Italy has been continuously inhabited for 3,000+ years and has been the center of Western civilization for most of that time. This is the story, compressed.
Plan a history trip →800–500 BC: Etruscans dominate central Italy. Greeks colonize the south (Magna Graecia). 753 BC: Rome founded (traditionally). 509 BC: Roman Republic begins. 264–146 BC: Punic Wars, Rome destroys Carthage. 44 BC: Caesar assassinated. 27 BC: Augustus, Roman Empire begins. 79 AD: Vesuvius buries Pompeii. 313: Constantine legalizes Christianity. 476: Last Western emperor deposed.
493–553: Ostrogoths, then Byzantines reconquer. 568: Lombards invade. 774: Charlemagne conquers Lombards. 1000–1300: Communes rise. Maritime Republics (Venice, Genova, Amalfi, Pisa) dominate trade. 1130: Norman Kingdom of Sicily. 1220–1250: Frederick II, Stupor Mundi. 1348: Black Death kills 1/3 of population.
1400–1600: Renaissance. Medici in Florence. Borgias in Rome. 1494–1559: Italian Wars. 1559–1713: Spanish domination. 1713–1796: Austrian rule in north. 1796–1815: Napoleon. 1815–1861: Risorgimento. March 17, 1861: Kingdom of Italy proclaimed.
1861–1946: Kingdom. 1915–18: WWI. 1922–43: Fascism. 1940–45: WWII. 1945: Liberation. 1946: Republic. 1950s–60s: Economic Miracle. 1969–80s: Years of Lead.
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