Roman Italy

Italy during the Ancient Rome era

Italy

Italia (Latin)

Roman Empire at its greatest extent (c. 117 AD), with Italy in red and provinces in pink

Capital| Rome: full-fledged until Diocletianic times, from then on mostly only de jure. Mediolanum and Ravenna: Imperial residences; de facto capital in the Late Empire  (of the whole Empire or only the Western part)
Common languages| Latin
Religion

| Roman polytheism, followed by Nicene\- Chalcedonian Christianity
Government| Mixed constitution
Legislature| Senate and People of Rome
Historical era| Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity
Population

• AD 1

| Estimates vary from 4 to 10 million (c. 1 million in Rome)[1][2]
ISO 3166 code| IT

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | Prehistoric Italy

|

| Kingdom of Italy under Odoacer |

|

Part of a series on the

History of Italy

Early

* Prehistoric Italy
* Nuragic civilization (18th-3rd c. BC)
* Etruscan civilization (12th-6th c. BC)
* Magna Graecia (8th-3rd c. BC)

Ancient Rome

* Kingdom (753 BC-509 BC)
* Republic (509 BC-27 BC)
* Roman expansion in Italy
* Roman Italy
* Populares and Optimates
* Empire (27 BC-286 AD)
* Western Empire (286 AD-476 AD)
* Praetorian prefecture of Italy

Romano-Barbarian Kingdoms

|  Odoacer's|  476-493

|

Ostrogothic|  493-553
Vandal|  435-534
Lombard|  568-774
Frankish (Carolingian Empire)|  774-962
Germanic (Holy Roman Empire)|  962-1801

Medieval

* Italy in the Middle Ages
* Byzantine reconquest of Italy (6th-8th c.)
* Islam and Normans in southern Italy
* Maritime republics and Italian city-states
* Guelphs and Ghibellines

Early modern

* Italian Renaissance (14th-16th c.)
* Italian Wars (1494-1559)
* Catholic revival (1545-1648)
* Mid-16th c. to early 19th c.
* Napoleonic Italy (1801-1814)

*     * Republic
* Kingdom

* Risorgimento (1815-1871)

* Young Italy

Modern

* Monarchy (1861-1946)
* Colonial Empire (1882-1960)
* Italy in World War I (1914-1918)
* Fascism (1922-1943)
* Italy in World War II (1940-1945)
* Fascist Italian Social Republic, Partisans and Italian Civil War (1943-1945)
* Republic (1946-1994)
* Years of Lead (1970s-1980s)
* Maxi Trial (1986-1992)
* Mani pulite (1992-2001)

Contemporary

* Second Republic (1994–2022)
* Great Recession (2007-2009)
* European migrant crisis (2014-2016)
* COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2023)
* Rinnovamento (2021-present)

By topic

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Timeline

Italy portal

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Roman Italy is the period of ancient Italian history going from the founding and rise of Rome to the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire; the Latin name of the Italian peninsula in this period was Italia (continued to be used in the Italian language).[3] According to Roman mythology, Italy was the ancestral home of Aeneas, being the homeland of the Trojans progenitor, Dardanus; Aeneas, instructed by Jupiter, moved to Italy after the fall of Troy, and his descendants, Romulus and Remus, were the founders of Rome. Aside from the legendary accounts, Rome was an Italic city-state that changed its form of government from Kingdom (ruled, between 753 BC and 509 BC, by seven kings) to Republic, and then grew within the context of a peninsula dominated by the Gauls, Ligures, Veneti, Camunni and Histri in the North; the Etruscans, Latins, Falisci, Picentes, Umbri and Sabines in the Centre; and the Iapygian tribes (such as the Messapians), the Oscan tribes (such as the Samnites) and Greek colonies in the South.

The consolidation of Italy into a single entity occurred during the Roman expansion in the peninsula, when Rome formed a permanent association with most of other the local tribes and cities; and Italy's inhabitants included Roman citizens, communities with Latin Rights, and socii.[4] The strength of the Italian confederacy was a crucial factor in the rise of Rome, starting with the Punic and Macedonian wars between the 3rd and 2nd century BC. As Roman provinces were being established throughout the Mediterranean, Italy maintained a special status with political, religious and financial privileges.[5] In Italy, Roman magistrates exercised the imperium domi (police power), as an alternative to the imperium militiae (military power) exercised in the provinces.

