1.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
2.
Italians
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Italians are a nation and ethnic group native to Italy who share a common culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a native tongue. The majority of Italian nationals are speakers of Standard Italian. Italians have greatly influenced and contributed to the arts and music, science, technology, cuisine, sports, fashion, jurisprudence, banking, Italian people are generally known for their localism and their attention to clothing and family values. The term Italian is at least 3,000 years old and has a history that goes back to pre-Roman Italy. According to one of the common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The Etruscan civilization reached its peak about the 7th century BC, but by 509 BC, when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan monarchs, its control in Italy was on the wane. By 350 BC, after a series of wars between Greeks and Etruscans, the Latins, with Rome as their capital, gained the ascendancy by 272 BC, and they managed to unite the entire Italian peninsula. This period of unification was followed by one of conquest in the Mediterranean, in the course of the century-long struggle against Carthage, the Romans conquered Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. Finally, in 146 BC, at the conclusion of the Third Punic War, with Carthage completely destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved, octavian, the final victor, was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate and thereby became the first Roman emperor. After two centuries of rule, in the 3rd century AD, Rome was threatened by internal discord and menaced by Germanic and Asian invaders. Emperor Diocletians administrative division of the empire into two parts in 285 provided only temporary relief, it became permanent in 395, in 313, Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity, and churches thereafter rose throughout the empire. However, he moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople. The last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476 by a Germanic foederati general in Italy and his defeat marked the end of the western part of the Roman Empire. During most of the period from the fall of Rome until the Kingdom of Italy was established in 1861, Odoacer ruled well for 13 years after gaining control of Italy in 476. Then he was attacked and defeated by Theodoric, the king of another Germanic tribe, Theodoric and Odoacer ruled jointly until 493, when Theodoric murdered Odoacer. Theodoric continued to rule Italy with an army of Ostrogoths and a government that was mostly Italian, after the death of Theodoric in 526, the kingdom began to grow weak
3.
Muzio Sforza
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Muzio Attendolo Sforza, was an Italian condottiero. Founder of the Sforza dynasty, he led a Bolognese-Florentine army at the Battle of Casalecchio and he was the father of Francesco Sforza, who ruled Milan for 16 years. He was born as Giacomo or Jacopo Attendolo in Cotignola to a family of rural nobility, son of Giovanni Attendolo and Elisa. Muzzo or Muzio was the form of the nickname of Giacomuzzo. He had eight siblings, Bosio, Margherita, Francesco, Bartolo, Giorgio, Matteo, Tonduzzo. According to tradition, young Giacomo was plowing a field when a platoon of mercenaries led by Boldrino da Panicale passed nearby in search of recruits and he then stole one of his fathers horses and followed the soldiers to follow the same career. Later he fought for Florence against Visconti but in 1402, at the battle of Casalecchio, was defeated by his former master Alberico da Barbiano. In 1406 he captured Pisa and was hired by Niccolò III dEste of Ferrara. King Ladislaus of Naples named him Gran Connestabile of his kingdom, Sforzas military qualities were mostly needed against Florence and the Pope. He remained for the rest of his life in the Kingdom of Naples, after the Kings death, however, he attracted the jealousy of Joans favorite, Pandolfello Alopo, who had him arrested and imprisoned. However, when Sforzas troops intervened, Alopo freed him and Joan gave him the fiefdoms of Benevento, on this occasion Sforza married Caterina Alopo, Pandolfellos sister. A few months later Sforza was again arrested after a quarrel with James of Bourbon and he was freed only in 1416, after James fall from power, and Joan gave him back the title of Conestabile. In 1417 Sforza was sent by Joan to help the pope against Braccio da Montone, later he returned briefly to Naples, but here he was opposed by Giovanni Caracciolo, Joans new lover. In the following, confused, events led to the arrival of Louis III of Anjou in Naples in opposition to Alfonso V of Aragon, Sforza helped Joan. In 1423, the city of LAquila rebelled against Braccio da Montone, in an attempt to save one of his pages during the fording of the Pescara River, Sforza drowned and his body was swept away by the waters. They had one son, Bosio, Count of Cotignola, Lord of Castell’Arquato and Sovereign Count of Santa Fiora by virtue of his marriage with Cecilia Aldobrandeschi, Countess of Santa Fiora and Pitigliano. On 16 June 1413, Sforza married secondly with Caterina, a sister of Pandolfello Piscopo Alopo, Grand Chamberlain of the Kingdom of Naples, pietro, Bishop of Ascoli Piceno since 1438. In 1421, Sforza married thirdly with Maria, daughter of Giacomo da Marzano, 1st Duke of Sessa and they had two children, Bartolomeo, Count of Celano
4.
