Disclaimer: Neither Hetalia nor its characters belong to me. They are property of their author.
This is a fanfic of 99% of historical nature. It is basically a summary of the history of each country. That's why this is so long, although I summarized it quite. The first chapter is about Italy, I gave him the honor.
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Clarifications:
I thought of Italy rather as the son of the Roman Empire, to become more attached to history.
I put the Germanic tribes as children of Germania, for the same reason.
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- New Characters:
- Byzantine Empire: Eastern Roman Empire. I think of him as the son of the Classical Roman Empire.
-Ostrogoth: representation of the Ostrogoths, an ancient Germanic people.
-Lombard: Representation of the Lombards, another ancient Germanic people.
-Vatican/Papacy: I call this character like this because I did not know how to name him. This character would be the representation of the Christian Religious Institution. Not the Vatican City itself.
-Here I call Italy to Veneciano (although Romano is as Italy as Veneciano or even more).
In turn, I have to clarify what would come to represent Veneciano, because despite being northern Italy we must be more specific: Veneciano is mainly the northern maritime cities: Venice, Milan, Florence, Genoa, and Piedmont Sardinia, in short. In addition he would be the Industrialized Italy and the Fascist Italy, to specify even more. That being said, this is just a general overview of the history of northern Italy, I will not delve into the history of these cities for obvious reasons, one of which is that this would be longer than the Bible.
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As I said, this is basically a summary. If one wants to internalize more about certain subjects, I recommend that each one study for their own.
Now, enjoy it!
Italia del Nord (North Italy)
Early beginnings:
Departing from his earliest origins, Italy was at first just a province of the Roman Empire, his father. However, he began to take shape and real existence when the Roman Empire began to weaken (5th century). He was beginning to be what would remain of a part of the great heritage of Rome. In the short period of time in the presence of the Roman Empire, this one tried to make Italy and his brother Romano (the southern part of the province) his continuity when he inevitably died, but despite their good relationship, Italy possessed an essence and different nature, emphasizing that, unlike the Roman Empire, the little boy did not have a strong character besides being docile and naive. In the short time he spent with his father, he instructed him in arts, politics, and navigation, resigning himself to the fact that his child was not for battle, militia and what he called the "science of war." Even though Italy was not what he expected from an heir, the Roman Empire loved him exceedingly, and the little one also loved him. The young Italy never knew personally (although he knew) the brutality, the cruelty and the sanguinary form of being of his father, since this one always appeared paternal and understanding, because he really loved to him.
However, with the passage of time, the empire was weakening and becoming more damaged, tired and erratic. Little Italy saw how depressed he was, and how he was slow to return from his travels.
Even so, the innocent Italy hoped that his father would be improved, and that all those misfortunes that beat them would pass.
Finally, in AD 476, the Roman Empire disappeared.
In a quick way Italy realized that his existence was precisely because he would be the continuation of his father, who would inevitably die. And how cruel was his revelation, because he realized that all that lived with him, was because he knew that he had to educate him when he was no longer. A bitter sadness invaded the heart of Italy and his brother, but they didn't have time to lament, because strong events would flog them as soon as the Roman Empire disappeared.
After the Roman Empire:
Once the Roman Empire collapsed, Europe was invaded by different Germanic peoples (Germania's sons) that when the Roman disappeared, there was no one to stop them. Italy was not the exception.
The little Italian brothers came under the tutelage of the Eastern Roman Empire, a brother of them. The Eastern Roman Empire was another son of the Roman Empire, besides being what remained of the old empire.
The little brothers were finally invaded by German mercenaries, who asked for land in exchange for administering them for what was left of the empire. When this was denied to them, between the Germanics there was a mutiny in which Odoacer, a Romanized Germanic, murdered the last Roman emperor and was named King of Italy. The young Byzantine Empire had no other to accept, since deep down he believed that Odoacer would support his interests and hegemony over the Italy brothers. However, it was not so.
Luckily for both of them, who didn't know what would happen to them now without the tutelage of their father, Odoacer ruled quite independently of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire), and gave religious freedom, which in turn defended Italy from other invaders. In these short times, the Italy brothers, despite being under Byzantine tutelage, felt quite free and with confidence. For their happiness, they were able to preserve their culture, the Latin culture inherited from their father. And they really believed that things would go well in life in spite of everything. This period is known as the Regnum Odoaceri (476-410), a vassal kingdom of the Eastern Roman Empire.
But the Byzantine Empire, who always looked closely at the italians, began to feel jealous of the autonomy of his little brothers, in turn that began to annoy and to worry him the presence of Ostrogoth (a Germanic, son of Germania) that lived in the Danube. Believing that he would kill two birds with one stone, in 489 he expelled the Ostrogoth, knowing that he would invade the Italian peninsula. And so it was, the leader of this people, Theodoric the Great, invaded Italy in its entirety. When invading Italy, Ostrogoth and his leader were victorious, but it was impossible to find the Italian brothers and to expel Odoacer. These had been hidden in a fortress, until they received an invitation from Theodoric, where he requested negotiation. Finally, the Italys and their leader went to a dinner with the invaders where, confidently believed that the matter would be arranged. Italy was happy about this; he really believed that everyone would come to an agreement. However, over the course of the dinner, Italy and his brother witnessed how Theodoric killed Odoacer with his own hand. Bloodstains were in the fine white clothes of the children, who horrified saw the scene astounded. Quiet, with their young faces stained with the blood of their leader, neither had the strength nor to shout. Both were taken by Ostrogoth who, despite being the invader and knowing that that would happen, comforted the little Italias.
In 493 Ostrogoth had all of Italy, to the happiness of Byzantium, who had fulfilled his mission.
That betrayal and murder before his eyes left a strong impact on the Italians, who slowly glimpsed the real situation of their fate.
Italy and the Ostrogoth Kingdom:
At first the Italian brothers felt suspicion and fear Ostrogoth, since he had invaded them and assassinated their leader Odoacer before them, but soon they learned that Ostrogoth had been Romanized and adopted Christianity to please them. The children were surprised, and eventually became fond of the Germanic.
The Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy, which occupied all of the Italian peninsula, maintained the freedom that had been received by Odoacer, and the reign was for the Italians a period of recovery for the country. Infrastructures were repaired, borders were expanded and the economy was taken care of. Latin culture flourished for the last time. The northern maritime cities became key points, and the small northern became known as Venetian Italy, because of his huge link to the maritime cities of the north. The Ostrogoth-Italian Kingdom, under Theodoric and the queen Amalasuintha, was once again the most powerful political entity in the Mediterranean, and therefore, one of the most powerful entities in Europe, if we remember that power in those days lay in southern Europe. Although today it is remembered as the Ostrogoth Kingdom of Italy, at yhe time it was simply called the Kingdom of Italy (Regnum Italiae)
In the periods that they lived with Ostrogoth, this one gained the affection and hearts of both Italians for all the good that he had done to them, and Italy would remember this period forever, like the happiest of his life.
Gothic Wars:
Envious of Ostrogoth and of the Italian brothers, the Byzantine Empire invaded them surprisingly at the beginning of the sixth century
He began his task in the south, capturing Sicily in 535 and moving north to take Naples and Rome the following year. Soon Italy would be his. The Ostrogoths resisted against the Byzantine Empire until 540.
Ostrogoth defended the Italy brothers as he could from the Byzantine Empire, and was wounded to death in the battle.
On the verge of death, bloody, as he knelt in agony, the little Italys went with him, eyes filled with tears. He gave them a faint smile, and told them how much he had loved them even though their respective parents (the Roman Empire and Germania) had hated each other in the past. Devastated, and with infinite sadness, little Italy embraced the dying body of Ostrogoth until he ceased to exist. Both passed into the hands of the Byzantine Empire in 552. From that moment, the young Italy was disenchanted with life forever, and a strong hatred was born towards the Byzantine, although he had always displeased him, the heart of Italy was flooded with pain and resentment. One day he would avenge against the Byzantine Empire for all that he had done to them.
With this invasion, wars, famines and epidemics of disease unleashed, and all this had a dramatic effect on Italy, who was ill for a long time. Soon, slavery was replaced by another not very different system, serfdom.
Of Lombard:
When the Byzantine armies withdrew from Italy, they were invaded by another Germanic people who had carefully observed the situation. Lombard, with force and brutality fight against the Byzantines for the control of the Italian brothers. As violent as the others, Italy was invaded. Lombard occupied large parts of Italy, although cities such as Venice and Naples, became relatively independent city-states, although they had some forced loyalty with the Byzantine Empire. At that time, Italy had to present loyalties to several and different entities. Much of Italy was under the dominion of Lombard, who proclaimed himself his tutor from that moment.
The Italian areas still under Byzantine control were called Exarchate of Ravenna.
Soon, Italy knew that he could die at any moment, if he was constantly invaded by stronger and more powerful ones. His existence as a Latin legacy of his father could be endangered. There he knew he had to do whatever it took to survive.
Italy and his brother never came to love Lombard as much as Ostrogoth, but preferred him before Byzantine.
The Byzantine Empire didn't like that the Italian brothers were again in the hands of others, interposing in his interests. Frustrated, he refused to give up his dream of gaining control over the Italian peninsula.
The young Northerner, who during the time of the Ostrogothic Kingdom came to represent also the maritime cities of the north, soon found himself in a situation where he had to swear allegiance to several entities.
The city-states that retained their autonomy remained under imperial authority (of the Byzantine Empire). This was how little Italy knew that to survive in that cruel world could not afford the loyalty. Even if he ached and hated the Eastern Empire, if he had to lower his head before Byzantium, he would. Even so, his heart still harbored a naive hope, the hope of freedom, the hope that everything would improve. A hope that would be annihilated over time.
Of Christianity:
Since the last days of his father, and since freedom of religion was permitted, Christianity did not take a moment to drain itself into the blood of the young Italians, who took communion to anoint themselves as other Christian entities along with Odoacer.
Although at first the little ones had a fresh memory of previous cultures and beliefs, because still in these early times there were many religions and syncretisms, so Italy didn't possess a poisonous hatred for them and he did indeed know of the similarities of these myths with Christianity from which it had derived. But Religious Institutions didn't like this too much, and one day, the Vatican found Italy talking about these issues to children. When the Vatican asked him what he was talking about, he innocently told him about Christianity, and its similarities with ancient cultures and myths. Angrily, the Vatican forced Italy to withdraw and confess that all this was blasphemy. Between tears of impotence in incomprehension he did so, and so that he never forgot, he was whipped in the back and he was forbidden to scream. With sadness and horror his brother Romano was forced to see the scene. Italy never again in his life questioned the growing power of the Church.
The bishops and the bishop of Rome, called the Pope, had always tried to put themselves in the imperial administrative power, but after the Lombard invasion, the popes were nominally subject to the Eastern Emperor, from whom they often received little help from Constantinople, (Capital of Eastern Empire), which made them defend Rome alone from the Lombards, which made it become a city-state. The fact that Rome fell into the hands of a religious institution and became autonomous caused both Italy and Romano to protest indignantly. They had taken away the greatest legacy from their father; it was inconceivable, but even so, they had to say farewell to Rome, since there was nothing they could do.
High Middle Ages:
At the end of the eighth century, the popes aspired to the independence of Rome completely, thing that bothered the Italy brothers. However, they needed foreign aid to do so. The power of the time was the young France and his Frankish empire, that had his own problems.
The Carolingians (a dynasty of French nobles) needed someone who could legitimize a coup against the current kings of France, the Merovingian's, while the Popes needed military protection against the Lombards, with which the Italy brothers were.
In the year 751, Lombard seized Exarchate Ravenna and expelled the Byzantine Empire from central Italy, to Italy's liking. This ended the Byzantine presence in Italy.
With this, in the year 756 the papacy finally asked / invited the Franks (French's) to invade the north of Italy to defeat Lombard.
When young Italy knew that his older brother France would come for him, he could not but feel joy. He had known his older brother France since they were very young, had spent with him some of his earliest moments in childhood. However, his father didn't like he spending time with him and that who would be Spain in the future, so he separated them and he never saw them again. That was one of the few things he had not liked about his father.
Therefore, knowing that France would come, and that he would finally see him after so long, Italy was filled with a strange hope. As much as he had resigned himself to Lombard and lying under his tutelage, it was only to give the against to the Byzantine. But he preferred France, not caring much what would be of Lombard.
What the little Italian didn't foresee was that France would attack him too, being him next to Lombard.
When he saw the cavalry arrive, his initial happiness vanished as he saw himself in "crossfire" between the bloody quarrel of the Franks and the Lombards.