The period between the end of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century BC was turbulent, beginning with the Servile Wars, continuing with the opposition of aristocratic élite to populist reformers and leading to a Social War in the middle of Italy. However, Roman citizenship was recognized to the rest of the Italians by the end of the conflict and then extended to Cisalpine Gaul when Julius Caesar became Roman dictator. In the context of the transition from Republic to Principate, Italy swore allegiance to Augustus and was then organized in eleven regions from the Alps to the Ionian Sea with more than two centuries of stability afterward. Several emperors made notable accomplishments in this period: Claudius incorporated Britain into the Roman Empire, Vespasian subjugated the Great Revolt of Judea and reformed the financial system, Trajan conquered Dacia and defeated Parthia, and Marcus Aurelius epitomized the ideal of the philosopher king.

With the development of provincial governments and the proliferation of citizenship, Italy gradually lost its position as the empire's heartland, though it retained the ideological value as Roman homeland.[6][7] The Crisis of the Third Century hit Italy particularly hard, but the Roman Empire managed to survive and reconquer breakaway regions. In 286 AD, the Emperor Diocletian moved the imperial residence associated with the western territories (the later Western Roman Empire) from Rome to Mediolanum.[8][better source needed] In 293 AD, Diocletian subdivided Italy into provinces and ended its special juridical privileges, which led to the loss of Italy's precedence over provinces.[9] Meanwhile, the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and Malta were added to Italy by Diocletian. The city of Rome declined as the center of power as new capitals were established outside Italy, such as Nicomedia, Sirmium, and later Constantinople.[10] However, Italy remained the centre of the Western Roman Empire in late antiquity. Italian cities such as Mediolanum, Ravenna and Rome continued to serve as capitals for the West. The Bishop of Rome had gained importance gradually from the reign of Constantine the Great, and was given religious primacy with the Edict of Thessalonica under Theodosius I. Italy was invaded several times by the wandering Germanic peoples and fell under the control of Odoacer, when Romulus Augustus was deposed in 476 AD. Afterwards, Italy was ruled by the Ostrogoths and then briefly reconquered by the Byzantine Empire. The Lombard invasion in 568 AD would begin the fragmentation of Italy which lasted until its unification in 1861.

## Characteristics

[edit]

Northern and southern section of Italia under Augustus and successors

Following the end of the Social War in 87 BC, Rome had allowed its fellow Italian allies full rights in Roman society and granted Roman citizenship to all fellow Italic peoples.[11] After having been for centuries the heart of the Roman Empire, from the 3rd century the government and the cultural center began to move eastward: first the Edict of Caracalla in 212 AD, extended Roman citizenship to all free men within the Imperial boundaries. Christianity then began to establish itself as the dominant religion from Constantine's reign (306–337), raising the power of Eastern metropolises, later grouped into Pentarchy.

Although not founded as a capital city in 330, Constantinople grew in importance. It finally gained the rank of eastern capital when given an praefectus urbi in 359 and the senators who were clari became senators of the lowest rank as clarissimi. As a result, Italy began to decline in favour of the provinces, which resulted in the division of the Empire into two administrative units in 395: the Western Roman Empire, with its capital at Mediolanum (now Milan), and the Eastern Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinople (now Istanbul). In 402, the Imperial residence was moved to Ravenna from Milan, confirming the decline of the city of Rome (which was sacked in 410 for the first time in almost eight centuries).

## History

[edit]

The name Italia covered an area whose borders evolved over time. According to Strabo's Geographica, before the expansion of the Roman Republic, the name was used by Greeks to indicate the land between the strait of Messina and the line connecting the gulf of Salerno and gulf of Taranto (corresponding roughly to the current region of Calabria); later the term was extended by Romans to include the Italian Peninsula up to the Rubicon, a river located between Northern and Central Italy.

