The earliest inhabitants of Italy who had an influence on its development were the Etruscans. By the sixth century BC they had well established settlements in Northern Italy. These early settlers prospered and were instrumental in the making of the rich and composite history of Italy, which in turn, affected the course of European progress, mostly in the areas of culture and political thought. Italy came to be the country it is known as today only in 1861. Before this its main political components were the city states, the most powerful of which was that of Rome. By the third century BC Rome had subdued all the neighbouring states and began a process of rapid expansion. Soon thereafter, it established its hegemony over all the countries around the Mediterranean Sea and for many centuries the Roman Empire, as it was known, bestowed on its citizens the benefits of what it called the Pax Romana. This could be described as a culture, derived mainly from the Greek, which included law, governance and relative prosperity and peace.  

This idyllic state of affairs lasted only till the fifth century AD, when internal conflict and external threats lad to the disintegration of the Empire. Representatives of the Emperor in Constantinople, mainly of German descent, now took control over Italy. For some years Italy managed to keep its integrity under the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Theodoric. But in the year 535 AD Justinian re-conquered the country, and in the late sixth century nomads from Northern Europe established the Kingdom of Lombardy, and this finally led to the fragmentation of Italy into a number of different states. 

Just like the other States of Europe, the history of Italy over the next ten or so centuries was turbulent and complex. The North was mainly under the control of the Papacy and the South by a succession of invaders – the Byzantines were first replaced by the Muslims and then the Muslims by the Normans and their successors such as the Angevins, the Aragonese and the Bourbons. The great Emperor Charlemagne conquered Northern Italy and for many years, from the eighth to the eleventh centuries, he and his descendants tried unsuccessfully to establish their dominion over the whole area. The next development in this complex period was the rise of the city states of Florence, Genoa, Milan and Venice. These independant states became extremely powerful and soon exercised a great commercial and political influence over the Northern regions of Italy.  

The South was first run over by the Muslims in the Ninth century who in their turn were defeated by the Normans in 1059. The Normans flourished and soon had control over most of Southern Italy. Under Roger II, the Kingdom became a well known centre of commerce and culture in the twelfth century. A reunification of sorts came into effect when Frederic II married into the Hohenstaufen Empire of Henry VI.  Naples and Sicily were then ruled respectively by the houses of Anjou and Aragon until the latter reunited the region in 1442. This was one of the most convoluted periods of Italian history; the Fifteenth century saw the Popes having a leading role in the politics of the country. But this was also the age of the blossoming of the greatest period of Italian art and culture – the Italian Renaissance. It was the age of writers such as Machiavelli, Aristio and Guicciardini who had the powerful Medici family as their patrons, while various Popes supported a plethora of artists including Fra Angelico, Raphael, Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.  

The sixteenth century was the beginning of the decline in power of the city states, and over the next two centuries the flux in the political affairs of the various states involved, resulted finally in the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1851, with Victor Emmanuel II as its first King and Florence as its capital. It was in the sixteenth century that the Spanish influence over Italy slowly the French. The Hapsburgs were for all practical purposes ruling the states of Milan, Naples and Sicily. Many of the smaller states changed hands and some merged together. Though the larger city states stayed independent they gradually lost both their power and importance. The eighteenth century saw the Bourbons rule over the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, while everywhere else there was a rise in opposition to the rule of the Hapsburgs.  Garibaldi and the House of Savoy were the main instigators of this opposition which finally led to the deposing of the ruling princes of Northern and Central Italy, and the crowning of Emmanuel II as the first King of Italy. It took another ten years for Venice and Rome to become part of the country.          

During the years that followed, the new ruling dynasty in Italy concentrated in strengthening their position in the country, so much so, while the other European countries were busy colonizing the rest of the world, the forays into colonization by the Italians were limited. Another reason for this could be the failure of their Ethiopian campaigns. Italy joined the allies in the First World War and as a result of this gained some territory during the peace that followed the war. The Twenties and the Thirties were beset by economic problems which were one of the reasons for the rise of the Fascists under Mussolini. Italy made the mistake of supporting Hitler in the Second World War which resulted in many ignominious defeats at the hands of the allies. After the surrender of the Italian forces and the arrest of Mussolini in 1943, the new Government backed the Allies for the remainder of World War II. 

In 1946 the monarchy in Italy ended with the abdication of King Emmanuel III. Italy became a republic. Since then many elections have been held and there have been numerous governments that ruled Italy since the end of the Second World War. The main parties are the Christian Democrats and the communist Party and these are accompanied by a few other smaller parties. The Christian Democrats have been a constituent of fifty-one of the governments since the war, while the Communists have dominated the opposition. In the early nineties the Communist Party renounced Marxism and this resulted in a split in the party, and the formation of the Partito Democratico della Sinistra (PDS) and the Rifondazione Comunista. There has never been a really stable Italian government, but this makes little difference to the Italian people as a nation. 

In April 1992, Giuliano D’Amato of the centre-right Partito Socialista Italiano (PSI) became country’s 51st post-war premier. D’Amato was one of the few senior PSI figures untainted by the corruption scandal to break over Italy, involving the payment of large bribes to politicians. This scandal and the 1992 Mafia violence made the Italians react angrily. The D’Amato government lasted only 12 months, and its successor even less. It was at this point, January 1994, when the Italians had completely lost faith in their politicians that a saviour – Silvio Berlusconi – appeared. One of the countries biggest businessmen, he called himself ‘Il Cavaliere’, and ran a successful campaign resulying in his election. He joined the two right parties – the Lega Nord and the Aleanza Nazionale, Forza Italia – and this coalition formed a new government in March 1994.This coalation was unstable almost from the very beginning. The Aleanza Nazionale was essentially a fascist organization and the Lega Nord was a regional party that thrived on the resentment between the North and the South. Berlusconi himself was more concerned about the interests of his Empire than those of the nation. It did not take very long for his coalition to come apart and for Berlusconi to be forced out of office.  

This paved the way for the communists and in April 1996 the Ulivo alliance formed the first left wing government in Italy. The PDS off course dominated the alliance with the Rifondazione Comunista being one of the supporting smaller parties. This government lasted four years. During this time Italy played a major part in resolving the Kosovo crises, but the government suffered a number of domestic setbacks including a faltering economy. This, and the incumbency factor, led to its defeat in the 2001 elections. Berlusconi, with his media control and the old alliance, now called the Casa delle Libertà, managed to win a second term in office. During the past two years Berlusconi has got himself acquitted of various corruption and bribery charges, and also managed to keep control of his business Empire. He has also enacted tough immigration laws and new labour laws that have resulted in a nationwide unrest. But with all this, he does seem to have a stable government that could complete its full term in office.