Thus it was that, finally, the Franks fulfilled the dream of the popes, and the Lombards were defeated. Young Italy saw and found France, but he had already changed. He had a lascivious and lashing look, and he looked at Italy with different eyes, not as he had been when the Roman Empire was alive. Italy realized, desolate, that France had also gone through hardships and invasions, that he had change with respect to time and life. By the time Italy had understood this, he was already under his control. France was not the same for him anymore, and although he refused to stopped loving him, eventually, Italy would.
Dominated by the one who was his brother...he who was his brother. Again in the hands of another powerful invader. It was at that moment that Italy knew that he would never be free. That his whole life would pass into the hands of foreign peoples. It was there that he resigned himself to the fact that life, for him, was to suffer.
Without knowing what would be of him and his brother, Italy stayed still and didn't ask anything that he should not. Expectant, he expect the result of the situation, since France paid little attention to him: he was more concerned to consent to the Papacy.
In order to stay well with him, France gave to Vatican authority over all of central Italy, thus giving birth to what would be called as the Papal States.
Now Italy felt a strong sense of indignation and fury and protested loudly, along with his brother Romano. Rome had already been taken away, and now the center was taken away. At that rate they would soon die, according to Italy. But none of this did any effect on the young France, who only laughed, or to the Papacy, who looked at them with coldness. Italy felt like a part of his body was ripped from him.
But worse than that was what they did to him, that which marked Italy for the rest of his existence, until today. Soon, he looked at France, who was holding him by the shoulders, and knew that something was happening. Suddenly, he looked at his brother Romano, and he knew it. Between torn cries, screams and struggles, Italy and Romano were separated. Italy had endured everything, and he would, but with the company of his brother, who was part of him, and he of him. And now they were separated. There was no more pain than that. Nothing compared. It was the most tragic thing.
His dear brother Romano, the one with whom he had come into the world, now they took him away. He felt a tearing pain, and he knew that a part of him was lost forever.
They had separated him from his brother, forever.
Northern Italy was separated from the South politically since then, which meant that they no longer thought the same, no longer felt the same, and every dream of unification was only a nostalgic dream.
In 774, Charlemagne, King of France, annexed Lombard and northern Italy. Italy was, next to this one, now under the will of France.
Soon Italy witnessed the birth of another empire, precursor of Germania. Charlemagne was also crowned emperor of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire, after Romanizing and Christianizing the last germanics. This was how Italy knew him, although little and nothing was the sympathy he felt for him, because he felt resentment at his separation from his brother, taking him away from his, and now being him under the Holy Roman Empire dominion. The Holy Germanic Roman Empire happened to have the power on the north of Italy. In addition to his displeasure, in the few moments that he was in the presence of him, the Holy Germanic Roman Empire threw killer looks at him, which terrified him. No, it was better for him not to think about that child.
One of the few joys that Italy had at that time was when the Byzantine Empire, reluctantly, had to recognize the existence of another Roman empire in the West apart from him. It was very funny to see his face of indigestion when he recognized it.
During the period under Charlemagne's control, there was a slight stability in the north. Italy tried to discreetly increase the power of sea cities and make them independent from the Byzantine Empire, but he knew that that "stability" was the prelude to a big storm.
During 774 and 849, there was no stability in the south. Italy saw how his brother had to deal with a bloody nobiliary war.
Southern Lombards refused to accept Charlemagne as their king. Arechis, a independentist duke, fought against others and opposed recognizing foreign domination.
Long were these battles, where they also had to deal with the invasions of Muslim Arabs, who invaded Sicily in 827.
Italy watched from far away impotent, watching his brother Romano having to deal with his own problems, while he was in relative tranquility. But he had already resigned himself to the fact that their destinies had separated and each now would be different.
In 846, Muslim Arabs invaded and sacked Rome. That was the only time that Italy was happy of not owning Rome, since he would not have been fine there.
In 849, to the big surprise of Italy, the Holy Roman Empire entered with all his exercise and imposed the "peace" in the south to end the civil war of nobles and independentist. When Holy Germanic Roman Empire went to fight to the south against independentist Lombards duchies, and everything happened, Italy was in a swing of melancholy. He had no hope for him or his brother. If all the others killed each other in the war, better for him.
Italy watched closely the whole outcome of the conflict in the south, and he prayed inwardly that the Holy Roman Empire would not take his brother for himself. And this didn't happen. Apparently the Germanic Holy Roman Empire was not much interested in his brother.
In 951, Italy definitively passed under the Holy Roman Empire power.
At this time, Italy experienced his concern that the Byzantine Empire stayed with his brother, since he had increased his power again and began to conquer him quickly. In addition Italy had heard of his brother's attempts to make Naples more independent from the Byzantium.
His brother didn't finally pass into the hands of Byzantium, but passed into the hands of another powerful being. Southern Italy was invaded by Muslim Arabs. In 878 the Arabs captured the crucial city of Syracuse, and by 902 the whole island was under their control.
In those times, Italy spent a big deal of time with the Papacy of Rome, with whom he began to speculate and to become an active part of the plans that were taking place in the peninsula. The Vatican soon found that his brother was apparently in good relations with the Saracens, which annoyed Vatican enormously and sent Italy to speak with him. Italy met with his southern brother, who, no matter what he was about to say, quickly gave him a gift and told him to go away fast. Italy did so. When he looked at the gift, this was a recipe. Italy prepared it as best he could, and the moment he brought the food to his mouth, tears streamed from his eyes. It was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. It was just the Pasta. There Italy was deeply grateful to his brother. It was a gift he would never forget.
Even so, Romano had to meet with the Vatican and his brother. The first one reproached Romano for his friendship with the Saracens, but Romano said he would betray them. Italy listened to him and analyzed all that carefully. Romano soon returned to his home.
Romano and his own betrayed the Saracens, as well as betraying Byzantine and anyone. In his depths Italy understood him, it was the only way his brother had found to live, without being enslaved. He was no different. He was loyal to everyone, which meant that he was loyal to no one.
Italy was officially under the power of the Holy Roman Germanic Empire, but the papacy competed with him for the power of the north. In fact, the growing rivalry of the Papal States and the Holy Roman Empire over the control of northern Italy led to watering the land of blood with war, the so-called Investiture Controversy, in 1073. Given this, Italy analyzed the situation carefully: he had no loyalty to anyone, he wanted the northern cities to gain independence, but he was not naive, and he looked for who to support in the fight. In the end, both he and Lombardo had enormous resentment at the imperial power of the Holy Empire, so they turned against him in the fight, even though the northern Italian cities easily changed their allegiances.
In this situation, the so-called Lombard League arose, which consisted of northern Italy and 26 northern cities of Italy, that is, Lombardo and young Italy. With the enthusiastic support of the Papal States, the League received the unconditional support of Pope Alexander III and his successors, eager both to be freed from imperial influence and to increase their power in the Italic Peninsula. Thus, they faced the Holy Roman Empire. In this war the Battle of Legnano occurred on May 29, 1176. In the battle the Lombard League faced the army of the Holy Roman Empire. The young Italy did not participate in the battle, but he observed it from afar and influenced it for the decisive Lombard victory. Thus it was, the Lombard victory was decisive, being recognized in the Peace of Constance (1183), and the young Italy smiled proudly, feeling sweet lips.
However, this was short-lived, and the heart of Italy continued to sour. The powerful influence of the Holy Roman Empire did not stop, and soon they were under his authority.
The desire for autonomy did not cease, and so the Lombard League continued to resist. This made Northern Italy into a land of almost independent or independent city-states. The revolts were financed by Byzantium, who hoped to expel the Germans from Italy; since he had always had the obsession of possessing the Italy's as he had when the Roman Empire had fallen. Italy internally supported and wished that Lombard achieved their independence from the Holy Germanic Roman Empire. But upon learning that the revolts were financed by the Byzantine Empire, Italy felt somehow manipulated, and secretly meet with him. When he was in his presence, Byzantine tried to persuade him to leave with him, but Italy, who had lost all innocence, only laughed. He admitted that he had long been resigned to be free, but asked Byzantium to at least let him choose who he wanted to be his dominator, since he could never aspire to something else. Before he left, Byzantine questioned his allegiance to Lombard, an entity that could replace him, because eventually only one would represent the North. Italy simply smiled without looking at him and told him not to worry about Lombard, which he would take care of him.
On the way back Italy thought about Lombard. He had a strong influence in the north, both cultural and "national". Indeed Lombard could replace him, after all, he represented the Latin legacy of his father (who were now minority), as well as maritime city-states. Lombard was powerful, and soon one would be left over in the North. No, definitely Lombard was a threat, and Italy did not feel like dying.
He went to meet him. Lombard was not the one he had been. Being attacked and reduced, he looked tired and emaciated. Italy approached him looking innocent. He said and emphasized everything they had to spend together, and that after all, both had ended up sharing blood, because Lombard had a big influence in Northern Italy, he recognized it. Lombard didn't understand what this was all about. Italy approached him, and asked him to crouch down to his height. Lombard did it. Italy hug him warmly and kissed his cheek. Abruptly, Italy pulled a knife from his dress and stabbed him in the side. Lombard made a sound of pain. Italy wanted to tell him something, but then he realized he had nothing to say to him. He stabbed him several times. The blood of Lombard stained his garments and his left hand. Finally, Lombard looked at him and their eyes met. The eyes of Italy were cold. Lombard finally could only release a: "Ti ho sempre amato."*. Italy simply smiled, and finished cutting the throat of a slice, splashing his face. Lombard died, now he would always be part of Italy.
The Lombard League was dissolved forever in 1250.
Northern Italy and the Crusades:
Of profits and calculated wars
Italy, despite knowing his position as servant of foreign powers, was also the city-commercial states, also known as the Repubbliche marinare,(manrine republics; 10th-15th century) and had his own interests.
Soon he began to observe a troubling situation that led him to meet with Vatican and his southern brother. The question was as follows: as a good personification of the most important maritime trade states of the Mediterranean, he realized that the most important trade routes with India and the East were under the control and administration of Muslim Arabs. This not only offended him as the Christian he was, but meant that he, his bosses, and all of Europe owed Muslims. Definitely Italy would not allow it. After convincing the Vatican, they organized a council with the powers of Europe to organize a sabotage to the Muslims. He, France and the Holy Roman Germanic Empire were the most enthusiastic in the matter and organized a justified plan to attack the Muslim dominions. The justification was the Holy City, Jerusalem.
Not only was it good to take it as a Christian badge, it was a perfect justification for weakening the Arabs and owning all trade routes. They all knew that most normal people were religious fanatics, and they did not need much explanation to go and fight for a far place, for the interests of others. So this was done. Urban II preached the First Crusade to the Council of Clermont at the end of the 11th century, and he urged a pre-emptive strike against the Muslims whose military advances continually threatened the eastern boundaries of the Byzantine Empire. Exhorting his spiritual subjects to "destroy that vile infidels from the lands of our friends". This filled many Christhians with hatred and ignited the flames of crusade that would not be extinguished for hundreds of years.
So France, and the Holy Roman Empire of Germany, marched swiftly, with power and violence, lifting their heavy swords and their heavy armor. Italy was in charge of providing the ships, the navy of Genoese, Venetian ships, etc. And when they least expected it, to the Muslims, Jews and Christians of the Middle East, all Europe attacked them.
When Italy first saw Jerusalem, it was not what he expected. It was very different from the Alps, and the green meadows of his home. But so it was, and after all, there in the Middle East was where Christianity was born after all.
Long were the crusades, and later to them were joined England and Spain, and other nations of Europe, but Italy played his own play.
Much of the machinations of the Crusades were articulated for economic reasons. Venice was beginning to emerge as a mercantile maritime power and much desired from those that others had. The dark heart of little Italy really cared very little about religion, his interests fell elsewhere. The Venetians profited considerably from their crusade to assist King Baldwin in the defense of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1122 to 1124. In the process, the Venetians encountered and destroyed Egypt's most effective naval fleet as the Muslims attempted to regain a foothold in the Levant. But the heart of Italy had no loyalty to anyone at this point, and did not hesitate to profit even from the Muslims who all sought to destroy. The commercial exchange of the Venetians with the Caliphate of Egypt was such that this one considered Veneciano as part of "the family". Venice had a great deal of commercial privilege, ahead of his competitors and even secretly began to sell weapons of war to the Muslims of Egypt. Hence the saying, the Italians rarely missed an opportunity to capitalize on a profitable opportunity.