In 49 BC, with the Lex Roscia, Julius Caesar gave Roman citizenship to the people of the Cisalpine Gaul;[12] while in 42 BC the hitherto existing province was abolished, thus extending Italy to the north up to the southern foot of the Alps.[13][14] Under Augustus, the peoples of today's Aosta Valley and of the western and northern Alps were subjugated (so the western border of Roman Italy was moved to the Varus river), and the Italian eastern border was brought to the Arsia in Istria.[14] Lastly, in the late 3rd century, Italy came to also include the islands of Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia, as well as Raetia and part of Pannonia.[15] The city of Emona (modern Ljubljana, Slovenia) was the easternmost town of Italy.

### Augustan organization

[edit]

At the beginning of the Roman Imperial era, Italy was a collection of territories with different political statuses. Some cities, called municipia, had some independence from Rome, while others, the coloniae, were founded by the Romans themselves. Around 7 BC, Augustus divided Italy into eleven regiones, as reported by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia:

Roman Italia (in green) as organized by Augustus The Tropaeum Alpium, The Victory Monument of the Alps, La Turbie, France, marked the Augustan border between Italy and Gaul.

* Regio I Latium et Campania
* Regio II Apulia et Calabria
* Regio III Lucania et Bruttium
* Regio IV Samnium
* Regio V Picenum
* Regio VI Umbria et Ager Gallicus
* Regio VII Etruria
* Regio VIII Aemilia
* Regio IX Liguria
* Regio X Venetia et Histria
* Regio XI Transpadana

Italy was privileged by Augustus and his heirs, with the construction, among other public structures, of a dense network of Roman roads. The Italian economy flourished: agriculture, handicraft and industry had noticeable growth, allowing the export of goods to the provinces.[16] The Italian population may have grown as well: three censuses were ordered by Augustus, in his role as Roman censor, in order to record the number of Roman citizens throughout the empire. The surviving totals were 4,063,000 in 28 BC, 4,233,000 in 8 BC, and 4,937,000 in AD 14, but it is still debated whether these counted all citizens, all adult male citizens, or citizens sui iuris.[17] Estimates for the population of mainland Italy, including Cisalpine Gaul, at the beginning of the 1st century range from 6,000,000 according to Karl Julius Beloch in 1886, to 14,000,000 according to Elio Lo Cascio in 2009.[18]

### Diocletianic and Constantinian reorganizations

[edit]

During the Crisis of the Third Century, the Roman Empire was on the verge of disintegration under the combined pressures of invasions, military anarchy, civil wars, and hyperinflation. In 284, Emperor Diocletian restored political stability. He carried out thorough administrative reforms to maintain order. He created the so-called Tetrarchy whereby the empire was ruled by two senior emperors called Augusti and two junior vice-emperors called Caesars. He decreased the size of the Roman provinces by doubling their number to reduce the power of the provincial governors. He grouped the provinces into several dioceses (Latin: diocesis) and put them under the supervision of the Imperial vicarius (vice, deputy), who was the head of the diocese. During the Crisis of the Third Century the importance of Rome declined because the city was far from the troubled frontiers. Diocletian and his colleagues usually resided in four Imperial seats. The Augusti, Diocletian and Maximian, who were responsible for the East and West respectively, established themselves at Nicomedia, in north-western Anatolia (closer to the Persian frontier in the east) and Milan, in northern Italy (closer to the European frontiers) respectively. The seats of the Caesars were Augusta Treverorum (on the River Rhine frontier) for Constantius Chlorus and Sirmium (on the River Danube frontier) for Galerius, who also resided at Thessaloniki.

Under Diocletian Italy became the Dioecesis Italiciana. It included Raetia. It was subdivided into the following provinces:

* Liguria (today's Liguria and western Piedmont)
* Transpadana (eastern Piedmont and Lombardy(except Provincia di Brescia))
* Rhaetia (eastern Switzerland, western and central Austria, part of southern Germany, and part of northeastern Italy)
* Venetia et Histria (today's Provincia di Brescia in Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige and Istria county)
* Aemilia (Emilia-Romagna)
* Tuscia (Etruria) et Umbria (Tuscany and Umbria)
* Flaminia (Picenum and the former Ager Gallicus, in today's Marche)
* Latium et Campania (the coastal parts of Lazio and Campania)
* Samnium (Abruzzo, Molise and Irpinia)
* Apulia et Calabria (today's Apulia)
* Lucania et Bruttium (Basilicata and Calabria)
* Sicilia (Sicily and Malta)
* Corsica et Sardinia

