Brief History of Italy and the Italian People

Ancient Italics and Roman Period

The Italians are an old nation—one of the oldest in Europe—which can be traced back to the time of the Romans, and even farther back to the early Italic tribes and pre-Indo-European aboriginals of the Italian peninsula (from whom the Romans, and therefore modern Italians, descend).

The Italian nation is very ancient, as is the existence of a unified Italian state. Italy, in fact, was the first unified nation-state in European history. Although Italy was unified most recently in 1861, this was not the first time Italy was united. Italy was first unified over 2,000 years ago in 222 BC under the Romans, making Italians the first unified people in the history of Europe. With the extermination of the Gauls in the north and the expulsion of the Greeks from the southern shores of the peninsula—thus eliminating from Italy the two major foreign and hostile powers—the Romans were able to join and unite all the native tribes of Italy into a single unit, with a common Latin language, Roman culture and Roman-Italic identity.

Whereas many nations in Europe underwent a long and sometimes obscure ethnogenesis and were formed in the Middle Ages, and while some national identities only formed as recently as a couple centuries ago, the development of the Italian identity and ethnic formation (ethnogenesis) of the Italian people was completed already more than 2,000 years ago. In the Roman era the Italian people were known as Romans, but also as Italians (called Itali or Italici in Latin). This common identity existed since Roman times and has persisted in continuity throughout the centuries up to the present day.

The ancient people of Rome were originally comprised of three Italian peoples: the Latins, the Sabines and the Etruscans. Despite having common origins, these tribes often fought against each other and against other Italian tribes as well. However, after the Roman expansion, conquest and unification of Italy, especially after the period of the Social War, not only were all Romans Italians, but all Italians were Romans. To be Roman meant to be Italian, and to be Italian meant to be Roman. The two became inseparably linked. Since the days of the Roman Republic the entire Italian peninsula up to the alps was known as Italia—the same name Italy bears today, and the same name used for this land for more than two millennia.

During the period of the Empire, Italy was not a province, as some people mistakenly presume, but the mistress of the provinces ('Italia est non provincia sed domina provinciarum'). A province was any Roman territory located outside of Italy. Italy thus held a unique place and status within the Empire; Italy was not merely one of many regions or provinces within the Empire, but was the core and heart of the Empire, the integral territory of the city of Rome; Italy was the mistress or dominator of the Roman provinces, and the provinces were subjects and tributaries of Rome and of Italy, and for many centuries only Italians and descendants of Italian colonists could hold Roman citizenship and serve in the legions.

The Italians therefore formed what can be called the “original Romans” or “ethnic Romans” — as opposed to the romanized non-Italian provincials who later acquired Roman citizenship through the Edict of Caracalla in 212 AD. The distinction between real Romans (Italians) and provincials can also be seen in the case of Maximinus Thrax, an emperor of non-Italian provincial origins who was condemned by the Roman Senate as “a barbarian” and “not a true Roman” due to his foreign background.

Fall of the Western Empire and Birth of the Italian Kingdoms

After the fall of the Western Empire in 476 AD, Italy became a target and battleground of various barbarian invaders. However, contrary to popular misconception, Italy was not wiped off the map and did not simply cease to exist between the time of the Fall of Rome in 476 and Italian Unification in 1861. What ceased to exist was an Italy wholly united from Sicily to the Alps in a single political unit under a single native Italian government. An Italian state in fact continued to exist in various forms throughout the Middle Ages, but generally under foreign rulers, and the political unity of the whole peninsula was eventually lost.

Italy remained united as a kingdom under Odoacer (476-493 AD), and under the Ostrogoths (493-553 AD), and remained united during the Roman reconquest under Justinian and Justin II (554-568 AD), but became divided for the first time during the period of the Longobards and the Byzantines (after 568 AD). This division persisted under the Franks (774-887 AD), and afterwards became further fragmented during the period of the Holy Roman Empire (after 962 AD) and the rise of the Italian communes and city-states. Nonetheless, an official state bearing the name Italy did continue to exist: aside from the Exarchate of Italy (584-751 AD) and the Catepanate of Italy (c. 970-1071 AD), several incarnations of the Kingdom of Italy, from Odoacer to Napoleon, would go on to exist intermittently for more than 1300 years (476 to 1814) prior to Italian Unification.

