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Italy: Southern Italy
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The origin of the term "Italy" (It: Italia), from Latin Italia,[3] is uncertain. According to one of the more common explanations, the term was borrowed through Greek, from Oscan Víteliú, meaning "land of young cattle" (cf. Lat vitulus "calf", Umb vitlo "calf") and named for the god of cattle, Mars.[4] The bull was a symbol of the southern Italian tribes and is often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Samnite Wars.
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Unity Under the progressive, liberal leadership of Camillo Benso, conte di CAVOUR, Sardinia led Italy to final unification. In 1859, after gaining the support of France and England, Cavour, in alliance with the French emperor NAPOLEON III, seized Lombardy; in 1860 all of Italy north of the Papal States--except Venetia--was added to Sardinia. Giuseppe GARIBALDI, a popular hero and guerrilla leader, led an expedition of 1,000 "Red Shirts" to Sicily in the same year and subsequently seized the southern part of peninsular Italy, which with Sicily constituted the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Garibaldi turned his conquests over to Victor Emmanuel, and in 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed. Only Venetia and Rome were not included in the new state (the former was added in 1866 and the latter in 1870). Italians at last had their own country.
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Milan reigns as Italy's first city of commerce, and the Po River plain is both Italy's agricultural heartland and southern Europe's most advanced industrial region. Turin, the capital of heavy industry, is home to Fiat—one of the world's largest car producers. A major attraction for pilgrims and tourists is the "Holy Shroud" in Turin's cathedral—tradition holds that this was Christ's burial cloth. Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance and is home to great works of civic and religious architecture, sculpture, and paintings. Rome, Italy's capital, exhibits the architectural and artistic grandeur of ancient civilizations.
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After 1300 both the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire turned their attention away from Italy. The emperors concentrated on German affairs while the popes met increasing resistance--especially from the French--as they tried to assert their authority in Europe. For much of the 14th century the papacy was situated outside Italy--at Avignon, in southern France. The weakening of papal and imperial authority accompanied great intellectual changes in Italy. An intellectual revival, stimulated in part by the freer atmosphere of the cities and in part by the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Latin writings, gave rise to the humanist attitudes and ideas that formed the basis of the RENAISSANCE. About the same time, many of the communal governments of the city-states fell under the rule of dictators called signori, who curbed their factionalism and became hereditary rulers.
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The policy of the Papacy was, understandably, to prevent the unification of Italy, which would have endangered Papal power. For a while, this was not much of an issue. The south remained in Roman hands and constituted an area that was politically and culturally very different from Francia. It was still part of Romania, and indeed there were still many Greek speakers, who had been living there since Greek colonization began in the 8th century BC. This was first compromised by the Islamic conquest of Sicily (827-878). Next came the Norman conquest of southern Italy, which then extended ... to Sicily.
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The Italian government offers incentives to encourage private sector investment in economically depressed areas, particularly in southern Italy. . Foreign investors may participate in government research and development programs. Recently the Italian government began efforts to strengthen research and development by linking up basic and applied research. The Ministry of Education and Research has identified, funded, and signed Framework Program Agreements with seven "Technology Districts" and approved an additional twelve Districts. Technology Districts, created to facilitate co-operation between public and private researchers and venture capitalists, serve to support research and development of key technology, strengthen industrial research activities, and promote innovative behavior in small- and medium-sized enterprises.
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Southern Italy