A Timeline of Italy

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