However, its kings were generally of foreign extraction and disinterested in Italy, often neglecting it and treating it as a conquered territory, secondary in importance to their other realms. During the Middle Ages the south of Italy became united in a single political unit and remained so for many centuries, but this too generally suffered under foreign sovereigns and competing foreign dynasties — such as Aragon (Spain), Anjou (France), the Habsburgs, the Bourbons and others — who were largely uninterested in truly developing the country, with a few notable exceptions.

In the 9th and 10th centuries the Kingdom of Italy (hitherto an autonomous constituent kingdom of the Carolingian Empire) briefly achieved complete independence under the native-born King Berengarius I and his successors. However, this came to an end in 951-962 when Italy was invaded by Otto I of Germany and incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire as one of its constituent kingdoms; the crown of Italy was united to that of the Emperor, so that the emperors were simultaneously Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy. King Arduino d'Ivrea, another native-born king, temporarily reestablished the independence of the Kingdom of Italy between 1002-1014, but he was defeated by the Emperor Henry II and the Kingdom of Italy was reincorporated into the Holy Roman Empire. This was the last independent king of Italy until the reign of King Vittorio Emanuele II (1861-1878).

Italian nobles attempted to reestablish Italian independence after the death of Henry II, but they too were defeated by Emperor Conrad II. Otto and his imperial successors were opposed to a powerful and independent Italy, and treated Italy as a mere possession or fief of the Emperor beyond the Alps. As a result, an anti-imperial alliance of Italian cities, known as the Lombard League, fought and defeated the German Emperors in the 12th-13th centuries, and the Italian cities gained autonomy. After this the Kingdom of Italy effectively ceased to exist, except on paper; the local Italian leaders became de facto independent.

However, this also led to a deep political division among Italian rulers, who became divided into Guelphs (anti-German, anti-imperial, anti-feudal, pro-papal) and Ghibellines (pro-German, pro-imperial, pro-feudal, anti-papal) — a fierce political rivalry which plagued Italy for centuries. The anti-imperial faction prevailed; the title of 'King of Italy' eventually became only nominal and by the 16th century the Emperors dropped the title and finally abandoned their attempts to assert imperial control over Italy.

Roman-Italian Continuity

Although the original Kingdom of Italy was comprised of all of Italy, the later incarnations of the Kingdom of Italy, beginning with the Longobards, only included a portion of Italy, and several other independent or semi-independent states (a variety of city-states, republics, kingdoms, duchies, counties, marches, principalities, lordships, etc.) also existed at various periods alongside the Italian Kingdoms. Thus the Italian people would remain politically fragmented, robbed of their ancient unity, from the time of the Longobards and Byzantines in the 6th century up until the Risorgimento in the 19th century.

However, the memory, identity and spirit of Rome was never extinguished. The Italians of various states were still known as 'Romans' during the Middle Ages, even centuries after the Fall of Rome, and Italy itself was occasionally referred to simply as 'Rome'. The region of Romagna derives its name from being a Roman stronghold into the 8th century. Italians continued to live according to Roman law (distinct from the law practiced by the invaders) and continued to speak Latin until the 9th-10th century, when modern Romance languages began to emerge.

The Catholic religion played an enormous role in maintaining a spiritual and cultural unity and fostering a common Latin-Italian identity among the Italians throughout the centuries, even though politically fragmented. After the fall of the Western Empire, and with the abandonment of Rome by the Byzantine Emperors, the popes gradually became the de facto governors of Rome, which eventually developed into the Papal States. This was initially an unwilling venture, but was taken up by the popes out of necessity due to the circumstances of the times; the city was without defense or government and the populace rallied around the bishop of Rome as both their spiritual and temporal leader. The popes became the guardians of Italian freedom and Latin-Roman identity in the face of various invaders.

With its home in Rome, the Church upheld Roman law, preserved the Latin language, and eternally transformed what it meant to be Roman, making Roman and Catholic forever synonymous. For this reason the Catholic Church is considered both a divine and a Roman institution. In this sense it can be said that the Roman Empire never fell, but continued to exist through the Catholic Church; the Church became the inheritor, spiritual successor and continuator of the Roman Empire, which helped to preserve and maintain a bond of unity amongst all Italians — the unity of Christ and Rome.

