History History

Human presence is attested in southern Italy from the Lower Palaeolithic. In Puglia, the oldest records come from Gargano, where lithic instruments and remains of Homo erectus and Neanderthal have been found. Basilicata was also occupied by man in ancient times, as shown by archaeological excavations in the Venosa area: Homo erectus lived along the rivers and lake basins that existed at the time. It cohabited there with the sabre-toothed tiger. The presence of Homo erectus is also attested in Calabria. In the Upper Paleolithic (from 35,000 years before our era), Homo sapiens made its appearance and figurative art developed. Some major sites :

- The Paglicci cave, in the Gargano, was frequented by Homo erectus, Neanderthal Man, then Homo sapiens. It has yielded lithic instruments, parietal paintings and human remains.

- The Lamalunga cave, near Altamura, restored, in 1993, the complete skeleton of an adult individual who lived 200,000 years ago; it is currently kept in the archaeological museum.

- In Calabria, the Romito cave, located in the hills of the province of Cosenza, is one of the most important Palaeolithic sites in the Mezzogiorno. The cave, which has been used for thousands of years as a base camp for hunters, has yielded weapons, human burials and the rock carving of an auroch profile with detailed anatomy and proportions.

Female statuettes carved from horse bones have been discovered at Parabita, in the Salento. Found in the Grotta dei Veni, they indicate the existence of a fertility cult. They are kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto.

The populations settled down, practised agriculture and stockbreeding and produced ceramics decorated with impressions or painted. Important traces of settlements consisting of hut villages have been found in the particularly fertile Tavoliere area (Apulia). In Basilicata, traces of Neolithic villages have been found throughout the territory, from Melfi to Metaponta, passing through the Murgia materana. In Calabria, they have been found in the coastal plains of Locres, Crotone, Sybaris and Gioia Tauro.

From the Middle Bronze Age (around 1600 BC), southern Italy entered a period of upheaval: villages were fortified and maritime trade developed. The Mezzogiorno came into contact with the civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean and in particular with the Aegean world. Locally produced Italo-Mycenaean ceramics imitate Mycenaean models. The megalithic monuments of Apulia (Chianca dolmen in Bisceglie, Placa dolmen in Salento) also date from the Bronze Age. Southern Italy also saw the arrival of new Indo-European populations from the Balkans, who settled in the peninsula after crossing the Adriatic Sea. Regional identities are emerging, whose names are known to us from later Greek and Latin epigraphic sources. In Apulia, the Lapygians(Apuli in Latin), a people of Illyrian origin (from the Balkans), are divided into Daunians in the north, Peucetians in the center and Messapians in the south. The Lyki, coming from Anatolia, settled in Lucania (former name of Basilicata) around 1300-1200 BC. Calabria is occupied by the Oenosters along the Ionian coast and on the heights, and by the Ausonians on the Tyrrhenian coast. Around 1200, the region is crossed by the Siculi who settle in Sicily.

The Chalcidians, from the island of Evia in Greece, founded Rhegion (Reggio Calabria) on the Strait of Messina. This was the first milestone of Greek colonization in the south of continental Italy, a phenomenon that was to affect the whole of southern Italy and Sicily, at the origin of the civilization of Magna Grecia (Great Greece). The powerful and wealthy city of Taranto, founded by Greek settlers from Sparta and Laconia, will extend its influence over the neighboring cities. Along the Ionian shores, the cities of Metapontum and Siris in Basilicata, Sybaris, Crotone and Locres in Calabria, reflect the splendour of Greek culture

These Italic populations of Oscan-Sabellian origin settled in Basilicata and Calabria and took over several Greek colonies. The Lucanians occupied almost the entire territory of present-day Basilicata, as well as Paestum. The Bruttians seized Crotone on the Ionian Sea, Hipponion (Vibo Valentia) and Metauros (Gioia Tauro) on the Tyrrhenian Sea. If they impose their hegemony on the region, their cults and religious rites are largely derived from Greek customs; their art, composed mainly of ceramics and coins, appears largely inspired by the models of Magna Grecia.

The Romans set out to conquer the southern part of the peninsula, first during the Samnite Wars (343-290 BC) and then during the battles against Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who was called by Taranto, which felt threatened. In 275 BC, Pyrrhus was defeated by the Romans at the Battle of Benevento and returned to his kingdom. As a result of the confrontation, the southern part of the peninsula came under Roman rule and Taranto was subdued in 272 BC.

