Country in S Europe, bounded N by Switzerland and Austria, E by Slovenia, Croatia, and the Adriatic Sea, S by the Ionian and Mediterranean seas, and W by the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian seas and France. It includes the Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Sicily.
government.
The 1948 constitution provides for a two-chamber parliament consisting of a senate and a 630-member chamber of deputies. Both are elected for a five-year term by universal suffrage and have equal powers. Constitutional reforms adopted 1993 amended the voting system—one of proportional representation—to allow for 75% of the chamber of deputies to be elected by simple majority voting. The revisions also allowed Italian ex-patriates to vote in national elections and required elected deputies to retire after 15 years. The senate's 315 elected members are regionally representative, and there are also seven life senators. The president is constitutional head of state and is elected for a seven-year term by an electoral college consisting of both houses of parliament and 58 regional representatives. The president appoints the prime minister and cabinet (council of ministers), and they are collectively responsible to parliament. Although Italy is not a federal state, each of its 20 regions enjoys a high degree of aut.
onomy, with a regional council elected for a five-year term by universal suffrage.
history.
The varying peoples inhabiting Italy— Etruscans in Tuscany, Latins and Sabines in middle Italy, Greek colonies in the south and Sicily, and Gauls in the north— were united under Roman rule during the 4th–3rd centuries BC. With the decline of the Roman Empire, and its final extinction AD 476, Italy became exposed to barbarian attacks and passed in turn under the rule of the Ostrogoths and the Lombards. The 8th century witnessed the rise of the papacy as a territorial power, the annexation of the Lombard kingdom by Charlemagne, and his coronation as emperor of the West in 800.
From then until 1250 the main issue in Italian history is the relations, at first friendly and later hostile, between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. During this struggle the Italian cities seized the opportunity to convert themselves into self-governing republics.
wars and divisions.
By 1300 five major powers existed in Italy: the city-republics of Milan, Florence, and Venice; the papal states; and the kingdom of Naples. Their mutual rivalries and constant wars laid Italy open 1494–1559 to invasions from France and Spain; as a result Naples and Milan passed under Spanish rule. After 1700 Austria secured Milan and replaced Spain as the dominating power, while Naples passed to a Spanish Bourbon dynasty and Sardinia to the dukes of Savoy. The period of French rule 1796–1814 temporarily unified Italy and introduced the principles of the French Revolution, but after Napoleon's fall Italy was again divided between Austria, the pope, the kingdoms of Sardinia and Naples, and four smaller duchies. Nationalist and democratic ideals nevertheless remained alive and inspired attempts at revolution 1820, 1831, and 1848–49. After this last failure, the Sardinian monarchy assumed the leadership of the national movement.
unification of Italy.
With the help of Napoleon III, the Austrians were expelled from Lombardy 1859; the duchies joined the Italian kingdom; Garibaldi overthrew the Neapolitan monarchy; and Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed king of Italy at Turin 1861. Venice and part of Venetia were secured by another war with Austria 1866; in 1870 Italian forces occupied Rome, thus completing the unification of Italy, and the pope ceased to be a temporal ruler until 1929 (see Vatican City State). In 1878 Victor Emmanuel II died and was succeeded by Humbert (Umberto) I, his son, who was assassinated 1900.
colonial empire.
The formation of a colonial empire began 1869 with the purchase of land on the Bay of Assab, on the Red Sea, from the local sultan. In the next 20 years the Italians occupied all Eritrea, which was made a colony 1889. An attempt to seize Ethiopia was decisively defeated at Adowa 1896. War with Turkey 1911–12 gave Italy Tripoli and Cyrenaica. Italy's intervention on the Allied side in World War I secured it Trieste, the Trentino, and S Tirol.
Fascist era.
The postwar period was marked by intense political and industrial unrest, culminating 1922 in the establishment of Mussolini's Fascist dictatorship. The regime embraced a policy of aggression with the conquest of Ethiopia 1935–36 and Albania 1939, and Italy entered World War II in 1940 as an ally of Germany. Defeat in Africa 1941–43 and the Allied conquest of Sicily 1943 resulted in Mussolini's downfall; the new government declared war on Germany, and until 1945 Italy was a battlefield of German occupying forces, the Italian underground (partisans), and the advancing Allies.
republic.
