| |||
| Administrative Centre | Ravenna | ||
| Other cities | Bologna | ||
| Language official |
None at federal level | ||
| others | Italian, English, Emilian, Romagnol, Arab, Chinese, Serb, Bosniak and others | ||
| Religion main |
Christianity | ||
| others | Atheism, Islam and others | ||
| Ethnic Groups main |
Italians | ||
| others | French, Corsican, Alpine, American, British, Croatian, Slovenian, Chinese, and others | ||
| Demonym | Emilian, Romagnol | ||
| Government | Provisional Council of Ravenna | ||
| Area | 21,588 km² | ||
| Population | 3,494,971 | ||
| Established | 30th December 1996 | ||
| Independence | from Emergency Committee of High Italy | ||
| declared | January 1984 | ||
| Currency | Italian Scudo | ||
Emilia-Romagna, is a state of the Alpine Confederation. After the collapse of Italy post Doomsday, the region was under the military, and late civil administration of the Alpine government. The region demarked the greatest southern expansion of the Alpine Military Police into Northern Italy. The region now is split between Romagna, a state in the Federation of Italy and Emilia, a region of the alpine province of Padania.
Pre-Doomsday[]
Pre-history[]
Before the Romans took control of present-day Emilia-Romagna, it had been part of the Etruscan world and subsequently that of the Gauls.
Early origins[]
The history of Emilia-Romagna dates back to Roman times when the region of Emilia was ruled by imperial judges linked to the nearby regions of either Liguria or Tuscany. During the first thousand years of Christianity, trade flourished, as did culture and religion, thanks to the region's numerous monasteries and to the Via Emilia, the main road that connected all the cities of the region. From the 6th to 8th centuries, the region of Romagna was under Byzantine rule and Ravenna was the capital of the Exarchate of Italy within the Eastern Roman Empire.
Middle Ages to early modern period[]
During the 10th century, northern Italy became part of the Holy Roman Empire under the control of the Germanic leader Otto I. The Holy Roman emperors had varying degrees of control over northern Italy until the close of the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, the papacy extended its political influence and city states began to form in opposition to the Holy Roman emperors.
The University of Bologna; arguably the oldest university in Europe, established in 1088 and its bustling towns kept trade and intellectual life alive. Local nobility like the Este of Ferrara, the Malatesta of Rimini, the Popes of Rome, the Farnese of Parma and Piacenza, and the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, jostled for power and influence. The House of Este gained a notable profile for its political and military might and its patronage of the arts: it left behind a vast heritage of splendid Renaissance palaces, precious paintings and literary masterpieces, such as the works of Ludovico Ariosto, Torquato Tasso and Matteo Maria Boiardo.
Following the French Revolution, the region experienced a popular outburst of revolution and patriotic feelings, it was in fact the first nation in Italy to adopt the Italian Tricolor, adopted on the 7th January 1797 in Reggio Emilia. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, there was a growing movement for Italian national unity and independence. In 1848, a revolution in Vienna initiated uprisings against Austrian rule. The following decades saw uprisings in several regions and, in 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was established. During this Italian Unification, the territories of Emilia and Romagna would be incorporated into the new nation.
Late modern and contemporary[]
In the 16th century, most of what would become Emilia-Romagna has been seized by the Papal States, but the territories of Parma, Piacenza, and Modena remained independent until Emilia-Romagna became part of the Italian kingdom between 1859 and 1861.
After the First World War, Emilia-Romagna was at the centre of the so-called Biennio Rosso, a period of left-wing agitations that paved the way for Benito Mussolini's coup d'état in 1922 and the birth of the Fascist regime in Italy. Mussolini, a native of Emilia-Romagna, sponsored the rise of many hierarchs coming from his same region, such as Italo Balbo, Dino Grandi and Edmondo Rossoni. Towards the end of the Second World War, Emilia-Romagna was occupied by Germany and was the theatre of numerous Nazi war crimes, such as the Marzabotto massacre in which 770 innocent civilians were brutally executed by German troops.
