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Italy was invaded by the Visigoths in the 5th century, and Rome was sacked by Alaric in 410. By the end of the century the peninsula was mostly under Ostrogothic control, and the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, was deposed in 476 by Theodoric the Great. The eastern half of the Empire, now centred on Constantinople, invaded Italy in the early 6th century, and the generals of emperor Justinian, Belisarius and Narses, conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom after years of warfare. The collapse of the Ostrogoths allowed the Lombards to fill the gap, and the Eastern Empire could not hold on to its reconquered territory against the Lombard invasion. The Lombards ruled Italy until the late 8th century when their kingdom was conquered by Charlemagne.

The birth of the Italian republic (officially on June 2, 1946) is a key event of Italian contemporary history. It is controversial because of suspicions of fraud that were advanced by monarchists). Until 1946, Italy was a monarchy ruled by the House of Savoy (kings of Italy and, previously, of Sardinia). In 1946, after the results of a popular referendum, it became a republic. A Constituent assembly was elected at the same time to prepare a new constitution for the Republic. This article is about the Referendum on the form of State.

In the politically unstable situation after the fall of the western empire, the Church often became the only stable institution and the only source of learning. Even the barbarians had to rely on clerics in order to administrate their conquests. Furthermore, the catholic monastic orders, such as the Benedictines had a major role both in the economic life of the time, and in the preservation of the classical culture.

Despite the everlasting struggles with foreign powers and within themselves, the northern cities' wealth continued to grow, until at least the 15th century, leading to great intellectual and artistical achievements such as those Dante, Giotto and of the Italian Renaissance masters (such as Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raffaello). This golden age ended in the 16th century, when the Italian city-states became prey of larger national states such as France and Spain.

The Italian Republic or Italy (Italian: Repubblica Italiana or Italia) is a southern European country, comprising a boot-shaped peninsula and two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. It shares its nothern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italian territory.

After the Lombard invasion, the popes (i.e. St. Gregory) were nominally subject to the eastern emperor, but often received little help from Constantinople, and had to fill the lack of stately power, protecting Rome from Lombard incursions; in this way, the popes started building an independent state.