The History of Italy

How did a land of warring tribes and feuding city-states become the cultural force that shaped the Western world? This book traces 3,000 years of Italian history, from Rome's earliest days as a small village to the hard-fought unification of a modern nation. It is a story of emperors, artists, rebels, and political schemers, told in a way that keeps moving without dumbing anything down. Covering the rise and collapse of the Roman Empire, medieval power struggles between popes and emperors, the genius and ruthlessness of the Renaissance, and the guerrilla campaigns and backroom diplomacy that finally united Italy in the 19th century, this book does not skip the messy parts. Faith, feudalism, and the long fight for freedom run through Italian history like threads in the same fabric, and this book follows each of them. From Rome's tiny settlement to a continent spanning empire and its internal rot. Medieval feudal lords, merchant princes, and the explosive clash between papal and imperial power. Da Vinci's genius, Medici cunning, and the art and science that reshaped Europe. Garibaldi's guerrillas, Mazzini's underground networks, and Cavour's diplomatic maneuvering.