And even when the Third Council of the Lateran (year 1179) outlawed commercial exchange between Christians and Muslims, Veneciano did not honor the council, because he continued to trade with Egypt without stopping. That the Venetians (as they had done many times before) would supply the enemy in direct defiance of their spiritual ruler shows that they acted primarily for the advancement of their commercial benefit. In fact, the intimate trade relationships that the Venetians developed as a result of the early Crusades gave them specific knowledge which proved paramount in the redirection of the Fourth Crusade through a city founded on the principles of mercantilism, the Venetians dealt with all contemporary political groups as clientele, from the Pope in Rome to the Sultan in Cairo.
Thus, young Italy, subjugated and struck by fate, began to play his own power game amid the chaos that he himself helped create. And since he had so little self-esteem, he had so little left and he only felt alone, the young Italy began to see in the monetary gain a way of being strong and of being worth. Although he hated Byzantium since the times of Ostrogoth, he traded with him, feigning courtesy.
And it was he who, not wanting to unleash a new Crusade in Egypt, his trading partner, to take the city of Alexandria, instigated, conspired and redirected the Crusade to the Byzantine Empire. The hatred that Veneciano felt for his Byzantine half brother had little influence on this decision, it was really a cold and desperate move, motivated by commercial interests. And so the infamous Fourth Crusade occurred, where Western Europe advanced and lashed out at the Eastern Roman Empire, their godbrother.
Italy and his elite were indirectly the cause of that atrocious massacre. Even so, he didn't take psychological charge for this; he preferred to justify it, because he could not have lived with himself after that. Although they could never keep Jerusalem, in reality the goal was fairly fulfilled. They weakened the Muslim and Bizantine world.
This is how he, shaken and mistreated as he was, conspired one of the wars that, in the long run, changed history: The republics of northern Italy instigated the crusades only to defend their commercial interests. Venice, Pisa, and Genoa controlled the trade routes through which oriental luxury products, increasingly in demand by a booming urban population, reached Europe.
Late Middle Ages and the Ottoman-Venetian Wars:
But war and suffering not only stalked him in the sea and among his neighbors, inside, evil and suffering were common currency.
At that time the persecution and burning of "witches" and "heretics" had become increasingly common, since when France had founded the Inquisition in 1181, the question had even been institutionalized. You could burn and torture anyone for any matter. It was something that had become more and more common. Once, a woman was burned accused of witch in the south, where both Romano and him were present. She had been accused of witchcraft, only because of using herbal medicine to relieve pain in childbirth. Italy felt sorry for all those women, but he didn't lift a finger for them. His brother Romano didn't either.
In fact, even though his heart pities them, Italy participates in the massacres. The Waldensian movement was quite an affair, and many were persecuted, tortured, burned, and impaled. The Piedmontese Easters (1655) were one of the most terrible massacres.
But still in the XVI century, Italy had always wondered who was more religious, himself or his brother. He never knew for sure. Romano was something more uncultured than he was, thought Italy, and for that reason could be more religious than him. But at the same time, Romano had generated a poisonous hatred for all authority imposed upon him (unlike him, who had given himself to them) and religious institutionalism was an imposed authority. Romano was a good person, he hated burnings and tortures, but in the end he always stood in the name of God when he committed evil. Romano was, in the eyes of his brother, a poor illiterate southerner who hated oppressive authority, but had adapted to it. Romano was the most sincere, because despite not being able to read or write, his heart was more compassionate than those who spent their lives reading the bled books. He, for his part, was false. It only mattered to him to survive to his hostile reality and if he had to condemn innocents of his own, so be it.
In those times Italy met a thinker who brought him nostalgia, because he worked with texts of Aristotle, a philosopher of which his dear father had spoken to him. That person was Thomas Aquinas. Throughout his life, Veneciano came to visit and talk with him, and finally came to the conclusion that he had not understood anything. Over time, Thomas Aquinas had sometimes contradicted himself, and at the end of his life he had said that his work should be burned like straw, an allegory that nothing he had done had any value. Italy was annoyed when, even so, the works of St. Thomas were still studied and put as truth.
In turn, Italy met a Venetian who undertook, supposedly a historical journey: Marco Polo said goodbye to the young boy promising to bring him objects and stories from distant lands. Italy continued with his life until Marco Polo came back and the stories were wonderful, incredible. Italy believed the story about China, because he had heard of his father from that an empire beyond the known, distant, as in another world, but Romano was skeptical. He was much dreamier than Romano. Romano could not afford dreams and fantasies, he was more realistic. In the end, however complicated his situation was, Romano's was ten times worse, and had no time to fantasize about anything, nothing more than to deal with his own improvement.
-First Ottoman-Venetian War (1463-1479):
The First Ottoman-Venetian War was a conflict between the Republic of Venice with the Ottoman Empire that lasted from 1463 to 1479.
It turns out that after the Fourth Crusade (1203-1204), several possessions of the Byzantine Empire were distributed between the Catholic (Latin) Crusader States, including Venice, which had managed to establish a small maritime empire owning islands in the Aegean Sea, beginning a period known as Latinokratia (rule of the Latins) or also little known as Venetokratia (rule of the venetians). But this would end when in 1453, the Ottoman Empire came to power by conquering the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, assassinating Byzantium. Young Italy at first didn't see this as a danger, because the infinite pleasure he felt when he saw Byzantium die was greater than everything. Everything that he had done to them, including having murdered Ostrogoth, Italy could not help but feel infinitely happy with his brutal death before this new Empire. But this would not last long, because this new Empire, the Ottoman Empire, continued to expand his territories in the Balkans, Asia Minor and the Aegean. Serbia was conquered in 1459 and the last Byzantine remnants were overpowered in 1460–1461. The Duchy of Naxos controlled by Venice and the Genoese colonies of Lesbos and Chios became tributaries in 1458, while the latter was directly annexed four years later. The Ottoman advance inevitably presented a threat to Venice's possessions in the south of Greece and, after the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia in 1463, also on the Adriatic coast.
This would inevitably lead to war. We must remember that, although little Italy was Northern Italy, and was under the power of the Holy Roman Empire, the sea cities were independent and he took refuge in them to escape the authority of his oppressor. He was more than anything, Venice, and he would never let his little maritime empire, his only pride as the son of the legendary Roman empire, be taken from him as his freedom was. There would eventually be war with the new Ottoman neighbor.
The pretext for war is said to have started when an Albanian slave to the Ottoman commander in Athens escaped to the Venetian fortress of Coron with 100,000 silver akçes stolen from his lord.
The Ottomans' demand for extradition was denied by the Venetians.
Faced with this, the Ottoman commander of central Greece, Turahanoğlu Ömer Bey, attacked and almost succeeded in taking the strategically important Venetian fortress.
Although young Venice (Northern Italy), dependent on trade with the Ottomans, had in the past been reluctant to confront him in war, the impulses of the papal legate, Cardinal Bessarion, and a passionate speech by Council member Vettore Cappello, tipped the scales, and on July 28, the Senate narrowly voted to declare war on the Sublime Porte. Pope Pius II took this opportunity to form a new crusade against the Ottomans: on September 12, 1463, Venice and the King of Hungary Matthias Corvinus signed an alliance, followed by an alliance with the Pope and Duke Philip the Good on October 19. According to their terms, upon victory, the Balkans would be divided among the allies. Negotiations also began with other rivals of the Ottomans, such as the Karamanids, Uzún Hasan and the Crimean Kanato.
The war had begun and little Feliciano would fight with a cold head and an ice heart.
Omar Bey Ishaković snatched Lepanto from the Venetians in November 1962, after which he moved from Morea to conquer the castle of Argos on April 3, 1463, by treason. Giacomo Vallaresso, a nobleman, was sent to retake the city, but, according to the chronicles, he abandoned his surrender to the enemy: he later returned in an exchange of prisoners, was taken to Venice, where he was tried, convicted and, without little Italy trembling, without hesitation, was executed by beheading.
The war had several fronts: Campaigns in the Morea and the Aegean (1463-1466), the War in Albania (1466-1467) and Final Albanian campaigns, (1474–1479).
The conflicts were not ended until the Treaty of Constantinople (1479), officially ending the fifteen-year war between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. The agreement was established as a result of the Ottomans arriving on the outskirts of Venice, to the detriment of the youngster. Under the terms of the treaty, Venetians were allowed to keep Ulcinj, Ativan, and Durrës. However, they ceded Shkodra (Siege of Shkodra), as well as other territories on the Dalmatian coast, as well as relinquished control of the Greek islands of Negroponte (Euboea) and Lemnos. In addition, the Venetians were forced to pay compensation of 100,000 ducats and agreed to a tax of around 10,000 ducats a year to acquire commercial privileges in the Black Sea. As a result of this treaty, Venice acquired a weakened position in the Levant region.
The war had shown that the little boy, although he didn't seem to be, was fierce, cunningly cold and fit for war, but no one noticed it, only the Ottoman Empire, who began to admire him. To little Italy, anxious and stressed by the overwhelming dominance of the Holy Roman Empire, the situation distressed him and as he tried to unload his repressed and mistreated instincts and feelings, he would not let his violated situation continue in such a way. More wars were coming.
Second Ottoman-Venetian War (1499-1503):
The growing and expanding power of the Ottoman Empire made the clashes with the Republic of Venice inevitable. Between 1499-1503 a series of naval battles were fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice for control of the disputed lands in the Adriatic, Aegean and Ionian seas.
In January 1499, the Ottoman admiral Kemal Reis set sail from Istanbul with a force of 10 galleys and 4 other types of ships, and in July 1499 met with the massive Ottoman fleet to wage a full-scale war against the Republic of Venice. The Ottoman fleet consisted of 67 galleys, 20 galleys and around 200 vessels. In August 1499, Kemal Reis defeated the Venetian fleet under the command of Antonio Grimani at the famous Battle of Zonchio (also known as the Battle of Sapienza or the First Battle of Lepanto). It was the first sea battle in history with cannons used on ships, and it took place over four days: August 12, 20, 22, and 25.
Here the young Veneciano witnessed and helped to command the battle, witnessing tired and stunned fire and the roar of cannons burning or ringing over the sea.
After reaching the Ionian Sea with the large Ottoman fleet, Kemal Reis found the Venetian fleet of 47 galleys, 17 galleys, and around 100 small ships under the command of Antonio Grimani near Cape Zonchio, and won a major victory. During the battle, Kemal Reis sank the galley of Andrea Loredan, a member of Venice's influential Loredan family. Antonio Grimani was caught on September 29, but was released. Grimani later became the Doge of Venice in 1521.
In December 1499, the Venetians attacked Lepanto in hopes of regaining the lost territories in the Ionian Sea. Kemal Reis set sail from Kefalonia and returned Lepanto to the Venetians. From there, Kemal Reis set sail and bombed the ports of Venice on the island of Corfu, and in August 1500 he once again defeated the Venetian fleet at the Battle of Modona (also known as the Second Battle of Lepanto). Kemal Reis bombarded the Modona fortress by sea and captured the city. Later they took control of the Venetian fleet off the coast of Corona and captured the city together with a Venetian brig. From there, Kemal Reis sailed to the island of Sapientza, and sank the Venetian galley Lezza. In September 1500 Kemal Reis stormed Voiussa and appeared in Cape Santa Maria on the island of Léucade in October before ending the campaign and returning to Istanbul again in November. With the Battle of Modona, the fleet and the overwhelming Turkish army seized most of Venice's possessions in Greece. Modona and Corona, the "two eyes of the Republic", were lost.
There,Doge Agostino Barbarigo asked the Pope and the Catholic Monarchs of Spain for help: and here the eyes of the exalted and defeated little Italy turned to the eyes of his brother of yesteryear, the now powerful Spain, after so long, and now, on December 24 the Hispanic-Venetian army commanded by Gonzalo de Córdoba took Cephalonia thus temporarily stopping the Ottoman offensive in the eastern Venetian territories.
-Wars in Lombardy:
In addition to naval wars with the Ottoman Empire, bloody wars hit northern Italy between 1423–1454, the so-called Wars in Lombardy, wars that struck Italy as a painful blood cancer, as they were between Italian city-states, between La Serenissima Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan, and their respective allies. These wars didn't stop until the Treaty of Lodi, in 1454
This was the daily life of the young Northern Italy, wars, battles, massacres, bloodbaths, feelings of loneliness, and foreign oppression, since while the northern maritime cities were independent states, northern Italy as such was the Kingdom of Italy, component of the Holy Roman Empire.
But apart from all this ordeal, this tragedy, something else hit the young boy until he was on the verge of death, madness and evil.
The Black Death:
No war, slaughter, or calamity was as devastating as the one that was called the Black Death. Between the 1340s and 1350s especially, this plage fell over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It was well known that the Europeans at that time were not very clean, and there were probably more rats than people. Such a combination gave rise to one of the biggest calamities of all time. Half the population of Europe died. The nations felt it for every infected person.
