A brief, dated history of Italy.
Etruscans and the founding of Rome
Long before Rome, the Etruscan civilisation flourished in central Italy from around the 8th century BC, while Greek colonists settled the south in the region known as Magna Graecia. By tradition Rome was founded in 753 BC, and after a period of kings it became a republic in 509 BC.
The Roman Republic and Empire (509 BC – 476 AD)
Rome expanded across Italy and then the Mediterranean, defeating Carthage in the Punic Wars (264–146 BC). After a century of civil wars, Augustus became the first emperor in 27 BC, beginning two centuries of relative peace (the Pax Romana). At its height the empire stretched from Britain to the Euphrates. Christianity was legalised in 313 AD; the Western Roman Empire finally fell in 476 AD.
The Middle Ages
Italy fragmented into kingdoms, city-states and papal lands. Charlemagne was crowned in Rome in 800. From the 11th century powerful maritime republics — Venice, Genoa, Pisa and Amalfi — grew rich on Mediterranean trade, while inland cities such as Florence and Milan became banking and manufacturing powers.
The Renaissance (14th–16th centuries)
Italy became the birthplace of the Renaissance, a rebirth of art, science and humanism funded by families like the Medici of Florence. Giants such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael transformed Western art. The Italian Wars (1494–1559), however, left much of the peninsula under Spanish and later Austrian control.
Unification — the Risorgimento (1815–1871)
Through the 19th century the movement for unity, led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, the statesman Cavour and King Victor Emmanuel II, united the peninsula. The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861, and Rome became the capital in 1870.
The 20th century and the Republic
Italy fought in the First World War (1915–18). In 1922 Benito Mussolini brought the Fascists to power; his alliance with Nazi Germany ended in defeat and his fall in 1943. After a referendum, Italy became a republic in 1946, and in 1957 was a founding member of the European Economic Community — today the European Union. Modern Italy is a founder of the G7 and one of the world great cultural and economic powers.
Informational summary. Dates follow widely accepted historical consensus.