Italy , officially the Italian Republic is a unitary parliamentary republic in Southern Europe.

To the north, Italy borders France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia, and is approximately delimited by the Alpine watershed, enclosin the !o "alley and the "enetian !lain. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian !eninsula and the two bi est #editerranean islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Italian territory also includes the islands of !antelleria, $% &m '() mi* east of the Tunisian coast and +%% &m '$, mi* southwest of Sicily, and -ampedusa, at about ++( &m ')% mi* from Tunisia and at +)$ &m '+%. mi* from Sicily, in addition to many other smaller islands. The soverei n states of San #arino and the "atican /ity are enclaves within Italy, while /ampione d0Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. Italy covers an area of (%+,((1 &m, '++$,(2) s3 mi* and has a lar ely temperate climate. 4ith $% million inhabitants, it is the 5th most populous country in Europe. Italy is also the 2th6lar est economy in the European 7nion, (rd in the Eurozone and .th in the world 'I#F, ,%+,*. Italy0s capital and lar est city, 8ome, has for centuries been the leadin political and reli ious centre of 4estern civilisation, servin as the capital of both the 8oman Empire and /hristianity. 9urin the 9ar& A es, Italy endured cultural and social decline in the face of repeated invasions by :ermanic tribes, with 8oman herita e bein preserved lar ely by /hristian mon&s. ;e innin around the ++th century, various Italian cities, communes and maritime republics rose to reat prosperity throu h shippin , commerce and ban&in 'indeed, modern capitalism has its roots in #edieval Italy*<=++> concurrently, Italian culture flourished, especially durin the 8enaissance, which produced many notable scholars, artists, and polymaths such as -eonardo da "inci, :alileo, #ichelan elo and #achiavelli. #eanwhile, Italian explorers such as !olo, /olumbus, "espucci, and "errazzano discovered new routes to the Far East and the ?ew 4orld, helpin to usher in the European A e of 9iscovery. ?evertheless, Italy would remain fra mented into numerous warrin states for the rest of the #iddle A es, subse3uently fallin prey to lar er European powers such as France, Spain, and later Austria. Italy would thus enter a lon period of decline that lasted until the be innin of the +1th century. After many unsuccessful attempts, the second and the third wars of Italian independence resulted in the unification of most of present6day Italy between +15. and +1$$.=+,> From the late +.th century to the early ,%th century, the new @in dom of Italy rapidly industrialized and ac3uired a colonial empire becomin a :reat !ower.=+(> Aowever, Southern and rural Italy remained lar ely excluded from industrialisation, fuellin a lar e and influential diaspora. 9espite victory in 4orld 4ar I as one of the ;i Four with permanent membership in the security council of the -ea ue of ?ations, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil, which favoured the establishment of a Fascist dictatorship in +.,,. The subse3uent participation in 4orld 4ar II, at the side of ?azi :ermany and Bapan formin the Axis Alliance, ended in military defeat, economic destruction and civil war. In the years that followed, Italy abolished the monarchy, reinstated democracy, and enCoyed a prolon ed economic boom, thus becomin one of the most developed nations in the world,=5>=+2>=+5>=+$>=+)> with the fifth lar est economy by nominal :9! by the early +..%s. Italy was a foundin member of the ?ato in +.2. and one of the Inner Six of the European /ommunity in +.5), which became the E7 in +..(. It is part of the Schen en Area, and has been a member of the Eurozone since +....

Italy is considered to be both a maCor re ional power and a leadin middle power,=+1>=+.>=,%>=,+>=,,>=,(> with membership in prominent institutions such as the 7?, the E7, the ?ATD, the DE/9, the 4TD, the 7nitin for /onsensus, the :$, :), :1, :+%, :,%, the 7nion for the #editerranean, the /ouncil of Europe and the /entral European Initiative. Italy currently maintains the world0s tenth6lar est nominal defence bud et and is a participant in the ?ATD nuclear sharin policy.

