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The Story of

Italy

431 BCE – 2021

Country in southern Europe

  1. Battle of Vittorio Veneto

    4 November 1918 – 3 November 1918

    The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought from 24 October to 4 November 1918 near Vittorio Veneto on the Italian Front during World War I. After having defeated Austro-Hungarian troops during the Second Battle of the Piave River and recognizing the dire internal situation of Austria-Hungary caused by the course of the war and the blockade of the Adriatic at sea, the Royal Italian Army launched a major offensive: the Italian victory marked the end of the war on the Italian Front and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, contributing to the end of the First World War just one week…

  2. Battle of Taranto

    11 November 1940 – 12 November 1940

    The Battle of Taranto, also known as the Raid on Taranto, and Operation Judgement took place on the night of 11/12 November 1940 during the Second World War between British naval forces (Admiral Andrew Cunningham) and Italian naval forces (Admiral Inigo Campioni). The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack, employing 21 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo-bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean Sea.

  3. Allied invasion of Sicily

    9 July 1943 – 17 August 1943

    The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as the Battle of Sicily and Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which Allied forces invaded the Italian island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis forces. The island was defended by the Italian 6th Army and the German XIV Panzer Corps.

  4. Italian Campaign

    10 July 1943 – 2 May 1945

    The Italian campaign of World War II, also called the Liberation of Italy following the German occupation in September 1943, consisted of Allied and Axis operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to 1945. The joint Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre and it planned and led the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, followed in September by the invasion of the Italian mainland and the campaign in Italy until the surrender of the Axis forces in Italy in May 1945.

  5. Allied invasion of Italy

    17 September 1943 – 16 September 1943

    The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group (comprising General Mark W. Clark's American Fifth Army and General Bernard Montgomery's British Eighth Army) and followed the successful Allied invasion of Sicily. A preliminary landing in Calabria (Operation Baytown) took place on 3 September, the main invasion force landed on the west coast of Italy at Salerno on 9 September as part of Operation…

  6. Battle of Monte Cassino

    17 January 1944 – 18 May 1944

    The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome, was a series of four military assaults by the Allies against Axis forces in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The objective was to break through the Winter Line and facilitate an advance towards Rome. In the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Winter Line was anchored by German forces holding the Rapido-Gari, Liri, and Garigliano valleys and several surrounding peaks and ridges.

  7. Battle of Anzio

    22 January 1944 – 5 June 1944

    The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that commenced 22 January 1944. The battle began with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle, and ended on 4 June 1944, with the liberation of Rome.

  8. Italian constitutional referendum, 1946

    2 June 1946

    An institutional referendum (Italian: referendum istituzionale, or referendum sulla forma istituzionale dello Stato) was held by universal suffrage in the Kingdom of Italy on 2 June 1946, a key event of contemporary Italian history. Until 1946, Italy was a kingdom ruled by the House of Savoy, reigning since the unification of Italy in 1861 and previously rulers of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

  9. Superga air disaster

    4 May 1949

    The Superga air disaster (Italian: Tragedia di Superga, "Tragedy of Superga") occurred on 4 May 1949, when a Fiat G.212 airliner of Avio Linee Italiane, carrying the entire Torino football team (popularly known as the Grande Torino), crashed into the retaining wall at the back of the Basilica of Superga, which stands on a hilltop near Turin, Italy. All thirty-one people on board were killed.

  10. Years of Lead

    1970s – 1982

    The Years of Lead (Italian: Anni di piombo) were a period of social and political turmoil in Italy that lasted from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, marked by a wave of both far-left and far-right political terrorism. The Years of Lead are sometimes considered to have begun with the 1968 movement in Italy and the Hot Autumn strikes starting in 1969; the death of the policeman Antonio Annarumma in November 1969; the Piazza Fontana bombing in December of that year, which killed 17 and was perpetrated by right-wing terrorists in Milan; and the death shortly after of anarchist worker Giuseppe…

  11. Treaty of Osimo

    10 November 1975

    The Treaty of Osimo was signed on 10 November 1975 by Italy and Yugoslavia in Osimo, Italy, to definitively divide the Free Territory of Trieste between the two states: the port city of Trieste with a narrow coastal strip to the north-west (Zone A) was given to Italy; a portion of the north-western part of the Istrian peninsula (Zone B) was given to Yugoslavia. The full name of the treaty is Treaty on the delimitation of the frontier for the part not indicated as such in the Peace Treaty of 10 February 1947.

  12. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

    17 July 1998

    The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998 and entered into force on 1 July 2002.

  13. 2009 L'Aquila earthquake

    6 April 2009

    An earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in southern Italy, at 03:32 CEST (01:32 UTC) on 6 April 2009. It measured 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale and 5.8 or 5.9 on the Richter scale; its epicentre was near L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, which together with surrounding villages suffered the most damage.

  14. 2012 Northern Italy earthquakes

    20 May 2012 – 29 May 2012

    In May 2012, two major earthquakes struck Northern Italy, causing 27 deaths and widespread damage. The events are known in Italy as the 2012 Emilia earthquakes, because they mainly affected the Emilia region.

  15. Western African Ebola virus epidemic

    December 2013 – June 2016

    The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in West Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

  16. 2014 Southeast Europe floods

    27 May 2014

    Between 13 and 18 May 2014 a low-pressure cyclone designated Tamara and Yvette affected a large area of Southeastern and Central Europe, causing floods and landslides. Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered the greatest damage, as the rain was the heaviest in 120 years of recorded weather measurements.

  17. August 2016 Central Italy earthquake

    24 August 2016

    An earthquake, measuring 6.2 ± 0.016 on the moment magnitude scale, hit Central Italy on 24 August 2016 at 03:36:32 CEST (01:36 UTC). Its epicentre was close to Accumoli, with its hypocentre at a depth of 4 ± 1 km, approximately 75 km (47 mi) southeast of Perugia and 45 km (28 mi) north of L'Aquila, in an area near the borders of the Umbria, Lazio, Abruzzo and Marche regions.

  18. COVID-19 pandemic

    1 December 2019

    The global COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It spread to other parts of Asia and then worldwide in early 2020.

  19. COVID-19 pandemic in Europe

    24 January 2020

    The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and all have reported at least one death, with the exception of Vatican City.

  20. 2021 European floods

    2021

    In July 2021, several European countries were affected by severe floods. Some were catastrophic, causing deaths and widespread damage.