A Brief History of Italy - Grand Format

The birthplace of the Renaissance, Italy has always been a hotbed of culture. Within modern Italy there is fierce regional pride in the cultures and identities that mark out Tuscany, Rome, Sicily and Venice, to name just a few of the country's many famous regions. Yet despite the Roman Empire's famous five-hundred-year reign over Europe, parts of Africa and the Middle East, Italy does not have the same long national history of states such as France and England.
Divided for much of its history, major parts of Italy were at various times territories of bigger - often antagonistic - empires, notably those of Spain and Austria. Historian Jeremy Black draws on the diaries, memoirs and letters of historic travellers to Italy to gain insight into the passions of its people, first chronologically, then regionally. Black examines what it is that has given Italians such cultural clout - from food, drink and music to fashion, art and architecture - and explores the causes and effects of political events, shedding new light on divisions that persist today.