Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a medieval mentality which put it at the mercy of northern European rivals pro-
gressing economically, militarily, and artistically.
For a couple of hundred years Italy became a plaything for Spanish, French,
and Austrian invaders whose armies conquered wide swaths of the country, sack-
ing towns and ensuring continued misery for the citizens of the countryside.
Napoleon declared himself Emperor over the Kingdom of Italy in 1804, famously
grabbing the crown from the Pope whom he commanded to come to France for
the ceremony. When Napoleon hit his Waterloo in 1815, Austrian overlords
moved in to fill the power vacuum.
SIGHTS
This period is noted for elaborate baroque and rococo art, embodied
by Rome's Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain, the entire Sicilian town of Noto, and
the churches of Lecce, as well as many older churches across Italy remodeled dur-
ing this period at the behest of the counter-reforming Church.
ITALIAN UNIFICATION (LATE 19TH C.)
Despite its long history, Italy is a young country--its myriad cities and provinces
unified in 1861. Italian unification is the story of the heart (Joseph Mazzini), the
head (Camilo Cavour), and the sword (Giuseppe Garibaldi). Mazzini led some of
the revolutionary activities sweeping Europe in 1848, writing and publicizing his
radical and romantic plans for the unification of Italy. Cavour, a career politician
and prime minister of Sardinia in 1852, picked up on Mazzini's passionate writ-
ings, but modified them into a more practical plan, particularly in the face of the
reactionary Church powers. Garibaldi, an Italian exile fresh from struggle for
independence in Uruguay, led a military movement across Italy. Garibaldi's
squadrons of armed “Red Shirts” coordinated with (or were manipulated by)
Cavour's political element to unify nearly all of Italy outside of Rome and Venice
(which were added after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870). The Vatican con-
demned the republic and remained in a cold war with it until a formal independ-
ence agreement was crafted in 1929.
SIGHTS
Garibaldi statues fill town squares across Italy, the most notable of
which stands in front of an epic mountain view in Todi, Umbria. Piazza della
Repubblica in Florence with its triumphant arch commemorates the brief period
in which Florence served as capital of the new republic. The late 19th century fea-
tured many neoclassical monuments, particularly in areas under Napoleonic
influence (like Lucca's main square).
20TH-CENTURY ITALY
During World War I, Italy fought on the side of the Allies, having conducted a
secret treaty in London that awarded Italy the Trentino, the south Tyrol, Trieste,
and some Dalmatian Islands as an incentive for victory. For the most part, Italians
weren't enthusiastic about the war, and became less so after suffering large casual-
ties on the northern front. Following the war, Italy suffered from the inflation and
unemployment rampant throughout Europe in the 1920s.
Benito Mussolini took control of Italy with his Brown Shirt squads in the
1920s. Through ruthless executions and purges, he solidified his power, joining
into an alliance with Hitler on the eve of World War II. His plan for a new Roman