In the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca won the battle of Cannae in Apulia against the outnumbered Romans. The tactical manoeuvres adopted by the Carthaginians during the battle are considered a model of their kind and are still studied today in military schools.

The port of Brindisi is now linked to Benevento and from there to the Roman capital by the Via Appia. This road passes through Venosa, Gravina and Taranto.

The Via Popilia connects Reghium (Reggio di Calabria) to Capua, passing through the port of Scyllaeum (Scilla) and the towns of Valentia (Vibo Valentia) and Consentia (Cosenza).

Under Emperor Augustus, the territory of the peninsula was reorganized administratively into eleven regions. The Regio II Apulia and Calabria corresponds to the territories of the current Apulia, to the north-east of Basilicata and to a small part of Campania and Molise. Apulia then refers to the regions populated by the Daunians and Peucetians, while Calabria corresponds to the territory of the Messapians (southern Apulia). Regio III Lucania et Bruttii includes the present Calabria, most of Basilicata and a fringe of Campania, areas historically populated by the Lucanians and Bruttians. The administrative capital of Regio II is Canusium (Canosa), that of Regio III is Rhegium (Reggio di Calabria).

The Via Traiana is inaugurated. It connects Benevento to Brindisi following an alternative route to the Via Appia, closer to the Adriatic coast as it passes through Troia, Canosa, Bari and Egnazia, and therefore more accessible in winter.

It is the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The last emperor, Romulus Augustus, was deposed by the barbarian Odoacre. The south of Italy enters the Byzantine orbit and is not spared by the wars between the Ostrogoths and Byzantines, which ravage the entire peninsula. The fearsome Totila even made Taranto one of his strongholds.

Arriving in Italy in 568 after crossing the Alpine passes, they extended their domination over the peninsula. They founded the Duchy of Benevento, which included Lucania, and conquered Bari, Brindisi and Taranto. The Salento remained in the hands of the Byzantines, who established a Duchy of Calabria with Otranto as its capital, which also included Bruzio (the former name of Calabria). It was on this occasion that the name "Calabria" was transferred and came to designate the present-day Calabria.

The Byzantines were unable to stem the attacks of Saracen pirates along the coast of the Duchy of Calabria. The inhabitants retreated to the heights and promontories to protect themselves from the incursions. In 840, Taranto was even conquered by the Arabs and became their home port from which they launched raids along the coast of southern Italy

Byzantium, wishing to reassert its hegemony over the region, conquered the lost territories and encouraged the emigration of Byzantines, especially in the Salento. This phenomenon is at the origin of the current Grecìa salentina, a territory of nine municipalities in the province of Lecce where Griko, a dialect derived from Greek, is spoken

The Normans arrived in southern Italy very gradually. They went on pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Monte Sant'Angelo in the Gargano. They were also hired as mercenaries by the local potentates.

The Norman William I of Hauteville founded the County of Apulia, which extended from the south of Campania to the centre of Puglia and had Melfi as its capital.

Another member of the Hauteville family, Robert Guiscard, continued the conquest of southern Italy by taking Calabria. He swore an oath of loyalty to Pope Nicholas II, who conferred on him the title of Duke of Apulia and Calabria. A few years later, he and his brother Roger crossed the Straits of Messina and conquered Sicily.

Roger II, Robert Guiscard's nephew, reunited all the Norman possessions and founded the Kingdom of Sicily, whose capital was Palermo. The Norman domination corresponds to a period of political stability and prosperity for the south of Italy: trade is flourishing thanks to exchanges with Venice and the East, the ports are frequented by merchants, pilgrims and crusaders on their way to the Holy Land. The Normans established a feudal system: the territory was made up of fiefs ruled by barons to whom the king had distributed land, and castles flourished throughout the kingdom. This domination was not always accepted by the inhabitants and town revolts broke out, which were put down in bloodshed; in 1156, Bari was partially destroyed after an insurrection of its inhabitants against King William I, known as the Bad.

William II, known as the Good, died without an heir and his advisors appointed Tancred of Lecce as his successor. Tancred, although an illegitimate child, belonged to the Hauteville lineage. However, the Germanic Emperor Henry VI, who had just succeeded his father Frederick Barbarossa, claimed the Norman kingdom in the name of his wife Constance of Hauteville, the daughter of the former Norman king Roger II. Henry VI set out to conquer southern Italy

Henry VI is crowned King of Sicily; the former Norman kingdom comes under the rule of the Hohenstaufen dynasty.