The Papacy was not the only institution in this period which contributed to Roman inheritance and continuity. One of the most important Italian states in the Middle Ages, the Most Serene Republic of Venice, was founded by Roman refugees who were fleeing successive waves of barbarian invaders. Venice can therefore be considered as a direct successor state to the Roman Empire, founded and built by Romans, and rooted in Roman culture and the Roman spirit, which for over one thousand years (697-1797) managed to maintain its independence from the foreign barbarians. The Venetian nobility remained composed almost entirely of Roman-Italian descendants for the duration of its existence.

The notion of the disappearance of Roman nobility is largely a myth. Many of the noble families of Medieval Rome, and of the various other Italian states, traced their origins both to medieval Italian families and to the old Roman gens; therefore the descendants of ancient Roman families continued to locally rule many portions of Italy throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance and subsequent periods. This Roman heritage became an important source of pride for many Italian families.

Rise of the City-States and the Renaissance

Ever since the Italian victory over Frederick Barbarossa and the Holy Roman Empire in the 12th century and the defeat of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen by the Lombard League in the 13th century, Italy had enjoyed relative freedom and independence from outside interference, which helped revitalize Italian culture and innovation and gave birth to the Renaissance. The Italian Renaissance, in addition to having an enormous impact on Western civilization, also helped to further strengthen and consolidate Italian identity, spreading a common Renaissance culture and popularizing the vernacular Italian language. More than once during this period the various Italian states joined together in leagues, recognizing their common destiny, and seemed to be on the way to achieving political unity.

However, in the 16th century, during the Italian Wars (1494-1559), Italy once again became a battleground of barbarian invaders as France and the Habsburgs battled for control over Italy. The wars led to the Sack of Rome in 1527, the end of the Italian Renaissance, and the economic decline of Italy. This was the beginning of a new era of foreign rule; the Habsburgs gained control over a large part of northern Italy, which became subjected to the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, followed by Habsburg Austria, while southern Italy was controlled by Aragon, followed by the Bourbons. However, it also allowed the House of Savoy to emerge as the only major native Italian power by the 19th century, which would go on change Italian history.

Napoleonic Period

Between 1796-1815 Italy suffered from the chaos of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. This period witnessed the French military occupation of Italy, the creation of several short-lived French “sister republics” and client states, the dissolution of the ancient Italian republics of Venice, Genoa and Ragusa, the creation of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, and the annexation of western Italy to France. After the defeat of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna (1815), the national borders of Europe were redrawn and most of Italy once again fell under the control of the Bourbons and the Habsburgs—who now controlled even more Italian territory than they did previously. The Napoleonic conquest of Italy, followed by the return of oppressive foreign rule, ignited a flame of patriotism in the Italians which led to the Risorgimento (national resurrection).

Risorgimento and Reunification of Italy

Finally in 1861, during the Risorgimento, after two wars of independence and 1300 years of political fragmentation, nearly the whole of Italy was once again united under the House of Savoy—a native Italian dynasty. On March 17, 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was officially established. After the third war of Independence against Austria in 1866, Mantua and Venetia (the Veneto region) were reunited with Italy. In 1870 the city of Rome and Lazio were captured and the Papal States ceased to exist. At last the Italian peninsula, from Sicily to the Alps, was united under a single Italian government, with Rome as its capital. However, this led to a conflict between the Italian State and the Catholic Church known as the “Roman Question”, in which the popes locked themselves in the Apostolic Palace, insisted upon the restoration of their lost temporal power, and stubbornly refused to recognize the Italian State.

Although the Kingdom of Italy was officially founded as a Catholic state, the pope remained opposed to it and forbade Catholics from participating in politics. As a result, in the decades which followed the Risorgimento, the moderate Right collapsed and Italy came to be dominated by a left-wing political class composed primarily of Liberals and Freemasons, and society became increasingly secular and anti-clerical. Another problem was the fact that many ethnically and historically Italian regions remained outside of the new Italian Kingdom, such as Corsica, Malta, Nice, Savoy, Istria, Fiume, Dalmatia, Grigioni, Ticino, Trentino, Gorizia-Gradisca (eastern Friuli) and Trieste, causing many to believe that Italian unity had not yet been fully achieved. These lands—most of which were still under Austrian imperial rule—came to be known as the Unredeemed Lands (terre irredente).

World War I and the Birth of Fascism

The First World War began on July 28, 1914 when the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. Although Italy had previously been part of the Triple Alliance—a defensive pact between Italy, Austria and Germany signed in 1882—the Italian government maintained that Austria had violated the terms of the alliance by declaring war on Serbia without consulting Italy, and by their actions during the Bosnian crisis. In addition to numerous violations of the Alliance Treaty on the part of Austria, the Italians were dissatisfied with the Austrian occupation of Italian territories and with the persecution of the Italian minority by the Austro-Hungarian government, and still remembered the wars fought against Austria for Italian independence a mere few decades earlier.

