A Chronology of Italian History
753 B.C.: Legendary date of foundation of Rome. 476 A.D.: End of western Roman Empire.
476-800: Italy under rule of Goths, Byzantines, Longobards, and Franks. Byzantine art in Ravenna. 800: Charlemagne is crowned Lmperor in Rome.9th-10th Centuries: Feudalism. Birth of Romanesque art. Arab domination in Sicily.
11th-14th Centuries; Struggle for supremacy between Roman popes and German emperors. Rise of maritime republics (Amalfi. Pisa, Genoa, Venice) and city states Florence. Milan, Ferrara, Siena). The South united under Norman and Swabian monarchies (1030-1266)
13th-14th Centuries: The Crusades. Italian commerce penetrates western and northern Europe. Flowering of literature, starting with St. Francis of Assisi (1182-123 and culminating in Dante. Petrarch, and Boccaccio. Birth of Gothic style (Giotto).
15th Venturg: Epoch of humanism and early Renaissaucc. Italian genius bursts forth m every field: Masaccio, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Leonardo, Columbus.
1494-1559 Age of invasions. Italy becomes battleground on which Spain and France fight for European hegemony. Flowering of late Hcnaissauee: Ariosto, Machiavelli, Michelangelo. Raphael, Titian.
1559-1713: Age of Counter Reformation. Spanish ascendancy in Italy.
16th-17th Centuries: Bruno, Telesio, and Campanella open chief lines on which modern philosophical speculation has since moved. Music of Monteverdi. Baroque style asserts itself with Bernini and Borromini. Scientific discoveries of Galileo.
1701-48: Wars of succession.
1734-1860: Spanish Bourbon princes rule in Naples. 1748-1796: Age of great intellectual and artistic achievements (Beccaria, Galvani, Volta, Parini, Alfieri).
1796-1815: Napoleonic rule. Jacobinism introduces ideals of French Revolution.
1814-15: Treaty of Paris and Congress of Vienna restore regimes of pre-Napoleonic era.
1815-61: Italian Risurgimento under leadership of Muzzini. Garibaldi, and favour achieves political unity, democratic freedom, and national independence.
1861: Proclamation of Kingdom of Italy.
1870: End of temporal power of the Papacy.
19th Venturg: Revival of literature with Foscolo, Leopardi, Manzoni. In music, development of great Italian opera with Donizetti. Rossini, Bellini, Verdi.
1870-1915: Consolidation of Italian Kingdom under parliamentary regime. Colonial expansion.
1915-18: Italy sides with Allies in First World War. 1918-22: Fconomic crisis. Rise of the Fascist Party. 1922: Mussolini marches on Rome. With the help of monarchy. Fascists accede to power. Eclipse of liberty.
Pil’d: Lateran Treaty creates Vatican State; regulates relations between Church and State.
1936-38: Fascist intervention in Spanish Civil War. Conquest of Abyssinia. German-Italian alliance.
1940: Italy enters Second World W ar on German side. 1943: Allied forces land in Sicily. Mussolini arrested. 1945: Liberation of all of Italy by Allied forces with the help of Italian army and a si rung Part isan movement. 1946: Constituent Assembly . Republic of Italy created. l948: First elections won by Christian Democrats.
1949: Italy enters NATO.
1958: Latest political elections. Government remains in hands of Center parties, dominated by Christian Democrats, who recover lost ground. Socialist Party gains.