Italy had black spots on most of his body and he felt himself dying. Dying would have been a comfort to him. His small body didn't move for long. Together with the infected, he lay in lament and in silence. Italy firmly believed that this was the fury of God. He punished them for being bad people, for abusing the poors, for fighting for power, for killing between brothers. Italy suffered the horror of the Plague in his own flesh, in his soul. He suffered, moreover, a double complication. The plague mainly affected young people and children, so the economy declined enormously.
Italy waited for the end of that hell with stillness, believing that the end had arrived for the world. But it wasn't so, when the Pest stopped raging, Italy walked again and felt lived in a long time. Through tears of happiness, he ran to embrace his brother, whom he had not known for a long time. He believed that God had forgiven them, and that everything would get better forever, although something of the blackness of the plague remained in the young Italian's heart.
By the fifteenth century, Italian peninsula was divided in the North (the maritime republics and Kingdom of Italy under the Holy Roman Empire), the Pontifical States, and the South (Naples and Sicily), political division, and, despite what it means, an almost even cultural division. Such political division lasted until the modern periods.
The Renaissance:
Great changes began to take place in the world. Spain was the biggest power of the time when marrying Austria (Habsburg), and with the discovery of the "New World". Italy always knew the existence of a continent beyond the sea, like all the big elites, but Spain had already revealed it to the world and had taken it as his own. Strange and wonderful stories came from beyond the sea, and Italy was filled with curiosity. But soon, and as usual, things would be complicated for the Northern.
In the Late Middle Ages (1300 onwards), the ancient heart of the Roman Empire and southern Italy were generally poorer than the North. Rome was a city of ancient ruins, and the Papal States were badly administered, and vulnerable to external interference, such as that of France and Spain. The papacy was offended when Avignon papacy was created in the south of France as a result of pressure from King Philip the Fair of France.
His brother, in the South, had for some time been subjected to foreign domination, by the Arabs and then by the Normans. Sicily had flourished for 150 years during the emirate of Sicily and later for two centuries during the Norman Kingdom.
By contrast, northern and central Italy had become much more prosperous, and it has been estimated that the region was among the richest in Europe. The Crusades had built lasting trade links, and the Fourth Crusade had done much to destroy the Byzantine Empire as a commercial rival of the Venetians and Genoese, to the great joy of the northern, who had detested Byzantine for centuries, when this one murderer Ostrogoth.
Since he was suddenly so powerful, although he remained under the power of the Holy Roman Empire, Italy was made not only of wealth but of culture.
The Italian trade routes that covered the Mediterranean and beyond were also important routes of culture and knowledge. And there was another factor. During these times China traveled around the world stealthily with General Zheng, and before finishing his journey and returning to his remote world, China decided to travel to the home of the one who had been his friend and love, the Roman Empire, but that is another story. In 1434 China, which at that time was still the most advanced society in the world, and his fleet (official ambassadors of the emperor) arrived at Tuscany in 1434, where Pope Florentius IV received them in Florence.
China didn't leaved the boat and let his diplomats do it, while he suffered in silence the absence his old friend the Roman Empire, and it was because of that nostalgia and love for the deceased Roman that China decided to make a gift to his children although without meeting them in person: the delegation showed the influential Pope a wealth of Chinese knowledge in many fields: art, geography (including world maps that came into the hands of Columbus and Magellan), astronomy, mathematics, printing, architecture, steel, and weaponry military, among others. This immense treasure of knowledge, together with those of the trade routes from Asia and of the Arab world, would spread throughout Europe and propitiate its share to the famous creativity of the Renaissance, influencing the work of geniuses such as Leonardo, Copernicus and Galileo.
China, hidden in his fleet, finally decided to leave to his home and never return, but he heard the voice of the little Venetian from the coast, who knew that it was him the distant and mysterious kingdom that his father and Marco Polo had spoken of. Desolated by his unfortunate reality, the little one asked to leave with him but he, without even meeting the boy, left, leaving the unfortunate little Italy in his world, although this one was about to change.
This gift of China, with the recovery of the lost Greek classics, the Arab advances in them, the medieval philosophy was revitalized. Ancient philosophers, ancient texts of ancient cultures, plus all the knowledge gathered from the Arab invasions centuries ago, made Italy remember the old days with his father. Soon, he began to see his whole world as uncultured and wild. He saw the feudal pattern as primitive and everything gray compared to all the new. In his city-states, trade came first; the feudal slag was almost lost.
But Italy was frightened, since he didn't know how his bosses would react, like the Holy Roman Empire and the others. He didn't know what to do with so much knowledge, with so much culture, and even more feared the Vatican, since he would hate all this, despite knowing that Vatican also had ancient texts hidden in his abbeys.
However, it would soon be impossible for him to continue to hide that transformation that flourished in him.
There was a day when he went to the theater. There would be a work of which he had heard praises, but he had never had the opportunity to read it. And when it began, when the phrases reached his ears, how delicious pain they provoked. Every word, every verse, that terrible wonder. Italy felt astonished and desolate by sadness, and a feeling of maximum admiration. How terrible life was, how dramatic was. How deep he found in his word. And from those words started a tear from the eyes of Italy, who felt small and hated his life. In what filthy dark pit he had lived? now he felt astonished. Art, art went through him. He had always been like this, from the time when his father walked over the world. The Divine Commedia gave the young boy impetus for his transformation. The Italian Renaissance had begun.
The word Renaissance (Rinascimento in Italian) has an explicit meaning, representing the renewed interest of the period in the culture of classical antiquity, after what was the Dark Ages (Middle Ages). These changes, although significant, were concentrated in the upper classes, and for the vast majority of the population life changed little in relation to the Middle Ages. Also, not everything was wonderful during the Renaissance and more so with the infamous Borgia family.
In 1492 the cardinal of Spanish origin, Rodrigo Borgia, who would take the name of Alexander VI, ascended to the papal throne. His government soon became famous for his nepotism and his legendary lack of morale. The new pope was in favor of a recovery of political power in Italy by the Church, which led him to establish multiple and changing alliances with his neighbors. In addition to them, the typical Italian families and their dark hearts made the heart of little Italy never manage to come out from the murkiness.
Over time, Italy began to attend and push the so-called Commedia d'arte, plays where he felt happy and funny. He began to act in them. Soon, music and theater became his hobbie. Singing and dancing as well. The violin, the Piano (which means soft in Italian), had begun to perform them. When music entered his soul, nothing mattered to Italy. The Ballet, he started it too.
And his existence began to seem more bearable.
Soon, in those days, Italy met a man he would never forget in his live. Leonardo Da Vinci taught him many things, many of these things come out from the gifts of China. Italy seemed to him a funny and somewhat crazy man, but how clever and smart he was. Definitely his favorite. Those things that Leonardo talked about, made Italy never again be tied to the known, knowing now that the impossible was indeed possible.
In 1497, Italy saw one of Leonardo's great works, The Last Supper, completed, and Italy knew that Man was capable of more than killing and destroying things.
Another person whom Italy greatly admired was a painter named Botticelli. In the decade of 1480, Italy glimpsed the work The Birth of Venus, and his heartfelt soft before such marvel. Italy knew there that the heart of man could harbor something more than ambition and power.
One Michelangelo was another of Italy's favorites along with the Vatican. In 1499, Italy wept in astonishment at the statue of The Pity, whose perfection filled his heart.
During the first years of the 1500, Italy saw one of the most famous works of humanity, La Gioconda, which he would never see again in his hands.
During 1508-12, both he and the Vatican were impatient for Michelangelo to finish a great work he did in Rome. When he had finished, Italy begged his brother Romano to come with him and the Vatican to see it. Despite the protests and problems of Romano, he attended. And when they entered the great chapel, and their eyes looked up, Romano let out a sound of genuine astonishment, while Italy could only say: Dio Mio!* There it was, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. How great a wonder, no one had words for it. Not even Romano, who with his own problems, his own context, had been perplexed by such work. Now Italy thought the world was an opera, a concert, a sonata. There were hierarchies in the instruments; there were struggles in the notes.
Throughout this period, Italy was filled with a strange pride that he had never felt. Always dominated, always in wars, pests, for the first time Italy felt that he achieved something of himself. After all, he was the son and inheritor of the Roman Empire, he thought.
Eager to show all this to the others, he organized a theatrical event for everyone to envision their art.
He would have liked to say that it was because he wanted everyone to know such beauty, to show that art has no nationality, but it was a lie. It was out of vanity, because he wanted everyone to recognize him.
That's how it happened. He danced ballet, sang with sweetness, acted with grace. All eyes staring at him were shocked. England felt a strange sensation in the stomach that bothered him. The Holy Roman Empire loved him with his eyes. France fell in love with his art. Austria envied him. Spain wanted him. And that was his condemnation.
Everyone had always wanted Italy, for his strategic point, for his legacy, for his ports, etc. But now they had the excuse. The night returned to Italy.
The Italian Wars:
1494-1559
All this art didn't go unnoticed by the others, and soon each one developed their own version of it. The Renaissance had spread. In a way, Italy revolutionized Europe. But everything would turned against him.
The maritime axis was now in the Atlantic, under the control of Spain, and not in the Mediterranean, and now, when losing their power, the cities of the north began to fight between them. In order for the matter to be resolved soon, Italy hired Switzerland as a mercenary. But soon, the Swiss mercenaries began to take over the cities. And Switzerland laughed at him. And Italy knew that he should not trust Switzerland never again.
The great powers of the time were Spain, France and England to a lesser extent.
By contrast, the countries of central Europe and Italy remained divided between large numbers of small princes and independent cities. The kings of the bigger states worked to become masters of the weakest countries. The king of France, Charles VIII, set the example. He crossed with his army all Italy to go to conquer the kingdom of Naples. Italy saw how his brother had to fight with France. His turn was coming too. Italy, hastily, raised all the kingdoms of the peninsula against him. That is why France left. But soon he returned. And this time, he lunged at him. Italy looked anguished at the terrible slaughter that took place in his land. He looked north, France and Austria stalking him as they fought between them. He looked south, Spain, the King of the World back then, invaded them.
France attacked and conquered the Duchy of Milan.
When the French army invaded the duchy, some fortified cities tried to resist at first. But then France ordered all the inhabitants to be passed by the edge of the sword. This procedure terrified the Italians, and the other cities gave up without a fight. Louis XII was appointed Duke of Milan. While there, France personally saw The Last Supper, and he liked it so much, that it came to him tear off a piece and take it to his land. Italy protested euphorically. The men of France were holding him, and France approached him, smiling. Italy looked at him angrily, and France then kicked him hard in the stomach that left Veneciano lying on the ground. France started to conquer. Italy remained there, almost unconscious.
Northern Italy was devastated by the French invasion. The independent cities ceased to be so, and Italy felt unhappy. Everything he had achieved was useless. Again he felt manipulated with deep pain. The world was gray again to him.
France, rapt, immediately claimed the kingdom of Naples. It was agreed with Spain, which already possessed Sicily, to conquer the kingdom together and distribute it. The armies of France and Spain, united, effortlessly occupied the country (1501). But when the deal had to be made, the two kings disagreed. The French fought against the Spaniards, but were easily expelled and the whole kingdom of Naples was in the power of the king of Aragon (1504).
In 1515, Italy felt abandoned by one of his most idolized citizens. When Da Vinci departed to France, Italy felt that this one was snatched from him, besides feeling certain treason. He never saw him again, nor the work he had taken with him.
Soon, Austria faced France in the north, where he defeated him in the Battle of Pavia, in 1524.
By the time Italy looked south, his brother was already under Spanish sovereignty.
After two years of struggle, France surrendered to fight for Italy and returned to his lands.
Italy again bitterly awaited his fate, but soon he saw that the situation didn't end.
Between 1529-30, there was a siege to Venice, his heart. Spain and Austria besieged the city and caused terror. They confiscated riches, robbed, plundered, while riding with their axes and swords through the city.
When Italy tried to reason with his brother Spain, this one only gave him a funny look, and Austria mocked him. He didn't hate Spain; he knew that he was like that for having lived the same atrocities as all, because Italy well remembered that Spain, like France, had once been innocent children.
By the time the Italian Wars were over, Italy was wounded and beaten. Slow and painful was his recovery, because cities had a hard time returning to normal.
After the war, Italy was under the power of another powerful country, Austria, while his brother, under Spanish control. Although he had long since been separated from his brother, he had always had the opportunity to see him, but it had never been the same before. But now, Austria had strictly forbidden him to see his brother again, to think of him at all. Italy cried for this.
