Key Events in Italian History

The Roman Empire Reaches its Height 200 CE

After a period of conquest, in which Rome was rarely threatened at more than one border at once, the Roman Empire reached it’s greatest territorial extent around 200 CE, covering much of west and southern Europe, north Africa and parts of the near east. From now on the empire slowly contracted.

The Goths Sack Rome 410

Having been paid off in a previous invasion, the Goths under the leadership of Alaric invaded down Italy until they camped outside Rome. After several days of negotiation they broke in and sacked the city, the first time foreign invaders had looted Rome since the Celts 800 years earlier. The Roman world was shocked and St. Augustine of Hippo was prompted to write his book "The City of God". Rome was sacked again in 455 by the Vandals.

Odoacer Deposes Last Western Roman Emperor 476

A "barbarian" who had risen to commander of the imperial forces, Odoacer deposed Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 and ruled instead as King of the Germans in Italy. Odocaer was careful to bow to the authority of the Eastern Roman emperor and there was great continuity under his rule, but Augustulus was the last of the Roman emperors in the west and this date is often marked as the fall of the Roman Empire.

Rule of Theodoric 493 – 526

In 493 Theodoric, leader of the Ostrogoths, defeated and killed Odoacer, taking his place as the ruler of Italy, which he held until his death in 526. Ostrogoth propaganda portrays themselves as people who were there to defend and preserve Italy, and Theodoric’s reign was marked by the mixture of Roman and German traditions. The period was later remembered as a golden age of peace.

Byzantine Reconquest of Italy 535 – 562

In 535 Byzantine Emperor Justinian (who ruled the Eastern Roman Empire) launched a reconquest of Italy, following on from successes in Africa. General Belisarius initially made great progress in the south, but the attack stalled further north and turned into a brutal, hard slog which finally defeated the remaining Ostrogoths in 562. Much of Italy was ravaged in the conflict, causing damage later critics would accuse the Germans of when the Empire fell. Rather than returning to be the heart of the empire, Italy became a province of Byzantium.

The Lombards Enter Italy 568

In 568, a scant few years after the Byzantine reconquest had finished, a new German group entered Italy: the Lombards. They conquered and settled much of the north as the Kingdom of Lombardy, and part of the centre and south as the Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento. Byzantium retained control over the very south and a strip across the middle called the Exarchate of Ravenna. Warfare between the two camps was frequent.

Charlemagne Invades Italy 773-4

The Franks had become involved in Italy a generation earlier when the Pope had sought their assistance, and in 773-4 Charlemagne, king of a newly united Frankish realm, crossed over and conquered the Kingdom of Lombardy in northern Italy; he was later crowned by the Pope as Emperor. Thanks to Frankish support a new polity came into being in central Italy: the Papal States, land under papal control. Lombards and Byzantines remained in the south.

Italy Fragments, Great Trading Cities Start to Develop 8-9th Centuries

During this period a number of Italy’s cities began to grow and expand with the wealth from Mediterranean trade. As Italy fragmented into smaller power blocs and control from imperial overlords decreased, the cities were well placed to trade with a number of different cultures: the Latin Christian west, the Greek Christian Byzantine East and the Arab south.

Otto I, King of Italy 961

In two campaigns, in 951 and 961, German king Otto I invaded and conquered the north and much of the middle of Italy; consequently he was crowned King of Italy. He also claimed the imperial crown. This began a new period of German intervention in the north of Italy and Otto III made his imperial residence in Rome.

The Norman Conquests c. 1017 - 1130

Norman adventurers came first to Italy to act as mercenaries, but they soon discovered their martial ability would allow more than simply aiding people, and they conquered the Arab, Byzantine and Lombard south of Italy and all of Sicily, establishing first a countship and, from 1130, a kingship, with the Kingdom of Sicily, Calabria and Apulia. This brought the whole of Italy back under the aegis of Western, Latin, Christianity.