Editing Italy (section)

=== Ancient Rome ===
{{Main|Ancient Rome|Roman expansion in Italy|Roman Italy}}
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| 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}}
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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>