Etymology
The assumptions on the etymolo y of the name EItaliaE are very numerous and the corpus of the solutions proposed by historians and lin uists is very wide.=,2> Accordin to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from -atinF Italia,=,5> was borrowed throu h :ree& from the Dscan Vteli, meanin Eland of youn cattleE 'cf. -at vitulus EcalfE, 7mb vitlo EcalfE*.=,$> The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted orin the 8oman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy durin the Social 4ar. :ree& historian 9ionysius of Aalicarnassus states this account to ether with the le end that Italy was named after Italus,=,)> mentioned also by Aristotle=,1> and Thucydides.=,.> The name Italia ori inally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy G accordin to Antiochus of Syracuse, the southern portion of the ;ruttium peninsula 'modern /alabriaF province of 8e io, and part of the provinces of /atanzaro and "ibo "alentia*. ;ut by his time Denotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of -ucania as well. The :ree&s radually came to apply the name EItaliaE to a lar er re ion, but it was durin the rei n of Emperor Au ustus 'end of the +st century ;/* that the term was expanded to cover the entire peninsula until the Alps.=(%>

History
Prehistory and antiquity
Excavations throu hout Italy revealed a ?eanderthal presence datin bac& to the !aleolithic period, some ,%%,%%% years a o,=(+> modern Aumans arrived about 2%,%%% years a o. The Ancient peoples of pre68oman Italy G such as the 7mbrians, the -atins 'from which the 8omans emer ed*, "olsci, Samnites, the /elts and the -i ures which inhabited northern Italy, and many others G were Indo6European peoples< the main historic peoples of non6Indo6European herita e include the Etruscans, the Elymians and Sicani in Sicily and the prehistoric Sardinians. ;etween the +)th and the ++th centuries ;/ #ycenaean :ree&s established contacts with Italy=(,> =((>=(2>=(5>=($>=()>=(1> and in the 1th and )th centuries ;/ :ree& colonies were established all alon the coast of Sicily and the southern part of the Italian !eninsula became &nown as #a na :raecia. Also the !hoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily. 8ome, a modest a ricultural community conventionally founded in )5( ;/, rew over the course of centuries into a massive empire, stretchin from ;ritain to the borders of !ersia, and en ulfin the whole #editerranean basin, in which :ree& and 8oman cultures mer ed into a uni3ue civilization. The 8oman Imperial le acy has deeply influenced 4estern civilization for

the followin millennia. Ancient 8ome shaped most of the #odern 4orld.=(.> In a slow decline since the late ,nd century A9, the Empire bro&e into two parts in (.5 A9. The 4estern 8oman Empire, under the pressure of the ;arbarian invasions, eventually dissolved in 2)$ A9, when the last western Emperor was deposed by the :ermanic chief Ddoacer, while the Eastern half of the Empire survived for another thousand years.

Middle Ages
After the fall of the 8oman Empire, Italy was seized by the Dstro oths,=2%> followed in the $th century by a brief recon3uest under ;yzantine Emperor Bustinian. The invasion of another :ermanic tribe, the -ombards, late in the same century, reduced the ;yzantine presence to a rump realm 'the Exarchate of 8avenna*. The -ombard &in dom was subse3uently absorbed into the Fran&ish Empire by /harlema ne in the late 1th century. The Fran&s also helped the formation of the !apal States in central Italy. 7ntil the +(th century, Italian politics were dominated by the relations between the Aoly 8oman Emperors and the !apacy, with most of the Italian city6states sidin for the former ':hibellines* or for the latter ':uelphs* from momentary convenience.=2+> It was durin this chaotic era that Italy saw the rise of a peculiar institution, the medieval commune. :iven the power vacuum caused by extreme territorial fra mentation and the stru le between the Empire and the Aoly See, local communities sou ht autonomous ways to restore law and order.=2,> In ++)$ a lea ue of city6states, the -ombard -ea ue, defeated the :erman emperor Frederic& ;arbarossa at the ;attle of -e nano, thus ensurin effective independence for most of northern and central Italian cities. In coastal and southern areas, the maritime republics, the most notable bein "enice, :enoa, !isa and Amalfi, heavily involved in the /rusades, rew to eventually dominate the #editerranean and monopolize trade routes to the Drient.=2(> In the south, Sicily had become an Islamic emirate in the .th century, thrivin until the Italo6 ?ormans con3uered it in the late ++th century to ether with most of the -ombard and ;yzantine principalities of southern Italy. =22> Throu h a complex series of events, southern Italy developed as a unified &in dom, first under the Aouse of Aohenstaufen, then under the /apetian Aouse of AnCou and, from the +5th century, the Aouse of Ara on. In Sardinia, the former ;yzantine provinces became independent states &nown as :iudicati, althou h some parts of the island were under :enoese or !isan control until the Ara onese con3uered it in the +5th century. The ;lac& 9eath pandemic of +(21 left its mar& on Italy by &illin perhaps one third of the population.=25>=2$> Aowever, the recovery from the pla ue led to a resur ence of cities, trade and economy which allowed the bloom of Aumanism and 8enaissance, that later spread in Europe.

