Conditions and history of Italy
It is interesting to know that 2 very small independent countries named Vatican and San Marino are located inside the Italian territory and a piece of Italian territory is outside the main territory of this country and is located in Switzerland, which is called Campione d'Italia.
Rome, the capital of Italy, as the capital of the Roman Empire and the residence of the Pope, was the political and religious center of Western civilization for successive centuries.
The interesting thing about the map of Italy is that the map of this country looks like a boot. The islands of Sardinia and Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea are also part of Italy. The borders of this country are 1.932.2 km.
which is bordered by the countries of Vatican, France, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, San Marino. The climate of Italy is Mediterranean. Due to the presence of the Alps, it is cold in the north and dry in the south, and the whole country is almost warm. Its highest point is Monte Bianco with a height of 4.748 meters above sea level and the lowest point is the Mediterranean Sea.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Italian region was divided into many autonomous regions and cities (including the Republic of Venice and the Church State), but the various political units in the Italian region united in 1861 and created the current state of Italy.
The earliest history mentioned for the country of Italy is that the Etruscans, the Greeks and then the Romans ruled Italy in ancient times.
And in the Middle Ages, the control of Italy was in the hands of the Popes, Franks, Byzantines, and then the Arabs and Normans at some times. The unification of Italy (1848-1870) caused numerous problems, but the most important problem was definitely unification of a land that was very different politically and economically.
The use of the administrative structures of the Savoy royal regime over time worsened the previous differences between different regions of Italy, and as a result, the wave of migration of the rural class to North and South America began. Between the last years of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, several million Italians emigrated abroad.
The history of Italy from an economic and social point of view
From the economic and social point of view, the period before the unification until the beginning of the First World War was accompanied by the general growth phenomenon of Italy, which, relying on the positive international position, found the possibility to organize the financial situation and government structures, and the main sectors for help to expand the progress and industrial development and in this direction, of course, benefited from the generous help of foreign capitals.
The social conditions of the country, which were accompanied by the aforementioned differences between rural and urban areas, marked the early years of Italy's industrialization and the first steps towards a new social structure with the formation of political parties.
The emergence of these political parties and the resulting social tensions left a wide impact on the subsequent historical trends in Italy. Following the right of Italian citizens to vote in 913, the process of political unification of Italy was completed, while the international image of Italy, which had become more coordinated and modern due to the reforms that began on the day of the Unification, became more visible. It was found and strengthened.
On the eve of the First World War, Italy changed the landscape drawn up to that time and entered the war alongside the allied powers of France, England and the United States. Following the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, it acquired the northern territories of Trentino, Al-Tawadije and Venteria Giulia, which were needed to complete the process of national unification.
Although Italy had come out victorious from the struggle, from the economic point of view, under the burden of the pressures, it had suffered such disturbances that the governments of that time did not have the ability to direct it towards positive achievements.
At this time, some political organizations that later had a profound impact on the future of the country for decades came into existence, including the National Party (1919) which later transformed into the Christian Democratic Party, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party which It was founded by Gramsci (1921) and the militant classes formed by Mussolini (1919) and later transformed into the National Fascist Party in 1921 and was responsible for Mussolini's rise to power.
In 1925, when the activities of all other parties were banned, the period of the fascist regime began, which caused radical changes in the life of the country and limited political freedoms with its authoritarian policy under the guise of nationalism. This regime reached an agreement with the Vatican in 1929 to prevent the enmity of the Catholic Church.
In those years, serious measures were taken to strengthen and develop industrial and agricultural activities. In the field of foreign policy, Mussolini tried to establish his prestige by relying on expansionist policy and allied powers, the culminating point of which was the alliance with Germany and entering the Second World War (1940-1945) against the Allies and subsequently the fall of the fascist regime following the failures It was military.
The restoration of democracy and the management of the difficult situation of the country after the end of the war and the effort to destroy everything that was inherited from the fascist regime led to the formation of the Constitutional Assembly.
On July 2, 1946, following a referendum, the "Italian Republic" was born, and this date became a national holiday. The new constitution was ratified and entered into force on January 1, 1948
After the war, Italy made a lot of efforts to get closer to the Western countries and in this regard, it joined the "Atlantic Alliance", which is a defense military organization that was formed at the initiative of the United States, and most Western European countries also joined it.
At the European level, Italy was one of the countries that tried its best in the direction of European integration during its various stages, both economically and politically. Since January 1, 1999, Italy is among the 11 countries that have adopted the euro as their single currency.
Languages of Italy
Regarding the languages of Italy, you should know that most of the Italians are of Roman origin and the common languages in Italy are almost all branches of the Roman language. Although the official language of Italy is Italian, there are other widely spoken languages in this country that have a semi-official and sometimes local status.
Many of these languages have been exposed to destruction, and the beginning of the gradual death of these languages goes back to the period of fascism in Italy. Italian is the official language of this country, which has held this position since 1861.
Piedmontese: The common language of the Piedmont region of Italy is spoken by more than two million Italians.
Venetian: the old language of the Venice region, which is considered one of the Roman languages, and is spoken by nearly two million people of the Venice region and nearby regions in Italy. This language is also common in Slovenia.
Neapolitan: It is the common language of southern Italy, especially Palermo and Naples, which is spoken by more than 6 million people of Italy. Southern Italian dialect is actually a dialect of the same language and not Italian.
Tuscan: The common language in the Tuscan region is sometimes considered a dialect of Italian. About three million people speak this language.
Sassari: Although this language has only 125 thousand speakers, it is considered an official language in the autonomous region of Sardinia.
