History of Italy

800 BC The rise of the Etruscan civilisation

750 BC The Greeks begin to found colonies in Italy

600 BC The Etruscans rule central Italy

510 Rome rebels against the Etruscans. The Romans gradually take Etruscan territory.

494 BC The Plebians (poor Romans) withdraw from Rome and found their own settlement on the Aventine Hill

396 BC The Romans capture the city of Veii

390 BC The Gauls sack Rome

272 BC Almost all of southern Italy is in Roman hands

265 BC The last Etruscan town falls to the Romans

264-241 BC The Romans fight the Carthaginians

218-202 BC The second war against Carthage. The Romans completely defeat the Carthaginians.

148 BC Macedon becomes a Roman province

135-132 BC Slaves in Sicily rebel

103-99 BC Slaves in Sicily rebel again

90 BC All of northern Italy is in Roman hands

89 BC All free Italians are granted Roman citizenship

83-80 BC Sulla is dictator of Rome

73-71 BC Spartacus leads a slave rebellion

67 BC Pompey destroys the pirates in the Mediterranean

49 BC Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon

44 BC Julius Caesar is assassinated

27 BC Octavian is granted the title Augustus

14-37 AD Tiberius rules Rome

54-68 AD Nero rules Rome

98-117 AD Under the Emperor Trajan the Roman Empire reaches its peak

169-180 AD Marcus Aurelius is emperor

212 AD All free people in the empire are granted Roman citizenship

337 Constantine the first Christian emperor dies

410 BC Alaric the Goth captures Rome

455 BC The Vandals sack Rome

476 The last Roman emperor is deposed. Odoacer is made king of Italy.

535 The Byzantine emperor Justinian sends an army to Italy

540 The Byzantines capture Ravenna

568 The Lombards invade Italy

772 The Franks conquer the Lombard kingdom

1061-1091 The Normans conquer Sicily

1176 The German emperor Frederick Barbarossa is defeated at Legnano

1266 The French conquer Sicily

1282 The Sicilians rebel

1348 Italy is devastated by the Black Death

1434-1464 Cosimo Medici rules Florence

1470 The printing press is in use in Venice

1495 The French capture Naples but soon withdraw

1515 The French capture Milan

1527 The Spanish sack Rome

1542 Alarmed by the spread of Protestantism in Italy the Pope founds the Roman Inquisition

1600 The Roman Inquisition executes an astronomer named Giordano Bruno

1707 The Austrians take Naples

1720 The Austrians take Sicily

1764 Famine in Naples

1763-66 Famine in Tuscany

1796 Napoleon invades Italy

1797 Napoleon places Venice under Austrian control

1800 Napoleon wins a victory at Marengo

1820 A rebellion takes place in Naples

1831 More rebellions take place in Italy

1837 Giuseppe Mazzini lives in Britain but stoke the fires of Italian nationalism

1848 Revolutions break out in Italy

1849 All rebellions are crushed and the old order is reimposed in Italy

1852 Camillo Cavour becomes Prime Minister of Piedmont

1858 Cavour makes a deal with the French to drive the Austrians out of Italy. In the Papal States the authorities kidnap a 6 year old Jewish boy named Edgardo Mortara from his parents and raise him as a Catholic

1859 After the war with Italy Piedmont gains Lombardy

1860 Romagna, Modena, Parma and Tuscany agree to join Piedmont. Garibaldi leads a force to support a rebellion in Palermo. They capture Naples on 7 June.

1861 The king of Piedmont becomes king of all Italy

1866 The Italians join the Prussians in a war with Austria. Afterwards Italy gains Venice.

1870 Italian forces liberate Rome

1877 Compulsory primary education is introduced in Italy

1887-1891 Francesco Crispi is prime minister of Italy

1893-1896 Crispi is prime minister again

c. 1886-1915 Northern Italy industrializes

1900 King Umberto is assassinated

1908 An earthquake strikes Sicily

1912 All literate men in Italy are given the vote

1915 Italy joins the First World War

1917 The Italians are defeated at Caporetto

1918 The Italians win a victory at Vittorio Veneto

1919 Mussolini founds the Fasci di Combattimento

1920 Unrest among Italian workers

1922 A force of Fascists march on Rome. The king makes Mussolini prime minister.

1924 Giacomo Matteotti the leader of the Socialists is murdered

1925 Mussolini makes himself dictator of Italy. Mussolini begins 'the battle of the grain' to make Italy self-sufficient.

1929 The Catholic Church makes an agreement with the Fascists

1938 Mussolini introduces anti-Semitic laws

1940 Mussolini declares war on France and Britain

1943 The allies land in Sicily then in Italy

1944 On 4 June the allies enter Rome

1945 German troops in Italy surrender

1946 Italy becomes a republic

1957 Italy is a founder member of the EU

1968-69 There is labor unrest in Italy

1970 Divorce is allowed in Italy

1972 Only 35% of Italians attend church regularly

1978 In certain circumstances abortion is allowed. Aldo Moro the leader of the Christian Democrats is murdered.

1999 Italy unwisely joins the Euro