ITALY YESTERDAY:

Kingdom of Italy’s motto: FOEDERE ET RELIGIONE TENEMUR (faithful to politics and religion)

Capitals: Turin (1861-1864)
Florence (1864-1871)
Rome (since 1871)

Language: Italian

Religion: Roman Catholicism

Government: Constitutional monarchy

Population: 33.680.000

Currency: Italian lira

Government… THE STATUTO ALBERTINO:The kingdom’s constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the former governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

THE UNIFICATION PROCESS (1848-1870)
The creation of the Kingdom of Italy was the result of concerted efforts of Italian nationalists and monarchists loyal to the House of Savoy to establish a united kingdom encompassing the entire Italian Peninsula.
Giuseppe Garibaldi led the Italian republican drive for unification in southern Italy, while the northern Italian monarchy of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, whose government was led by Camillo Benso, Conte di Cavour, had the ambition of establishing a united Italian state under its rule. The Kingdom successfully challenged the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian War of Independence. It established Turin as capital of the newly formed state. In 1865 the capital was moved to Florence.
During the Napoleonic wars, the northern part of the country was invaded and reorganized as a new kingdom of Italy, that was a client state of the French Empire, while the southern half of the peninsula was administered by Joachim Murat.

Cavour, in order to challenge republican unification efforts, organized by Garibaldi, planned popular revolts in the Papal States. Only a small portion of the Papal States around Rome remained under the control of Pope Pius IX. Despite their differences, Cavour agreed to include Garibaldi’s Southern Italy, allowing it to join the union with Piedmont-Sardinia in 1860. Subsequently, Cavour declared the creation of the Kingdom of Italy on February 18, 1861.
King Victor Emmanuel II was declared King of Italy. Cavour, the Kingdom’s strongman, died on 6th June 1861. Another important character who played an important role in the unification process was Giuseppe Mazzini, patriot, politician and philosopher. His ideas and his political action contributed significantly to the creation of the unified Italian state. Giuseppe Mazzini is considered, with Giuseppe Garibaldi, Vittorio Emanuele II and Camillo Benso, Count Cavour, one of the fathers of our homeland.

L'incontro tra Garibaldi e Vittorio Emanuele II

MAZZINI                                                                                                  CAVOUR

AFTER THE UNIFICATION

Northern Italy underwent a process of industrialization and modernization, while Southern Italy and some rural areas in the North remained under-developed.
After the unification, Italy’s politics favored liberalism: the Liberal-conservative right - historical right - and Liberal-conservative. The main character of this period, marked by corruption, government instability, poverty in southern Italy, and use of authoritarian measures by the Italian government, is without doubt Agostino Depretis.
He began an experimental political idea called “Transformism”. The theory of “trasformismo” was that a cabinet should select a variety of moderates and capable politicians from a non-partisan perspective.

Transformism was also continued by Francesco Crispi who became Prime Minister. In 1887 he worked to build Italy as a great world power and tried to win the favour of the German Empire.
At the same time, Italy joined the Triple Alliance which included both Germany and Austria-Hungary.
The Italian unification was finally achieved, and shortly afterwards Italy’s capital was moved from Florence to Rome, after the conquest of the city in 1870. This event marked the break in the relations between the Italian state and the Church.There was also a great liberal politician called Giovanni Giolitti. He was one of the most effectively commited liberal politicians who struggled for the extension of the base of the young democratic state. He wanted economic modernization and an industrial and cultural-policy for the Italian society in the XIX and XX centuries.

AGOSTINO DEPRETIS                                                                      GIOVANNI GIOLITTI

War memories:

FIRST WORLD WAR: At the outbreak of World War I, Italy opted for a neutral position.
There were two lines: the “neutralists” and the “interventionists”.
On 24th May, 1915, Italy declared war on Austria, entering the First World War. The first battles, in which the Italian Army was involved, had disastrous results.The Austrian offensive became increasingly pressing, until the Italian Army suffered the terrible defeat of Caporetto, on 24th October 1917, with serious repercussions on the economic and social life of the country. 1918 was the decisive year of the conflict, which also marked the conclusion of the First World War with the victory of the Triple Entente.


SECOND WORLD WAR:
On 10th June, 1940, Italy entered World War II as an ally of Germany. It is considered the largest armed conflict in history, and it cost six years of untold suffering, destruction and massacres for a total of 55 million dead. The tragedy of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jewish took place.The second world war ended on 14th August, 1945. More than 410,000 Italian soldiers died in the conflict.

