A History of Italy in 13 Monuments

Scholars like David Gilmour and Jeremy Black have pointed out that a comprehensive history of Italy since ancient times consists of a mosaic of more or less different histories, as each region and even cities within regions have a complex story to tell. However, by focusing on a group of monuments, we can understand the Italian peninsula’s evolution and the origins of today’s Italy. Many more sites can help explain critical stories from Italy’s history. These 13 entries offer a concise yet layered history of the Italian peninsula.

When we think about the ancient history of the Italian peninsula, all roads lead to Rome. But Rome was not the first civilization to flourish in Italy. For example, the Etruscans were the most powerful civilization in pre-Roman Italy. The Etruscans lived in central and western Italy in the regions of Tuscany and Lazio between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE.

By the sixth century BCE, the Etruscans had been absorbed by Rome. As a result, much of Etruscan civilization either fused with Roman customs or was lost.

Now UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Etruscan necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia are in the region of Lazio. These sites provide a snapshot of the Etruscan civilization’s urban and funerary architectural elements. Moreover, through paintings and other objects, it is possible to get a sense of Etruscan life, death, and religious beliefs.

2. Neapolis Archaeological Park, Syracuse, Sicily 

Before the rise of Rome in southern Italy, Greek settlers established prosperous commercial colonies, especially in the vicinity of the Bay of Naples and Sicily.

The archaeological park of Neapolis in Syracuse (Siracusa), Sicily, is one of the largest in the Mediterranean. Greek settlers from Corinth founded Syracuse in 734 BCE. By the fifth century BCE, Syracuse was arguably the most powerful Greek city-state in the Mediterranean.

The ruins of Neapolis reflect the height of the city’s power. Its main attraction is the Teatro Greco or Greek Theater. In this massive amphitheater, audiences viewed early performances of legendary tragedies like Aeschylus’ The Persians.

Moreover, Jeremy Black explains that Syracuse is an example of how Italian cities evolved by building upon different layers of their respective pasts. For instance, Syracuse’s cathedral (Duomo) was built in the seventh century CE upon the ruins of an ancient Greek temple.

Part marketplace, part civic center, and part religious complex, the Roman Forum was the city’s nerve center for centuries. However, even a grand site like this had humble origins. In fact, even though it came to house impressive temples, monuments, basilicas, and public spaces, the Roman Forum was originally a marshy burial ground until the seventh century BCE.

This space, though, became a bustling hub of social, political, and economic activity throughout the history of the Roman Republic. Senators, for instance, discussed state business in the Curia. The forum also housed Rome’s treasury in the Temple of Saturn. It also came to house important monuments like triumphal arches.

Historian David Gilmour points out that Rome was a Mediterranean superpower by the first century BCE. However, military successes and territorial expansion also fanned the flames of rivalry in the political realm. Indeed, a series of civil wars eventually led to the Roman Republic’s fall and the establishment of the Roman Empire.

4. Pompeii, Pompei

Pompeii was once a thriving Roman city near the coast of the Bay of Naples. The city was founded between the seventh and sixth centuries BCE.

All this changed in 79 CE with the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius. The volcanic eruption buried Pompeii and thousands of inhabitants around the area in lapilli (burning fragments of pumice stone) or mud.

Although Pompeii’s remains were first discovered in the late sixteenth century, systematic excavation did not begin until the mid-eighteenth century.

Together with the nearby remains of Herculaneum, Pompeii gives us a sense of how Roman cities operated and insight into daily life. Moreover, these sites are enduring and chilling reminders of the devastation caused by natural disasters.

The Colosseum is an enduring monument of imperial Rome and arguably history’s most famous arena, at least for the last two millennia.

Construction began during the reign of Emperor Vespasian in 72 CE, and the Colosseum opened in 80 CE. It was inaugurated by Vespasian’s successor, Emperor Titus.

While we know this arena as the Colosseum, it was called the Flavian Amphitheater in its heyday. The arena was a showpiece of the Roman Empire’s might. Although the most legendary or infamous spectacles held at the Colosseum involved gladiatorial combat and wild animals, other events were staged. For example, at times, mock naval battles took place.

6. St. Peter’s Basilica & The Vatican Museums, Vatican City

St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican City are the spiritual and administrative heart of the Roman Catholic Church. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, Rome became Christendom’s spiritual and political center. For instance, historian Norman Davies explains that in 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor in Rome.