During the Cold war era, Bologna, traditionally a left-wing city, was particularly hit by political street violence and terrorism; in 1980 a far-right terrorist group detonated a bomb at the city's main railway station, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
Doomsday[]
Zero Hour[]
The region was not spared attack on September 26 1983 with strikes on the cities of Rimini, Modena, Ferrara and the airport at Cervia. The immediate areas were decimated in an instant. Emergency alerts to other cities in the region, including the capital Bologna. Were issued but a further wave did not come. Panic in the cities was instant, with fear that Soviet forces would soon overwhelm the Italian borders, many fled the cities for the countryside in fear of further attacks leading to gridlock on most major routes out of Emilia-Romagna. The local government and military forces were trying to secure connections to Rome and other armed force groups across the NATO bloc but this proved a hopeless exercise. The president of ER, Lanfranco Turci ordered a state of emergency on the 30 September 1983. Strict curfews were in place and the military would patrol the streets and countryside. The fear of further Soviet aggression subsided after the initial week and many returned home. Refugee caravans were beginning to appear in major settlements, first from the bombed out ruins of Rimini, Ferrara and Cervia, then from further north where bombs had struck in Veneto and Lombardy. Many were sick and dying, locals used the derogatory term ‘spettro’ to describe the refugees who would travel from town to town. The civilian government tried as best to house as many as they could but tent cities were starting to be erected in major cities across ER. These were very unhygienic places and the slum-like abodes were rife with crime, disease and destitution. Many would die in these slums, their bodies tossed out like detritus.
ECHI[]
The situation in the interim weeks post doomsday was dire. Starvation, Illness and Hysteria were still high in the survivors of the region. Strict rationing had led to an explosion in black market goods and violence. A glimmer of hope arrived in a convoy into Bologna from the city of Florence. A group by the name of the Joint Task Force had requested to meet with the regional leaders. With them the President of the Chamber of Deputies and Acting President of Italy Leonilde Iotti arrived to determine the situation in Emilia Romagna. President Turci was overjoyed to see Iotti and relieved to see some form of the former Italian republic had survived out of Tuscany, Both leaders shared the situation of the respective regions and Iotti requested a ship to sail to Venice to check the region before returning through ER to Florence later in the month. A ship was chartered from Ravenna and the Bologna government would later go on radio to declare the republic was still alive through Iotti and the emergency government in Florence, which the Bolognese leaders would align and work closely with.
The situation remained relatively stable. People were still filtering across ER borders from other regions of Italy and a stream of refugees was arriving via boat from Yugoslavia. These people were assessed for their likelihood to survive in line with the policy of the ECHI and were turned away if they were not deemed fit to travel through ER. This barbaric act would not be received well by the general civilian population though Turci determined it to be the best course of action to save Italy. It is believed that thousands died due to this. Rations were spread thin as the government approached the winter and shortages had begun to set in on most resources.
The first restriction of the winter saw fuel be limited to vehicles of the military and agricultural sector. Any cars were seized or made inoperable by the government and their fuel containers drained for stockpiling. Being caught driving during the restriction was a serious offence that carried severe punishment. Medicine was the next to be restricted, with supplies of most specialised medicine being exhausted, the ER government has closed all pharmacies and seized the assets within for the use in clinics and hospitals, soon even clinics would be starved of the resource. Power in the region would be susceptible to greater brownouts and eventually blackouts. The government would switch off all street lights in the area in curfew hours which only helped increase crime further. The police often acted with impunity, issuing severe punishments to any who tried to defy the will of the ER government. The situation was gradually becoming impossible to maintain. Attacks against civilians and refugees were becoming more and more frequent and brutal. A radio broadcast picked up from Venice described a scene of complete anarchy in the region as the ECHI lost a grip of control on the region, the JTF representatives had fled after protest had led to violence. This was the beginning of the end for the ECHI. The Venetians were the first to withdraw support and manage their own affairs, closing their borders to any rehousing of Italian and Yugoslavian refugees from the other regions. Liguria followed not long after. With only Tuscany and ER remaining, the JTF and ECHI tried to hold tight to the slippery control they had left.
