A BRIEF HISTORY OF ITALY

BRONZE AGE

3000 BCE

In the Bronze Age tribes populated Italy, like the Terramaricoli in Emilia, the Ligurians in the North and the Sards in Sardinia, who farmed raised livestock. They also built the "nuraghi", conical-shaped stone huts.

GREEKS AND ETRUSCANS

800 BCE

Greeks: they established colonies in the Bay of Naples and in the southern coast (Syracuse, Naxos).
Etruscans: they lived in the area north of the Tiber and around the Arno. This population was technically advanced, they were skilled with Terracotta sculptures, pottery,

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

753 BCE

In this date the myth of Rome sais that Romolus found the city where he killed his brother Remus. In those years the latin communities actually setled on the pallatine ill and formed what would then become the Roman Empire. After about two centuries of monarchy, the Romans established republic. They conquered the Etruscans and in 27 B.C. the Roman Empire was born. The romans made great innovations in engineering and architecture, they also took control of Europe and North Africa.

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

476

In the 3rd century invations and civil wars began to weaken the Empire. The Emperor Diocletian divided the empire into east and west and he also started to persecute the Christians. Under the Emperor Constantine, Christianity was declared state religion. The Western Empire went into decline and the Eastern Empire rose in power. After several invasions the Germanic troops deposed the last emperor and named Flavius Odoacer as the first King of Italy.

THE MIDDLE AGES

1000

During the Middle Ages there were lots of invasions and the popes were also gaining power, as they were building an indipendent papal state. The four maritime republics (Genova, Pisa, Amalfi and Venice) became very important, because they had control over the trade routes of the seas.The comuni were also created: small local governments which controlled the cities of the centre and northern Italy whithin the Holy Roman Empire.

THE RENAISSANCE

1492

This period saw many artists and intellectuals which emerged from an increasing interest for the classical period of the Ancient Greek and Roman art and literature. Wealthy families and the popes were patrons of art and they financed architectural projects, paintings and scuplures from emerging artists like Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo. There were also progresses in the fields of science, philosopy and literature and the Tuscan dialect became Italy's literary language.

FOREIGN RULE

1814

From the 16th to 18th century Italy was subject to several invasions, by the French, Spanish and Austrians. When America was discovered the Mediterranean commerce fall apart and became an economic decline. Then Napoleon conquerred a lot of Italian territory and with the Congress of Vienna a lot of areas fell under foreign control.

UNIFICATION

1861

There was increasing discontent with the political and social situation and in this period, Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi are two important figures of the Risorgimento, a movement to unite the country. In 1860 Garibaldi conquerred Sicicly and Naples, then, on 17th march 1861, Italy was proclamed a Kingdom and ten years later Rome became the capital.