Although the empire sought to continue the legacy of imperial Rome, Charlemagne did not spend much time in the city. Instead, Davies notes, Aachen in present-day Germany was the true center of Charlemagne’s empire. Moreover, Charlemagne’s successors and popes competed for influence.

Despite the rivalry with Holy Roman Emperors and challenges to the Church’s authority like the Protestant Reformation, papal power remained evident through impressive building projects like St. Peter’s Basilica.

Consecrated after 120 years of construction in 1626, St. Peter’s Basilica is the largest church in Italy. It contains three of Italy’s finest artistic and architectural masterpieces: Michelangelo’s dome, the marble sculpture La Madonna della Pietà, and Bernini’s baldachin over the papal altar.

The Vatican Museums date to the papacy of Julius II in the early sixteenth century. Over the centuries, this papal art collection became one of the largest and most impressive in the world. However, the museums’ most famous holding is Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes adorning the Sistine Chapel, completed between 1508 and 1541.

Before 1870, popes often resided at the Quirinal Palace in Rome. In fact, more than thirty popes lived in the palace. Later inhabitants include Italian monarchs and current presidents of the Italian Republic. The 1929 Lateran Pacts between the Italian government led by Benito Mussolini and the Holy See established the Vatican City as an independent state. This ended the conflict known as the “Roman Question” between the papacy and the Italian state created as a result of the Risorgimento.

Unlike during the height of the Roman Empire or the modern Italian state, the Italy of the medieval and early modern periods consisted of a patchwork of often rival territories. While the papacy and princely or ducal families controlled many areas, some cities were also republics. Moreover, Jeremy Black points out that vast swaths of Italy sometimes belonged to different (and frequently antagonistic) empires like Spain and Austria.

At the same time, this fragmentation also produced continual tension between clashing political camps. For the most part, as David Gilmour explains, the battle lines concentrated on supporting either the Holy Roman Emperors or the papacy.

Florence in Tuscany emerged as one of the wealthiest and most influential cities in this era of fragmentation at the dawn of the Renaissance. Over the centuries, various churches stood on the site of Florence’s future cathedral or Duomo. But Florence’s prosperous leaders were forced into action to build a grand cathedral in the 1290s after seeing similar projects in Pisa and Siena.

Thus, by 1418, the Duomo had been under construction for over a century. But by that date, all but the dome had been completed. A clockmaker and goldsmith named Filippo Brunelleschi won a competition to complete the dome. Now honing his architectural skills, Brunelleschi won with a bold plan to create a massive eight-sided brick dome.

Many doubted Brunelleschi could pull it off. Inspired by the design of Rome’s Pantheon, Brunelleschi successfully fused ancient style and new engineering techniques to create the largest masonry dome in the world. This combination of concepts from the ancient world and modern knowledge exemplifies the age of the Renaissance.

Venice emerged as the capital of an impressive eastern Mediterranean empire by the fifteenth century. The city was also a republic that came to be nicknamed La Serenissima (The Most Serene). The city’s ruler was the Doge (leader or duke), a title first held back in 697 CE. Elections for the office were lengthy and complicated, and over time, doges established hereditary dynasties.

The Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale) reflects key elements of Venice’s Mediterranean empire and local traditions. Initially constructed over the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the palace underwent several enlargements. However, it retained its signature Gothic architectural character.

The palace was more of a government complex than a personal residence for the city’s ruler. For instance, it housed the seat of government, courts, and even a prison!

During the height of the French Revolutionary Wars in the 1790s, Napoleon dissolved the Republic of Venice.

9. The Vittoriano, Rome

Napoleon and the forces of the French Revolution did more than sweep away former powers in Italy, such as imperial Venice. In fact, the French presence in Italy fueled the rise of Italian nationalism and a desire to unite the Italian peninsula into a single nation-state. The nationalist drive to unite the peninsula became known as the Risorgimento.

After several decades of disastrous attempts to create a united Italy, nationalists at least partially realized their dream with the birth of the Kingdom of Italy in March 1861. In September 1870, Italian troops seized Rome and ended the papacy’s temporal power. Rome soon became the capital of the Italian state.

Also known as the Altar of the Fatherland, the Vittoriano is a massive marble memorial to Italy’s first monarch, King Vittorio Emmanuele II. Construction began in 1885, and the monument was dedicated as part of the country’s celebration of 50 years of unification in 1911.

In 1921, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated under the statue of the goddess Roma. The Vittoriano was finally completed in 1935 with the opening of Rome’s Risorgimento Museum.

