ROME AND THE MIDDLE AGES

Centre of the Roman civilization for centuries, Italy lost its unity after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the barbaic invasions. For centuries the country was the prey of different populations. Most of the population fled from citites to take refuges in the countryside under the protection of of powerful fedual lords. After this, Italy became part of the Holy Roman Empire. Population in the city slowly started to pick up after 1000 with the building of citites, trade, art, and literature.

ITALY DURING THE RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE

The Black Death in 1348 inflicted a terrible blow to Italy, resulting in one third of the poplulation being killed by the disease. The recovery from the disaster led to a new resurgence of cities, trade and economy which greatly stimulated the successive phase of the Humanism and Renaissance (15th-16th centuries) when Italy again returned to be the centre of Western civilisation, strongly influencing the other European countries.

ITALIAN REPUBLIC

Since then Italy has experienced a strong economic growth, particularly in the 50's and 60's, which lifted the country among the most industrialized nations in the world, with a perennial political instability.