Modern States of Italy: Map & History

Lower Paleolithic artefacts, dating back 850,000 years, have been recovered from Monte Poggiolo. Excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence in the Middle Palaeolithic period 200,000 years ago, while modern humans appeared about 40,000 years ago at Riparo Mochi.

From Wikipedia: Italy · History: Prehistory and antiquity (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The military history of Italy chronicles a vast time period, lasting from the military conflicts fought by the ancient peoples of Italy, most notably the conquest of the Mediterranean world by the ancient Romans, through the expansion of the Italian city-states and maritime republics during the medieval period and the involvement of the historical Italian states in the Italian Wars and the wars of succession, to the Napoleonic period, the Italian unification, the campaigns of the colonial empire, the two world wars, and into the modern day, with world peacekeeping operations under the aegis of NATO, the EU or the UN.

From Wikipedia: Italy · Politics: Military (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Italy has an advanced mixed economy that is the third-largest in the eurozone and 11th-largest in the world by purchasing power parity-adjusted GDP. It possesses the ninth-largest national wealth and ranks third in central bank gold reserves. As a founding member of the G7, the eurozone, and the OECD, it is one of the most industrialised countries and a major trading nation in Europe; as of 2024, it exported €612 billion in goods and had a trade surplus of €46 billion. A developed country ranked 30th on the Human Development Index, Italy performs well in life expectancy, healthcare, and education. It is well known for its creative and innovative businesses, a competitive agricultural sector, and its influential and high-quality automobile, machinery, food, design, and fashion industries.

From Wikipedia: Italy · Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The socialist agitations that followed the devastation of the Great War, inspired by the Russian Revolution, led to counter-revolution and repression throughout Italy. The liberal establishment, fearing a Soviet-style revolution, started to endorse the small National Fascist Party, led by Mussolini. In October 1922, the Blackshirts of the National Fascist Party organised a mass demonstration and the "March on Rome" coup. King Victor Emmanuel III appointed Mussolini as prime minister, transferring power to the fascists without armed conflict.

From Wikipedia: Italy · History: Fascist regime and World War II (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Formal Latin literature began in 240 BC, when the first stage play was performed in Rome. Latin literature was, and is, highly influential, with numerous writers, poets, philosophers, and historians, such as Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid, and Livy. The Romans were famous for their oral tradition, poetry, drama, and epigrams. In the early 13th century, Francis of Assisi was the first Italian poet, with his religious song Canticle of the Sun.

From Wikipedia: Italy · Culture: Literature (CC BY-SA 4.0)

From the late 11th century onwards, Norman warriors conquered the island of Sicily, which had been ruled by the Saracens since 827. The conqueror Roger I became Count of Sicily and Calabria. His son Roger II also inherited the Duchy of Apulia. In 1131 this became the Kingdom of Sicily. Through further conquests, Roger II was able to expand his sphere of influence over all of Lower Italy as far as the Papal States.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of the Two Sicilies · Background: Origins of the two kingdoms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The kingdom had a large population: its capital Naples was the biggest city in Italy, at least three times as large as any other contemporary Italian state. At its peak, the kingdom had a military with 100,000 soldiers strong, and a large bureaucracy. Naples was the largest city in the kingdom and the third largest city in Europe. The second largest city, Palermo, was the third largest in Italy. In the 1800s, the population rose from about five to seven million. It held approximately 36% of Italy's population around 1850.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of the Two Sicilies · Historical population (CC BY-SA 4.0)

One of the most important industrial complexes in the kingdom was the shipyard of Castellammare di Stabia, which employed 1800 workers. The engineering factory of Pietrarsa was the largest industrial plant in the Italian peninsula, producing tools, cannons, rails, and locomotives. The complex also included a school for train drivers and naval engineers, and, thanks to this school, the kingdom was able to replace the English personnel who had been necessary until then. The first steamboat with screw propulsion known in Italy was the Giglio delle Onde, with mail delivery and passenger transport purposes after 1847.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of the Two Sicilies · Economy: Industry (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Army of the Two Sicilies was the kingdom's land force. It was created by the settlement of the Bourbon dynasty in Southern Italy after the War of the Polish Succession. The army have suppressed rebels some times, including the Calabrian revolution of 1847, and the Sicilian independence revolution of 1848, but collapsed during the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of the Two Sicilies · Military (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Real Teatro di San Carlo was commissioned by the Bourbon King Charles VII of Naples who wanted to grant Naples a new and larger theatre to replace the old, dilapidated, and too-small Teatro San Bartolomeo of 1621, which had served the city well, especially after Scarlatti had moved there in 1682 and had begun to create an important opera centre which existed well into the 1700s. Thus, the San Carlo was inaugurated on 4 November 1737, the king's name day, with the performance of Domenico Sarro's opera Achille in Sciro and much admired for its architecture the San Carlo was now the biggest opera house in the world.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of the Two Sicilies · Arts patronage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

After the unification of Italy was completed in 1870, the Italian government faced domestic political paralysis and internal tensions, resulting in it resorting to embarking on a colonial policy to divert the Italian public's attention from internal issues.

From Wikipedia: Italian nationalism · History: Post-Risorgimento, World War I and aftermath (1870 to 1922) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Imperialism in Italy dates back to ancient Rome, and the Latin notion of mare nostrum ("Our Sea", referring to the Mediterranean) has historically been the basis for Italian imperialism, especially during the fascist era. During the Middle Ages and the modern period, the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Genoa controlled networks of "colonies" in the Mediterranean region known as the Venetian Empire and the Genoese Empire respectively. Between the 15th and 16th centuries, Italian explorers contributed to the colonial enterprises of other European countries in the Americas: Cristopher Columbus from Genoa served Spain, Amerigo Vespucci from Florence served Portugal, the Cabot brothers from Venice served England, and Giovanni da Verrazzano from Florence served France.

From Wikipedia: Italian Empire · History: Background and pre-unification era (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mussolini entered World War II in June 1940 on the side of Adolf Hitler with plans to enlarge Italy's territorial holdings. He had designs on an area of western Yugoslavia, southern France, Corsica, Malta, Tunisia, part of Algeria, an Atlantic port in Morocco, French Somaliland and British-controlled Egypt and Sudan.

From Wikipedia: Italian Empire · History: World War II (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In November 1941 the Italian Army was expelled by British and Commonwealth forces first from East Africa (East African Campaign), by the autumn of 1943, the Italian Empire and all dreams of an Imperial Italy effectively came to an end. On 7 May, the surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia and other near continuous Italian reversals, led King Victor Emmanuel III to plan the removal of Mussolini. Following the Invasion of Sicily, all support for Mussolini evaporated. A meeting of the Grand Council of Fascism was held on 24 July, which managed to impose a vote of no confidence to Mussolini. The "Duce" was subsequently deposed and arrested by the King on the following afternoon. Afterwards, Mussolini remained a prisoner of the King until 12 September, when, on the orders of Hitler, he was rescued by German paratroops and became leader of the newly established Italian Social Republic.

From Wikipedia: Italian Empire · History: End of the empire (CC BY-SA 4.0)