The Mole Antonelliana dominates the skyline of Turin (Torino). Original construction plans in the early 1860s designated the building as a synagogue. However, the municipality acquired the project in the mid-1870s and desired it to symbolize national unity like the Vittoriano in Rome. As a result, the project was dedicated as a memorial to King Vittorio Emmanuele II.

Vittorio Emmanuele II was born not far from the site of the Mole Antonelliana in the Palazzo Carignano. This palace was a royal residence of Vittorio Emmanuele’s family, the House of Savoy. The future Italian royal family long ruled the island of Sardinia and the region of Piedmont, where Turin is located. Thus, although he became Italy’s first monarch, Vittorio Emmanuele maintained his dynastic title of Vittorio Emmanuele II.

At the time of its dedication in April 1889, it was the largest brick building in Europe. The building’s name comes from its architect, Alessandro Antonelli.

Today, it houses the National Museum of Cinema and offers outstanding views of the city and surrounding area.

11. The Ara Pacis Augustae & Piazza Augusto Imperatore, Rome  

Benito Mussolini and his Fascist Party seized power in October 1922 after the March on Rome.

Once installed in power, the Fascist regime attempted to create links to different eras of Italy’s past. While various projects were designed to link the Fascists to Risorgimento and Renaissance heroes, the Roman Empire attracted the most attention.

Indeed, Aristotle Kallis points out that the Fascists encouraged the myth of Romanità (Romanness). Essentially, propagandists sought to promote Mussolini’s regime as the successor to Roman imperial power, especially military prowess.

Marla Stone notes that Mussolini prioritized commemorating the 2000th anniversary of Emperor Augustus’ birth in 1937-1938. In 1937, Mussolini inaugurated an exhibition in Rome dedicated to Augustus and the Roman Empire.

Commemorations closed with the opening of a new museum in 1938 to showcase the restored Ara Pacis Augustae, a large altar dedicated initially in 9 BCE to commemorate Augustus’ victories in France and Spain. The monument was moved near the Mausoleum of Augustus and exhibited to the public in 1938 as part of Mussolini’s efforts to link his regime to ancient Rome.

Indeed, during the Fascist regime, this area was extensively renovated to exhibit both monuments. For instance, a number of buildings were demolished in the 1930s to create Piazza Augusto Imperatore (Emperor Augustus Square) in 1937. A new museum designed to exhibit the Ara Pacis was completed at the same site in 2006.

Fascist Italy entered the Second World War alongside Nazi Germany in June 1940. Heading the alliance known as the Axis Powers, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy’s so-called Rome-Berlin axis came under serious strain by 1943-1944.

Italy had long been important in key areas of Christian activity like monasticism. One sign of this was the prominence of Benedictine monasteries like Monte Cassino or Montecassino. St. Benedict founded the abbey in 529 CE. Jeremy Black says Montecassino enjoyed its “golden age” under the abbot Desiderius of Benevento in the 1060s and 1070s. Desiderius became Pope Victor III in 1086.

However, the abbey of Monte Cassino is also well-known for being the site of a major battle of the Second World War. Between January and May 1944, American and British armies attacked entrenched German forces blocking the Allied path to Rome.

American and British leaders mistakenly believed that German troops used the abbey for military purposes. As a result, their bombers destroyed the abbey and much of the local community in February 1944. Following this assault, German troops used the historic abbey ruins as a critical component of their defensive positions against Allied assaults.

Finally, in mid-May 1944, soldiers from the Polish II Corps attached to the British forces launched one of the decisive attacks on German lines.

Most scholars believe the battle to be a Pyrrhic victory for the Allies. Nevertheless, Rome soon fell to the Allies on June 4, 1944, just two days before the D-Day Landings at Normandy.

The abbey was rebuilt after the war.

13. San Siro/Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, Milan

Calcio (football, soccer) is practically a secular religion in Italy. Few stadiums can claim to be a cathedral for the sport, quite like Milan’s San Siro or Giuseppe Meazza Stadium. The stadium is home to Milan’s two top-tier clubs and fierce rivals, AC Milan and Inter Milan.

Today, the stadium’s seating capacity of over 80,000 makes it the largest in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. It first opened in 1926 and hosted games for the 1934 World Cup as well as many other major tournaments. It is scheduled to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony.

Moreover, the stadium’s renovations and expansion beginning in the 1950s reflect the growth of Milan into a powerhouse city of post-WWII Italy. While there have long been discussions about replacing the stadium, it remains a significant landmark for Milan and the country.