Early Modern
In the +2th and +5th centuries, northern6central Italy was divided into a number of warrin city6 states, the rest of the peninsula bein occupied by the lar er !apal States and the @in dom of Sicily, referred to here as ?aples. The stron est amon these city6states radually absorbed the surroundin territories ivin birth to the Si norie, re ional states often led by merchant families which founded local dynasties. 4ar between the city6states was endemic, and primarily fou ht by armies of mercenaries &nown as condottieri, bands of soldiers drawn from around Europe,

especially :ermany and Switzerland, led lar ely by Italian captains.=2)> 9ecades of fi htin eventually saw Florence, #ilan and "enice emer ed as the dominant players that a reed to the !eace of -odi in +252, which saw relative calm brou ht to the re ion for the first time in centuries. This peace would hold for the next forty years. The 8enaissance, a period of vi orous revival of the arts and culture, ori inated in Italy than&s to a number of factors, as the reat wealth accumulated by merchant cities, the patrona e of its dominant families li&e the #edici of Florence,=21>=2.> and the mi ration of :ree& scholars and texts to Italy followin the /on3uest of /onstantinople at the hands of the Dttoman Tur&s.=5%>=5+> =5,> The Italian 8enaissance pea&ed in the mid6+$th century as forei n invasions plun ed the re ion into the turmoil of the Italian 4ars. The ideas and ideals of the 8enaissance soon spread into ?orthern Europe, France, En land and much of Europe. In the meantime, the discovery of the Americas, the new routes to Asia discovered by the !ortu uese and the rise of the Dttoman Empire, all factors which eroded the traditional Italian dominance in trade with the East, caused a lon economic decline in the peninsula. Followin the Italian 4ars '+2.2 to +55.*, i nited by the rivalry between France and Spain, the city6states radually lost their independence and came under forei n domination, first under Spain '+55. to +)+(* and then Austria '+)+( to +).$*. In +$,.6+$(+, a new outburst of pla ue claimed about +2H of ItalyIs population.=5(> In addition, as the Spanish Empire started to decline in the +)th century, so did its possessions in ?aples, Sicily, Sardinia, and #ilan. In particular, Southern Italy was impoverished and cut off from the mainstream of events in Europe.=52> In the +1th century, as a result of the 4ar of Spanish Succession, Austria replaced Spain as the dominant forei n power, while the Aouse of Savoy emer ed as a re ional power expandin to !iedmont and Sardinia. In the same century, the two6century lon decline was interrupted by the economic and state reforms pursued in several states by the rulin Jlites.=55> 9urin the ?apoleonic 4ars, northern6central Italy was invaded and reor anized as a new @in dom of Italy, a client state of the French Empire,=5$> while the southern half of the peninsula was administered by Boachim #urat, ?apoleon0s brother6in6law, who was crowned as @in of ?aples. The +1+2 /on ress of "ienna restored the situation of the late +1th century, but the ideals of the French 8evolution could not be eradicated, and soon re6surfaced durin the political upheavals that characterized the first part of the +.th century.

Italian unification, Liberal Italy and the Great

ar

The birth of the @in dom of Italy was the result of efforts by Italian nationalists and monarchists loyal to the Aouse of Savoy to establish a united &in dom encompassin the entire Italian !eninsula. In the context of the +121 liberal revolutions that swept throu h Europe, an unsuccessful war was declared on Austria. The @in dom of Sardinia a ain attac&ed the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian 4ar of Independence of +15., with the aid of France, resultin in liberatin -ombardy. In +1$%G$+, eneral :iuseppe :aribaldi led the drive for unification in ?aples and Sicily,=5)> allowin the Sardinian overnment led by the /ount of /avour to declare a united Italian &in dom on +) #arch +1$+. In +1$$, "ictor Emmanuel II allied with !russia durin the Austro6 !russian 4ar, wa in the Third Italian 4ar of Independence which allowed Italy to annex

