The Origins of the Name 'Italy' 

Where does the name 'Italy' come from and how did Italy get populated over time? 

In remote times, going back to the Bronze Age and dated between the 18th and 17th centuries B.C. there was the great maritime migration of the Arcadians from the Aegean towards Southern Italy. Guided by their mythical king Oenotro, these people were called Oenotrians.From their expansion and mixings with the local populations, and with some complicated integrations, derived the Ausonians (Ausones), the Chones, the Morgetes, of course, the Itali, and the Siculians. The Latins probably also descended from the Oenotrians, but instead were pushed a bit further North. It has been shown that between the 16th and the 15th centuries B.C. several populations speaking diverse Indoeuropean idioms had already penetrated in Italy. These populations represent the result of the overlapping and in many ways a blending of a first wave of Indoeuropea in Italy with an existing non-Indoeuropean sub-layer like that very ancient Iberian-Caucasian, who survived the presence, even in the Roman era both in Eastern Sardenia as well as Eastern Sicily, where one refers to the Sicanians, and like the Aegean-Asianic of the Pelasgic type. The Pelasgi were perhaps the first inhabitants of the Palatine, the hill on which Rome would later rise, and perhaps the very ancient town called "square Rome" is attributed to them. In addition, the ancient God of the Roman hill Janiculum, Janus, came from Tessalia. Although tradition attributes him Indoeuropean origins, some historians say he has Pelasgic origins, with his name coming from Inuus Pelasgic. Therefore the Central-Southern part of Italy outlines a scenario very similar to that verified previously in Greece, where the Pelasgi, an antique Mediterranean population who lived in Tessalia, the Peloponnesian, the Caria, and quite probably in Crete and Cyprus in addition to the many other small islands of the Aegean, overlapped or fused with their arrival the Indoeuropean Greeks. The Arcadi, originally from Peloponnesia, speaking an ancient Greek language, and therefore Indoeuropean, is the perfect example of this fusion between Indoeuropean people and pre-Indoeuropean populations, given that Peloponnesia is the region in which the Pelasgic presence lasted the longest. The Itali lived in the southern part of present-day Calabria, that is, within the "toe" of the boot called Italy. Their name came from Vitulus, meaning veal or calf, since the area was rich with bovine, and perhaps the Itali took the name symbolically since it identified them with their land. But in the times of the Magna Grecia, following the Greek colonization of the majority of their territory, the coastal regions were renamed Italoi, the Greek word for Vitulus. And so the name "Italoi" was inherited by the Romans upon conquering this territory which extended all the way down to the southernmost tip of the peninsula. Although for some time the land had been conquered by second-wave Indoeuropean populations such as a type of Sabellians called Bruttii.

From this, the name "Italy" was extended by the Romans first to cover Southern Italy and later to include the entire peninsula. Many tales about contacts between the Aegean world and the Italic world make references to more recent migrations than the first Arcadian immigration, between the 13th and 12th centuries B.C. around the period of the Trojan war, in 1180 B.C. During that period, the late Bronze Age, almost half of the Italic peninsula was made up of migrants from various places within the Aegean-Anatolic area. This half consisted partly of people speaking Indoeuropean idioms, like Arcadians of Evandro, of whom the presence on the Roman hills of the Palatine would be dated to 60 years before the Trojan war or, like Ulysses' Achei and Enea's Trojans, immediately after the Trojan war. The other half was made up of Mediterranean populations very similar to the Pelasgi but not speaking proper Indoeuropean languages and identified as Maritime Populations, such as Sardens or Shardana, meaning Sardanioi, that is, the Sardinians, and the Trs or Tursa, meaning the Tyrosine, that is the Tyrrhenians who perhaps originally came from Lydia in Asia Minor or from the Aegean island of Lemno, from which the Etruscans or Tusci come.

Excavations throughout Italy and Sicily have surfaced evidence of human activity dating back to the Paleolithic period (also called "Old Stone Age", referring to the period between 2.5Million to 200,000 years ago), and the Mesolithic period. (Also called the "Middle Stone Age", the word Mesolithic usually refers specifically to a development in northwestern Europe that began about 8000 BC, and lasted until about 2700 BC. By the beginning of the Neolithic period (the period following the Mesolithic period during which men became herdsmen and cultivators, and modifiers of their environment and the social structure became more complex), the small communities of hunters of earlier times had been replaced by agricultural settlements, with some stock breeding and widespread use of stone implements and pottery. Painted vessels that seem to have been influenced by contemporary styles in Greece have been found at Castellaro Vecchio on the island of Lipari.

By 2000 BC immigrants from the east had brought the art of metalworking to southern Italy and Sicily; while northern Italian cultures of the same period developed strong links with cultures north of the Alps. During the Bronze Age (c.1800-1000 BC), most of central and southern Italy had unified to a culture known as the Apennine, recognized by large agricultural and pastoral settlements. Evidence found in Sicily and on the southeastern coast of Italy suggests the start of trading contacts with the Mycenaeans. After c.1500 BC, in the northern Italian Po Valley , the terramare culture -known for building its villages on wooden piles, its new techniques of bronze workings, and its cremation rites- rose to prominence. By the time of the introduction of iron into Italy (c.1000 BC), regional variations were well established.