On the night of 21 January 1984, a fire had broken out in a refugee camp in Bologna, rumours were that this was deliberate in an attempt to eradicate the camp of its ‘spettro’ population. The refugees of the city gathered to protest outside of the Piazza Maggiore. First a small contingency, then a large group of angry people demanding justice for those who had perished in the fire. Distrust between the JTF and the population had been boiling over in recent weeks and the representatives within the Palazzo del Podestà were on the defensive. Rocks and other missiles were thrown at the guards and the building windows, injuring a few and damaging the façade. Things hit a flashpoint when someone in the crowd threw a Molotov into the building which quickly caught fire. The guards incensed by the violence opened fire onto the crowd. The following riot was anarchy, the guards were quickly overwhelmed as the mob now tore its way through the buildings of the Piazza Maggiore. At the time the president was holed up in the Town Hall watching the events below unfold. It appeared the civilian authority of Emilia Romagna under the ECHI had failed spectacularly. Most of the people in the building surrendered to the mob or escaped into the crowd unseen. By the time the rioters reached the office of the president, they found Lanfranco Turci dead, with a pistol in his hand. This ended the control of the ECHI in Emilia Romagna. In the following weeks, Leonilde Iotti would broadcast to all who could hear, her resignation as president of the Republic of Italy and its official dissolution, formally ending the government of continuity in Florence and the republic as a legal entity.
The Alpine Intervention and Agreement at Piacenza[]
The radio broadcast, though sparsely heard, had served its purpose. The northern remnants of the Italian republic which had limped on through the ECHI were now on their own. In Emilia-Romagna, the Bolognese riots had brought a cataclysmic end to centralised order in the region. It was left to the mayors of the surviving towns and cities to do and make do. The collapse of organised civilisation in the region was all but guaranteed. Bologna and other large settlements had once again seen an exodus of people leaving for the relative stability of the countryside. Those who could work would assist in farming, those who could fight would band together into militia brigades for smaller country towns. Those who remained in the cities inherited very little, it was a tough life to survive amongst the ruins of the old republic.
The late 80s was a dark period in the north of the Italian peninsula. The lack of law and order led to a sky rocket of illegal activity. Banditry, smuggling, violence and prostitution were rife in the small towns and cities. The larger militias with help from former military personnel were able to maintain some semblance of control around the major hubs, but most people if not settled into farming cooperatives or the securities of the coast, were drifters, going where work could feed them, keeping their heads down. The population plummeted in the winters of the late 80s. The weak and old and infirm could not withstand the cruelties of the new normal in Italy, though cracks of hope were beginning to seep through the mire of misery that had gripped the region by the 90s. 1989 saw a force of change introduced for the beaten down people of Emilia-Romagna.
The rumours that a new union in the Swiss Alps was moving south through the peninsula were proven true when a local leader at Piacenza met with a scouting squadron of the Alpine Militias on the outskirts of the city. To the surprise of the people, this scout party was composed mostly of Italians who had agreed to be folded into the Alpine Police Militia in exchange for safety and shelter within the Alpine state. They exchanged information and went on their way through the ER region along the A1 highway to assess the damage. They confirmed nuclear strikes on Modena and near Ferrara and spent time with the people still in Parma, though this was a brief stop to resupply. Notably was the destruction of Bologna, though not through nuclear exchange, but years of violence and crime had twisted the old city into a tempest of rot. The scouts skirted around the city proper and made for the Forlì where they would meet with other militiamen from Venice and sail back north via the coast at Ravenna to share their findings with their alpine commanders. The people of Ravenna, like those of Piacenza, were much more accommodating than their Bolognese counterparts. After discussions between the scouting party and the Ravennese, it was clear that interventions in ER would be crucial to restoring order to northern Italy.
