Editing Lazio (section)

== History ==
{{For|the history of ancient Lazio|Latium}}{{see also|List of museums in Lazio}}
[[File:RomaViaAppiaAntica03.JPG|thumb|The [[Appian Way]] (''Via Appia''), a road connecting [[Ancient Rome]] to the southern parts of Italy, remains usable even today.]]

The Italian word Lazio descends from the Latin word [[Latium]], the region of the [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latins]], ''Latini'' in the Latin language spoken by them and passed on to the Latin city-state of [[Rome|Ancient Rome]]. Although the demography of ancient Rome was [[Multinational state|multi-ethnic]], including, for example, Etruscans, Sabines and other [[Italic peoples|Italics]] besides the Latini, the latter were the dominant constituent. In [[Roman mythology]], the tribe of the Latini took their name from King [[Latinus]]. Apart from the mythical derivation of Lazio given by the ancients as the place where [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]], ruler of the [[golden age]] in Latium, hid (latuisset)<ref>''Aeneid'', VIII.323.</ref> from Jupiter there,<ref>{{cite book |title=The student's manual of ancient geography |url=https://archive.org/details/studentsmanuala00smitgoog |first1=William Latham |last1=Bevan |first2=William |last2=Smith |location=London |publisher=J. Murray |year=1875 |pages=530–531}}</ref> a major modern etymology is that Lazio comes from the Latin word "latus", meaning "wide",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/latin|title=latin &#124; Origin and meaning of the name latin |website=Online Etymology Dictionary }}</ref> expressing the idea of "flat land" meaning the [[Roman Campagna]]. Much of Lazio is in fact flat or rolling. The lands originally inhabited by the Latini were extended into the territories of the [[Samnites]], the [[Marsi]], the [[Hernici]], the [[Aequi]], the [[Aurunci]] and the [[Volsci]], all surrounding Italic tribes. This larger territory was still called Latium, but it was divided into [[Latium adiectum]] or Latium Novum, the added lands or New Latium, and Latium Vetus, or Old Latium, the older, smaller region. The northern border of Lazio was the [[Tiber]] river, which divided it from [[Etruria]].

The emperor [[Augustus]] officially united almost all of present-day Italy into a single geo-political entity, [[Italia (Roman Empire)|Italia]], dividing it into eleven regions. The part of today's Lazio south of the Tiber river – together with the present region of [[Campania]] immediately to the southeast of Lazio and the seat of [[Naples|Neapolis]] – became Region I (''Latium et Campania''), while modern [[Province of Viterbo|Upper Lazio]] became part of ''Regio VII – Etruria'', and today's [[Province of Rieti]] joined ''Regio IV – Samnium''.

After [[Kingdom of Italy (Ostrogothic)#Conquest of Italy by the Goths .28488.E2.80.93493.29|the Gothic conquest of Italy]] at the end of the fifth century, modern Lazio became part of the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]], but after the [[Gothic War (535-554)|Gothic War between 535 and 554]] and conquest by the [[Byzantine Empire]], the region became the property of the Eastern Emperor as the [[Duchy of Rome]]. However, the long wars against the [[Longobards]] weakened the region. With the [[Donation of Sutri]] in 728, the [[Pope]] acquired the first territory in the region beyond the Duchy of Rome.

The strengthening of the religious and ecclesiastical aristocracy led to continuous power struggles between secular lords (''[[Baron]]i'') and the Pope until the middle of the 16th century. [[Pope Innocent III|Innocent III]] tried to strengthen his own territorial power, wishing to assert his authority in the provincial administrations of Tuscia, Campagna and Marittima through the Church's representatives, in order to reduce the power of the [[Colonna family]]. Other popes tried to do the same. During the period when the papacy resided in [[Avignon Papacy|Avignon, France]] (1309–1377), the feudal lords' power increased due to the absence of the Pope from Rome. Small communes, and Rome above all, opposed the lords' increasing power, and with [[Cola di Rienzo]], they tried to present themselves as antagonists of the ecclesiastical power. However, between 1353 and 1367, the papacy regained control of Lazio and the rest of the [[Papal States]]. From the middle of the 16th century, the papacy politically unified Lazio with the Papal States,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/601-bigger-than-you-think-the-vatican-and-its-annexes|title=Bigger Than You Think: the Vatican and its Annexes|last=Jacobs|first=Frank|work=Big Think|access-date=2018-06-25}}</ref> so that these territories became provincial administrations of St. Peter's estate; governors in [[Viterbo]], in Marittima and [[Campagna]], and in [[Frosinone]] administered them for the papacy.

Lazio was part of the short-lived [[Roman Republic (18th century)|Roman Republic]], after which it became a [[puppet state]] of the [[First French Republic]] under the forces of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]. Lazio was returned to the Papal States in October 1799. In 1809, it was annexed to the French Empire under the name of the [[Rome (department)|Department of Tibre]], but returned to the Pope's control in 1815.

On 20 September 1870 the [[capture of Rome]], during the reign of Pope [[Pius IX]], and France's defeat at [[Battle of Sedan|Sedan]], completed [[Italian unification]], and Lazio was incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Italy]]. In 1927, the territory of the province of Rieti, belonging to [[Umbria]] and [[Abruzzo]], joined Lazio. Towns in Lazio were devastated by the [[August 2016 Central Italy earthquake|2016 Central Italy earthquake]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/world/europe/italy-earthquake.html Powerful Earthquakes in Italy].</ref>

{{wide image|Rome (Italy) - Panoramic view from St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City) - March 2012.jpg|1600px|align-cap=center|Panoramic view of Rome from St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City)|dir=rtl}}