Italia annonaria and Italia suburbicaria dioceses

Constantine subdivided the Empire into four praetorian prefectures. The Diocesis Italiciana became the Praetorian prefecture of Italy (praefectura praetoria Italiae), and was subdivided into two dioceses. It still included Raetia. The two dioceses and their provinces were:

Diocesis Italia annonaria (Italy of the annona \- its inhabitants had the obligation to provide the court, the administration and the troops, first allocated in Milan and then in Ravenna, supplies, wine and timber)[19]

* Alpes Cottiae (modern Liguria and western part of Piedmont)
* Liguria (western Lombardy and eastern part of Piedmont)
* Venetia et Histria (Istria [which is now part of Croatia, Slovenia and Italy], Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto and eastern and central Lombardy)
* Raetia I (eastern Switzerland and western Austria)
* Rhaetia II (central Austria, part of southern Germany, and part of northeastern Italy)
* Aemilia (the Emilia part of Emilia-Romagna)
* Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium (Romagna and northern Marche)

Diocesis Italia suburbicaria (Italy "under the government of the urbs", i.e. Rome)

* Tuscia (Etruria) et Umbria (Tuscany, Umbria and the northern part of coastal Lazio)
* Picenum suburbicarium (Piceno, in southern Marche)
* Valeria Sabina (the modern province of Rieti, other areas of Lazio and areas of Umbria and Abruzzo)
* Campania (central and southern coastal Lazio and coastal Campania except for the modern province of Salerno)
* Samnium (Abruzzo, Molise and the mountain areas of modern Campania; i.e., the modern provinces of Benevento and Avellino and part of the province of Caserta)
* Apulia et Calabria (today's Apulia)
* Lucania et Bruttium (modern Calabria, Basilicata and the province of Salerno in modern Campania)
* Sicilia (Sicily and Malta)
* Sardinia
* Corsica

### Late Antiquity

[edit]

In 330, Constantine completed the rebuilding of Byzantium as Constantinople. He established the Imperial court, a Senate, financial and judicial administrations, as well as the military structures. The new city, however, did not receive an urban prefect until 359 which raised it to the status of eastern capital. After the death of Theodosius in 395 and the subsequent division of the Empire, Italy was home base of the Western Roman Empire. As a result of Alaric's invasion in 402 the western seat was moved from Mediolanum to Ravenna. Alaric, king of Visigoths, sacked Rome itself in 410; something that had not happened for eight centuries. Northern Italy was attacked by Attila's Huns in 452. Rome was sacked in 455 again by the Vandals under the command of Genseric.

The Praetorian prefecture of Italy (in yellow) stretched from the Danube river to North Africa.

According to Notitia Dignitatum, one of the very few surviving documents of Roman government updated to the 420s, Roman Italy was governed by a praetorian prefect, Prefectus praetorio Italiae (who also governed the Diocese of Africa and the Diocese of Pannonia), one vicarius, and one comes rei militaris. The regions of Italy were governed at the end of the fourth century by eight consulares (Venetiae et Histriae, Aemiliae, Liguriae, Flaminiae et Piceni annonarii, Tusciae et Umbriae, Piceni suburbicarii, Campaniae, and Siciliae), two correctores (Apuliae et Calabriae and Lucaniae et Bruttiorum) and seven praesides (Alpium Cottiarum, Rhaetia Prima and Secunda, Samnii, Valeriae, Sardiniae, and Corsicae). In the fifth century, with the Emperors controlled by their barbarian generals, the Western Imperial government maintained weak control over Italy itself, whose coasts were periodically under attack.

In 476, with the abdication of Romulus Augustulus, the Western Roman Empire had formally fallen unless one considers Julius Nepos, the legitimate emperor recognized by Constantinople as the last. He was assassinated in 480 and may have been recognized by Odoacer. Italy remained under Odoacer and his Kingdom of Italy, and then under the Ostrogothic Kingdom.