1989 - The Bologna Incident[]
This newfound ally would quickly be put to the test in the winter of 1989. Only a few weeks after arriving to keep the peace in Bologna, the Alpine military administration which now policed the province was soon flooded with reports on an advancing army from the south. With no resources to spare for aerial reconnaissance, the Alpine-Italian forces in the regions deployed a hasty defence centered in the deserted southern half of the city, the most affected by the riots and the panic caused by the "dud strike" which hit some kilometers to the south of the Marconi neighborhood (which many had suspected was a miscalculated strike meant for Bologna proper). By luck, the Alpine tank division (acquired from NATO specimens) bolstered by surviving artillery units laid in the ruins waiting to pummel the unsuspecting army, which many had reported to be "brutish" in its advances.
With fighting creeping through Pontevecchio neighbourhood as Alpine artillery units were disabled by Sicilian forces, Sicilian units would then be ambushed by the tanks interspersing the city proper. The Northern Italian Provinces - led by the Venetians and Genoans - had reinforced with a hasty defense coalition bolstered by a second large contingent of thousands of Alpine Militia ready to push back the surprise assault by all means.
After a brief skirmish (later named the Bologna Incident) revealing the Alpine superiority based on hundreds of recently acquired NATO-tanks, artillery and ordinances, the Sicilian troops retreated to Tuscany and the Marche. The unexpected news and shift deeply upset the government in Palermo. Quickly, the bulk of the forces are sent to avoid a Alpine-North-Italian counter-offensive. Instead, however, the Alpines surprisingly offered a ceasefire and treaty negotiations, the Sicilians quickly agreed to a de facto demarcation line along Pisa, Florence and Rimini.
1990 - 2004 - The Flimsy Armistice[]
From the armistice with the Sicilians came relative peace. Tensions were high in 1990 but this subsided into the new normal among the common populace. By this time the Swiss had entrenched their influence over the region from two main places of command, Parma in the west and Ravenna in the east. A small flotilla of swiss boats would patrol the Ravennese waters and troops marched along the armistice line to the south. For the people of Emilia-Romagna, there was little change. Of course the absence of violence had allowed for people to return to their pre-military lives, but for places like Bologna who had fared the worst during the Sicilian campaigns, recovery was slow, and not aided by the Alpine Forces relocating their command centre further north.
The towns in direct line of Sicilian aggression were always aware of the prospect of a return to their recent violent past, many kept up their militia and partisan training. The southernmost reaches of the alpine policed territory still had standing armies alongside the swiss military police. The risk of war was too great for them. Many had returned to a drifter lifestyle, floating from town to town looking for quick work for quick change. To the north, under the care of the Alpine Military, trade was on the upturn, the northern states of italy had formed a trade union to allow for easier movement of goods. Piacenza was seen as a central trading hub for the northern states and business in the city boomed, soon becoming one of the largest and most affluent cities on the peninsula. There were strong routes of trade flowing down the Po river from the Cuneo led state of Piedmont into Piacenza. Goods flowed freely between Ravenna and Venice and from across the Adriatic from Croatia and the other Slavic States. These trade routes were the precursor to the Northern Italian Trade union wish later developed into the Italian Peninsula Alliance.
Trade in the southern Italian seas was still marred by Sicilian interventions. Initially the Sicilian government denied any involvement, blaming the missing mercantile vessels on piracy, though this was soon proven to be a lie when a raiding crew were apprehended by Swiss authorities, though initially they were sticking to the story of being men of no nation, sworn to a life of piracy, this ruse soon disintegrated when radio equipment found aboard their vessel was found to be receiving orders from Palermo. The powder had been lit, and it was only a matter of time before the barrel exploded in the Mediterranean. Not long after, the Alboran War, or "First Sicily War" would engross the western Mediterranean, although it would luckily spare the still-ravaged Italian mainland, with the Alpine military administration doing all it could to keep the zones under its protection from igniting conflict with the Sicilians.
The Great Italian War[]
For more information, please see the Second Sicily War.
The Ravenna Accords, and Independence[]
The end of aggressions with the southern Sicilian Army had brought an unsteady peace to the north. Though the Sicilians were pushed much further south beyond the Tiber river, the question of the future of Emilia-Romagna remained present in the post war dialogue of everyone from diplomats to the common man.
