By Tim Lambert
Ancient Italy
800 BC
The rise of the Etruscan civilization
750 BC
The Greeks begin to found colonies in Italy
600 BC
The Etruscans rule central Italy
510 BC
Rome rebels against the Etruscans. The Romans gradually take Etruscan territory.
494 BC
The Plebeians (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 in the west is deposed. Odoacer is made king of Italy.
Medieval 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
Renaissance Italy
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
1707
The Austrians take Naples
1720
The Austrians take Sicily
1764
Famine in Naples
1763-66
Famine strikes Tuscany
1796
Napoleon invades Italy
1797
Napoleon places Venice under Austrian control
Modern Italy
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 stokes 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. Afterward Italy gains Venice.
1870
Italian forces liberate Rome
1877
Compulsory primary education is introduced in Italy
1887-1891
Francesco Crispi is the 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
1978
In certain circumstances, abortion is allowed. Aldo Moro the leader of the Christian Democrats is murdered.
1999
Italy joins the Euro