The introduction of Indo-European languages (Latin, Osco-Umbrian, Venetic, and Messapian) into what is now "Italy" dates back to the late Neolithic age. The great cultural units of historical Italy—Etruscan, Latin, Sabellian, and Iapygian in Apulia; Venetic in Venetia—were formed in the 9th and 8th centuries

BC.  During the 7th century BC, the non-Indo-European ETRUSCANS became the dominant people of central Italy today known as Tuscany.  In a simultaneous development, Greeks began settling around Italy's South Western shorelines and on Sicily.  The Greeks made their mark as savvy traders especially with their export of metals.  The adoption of writing, an increasing trend of improved social structures and the urbanization became the foundation of a rapidly developing social and economic transformation in southern and coastal Etruria. Etruscan power, though never unified, was extended through migration, colonization, and conquest. Etruscans founded cities in the Po Valley and in Campania and subjugated various Latin communities, Rome among them. The Etruscan cities were loosely united in a religious league

of 12 but were politically independent with independent artistic traditions. The economy was based on agriculture, maritime trade and piracy.Etruscan dominance ended in the 5th century with their expulsion from Latium and the loss of the sea to Greeks, of Campania to the Sabelli, and of the Po Valley to the Gauls. From the 4th through the 1st centuries, Roman conquest, colonization, and co-optation caused Etruscan civilization to decline and finally end. The Etruscans influenced Roman institutions in various ways, and in spite of the fact that many of their gods were different from those of Rome, they had a reputation at Rome for religious expertise. They were also renowned for luxury, because women were relatively free by the standards of classical Greece.The LATINS lived on the western (Tyrrhenian) coastal plain—Latium—that stretches from the Tiber in the north to Monte Circeo 65 miles to the south. Northern Latium is enclosed on the east by the foothills of the Apennines; further south, the Lepini Mountains mark the eastern boundary. Traditionally there were 50 small Latin communities which were united by common Latin cults and by the common Latin rights of intermarriage, contractual dealing, and intermigration. By the 7th century, contacts with Etruscans and Greeks had influenced the Latins to organize themselves into about a dozen communities resembling Greek poleis. Although still tied to each other by intercommunal rights and common cults, these Latin “city-states” became increasingly independent and competitive. By the late 6th century several of them had formed a political league centered around Aricia, at the time when Etruscan Rome was pursuing an aggressive policy. Roman preeminence in Latium ended abruptly with the expulsion of Etruscan kings in the late 6th century. Soon after this the Latin League was formed, and a military alliance was made with Rome to defend the homeland against invading Aequi and Volsci. A century of war left Latium free of invaders, but Rome was again poised to dominate the other Latins. This was achieved by a Roman victory in the Latin War, 337–334 (343–338).In the historical period the Apennines were inhabited by Sabellian peoples who spoke a variety of Osco-Umbrian languages and who periodically raided and sometimes conquered the fertile plains around them. In historical times the Sabines had moved into Latium where they are said to have exerted a formative

influence on early Rome. The territories of the Umbrians extended from the highlands east of the Arno and Tiber to the Adriatic coast between Rimini and Ancona. Another Osco-Umbrian-speaking people from the central Apennines were the Aequi, who invaded Latium c. 500 BC. The central Apennines were also home to the Umbrian-speaking Marsi. Further east, Oscan speakers—the Paeligni, Vestini, and Marrucini—held sway; to the southeast, along the Adriatic coast, the Oscan-speaking Frentani dominated. Inhabiting the south-central Apennines were the SAMNITES, who spoke an Oscan language and by the 4th century were united in a loose but formidable confederation. During the late 5th and early 4th centuries, Oscan-speaking peoples moved into Campania, Lucania, and Bruttium, where they came to be known as Campani, Lucani, and Bruttii, respectively.GREEK COLONIZATION  had a major influence on all the peoples of Italy and Sicily. The first Greek colony was established at Cumae in 750, and Greeks continued founding colonies in Campania, Apulia, and eastern Sicily later known as the Magna Graecia for the following two centuries.

According to later Roman historians, the city of ROME, founded c.753 BC -probably by local LATINS and SABINES- was ruled by Etruscan kings from 616 BC. After the expulsion of the last of these kings, the power of the Etruscans declined as the Romans began the unification of Italy. This process reached its final stage when the right of Roman citizenship was extended throughout Italy in 89 BC, and with the subsequent diffusion of Roman institutions and culture from the Alps to Sicily, and Latin as the general language.

The Roman Empire began effectively with AUGUSTUS' (the man who would later become Emperor) victory over Mark ANTHONY and CLEOPATRA in 31 BC.  During the following centuries Roman possessions outside Italy substantially expanded, and the complexity of the imperial bureaucracy resulted in a decline in the importance of Italy itself.  A growing number of emperors (whose allegiances lay elsewhere) were born outside Italy, and when Caracalla (AD 212 or 213) proclaimed an Edict which extended Roman citizenship to nearly all free provincials throughout the empire, Italy's special status had all but disappeared.  The 7 emperors who reigned between 270 and 284 AD - also known as the "barracks emperors" - (Aurelian, Tacitus, Florianus, Probus, Carus, Carinus jointly with Numerianus and Carinus alone) were all chosen by the army.  Only Numerianus who died during a march and Carus who was killed in battle died in an "ordinary" way.  The other 5 emperors were killed by their own soldiers and generals.  In an attempt to end the chaos of the "barracks emperors", emperor Diocletian (284-305 AD) established an orderly succession process and divided the power and succession into two separate empires, the East and the West halves.  The East  being the senior emperor.  As of 286 AD, Diocletian as the Eastern emperor was joined by Maximian (286-305) in the West.  Both emperors abdicated in 305 AD. Maximian was recalled in 306 AD by Galerius.  In Subsequent years, that succession rule was bitterly disputed both in the East and the West.  There were a total of 39 claimants to the imperial title between 305 AD and 474 AD and only 5 emperors (Constantine I [312-337], Constantius II [350-361], Julian [361-363], Jovian [363-364] and Theodosius I [392-395]) ruled both the East and the West.  

Click for a table of all Emperors of Rome 27 B.C. to A.D. 491 In 330, Emperor CONSTANTINE I transferred the capital from Rome to Constantinople, built on the site of Byzantium. Italy's administrative autonomy was lost shortly afterwards when two dioceses were joined with that of Africa to form a single prefecture. The loss of temporal power, however, was to some degree compensated for by the growing importance of Italy as a center of Christianity.  Starting in the 2d Century AD several bishoprics were founded in Milan, Ravenna, Naples, Benevento, and elsewhere in addition to that of Rome.  After 476, when the Germanic chieftain ODOACER deposed the last Western emperor, Romulus Augustus ( 475-476),

emperor Zeno (474-491 AD) reunited the empire and continued to reign alone.  Subsequently, military control of Italy fell into barbarian hands under the Ostrogothic king, THEODORIC (493-526), and in practical terms, Italian political and social ties were with the West, in spite of continuing theoretical ties with the BYZANTINE EMPIRE. By 553, however, internal feuds permitted the Byzantine emperor JUSTINIAN I to regain control. Peninsular Italy was administered from its capital at RAVENNA as merely one division of the empire, although the Byzantines gradually admitted the ecclesiastical primacy of Rome in the West.

