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Population & Culture
Already during the reign of the Etruscan civilization, Italy was a well-known geographical territory, as evidenced by ancient manuscripts on display in museums, particularly those of Tuscany and Latium. Though this is where the main remnants of Etruscan civilization were found, this ancient culture was also present in Umbria, Campania, and certain areas of current day Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy. Starting in the third century BC, Italy was the land of the Romans, under whose rule the peninsula was unified (as was much of Europe).
The word Italy appears on a coin dating back to the first century BC, made by a confederation of peoples who were revolting against Rome. This money was found in ancient Corfinium (now Corfino, Abruzzo), capital of the Italic confederation. Rome’s longstanding domination (from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD) has left an unmistakable mark in Italy: roads, aqueducts, temples, monuments, cities, bridges, theatres, etc. All reminders of a distant past that is still extraordinarily present all across the country. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy was invaded and dominated by foreign forces for many long centuries, mostly in the north and in Sicily. Thanks to the development of independent cities in the centre and in the North such as Venice, Florence, Sienna, Genoa, and Milan, Italian arts and commerce flourished and helped the country prosper and develop into a rich civilization. In the period that followed, the small independent states were unable to resist invasions by larger states such as Spain and Austria. Only the small kingdom of Piedmont managed to remain independent. After a brief Napoleonic occupation, it became the driving force behind the Risorgimento, a movement that paved the way for the definitive unification of Italy in 1870 under the rule of the house of Savoy. After the Second World War, a referendum abolished the monarchy and established a Republic in 1946. The rest is current history. To be continued.