The situation with Austria was stranger than he had been with others, since unlike all his former conquerors, who admired him, Austria felt nothing for him. Perhaps that was why nothing prevented him from dressing him as a maid to represent his situation. Italy never sympathized much with him.
But sometimes he preferred him instead of Spain, because of Spain's desire of marry him.
However, although everything was gradually being saved as the dominance of the Spanish Habsburgs became strong, the wars didn't end there. There were wars within the Italian wars, like the War of the League of Cognac (1526–30), which even involved the ambitious England.
All this matter was finally ended with the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, which gave rise to a new regional situation through which the Spanish preponderance began and therefore a displacement of the problems towards the West, a gravitation still accentuated by the union of Portugal to the Hispanic Monarchy in 1580.
In the celebration of Peace, young Italy was emaciated and weak, not even the wonders of the Medici in the Republic of Florence could please his heart; and in addition to this, the barbaric celebrations of those times left him stupefying, as when in a tournament against the Earl of Montgomery a spear pierced the eye of Henry II, who died soon after.
Shortly, The Italian Wars, sometimes called Great Italian Wars, were a series of warlike conflicts carried on Italian territory by various European powers, especially Spain, France, The Holy Roman Empire, Austria (Hansburg) and the Ottoman Empire for the dominance of the Italians. They were nine wars in total.
Reichsitalien:
After the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis and the Italian Wars, Spain (Spanish-Habsburg Empire) established his supremacy in Italy. The south, his brother, remained in the hands of Spain, while the north, always having been dominated by the Holy German Empire, remained in the personal hands of Austria. Long were the times when Austria dominated northern Italy, and that period was known as the Reichsitalien.
Thus, Spain turned Italy into a fiefdom, which turned out that the Italian territories depended on Spanish politics. It should be said that some cities, such as Venice, remained independent city-states.
So, like the previous centuries, the seventeenth century was tumultuous for Italy. It was the century of the strong presence of Spain and Austria on the peninsula, as well as the ire of the Vatican with the famous Protestant Reformation. Despite important artistic and scientific achievements, such as Galileo's discoveries in the field of astronomy and physics and the flourishing of the baroque style in architecture and painting, Italy suffered a general economic decline. Feliciano was full of anger when they killed Galileo, when in fact only he said the truth, he knew.
In turn, despite him and his brother belonging to and being subjugated to the same empire (Spanish-Habsburg Empire), they continued to be different entities and were kept separated by Spain and Austria respectively. This embittered the hearts of the brothers but did not prevent Italy from helping his brother in wars against the Ottomans and Berber pirates: the pirate activity of Turks and Berbers ravaged the coasts of the Gulf of Taranto and Sicily, reaching the Turks briefly taking the Neapolitan port of Otranto in 1480. The Italian contribution, no longer Neapolitan and Sicilian but even from Venetian, Genoese, Florentine and Roman allies, gathered in the Holy League, was constant in the wars against the Ottoman Empire, as in the Great Siege of Malta (1565 ) or the battle of Lepanto (1571).
Aside from being distressed by the wars that plagued his brother, he also continued to face the Ottoman Empire himself:
-Third and fourth Ottoman-Venetian War:
The Third Ottoman-Venetian War, (1537-1540) was one of the numerous Ottoman-Venetian wars of the time in the Mediterranean Sea. The Ottoman emperor Suleiman the Magnificent had been angered by a treaty signed between the Republic of Venice and the Habsburg Empire of Carlos V. One of the main events of the war was the siege of Corfu and the decisive battle of Preveza on 28 September 1538, in which Spain himself helped young Italy. In turn, France supported the Ottoman Empire, which made young Italy know beforehand that France could not be trusted in any way, he knew it from experience. All this was followed by the siege of Castelnuovo in 1539.
A treaty or "Capitulation" was signed between Venice and the Ottoman Empire to end the war on October 2, 1540.
The Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War took place between the years 1570 and 1573 and was where the famous Battle of Lepanto took place:
The large and rich island of Cyprus had been under Venetian rule since 1489. Along with Crete, it was one of the Republic's most important overseas possessions. It was a strategic place that coexisted with the Levante region where the production of cotton and sugar was controlled. The Venetians had to pay tributes to the Mamluks in Egypt and then to the Ottomans for their positions in the largely Muslim region and, another problem for Venice was the attitude towards the population of the island. The cruel treatment and oppressive taxation of the local Orthodox Greek population by Catholic Venice caused great dissatisfaction. But that would soon change, as Italy knew that new and bloody war were approaching. Sultan Suleiman II coveted the island of Cyprus for its strategic position and there were many forced and tensions with Venice for it. Thus, finally, and as Italy knew, the war began with the Ottoman invasion of the island in the time of Selim II. The capital Nicosia fell very quickly and the island was soon occupied.
Two months later the Battle of Lepanto took place: In this battle the Holy League faced and coalition with the Ottoman Empire. Today it is known as the greatest naval battle in the modern world, and as the longest and bloodiest day. Italy's eyes, cold with cynicism and pain, were not warmed nor by the fire of battle.
The Ottoman forces were defeated in this battle, but the Christian allies were unable to retake the island, so Venice was forced to negotiate and cede the island in 1573.
But the problems of young Italy didn't end, nor would them ever end.
Not only was having to lead the Ottoman Empire devastating, as well as enduring the contempt and disdain of Austria, his master, but the presence of Spain in the peninsula bothered him and gave him chills. Despite the fact that at the bottom of his broken heart Italy never stopped loving his brother Spain, he hated him with passion in those times. The closeness of his brother Romano to Spain, and the joyous wickedness and power of the Spaniard crushed his heart and made him sprout hatred and envy like pus from a wound.
But this was somewhat justified: in the golden times of the Spanish Empire, as of any other empire, the others hated him for it and envied him to the bone, therefore, the anti-Spanish propaganda was always on the prowl, the so-called Black Legend, promoted mainly by the enemies of Spain: France, England, Holland and also, of the indignant and alienated little North Italy, despite the fact that they belonged to the same Empire, Italy hated him for subjugating him and his brother and having already got used to Austria and the dominion of the Holy Roman Empire after so long, the new period of Spanish rule drove him crazy.
Unofficially, young Italy conspired against Spain. The so-called Venice Conjuration was one of these conspiracies:
The conspiracy of Venice in 1618 was a confusing diplomatic intrigue between the Hispanic Monarchy of Philip III and the Most Serene Republic of Venice, which led to a violent revolt against foreigners upon discovery.
According to Venetian sources, the origin would be a plot by the authorities of the Spanish dominions in Italy: the viceroy of Naples, the governor of Milan, together with the Spanish ambassador to the Republic who would have manipulated a group of French mercenaries settled in Venice to provoke a situation that allowed the military intervention of the Spanish fleet present in the Adriatic. The French ended up killed in the riots or judicially executed. The fact was object of great propagandistic and literary treatment, including itself between the subjects of the so-called Spanish black legend. However, it was all a manipulation by the Venetian authorities.
So yes, the young Italy didn't like Spain and intrigued for the Italians to rise up against him, but he soon remembered that he was weak, subdued, a servant and diminutive in a world of giants who didn't even deign to look at him, he was a pawn trying to play like a queen. Reality always hit little Italy, destroying his self-esteem and sanity.
In addition to this, Spain's participation in the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), financed in part by taxes on the Italian possessions, greatly exhausted Italian trade and agriculture; therefore, as Spain declined, it dragged his Italian dominions down, spreading conflicts and revolts in the south. Also, in this war of wars Italy also had to face the French interventionism that began to challenge the Spanish Empire in the Valtellina War (1623-1626), where despite the attempts of Spain and Austria, part of the northeast of Italy end up in French zone .
The hungry and lustful stalking of France terrified Italy more than anything because of his growing dislike for his formerly beloved brother, but he loved Austria and Spain little, so for him, it was a lose-lose, suffer situation.
The Black Death returned to haunt Italy throughout the century. The plague of 1630 that ravaged northern Italy, notably Milan and Venice, claimed possibly one million lives, or about 25% of the population. Italy erupted in hysteria because of this, because his situations began to appear tragicomic to him. Italy in the background thought he could not believe God had such a bad humor. Of course, the Plague directly affect his sanity, leaving him in a cynical state for a while.
Other aspect of his new life after the Italian Wars was his situation in the house of Austria. In Austria's Italy met another captive, Hungary, with whom he began to congenial. He had already heard of her and had indeed been allies in one of the wars against the Ottoman Empire, but now he knew her in person. Soon they began a relationship of fellowship, but it was only because they were in the same situation, if they were not, Italy doubted that that nation could please him.
With regard to Austria, Italy didn't know what to think. Sometimes he admired him for his beauty and artistic talents, but sometimes he hated him for his coldness and his brusque way of treating him. Sometimes Austria seemed to like him a little. As when one of the "attacks" happened to Spain, Austria took him and both hid in a closet. Italy could feel as Austria embraced him. Yes, sometimes he seemed to be nice. But in reality Austria wasn't. He was vain and vague. But Italy felt a little sympathy for him, since he suspected that Austria believed him to be a girl.
But the person who most disturbed Italy was the Holy Roman Empire. This one had terrified him from the moment he was born, and to have him so close was like a nightmare. The Holy Roman Empire used to persecute him to form an empire together before, but since he began to live in the house of Austria, this one hardly looked at him and was a silent ally. The quiet presence of this one made Italy ended up intriguing about him, and soon he became less afraid and more curious.
Italy's growing curiosity about the Holy Roman Empire, as well as his stay at home in Austria, made his heart begin to feel attached to them, and began to look at the Germanic boy with different eyes, thus, he began to prefer them before Spain or to be conquered by France.
And even though the tragedies continued unabated, and his suffering never stopped, his mind began to wander around the young Holy Roman Empire, and although everything continued badly, the heart of Italy began to disengage, to not care, just thinking about the strange Holy Roman Empire, the one who had always loved him.
-Fifth and Sixth Ottoman-Venetian War:
And just like the ordeal continued, the decline for Venice came, while there would be a new stage for the heart of Italy.
This war (1645-1669) was between the Venetian Republic, the Maltese Order, the Papal States and France on the one hand, and the Ottoman Empire on the other. Conflict erupted over dominance on the island of Crete . The war took place through naval battles in the Aegean Sea.
This prolonged conflict drained the Venetian economy which relied on trade with the Ottomans. In the 1660s, although they continued to receive help from other Christian countries, Venice began to feel exhausted by war. On the other hand, the Ottomans were able to maintain their troops in Crete and strengthen them again under the leadership of the capable Köprülü family . They launched their last major expedition in 1666 under the direct supervision of the Grand Vizier. The expedition began the last stage of the bloody Candia Siege and lasted for more than two years. Finally, Fort Candia decided to surrender, thus ending the rule of Venice on the island of Crete. In a peace agreement signed by both parties, Venice retained control of several isolated small fortified islands off the coast of Crete. Venice wanted to avenge this defeat, so 15 years later the sixth Ottoman-Venetian War began.
The Sixth Ottoman-Venetian War lasted from 1684 to 1699 and was part of a major conflict called the "Great Turkish War". This war involved the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Military operations took place in the Dalmatia region to the Aegean Sea. However, the main military campaign in this war was the conquest of the Morea peninsula (Peloponnesus)) in Southern Greece by the Republic of Venice. Venice waged this war to avenge the defeat in the previous war which resulted in the loss of the territory of Crete, while the Ottomans were busy on the northern border due to the war against Habsburg and could not send their troops to Morea. Therefore, the this war was the only war between the Ottomans and Venice which was won by this maritime republic. However, the triumph of Venice was only temporary, because the territory they had acquired would be recaptured by the Ottomans in the seventh and last ottoman-venetian war.
18th century:
The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) was triggered by the death of the last King of Spain of the Habsburgs, Charles II, who handed over the entire Spanish heritage to Philip, the second grandson of King Louis XIV of France. Soon another war began. Spain was cornered by France, who wanted to impose his hegemony and have access to the Spanish throne. For the sadness of Spain, he was separated from Austria and his most precise colony, Southern Italy. Veneciano feared for his brother. At other times Spain tried to get rid of France and recover southern Italy, but finally gave up. Although Spain finally recovered his brother in 1738, to his sadness, since he wished to have his brother close. He was his only friend.
Time passed, and Italy unwittingly became sympathetic to the chilling Holy Germanic Roman Empire. Suddenly, the one who had terrified him seemed tender, and a strong feeling struck his heart, one that never left him. Soon, Italy saw his life with different eyes. Without realizing it, he loved Holy Roman Empire, he really loved him. He saw him as a friend, perhaps one of the few he had, and eventually filled him with love. How it was possible, he fully didn't know, but he was in love with him, his first love, and life suddenly seemed different to him.