During the early Middle Ages, Italian ties with the "New Rome" of the East (Constantinople) were first threatened and later severed after a series of invasions from the west and north into Italy. The severing of ties with the East was confirmed by the emergence of the PAPACY and the Italian cities as powers in their own right.  

In 568 -after the Ostrogoths- another Germanic power, the LOMBARDS, arrived in Italy. Their control soon spread from the north to Tuscany and Umbria, although much of southern and eastern Italy remained in Byzantine hands. The Lombards found heavy resistance by the popes -most notably by GREGORY I (r. 590-604)- who acted as political, military as well as ecclesiastical leaders in fact, and held a band of land stretching across the peninsula that later became known as the Papal States. By the end of the 7th century, papal resistance had induced the Lombards to consolidate their power in central and northern Italy, where they achieved political unification. Meanwhile, the unrest in the Byzantine centers in the south reflected the disturbances taking place in Byzantium itself, and popular revolts broke out in Rome, Naples, Venice, and in other regions. By 728, the Lombards -under Liutprand (r.712-44)- however, extended their influence in spite of strong papal attempts at intervention. During Liutprand's reign, many of the Lombards converted from ARIANISM to Roman Catholicism. By this time they were accepting many other elements of Roman culture, including the Latin language; their law and administration reflected both Roman and Germanic influences.

The success of the Lombards, however, was temporary. Under the pretense of restoring to the papacy its lost territories, Pope Stephen II (r. 752-57) persuaded the FRANKS (another Germanic tribe) to invade Italy. In 774 the Franks expelled the Lombard rulers; Lombard territory passed into the hands of the Frankish ruler CHARLEMAGNE, who was crowned emperor in Rome in 800. The following century was marked by continual battles between Franks and Byzantines, which mostly benefited the SARACENS who had recently arrived from North Africa. Contrary to their original objective of assisting rebels against the Byzantine Empire, the Saracens remained to conquer Sicily (827-78), and established outposts throughout southern Italy. In 846 they launched an attack on Rome itself. The collapse of the Carolingian empire in the 9th century, at the same time as the resurgence of Byzantium under the Macedonian dynasty, caused a brief return to eastern influence.

By papal invitation, the German king OTTO I came to Italy and ended this constant alternation of power; he was crowned Holy Roman emperor in 962. Shortly after 1000 the Ottonian dynasty fell, leaving in the north a vacuum of power which was later exploited by the local small landowners and town merchants. Meanwhile, local insurrections started weakening the Saracens' hold on the southern coastal cities. 

The (second) medieval revival of the Western Roman Empire was referred to as The Holy Roman Empire which lasted from 962 AD to 1806.  By the year 1250, much of its power had vanished and by ca. 1650 the empire had lost virtually all power.  Nevertheless, the Empire endured until 1806, when it was abolished by Emperor Francis II.   Francis II ruled thereafter as Francis I of the Austrian Empire (established in 1804).   Usually, the king of Germany became emperor  -considered by Europeans the title of most prestige- as soon as he was crowned by the pope.  Given the many successes of the dukes of Saxony in fighting the Hungarians during the 10th century, most were chosen kings of Germany. The first Saxonian to become king was Henry the Fowler (919-936).  He was followed by his son Otto who became King Otto I in 936 and the first Holy Roman Emperor from 962 to 973.  

The Dynasties

Saxon Dynasty Franconian (Salian) Dynasty

962--973 Otto I 1024-1039 Conrad II

973-983 Otto II 1039-1056 Henry III

983-1002 Otto III 1056-1106 Henry IV

1002-1024 Henry II 1106-1125 Henry V

    1125-1137 Lothair II

       

Hohenstaufen Dynasty The Habsburgs

Henry V's nephews, The Hohenstaufen of Swabia were not always supported by the Church who favored candidates of the "Guelph" i.e. the "Welf" family of Bavaria and Saxony. The on-going struggle between these families and the intervention of the papacy drastically weakened the empire, culminating in the "Age of the Princes" in Germany and the "Great Interregnum" in the Holy Roman Empire.

The House of Habsburg (who derived its name from their castle "Habichtsburg" in Switzerland), was the most illustrious European dynasty.  Beginning in the 15th century, the Habsburgs became hereditary rulers of the Empire.  Through a sequence of "strategic marriages" they gained (by inheritance) the Netherlands, the Spanish kingdoms and Spain's Empire in the "New World", Hungary and Bohemia.

1138-1152 Conrad III 1440-1493 Albert II

1152-1190 Frederick I "Barbarossa" 1440--1493 Frederick III

1190-1197 Henry VI 1493-1519 Maximilian I

1198-1208 Philip of Swabia 1519-1556 Charles V

The Anti King Era 1556-1564 Ferdinand I

1198-1208 Otto IV (anti-king Welf) 1564-1576 Maximilian II

1208-1212 Otto IV 1576-1612 Rudolf II

1212-1250 Frederick II 1612-1619 Matthias

1250-1254 Conrad IV 1619-1637 Ferdinand II

1254-1273 Interregnum 1637-1657 Ferdinand III

When the Empire was restored in 1273, the princes refused to establish any one dynasty and during the following 150 years, candidates from four families were elected

1658-1705 Leopold I

1705-1711 Joseph I

1711-1740 Charles VI

1273-1291 Rudolf I (Habsburg) 1740-1742 Interregnum

1292-1298 Adolf (Nassau) 1742-1745 Charles VII

1298-1308 Albert I (Habsburg) The Habsburgs - Lorraine

1308-1313 Henry VII (Luxemburg) 1745-1765 Francis I

1314-1346 Louis IV (Wittelsbach) 1765-1790 Joseph II

1346-1378 Charles IV (Luxemburg) 1790-1792 Leopold II

1378-1400 Wenceslas (Luxemburg) 1792-1806 Francis II

1400-1410 Rupert (Wittelsbach) House of Savoy-Carignano

1410-1437 Sigismund (Luxemburg)

Piemonte, Nice and Sardinia were ruled by the Dukes of Savoy until the year 1831. 

