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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.

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.

After the invasion of Soviet Union failed (1941-42), and the United States entered the war (December 1941), the situation for the Axis started to deteriorate. In May 1943 the Anglo-Americans completely defeated the Italians and the Germans in North Africa, and in July they landed in Sicily. King Victor Emmanuel III reacted by arresting Mussolini and appointing the army chief of staff, Marshal Badoglio, as Prime Minister.

Major political parties, beset by scandal and loss of voter confidence, underwent far-reaching changes. New political forces and new alignments of power emerged in March 1994 national elections. The election saw a major turnover in the new parliament, with 452 out of 630 deputies and 213 out of 315 senators elected for the first time. The 1994 elections also swept media magnate Silvio Berlusconi (leader of "House of Freedoms" (Casa delle Libertà) coalition) into office as Prime Minister. Berlusconi, however, was forced to step down in January 1995 when one member of his coalition withdrew support. The Berlusconi government was succeeded by a technical government headed by Prime Minister Lamberto Dini, which left office in early 1996.

Italy has worked closely with the United States and others on such issues as NATO and UN operations as well as with assistance to Russia and the New Independent States, Middle East peace process, multilateral talks, Somalia and Mozambique peacekeeping, and combating drug trafficking, trafficking in women and children, and terrorism.

Even though much of its mountainous and nootinous terrain is unsuitable for farming, Italy has a large work force (1.4 million) employed in farming. Most farms are small, with the average farm only 7 hectares.

According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus, and was then governed by seven Kings of Rome. In 509 BC the last of them, Tarquinius Superbus was overthrown, and the Roman Republic was formed. The Republic was ruled by two elected consuls at a time, while the Senate (formed by the most notable Patricians, that is, aristocrats) and a city assembly formed a sort of Parliament.

While the Allied troops slowly pushed the German resistance to the north (Rome was liberated in June 1944, Milan in April 1945) the monarchic government finally declared war on Germany, and an anti-fascist popular resistance movement grew, harassing German forces before the Anglo-American forces drove them out in April 1945.