"enetia. Finally, as France durin the disastrous Franco6!russian 4ar of +1)% abandoned its arrisons in 8ome, the Italians rushed to fill the power ap by ta&in over the !apal States. The !iedmontese Albertine Statute of +121, extended to the whole @in dom of Italy in +1$+, provided for basic freedoms, but electoral laws excluded the non6propertied and uneducated classes from votin . The overnment of the new &in dom too& place in a framewor& of parliamentary constitutional monarchy dominated by liberal forces. In +.+(, male universal suffra e was adopted. As ?orthern Italy 3uic&ly industrialized, the South and rural areas of ?orth remained underdeveloped and overpopulated, forcin millions of people to mi rate abroad, while the Italian Socialist !arty constantly increased in stren th, challen in the traditional liberal and conservative establishment. Startin from the last two decades of the +.th century, Italy developed into a colonial power by forcin Somalia, Eritrea and later -ibya and the 9odecanese under its rule.=51> Italy, nominally allied with the :erman Empire and the Empire of Austria6Aun ary in the Triple Alliance, in +.+5 Coined the Allies into the war with a promise of substantial territorial ains, that included western Inner /arniola, former Austrian -ittoral, 9almatia as well as parts of the Dttoman Empire. The war was initially inconclusive, as the Italian army et struc& in a lon attrition war on the Alps mountains, ma&in little pro ress and sufferin very heavy losses. Eventually, in Dctober +.+1, the Italians launched a massive offensive, culminatin in the victory of "ittorio "eneto. The Italian victory=5.>=$%>=$+> mar&ed the end of the war on the Italian Front, secured the dissolution of the Austro6Aun arian Empire and was chiefly instrumental in endin the First 4orld 4ar less than two wee&s later. 9urin the war, more than $5%,%%% Italian soldiers died=$,> and the &in dom went on the brin& of ban&ruptcy. 4hereas many Italians were left in the new founded @in dom of Ku oslavia=note +> half a million South Slavs,=$(> mainly Slovenes and /roatians, and about two hundred thousand ermanophone Tyroleans became part of the @in dom of Italy. 7nder the !eace Treaties of Saint6:ermain, 8apallo and 8ome, Italy obtained most of the promised territories, but not 9almatia 'except Lara*, allowin nationalists to define the victory as EmutilatedE. #oreover, Italy could annex the Aun arian harbor of Fiume, that was not part of territories promised at -ondon but had been occupied after the end of the war by :abriele 90Annunzio.

!ascist Regime
The socialist a itations that followed the devastation of the :reat 4ar, inspired by the 8ussian 8evolution, led to turmoil and anarchy throu hout Italy. The liberal establishment, fearin a Soviet6style revolution, started to endorse the small ?ational Fascist !arty, led by ;enito #ussolini. In Dctober +.,, the blac&shirts attempted a coup 'the E#arch on 8omeE*. The coup itself was a failure, but at the last minute &in "ictor Emmanuel III refused to proclaim the state of sie e and appointed #ussolini prime minister. Dver the next few years, #ussolini banned all political parties and curtailed personal liberties, thus formin a dictatorship, who attracted international attention and that served as the inspiration, amon others countries, for ?azi :ermany and Francoist Spain, in Europe and outside.