This line died out and a very distant cousin, Carlo Alberto (Charles Albert) came to the throne. His son, Vittorio

Emanuele II (Victor Emmanuel the 2nd) of Savoy led the armies that conquered what is now known as Italy over the years 1858 through 1871.  As a consequence, Vittorio Emanuele was proclaimed King of Italy in 1861; a dynasty that would fall with the

end of WW2. 

1861-1878 Victor Emmanuel II

1878-1900 (Umberto) Humbert I

1900-1946 Victor Emmanuel III

1946 Humbert II

In this theatre of political fragmentation, many Italian cities began to assert their autonomy. During the 11th century an elaborate pattern of communal government began to evolve under the leadership of a burgher class grown wealthy in trade, banking, and such industries as woolen textiles. Many cities, especially Milan, Genoa, Venice, Florence, and Pisa, became powerful and independent City-States. Resisting the efforts of both the old nobles and the emperors to control them, these "Comuni" promoted the end of feudalism in northern Italy replacing it with deeply rooted identification with the city as opposed to the larger region or country. The cities were often troubled by violent and divisive rivalries among their citizens, the most famous being the papal-imperial struggle between the Guelphs (the supporters of the popes) and the Ghibellines (the supporters of the emperors). Despite such divisions, however,

the cities contributed significantly to the economic, social, and rising cultural energy of Italy.

Unlike the north, with its network of vigorously independent urban centers, southern Italy experienced a significant consolidation after its conquest by the Normans. Bands of these invaders arrived in Italy in the early years of the 11th century. Starting c.1045, Robert Guiscard and his successors expelled the Saracens and Byzantines and established a powerful foothold in Apulia Calabria, Campania, and Sicily. Although the Norman territories remained an anchor of the papacy, papal over lordship became a mere formality in the 12th century, and when Roger II united the southern part of the peninsula with Sicily, he assumed the title of King of Sicily in 1130. While the Normans were consolidating their power in southern Italy, the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire continued their struggle for dominance in northern and central Italy. In 1077, Pope Gregorius VII humbled Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV at Canossa during the Investiture Controversy. Later, Pope Alexander III successfully supported an alliance of northern cities known as the Lombard League against the efforts of Emperor Frederick I of the Hohenstaufen dynasty to impose imperial authority over them. Early in the 13th century the Hohenstaufen Frederick II succeeded in uniting the thrones of German and Norman Sicily. Although Pope Inocentius III (r. 1198-1216) opposed the emperor and advanced far-reaching claims of political and religious supremacy, Frederick established one of the wealthiest and most powerful states in Europe, centering on his brilliant court at Palermo, with its great cultural innovations.The papal-imperial conflict culminated in 1262 with a papal invitation to Charles of Anjou (brother of King Louis IX of France), to conquer Sicily. Charles, the founder of the Amgevin dynasty of Naples, ruled from 1266 as Charles I, king of Naples and Sicily. French rule, which introduced feudalism to the south at a time when it was weakening elsewhere, was highly unpopular, and in 1282 a successful revolt (the Sicilian Vespers) resulted in the separation of Sicily from the mainland. Peter III of Aragon was made king of Sicily while the former Norman domains on the mainland remained under Amgevin rule as the Kingdom of Naples. However, in the 15th century both kingdoms became Spanish possessions; they were then reunited under the title Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

The Greco-Roman Era 9th Century BC:Settlers from the Greek island of Rhodes establish the first settlement on the small island of "Megaride" off the coast of today's Naples. With the support from the Greek colonies of nearby Cuma, the settlers establish a settlement and name it after "Parthenope" (in the Greek mythology Parthenope is one of the three Sirens who threw herself into the sea and drowned because her love for Ulysses was not returned; her body was washed ashore at Naples, which was called Parthenope after her name).

600 BC:The city of Neapolis (Greek for "new city") is formed . The original settlement is subsequently named Palepolis (old city).328 BC:Rome defeats Naples in a war. However a treaty allows Naples to continue as an independent city. 90-89 BC:Rome grants the citizens of the Campania region roman citizenship. 79 AD:Mount Vesuvius erupts and destroys Pompei, Ercolano and Stabia . 476:Romulus Augustus, the last Western emperor is deposed and incarcerated in the Castrum Lucullianum

(today known as Castel dell'Ovo) a castle/fortress on the small isle of Megaride. The Duchies of Naples 536:Belisarius, sent by the Eastern Emperor Justinian, conquers Naples and establishes a Byzantine Duchy. 600:Under Byzantine domination, Naples rebuffs several attacks from the uncivilized Longobards. 755:Naples becomes an independent Duchy. Stephen II is appointed to Duke of Naples by Constans II, he later switches his allegiance to the pope and is subsequently nominated Bishop. 902:

After numerous attacks, the Napolitans defeat Saracen forces at the Garigliano river. The Norman and Swabian Naples 1139:The Napolitans hand their city to Roger II, King of Palermo who becomes the first monarch of the kingdom of Naples. 1165:William I, son of Roger II of Sicily, commissions the construction of the first castle in Naples: Castel Capuano. 1194:Power over the city is handed to Henry IV of Swabia (Bavaria), Son in Law of Roger the Norman. 1224:Frederick II Hohenstaufen, King of Sicily and Head of the Roman Empire commissions the first

university: Università degli Studi. The Angevin Dynasty 1266:Charles of Anjou, son of Louis VIII of France, conquers the city. He becomes King under the name Charles I. 1279:Charles of Anjou I commissions his architects Pierre de Chaulnes and Pierre d'Angincourt, to build the magnificent castle Maschio Angioino. 1309:Robert of Anjou is proclaimed King of Naples. He was the third (living) son of King Charles II of Naples. 1438:

