/sito-MiBAC/Contenuti/MibacUnif/Eventi/visualizza_asset.html_1239896580.html|archive-date=23 September 2015|access-date=12 March 2021|language=it}}; {{Cite book|last=Genovesi|first=Piergiovanni|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_LntMIUOXngC&q=%22quarta+guerra+d%27indipendenza%22&pg=PA41|title=Il Manuale di Storia in Italia, di Piergiovanni Genovesi|date=11 June 2009|publisher=FrancoAngeli|isbn=978-8-8568-1868-0|language=it|access-date=12 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116110143/https://books.google.com/books?id=_LntMIUOXngC&q=%22quarta+guerra+d%27indipendenza%22&pg=PA41#v=snippet&q=%22quarta%20guerra%20d'indipendenza%22&f=false|archive-date=16 January 2024|url-status=live}}</ref> Italy, nominally allied with the [[German Empire|German]] and [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] empires in the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]], in 1915 joined the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]], entering World War I with a [[Treaty of London (1915)|promise]] of substantial territorial gains that included west [[Inner Carniola]], the former [[Austrian Littoral]], and [[Dalmatia]], as well as parts of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. The country's contribution to the Allied victory earned it a place as one of the "[[The Big Four (World War I)|Big Four]]" powers. Reorganisation of the army and conscription led to Italian victories. In October 1918, the Italians launched a massive offensive, culminating in victory at the [[Battle of Vittorio Veneto]].<ref>Burgwyn, H. James: ''Italian foreign policy in the interwar period, 1918–1940.'' Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997. p. 4. {{ISBN|0-2759-4877-3}}.

Schindler, John R.: ''Isonzo: The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War.'' Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. p. 303. {{ISBN|0-2759-7204-6}}.

Mack Smith, Denis: ''Mussolini.'' Knopf, 1982. p. 31. {{ISBN|0-3945-0694-4}}.</ref> This marked the end of war on the Italian Front, secured dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and was instrumental in [[Armistice with Germany|ending]] the war less than two weeks later.

During the war, more than 650,000 Italian soldiers and as many civilians died,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mortara|first=G|title=La Salute pubblica in Italia durante e dopo la Guerra|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1925|location=New Haven}}</ref> and the kingdom was on the brink of bankruptcy. The [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye]] (1919) and [[Treaty of Rapallo (1920)|Treaty of Rapallo]] (1920) allowed for annexation of [[Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol|Trentino Alto-Adige]], the [[Julian March]], [[Istria]], the [[Kvarner Gulf]], and the Dalmatian city of [[Zadar|Zara]]. The subsequent [[Treaty of Rome (1924)|Treaty of Rome]] (1924) led to annexation of [[Fiume]] by Italy. Italy did not receive other territories promised by the Treaty of London, so this outcome was denounced as a "[[mutilated victory]]", by [[Benito Mussolini]], which helped lead to the [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|rise of Italian fascism]]. Historians regard "mutilated victory" as a "political myth", used by fascists to fuel [[Italian imperialism]].<ref>G.Sabbatucci, ''La vittoria mutilata'', in AA.VV., ''Miti e storia dell'Italia unita'', Il Mulino, Bologna 1999, pp.101–106</ref> Italy gained a permanent seat in the [[League of Nations]]'s executive council.

=== Fascist regime and World War II ===
{{Main|Fascist Italy|Military history of Italy during World War II|Italian Civil War|Italian campaign (World War II)}}
[[File:Benito Mussolini portrait as dictator (retouched).jpg|thumb|upright=.7|left|The fascist dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] titled himself ''[[Duce]]'' and ruled the country from 1922 to 1943.]]

The [[Biennio Rosso|socialist agitations]] that followed the devastation of the Great War, inspired by the [[Russian Revolution]], led to counter-revolution and repression throughout Italy. The liberal establishment, fearing a Soviet-style revolution, started to endorse the small [[National Fascist Party]], led by Mussolini. In October 1922, the [[Blackshirts]] of the National Fascist Party organised a [[mass demonstration]] and the "[[March on Rome]]" [[coup d'état|coup]]. King [[Victor Emmanuel III]] appointed Mussolini as prime minister, transferring power to the fascists without armed conflict.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lyttelton|first=Adrian|title=The Seizure of Power: Fascism in Italy, 1919–1929 |date=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-4155-5394-0|location=New York|pages=75–77}}; {{Cite news|title=March on Rome {{!}} Italian history|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/March-on-Rome|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504055509/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/508871/March-on-Rome|archive-date=4 May 2015|access-date=25 July 2017|work=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> Mussolini banned political parties and curtailed personal liberties, establishing a dictatorship. These actions attracted international attention and inspired similar dictatorships in [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Francoist Spain]].