Up until this point, the region of Emilia-Romagna had been under the command of the Swiss based military administration out of Piacenza. This administration was heavily involved in the investment in the west of the province but less so to the east, citing complications beyond the Modena ruins as to the reason all support seemed to fizzle towards Bologna. Though the area of Romagna was functioning, it paled in comparison to Emilia which, through the city of Piacenza, had become an economic centre of the north of the peninsula. This seeming disparity between both ends of the province was dubbed the ‘Modena Divide’ both a physical and ideological barrier between the Emilians and Romagnols.
The people of Romagna instead found kinship with the other freedom fighters of Tuscany, both had fared worst in the Sicilian wars and had stood shoulder to shoulder driving their adversaries back south. A parade of Romagnol soldiers was invited to the reinstating of Florence as the provincial capital, a similar invite was not served to the Emiliano. Throughout the war, Italian patriotism, common leftist sentiment and a desire to fight fascism was a driving factor in the Romagnol and Tuscan camps, both believed they were fighting for the very future and survival of the Italian identity. In contrast the Emilians were expanding their influence over the northern trade sectors, dominating the Po valley trade routes. They had established merchant companies in both Genoa and Venice, and had headquarters for the national trade conglomerates in Bern. What was once an ideological divide was a chasm by this time, with one side being all but assimilated into Alpine culture, and the other vying for a return to its Italian traditions. These sentiments would not be quelled quietly post war with the platitudes and niceties typical of Alpine Diplomacy.
As promised by the Alpine Governate, a plebiscite for the citizens of Emilia-Romagna was scheduled, as agreed in the Ravenna Accords to take place on the 30th June 2013, this would give the people of Emilia Romagna time to consolidate their losses of the war, rebuild and plan ahead for the future.
The Italian movement moved into full focus in the interim years. Electors of the administrative council of Romagna were strongly in favour of Italian resurgence, in tandem with their Tuscan counterparts in the free republic. Though the Alpine leaders did endeavour to be seen as a viable choice by investing into infrastructure and helping toward the rebuild of bologna, many Romagnol felt this to be too little too late. The regions of Emilia seemed alien to the Italians to the west of the region, Piacenza itself was a cosmopolitan metropolis, many of the signs in the city now read in the three common languages of the alpine confederation. The people in the city were just as likely to speak German as Italian. The elected officials from Emilia also were of pro-alpine groups which were diametrically opposed to the Romagnol pro-Italian political core. With the plebiscite on the horizon many were worried about how the alps would handle such a polarised population.
The Government of Vaduz, true to its word, promised the people of Emilia-Romagna that the outcomes of the plebiscite would be respected and that they would endeavour to ensure that no person of Italian descent would live under Alpine rule should the wish not to be. This seemed to have quelled the naysayers at the time. The plebiscite had a fair turnout and the results were little in the surprise of everyone, the former province was split west to east, with the Province voting to remain in the Alpine Confederation.
Consolidation and the Central Italian State[]
Early on following the transfer of power to Ravenna, cordial links from the war days with the Tuscan government in Florence were codified into an official alliance. These two authorities were fast allies, standing shoulder to should in the wars and being the last vestige of the former Italian government, the people of the centre of the peninsula were rightly the inheritors of the fallen state. Those who resisted as the wave of chaos consumed the old republic had worked hard in the interim decades to promote Italian irredentism and the push for peace on the peninsula. It seemed sensible that those belligerents of the Sicilian war would unite, a strong state in the peninsula both on land and sea, to act as a deterrent for the Sicilians who could in the future try to enforce rule on all of Italy, though regime change in the Meridione would find this endeavour moot. Nonetheless, the Genoese, Tuscan and Romagnol authorities under the guidance and guard of the IPA would begin the machinations of national unity, firstly a referendum was held in Tuscany, Romagna and Genoa, which was later extended to the post war administrations of Umbria, Marche and Sardinia, which similar to that which released the Romagnol from the Alpine Confederation, with a simple question, 'Do you wish to remain an independent nation within the Italian Peninsula Alliance, or would you join in official union with a new Italian Federation?'