René of Anjou becomes King of Naples (René I of Naples). The Aragonese Period 1443:Alfonso of Aragon, son of Ferdinand I of Aragon, enters the city. The Aragonese control also marked the beginning of a humanistic era and Southern culture. 1458:The reign passes from Alfonso of Aragon to Ferdinand I who is only 35 years old. His kingdom is challenged repetedly by the Angevins. 1485:

Ferdinand I crushes a revolt of the Barons. The Spanish Vice-Regency 1503:Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, an emissary of the Spanish Throne, also known as "The Great Captain", arrives in Naples to command the Spanish part of a French/Spanish coalition formed between Ferdinand of Spain and Louis XII of France. 1631:A violent eruption of mount Vesuvius threatens the population of Naples. In appreciation for having spared the city and its people, the citizens errect a monumental obelisq and dedicate it to the city's patron San Gennaro. 1647:Tommaso Aniello (abbreviated also called Masaniello) instigates and leads a revolt of the "malcontenti" (discontent i.e. unhappy people) against the Kingdom. 1656:A severe epidemic of Pest breaks out in the city and eradicates one third of the population. 1688:

A devastating earthquake cause vast destruction of land marks and buildings. The Austrian Vice-

Regency 1707:

Beginning of the short Austrian Vice Regency. The Bourbon Era 1734:Carlos IV of Bourbon defeats the Austrians and ascends to King of Naples and Sicilies.1759:Carlos IV of Bourbon ascends to the Spanish Throne as Charles III of Spain and passes the throne of Naples to his eight years old son Ferdinand IV under the regency of Bernardo Tanucci. 1799:A group of patriots and intellectuals proclaim the Parthenope Republic (Repubblica Partenopea). King Ferdinand IV flees the City to avoid captivity by the French. The Republic only lasts six month and

Ferdinand IV regains his throne. The French Decade 1806:Napoleon Bonaparte appoints his brother Giuseppe to King of Naples. 1808:Joachim Murat, brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte through marriage to Caroline Bonaparte, succeeds

Giuseppe Bonaparte as King of Naples. The Re-Instatement of the Bourbons 1815:After the fall of Napoleon, Joachim Murat first joins Napoleon in Corsican exile and later attempts regaining Naples through an insurrection in Calabria. Ferdinand IV re-gains the throne of Naples, defeats the insurrection and orders Murat's execution. 1859:Following Ferdinand's death, his only son Francis II is proclaimed Kind of the two Sicilies. He is to be the

last of the Bourbons of Naples. Naples After Italian Unification 1860:Garibaldi seizes the opportunity of a Kingdom weakened by internal uprisings, and assembles a group of thousand volunteers ("I Mille") known as the Redshirts. He takes control of the city and later of the remaining region. He declares himself dictator of Sicily under Victor Emmanuel II. 1884:The city suffers a severe cholera epidemic 1885:After overcoming the epidemic, entire city blocks are demolished under a program called "Risanimento", a name given to the large scale re-planning and re-building of cities following Italy's Unification. Examples

are the Corso Umberto and the Galleria Umberto I. Contemporary Naples 1943:After a four-day rebellion (le Quattro Giornate di Napoli), Napolitans push the Germans out of the city and open the way to the Allied Forces. 1944:Last eruption of Mount Vesuvio 1945:The master piece Napoli Milionaria, marks the beginning of a long list of successful Works by Eduardo De Filippo, an actor, playwright, author and poet, who was appointed Life Senator of the Italian Republic (1981). 1952:Commendatore Achille Lauro, the Italian Onassis and shipping magnate becomes Mayor of Naples. He was re-elected in 1956 and 1960. He was one of the most vocal defenders of the monarchie until the mid seventies, even though Italians by referendum in 1946, decided to send the monarchie into exile and become a Republic. 1980:A strong earthquake with the epicenter in Irpinia, devastates large parts of Naples. 1994:Naples hosts the G7 and gains prestige on the word stage. 2007:Wars between crime syndicats, an unresolved waste disposal crisis, and the uncontrollable petty crime surgeance reflect on Naples with a negative immage among Italians and the World.

After 1300 both the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire turned their attention away from Italy. The emperors concentrated on German affairs while the popes met increasing resistance -especially from the French- as they tried to assert their authority in Europe. For much of the 14th century the papacy was situated outside Italy, at Avignon, in southern France.Simultaneous with the weakening of papal and imperial authority great intellectual changes took place in Italy. An intellectual revival, stimulated in part by the freer atmosphere of the cities and in part by the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Latin writings, gave rise to the humanist attitudes and ideas that

formed the basis of the Renaissance. About the same time, many of the communal governments of the city-states fell under the rule of dictators called "signori", who curbed their factionalism and became hereditary rulers. In Milan the Visconti family rose to power in the 13th century, to be succeeded by the Sforza family in the mid-15th century, a few decades after the Medici family had seized control of Florence. Meanwhile the Este family ruled Ferrara from the 13th through the 16th century. Although they subverted the political institutions of the communes, the signori (who became known as principi, with royal titles) were instrumental in advancing the cultural and civic life of Renaissance Italy. Under the patronage of the Medici, for example, Florence became the most magnificent and prestigious center of the arts in Italy. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Italian ideas and style influenced all of Europe.As the larger cities expanded into the surrounding countryside, absorbing many of the smaller cities, they involved themselves in the complex international politics of the age. The frequent wars between city-states brought to Italy the mercenary leaders known as the Condottieri and ultimately resulted in foreign intervention. In 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, marking the beginning of a period of foreign occupation that lasted until the 19th century. By 1550 almost all of Italy had been subjugated by the Habsburg ruler Charles V, who was both the Holy Roman emperor and king of Spain. When Charles abdicated in 1555-56, dividing the Habsburg territories between his brother Emperor Ferdinand I and his son Philip II of Spain, Italy was part of the latter's inheritance. Spain remained the dominant power in Italy until Austria replaced it after the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14).In the 18th century some areas of Italy achieved independence. Savoy (the Kingdom of Sardinia after 1720) annexed Sardinia and portions of Lombardy. In 1735 the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies became an independent monarchy under the junior branch of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty. Italy itself, however, no longer played a central role in European politics.

