Capital : Rome

Major Airports :

Approx Population : 58 million +

Major Languages : Italian

Climate Guide : Mediterranean. Predominantly dry, warm summers to south. Alpine in far north

Areas Featured : Venice

Italy, shaped like a high heeled boot, jutting into the Mediterranean Sea, is instantly recognisable on any map of the world. A parliamentary democracy, headed by the king since 1866, the country that we now know as Italy has been, throughout the centuries, the scene of battle as surrounding countries fought for control of the country.

Northern Italy, situated on the continent and protected to the north by the Alps, is a rich and fertile plain. The Italian peninsula, with the Appenines running the full length, is a land of greater contrast, with high mountains, lowland plains, wide, navigable rivers and some natural harbours. Rich in promise it attracted adventuring Greeks and Etruscans who arrived in search of rich land, around the 8th century BC, and Italy was set to become the centre of civilisation in the ancient world. The Etruscans were skilled craftsmen producing luxury items and metal goods. They developed overland trade routes and one of their trading posts was a small village called Rome. Rome flourished and grew, under Etruscan influence, for 300 years with fine palaces, roads and the Roman Forum. By the 5th century, though, the native Romans were ready to challenge their Etruscan masters and did so in 509 BC, overthrowing the Etruscan King and declaring Rome as a Republic. Rome was on course to become master of the world setting out on a thousand year quest to create an empire encompassing the whole known world so that the name of Rome was known and feared in the farthest corners of each point of the compass.

Rome's history needs little telling; it's already so well known. A story of expansion, conquest, Roman gods, Emperors, saints and sinners, Christian martyrs and the eventual disintegration of the Empire as the barbarian tribes attacked wherever and whenever they could. Rome itself was besieged and fell, in 410AD, to Alaric the Goth. For the next 4 centuries Italy was the scene of constant battles between the Goths, the Lombards and the Byzantine Emperors for control of the country. Hardly surprisingly prosperity and culture faded and the once powerful state became an embattled province for hundreds of years. Italy remained a divided land, ruled by first one powerful country and then another, until the 19th century.

If Rome's days of world domination by military means were over, Rome was still a driving force; this time through the spread of Christianity. One of the early Popes was Gregory, in the late 6th century who sent missionaries all over Europe, and to Britain, spreading the teaching of Christianity. Originally answerable to the Emperors in Constantinople the Papacy became increasingly powerful and eventually, in 726, demanded that the Church in Rome should have the final say in any spiritual issues. However, a revolt against the Emperor, supported by the Lombards, saw the departure of the Byzantines from Italy, but left the Popes answerable to the increasingly powerful Lombards. Years of fighting and anarchy followed as successive warlords prevailed for a time and then fell in their turn.

By the 12th century trade around the Mediterranean had expanded and was flourishing. Wealth was accumulated and the cities dominated the countryside around them. The Italian City States were born; a situation that would have far reaching consequences for the development of styles of art, architecture, music and political alignments. Prominent amongst these cities were the coastal republics of Venice, Genoa and Pisa with their maritime trade. Inland, Milan, Verona, Bologna, Florence and Rome on the rich trade routes also enjoyed unprecedented prosperity and political power.

Against this background of affluence and power new ideas and science were encouraged and explored; wealthy patrons promoted the arts; scholars and writers were respected. It was the Renaissance. The early Renaissance was centred on Florence and the emphasis was on the classical. It was a city where Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio were to be seen. During the 1500s the genius of such great artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bramante, Raphael and Titian was fostered and flourished. The Popes were some of the greatest patrons of the arts and in 1503 Pope Julius commissioned the architect Donato Bramante to draw the plans for a new St. Peter's. Brmante died before his plans were fully realised and Michelangelo Buonarroti was appointed his successor, to complete the task, including the incomparable ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the painting of the Last Judgement.

In the late 16th century, after years of fighting, the Pope crowned King Charles V of Spain as The Holy Roman Emperor. Charles and his successors ruled Italy for the next 150 years. Under Spanish influence the oppressive rule of the church, the Inquisition, the Index and the Jesuit Orders, stifled much creative energy and suppressed any liberal thinking. Following them, equally but differently oppressive, were the Austrians who ruled in Italy from 1713. Subsequently Italy lost her place as the centre of culture in the arts.

The French Revolution gave strength to Republican dreams. The Italians' desire for a liberated Italy was finally to be realised in the late 19th century, with the creation of Italy as a Parliamentary democracy the the king at its head. The closing years of the century saw yet more tensions. The poverty in the mainly agricultural south of Italy led to almost half a million Italians a year emigrating, mainly to America. The 20th century saw Italy in the grip of political unrest. Disappointment, and a sense of betrayal after the First World War and the subsequent Treaty of St Germain, led to unsettled conditions and racing inflation. By mid 1922 Fascism was a major political force with its leader, Benito Mussolini, ready to act and engineering the government's fall. King Victor Emmanuel 111 was forced by circumstances to hand over the reins of government to Mussolini and by 1925 Italy was virtually a dictatorship with Mussolini answerable only to the king.

A ruinous World War ll and subsequent confused and poor economic conditions saw Italy struggling to recover. In 1946 the country voted to end the monarchy and become a democratic republic. In the ensuing years Italy's economy recovered and, in 1957 it was a founding member of the European Community. Today the tourist industry is booming and the visitor is overwhelmed by choices. The country is steeped in history: the wealth of her art treasures; the architecture of her cities; the beautiful landscapes; and, of course, Vatican City in Rome. The choices are endless!