Slovenian: In the cities of Trieste and Gorizia, people are familiar with this language due to their proximity to Slovenia.
Lombardy: It is common in the northern regions of Italy, especially the border with Switzerland, and it has more than three million speakers in Italy.
Sardocampidani: It is one of the native languages of southern Italy, which still has nearly 1 million speakers, but most of its speakers live in the mountainous regions of northern Italy, which was due to Italy's fascist policies during World War II.
The Italian-Jewish language is one of the Roman languages, which has no more than 200 speakers in Italy today.
The religion of the Italian people
The religion of the people of Italy is such that the majority is Catholic, but Protestants, Jews and Muslims (who are mostly immigrants) also live in this country. 91.6% of the Italian population are Christians and mostly Catholics, one third of them (8.36%) are active members.
Today, 825,000 Muslims live in Italy, which constitutes (1.4%) of the Italian population, of which only 50,000 have Italian nationality.
History of Italy - Flag of Italy
The flag of Italy, often known as the "tricolor national flag" in Italian, consists of three equal colors of green, white, and red, which are vertical. The current form of this flag was adopted on June 19, 1946 and officially on January 1, 1948.
The first institution that used the 3-color flag of Italy was the Republic of Kispadana in 1797. After that, Napoleon Bonaparte's army won many times in Italy.
During this period, many of the small republics belonging to religious sects opposed to the government, as well as most of the old states, each of which had different flags, notably used the tricolor flag of Italy, which was inspired by the flag of France in 1790. The colors chosen for the flag by the republic were red and white; The color chosen from the flag of Milan was also green, which was taken from the color of the uniform of the city guards of Milan.
Some of the values attributed to the three colors of the Italian flag consider green to represent the plains and hills, white to represent the snowy peaks of the Alps, and red to represent the blood shed by Italians following their independence wars. Of course, the religious interpretations in this case consider the color green as a symbol of hope, white as a symbol of faith, and red as a symbol of charity; These interpretations are known as "three divine values".
The city of Rome, Italy
Rome is the capital of Italy, the largest and most populous city in the country with 2.7 million inhabitants and the center of the Lazio region.
History of the city of Rome
The history of the city of Rome is usually considered to be from April 22, 753 BC, the traditional date of the founding of the city of Rome (which at one time was considered the origin of history) - to September 4, 476, the date of the deposing of Remolus Augustus, the last emperor of Western Rome.
Edward Gibbon, the English politician of the 18th century and the most famous historian of the history of Rome, put these twelve centuries of history into 6 volumes, and Will Durant dedicated a 900-page volume of his civilization history to it.
In legends, we have that Aeneid, one of the survivors of the city of Troy in that legendary war, comes to the land of today's Italy. His descendants, Remus and Remulus, are thrown into the water by the order of the king who kills the boys, and ironically, they are nursed and raised by a she-wolf.
And later these two people founded the city of Rome on seven hills near the Tiber river.
This legend is not without truth. The founders of the city of Rome were people other than the native inhabitants of Italy, whose people and civilization are known today as Etruscans.
As the researchers speculate, there were people from Babylon or inspired by Babylonian civilization who came to Rome and brought urbanization to that land. The history of Rome includes 3 periods: the beginning and the republic, the empire, and the decline and fall of the empire.
The Roman Senate, an assembly that was set up in imitation of the Greeks, was a constant actor in all three periods. At first, after many conflicts, the class difference between the nobles and the lower masses was removed and the republic was formed.
The main sign identifying the power of the Roman Senate was the abbreviation (SPQR), which means the Senate and the people of Rome. Because of their regular army, the Romans were able to control their territory from the plains around Rome (called Latium, which means the land of the Latin people). ) to expand to the whole of Italy (238 BC). Then it was the turn to dominate the Mediterranean Sea.
The Romans clashed with the Carthaginian government over the capture of the island of Sicily, and after 3 major wars, the Carthaginian government, which once ruled the entire Mediterranean coast from Sicily to Spain to Africa, was completely destroyed in 149 BC.
When Greece fell to the Romans in 129 BC, its empire was formed. With the emergence of a powerful figure named Julius Caesar, the internal disputes ended and the position of the emperor was formed as the highest power and the embodiment of the will of Rome. In the Golden Age (27 BC to 192 AD) they reached the neighborhood of the Iranian Empire and Rome changed from a city of bricks to a city of marble.
All the important writers and philosophers of Rome lived in this period and most of the stories of ancient Rome are related to this period. The reign of Commodus was the end of the Golden Age. After him, nothing was the same. The generals divided the country and the differences between the supporters of Christ and the disbelievers of the new religion added to this fragmentation.
Constantine, the only great emperor after the Golden Age, unified the country, made Christianity the official religion, and built the city of Constantinople (Istanbul) as the new capital (336 AD). By doing this, of course, the legacy of Rome was preserved in the Byzantine Empire for centuries, but in fact Constantine betrayed the city of Remulus.
The city of Rome, Italy
With his death, the empire was divided into 2 western and eastern parts (395 AD). The distance between these two parts of the empire was constantly increasing. Eastern Rome was no longer strong enough to face the Iranian Empire, and neither Western Rome could prevent the invasion of the Huns, Vandals, Goths, and other desert tribes.
In (444 AD), Attila officially received compensation from the emperors for not attacking Rome. The situation inside the empire was even stranger. One of the last emperors, he himself was surprised that he died a natural death and no one conspired against him.
The last emperor of Rome was a boy named Remolus Augustus. Eduocer, son of Edcon, minister of Italy by invading Rome, simply dethroned him (476 AD) and declared the end of the Roman Empire. He ordered to call that land Italy from then on.