Europe was soon involved, however, in a series of wars that eventually involved Italy. Between 1796, when troops under General Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy, and 1814, when they withdrew, the entire peninsula was under French domination. Several short-lived republics were proclaimed early in the period. After two decades of Napoleon's modern but harsh rule, profound changes took place in Italy; many Italians began to see the possibilities of forging a united country free of foreign control. Following the restoration of European peace in 1815, Italy consisted of the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont, Sardinia, Savoy, and Genoa); the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (including Naples and Sicily); the Papal States; and Tuscany and a series of smaller duchies in north central Italy. Lombardy and Venetia were now controlled by the Austrians.

The repressive and reactionary policies imposed on Italy by the Austrian leader Klemens, Fürst von Metternich, and the Congress of Vienna aggravated popular discontent, and the expansion of Austrian control in Italy stimulated intense anti-foreign sentiment. These conditions gave rise to the Italian unification movement

known as the Risorgimento. Revolutionaries and patriots, especially Giuseppe Mazzini, began to work actively for unity and independence. A series of unsuccessful revolts led in the 1820s by the Carbonari, a conspiratorial nationalist organization, and in the 1830s by Mazzini's Young Italy group, provided the background for the Revolution of 1848, felt in every major Italian city and throughout Europe. Charles Albert, king of Sardinia (1831-49), declared war on Austria and, along with some other Italian rulers, gave his people a constitution. However, both the war of liberation and the revolutionary republics set up in Rome, Venice, and Tuscany were crushed by Austria in 1849. Charles Albert abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel II, who retained the Sardinian constitution.

The repressive and reactionary policies imposed on Italy by the Austrian leader Klemens, Fürst von Metternich, and the Congress of Vienna aggravated popular discontent, and the expansion of Austrian control in Italy stimulated intense anti-foreign sentiment. These conditions gave rise to the Italian unification movement known as the Risorgimento. Revolutionaries and patriots, especially Giuseppe Mazzini, began to work actively for unity and independence. A series of unsuccessful revolts led in the 1820s by the Carbonari, a conspiratorial nationalist organization, and in the 1830s by Mazzini's Young Italy group, provided the background for the Revolution of 1848, felt in every major Italian city and throughout Europe. Charles Albert, king of Sardinia (1831-49), declared war on Austria and, along with some other Italian rulers, gave his people a constitution. However, both the war of liberation and the revolutionary republics set up in Rome, Venice, and Tuscany were crushed by Austria in 1849. Charles Albert abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel II, who retained the Sardinian constitution.

Under the progressive, liberal leadership of Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour, Sardinia led Italy to final unification. In 1859, after gaining the support of France and England, Cavour, in alliance with the French emperor Napoleon III, seized Lombardy, and in 1860 all of Italy north of the Papal States, except Venetia, was added to Sardinia. Giuseppe Garibaldi, a popular hero and guerrilla leader, led an expedition of 1,000 "Red Shirts" to Sicily in the same year and subsequently seized the southern part of peninsular Italy, which with Sicily constituted the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Garibaldi turned his conquests over to Victor Emmanuel, and in 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed. Only Venetia and Rome were not included in the new state (the former was added in 1866 and the latter in 1870). Italians at last had their own country.

During the 18th century, intellectual changes began to dismantle traditional values and institutions. Liberal ideas from France and Britain spread rapidly, and from 1789 the French Revolution became the genesis of "liberal Italians".  A series of political and military events resulted in a unified kingdom of Italy in 1861.

The settlements reached in 1815 at the Vienna Congress had restored Austrian domination over the Italian peninsula but had left Italy completely fragmented . The Congress had divided the territory among a number of European nations and the victors of the Napoleonic Wars.  The Kingdom of Sardinia recovered Piedmont (Piemonte), Nice, and Savoy and acquired Genoa.  

There were three major obstacles to unity at the time the congress took place, i.e. (a) the Austrian occupation of Lombardy and Venice in the north, (b) the principality under the sovereignty of the pope, i.e. the Papal States that controlled the center of the Italian peninsula; and  (c) the existence of various states that had maintained independence, such as the Kingdom of Sardinia, also called Piedmont-Sardinia, which located at the French border had slowly expanded since the Middle Ages and was considered the most advanced state in Italy. The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the  island of Sardinia and the region called Piedmont in northwestern Italy. The Kingdom of Sicily that occupied the island of Sicily and the entire southern half of the Italian peninsula . Other small states were the duchies of Toscana (Tuscany), Parma, and Modena.  In each of these states, the monarchs (all relatives of the Habsburgs, the ruling family of Austria)

exercised absolute powers of government.Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian patriot spearheaded a national revolutionary movement.  Mazzini's ideology of an independent integrated republic spread quickly among large segments of the Italian people.  Revolutionary cells formed throughout the Italian peninsula.  Massive reforms that took place during the 1840s in the Papal States, Lucca, Tuscany, and the Kingdom of Sardinia were intended to slow the revolutionary movements, instead these reforms (1846 and 1847) only intensified the resolve of the revolutionary cells culminating in the Revolutions of 1848,

that spread to Germany, the Austrian Empire, France, and parts of northern Italy. The first revolution on the Italian peninsula took place in the Kingdom of Sicily, which resulted in a constitution for the whole kingdom. An insurrection in 1848 caused pope Pius IX to flee Rome and a republic was proclaimed. King Charles Albert of Sardinia mobilized his army and marched to the assistance of Lombardy and joined in the war to drive the Austrians from Italian soil.  While it initially looked as if  the independence and  unity of Italy was a realistic possibility, the Austrians defeated the Piedmontese and Charles Albert had to abdicate.  His son, Victor Emmanuel II, succeeded him in 1849.   A new revolutionary leader, Giuseppe Garibaldi, could not avoid Rome's destruction by the French in 1849.  Only Sardinia held firm to their constitutional government 

Count Camillo di Cavour became prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia  In 1852 . It was his leadership and accommodating  policies that led to the unification of Italy in little more than a decade.Cavour was able to persuade Napoleon to a secretly planned war against Austria.  By early 1859, Cavour had caused a crisis that provoked  the Austrians to send an ultimatum demanding Piedmontese disarmament. As part of the "plan", Cavour rejected the ultimatum which led to the subsequent war with the Austrians.  The French came to the aid of the Piedmontese and the Austrians were defeated in the two major battles of Magenta and Solferino.  The Austrians were forced to surrender Lombardy, with its great city of Milan (my home town), to Napoleon III.  Finally, in 1859, Napoleon transferred Lombardy to the sovereignty of Victor Emmanuel II.