The first half of the 13th century was marked by one of the most fascinating and controversial figures of the Middle Ages: the German emperor Frederick II. The son of Henry VI was the head of an empire stretching from the North Sea to Sicily. Particularly attached to southern Italy, he made Foggia his capital and made Naples an important intellectual centre, founding a university in 1224. Frederick II encouraged the arts and letters; he was a scholar who spoke Greek, Latin and Arabic and surrounded himself with scholars and scientists. He maintained sulphurous relations with the papacy and was even excommunicated twice! He was also one of the first sovereigns to adopt a body of secular laws, the Constitutions of Melfi, in 1231. He was responsible for most of the castles in Puglia, Calabria and Basilicata, including the impressive Castel del Monte.

At the Battle of Benevento, Manfred, the successor of Frederick II, is defeated by the armies of Charles of Anjou (the brother of the French king Louis IX), supported by the pope, and dies in battle. Southern Italy came under Angevin rule and the capital was transferred to Naples

The Angevins were soon faced with opposition from the Sicilian people, who organised a massacre of the French during the Sicilian Vespers. Sicily passed into the hands of the Aragonese, with the Angevins retaining the kingdom of Naples, which included the south of mainland Italy.

Alfonso of Aragon, known as the Magnanimous, took possession of the kingdom of Naples and drove out the Angevins, thus constituting one of the main powers in the Mediterranean basin.

Albanian communities, fleeing from the Turkish invaders, were welcomed by King Ferrante of Aragon and allowed to settle in Calabria in order to repopulate areas abandoned by their inhabitants. This is how the community of the Arborets was born, an ethno-linguistic minority that follows the Greek-Catholic liturgical rite and occupies several municipalities in the province of Cosenza, but also in other regions of Italy, including Puglia and Basilicata.

The city of Otranto was besieged by a Turkish fleet under the orders of Mehmed II, the sultan who, in 1453, had seized Constantinople. The Turks' ambition was to establish themselves in Apulia before setting out to conquer the kingdom of Naples. However, they encountered fierce resistance from the inhabitants of Otranto. The assault lasted fifteen days and ended in victory for the Muslims, who entered the city, pillaged it, killed the boys over 15 years old and reduced the women to slavery. They beheaded 800 inhabitants who refused to convert to Islam, and whose bones are carefully preserved in the cathedral of Otranto. From the port of Otranto, the Turks launched expeditions along the coast to the Gargano promontory and Taranto. Finally, the city was liberated the following year by an anti-Turkish front supported by Pope Sixtus IV and led by Alfonso of Calabria.

The Republic of Venice also coveted the ports of Apulia, but its interests were primarily commercial. It seized Monopoli, Trani, Brindisi, Otranto and Gallipoli, but its domination over these cities lasted only a few years

King Charles VIII of France claimed the Angevin heritage and seized the crown of Naples in 1495, but his reign lasted only three months.

Under Spanish rule, southern Italy became a peripheral area in decline. Commercial interests had shifted to the Atlantic since the discovery of America in 1492. In 1571, the Battle of Lepanto, won by the Holy Christian League against the Turks, marked the end of Ottoman expansion in the Mediterranean and a return to calm. But the fiscal pressure, the exactions of the local nobility who owned the agricultural lands, the depopulation of the countryside, the earthquakes, the plague of 1656 which decimated the kingdom of Naples, hampered the social and economic life of the southern regions of the peninsula

During the war of the Spanish succession between the houses of Habsburg and Bourbon, the Austrian army crossed the peninsula and took control of the Mezzogiorno. The treaty of Utrecht, signed in 1713, consecrated the retreat of Spain in Italy to the benefit of Charles VI of the Austrian branch of the Habsburgs. The latter governed the kingdom of Naples and Sardinia (which he exchanged for Sicily with the duchy of Savoy).

The Habsburgs are defeated by the Bourbons of Spain at the Battle of Bitonto, near Bari, and Naples, Sicily and the three southern Italian regions return to Spanish rule. An obelisk was erected in Bitonto to commemorate the victory. Charles of Bourbon was crowned King of Naples and Sicily (1734-1759). From Naples, the first reforms are born under the impulse of the king and his ministers, inspired by the spirit of the Enlightenment that spreads to the European courts in the 18th century. The new ideas spread among the most educated citizens and, in Puglia, the road network was improved and the ports developed. However, the reforming action, aimed at strengthening the central power and improving the living conditions of the citizens, produced only modest effects due to the strong resistance of the nobility of feudal origin and the clergy, attached to their ancient privileges. Calabria was also hit by a series of calamities: first, the plague epidemic of 1743, which spread to both sides of the Strait of Messina, and then the devastating earthquake of 1783, which killed 50,000 people and completely destroyed the city of Reggio di Calabria.