For convenience, Austria liked art and music, so he let Italy continue with his artistic activities.
In 1741, Italy was elegantly, along with the other great lords, to a concert of a Venetian named Vivaldi.
And what beauty was for everyone's ears. The Four Seasons left Italy ecstatic. When asked which station had moved him the most, he replied that Spring was beautiful; you could feel sorry for Winter; Autumn was fun as a Harlequin, but that Summer was with which he felt identified.
Life then seemed to be bittersweet. But everything would change forever.
The Age of Napoleon, and Italy:
Strong and decisive changes came at the end of the eighteenth century, from the independence of one of the sons of England, to a strong Revolution in France that left Europe perplexed. Although Austria greatly abhorred the revolution, Italy in the background felt admiration for France, considering him a liberator.
At the time, Italy was very close to the Holy Roman Empire, although they sometimes disagreed, since Italy was very Catholic and Holy Roman Germanic Empire had been converted to Lutheran Protestantism, and the German was a feudalist and Italy, under the influence of the republics of the north, was already secretly a republican with bourgeois characteristics. But even so, that didn't make the love they had developed for each other diminished in anything.
When the French Revolution was at its peak, Italy could not but praise France in silence. He had ceased to believe in the feudal model when his city-states had experienced something very different from that. France now propelled ideas he had already conceived.
But when Napoleon arrived, everything would change.
At the beginning of century 19th century, Italy began to notice that Holy Germanic Roman Empire began to weaken and to become sick more often. Suddenly an bitter memory struck Italy, when his father fell into disgrace and finally died.
One day, the Holy Roman Empire asked for the last time to form an Empire, but this time seriously, to which Italy refused again. Italy confessed his fear that if he did, Holy Roman Empire Germanic would become as strong as his father and would end up disappearing as he did. A look of understanding and sadness appeared in the face of his love.
Anguish was what Italy felt when he learned that the Holy Roman Empire was marching to war against France, who had become an Empire and planned to conquer Europe.
The last time he saw him, in 1806 they said goodbye with a kiss on the lips and Holy Roman Empire promised him that he would return and never stop loving "her" (he also thought he was a girl, although Italy didn't know). However, Holy Roman Empire never returned. Venetiano waited patiently. And he suffered his absence. How could he have fallen in love with him? He remembered when he met him, and how he had despised him for putting him under his control. He remembered the intense looks he was giving him, and remembered how rough he could be to speak. Italy never knew how it happened. He simply felt part of it, and would wait for him even if a thousand years passed.
However, soon his life would turn very far from all that, far from the Holy Germanic Roman Empire.
And soon Italy saw France at the gates of his lands. France invaded Italy in 1796, but it was not until after Italy that he proposed to receive him.
When Italy received him, he was betrayed. France didn't come to liberate him, he came to conquer him. The typical story. Yet, despite his reluctance to France, with whom the Holy Roman Empire had gone to fight, Italy was eager to abolish feudalism, and soon he left himself a little to France.
The conquest of Piedmont by Napoleon is repeated, in a fragmented way, in other regions of Italy. He defeated the Austrians in Lodi and entered Milan five days later. In all these subjugated territories Napoleon has been vigorously imposing new French forms, often with the enthusiastic support of premises as impatient as the French with the remnants of feudalism. Northern and central Italy was reorganized as the Cisalpine Republic, while the territory of Genoa becomes the Liguria Republic. Italy sees all this indecisive.
By terms of peace, signed in Campo Formio in October, Austria cedes to France the Austrian Netherlands all his territory in the north of Italy.
In exchange, France gives Austria Venice. This infuriated and angered Italy. More and more he was disenchanted with France and more when he saw the strong resistance that his brother showed against France. Suddenly, Italy felt like a fool and a traitor.
The Napoleonic Italy:
Italy was "rescued" or "kidnapped", depending on your point of view, by Austria and Russia from France, when he was in Syria. But when he returned, he voluntarily returned to France. Italy had low morale, and could only think of the Holy Roman Empire and his destiny.
Everyone hated France at that period; even the Vatican had problems with him.
The conquest of Russia that Napoleon undertook in 1811 marked the end of the apogee of Italian support for Napoleon. When France confessed to him to cease to wait for the Holy Roman Empire, because he would not return, dead by his own hand, all hope in France that he had in died at once. Italy never surpassed the death of Germanic Holy Roman Empire, just when he had loved, he was pulled out. Thick were the tears that Italy shed for him, but silent.
After Russia, other states of Europe re-allied themselves and defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig, after which their Italian allied states abandoned him to ally themselves with Austria. Italy felt that déjà vu was alive. Driven by pain and dismay, he swore to himself that from that moment he would choose his fate, believing that by betraying France and allying himself with Austria, he would consent to his freedom; Italy played his part in the play. One night, together with his boys, waiting to fight against the French, in the light of the fire, Italy played a song in his mandolin. A dry but beautiful melody.
Defeated in Paris on 6 April 1814, Napoleon was forced to relinquish his throne and was sent into exile in Elba. France was now alone.
Austria and Italy again:
The result of the Congress of Vienna in 1814 restored a situation close to that of 1795, dividing Italy between Austria (in the northeast and Lombardy), the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilias (his brother in the south), and Tuscany, the Papal States and other minor states in the center. However, ancient republics like Venice and Genoa were not recreated, Venice went to Austria and Genoa went to the Kingdom of Sardinia. All this maddened Italy. After all that had happened, of all the changes, and all the bloodshed, of all that suffered, ended the same way it began. Italy was fed up. He would not live another century in this way, he preferred the die before that. There was not even Holy Roman Germanic Empire to contain him, and nothing tied him to that. Everything had been taken away. He had nothing to lose.
With this fury, with that resentment, that the spite of Italy, and the well-kept contempt of Romano for all, would bring about the most radical change in the history of Italy, and the world would know it forever.
The Italian Unification:
Before he began to mobilize and plan his own play, Italy watched Austria closely. One afternoon, Italy kept him company. Austria rested sleepily on a seat, after having passed some liquor. Drunken Austria was different from the rest. He fell, became melancholy and sleepy.
Austria made a compassionate and sleepy look at Italy, one of those looks that would never happen in a normal environment. He gently stroked the face of Italy, and felt sorry for both. Suddenly, he took him by the waist and placed him on him.
That day Italy lost something was only his. He felt strange and dirty, and he knew that if he wanted to get rid of Austria, that was the moment.
The feudal model that Austria still imposed on him, at that time in history, was like a violation. He represented the northern bourgeoisie in part, and the last thing he wanted was a feudal model. Italy would no longer be allowed to step on; they would all know the Italian fire.
The northern areas of Italy were under Austrian control, and to escape from this, Italy decided to represent punctually the only area of Italy owned by an Italian king, Piedmont Sardinia, which was also a liberal Monarchy. The center of Italy was under papal sovereignty, the Papal States, and the south was relatively intending, although administered by France. After this panorama, Italy only decided to try to become of the north and to expel Austria.
Italy began to argue with Austria and to become rebel of him from 1815, and in 1830 began his first strategy. The so-called Resurgence was a republican movement that sought unity from everywhere where it spoke Italian and possessed the same Latin-Mediterranean culture. Italy had already risen and had a weapon in his hand.
During 1848 and 49, Italy tried to force the unification, but soon realized that not everyone thought the same. There were always idiots. Some elites wished to continue benefiting foreign interests, and Italy knew that the process was a slow one and that it would be by force and death.
Austria continued with the hegemony in Northern Italy, although both already had declared the enmity. The monarchy of Piedmont Sardinia began to industrialize and there was a second Resurgence. Italy, with one of his advisers, the Count of Cavour, knew that a strong state, a big army and industrialization were also necessary to unify. This was done. Italy began to have external aid, mainly of Prussia, who was in tensions with Austria. He had written and promised to offer him help and weapons. Italy was pleased.
When he began to plan his future state, he was presented with three possible forms: -A Federation of States led by the Pope. That option was given to him by the Vatican, since when he saw the panorama; he wished at all costs to remain in power in any way- A monarchy headed by the king of Piedmont Sardinia, the only one who considered his boss. Or a Republic, an option offered by a Garibaldi, whom he didn't know personally. Either of the latter two accepted, but he definitely didn't want to see himself obeying the Vatican.
Italy, with a powerful sense of struggle, accepted the French help to annex Lombardy. He had killed Lombard, and he believed that it was right that what he had been should be with him.
But the help of France bothered him a little. Italy made it clear to France that he was no longer the same, and that he was able to declare war if France betrayed him and tried to invade him. France really saw the bravery and darkness in the eyes and words of the Italian, and knew that it was true. But France was France, and in return for his help, he asked for some territories in return. Italy had only to give them up for the help of his French brother.
In 1859, Italy fought and annexed Lombardy. With a big ecstasy and frenzy, stained with blood, he soon assailed the central states, such as Tuscany and part of the Papal States. This infuriated and terrified the Vatican and the Pope, who were only defended by France. As might be expected, France betrayed Italy. This one was not surprised. Italy began to stalk them but soon his fury and excitement calmed down a bit, and began to analyze the situation.
One starry night, Italy began to walk between his lands and gardens, when suddenly, a melodious voice attracted him. Following it, he reached a thick garden, and as he peered out from among the branches, under the stars, he found an old big house. And there, on the top of a wall, singing solitary with a mandolin was his brother Romano*. His voice was soft, distant and masculine. And the melody, how beautiful it was. Romano, his dear brother, how cruel had been the destiny with them, and even more with Romano. It had been so long since they had been separated, and in spite of being seen each other sometimes, everything had been cut. But how much he still loved him, he was the only one left. And seeing him there, singing in the night, while he was hiding in the bushes, he could not but smile at his song, while his eyes became watery. Soon he felt an infinite sadness, and he gave one last look to his brother before leaving.
That made him think, and he was indignant that they could not be together again. The Roman Empire, Ostrogoth, the Holy Roman Empire, had been snatched from him, but they would not take Romano, not him. There, he knew that the fight was greater than he had anticipated, he would fight for Romano, and he would also join. His struggle was for Reunification. Romano must also strive to be together, together forever and ever.
In 1860, Garibaldi, along with his army, the so-called Red Shirts, began their conquest by the south. Romano had been somewhat aware of his brother's struggle, and at first he didn't know what to do. When the Red Shirts entered his dominions to begin the conquest, Romano saw the fight from afar. His boys urged him to join the struggle for unification, but Roman listened in silence. But when they needed it the most, Romano joined the battle, cutting the gargoyles to those who opposed him. Romano had joined, though not very convinced yet. Italy had written to him in secret, and that was why Romano left his fate in the hands of his younger brother. In spite of everything, I trusted him.
Garibaldi soon became very popular and a great figure of unification. Romano openly rebelled against France and didn't obey him again. The whole of southern Italy was soon won. But big was fear and pain that Italy and Romano felt, since Italy was under the sovereignty of Victor Manuel (his King), and Roman was with Garibaldi, a republican. The danger of the south declaring republic became latent and Italy was desolated. Romano was also fearful. Everything would have been was in vain, if they were still separate. But to Romano's surprise, Garibaldi turned over Romano and dissolved his army. Romano and Italy were together. Finally together. Romano glanced at his brother, who without wasting time rushed to embrace him. The first embrace after centuries. And they both cried out of the infinite joy they felt. Now they were one. One mind, one heart, but still their souls were different, they could never come together. In 1861, they were a Kingdom. The Kingdom of Italy.
But the fight was not over. Italy dissuaded his brother to help him regain his heart, Venice, which was in the hands of Austria. In the battle against Austria, Romano offered to help him against the Austrian, but Italy refused. It was something personal between them. Italy not only beat Austria, but enjoyed it, and took vengeance in any way possible. When Austria attempted to escape, Italy fell upon him, and did what Austria had done to him. So much was his enjoyment that only Romano convinced him to let him go. In 1866, Venice was annexed to the Kingdom.
The unification still had its problems. The pope, seeing the worrying situation threatened all Italian Catholics (most of them) with excommunicating them if they accepted these changes. But still everything went on.