Following elections during 1859 and 1860, all northern states (of the Italian peninsula), except Venetia, which was still part of Austria, joined the Kingdom of Sardinia. Napoleon's growing concern with respect to the sudden (large) size of his neighbor  was resolved in part  by the cessation of the Sardinian provinces of Savoy, near the Alps, and Nice, on the Mediterranean coast to France in 1860 .  After 1860, the only French presence on the Italian peninsula was in the city of

Rome, where French troops remained at the request of the pope.Giuseppe Garibaldi  Italian nationalist revolutionary hero and leader in the struggle for Italian unification and independence.  Born in 1807 in Nice, France, he joined Mazzini's movement  in 1833.  In 1834 Garibaldi was ordered to seize a warship, but the plot was discovered by police and he was condemned to death.  He escaped to South America, where he lived for 12 years. There he displayed unusual qualities of military leadership while participating in the revolt of the state of Rio Grande do Sul against Brazil, as well as later in a civil war in Uruguay.In 1848, Garibaldi traveled to the United States settled in Staten Island, New York, and later became a US

citizen. During the same year he returned to Italy and participated (again) in the

movement for Italian freedom and unification, which became widely known as the Risorgimento (Italian for "revival"). He organized a corps of volunteers, which served under the Piedmontese ruler Charles Albert, king of Sardinia.  He unsuccessfully waged war against  the Austrians in Lombardy and  led his volunteers to Rome to support the Roman Republic established by Mazzini and others in 1849.  Garibaldi defended Rome, initially successfully, against French forces, but in the end was forced to "settle"  with the French. He was allowed to depart from Rome with about 5000 of his followers.  However,  the line of retreat reached directly through Austrians controlled territory.  Garibaldi's force was killed, captured, or dispersed during his attempt to retreat, and Garibaldi had to flee Italy to save his life.

He returned to Italy in 1854 where he settled down on the island of Caprera northeast of Sardinia.  By this time, Garibaldi had separated politically from Mazzini, and had formed an alliance with Victor Emmanuel II, the king of Sardinia,  and his premier, Conte Camillo Benso di Cavour.  Given Garibaldi's popularity and large following, thousands of Italians gave their allegiance to  the Sardinian monarch.Garibaldi's dream of a united Italy motivated his successful expedition against the Austrian forces in the Alps in 1859.  In 1860 he conquered Sicily and set up a provisional insular government.  Garibaldi then conquered Naples, which he then delivered to Victor Emmanuel in 1861 and returned to his home on Caprera. With the annexation of Umbria and Marches from the papal government, a united Italy was finally established in 1861 with Victor Emmanuel as its king. The Italian kingdom was missing Rome, which was still a papal possession, and Venice, which was controlled by the Austrians.Venice was added to Italy in 1866 after Prussia defeated Austria in the Seven Weeks' War, in which Italy sided with Prussia; Venice was its reward. Then, in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon III withdrew his troops from Rome. With the city of Rome and the remaining Papal States left unprotected, Italian troops moved into Rome without opposition. Rome voted for union with Italy in October 1870 and, in July 1871, Rome became the capital of a united Italy.

1672-1803 Muratori, Alfieri and Genovesi ignite the fire of revolution.1796   Milan is occupied by the French under French General Napoleon Bonaparte who founds the Cispadane Republic (including Modena, Bologna, and Ferrara).1797  Pope submits to Bonaparte; Uprisings against French in Verona; French enter Venice;  Cisalpine Republic established in Lombardy; Venice given to Austria.1798   Roman Republic declared; Ferdinand IV enters Rome (later retaken by French); Abdication of Charles Emmanuel IV of Savoy.1799   French occupation of Naples; Milan taken by Russians; Austrians enter Turin; Naples capitulates to Bourbons.

1801   Napoleon occupies Milan; Kingdom of Etruria founded by Napoleon in Tuscany; Treaty of Florence between France and Naples.1802   Cisalpine Republic called Italian Republic; France annexes Piedmont.1805   Napoleon crowns himself King of Italy; Ligurian Republic annexed to France; also Parma and Piacenza.1806   Venetia annexed to Kingdom of Italy; Joseph Bonaparte declared King of the Two Sicilies.1808   Joachim Murat becomes King of Naples; Papal States partly annexed to Kingdom of Italy.1809   Napoleon annexes Rome and Papal States to French empire.1814   Napoleon defeated; banished to Elba.1820   Revolt in Naples.1821   Revolt in Piedmont.1831   Revolution in the Papal States; King Charles Albert becomes King of Sardinia; "Young Italy" founded by Mazzini.1845   Pius IX becomes Pope.1848   Uprisings in Palermo; Constitutional edict in Naples; Constitutional monarchy proclaimed in Piedmont;  Constitution granted in Rome, Republic proclaimed with Mazzini as head. Successful revolution in Milan; Venice proclaimed a Republic; Charles Albert [Piedmont and Sardinia] invades Lombardy;  Tuscan forces invade Lombardy; Naples constitution denied; Union of Venetia and Piedmont declared, soon overthrown; Battle of Custozza, Charles Albert defeated.1849   Charles Albert abdicates in favor of Victor Emmanuel II; Sicilian revolution crushed by Naples; Austrians take Florence; Venice surrenders to Austria.1850   Cavour becomes Prime Minister in Sardinia-Piedmonte.1852   Napoleon III becomes emperor of France.1858   Meeting of Cavour and Napoleon III.1859   War between Austria and Sardinia Piedmont; Austria defeated by Piemontese and French; Sardinia gains Lombardy.1860   Tuscany and Emilia declare for union with Sardinia-Piedmonte; Revolution in Sicily, Garibaldi lands and is victorious; invades Italy and gains victory; enters Naples Piemontese army under Victor Emmanuel take over from Garibaldi; Marche and Umbria vote for annexation to Piedmonte.1861   Sicily and Naples vote to join Kingdom of Italy; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed.1866   Italy joins Prussia in War against Austria; gains Venetia;1870   Italian troops occupy Rome when French abandon city; 1871 (July)   Rome made Capital of Kingdom