Francesco II Sforza
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Francesco II Sforza was Duke of Milan from 1521 until his death. He was the last member of the Sforza family to rule Milan and he was the second son of Ludovico Sforza and Beatrice dEste. Francesco was assigned to an ecclesiastical career and his sovereignty, however, remained circumscribed by the military occupation of Milan by Spanish troops. He returned to his state, depleted by twenty years of combat, promoting a cultural, francesco fought at the Battle of Bicocca, on the side of the emperor, in 1522. In 1526 he switched sides, joining the League of Cognac, together with Francis I of France, Pope Clement VII and the Republic of Florence, and was besieged in the Castello Sforzesco. On May 4,1534 he married the 12-year-old niece of Charles V, Christina of Denmark and his death in 1535 sparked the Italian War of 1535. His half-brother Giovanni Paolo reclaimed briefly the Duchy of Milan after his death, michael Mallett and Christine Shaw, The Italian Wars, 1494-1559, Pearson Education Limited,2012. A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century, kaiser Karl V, Geschichte eines übergroßen Wirkungsbereiches
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Gian Galeazzo Sforza
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Gian Galeazzo Sforza, also known as Giovan Galeazzo Sforza, was the sixth Duke of Milan. Born in Abbiategrasso, he was seven years old when in 1476 his father, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, was assassinated. His uncle, Ludovico Sforza, acted as regent to the young duke, Ludovico later became the duke after Gian Galeazzos death, which was widely viewed as suspicious. In February 1489, Gian Galeazzo married his cousin Princess Isabella of Naples, nor was there anyone who doubted that if it had been poison, it had been administered through his uncle Ludovico Sforzas machinations …
6.
Pesaro
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Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, Pesaro is known as City of Bicycle, thanks to its big net of bicycle paths. The city received this award by Legambiente, the most important ecologist society in Italy, in 2015 and it is also known as City of Music thanks to the bond with Gioacchino Rossini, the famous composer born in Pesaro. For this reason, in 2015, the Italian Government officially candidate Pesaro as Creative City in the group of World Heritage Sites of UNESCO, fishery, furniture industry and tourism are the main strengths of the local economy. The city was founded as Pisaurum by the Romans in 184 BC as colony in the territory of the Picentes, a settlement of the Picentes tribe has been found at Novilara. The northern Picentes were invaded in the 4th century BC by the Gallic Senones, earlier by the Etruscans, within it the Gauls at least were still distinct, as the Romans separated them out and expelled them from the country. Under the Roman administration Pesaro, a hub across the Via Flaminia, became an important center of trading, after the fall of the Western Empire, Pesaro was occupied by the Ostrogoths, and destroyed by Vitigis in the course of the Gothic War. Hastily rebuilt five years later after the Byzantine reconquest, it formed the so-called Pentapolis, after the Lombard and Frankish conquests of that city, Pesaro became part of the Papal States. During the Renaissance it was ruled successively by the houses of Malatesta, Sforza, in 1475, a legendary wedding took place in Pesaro, when Costanzo Sforza and Camilla DAragona married. On 11 September 1860 Piedmontese troops entered the city, and Pesaro was subsequently annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy, rocca Costanza - Massive castle built by Costanzo I Sforza, it has a square plan with four cylindrical corner towers and a wide dry moat. Its sunken court is the precedent for the more famous one at the Roman Villa Giulia. Rooms are frescoed by prominent Mannerist painters Bronzino, Francesco Menzocchi, Girolamo Genga, mura Roveresche - Della Rovere Walls, demolished in the early 20th century), only two gates, Porta del Ponte and Porta Rimini, and a short section remain. Birthplace of Gioacchino Rossini- Now a museum dedicated to the composer and it has a museum with manifestoes, prints, portraits and his spinet. Among the masterpieces is the Pesaro Altarpiece by Giovanni Bellini, oliveriani Museum and Library- Archaeological Collection and