Brief history of Italy Travel

Italy is a long and narrow peninsula in the south of Europe, surrounded on three sides by sea, with the ancient city of Rome near its center. From about 44 BC until 450 AD the Roman Empire dominated Western Europe and North Africa. The advanced Roman armies conquored and passed its culture and civilization to the simpler tribes of Europe. After the fall of the empire, the Lombards, a Germanic tribe, invaded the peninsula and established a kingdom with its base in the north. To this day, many Northern Italians have Germanic features, different than their fellow countrymen in the south.

In the Middle Ages Spain dominated much of the Italian peninsula. Then control of much of the peninsula was taken by the Hapsburgs of Austria until 1859.

Italy became a unified country only on March 17, 1861. Before this time the Italian peninsula was dominated by various kingdoms. For example, the southern peninsula was called the Kingdom of Two Sicilies until it was conquored by the Kingdom of Sardinia and the entire Italian Peninsula unified into the Kingdom of Italy, with the capital city Turin. Later the capital was moved to Florence and finally to Rome.

After World War I and the collapse of Austria, Italy was allowed to expand its borders north and take control of South Tyrol, a German speaking area. This area is still mostly German speaking and still part of Italy today.

From 1923-1943 Mussolini ruled Italy as Prime Minister and dictator. He led Italy into World War II in alliance with Hitler. After being invaded by the allies, Italy surrendered. In 1946 the last Italian Monarch went into exile and Italy officially became a republic.

World-War II left the country very poor. Italians emigrated in large numbers to the the US and Northern Europe. Italy was a large beneficiary of the Marshall Plan, a US funded plan to rebuild post-war Europe. The money helped Italy to have an economic rebirth, though some parts developed differently than others. The north of Italy is the industrial driver with the south being strong in agriculture. These days, Italy is a financial powerhouse in Europe with the fourth largest economy, although the average wealth per person (per capita GDP) is less than that of UK, France and Germany.

Source by : http://www.travelswise.com