Italian Republic

The Italian Republic, commonly known as just Italy is a constitutional monarchy and confederation located in the Roma Cluster, it is composed of 18 colonized worlds, 29 star systems, 1 cluster, and dozens of affiliated independent colonies. Italy is the Milky Way's ninth largest nation in total area. With a population of nearly 4 billion people, Italy is also the ninth-most populous country in Human space. The capital of Italy is Tiber on the planet Lazio which itself is within the Caput Mundi system. Currently Italy is neighbored by the Kingdom of Spain, the Swiss Confederation, Austria-Hungary and the Hellenic Republic, all of which it maintains reasonably neutral relations with. As of now the colony of Signia is the furthest Italian colony from Lazio and is located at the edge of the Iberian Cloud where several Marina Militare fleets are stationed as a means of force projection to the Kingdom of Spain which although not officially seen by the Italian government as any form of potential threat or enemy is still the nation's only true rival in regards to economic, political and military influence in the region.

Due to it having had a central geographic location in Europe and the Mediterranean, Italy had historically been home to a myriad of peoples and cultures. In addition to the various ancient Italian tribes and Italic peoples dispersed throughout the Italian Peninsula and insular Italy, beginning from the classical era, Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Greeks established settlements in the south of Italy, with Etruscans and Celts inhabiting the centre and the north of Italy respectively. The Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated its neighbours. In the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became the leading cultural, political and religious centre of Western civilisation. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the global distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity and the Latin script.

During the Early Middle Ages, Italy endured sociopolitical collapse and barbarian invasions, but by the 11th century, numerous rival city-states and maritime republics, mainly in the northern and central regions of Italy, rose to great prosperity through shipping, commerce and banking, laying the groundwork for modern capitalism. These mostly independent statelets served as Europe's main trading hubs with Asia and the Near East, often enjoying a greater degree of democracy than the larger feudal monarchies that were consolidating throughout Europe; however, part of central Italy was under the control of the theocratic Papal States, while Southern Italy remained largely feudal until the 19th century, partially as a result of a succession of Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Angevin and Spanish conquests of the region.

The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration and art. Italian culture flourished, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Galileo and Machiavelli. During the Middle Ages, Italian explorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, John Cabot and Giovanni da Verrazzano discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery. Nevertheless, Italy's commercial and political power significantly waned with the opening of trade routes that bypassed the Mediterranean.[15][16][17] Centuries of infighting between the Italian city-states, such the Italian Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, left the region fragmented and susceptible to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria.

By the mid-19th century, rising Italian nationalism and calls for independence from foreign control led to a period of revolutionary political upheaval. After centuries of foreign domination and political division, Italy was almost entirely unified in 1871, establishing the Kingdom of Italy as a great power. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Italy rapidly industrialised, namely in the north, and acquired a colonial empire, while the south remained largely impoverished and excluded from industrialisation, fuelling a large and influential diaspora. Despite being one of the main victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil, leading to the rise of a fascist dictatorship in 1922. Participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in military defeat, economic destruction and the Italian Civil War. Following the liberation of Italy and the rise of the resistance, the country abolished the monarchy, reinstated democracy, enjoyed a prolonged economic boom and, despite periods of sociopolitical turmoil, became a major advanced country.

Today, Italy is considered to be one of the Milky Way's most culturally and economically developed countries, with the Italian economy ranking eighth largest in the Milky Way and third among the European powers. As an advanced economy, the country has the sixth-largest interstellar national wealth, and it is ranked third for its central bank gold reserve. Italy has a very high level of human development, and it stands among the top countries for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, and it is both a regional power and an interstellar power. Italy is a founding and leading member of the European Security Council and a member of numerous interstellar institutions, including the UN, FAN, the OECD, the OSCE, the ITO, the G7, the G20, the Union for the Former Mediterranean, Uniting for Consensus and numerous more. As a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 54 Human Heritage Sites, the most in the Milky Way, and is the fifth-most visited country.