Manuscript Library, founded in 1756 by Annibale degli Abati Olivieri. Cathedral of Pesaro Romanesque-Gothic Basilica built over remains of a late Roman edifice, the façade, in Romanesque-Gothic style, is unfinished, it has a simple ogival portal surmounted by a band of small arches. A recent restoration has brought to light floor mosaics, the Baroque Sanctuary of Beata Vergine del Carmelo. Rossini Opera Festival has taken place every summer since 1980 in Pesaro, Pesaro hosts the home games of Victoria Libertas basketball team, better known across Europe as Scavolini Pesaro. Adriatic Arena, third biggest Italian indoor arena behind Mediolanum Forum in Milan, among the town industries is the motocross and enduro brand of TM Racing, a small manufacturer of race-ready motorbikes based in the coastal town since 1978
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Caravaggio, Lombardy
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Caravaggio is a town and comune in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Italy,40 kilometres east of Milan. The town received the title of city with a presidential decree on December 22,1954. Caravaggio borders with the municipalities of Bariano, Brignano Gera dAdda, Calvenzano, Capralba, Fornovo San Giovanni, Misano di Gera dAdda, Morengo, Mozzanica, Sergnano and its frazioni are Masano and Vidalengo. The city is best known for the Sanctuary, other sights include, The Gallavresi Palace, now the Town Hall. It dates to the half of the 13th century. Church of San Fermo e Rustico, in Lombard-Gothic style, built in the 13th century over a pre-existing holy edifice, the two aisles were added in 1429. It has a façade in brickwork with a central portal. It is flanked by a 76-metre high bell tower, built in 1500 by governor Giovanni Dandolo, church of Santa Liberata, with frescoes. It has been probably the most important cultural and social spot of the city for decades before being destroyed at the end of the Second World War, in the area it was considered like a little Teatro alla Scala. Giovanni Mangone, 16th century architect and sculptor, michelangelo Merisi o Amerighi da Caravaggio, Italian Baroque painter, who is named after the town. Polidoro da Caravaggio, Renaissance artist Riccardo Montolivo, footballer Caravaggio has a station on the Treviglio–Cremona line. Porto Ercole Valletta Media related to Caravaggio at Wikimedia Commons Caravaggio official website
8.
Castell'Arquato
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CastellArquato is an Italian town located on the first hills of Val D’Arda in the province of Piacenza, in Emilia-Romagna, approximately 30 kilometres from Piacenza and 35 kilometres from Parma. Places nearby include Bacedasco, Vigolo Marchese, Fiorenzuola dArda, Lugagnano Val dArda and its picturesque medieval features have led to the burgs appearances in movies such as Ladyhawke. CastellArquato is also in the area of the Colli Piacentini, an important area for wine production, the most important wines produced in the Colli Piacentini are Gutturnio, Bonarda, Ortrugo, Malvasia, and Monterosso Val dArda. The origins of CastellArquato are uncertain and it is believed that it originated as a Roman military settlement. During the Roman Imperial Era it developed into a rural town, thanks to its position commanding the routes from Piacenza. The first historical news concerning Castell’Arquato appear in the 8th century, CastellArquato seems to have been constructed by a noble and powerful lord named Magnus. Magnus built the squared based castle and a church In honor Mater Dei, at that time Castell’Arquato had a military and an agricultural organisation, the Justice Administration and the Religious Administration. Before dying in 789 Magnus gave the town, the church of Santa Maria and its goods to the bishop of Piacenza, and Castell’Arquato acquired an important freedom as a Pieve. The Bishop had the right of taxation throughout the territory of CastellArquato on all the men, nobiles, burgenses, lords with houses and lands in the area. From 1204 to 1207 the Bishop of Piacenza Grimerio chose Castell’Arquato as his home, the hamlet became even more independent from Piacenza. The grant of an autonomous government became official in the summer of 1220, for 200 lire and a small annual fee he gives also in perpetual investiture all jurisdictions, honors and tithes of Castell’Arquato, Lusurasco, San Lorenzo and Vernasca. Castell’Arquato was at the time ruled by a chosen