In 1946 Victor Emmanuel III, who had been king since 1900, abdicated in favor of his son Humbert (Umberto) II. The monarchy was abolished after a referendum 1946, and the country became a republic, adopting a new constitution 1948. Between 1946 and 1986 there were nine parliaments and 45 administrations. The Christian Democratic Party was dominant until 1963 and after this participated in most coalition governments. In 1976 the Communists became a significant force, winning over a third of the votes for the chamber of deputies and pressing for what they called the “historic compromise”, a broad-based government with representatives from the Christian Democratic, Socialist, and Communist parties, which would, in effect, be an alliance between Communism and Roman Catholicism. The Christian Democrats rejected this. Apart from a brief period 1977–78, the other parties excluded the Communists from power-sharing, forcing them to join the opposition.
coalition governments.
In 1980 the Socialists returned to share power with the Christian Democrats and Republicans and participated in a number of subsequent coalitions. In 1983, the leader of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), Bettino Craxi, became the republic's first Socialist prime minister, leading a coalition of Christian Democrats, Socialists, Republicans, Social Democrats, and Liberals. Under Craxi's government, which lasted until 1987, the state of the economy improved, although the north–south divide in productivity and prosperity persisted, despite attempts to increase investment in the south. Various short-lived coalition governments followed; in 1989, the veteran Giulio Andreotti put together a new coalition of Christian Democrats, Socialists, and minor parties. In 1990 the Communist Party abandoned Marxism-Leninism and adopted the name Democratic Party of the Left (PDS). Its leader, Achille Occhetto, was elected secretary general of the renamed party. A referendum held June 1991 overwhelmingly approved reform of the v.
oting procedure in an attempt to eliminate electoral corruption and to reduce the political influence of the Mafia. In Feb 1992 President Cossiga dissolved parliament two months ahead of schedule and set a general election date of 6 April. The election resulted in the ruling coalition losing its majority and the need for the Christian Democrats to forge a new alliance. President Cossiga carried out his threat to resign if a new coalition was not formed within a reasonable time. The election of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro as president May 1992 was followed in June by the swearing in of Giuliano Amato, leader of the PDS, as premier. The reshuffled cabinet reflected Amato's intent on reform. In Sept 1992, after unprecedented currency speculation, the government devalued the lira and suspended its membership in the Exchange Rate Mechanism.
exposure of corruption.
In Feb 1993 judges investigating Italy's corruption network accused PSI leader, Bettino Craxi, of involvement. He resigned the leadership and was succeeded by Giorgio Benvenutu. In March 1993 the corruption investigations (the Mani Puliti) revealed the extensive involvement of many of Italy's notable politicians, including seven-times prime minister, Giulio Andreotti, whose name was linked with Mafia leaders.
constitutional reform.
A referendum April 1993 showed 82.7% of the Italian people to be in favor of a new majority electoral system and a “cleaner” democracy. Prime Minister Giuliano Amato announced his resignation, marking the start of a transition toward a Second Republic. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the Christian Democrat governor of the Bank of Italy, was asked to form a new government. In May 1993 parliament voted to retain former Socialist leader Bettino Craxi’s immunity from prosecution on several charges of corruption, despite widespread criticism. In the same month, Giorgio Benvenutu was replaced as PSI leader by Ottaviano del Truro. Constitutional reform proposals were announced July 1993 and approved by parliament Aug 1993.
right-wing alliance.
In Jan 1994 Ciampi resigned, making way for a general election in March. A number of new political parties subsequently formed, including the right-of-center Forza Italia, transformed from a pressure group into a full fledged political party under media magnate Silvio Berlusconi. Despite fundamental differences in policy between the federalist Northern League and the neofascist National Alliance (AN), the two parties joined forces with Berlusconi's Forza Italia to fight the March 1994 elections, winning a resounding victory. Berlusconi eventually succeeded in forming a right-wing coalition government but, despite a pledge not to include neofascists in his government, appointed three members of the AN to cabinet posts. Within months of assuming office, Berlusconi faced a crisis of confidence, arising from alleged conflicts of interest between his business concerns and his national responsibilities, and in Dec 1994, after his coalition lost its parliamentary majority, he resigned. Lamberto Dini, a former banker.
and independent member of Berlusconi's administration, was chosen to form a new government Jan 1995.
foreign relations.
In foreign affairs Italy has demonstrated its commitment to the European Union (founder member), NATO, and the United Nations, and in 1983 played an important part in the multinational peacekeeping force in Beirut.
1. A republic in southern Europe; was the core of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD; Also called: Italia.
2. Town in Texas (USA); zip code 76651. + prikaži više