The "Kingdom of Italy" of Theodoric the Great in 535 AD

The Germanic successor states under Odoacer and Theodoric the Great continued to use the Roman administrative apparatus, as well as being nominal subjects of the Eastern emperor at Constantinople. In 535 Roman Emperor Justinian invaded Italy which suffered twenty years of disastrous war. In August 554, Justinian issued a Pragmatic sanction which maintained most of the organization of Diocletian.

The "Prefecture of Italy" thus survived, and was reestablished under Roman control in the course of Justinian's Gothic War.

As a result of the Lombard invasion in 568, the Byzantines lost most of Italy, except the territories of the Exarchate of Ravenna – a corridor from Venice to Lazio via Perugia – and footholds in the south Naples and the toe and heel of the peninsula.

With the Longobards started the division of Italy, that lasted until 1861.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Journal of Roman Archaeology, Volume 18, Part 1
2. ^ Ligt, Luuk de; Northwood, S. J. (2008). People, Land, and Politics: Demographic Developments and the Transformation of Roman Italy 300 BC-AD 14. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004171183.
3. ^ "Roman Italy" Encyclopædia Britannica. May 2025
4. ^ Mommsen, Theodor (1855). History of Rome, Book II: From the Abolition of the Monarchy in Rome to the Union of Italy. Leipzig: Reimer & Hirsel.
5. ^ Cooley 2016b, pp. 130.
6. ^ Purcell, Nicholas (2000). "Rome and Italy". The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume XI. Cambridge University Press. p. 423\. ISBN 978-0521263351.
7. ^ Dyson, Stephen L. (2014). The Creation of the Roman Frontier. Princeton University Press. p. 126\. ISBN 9781400854899.
8. ^ Video of Roman Milan (in Italian)
9. ^ Cooley 2016b, pp. 122, 130–131.
10. ^ Lo Cascio, Elio (2005). "The new state of Diocletian and Constantine". Cambridge Ancient History: Volume XII. Cambridge University Press. p. 172\. ISBN 978-0521301992.
11. ^ Keaveney, Arthur (1987). Rome and the Unification of Italy. London: Croom Helm. ISBN 9781904675372.
12. ^ Cassius, Dio. Historia Romana. Vol. 41\. 36.
13. ^ Laffi, Umberto (1992). "La provincia della Gallia Cisalpina". Athenaeum (in Italian) (80). Firenze: 5–23.
14. ^ a b Aurigemma, Salvatore. "Gallia Cisalpina". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Enciclopedia Italiana. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
15. ^ "Italy (ancient Roman territory)". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
16. ^ Rostovtzeff, Michael (1957). The social and economic history of the Roman Empire. Vol. 1 (2 ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 73–74.
17. ^ Hin, Saskia (2007). Counting Romans (PDF). Leiden: Princeton/Stanford Working Papers.
18. ^ Lo Cascio, Elio (2009). "Urbanization as a Proxy of Demographic and Economic Growth". Quantifying the Roman Economy: Methods and Problems. Oxford: Scholarship Online. ISBN 9780199562596.
19. ^ Salvatore Cosentino (2008). Storia dell'Italia bizantina (VI-XI secolo): da Giustiniano ai Normanni (in Italian). Bononia University Press. p. 19\. ISBN 9788873953609.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Cooley, Alison, ed. (2016). A Companion to Roman Italy. Blackwell. ISBN 978-1444339260.
* Cooley, Alison (2016). "Italy during the High Empire, from the Flavians to Diocletian". In Cooley, Alison (ed.). A Companion to Roman Italy. Blackwell. pp. 121–132\. ISBN 978-1444339260.
* Potter, Timothy W. (1990). Roman Italy. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06975-7.
* Salmon, Edward T. (1982). The Making of Roman Italy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801414381.
* Whatmough, Joshua (1937). The Foundations of Roman Italy. London: Methuen & Company. ISBN 9780598820341. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
* Lomas, Kathryn (1996). Roman Italy, 338 BC-AD 200. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-16072-2.
* Launaro, Alessandro (2011). Peasants and Slaves: The Rural Population of Roman Italy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107004795.
* Hin, Saskia (2013). The Demography of Roman Italy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-00393-4.
* Clarke, John R. (1991). The Houses of Roman Italy, 100 BC-AD 250. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-07267-7.
* Laurence, Ray (2002). The Roads of Roman Italy: Mobility and Cultural Change. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-16616-0.