The kingdom of Naples came under the sceptre of Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, and then of Joachim Murat. The court of King Ferdinand IV took refuge in Sicily, the only Italian territory which, along with Sardinia, was not to be dominated by Napoleon. The reforms provided for the abolition of feudalism and a better distribution of land, but the defeat at Waterloo in 1815 marked the end of French ambitions in Italy.

Ferdinand IV returned to Naples where he became King of the Two Sicilies under the name of Ferdinand I. The return to the old order was very badly perceived by the population. Part of the bourgeoisie of Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria made their voices heard and joined the liberation movements, the "Carbonari". Everywhere, the extreme poverty of the little people fuelled the phenomenon of brigandage.

Garibaldi triumphantly entered Naples at the end of the Expedition of the Thousand, which landed in Sicily in May 1860 and crossed the Strait of Messina on 19 August. In 1861, the Kingdom of Naples officially became part of the Kingdom of Italy under the reign of Victor Emmanuel II

The first decades of the unitary state were difficult for the Mezzogiorno. In Basilicata and Calabria, brigandage continued to wreak havoc and earthquakes multiplied. Both regions reached an intolerable level of poverty and became centres of emigration. In Puglia, however, the peasants and small landowners took advantage of the peace and the improvement of their living conditions to improve the land. The region became richer and began to export its products (especially wine and olive oil).

In March 1919, in the aftermath of the First World War, Mussolini founded the Italian Fighting Forces in Milan. Fascism was nourished by socio-economic problems. Social unrest, violence, the obvious shortcomings of the parliamentary regime, and governmental instability were all to Mussolini's advantage. On October 28, 1922, he organized the March on Rome with his Blackshirts. On 30 October, King Victor Emmanuel III called Mussolini to power. Initially respecting the parliamentary regime, Mussolini organized elections in 1924 that reinforced his supremacy. The fascist dictatorship began. Mussolini's domestic policy did not take into account the misery of the Mezzogiorno. The Duce's action in the region was essentially focused on eradicating the mafia. This probably explains why, in 1943, Matera was the first southern province to rebel against the Nazi occupation and the Fascist regime. Although the Allied landings in Sicily and Salerno caused extremely hard fighting, the Second World War did not directly affect the three regions. However, they were a base for Italian operations; Puglia was used for the Greek campaign and then for the eastern sector. In September 1943, Brindisi, liberated from the Germans, welcomed King Victor Emmanuel III and Marshal Pietro Badoglio, and became the seat of the Italian government until February 1944.

After the Second World War, an institutional referendum abolished the monarchy and ratified the birth of the Italian Republic

After the war came the time of reconstruction. The South was still lagging behind the North and the government tried to redress the balance with the creation of a fund for the Mezzogiorno in 1950. However, the phenomenon of emigration that affected the South continued until the early 1970s.

The Conte II Government, in office since 5 September 2019, is formed by a coalition composed of the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement and the Italia Viva Party, created by Matteo Renzi in 2019 following his departure from the Democratic Party. On 13 January 2021, following disagreements over the stimulus package, Renzi announced the withdrawal of Italia Viva from the government, which thus lost its majority in parliament. Council President Giuseppe Conte was forced to announce his resignation two weeks later. Attempts to reform the outgoing government fail, so President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella turns to former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, the man of providence who saved the eurozone in 2012. Draghi is tasked with forming a new government. This deep political crisis comes in the midst of a pandemic, when the Italian economy is bloodless and the country is counting on European funds to finance a recovery plan. Draghi received the support of the majority of the parties in Parliament and accepted the post of President of the Council of Ministers. On 13 February 2021, the Draghi government was proclaimed: it was made up of a coalition of parties with very different orientations: Five Star Movement, Lega, Democratic Party, Forza Italia, Italia Viva and Free and Equal

Following a new government crisis that led to the resignation of Mario Draghi, Italians were called to the polls for new parliamentary elections. The victory was won by a centre-right coalition formed by Matteo Salvini's Lega, Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia party and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, among others. Giorgio Meloni, the leader of the Fratelli d'Italia party, became President of the Council of Ministers, the first woman to hold this position in Italy.