[[Fascism]] was based upon Italian nationalism and imperialism, seeking to expand Italian possessions via irredentist claims based on the legacy of the Roman and Venetian empires.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rodogno|first=Davide|author-link=Davide Rodogno|title=Fascism's European Empire: Italian Occupation during the Second World War|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, England|page=88}}; {{Cite book|last=Kallis|first=Aristotle A.|title=Fascist ideology: territory and expansionism in Italy and Germany, 1922–1945 |date=2000|publisher=Routledge|location=London, England; New York City, USA|pages=41}}; {{Cite book|last1=Ball|first1=Terence|title=The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought|last2=Bellamy|first2=Richard|pages=133}}; {{Cite book|last=Stephen J. Lee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-mm5UDlzBEC&pg=PA157|title=European Dictatorships, 1918–1945 |date=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-4154-5484-1|pages=157–158|access-date=8 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240211001320/https://books.google.com/books?id=u-mm5UDlzBEC&pg=PA157#v=onepage&q&f=false|archive-date=11 February 2024|url-status=live}}</ref> For this reason the fascists engaged in [[interventionism (politics)|interventionist foreign policy]]. In 1935, Mussolini [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War|invaded Ethiopia]] and founded [[Italian East Africa]], resulting in international isolation and leading to Italy's withdrawal from the [[League of Nations]]. Italy then [[Pact of Steel|allied with Nazi Germany]] and the [[Tripartite Pact|Empire of Japan]], and strongly supported [[Francisco Franco]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. In 1939, Italy [[Italian invasion of Albania|annexed Albania]].

Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940. At different times, Italians advanced in [[Italian conquest of British Somaliland|British Somaliland]], [[Italian invasion of Egypt|Egypt]], the [[Balkan Campaign (World War II)|Balkans]], and eastern fronts. They were, however, [[Italian participation on the Eastern Front|defeated on the Eastern Front]] as well as in the [[East African campaign (World War II)|East African]] and [[North African campaign|North African]] campaigns, losing their territories in Africa and the Balkans. [[Italian war crimes]] included [[extrajudicial killing]]s and [[ethnic cleansing]]<ref>James H. Burgwyn (2004). [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/rmis/2004/00000009/00000003/art00005 General Roatta's war against the partisans in Yugoslavia: 1942] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054155/http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/rmis/2004/00000009/00000003/art00005|date=21 September 2013}}, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, Volume 9, Number 3, pp. 314–329(16)</ref> by deportation of about 25,000 people—mainly Yugoslavs—to [[List of Italian concentration camps|Italian concentration camps]] and elsewhere. [[Yugoslav Partisans]] perpetrated their own crimes against the ethnic Italian population during and after the war, including the [[foibe massacres]]. An [[Allied invasion of Sicily]] began in July 1943, leading to the [[Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy|collapse of the Fascist regime]] on 25 July. Mussolini was deposed and arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III. On 8 September, Italy signed the [[Armistice of Cassibile]], ending its war with the Allies. The Germans, with the assistance of Italian fascists, succeeded in taking control of north and central Italy. The country remained a battlefield, with the Allies moving up from the south.
[[File:01 partigiani a milano1.jpg|thumb|[[Italian resistance movement|Italian partisans]] in Milan during the final insurrection leading to the [[liberation of Italy]] in April 1945]]

In the north, the Germans set up the [[Italian Social Republic]] (RSI), a Nazi [[puppet state]] and [[collaborationist]] regime with Mussolini installed as leader after he was [[Gran Sasso raid|rescued]] by German paratroopers. What remained of the Italian troops was organised into the [[Italian Co-belligerent Army]], which fought alongside the Allies, while other Italian forces, loyal to Mussolini, opted to fight alongside the Germans in the [[National Republican Army]]. German troops, with RSI collaboration, committed massacres and deported thousands of Jews to death camps. The post-armistice period saw the emergence of the [[Italian Resistance]], who fought a guerrilla war against the [[Operation Achse|Nazi German occupiers]] and collaborators.<ref>G. Bianchi, ''La Resistenza'', in: AA.VV., ''Storia d'Italia'', vol. 8, pp. 368-369.</ref> This has been described as an Italian civil war due to fighting between partisans and fascist RSI forces.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Storia della guerra civile in Italia|url=http://www.istitutobiggini.it/storia_pisano.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013183444/https://www.istitutobiggini.it/storia_pisano.pdf|archive-date=13 October 2022|access-date=28 August 2023}}; See the books from Italian historian [[Giorgio Pisanò]] ''Storia della guerra civile in Italia'', 1943–1945, 3 voll., Milano, FPE, 1965 and the book ''L'Italia della guerra civile'' ("Italy of civil war"), published in 1983 by the Italian writer and journalist [[Indro Montanelli]] as the fifteen volume of the ''Storia d'Italia'' ("History of Italy") by the same author.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Pavone|first=Claudio|title=Una guerra civile. Saggio storico sulla moralità della Resistenza|date=1991|publisher=Bollati Boringhieri|isbn=8-8339-0629-9|location=Torino|page=238|language=it}}</ref> In April 1945, with defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape north,<ref>{{Citation|last=Viganò|first=Marino|title=Un'analisi accurata della presunta fuga in Svizzera|date=2001|work=Nuova Storia Contemporanea|volume=3|language=it}}</ref> but was captured and [[Death of Benito Mussolini|summarily executed]] by partisans.<ref>{{Cite news|date=28 April 1945|title=1945: Italian partisans kill Mussolini |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/28/newsid_3564000/3564529.stm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126075555/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/28/newsid_3564000/3564529.stm|archive-date=26 November 2011|access-date=17 October 2011|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>