## External links

[edit]

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Provinces of the early Roman Empire (117 AD)

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† Italy was never constituted as a province, instead retaining a special juridical status until Diocletian's reforms.

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Late Roman and early Byzantine provinces (4th–7th centuries AD)

History

As found in the Notitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed and dioceses established by Diocletian, c. 293\. Permanent praetorian prefectures established after the death of Constantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates of Ravenna and Africa established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by the theme system in c. 640–660, although in Asia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.

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* Viennensis

Diocese of Spain|

* Baetica
* Balearica
* Carthaginensis
* Gallaecia
* Lusitania
* Mauretania Tingitana
* Tarraconensis

Diocese of the Britains|

* Britannia I
* Britannia II
* Flavia Caesariensis
* Maxima Caesariensis
* Valentia (?)

Praetorian prefecture
of Italy|

| Diocese of Suburbicarian Italy|

* Apulia et Calabria
* Campania
* Corsica
* Lucania et Bruttium
* Picenum Suburbicarium
* Samnium
* Sardinia
* Sicilia
* Tuscia et Umbria
* Valeria

|

Diocese of Annonarian Italy|

* Alpes Cottiae
* Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium
* Liguria et Aemilia
* Raetia I
* Raetia II
* Venetia et Histria

Diocese of Africa2|

* Africa proconsularis (Zeugitana)
* Byzacena
* Mauretania Caesariensis
* Mauretania Sitifensis
* Numidia (divided as Cirtensis and Militiana during the Tetrarchy)
* Tripolitania (Roman province)

Eastern Roman Empire (395-c. 640)

| Praetorian prefecture
of Illyricum|

| Diocese of Pannonia3|

* Dalmatia
* Noricum mediterraneum
* Noricum ripense
* Pannonia I
* Pannonia II
* Savia
* Valeria ripensis

|

Diocese of Dacia|

* Dacia Mediterranea
* Dacia Ripensis
* Dardania
* Moesia I
* Praevalitana

Diocese of Macedonia|

* Achaea
* Creta
* Epirus Nova
* Epirus Vetus
* Macedonia Prima
* Macedonia II Salutaris
* Thessalia

Praetorian prefecture
of the East|

| Diocese of Thrace5|

* Europa
* Haemimontus
* Moesia II4
* Rhodope
* Scythia4
* Thracia

|

Diocese of Asia5|

* Asia
* Caria4
* Hellespontus
* Islands4
* Lycaonia (370)
* Lycia
* Lydia
* Pamphylia
* Pisidia
* Phrygia Pacatiana
* Phrygia Salutaris

Diocese of Pontus5|

* Armenia I5
* Armenia II5
* Armenia Maior5
* Armenian Satrapies5
* Armenia III (536)
* Armenia IV (536)
* Bithynia
* Cappadocia I5
* Cappadocia II5
* Galatia I5
* Galatia II Salutaris5
* Helenopontus5
* Honorias5
* Paphlagonia5
* Pontus Polemoniacus5

Diocese of the East5|

* Arabia
* Cilicia I
* Cilicia II
* Cyprus4
* Euphratensis
* Isauria
* Mesopotamia
* Osroene
* Palaestina I
* Palaestina II
* Palaestina III Salutaris
* Phoenice I
* Phoenice II Libanensis
* Syria I
* Syria II Salutaris
* Theodorias (528)

Diocese of Egypt5|

* Aegyptus I
* Aegyptus II
* Arcadia
* Augustamnica I
* Augustamnica II
* Libya Superior
* Libya Inferior
* Thebais Superior
* Thebais Inferior

Other territories

* Taurica
* Quaestura exercitus (536)
* Spania (552)

* 1 Later the Septem Provinciae
* 2 Re-established after reconquest by the Eastern Empire in 534 as the separate Prefecture of Africa
* 3 Later the Diocese of Illyricum
* 4 Placed under the Quaestura exercitus in 536
* 5 Affected (i.e. boundaries modified, abolished or renamed) by Justinian I's administrative reorganization in 534–536

