Italy (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern and Western Europe.
The Second Republic was proclaimed on June 2, 1946 and the current Constitution was ratified on January 1, 1948.
Italy covers an area of 301,230 km2 (116,310 sq mi), with a population of about 60 million. It is the third-most populous member state of the European Confederation, the sixth-most populous country in Europe, and the tenth-largest country in the continent by land area. Italy's capital and largest city is Rome.
Flag of Italy
| Republic of Italy Repubblica Italiana Timeline: Domus Iagiellonica
OTL equivalent: Italy | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||
| Anthem: "Il Canto degli Italiani" "The Song of the Italians" |
||||||
| Capital | Rome | |||||
| Official languages | Italian | |||||
| Demonym | Italian | |||||
| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic | |||||
| - | President | Sergio Mattarella | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Giorgia Meloni | ||||
| Legislature | Parliament | |||||
| - | Upper house | Senate of the Republic | ||||
| - | Lower house | Chamber of Deputies | ||||
| Currency | Italian Lira | |||||
| Time zone | UTC+1 | |||||
History[]
Italy was the native place of civilizations such as the Italic peoples and the Etruscans, while due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, the country has also historically been home to myriad peoples and cultures, who immigrated to the peninsula throughout history. The Latins, native of central Italy, formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which eventually became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People. The Roman Republic initially conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the Italian peninsula, eventually expanding and conquering a large part of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. By the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became a leading cultural, political and religious centre, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Italy's law, technology, economy, art, and literature developed.
During the Early Middle Ages, Italy endured the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Barbarian Invasions, but by the 11th century, numerous city-states and maritime republics, mostly in the North, became prosperous through trade, commerce, and banking, laying the groundwork for modern capitalism. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, and art. During the Middle Ages, Italian explorers discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery. However, centuries of rivalry and infighting between the Italian city-states, and the invasions of other European powers during the Italian Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, left Italy politically fragmented. Italy's commercial and political power significantly waned during the 17th and 18th centuries with the decline of the Catholic Church and the increasing importance of trade routes that bypassed the Mediterranean.
Italy was unified by Napoleon I in 1803 in the aftermaths of the Italian Campaign of 1799. His dynasty ruled over the Italian Empire until 1900. The First Republic was proclaimed on September 1st, 1900. A new constitution was drafted and proclaimed a year after.
The First Republic was unstable and subject to various snap elections.
Despite being one of the victorious allied powers in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil, leading to the rise of the Italian fascist dictatorship in 1922. The participation of Italy in World War II on the Axis led to the Italian surrender to Allied powers and its occupation by Nazi Germany helped by Fascists, followed by the rise of the Italian Resistance and the subsequent Italian Civil War and liberation of Italy. After the war, the country re-established a democratic unitary parliamentary republic, and enjoyed a prolonged economic boom, becoming a major advanced economy.
List of Presidents[]
Flag of the President of Italy
- Giuseppe Saracco: 1 September 1901 - 12 March 1905
- Tommaso Tittoni: 12 March 1905 - 31 March 1910
- Luigi Luzzatti: 31 March 1910 - 18 June 1916
- Paolo Boselli: 18 June 1916 - 15 June 1920
- Giovanni Giolitti: 15 June 1920 - 12 June 1923
Fascist Regime 1923 - 1942
- Ivanoe Bonomi: 12 March 1942 - 10 December 1945
- Alcide Gaspari: 10 December 1945 - 1 January 1948
- Enrico De Nicola: 1 January 1948 - 12 May 1948
- Luigi Einaudi: 1948 - 1955
- Giovanni Gronchi: 1955 - 1962
- Antonio Segni: 1962 - 1964
- Giuseppe Saragat: 1964 - 1971
- Giovanni Leone: 1971 - 1978
- Sandro Pertini: 1978 - 1985
- Francesco Cossiga: 1985 - 1992
- Oscar Luigi Scalfaro: 1992 - 1999
- Carlo Azeglio Ciampi: 1999 - 2006
- Giorgio Napolitano: 2006 - 2015
- Sergio Mattarella: 2015 - incumbent
| |||||||||||||||