In +.(5 #ussolini invaded Ethiopia, resultin in an international alienation and leadin to Italy0s withdrawal from the -ea ue of ?ations. /onse3uently, Italy allied with ?azi :ermany and the Empire of Bapan and stron ly supported Francisco Franco in the Spanish civil war. In +.(., Italy annexed Albania, a de facto protectorate for decades. Italy entered 4orld 4ar II on Bune +%, +.2%. After initially advancin in ;ritish Somalialand and E ypt, the Italians suffered heavy defeats in :reece, 8ussia and ?orth Africa. After the attac& on Ku oslavia by :ermany and Italy, suppression of the Ku oslav !artisans resistance and attempts to Italianization resulted in the Italian war crimes=$2> and deportation of about ,5,%%% people to the Italian concentration camps, such as 8ab, :onars, #oni o, 8enicci di An hiari and elsewhere. After the war, due to the /old war, a lon period of censorship, disinterest and denial occurred about the Italian war crimes and the Ku oslav0s foibe &illin s.=$5> =$$>=$)>=$1> #eanwhile about ,5%,%%% Italians and anti6communist Ku oslavs fled to Italy in the Istrian exodus. Sicily was then invaded by the Allies in Buly +.2(, leadin to the collapse of the Fascist re ime and the fall of #ussolini on ,5 Buly. Dn 1 September +.2(, Italy surrendered. The :ermans shortly succeeded in ta&in control of northern and central Italy. The country remained a battlefield for the rest of the war, as the Allies were slowly movin up from the south. In the north, the :ermans set up the Italian Social 8epublic '8SI*, a ?azi puppet state with #ussolini installed as leader. The post6armistice period saw the rise of a lar e anti6fascist resistance movement, the Resistenza. Aostilities ended on ,. April +.25, when the :erman forces in Italy surrendered. ?early half a million Italians 'includin civilians* died in the conflict, =$.> and the Italian economy had been all but destroyed< per capita income in +.22 was at its lowest point since the be innin of the ,%th century. =)%> Followin the +.2) !aris !eace Treaties, Italy surrendered to Ku oslavia almost all the territories ained on the East border at the end of 44I, ;ri a and Tenda to France and lost all its colonies except for Somalia.

Republican Italy
Italy became a republic after a referendum=)+> held on , Bune +.2$, a day celebrated since as 8epublic 9ay. This was also the first time that Italian women were entitled to vote.=),> "ictor Emmanuel III0s son, 7mberto II, was forced to abdicate and exiled. The 8epublican /onstitution was approved on + Banuary +.21. 7nder the Treaty of !eace with Italy of +.2), most of Bulian #arch was lost to Ku oslavia and, later, the Free Territory of Trieste was divided between the two states. Italy also lost all its colonial possessions, formally endin the Italian Empire. Fears in the Italian electorate of a possible /ommunist ta&eover proved crucial for the first universal suffra e electoral outcome on +1 April +.21, when the /hristian 9emocrats, under the leadership of Alcide 9e :asperi, obtained a landslide victory. /onse3uently, in +.2. Italy became a member of ?ATD. The #arshall !lan helped to revive the Italian economy which, until the late +.$%s, enCoyed a period of sustained economic rowth commonly called the EEconomic #iracleE. In +.5), Italy was a foundin member of the European Economic /ommunity 'EE/*, which became the European 7nion 'E7* in +..(.

From the late +.$%s until the early +.1%s, the country experienced the Kears of -ead, a period characterized by economic crisis 'especially after the +.)( oil crisis*, widespread social conflicts and terrorist massacres carried out by opposin extremist roups, with the alle ed involvement of 7S intelli ence.=)(>=)2>=)5> The Kears of -ead culminated in the assassination of the /hristian 9emocrat leader Aldo #oro in +.)1 and the ;olo na railway station massacre in +.1%, where 15 people died. In the +.1%s, for the first time since +.25, two overnments were led by non6/hristian69emocrat premiersF one liberal ':iovanni Spadolini* and one socialist ';ettino /raxi*< the /hristian 9emocrats remained, however, the main overnment party. 9urin /raxi0s overnment, the economy recovered and Italy became the world0s fifth lar est industrial nation, ainin entry into the :) :roup. Aowever, as a result of his spendin policies, the Italian national debt s&yroc&eted durin the /raxi era, soon passin +%%H of the :9!. In the early +..%s, Italy faced si nificant challen es, as voters G disenchanted with political paralysis, massive public debt and the extensive corruption system '&nown as Tangentopoli* uncovered by the 0/lean Aands0 investi ation G demanded radical reforms. The scandals involved all maCor parties, but especially those in the overnment coalitionF the /hristian 9emocrats, who ruled for almost 5% years, underwent a severe crisis and eventually disbanded, splittin up into several factions. The /ommunists reor anized as a social6democratic force. 9urin the +..%s and the ,%%%s 'decade*, center6ri ht 'dominated by media ma nate Silvio ;erlusconi* and center6left coalitions 'led by university professor 8omano !rodi* alternatively overned the country, which entered a prolon ed period of economic sta nation. In April ,%+(, after the eneral election, the "ice6Secretary of the 9emocratic party Enrico -etta formed a new overnment at the head of a :rand coalition.