From Ancient Rome to the European Union
Archaeologists have found evidence supporting the notion that humans inhabited present-day Italy as early as 200,000 years ago, and it is believed that Greek colonies were established on the land as early as the eighth century B.C., just before the first communities of what would become Ancient Rome began to form. The massive Roman Empire started here and dominated most of Europe for some 1,200 years.
During the Middle Ages, the various regions of Italy were annexed and re-annexed to various neighboring empires while the first of Italy's city-states began to emerge, eventually becoming known as the four classic Maritime Republics. You will recognize their names even today: Venice, Pisa, Genoa, and Amalfi, each strategically located along the coastline where merchant ships traveled. By the 1400s, Italy had fueled the Renaissance that would last for 300 years, inspiring a renewed interest in learning and culture that soon spread across modern-day Europe.
Question
What is a Renaissance man?
Generally speaking, the term refers to a person whose intelligence and knowledge are not restricted to a single subject area. Some of the best-known Italian Renaissance men included Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who painted, wrote, sculpted, designed architectural and engineering plans, and more.
Toward Modern Boundaries
Italy became a unified state in the late 1800s, though its borders continued to shift into the early 1900s. Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini rose to power in 1922 and remained in control until 1943. Italy was liberated from fascist rule in 1945 at the end of World War II.
After more territorial transitions in the wake of that war, the Marshall Plan helped rebuild Italy within the borders that we know today. During those same postwar years, Italy — along with Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Holland, and West Germany — became a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community in the first step toward the economic unification of Europe.
Italy also has played a strong role on the world stage as part of the United Nations, into which it was admitted in 1955. The nation's soldiers have helped with peacekeeping missions from Somalia to Lebanon, as well as supporting the United States' Operation Enduring Freedom with 2,000 troops in Afghanistan in 2003.
The European Union
In 1993, a generation after the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, Italy became one of the founding members of the European Union, which continues to grow and strengthen today. The Treaty of Maastricht established the multinational entity, stating that Italy and the other member states share an economic market that guarantees the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital. There are foreign policy components, as well, but in general each country still has its own systems of laws and government. When you visit Italy you are within the European Union, yet you are still subject to Italian customs and laws.
Fact
Italy is one of the countries in the European Union's euro zone, meaning places where the euro is the official form of currency. Italy adopted the euro in 1999, before which the lira had been the national currency. Lira had been used since 1861, and you needed to exchange nearly 2,000 lira to get a single euro when the new currency was adopted.
What's nice about the European Union for travelers is that once you enter, you don't need to get your passport stamped when crossing the borders between countries. Should you want to cross the northwestern Italian border with France to visit a beach on the Côte d'Azur, you can do so without international authorization.