* v
* t
* e

List of historic states of Italy

Pre-Roman period|

* Etruscan civilization
* Etruria
* Samnites
* Latins
* Osci
* Celts
* Cisalpine Gaul
* Veneti
* Ligures
* Nuragic civilization
* Umbri
* Magna Graecia
* Iapygians
* Picentes

Ancient Rome|

* Roman Kingdom (753 BC–509 BC)
* Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC)
* Roman Empire (27 BC–395 AD)
* Western Roman Empire (395–476 AD)

Medieval
and
Early Modern
states|

| Barbarian kingdoms
(476–774)|

* Odoacer's rule (476–493)
* Ostrogothic rule (493–553)
* Vandal rule (435–534)
* Lombard rule (568–774)
* Duchy of Benevento
* Duchy of Friuli
* Duchy of Ivrea
* Duchy of Spoleto
* Duchy of Tridentum
* Duchy of Tuscia

|

Byzantine Empire (584–751)|

* Exarchate of Ravenna (584–751)
* Duchy of Rome (533–751)
* Duchy of Perugia (554–752)
* Duchy of the Pentapolis (554–752)
* Exarchate of Africa (585–698)

Papal States
(754–1870)|

* Patrimony of Saint Peter
* Campagna e Marittima Province
* Holy See
* Commune of Rome
* Duchy of Castro
* Duchy of Ferrara
* Duchy of Parma and Piacenza
* Duchy of Urbino

Holy Roman Empire
and other
independent
states|

* Bishopric of Bressanone
* Corsican Republic
* City of Fiume and its District
* County of Gorizia
* Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca
* County of Guastalla
* County of Santa Fiora
* Duchy of Guastalla
* Kingdom of Italy
* Ancona
* Ceva
* Finale
* March of Friuli
* Patria del Friuli (Patriarchate of Aquileia)
* Ivrea
* Istria
* Mantua
* Milan
* March of Montferrat
* Duchy of Montferrat
* Trieste
* Turin
* Tuscany
* Verona
* Duchy of Ivrea
* Duchy of Milan
* Duchy of Mantua
* Duchy of Massa and Carrara
* Duchy of Merania
* Duchy of Mirandola
* Duchy of Modena and Reggio
* County of Novellara and Bagnolo
* Principality of Piombino
* Duchy of Reggio
* Marquisate of Saluzzo
* Duchy of Spoleto
* Bishopric of Tarantasia
* Prince-Bishopric of Trento
* Grand Duchy of Tuscany
* Savoyard state
* Savoy
* County of Savoy
* Piedmont
* Duchy of Aosta
* County of Nice
* County of Tenda

Republic of Venice
(697–1797)|

* Dogado
* Domini di Terraferma
* Stato da Màr

Other Republics
(c. 1000–1797)|

* Republic of Cospaia
* Republic of Florence
* Republic of Lucca
* Republic of Massa
* Republic of Siena
* Republic of Genoa
* Republic of Noli
* Republic of Pisa
* Republic of Ancona

Southern Italy
(774–1139)|

| Byzantine|

* Duchy of Amalfi
* Duchy of Gaeta
* Catepanate of Italy
* Longobardia
* Theme of Lucania
* Duchy of Naples
* Theme of Sicily and Byzantine Sicily
* Duchy of Sorrento

|

Arab|

* Emirate of Bari
* Muslim Sicily

Lombard|

* Principality of Benevento
* Principality of Salerno
* Principality of Capua

Norman|

* County of Apulia and Calabria
* County of Aversa
* County of Sicily
* Principality of Taranto

Sardinia
(from the 9th century)|

* Judicates
* Agugliastra
* Arborea
* Cagliari
* Gallura
* Logudoro
* Oristano
* Republic of Sassari
* Kingdom of Sardinia (1324–1861)

Kingdom of Sicily
(1130–1816) and
Kingdom of Naples
(1282–1816)|

* State of the Presidi
* Duke of San Donato
* Duchy of Sora
* Duchy of Bari
* County of Lecce
* Principality of Taranto
* Terra Sancti Benedicti
* Neapolitan Republic (1647–1648)
* Hospitaller Malta
* Gozo
* Malta Protectorate
* Crown Colony of Malta