Therefore, after a period of neutrality, and after receiving a promise of territorial gains in the event of an Italian victory, Italy joined the Triple Entente and declared war against Austria-Hungary on May 23, 1915. After the Italian victory in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto (November 3, 1918), in which Italy defeated and caused the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the lands of Trentino, eastern Friuli, Trieste, Istria and parts of Dalmatia were liberated from Habsburg rule and reincorporated into Italy. However, Italy had been promised much more than what was actually received, and the promises previously made to Italy were betrayed and broken by the Treaty of Versailles. This betrayal of Italy by the Triple Entente came to be known as the Mutilated Victory.

This mutilated victory, together with the growing threat of Communism, contributed to the creation of Fascism by Benito Mussolini, who became Prime Minister of Italy after the March on Rome on October 29, 1922, and transformed Italy into a Fascist State.

Prior to the outbreak of the Ethiopian and Second World War, Mussolini was widely admired throughout Europe and the Western world, in addition to enjoying enormous popularity at home. He presented the world with a new alternative political system, lifestyle and philosophical conception called Fascism, which attracted and inspired many other European parties and leaders. Fascism rejected liberal and democratic principles in favour of an authoritarian State with an organic, integral and spiritual view of society.

Italy in the interwar period was regarded—in the eyes of the world—as the model and standard of this new social-statal conception, which spread rapidly throughout Europe. During this period the Catholic Church was reconciled to Italy, the independence of the Vatican was recognized, religion was restored in schools, the Mafia was defeated, Italian society was modernized, new cities were built, and a network of roads, bridges, modern buildings and hospitals were constructed throughout the Italian Empire.

World War II and the Spiritual Decline of Italy

Italy was one of the original members of the Tripartite Pact and a founding member the Axis Powers. World War II broke out in September 1939, and Italy entered the war on June 10, 1940. In 1943, while Italy was in the midst of being invaded by the Anglo-Americans, the House of Savoy executed a political coup against Benito Mussolini. This led to the Italian Civil War and the creation of two states: the Italian Social Republic in the centre and north led by Mussolini, who was loyal to the Axis Powers, and the Kingdom of the South led by King Vittorio Emanuele III and General Pietro Badoglio, who defected to the Allied Powers. After the end of the war and the defeat of Fascism, Italy was completely occupied by the Allies.

Italy was one of the most severely-punished nations after the war, losing more territory than any other country—even more territory than Germany—including the ethnically and historically Italian regions of Istria and Dalmatia. These lands, which were occupied by the Yugoslav Communists, witnessed an ethnic cleansing against the native Italian population; several thousands of Italians were massacred in a genocide known as the Foibe Massacres, and about 350,000 ethnic Italians were forced into exile. The lands were subsequently repopulated by Slavic peoples.

On the other hand, at the same time, Italy has economically grown and prospered in the post-war period. In addition to being pioneers in electricity, aviation, astronautics, the automobile industry, telecommunications, cinema, as well as pioneering the development of hydro-electricity, railway electrification and nuclear power, Italy is a member of the G7 and is a global leader in pharmaceuticals, naval technology, digital technology, robotics, machine tool manufacturing, electromechanical machinery, space engineering, construction machinery and transportation equipment, and is one of only 14 countries with space launch capability.

Italy today is home to many world famous automobile, firearm, fashion, food, beverage, furniture and appliance brands and manufacturers such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, Ducati, Vespa, Piaggio, Lambretta, IVECO, Leonardo S.p.A., Beretta, Benelli, Franchi, Barilla, Ferrero, Kinder, Nutella, Amedei, Venchi, Perugina, Peroni, San Pellegrino, Lavazza, Luxardo, Gucci, Prada, Armani, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Valentino, Borsalino, Brioni, Trussardi, Luxottica, Nordica, Diesel, Fila, Fendi, Benetton, Bertazzoni, De’Longhi, Zanussi, Smeg, Fulgor Milano, Poltrona Frau, Cassina, Giorgetti, Marioni, Minotti and B&B Italia, and remains one of the most visited, developed, healthiest, industrialized and economically important countries in the world.