Hostilities ended on 29 April 1945, [[Surrender of Caserta|when the German forces in Italy surrendered]]. Nearly half a million Italians died in the conflict,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Italy – Britannica Online Encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/297474/Italy|access-date=2 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306095718/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/297474/Italy|archive-date=6 March 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> society was divided, and the economy all but destroyed—per capita income in 1944 was at its lowest point since 1900.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Liberal and fascist Italy, 1900–1945 |date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor-last=Lyttelton|editor-first=Adrian|page=13}}</ref> The aftermath left Italy angry with the monarchy for its endorsement of the Fascist regime, contributing to a revival of Italian republicanism.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Italia|encyclopedia=Dizionario enciclopedico italiano|publisher=[[Treccani]]|date=1970|volume=VI|page=456|language=it}}</ref>

=== Republican era ===
{{Main|History of the Italian Republic}}
Italy became a republic after the [[1946 Italian institutional referendum]]<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://archive.org/details/1946-06-06_Damage_Foreshadows_A-Bomb_Test|title=Damage Foreshadows A-Bomb Test, 1946/06/06 (1946) |publisher=[[Universal Newsreel]]|year=1946|access-date=22 February 2012}}</ref> held on 2 June, a day celebrated since as ''[[Festa della Repubblica]]''. This was the first time women voted nationally.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Italia 1946: le donne al voto, dossier a cura di Mariachiara Fugazza e Silvia Cassamagnaghi |url=http://www.insmli.it/pubblicazioni/35/Voto%20donne%20versione%20def.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520041048/http://www.insmli.it/pubblicazioni/35/Voto%20donne%20versione%20def.pdf|archive-date=20 May 2011|access-date=30 May 2011}}; {{Cite news|title=La prima volta in cui le donne votarono in Italia, 75 anni fa|url=https://www.ilpost.it/2021/03/10/primo-voto-italia-donne-10-marzo-1946|access-date=24 August 2021|work=Il Post|date=10 March 2021|language=it-IT|archive-date=23 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823162103/https://www.ilpost.it/2021/03/10/primo-voto-italia-donne-10-marzo-1946|url-status=live}}</ref> Victor Emmanuel III's son, [[Umberto II]], was forced to abdicate. The [[Constitution of Italy|Republican Constitution]] was approved in 1948. Under the [[Treaty of Paris between Italy and the Allied Powers]], areas next to the [[Adriatic Sea]] were annexed by [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], resulting in the [[Istrian-Dalmatian exodus]], which involved the emigration of around 300,000 [[Istrian Italians|Istrian]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Tobagi|first=Benedetta|title=La Repubblica italiana {{!}} Treccani, il portale del sapere|url=http://www.treccani.it/scuola/lezioni/storia/la_repubblica_italiana.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305001726/http://www.treccani.it/scuola/lezioni/storia/la_repubblica_italiana.html|archive-date=5 March 2016|access-date=28 January 2015|publisher=Treccani.it}}</ref> Italy lost all colonial possessions, ending the [[Italian Empire]].
[[File:Alcide de Gasperi 2.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|[[Alcide De Gasperi]], [[List of Prime Ministers of Italy|first]] republican [[Prime Minister of Italy|prime minister of Italy]] and one of the [[Founding fathers of the European Union]]]]