Romano soon wished to obtain the greatest symbol they could have, Rome. It was his father's greatest legacy and it was not yet in his hands. Despite his desire, Italy didn't agree. To take Rome by force was a bad propaganda in an international way, and the other nations would begin to reject them. For this reason, Italy preferred to take things slowly. In spite of this, in 1870, Roman and the Red Shirts tried to take Rome to the outside while the war cry was: Roma o la Morte!*
But it was the same Italian army that stopped them and killed them all. His own brother. Italy had plans and didn't want Romano to change them. Romano was betrayed by his brother, and he blame him for having used him to recover Venice, and not to help him recover Rome. Italy paid no attention to him. But even so, he decided to visit the Vatican in secret to get the idea of his inevitable future. In the face of the latter's refusal to accept unification, and vowing never to do so, Italy, with a cool look and an amiable glance, told his what he should never forget, what was his biggest truth: "Romano e io siamo più dei fratelli gemelli. Siamo venuti insieme al mondo and quindi dobbiamo essere. Insieme. "* With that statement, the Vatican must have thought that the situation was irreversible. But he didn't do it, he continued in the hope that that of unification would be temporary. It was not.
The Vatican didn't accept the new Italian state in any way, but there was nothing he could do. France had stopped protecting him, and was besieged by the Italian brothers. At any moment he must recognize them and give them Rome.
The capital of the Kingdom of Italy was Florence, and there both were anointed to be officially the same Nation and the same State. France, Spain, and Austria went to see them that night. And the Italian brothers explained to them the suffering they caused them and would never again kneel before them. Italy saw and felt like Roman felt pain when looking at Spain. He knew there that his brother loved him.
The unification was almost complete, but not everything was perfect. They both had problems: the hostility of the Vatican, and above all, the enormous difference between the north and the south. The south was poorer and more agricultural than the industrialized north. And soon the tensions between the brothers arose. Italy had always considered himself more cultured than his brother, who barely knew how to read and write. But this thought came after his separation, and he knew that it was not Romano's fault.
When it was over, Italy and Romano gathered to eat pasta and drink wine.
Italy still remembered when Romano had given him the recipe. It was the best gift he could have given.
The Italian Imperialism:
Italy was now, for the first time in a long time, a Unified Kingdom. Romano enjoyed the early times with his brother, showing him the southern traditions, where Italy had to internalize. In turn, Italy made his brother listen to Verdi almost all the time, and contemplate the works of Giovanni Boldini. At first it was all parties and festivities. Hymns and songs. But soon they would have to become serious before the world that would not let the Italians join the game.
Italy became very interested in imperialism, and knew that if they wanted to be accepted into the club of powerful countries, they must begin to move. Italy tried to persuade Romano to hurry and start colonies in Africa, since he had to be admitted that they had arrived very late to the distribution and the biggest powers would not give them anything. Romano was reluctant to this. He preferred that they focus on strengthening and then going outside, but his brother was so excited about the idea of having his own colonies that he had to nod. Although reluctantly. They were the legitimate sons and heirs of the Roman Empire, and they would be noticed, thought Italy.
However, the feared was soon confirmed. Neither England, the master of the world in that moument, nor France nor any other would let the Italians grow. Italy insisted, was very optimistic and tried to dissuade England from yielding some region of Africa. Romano still believed (and rightly so) that they should first strengthen themselves. Better prepare the army, promote the national industry, generate work, but apparently none of this really mattered to his brother and his liberal-imperialist model to see their situation. Romano was not heard and had to follow his brother while observing that he didn't get in too much trouble.
Italian Somalia:
After much annoyance to England, in 1886, he, France and Italy were distributed the poor Somalia. The Italians touched the south-eastern part. Italy burst out in joy to have a colony, but Roman was not so excited besides he distrusting enormously of England and France. Somalia was expressionless, strong, and never lent herself to the foolishness of Italy. Even though these were her "tutors", she actually looked the other way around.
From that moment on, they both started administering Somalia.
First Italic-Ethiopian War:
Soon, Italy became desperate to realize that his situation had not been privileged much in spite of his attempts, and without having sated his imperialist thirst, sparingly and without much preparation, Italy decided to set eyes on Ethiopia.
Italy began to pressure her, believing that ethnic Ethiopians would be allied against Ethiopia, but this didn't happen. In addition, a group rebelled against Italy. In anger, he and his brother killed them all. With this, Italy didn't wait a moment to attack and invade Ethiopia. But this one was intelligent, and had been prepared for a long time. At first, Italy won some victories, worse soon, in January 1896, Ethiopia besieged the Italians, who, after trying to resist, had to surrender.
This didn't please Italy, who felt humiliated, and embarrassed. Although Romano didn't care.
At the Battle of Adua, Italy had prepared an ambush in the morning, but to his surprise, Ethiopia had been ahead of him. The situation of the war was almost definite. Dirty, demoralized, bloodied, Romano and Italy fought shoulder to shoulder. But they lost. Back to back, Italy asked his brother why he had agreed to the war without him really didn't want it. What Romano replied left surprised and moved Italy, who, once again animated, was happy to have Romano with him. "Perché mi hai chiesto, fratellino." *
After the victory, Ethiopia retired confident that the result of the battle was decisive, and the Italian defeat precipitated the end of the war. The rate of casualties suffered by Italian forces at the Battle of Adua was biggest than that of any other big European battle of the nineteenth century. As a result, several riots broke out in several Italian cities. For his part, by means of the Addis Ababa Treaty in October 1896, Melenik, Emperor of Ethiopia had guaranteed the strict delimitation of the borders and forcing Italy to recognize the Ethiopia independence. Was Romano who released those words, since Italy refused to acknowledge it, without even looking at Ethiopia in the face. Romano knew that his brother was an evil and bad loser.
The Triple Alliance:
But there were things to worry about first. The situation in Italy was not good. He had never been salified as a strong state, and things in Europe seemed to be starting to settle for a future big success. The Italian brothers were obliged to attend the meetings of the central powers, to the annoyance of Italy, and both were invited by Austria-Hungary, Prussia, and that new country which so much tempted Italy, the German Empire, to join to them for a future contest, of which, the Italians were not very informed and almost nothing of what happened could understand. So much time in their own business and struggles had not allowed them to have a panoramic view of the world situation in recent years. But Italy, who was intelligent, knew that something very important was for Austria to invite him, so he was interested, to Romano's annoyance that all he wanted to deal with more specific issues of their lands instead of continuing to get into in trouble. Even so, the Italias committed themselves to the central powers, to help them in the future. Romano warned Italy not to compromise with things he didn't know how they would emerge, but Italy believed he had the handling of the situation.
Italian Libya and the Italic-Turkish War:
Italy clearly had his disadvantageous colonial situation (the only thing that apparently worried him) and analyzed his situation. Soon, he saw that the Ottoman Empire was weakening, and had his administrations unprotected in North Africa. This was enough for Italy to try to steal that region near him, Libya. The Ottoman Empire was enraged, wounded, and watched as the Italy awaited them for the fight. Confronting the Ottoman Empire was not so simple, mainly because both Italians feared him. At one point he admired him, since it was he who had killed the Byzantine Empire. Italy had been in wars with him before, especially for Venice, but the thing was different now, he was different.
Romano also feared him because he had fresh in the memory when Ottoman Empire had tried to take him, and only Spain interposed between both.
But now, Italy would face him.
In 1911, Italy attacked the Turkish domain, and stole some of his islands in the Aegean Sea.
The Italic-Turkish war was a test bed of the numerous technological advances used in the Great War; especially the airplane. On October 23, 1911, Italian pilot Captain Carlo Piazza in an airplane Blériot XI flew over the Turkish lines on a reconnaissance mission, and on 1 November, second lieutenant Giulio Gavotti dropped the first air bomb in history on the troops Turks in Libya. Italy knew what it was to fly, and began to know what would be the wars to come. In the background he was interested, but he didn't care at the time.
Italy defeated the badly organized Turkish army, and forced him to cede Libya.
The war ended in 1912, with Libya under the hands of the Italians.
The girl didn't enjoy being an Italian colony, because as the Italian brothers were playful were abusive.
The First World War:
Things at Europe were tense and expectant. The Italians knew that something would come, as he had foreseen since the end of the nineteenth century. But they knew well what would come next would be something big, since the fact that England and France formally allied for the first time in their life was too weird and creepy.
However, they didn't know when it would arrive, or how terrible it would be.
When Austria played the first card and the contest began, the Italians didn't expect it. Italy felt excluded since Austria had not consulted him before starting the play. How he detested him. At first they were neutral. Romano flatly refused another war and Italy loved his neutrality.
Italy had enormous doubts about their alliance. He detested Austria, and he still had the inner desire to take more territory. The Ottoman Empire, who had been their enemy shortly before, was now allied with them.
The situation in Italy was a disaster, he had always been since unification, but after spending so much on wars and invasions and administrations, coupled with the inefficient liberal model, things were not right. Romano had always insisted on focusing on his inner self and continued to do so, but his brother did not hear him.
Soon, despite his commitment to the Central Powers, he saw that there was no benefit to be with them. Italy agreed with Romano to seek a beneficial alliance, and both believed to find it. In secret, Italy and Romano met with England. To betray the Central Powers, the Italians demanded to the English Austria's lands after the war. England promised them what they asked for, even agreed to fund the Italy to boost their war industry. That's how it went. In 1915, the Italians entered the war and betrayed the Central Powers, who, in spite of their surprise, didn't give it too much importance.
The industry accelerated and Italian troops in Africa were called to war, leaving the colonies unprotected. Although the industry accelerated, the agricultural industry was actually affected. Romano, who was the most disenchanted of the war, anticipated that they would be indebted to England, and that their colonies could be taken away. But his brother was already at war, stabbing Austria in the back.
In 1916, Italy declared war on Germany, and it was there that his fate finally crossed with the German.
Italy was at the end of the nineteenth century, when he was introduced as the German Empire, and from the beginning was attracted by him, as well as feeling sympathy. The Italian was no match for such power, and was soon captured by him. Italy tried to escape, feeling in danger. But the cold German never let him. Italy tried to flirt with him to get away, but apparently the German didn't understand his games. He only saw him as a traitor and cunning. Everything was true. Resigned, Italy began to play his mandolin continuously, and soon, he dedicated a song to German. Despite being enemies, Italy really felt sympathy for the expressionless German.
Apparently he was quite irritating, since the same German turned a blind eye and let him escape. Italy vowed never to forget it. Upon returning, he found that Romano was devastated and psychologically broken. War was the horror itself. Suddenly Italy felt terror and pain. He had been in bloody wars lately, where many had died, but all of them were justified so as not to have to carry him in the consciousness. But no. No war was less than another. And this, it was hell in itself. Italy soon fell into the same state as his brother. In the same state as all. The war devastated him both physically and psychologically. Such was his panic and despair, that cowardice became part of his way of seeing the world. Soon, in an ephemeral moment of revelation, he knew that war was for everyone. War did not recognize nationality, did not recognize women or children. And worse, it was created by them. It was nourished and nurtured by them. Italy was filled with disgust. How deep was the pit of pain he dug in his mind and heart. And sadness seized Italy. For the first time in a long time, he knew how badly he had made himself to his brother.
Italy snuggled Romano's head in his legs while he was catatonic. And there, he started telling him stories, anything that would help them escape reality. As he counted them, black tears fell from his eyes. And finally he hoped that death went to him and his brother, believing that he would never go through the night. But it didn't happen. Soon it was dawning again. But it was a sad and dark dawn.
In 1917, the United States entered the war, according to him "to save them all". But if he wanted to save them, why he had not sold much earlier? Everything about the American and his "rescue" made him angry.
When in 1918, the war ended. Italy expected to find solace in his reward. But in the Treaty of Versailles, England didn't t live up to his promise of the London Pact. The Italy, enraged and betrayed, faced him. England refused to keep his promise and demanded that they pay him what he had lent them. And with interests. The Italians looked at each other and confirmed that the world was crazy. They were in terrible condition. Unsustainable. Devastating, despite being on the winning side. And on top of this. Italy was filled with hatred and anger against England, and told him everything that came to mind at that moment. Romano spat out his carpet. And Italy called his situation as the "mutilated victory". England didn't even flinch.
Italy watched, with indignation, the treatment that the young Germany received, being the first defeat in his life. He saw how they took away his possessions and abused the victorious situation. He saw how France enjoyed it. And Italy could not but feel sorry for him. And suddenly he felt angry with himself for betraying him. He had preferred to lose instead of that horrible victory. Italy swore that one day, if Germany returned as a power, Italy would be at his side. And definitely, their destinations would cross again.
Fascist Italy:
After the war, nothing remained for Italy. Only pain, death and hunger. Walking through his desolate streets, Italy became aware of his actions. And he wept bitterly for them.
Italy used to cry over what had happened; only comforted by his brother, who told him they would go ahead. Italy knew that a part of him had died in that war. In fact, in each of the wars he had lost something of himself.