Kings of Italy:

· Victor Emmanuel II (1861-1878)

· Umberto I (1878-1900)

· Victor Emmanuel III (1900-1946)

· Umberto II (1946)

To understand everything in just 32 seconds, click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcxHw27jr4U

THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC:

Official name: Repubblica Italiana

Official language: Italian

Other language spoken: German and French

Capital: Rome

Form of government: Parliamentary Republic

President of the Republic: Giorgio Napolitano

Unification: the 17th of March 1861

Republic: the 2nd of June 1946

Population: 60.545.940 inhabitants

Currency: Euro (since 2002)

The birth of the Italian Republic

June 2nd, 1946: The Italians were called to the polls to choose between the Monarchy and the Republic.
On that same day, elections for the Constituent Assembly were held. This body was responsible for writing the new Constitution, that had to replace the old Albertine Statute. For the first time in Italian history, universal suffrage was granted to women. Before, in fact, women did not have any voting rights.
In an effort to save the Crown, shortly before the elections of June 2nd, Vittorio Emanuele abdicated (May 9, 1946) in favour of his son Umberto II.
The majority of the Italians voted in favor of the Republic. The result of the referendum, announced by the Interior Minister Giuseppe Romita, was this: "Republic, 12,718,641 votes, 10,718,502 Monarchy”.
A few days after the referendum, King Umberto II of Savoy known as the "King of May" was obliged to exile to Portugal (June 13th, 1946).
The Constituent Assembly, freely elected, started its work on 25th June 1946 and three days later Enrico De Nicola was elected temporary Head of State.On 22nd December 1947, the Assembly approved the text of the Italian Constitution, which came into force on 1st January 1948.


THE ITALIAN CONSTITUTION

The Italian Constitution is the fundamental law and the foundation of the Italian State. It was passed by the Constituent Assembly on 22nd December 1947 and published in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic on 27th December 1947. It entered into force on 1st January 1948.
The Constitution is composed of 139 articles.

PARLIAMENT

It’s an elected body made up of:
   -Senators
   -Members (of Parliament)

POWERS OF THE STATE

The three powers of the Italian state are:
   -legislative power, it belongs to the Parliament;
   -executive power, it belongs to the government;
   -judicial power, it belongs to the judiciary.

The “Tricolore”:

"The flag of our Republic is the Italian “tricolore”: green, white and red, in three vertical bands of equal size."(Article 12 of the Constitution of the Italian Republic)

Green symbolizes hope, long-cultivated and often disappointed during the nineteenth century.
White symbolizes the Catholic faith, professed by the majority of the Italians. Red stands for the blood shed for the unification of Italy.
These colours were already known at the time of Dante Alighieri, as symbols of the three theological virtues: hope: green, white: faith, red: charity (Purgatorio Canto XXX, v.30 -33): accordingly they represent Italian culture and literature.

The Italian national flag was born with a document dated October 18, 1796 passed by the provisional Senate of Bologna.

The "Canto Degli Italiani'', also known as Inno di Mameli or "Fratelli d'Italia'', is the national anthem of the Italian Republic, provisionally chosen in 1946 and finally passed on 17th November 2005.

Mameli

Fratelli d'Italia, L'Italia s'è desta; Dell'elmo di Scipio S'è cinta la testa. Dov'è la Vittoria? Le porga la chioma; Ché schiava di Roma Iddio la creò. Stringiamci a coorte! Siam pronti alla morte; Italia chiamò. Noi siamo da secoli Calpesti, derisi, Perché non siam popolo, Perché siam divisi. Raccolgaci un'unica Bandiera, una speme; Di fonderci insieme Già l'ora suonò. Stringiamci a coorte! Siam pronti alla morte; Italia chiamò. Uniamoci, amiamoci; L'unione e l'amore Rivelano ai popoli Le vie del Signore. Giuriamo far libero Il suolo natio: Uniti, per Dio, Chi vincer ci può? Stringiamci a coorte! Siam pronti alla morte; Italia chiamò. Dall'Alpe a Sicilia, Dovunque è Legnano; Ogn'uom di Ferruccio Ha il core e la mano; I bimbi d'Italia Si chiaman Balilla; Il suon d'ogni squilla I Vespri suonò. Stringiamci a coorte! Siam pronti alla morte; Italia chiamò. Son giunchi che piegano Le spade vendute; Già l'Aquila d'Austria Le penne ha perdute. Il sangue d'Italia E il sangue Polacco Bevé col Cosacco, Ma il cor le bruciò. Stringiamci a coorte! Siam pronti alla morte; Italia chiamò.

To hear a short version of our anthem click here and SING IT!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcAupmoJfTk&feature=related