French Revolutionary
and Napoleonic eras
(1792–1815)|

| Republics|

* Cisalpinia
* Cispadania
* Italy
* Liguria
* Lucca
* Parthenopea
* Piedmont
* Rome
* Subalpinia
* Transpadania

|

Monarchies|

* Benevento
* Etruria
* Guastalla
* Italy
* Lucca and Piombino
* Massa and Carrara
* Naples
* Pontecorvo
* Benevento
* Tuscany
* Elba
* Corsica

Post-Napoleonic
states|

* Duchy of Genoa (1815–1848)
* Duchy of Lucca (1815–1847)
* Duchy of Massa and Carrara (1814–1829)
* Duchy of Modena and Reggio (1814–1859)
* Duchy of Parma and Piacenza (1814–1859)
* Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1815–1859)
* Italian United Provinces (1831)
* Provisional Government of Milan (1848)
* Republic of San Marco (1848–1849)
* Roman Republic (1849–1850)
* United Provinces of Central Italy (1859–1860)
* Kingdom of Sardinia (1814–1860)
* Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1816–1861)
* Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia (1815–1866)
* Papal States (1814–1870)

| Post-unification|

* Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
* Italian Empire (1882–1960)
* Free State of Fiume (1920–1924)
* Italian Social Republic (1943–1945)
* Free Territory of Trieste (1947–1954)

|

* v
* t
* e

History of the Roman and Byzantine Empire in modern territories

* Albania (Classical \- Medieval)
* Algeria
* Andorra
* Armenia (Classical \- Late Antique)
* Azerbaijan
* Austria
* Balkans
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria (Classical \- High Medieval)
* Britain (England)
* Crimea (Classical \- Medieval)
* Croatia
* Cyprus (Classical \- Medieval)
* Egypt (Classical ~ Late Antique)
* France (Corsica (Classical \- Early Medieval))
* Georgia
* Germany
* Greece (Classical \- Medieval) (Crete (Classical \- Medieval))
* Guernsey
* Hungary
* Iraq (Classical \- Medieval)
* Israel (Classical ~ Late Antique)
* Italy (Classical \- Medieval) (Sicily (Classical \- Medieval), Sardinia (Classical \- Early Medieval))
* Jersey (Classical)
* Jordan (Classical \- Late Antique/Medieval)
* Kosovo (Classical)
* Kuwait
* Lebanon (Classical ~ Late Antique)
* Libya
* Liechtenstein
* Luxembourg
* Malta
* Macedonia
* Moldova
* Monaco
* Montenegro
* Morocco
* The Netherlands
* North Africa
* Palestine (Classical ~ Late Antique)
* Portugal (Classical)
* Romania
* San Marino
* Saudi Arabia (Classical)
* Scotland
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain (Classical \- Late Antique)
* Switzerland
* Syria (Classical ~ Late Antique)
* Vatican City (Classical \- Early Medieval)
* Ukraine
* Tunisia (Roman Carthage)
* Turkey (Classical \- Medieval) (Thrace (Classical \- Medieval))
* Wales

* v
* t
* e

Classical antiquity by region

Europa|

* Graecia
* Italia
* Gallia
* Dacia
* Thracia
* Illyria
* Hispania
* Britannia
* Germania

Asia|

* Scythia
* Anatolia
* Levant (Greater Syria)
* Arabia

Africa|

* Libya
* Aegyptus
* Carthage
* Igbo-Ukwu

* v
* t
* e

Campania

Provinces|

* Avellino
* Benevento
* Caserta
* Naples
* Salerno

Places|

* Amalfi Coast
* Cilento
* Irpinia
* Islands
* Samnium
* Sorrentine Peninsula
* Terra di Lavoro
* Vallo di Diano
* Cities, towns and villages
* List of communes

History|

* Kingdom of Naples
* Monarchs
* Viceroys
* Two Sicilies
* Magna Graecia
* Samnite Wars
* Italia province
* Duchy of Naples
* Duchy of Benevento
* Principality of Capua
* Principality of Salerno
* Duchy of Amalfi
* Duchy of Sorrento
* Duchy of Apulia and Calabria
* Ancient Campania

Politics and
government|

* Elections in Campania
* List of presidents of Campania

Culture|

* Demographics
* Geography
* Music
* Flag
* Coat of arms

Categories

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