In the major territories, the overwhelming majority of the populace voted to unite, forming the proto 'Italian Federation' of Tuscany, Romagna and Genoa. They were joined by Sardinia, to the surprise of little and then Umbria, a former stronghold of the Italian left was more than happy to join the union. In Marche and Lazio however this was not as straight forward. The people of Marche were split, those who aligned with Urbino and Ancona, wanted to join this new union whereas those in the south wanted to remain with their Sicilian counterparts. Lazio had been split in two geographically by the ruins of Rome, the people of the suburbs were strongly against joining either nation and protested as much, these people declaring themselves the 'New Roman Republic' and wanting to determine there own future. Beyond Rome, the south was sandwiched between two of the worst hit regions of Italy, Rome and Naples, and wished to remain with the Sicilians as they had been from early post DD. The Ravenna government were vociferous in respecting the voting choice of the populace, they themselves had split from their Emilian counterparts during the Alpine reformations of northern Italy. They argued that should the new state wish to survive, those who they administered should be their by choice, not force. This was debated fiercely, with the Tuscans in the opposing camp, claiming the lands of Marche and Lazio should be incorporated in entirety as the land should not be allowed to re-join the Meridione, lands which were stripped from the state at the Ravenna Accords. In the end the Genoese would be the determining vote in how to go forward, agreeing the the Ravenna authorities that the former states of Italy can be split by commune, with the communes favouring the Sicilian rule be allowed to approach the government of Palermo to express such a wish.
The final act of the Authorities of Ravenna and the Provisional State of Romagna was to dissolve the governing authority of Ravenna, to reincorporate into the Italian Federation, marking the end of Romagna as an independent nation.
Economy[]
Emilia-Romagna remains one of the more industrialized regions in western Europe. However, their main industry remains agriculture. The region was known for its food and wine pre-war, although Doomsday’s effects took a toll on local agriculture, especially in the Po Valley, where fears of radiation led many farmers to evacuate towards the mountains. Industry in the country includes food processing, vehicles, engineering, mining and textiles.
A Ferrari F355, the newest supercar to be launched by the company(2021).
The Republic is known for its motor vehicles, mainly supercars and luxury sedans. Most of the supercar companies are centred around Maranello and Bologna. In Maranello, the world-renowned Ferrari's headquarters are located. In Sant’Agata Bolognese, Lamborghini has their HQ there, and Maserati brand has its factory in the city centre.
Motorsports[]
Ferrari's motorsports division Scuderia Ferrari is also run out of Maranello in the Province of Modena, the teams' colours being red. Ferrari's Formula One team has won 11 Drivers' titles and 8 Constructors' titles. The team has also won multiple Le Mans 24 Hours in sports car racing. The most successful Ferrari driver is Austrian racer Niki Lauda, who won titles in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari. Among other legendary Ferrari drivers include pre-Formula One era Tazio Nuvolari, and in the Formula One era Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, John Surtees, Stefan Riedl and Charles Leclerc, all drivers who have won the title in a Ferrari car.
Currently the region has only one racing circuit, the Autodromo Dino Ferrari in Imola.
Football[]
The Republic has a national football league, the Campionato Cispadano di Calcio (CCC/CFL). Founded in 1998, the league hosts regular matches throughout the Republic, and sometimes in neighbouring Italian states and even as far as the Alpine Confederation.
The clubs presently involved in the league are:
- Bologna FC
- A.C. Cesena
- U.S. Fiorenzuola 1922
- Imolese
- Modena FC
- Parma
- A.C. Pavia
- Piacenza
- A.C. Reggiana
- U.S. Sassoulo
- S.P.A.L
Today, Romagna is a member of FIFA.
Media[]
During the waning Alpine years, there was one government owned TV station, RTR (Radiotelevisione Romagna). The station was founded in 2006 by former RAI employees and uses the old RAI studio in Bologna.