Italy — books & literature

The story of Italy

Italy's story stretches back to the legendary founding of Rome around 753 BCE, which grew from a hilltop settlement into the capital of the Roman Republic and then the Roman Empire, one of the largest and most influential empires in world history. After Rome's fall in 476 CE, the peninsula fragmented into city-states, kingdoms, and papal territories for over a thousand years , a fragmentation that, paradoxically, produced the Renaissance, as Florence, Venice, Milan, and Rome competed to patronize art, science, and learning from the 14th to 16th centuries. Italy did not exist as a single nation again until the Risorgimento unification movement culminated in the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 under Victor Emmanuel II. The 20th century brought Fascist rule under Mussolini, devastation in the Second World War, and then a 1946 referendum that abolished the monarchy and created the modern Italian Republic. Today Italy is a founding member of the European Union and NATO, and remains one of the world's leading centres of art, design, cuisine, and cultural heritage.

Timeline — key moments

1. circa 753 BCE

   Legendary founding of Rome by Romulus.

2. 27 BCE

   Augustus becomes the first Roman Emperor, beginning the Roman Empire.

3. 476 CE

   Fall of the Western Roman Empire.

4. circa 1300s-1500s

   The Renaissance flourishes in Florence, Venice, and Rome.

5. 1861

   Kingdom of Italy proclaimed under Victor Emmanuel II, completing unification.

6. 1922-1943

   Fascist rule under Benito Mussolini.

7. 1946

   Italy becomes a republic after a referendum abolishes the monarchy (2 June).

8. 1957

   Italy is a founding signatory of the Treaty of Rome, creating the EEC (precursor to the EU).

Top 10 things to know about Italy

1. Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country.
2. Rome, the capital, was the centre of the Roman Empire, one of history's largest empires.
3. Italy is famously shaped like a boot extending into the Mediterranean Sea.
4. The Renaissance, a rebirth of art, science, and learning, began in Italy in the 14th century.
5. Italian is the official language, descended from Latin.
6. Vatican City, the world's smallest sovereign state, sits entirely within Rome.
7. Italy has three active volcanoes: Vesuvius, Etna, and Stromboli.
8. Pizza and pasta both originated in Italy and are now eaten worldwide.
9. Italy is a founding member of the European Union.
10. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Galileo Galilei were all Italian.

Famous people from Italy

Say it in Italy's language

Did you know?

• ★Vatican City, the world's smallest country, is entirely enclosed within the city of Rome.
• ★The Colosseum could hold an estimated 50,000-80,000 spectators, rivaling many modern stadiums.
• ★Italy has no single official national dish, but its regions have produced hundreds of distinct pasta shapes.

Italy culture

• The long Sunday family lunch remains a treasured tradition across Italian regions.
• Opera, born in Italy around 1600, remains central to the country's musical identity.
• Espresso culture runs deep , coffee is traditionally drunk quickly, standing at the bar.
• Carnevale in Venice, famous for elaborate masks and costumes, dates back centuries.

Why read Italy's books

Italian literature runs from Dante's "Divine Comedy", which shaped the modern Italian language itself, through Renaissance humanism to modern masters like Italo Calvino and Elena Ferrante , a shelf as layered as the country's own history.