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In 555, Italy was conquered by Byzantium. The entire territory of Italy was divided into duchies, headed by the dukes, who were formally subordinate to the exarch of Ravenna. In 572, part of the duchies of Italy was conquered by the Lombards. Byzantium was left with the Duchy of Rome, the Duchy of Naples, the Duchy of Amalfi, the Duchy of Calabria, the Duchy of Pentapolis, the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Republic of Venice, as well as the Theme of Sicily (conquered by the Arabs in 956) and the Sardinian Judicates. However, both the Lombard and Byzantine dukes increasingly turned into virtually independent rulers.

Ancient Rome created the cultural ground for European civilization, having a decisive influence on medieval and subsequent history. Ancient Rome gave the modern world Roman law, some architectural forms and solutions (for example, the cross-domed system) and many other innovations (for example, a water mill). Christianity as a creed was born on the territory of the Roman Empire. The official language of the ancient Roman state was Latin, the religion was polytheistic for most of its existence, the unofficial emblem of the empire was the golden eagle (aquila), and after the adoption of Christianity, labarums with chrism appeared.

By the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. the south and center of Italy were inhabited by the Italic peoples, one of which was the Latins. The Latins formed the Latin Union, which included 30 civitas, the governing bodies of each of which were the popular assembly (comitia or councils), the council of elders (curia or senate) and leaders (rex). According to Latin legends, initially Laurent was the strongest civitas, then Lavinia intensified, then Alba Longa, in the 6th century Rome became the strongest civitas of the union. After the Samnite wars, by 290, Rome made all other Italic peoples dependent on itself. Part of the lands of the non-Roman population of the provinces was transferred to the Romans, Roman settlements were founded - colonies - thus Romanization of Italy took place. Under the Roman emperor Diocletian, a division into provinces was introduced in Italy, headed by presidents and consulars. After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476, the commander of Italy, Odoacer, was proclaimed king of Italy, but in 493 his possessions were captured by the Ostrogoths, and he himself was killed

It borders with France in the northwest (border length - 488 km), Switzerland (740 km) and Austria (430 km) - in the north, Slovenia - in the northeast (232 km).
Inside the territory of Italy there are two enclave states: the state of San Marino and the state of the Vatican, located inside the territory of Rome, associated with Italy, with each of which Italy has an internal border with a length of 39 km and 3.2 km, respectively.

Italy (Italian Italia [iˈtaːlja]), the official name is the Italian Republic (Italian Repubblica Italiana [reˈpubːlika itaˈljaːna]) is a state in Southern Europe, in the center of the Mediterranean. It has been a member of the European Union and NATO since their inception and is the third largest economy in the Eurozone.

Island Venice is a seaside resort, a center of international tourism of world importance, a venue for international film festivals, art and architectural exhibitions. Intracity transportation on motor vessels, gondolas, barges. A settlement from the 5th century, a city from the beginning of the 9th century. From the 9th-10th to the 16th centuries it was a major center of intermediary trade between Western Europe and the East. In the Middle Ages and until 1797, a republic headed by a doge (from the end of the 13th century - oligarchic), with a significant subject territory. In 1797-1805 and 1815-1866 Venice was a possession of Austria. Along canals and narrow winding streets are richly decorated churches and palaces. On the central square - the Cathedral of St. Mark (IX-XV centuries), the Doge's Palace (XIV-XVI centuries), the Old Library of San Marco (XVI centuries), the buildings of religious brotherhoods (skuol), monasteries. The city and the lagoon are included in the World Heritage List.

Port on the Adriatic Sea (cargo turnover over 21 million tons per year); Marco Polo International Airport.
The historical center of the Venetian Riviera is located on 118 islands of the Venetian lagoon, separated by 150 canals and channels, through which about 400 bridges are thrown (including the Rialto and the so-called Bridge of Sighs, both date back to the end of the 16th century).

However, the conditions that predetermined the rise of Venice, at the same time became the prerequisites for the subsequent decline. Having undermined the power of Byzantium, which had shielded Europe from the Muslim East for centuries, Venice itself had to face Turkish expansion after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. At the same time, this expansion and wars forced European countries to look for other trade routes. The Venetian-Ottoman war of 1499-1503, other Turkish-Venetian wars and the shift of the main trade routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic gradually undermined the commercial and economic well-being of Venice. When Napoleon Bonaparte captured Venice during the Italian campaign in 1795-1797, it no longer represented a powerful state.

Venice grew like this, because it was fed by markets, a weakening Byzantium, on which it imposed its services. Venice ate this huge building from the inside the way termites eat a wooden frame. It was Venice that sent the IV Crusade to Constantinople. The sack of Constantinople in 1204 […] dismembered the Byzantine Empire and underlies the greatness of Venice. After the neutralization of Genoa in 1381, Venice becomes the mistress of trade in the East, that is, the international trade of that era.

Some historians attribute the economic and political rise of Venice to the transfer of the religious fervor and greed of the crusaders from the Muslim East to Christian Byzantium. The defeat in 1204 of Constantinople, the richest city of the era, by the Crusaders of the IV Crusade gave Venice not only a direct material benefit (participation in the division of Greek lands and the export of thousands of works of Greek art, such as the Quadriga on the Cathedral of St. Mark and the Piraeus Lions), but also , most importantly, contributed to trade expansion to the East. Here is what Fernand Braudel writes about this

The name of the city comes from the region of Venetia, and that - from the Veneti tribe, who lived here in Roman times. However, under the Romans, there was no urban settlement in the lagoon. People began to settle in the Venetian lagoon after the invasions of the barbarians - the Visigoths, the Huns of Attila and the Lombards - who passed here in the 5th-6th centuries and devastated cities on the continent, the most significant of which was Aquileia. An urban settlement on the islands of the Venetian lagoon began to be created in the second half of the 6th century [4]. Initially, the center of the settlement was located on the islands of Malamocco and Torcello, but from the 8th century it began to move to its present position. In the 7th century, on the initiative of Byzantium, to which they formally belonged, the islands were united under the rule of a single ruler - the Doge. The first doge Paolo Lucio Anafesto was elected in 697, for which there is no documentary evidence, and replaced the Byzantine Magister militum, who ruled the entire province [5]. From the middle of the 8th century, the Doge was elected in Venice; it was not to be approved by the Byzantine emperor. The first documented election of a doge took place in 727; in total, 120 doges were elected in the history of the city. The last, Ludovico Manin, abdicated in 1797.

During antiquity, the area of ​​Venice was inhabited by the Veneti (hence the name of the city). An island city from the 9th century. In the Middle Ages - the center of the Venetian Republic with numerous colonies in the Mediterranean. The rise of the Ottoman Empire led to the decline of Venice in the 17th and 18th centuries; During the Napoleonic Wars, it came under Austrian rule. In 1866 it became part of Italy.