Italian History

According to ancient mythology, Romulus—legend has it that he and his twin brother Remus were raised and nurtured by a she-wolf— Rome was founded in 753 BC. In fact, ancient Italian tribes have lived here since around 2000 BC. Beginning in 900 BC, the Etruscan civilization began to develop, and at the end of the 3rd century BC, the ancient Romans occupied the Etruscan city.

The New Roman Republic extended to southern Italy, and after the Second Punic War in 241 BC, Sicily was included in Leonardo's territory. In 202 BC, Rome defeated Carthage and added Spain and Greece to its territory. Under Caesar, Rome conquered Gaul and Egypt. After Caesar was assassinated, Caesar's adopted son Octavius ??defeated his rival Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, established the ancient Roman Empire in 27 BC, and was revered as Augustus. Augustus Caesar. Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the state religion and moved the capital to Byzantium (Constantinople) in 330 AD, but it was soon destroyed by the Goths and Vandals. Over the following centuries, Huns and Arabs invaded the land from the south.

The most significant feature of the Italian Middle Ages was the rise of powerful city-states in the north. In the 15th century, the Renaissance produced artistic geniuses such as Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. . By the early 16th century, most of Italy was under the rule of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty. After Napoleon's invasion in 1796, signs of unity that had been missing for centuries reappeared. In the 1860s, with the efforts of the patriots Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Unification Movement (Italian Risorgimento) flourished. In 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed and King Vittorio Emanuele II became the ruler.

In 1921, Mussolini’s Fascist Party took control of the country. Mussolini allied with Germany in World War II and was killed by Italian guerrillas in April 1945.

Italy was one of the six founding countries when the European Economic Community was established in 1957. The country's economy grew for a period but suffered an economic and political crisis in the 1990s. A huge bribery scandal shocked the country. In order to join the European Monetary Union (EMU), Italy had to engage in fiscal austerity. In addition, after the assassination of some prominent anti-Mafia judges in 1992, Italy decisively launched a fight against the Sicilian Mafia (Mafia).

Media magnate Silvio Berlusconi has been the country's prime minister since 2001, leading the right-wing Forza Italia party. His tenure was met with disappointment and accusations of corruption.

In April 2006, the center-left coalition led by Romano Prodi narrowly defeated the center-right coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi in the Italian parliamentary elections. Prodi becomes Prime Minister of Italy.

In April 2008, the center-right alliance led by Berlusconi won again in the Italian parliamentary election, and Berlusconi became the 62nd prime minister of Italy's post-war government.