Fears of a Communist takeover proved crucial in [[Italian general election, 1948|1948]], when the [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democrats]], under [[Alcide De Gasperi]], won a landslide victory.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lawrence S. Kaplan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UV-ti1sYcbcC|title=NATO 1948: The Birth of the Transatlantic Alliance |last2=Morris Honick|date=2007|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-3917-4|pages=52–55|access-date=5 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116110143/https://books.google.com/books?id=UV-ti1sYcbcC|archive-date=16 January 2024|url-status=live}}; {{Cite book|author=Robert Ventresca|title=From Fascism to Democracy: Culture and Politics in the Italian Election of 1948 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|date=2004|pages=236–37}}</ref> Consequently, in 1949 Italy became a member of [[NATO]]. The [[Marshall Plan]] revived the economy, which, until the late 1960s, enjoyed a period called the [[Italian economic miracle]]. In the 1950s, Italy became a founding country of the [[European Communities]], a forerunner of the European Union. From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, the country experienced the ''[[Years of Lead (Italy)|Years of Lead]]'', characterised by economic difficulties, especially after the [[1973 oil crisis]]; social conflicts; and terrorist massacres.<ref>{{Cite web|year=1995|title=Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sul terrorismo in Italia e sulle cause della mancata individuazione dei responsabili delle stragi (Parliamentary investigative commission on terrorism in Italy and the failure to identify the perpetrators)|url=http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/documents/collection_gladio/report_ital_senate.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819211212/http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/documents/collection_gladio/report_ital_senate.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive -->|archive-date=19 August 2006|access-date=2 May 2006|language=it}}; {{In lang|en|it|fr|de}} {{Cite web|title=Secret Warfare: Operation Gladio and NATO's Stay-Behind Armies|url=http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/collections/coll_gladio.htm#Documents|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060425182721/http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/collections/coll_gladio.htm|archive-date=25 April 2006|access-date=2 May 2006|publisher=Swiss Federal Institute of Technology / International Relation and Security Network}}; {{Cite web|date=24 June 2000|title=Clarion: Philip Willan, Guardian, 24 June 2000, p. 19 |url=http://www.cambridgeclarion.org/press_cuttings/us.terrorism_graun_24jun2000.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329113138/http://www.cambridgeclarion.org/press_cuttings/us.terrorism_graun_24jun2000.html|archive-date=29 March 2010|access-date=24 April 2010|publisher=Cambridgeclarion.org}}</ref>

The economy recovered and Italy became the world's fifth-largest industrial nation after it gained entry into the [[G7]] in the 1970s. However, national debt skyrocketed past 100% of GDP. Between 1992 and 1993, Italy faced terror attacks perpetrated by the [[Sicilian Mafia]] as a consequence of new anti-mafia measures by the government.<ref>{{Cite web|date=8 March 2012|title=New Arrests for Via D'Amelio Bomb Attack|url=https://www.corriere.it/International/english/articoli/2012/03/08/borsellino.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013204755/http://www.corriere.it/International/english/articoli/2012/03/08/borsellino.shtml|archive-date=13 October 2012|access-date=9 February 2019|website=Corriere della Sera}}</ref> Voters—disenchanted with political paralysis, massive public debt and extensive corruption uncovered by the [[Mani pulite|Clean Hands]] investigation—demanded radical reform. The Christian Democrats, who had ruled for almost 50 years, underwent a crisis and disbanded, splitting into factions.<ref>The so-called "Second Republic" was born by forceps: not with a revolt of Algiers, but formally under the same Constitution, with the mere replacement of one ruling class by another: {{Cite journal|last=Buonomo|first=Giampiero|year=2015|title=Tovaglie pulite|journal=Mondoperaio Edizione Online}}</ref> The Communists reorganised as a [[social-democratic]] force. During the 1990s and 2000s, [[Centre-right coalition (Italy)|centre-right]] (dominated by media magnate [[Silvio Berlusconi]]) and [[Centre-left coalition (Italy)|centre-left]] coalitions (led by professor [[Romano Prodi]]) alternately governed.

In 2011, amidst the [[Great Recession]], Berlusconi [[Resignation of Silvio Berlusconi|resigned]] and was replaced by the technocratic cabinet of [[Mario Monti]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hooper|first=John|date=16 November 2011|title=Mario Monti appoints technocrats to steer Italy out of economic crisis|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/16/mario-monti-technocratic-cabinet-italy|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319230844/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/16/mario-monti-technocratic-cabinet-italy|archive-date=19 March 2020|access-date=19 March 2020|work=The Guardian}}</ref> In 2014, [[Matteo Renzi]] became [[Prime Minister of Italy|prime minister]] and the government started constitutional reform. This was rejected in a 2016 [[Italian constitutional referendum, 2016|referendum]] and [[Paolo Gentiloni]] became prime minister.<ref>{{Cite news|date=12 December 2016|title=New Italian PM Paolo Gentiloni sworn in|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38295549|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191129122857/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38295549|archive-date=29 November 2019|access-date=19 March 2020|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>

