Italy
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Italy's birth as a nation began in 1861 when the city/states of the peninsula and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily united under the regime of King Victor Emmanuel.
Originally Greeks had settled in the southern tip of the Italian peninsula in the 7th and 8th century B.C. Etruscans and Romans populated the central and northern regions
By the third century A.D. the peninsula had been unified under the Roman Empire along with the neighboring islands. The Empire dominated the Mediterranean world from 1 A.D. until its collapse in 5 A.D. After the empire's collapse all the once controlled regions were plagued by political discourse, which made them vulnerable to invasion.
In the 11th century the commercial prosperity in the country's northern and central cities combined with the influence of the Renaissance tempered the effects of the existing medieval political rivalries. The calm allowed for the idea of a single Italian government to blossom.
By 1861 a nationalist movement had emerged and reunified Italy, except for Rome, which would follow in 1870, and Victor Emmanuel was proclaimed King.
Italy remained a constitutional monarchy with a parliament elected until 1922 when Benito Mussolini established a fascist dictatorship. Mussolini's disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and was buoyed by the economic revival that followed.
Italy is a charter member of NATO and the ECC (European Economic Community)
Italy has been at the forefront of the European economic and political unification and has been a member of the European Monetary Union since 1999.
People
Italy has the fifth highest population density in Europe (490 people per square miles). Though...
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