Both he and Romano suffered from traumatic express-post, but soon their hearts abandoned their fear and launched into the struggle. A class struggle. Italy with ardor in his heart, began to look for some party to improve his situation. He was the first to do so, since all the other countries were still resting after the war. But Italy didn't wait. He left to the street and began to consider the Socialists, but it was a very punctual group that caught his attention. The Black shirts, led by a certain Benito Mussolini, began to talk and advise things. Italy was beginning to re-emerge from the rubble. Soon he sought out his brother Romano and introduced him to the fascists.
The fascists promised to end social instability, with the economic crisis that lashed them, and Romano, without any other hope, was also captured by the fascists. In Italy began a fight between socialists and fascists, in which the last ones ended up convincing the Italian brothers.
In 1922, the March of Rome took place, where the Italy walked with pride again. Mussolini knew the big weakness of the brothers and there was where he started. Soon, Rome returned, after centuries at the hands of the Italias. The Vatican remained as a state city, but Rome, the imposing and old Rome, was now back to them. Italy cheered Mussolini and everything changed. With strong and charismatic speeches Italy spoke to the people. He admitted when he had abused them in the liberal era, but now he would follow the interests of the Italian people, and they would be like the Roman Empire, said Italy. And Romano began to suspect that something was too rare. The Fascist Italy prevailed. And they all looked down. Italian fascism inspired other dictatorships, such as that of Spain and Nazi Germany. Germany, felt inspired by the Italian, and seeking to improve his precarious situation, imitated him, in his style. Nazi Germany scared everyone, and Italy alerted him.
Italy could not confess how handsome Germany looked to him, but Romano made him clear that now he and Germany would compete. Italy began to approach the German, to spy on him, but this was cold and distant, and quite cutting. Italy was irritated by him, but he knew how to handle him so that he would trust him. He knew that Germany had no friends, and to affirm one would make the relationship close. What Italy didn't expect was that what he pretended would come true.
Italy fulfilled one of his frustrated desires in 1936, by invading and annexing Ethiopia (second Italic-Ethiopian war) an old enemy. Italy never forgot the humiliation that this caused him to pass, and with much pleasure he enjoys making it. Italy began to isolate himself, as the Western powers began to distrust him greatly, and for that, they took away Somalia from Italy that same year.
Italy was beautiful, flirtatious, artistic and friendly on the outside, but inside he had become deranged and somewhat twisted. Life had hit him too hard.
When Italy learned of the alliance between Germany and Russia, he could not avoid running to Germany, cornering him and demanding an explanation. At that moment Italy showed his true self. Germany, before this, reassured him, and confessed that he planned to betray Russia later. This reassured the Italian. Having to compete, spying and at the same time flirting with Germany was difficult, and Italy abhorred Russia. Germany soon proposed to Italy an alliance. This left Italy in doubt, but ended up accepting. In the Steel Pact, Italy and Germany pledged themselves. When Romano told him that he would be the one who consummated such an alliance with the German, Italy at first bothered, but then he loved the idea. However, when Germany decided to annex Austria, Italy strongly opposed it. If this was done, Italy could not fulfill his dream of taking more land from his former tutor, and this bothered his terribly. He even offered help to Austria, but he paid little attention to it. Finally he had to give up doing so.
Second World War:
When the war began, Germany invading Poland and annexing Czechoslovakia, Italy felt pressured. In order not to be left behind, he invaded Albania, although he soon saw problems when confronted by his cousin Greece. What Italy made to scream helps Germany, who rushed to his rescue. Being there, Italy was forced to consummate his alliance with Germany. After that, a strange feeling struck him. And he could not stop thinking about Germany ever again.
Germany soon introduced him to the rest of the Axis Powers, and Italy met Japan for the first time. He had heard stories of him, and his curiosity was great, but apparently the Japanese were more expressionless and cold than the German, and besides, there was something in his eyes that made him nervous, so Italy didn't bother him anymore.
At that time, for Italy, Germany had become an example to follow and reminded his late father, the Roman Empire after Germany to have adopted certain similarities in Nazism. However, Italy remained cowardly and useless in war, being saved by Germany countless times, and depending on him in everything. At first, if Italy was in danger, didn't hesitate to betray Germany (although not at will), however, over time, showed resistance because of the appreciation he took for him.
Over time, Italy actually saw Germany as a friend and Germany as a form of contention, because war was war after all. Italy refused to believe it, but developed a deep love for the German, when he had vowed not to love anyone other than the Germanic Holy Roman Empire. And there and how much he loved him. Although deep down he believed it was that kind of love of "love in times of war."
When Germany informed him that he was going to fight in Stalingrad, Italy felt the same feeling he had felt when the Holy Roman Empire had left him. And melancholy, he feared for his beloved Germany, and when he would see him again.
Far from Germany now, Italy began to notice something odd about his brother. At first he thought it was because of the war, but soon he knew it was something else, but he could not guess what it was.
Italy defended the borders as a point, along with Romania and Bulgaria, but soon the Russian Bear approached and Italy was the first to flee.
When he returned home, he found that his brother was nowhere to be found. Without news of Germany, Italy began to despair. Terrible was the news when he learned that England had invaded Sicily and Romano was with him. There was no worse betrayal. No pain was so big. His brother had betrayed him. And soon he realized that he had lost, the first token of the shaft falling. In 1943, Italy lost the war.
Italian Civil War:
War was cruel enough to tolerate this now. Romano had betrayed him, and asked him to betray him to Germany. Romano was definitely crazy for him. When they saw each other, Italy was filled with anger and contempt. But Romano looked at him sympathetically. He was repulsive to his eyes. Romano tried to reason with him. Italy refused to listen. Roman and Italy clashed. Brother against brother. Nation against the same nation. And the brother blood was shed. Italy considered Romano a traitor. And Romano, in spite of his pain, knew that it was the right thing to do at that moment. Fascism was cruel and unclean. It had lied to the Italian people and mistreated him. Romano had changed sides to win. And he would never leave his little brother alone. But his brother didn't want to hear, didn't want to accept it. He escaped to his ancestral home, the north, and there he called himself the Social Fascist Italian Republic. Italy was fragmented again.
He would not betray Germany. He could not. But Romano would not abandon him even if he had to die for it. Romano loved his brother, but he almost killed him trying for what reason. Italy, with a poisonous grudge, spat in Romano's face an old stereotype: South Italy always betrays his allies. Romano was deeply hurt, but he would still fight for his brother. He would not make everything that had struggled to be together lost. He loved him too much for it.
Romano knew that the Western powers were not in fact very different from the fascists, but it was already too much and for that reason he surrendered to them.
The fury of Italy began to turn into sadness and weariness, and soon began to resist less to his brother. Until, one day, when Romano almost killed him, Italy remembered something he should never forget. Romano and he were brothers. They were more than brothers. And deep regret filled him. In 1945, the fascist forces surrendered.
Seeing his brother in the face was difficult for a long time, but somehow he was glad to be with him again. Some smiles exchanged, and glances filled with pain beneath his eyes. But it was more difficult to look at Germany when he was defeated. No, he could not even look at him.
In 1945, Mussolini was assassinated, and Italy, after closing that bloody cycle, fell faint.
The only one left standing was Japan, and Italy didn't know what sorrow. His mind was blank. But big was his astonishment and big his thoughts and emotions when seeing the terrible explosions on Japan. Suddenly he remembered the Renaissance, and remembered that he believed that Man could create beautiful things. Now he believed that the world and Man were cursed. Bing was the terror that inspired the United States and he swore to himself never to be against him, although he hated him.
Knowing his brother of his pain, Romano secretly allows him to see Germany one last time. But he could not look at him.
The separation between Italy and Germany after both losing the war was very emotional and dramatic. They were both aware that after that they would not see each other for a long time, that both would be rebuked, and that their relationship would never be the same. In spite of his cold outside, Germany consents of all this last thing, in his farewell he gave to Italy to him an Iron Cross, so that Italy doesn't forget to him and always remember as they used to be. Italy finally looked at him, and was moved with pain.
After his separation from Germany and the end of World War II, Italy was filled with tears over what had happened over the last few years and a deep resentment was born in him. In spite of what he thought his heart ended up embracing the republic and abolishing the monarchy in 1946. From that moment he decided never to go to the hegemonic countries to save him any problem.
Modernity:
During the Cold War Italy keeping his oath was placed next to the western European countries and against the USSR. From that moment Italy was among the multiple allies of the hegemonic force of USA, without emphasizing too much. He and Germany met again in the 1950s, when he was Federal Germany.
The Economic Miracle:
The so-called economic miracle was a period in which the Italian brothers during the 60s and 70s enjoyed a prolonged economic boom that was accompanied by a dramatic increase in the standard of living of the Italians. By that time, Italy was already a member of NATO, and the European Union club. In those times Italy and Romano returned to enjoy life as few times as they could. But soon the matter stirred again.
Hot Autumn:
All that joy vanished during the so-called Hot Autumn. In northern Italy, huge demonstrations of employees began to be noticed. They asked for better salaries and better living conditions, so Italy knew that he was still in the same conditions as always. In the south, the difference continued as it had always been, but Italy did little to reverse the situation. Soon, one of the darkest periods of modern Italian history would begin.
The Lead Years:
Especially during the 1980s, Italy was shaken by different "terrorist" groups, with different objectives, but with the same impeller.
In the middle of the Cold War, in Italy different groups of far left and far right began to cause terror and ravages in Italy. No one knew how or when they had come. But there they were. Not only was it in Italy, they were all over Europe and in different American countries. It was all very coincident and nobody knew well what their objectives were, apart from generating terror.
Soon, murders and different attacks began. In addition, the Mafia was always present. Romano was the one who administered the Mafia by request of his brother. He was not that he liked to do it, but at the end he was good, even if he hated it.
On the morning of August 2, 1980, Romano was with his boys when he sensed that something was happening. Soon, he thought of his brother and began to fret. Romano ran to meet his brother. He knew he was planning something. Finally, there was the Massacre of Bologna. And Romano felt a stab in his chest.
That same morning, Italy was silent. As he looked out of his window something in time. Like waiting for something. There had been attacks throughout Europe, and terrorist groups could be anywhere. He knew it. Italy had already resigned himself in his life to being a piece on a board. After World War II, he vowed never to call the intention too much. But apparently, that didn't work, because that nation to which he both bothered him used to him also like puppet in his great game. He could not do anything. Nor was it that he cared. While he was in a favorable position. The time had come. The explosion was heard from afar. Two drops of blood fell from the nose of Italy. He didn't flinch.
The Bologna Massacre had taken place. And blame the Red Brigades (a far-left group) for having provoked. But Italy knew that was not true. Overall, manipulating public opinion was an easy task. Suddenly Romano appeared. He knew it.
Romano confronted him, how he could have organized that. Italy was surprised at how ingenuous his brother was. He explained that everything was a game. A game within a game. The extremist groups had been created and funded by him and by the other nation. He handled the neo-fascist, just as the others handled their own groups. Romano asked why everything that only caused pain. It was to manipulate people. And they didn't notice where they should look. It was a game between two great nations, and the rest were pawns who handled their own pawns. Romano asked who had told him to do all this. Italy smiled at him. Who else could it be? He left Romano. Who stayed still.
When the Lead Years were over, all those terrorist groups disappeared the same way they had came.
21th century:
After a Second Republic, Italy reformulated his possibilities.
In 2003, the Italys participated in the Invasion to Iraq along with many others and the United States.
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Singing romantic songs, in the beautiful cities of Venice, Florence, Milan, in the beautiful gardens. Under those beautiful words. Lower the moon. Through the eyes of the Mona Lisa, Italy sang a sad but beautiful song.
Italian Phrases:
*I have always loved you.
* Rome or Death.
* Romano and I are more than twin brothers, we came together to the world and so we must be. Together.
* Because you asked me, little brother.
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* The song that Romano sings is the famous Neapolitan song Saint Lucia.
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I know, this is very long, but seriously I summed it up a lot.
As you may have seen in the story (I don't know) the stereotype of Italian cheerful and passionate is more southern Italy, the northerners are rather Germanic who speak Italian, xd.
Bibliographical sources: wikipedia attachments (mainly). Documentaries. Italian literature. And I asked some Italian cousins of mine who advised me a little.
Movies that I saw to put me in context: The Name of the Rose. Romeo and Juliet italian movie (1968), Life is Beautiful, Captain Corelli's mandolin, Italiana brava gente also known as Attack and Retreat, Godfather Trilogy.
Music that inspired me: Vivaldi, Verdi, melodies in Mandolins. Romeo and Juliet love theme. The Godfather song (I could not resist).
If I have errors in the writing, remember, I don't handle English as I would wish. Obviously I accept corrections.
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Well I really hope you enjoyed it. Soon I'll upload another chapter from another country.