During the [[European migrant crisis]] of the 2010s, Italy was the entry point and leading destination for most asylum seekers entering the EU. Between 2013 and 2018, it took in over 700,000 migrants,<ref>{{Cite news|date=21 May 2018|title=What will Italy's new government mean for migrants?|url=https://www.thelocal.it/20180521/what-will-italys-new-government-mean-for-migrants|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401231010/https://www.thelocal.it/20180521/what-will-italys-new-government-mean-for-migrants|archive-date=1 April 2019|access-date=8 June 2018|work=The Local Italy}}</ref> mainly from sub-Saharan Africa,<ref>{{Cite news|date=18 July 2017|title=African migrants fear for future as Italy struggles with surge in arrivals|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-migrants-africa/african-migrants-fear-for-future-as-italy-struggles-with-surge-in-arrivals-idUSKBN1A30QD|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402002627/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-migrants-africa/african-migrants-fear-for-future-as-italy-struggles-with-surge-in-arrivals-idUSKBN1A30QD|archive-date=2 April 2019|access-date=8 June 2018|work=Reuters}}</ref> which put a strain on the public purse and led to a surge in support for far-right or euro-sceptic parties.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Italy starts to show the strains of migrant influx|url=http://www.thelocal.it/20150519/migrant-surge-tests-italys-humanitarian-instincts|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429061446/https://www.thelocal.it/20150519/migrant-surge-tests-italys-humanitarian-instincts|archive-date=29 April 2017|access-date=10 January 2017|work=[[The Local]]}}; {{Cite news|title=Italy's far right jolts back from dead|url=http://www.politico.eu/article/italys-other-matteo-salvini-northern-league-politicians-media-effettosalvini|access-date=10 January 2017|work=Politico|date=3 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170119122156/http://www.politico.eu/article/italys-other-matteo-salvini-northern-league-politicians-media-effettosalvini|archive-date=19 January 2017}}</ref> After the [[Italian general election, 2018|2018 general election]], [[Giuseppe Conte]] became prime minister of [[Government of Change|a populist coalition]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=24 May 2018|title=Opinion – The Populists Take Rome|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/opinion/populists-rome-five-star-movement.html|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/opinion/populists-rome-five-star-movement.html|archive-date=3 January 2022|access-date=2 June 2018|work=The New York Times}}{{Cbignore}}</ref>

With almost 200,000 victims, Italy was one of the countries with the most deaths in the [[COVID-19 pandemic]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ellyatt|first=Holly|date=19 March 2020|title=Italy's lockdown will be extended, prime minister says as death toll spikes and hospitals struggle|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/italys-death-rate-reaches-record-high-hospitals-in-lombardy-struggle.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319084719/https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/italys-death-rate-reaches-record-high-hospitals-in-lombardy-struggle.html|archive-date=19 March 2020|access-date=19 March 2020|publisher=CNBC}}</ref> and one of the most [[Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic|affected economically]].<ref>[https://www.agi.it/economia/news/2020-04-14/coronavirus-fmi-crisi-economica-8331041/ L'Italia pagherà il conto più salato della crisi post-epidemia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527124958/https://www.agi.it/economia/news/2020-04-14/coronavirus-fmi-crisi-economica-8331041|date=27 May 2020}}, AGI</ref> In February 2021, after [[2021 Italian government crisis|a government crisis]], Conte resigned. [[Mario Draghi]], former president of the [[European Central Bank]], formed a [[Draghi Cabinet|national unity government]] supported by most main parties,<ref>{{Cite news|date=12 February 2021|title=Mario Draghi sworn in as Italy's new prime minister|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56049115|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319075829/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56049115|archive-date=19 March 2022|access-date=13 February 2021}}</ref> pledging to implement an economic stimulus to face the crisis caused by the pandemic.<ref>{{Cite web|date=12 February 2021|title=Mario Draghi's new government to be sworn in on Saturday|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/12/mario-draghis-new-italian-government-to-be-sworn-in-on-saturday|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419104552/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/12/mario-draghis-new-italian-government-to-be-sworn-in-on-saturday|archive-date=19 April 2021|access-date=19 February 2021|website=The Guardian}}</ref> In 2022, [[Giorgia Meloni]] was sworn in as Italy's first female prime minister.<ref>{{Cite news|date=21 October 2022|title=Who is Giorgia Meloni? The rise to power of Italy's new far-right PM|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63351655|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221024023546/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63351655|archive-date=24 October 2022|access-date=24 October 2022|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>