The new nation faced many serious problems. A large debt, few natural resources, and almost no industry or transportation facilities combined with

extreme poverty, a high illiteracy rate, and an uneven tax structure to weigh heavily on the Italian people. Regionalism was still strong, and only a fraction of the citizens had the right to vote. To make matters worse, the pope, angered over the loss of Rome and the papal lands, refused to recognize the Italian state. In the countryside, banditry and peasant anarchism resulted in government repression, which was often brutal. Meanwhile during the 1880s a socialist movement began to develop among workers in the cities. The profound differences between the impoverished south and the wealthier north widened. Parliament did little to resolve these problems: throughout this so-called Liberal Period (1870-1915), the nation was governed by a series of coalitions of liberals to the left and right of center who were unable to form a clear-cut majority. (The most notable leaders of the period were Francesco Crispi and Giovanni Giolitti.) Despite the fact that some economic and social progress took place before World War I, Italy during that time was a dissatisfied and crisis-ridden nation.In an attempt to increase its international influence and prestige, Italy joined Germany and Austria in the Triple Alliance in 1882; during the 1890s Italy unsuccessfully tried to conquer Ethiopia; and in 1911 it declared war on Turkey to obtain the North African territory of Libya. After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Italy remained neutral for almost a year while the government negotiated with both sides. In 1915, Italy finally joined the Allies, after having been promised territories that it regarded as "Italia irredenta" (un-liberated Italy). The country was unprepared for a major war, however; aside from a few victories in 1918, Italy suffered serious losses of men, material, and morale. Moreover, despite the efforts of Vittorio Emmanuele Orlando at the Paris Peace Conference, the treaties that followed the war gave Italy only Trentino and Trieste, a small part of the territories it had expected. These disappointments produced a powerful wave of nationalist sentiment against the Allies and the Italian government.

Italy was plunged into deep social and political crisis by the war. Veterans, unemployed workers, desperate peasants, and a frightened middle class demanded changes, and the 1919 elections suddenly made the Socialist and the new Popular (Catholic) parties the largest in parliament. While extreme nationalists agitated for territorial expansion, strikes and threats of revolution unsettled the nation.

In 1919, in the midst of these unsettled conditions, Benito Mussolini, a former revolutionary socialist, founded a new movement called "Fascismo". Through a combination of shrewd political maneuvering and widespread violence perpetrated by Mussolini's Black Shirt squads, the Fascists gained increasing support. In October 1922, after the Fascists had marched on Rome, King Victor Emmanuel III named Mussolini prime minister. Within four years, Mussolini had become a dictator, destroying civil liberties, outlawing all other political parties, and imposing a totalitarian regime on the country by means of terror and constitutional subversion. Public works projects, propaganda, militarism, and the appearance of order gained Mussolini considerable prestige, and the Lateran

Treaty with the papacy in 1929 gave the "duce" (as he was called) a wide measure of popularity.

Mussolini's foreign policy, based on aggression and expansion, moved Italy closer to war during the 1930s. In 1935-36 the Italian army invaded and conquered Ethiopia, and in 1936, Italy sent troops to support Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Later that year Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, the National Socialist dictator of Germany, established the Rome-Berlin Axis. In 1939, Italy took Albania, and the two dictators then concluded a military alliance known as the Pact of Steel. In June 1940, nine months after the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Italy entered the conflict on Germany's side.

Mussolini's war effort met with setbacks and defeats on all fronts. In July 1943 the Allies invaded Sicily. The Fascist leadership turned against Mussolini, and the king forced him to resign. Rescued by German paratroopers, Mussolini escaped to Salo in northern Italy, where he established a puppet government (the Italian Social Republic) under German protection. In the south, the king and his new prime minister, Pietro Badoglio, surrendered to the Allies in September and then joined in the war against Germany. A fierce and heroic anti-Fascist resistance movement fought in the German-occupied north for two years while underground political leaders organized the anti-Fascists into the Committee of National Liberation (CLN). The Allies pushed the German armies out of Italy with great difficulty, and in April 1945 the partisans captured and executed Mussolini.

Between 1945 and 1948 a new Italian nation emerged from the disaster of Fascism and war. On June 2nd, 1946 a popular election abolished the monarchy in favor of a republic; a new constitution was adopted the next year. The Christian Democrats, the Communists, and the Socialists became the leading political parties in the country. The largest of these parties, the Christian Democrats, first under the leadership of Alcide De Gasperi, dominated the Italian government after 1948. De Gasperi stressed industrial growth, agricultural reform, and close cooperation with the United States and the Vatican. With massive U.S. aid, Italy underwent a remarkable economic recovery that saw rapid industrial expansion and a sharp increase in the standard of living. Italy joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949, the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, and the European Common Market (European Community) in 1958.The 1960s were marked by continued prosperity and a lessening of tensions between right and left. In the early 1970s the Italian Communists, led by Enrico Berlinguer, became prominent advocates of Euro communism, a doctrine stressing independence of the USSR.In the late 1970s and early 1980s labor unrest, frequent government scandals, and the violence of extremist groups (especially the left-wing Red Brigades terrorists, who kidnapped and murdered former premier Aldo Moro in 1978), all contributed to a volatile political situation.

The postwar system was modified somewhat under the long premiership (1983-87) of Socialist Bettino Craxi and was shaken to its foundations by revelations of widespread corruption involving leaders of all the major parties during 1992-93. New regional parties began to win support among the voters, who demanded fundamental political reforms. At the same time the government and the judiciary initiated a determined effort to break the power of the Mafia and other traditional criminal elements in southern Italy and Sicily. In the spring of 1994, Italian voters rejected the traditional parties. Media mogul Silvio Berlusconi became premier, leading a fragile conservative coalition called the Alliance for Freedom.