by the commune of Piacenza from among the most renowned members of the Piacenzas families. The podestà had civil, political and judicial functions, the podestàs rule ended in 1290 when Alberto Scotti, backed by the Guelph faction, the merchant class and the artisanal corporations, became lord of Piacenza. Castell’Arquato also became a seigniory on its own right, Alberto Scotti allied himself to the Visconti family and extended his dominion to the territory of Piacenza, while entrusting Castell’Arquato to the podestà Tedesio de’ Spectinis. In 1304 Alberto Scotti was banished from Castell’Arquato by the city of Piacenza, after the arrival of Henry VII in 1310 Alberto Scotti ruled the burg, until 1316 when Galeazzo I Visconti besieged Castell’Arquato, which yielded after one year. Galeazzo Visconti allowed the special rights, the ability to juridically emancipate itself from Piacenza and to write laws of its own. In 1324 Castell’Arquato was given to the municipality of Piacenza, itself under the dominion of the Church and he died at the age of 37 years. His successor, Luchino Visconti was responsible for the construction of the Rocca, in 1403 Gian Galeazzo Visconti gave Borromeo de’ Borromei and his descendants feudal powers over Castell’Arquato, with the related fiscal revenues
9.
Italian Wars
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Ludovico Sforza of Milan, seeking an ally against the Republic of Venice, encouraged Charles VIII of France to invade Italy, using the Angevin claim to the throne of Naples as a pretext. For several months, French forces moved through Italy virtually unopposed, Charles VIII made triumphant entries into Pisa on November 8,1494, Florence on November 17,1494, and Rome on December 31,1494. Upon reaching the city of Monte San Giovanni in the Kingdom of Naples, Charles VIII sent envoys to the town, the garrison killed and mutilated the envoys and sent the bodies back to the French lines. This enraged the French army so that reduced the castle in the town with blistering artillery fire on February 9,1495 and stormed the fort. This was the sack of Naples. News of the French Armys sack of Naples provoked a reaction among the city-states of Northern Italy, the League was specifically formed to resist French aggression. The League was established on 31 March after negotiations by Venice, Milan, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Later on the League consisted of the Holy Roman Empire, the Duchy of Milan, Spain, the Papal States, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Mantua and this coalition, effectively, cut Charles army off from returning to France. After establishing a government in Naples, Charles started to march north on his return to France. However, in the town of Fornovo he met the League army. In contemporary tradition, though, the battle counted as a Holy League victory, because the French forces had to leave, to the Italian coalition, however, it was at best a pyrrhic victory, in that its strategic outcome and long-term consequences were unfavorable. Although the League managed to force Charles VIII off the battlefield, it suffered much higher casualties and could not prevent the opposing army crossing the Italian lands as it returned to France. As a result of Charles VIIIs expedition, the states of Italy were shown once. In fact, the individual Italian states could not field armies comparable to those of the feudal monarchies of Europe in numbers. Thus, Charles VIII lost all that he conquered in Italy, King Charles VIII died on April 7,1498 and was succeeded to the throne of France by his cousin, Louis II, Duke of Orléans, who became Louis XII of France. Ludovico Sforza retained his throne in Milan until 1499, when Charless successor, Louis XII of France, invaded Lombardy, Louis XII justified his claim to the Duchy of Milan by right of his paternal grandfather, Louis duc dOrléans having married Valentina Visconti in 1387. Valentina Visconti was the heir to the Duchy of Milan in the Visconti dynasty, the marriage contract between Valentina Visconti and Louis, duc dOrléans, guaranteed that in failure of male heirs, she would inherit the Visconti dominions. However, when the Visconti dynasty died out in 1447, the Milanese ignored the Orleans claim to the Duchy of Milan, however, bitter factionalism arose under the new republic which set the stage for Francisco Sforza to seize control of Milan in 1450
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