100-696: Timeline The prehistory of Italy began in the Paleolithic period, when species of Homo inhabited the Italian territory for the first time, and ended in the Iron Age , when the first written records appeared in Italy . In prehistoric times, the Italian Peninsula was rather different from how it is now. During glaciations , for example, the sea level was lower and the islands of Elba and Sicily were connected to
200-415: A cultural horizon extended from eastern Lombardy and Veneto to Emilia and Romagna, formed in the first half of 2nd millennium BC perhaps for the arrival of new people from the transalpine regions of Switzerland and Southern Germany. The settlements were usually made up of stilt houses ; the economy was characterized by agricultural and pastoral activities, hunting and fishing were also practiced as well as
300-512: A merchant or banker from northern Italy, for example Lombard Street, London . The name "Lombardy" came to denote the whole of northern Italy until the 15th century and sometimes later. From the 14th century onward, the instability created by the internal and external struggles ended in the creation of noble seigniories , the most significant of whom were the Viscontis (later Sforzas ) in Milan and of
400-635: A necropolis was discovered by Giovanni Gozzadini in 1853–1856. It succeeded the Proto-Villanovan culture during the Iron Age in the territory of Tuscany and northern Lazio and spread in parts of Romagna , Campania and Fermo in the Marche The main characteristic of the Villanovans (with some similarities with the so-called Proto-Villanovan period of the late Bronze Age) were the cremation burials, in which
500-561: A significant boom due to improved trading, sartorial manufacturing of silk and wool, and agricultural conditions; arms manufacturing for the purpose of defensive army development, by the German imperial divisions of Guelphs ( Welfen ) defending the Pope and Ghibellins ( Wibellingen ) defending the Emperor, became a significant factor. As in other areas of Italy, this led to a growing self-acknowledgement of
600-475: A stream, with roads that crossed each other at right angles . Over the lifetime of the Terramare culture, these settlements developed into stratified zones with larger settlements of up to 15-20Ha (approximately 1500-2000 people) surrounded by smaller villages. Especially in the later period, the proportion of settlements that were fortified approaches 100%. Around the 12th century BC the Terramare system collapsed,
700-568: A strong relationships between the two peoples. Another important element of this civilization are the Giants of Mont'e Prama , perhaps the oldest anthropomorphic statues of the western Mediterranean sea. Among the most important cultural expressions born in Sicily during the Bronze Age the cultures of Castelluccio (Ancient Bronze Age) and of Thapsos (Middle Bronze Age) are worth noting. Both originated in
800-458: Is an administrative region of Italy that covers 23,844 km (9,206 sq mi); it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is located between the Alps mountain range and tributaries of the river Po , and includes Milan , its capital, the largest metropolitan area in the country, and among
900-624: Is bordered by Canton Ticino and Canton Grisons of Switzerland to the north, and by the Italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto to the east, Emilia-Romagna to the south and Piedmont to the west. Lombardy's northern border is between the Valtellina and the valleys of the Rhine and the Inn . To the east, Lake Garda and the Mincio separate Lombardy from the other Italian regions, as does
1000-814: Is found in the zone "covering Italy to the Ligurian coast" as distinct from the more western Cardial beginning in Provence , France and extending to western Portugal. This pottery style gives its name to the main culture of the Mediterranean Neolithic, which eventually extended from the Adriatic sea to the Atlantic coasts of Portugal and south to Morocco . Since the Late-Neolithic, Aosta Valley , Piedmont , Liguria , Tuscany and Sardinia in particular were involved in
1100-608: Is foundational to Italy in the Middle Ages . The term was also used until around 965 in the form Λογγοβαρδία ( Longobardia ) as the name for the territory roughly covering modern Apulia, which the Byzantines had recovered from the Lombard rump state Duchy of Benevento . Lombardy has a surface area of 23,861 km (9,213 sq mi), and is the fourth-largest region of Italy after Sicily , Piedmont and Sardinia . It
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#17328513742641200-557: Is mainly humid subtropical ( Köppen Cfa), especially in the plains, though with significant variations to the Köppen model, especially in the normally long, damp, and cold winters. There is high seasonal temperature variation; in Milan, the average temperature is 2.5 °C (36.5 °F) in January and 24 °C (75 °F) in July. The plains are often subject to fog during the coldest months. In
1300-520: Is now Pianura Padana (specially along the Panaro river, between Modena and Bologna ). Their total population probably reached an impressive peak of more than 120,000 individuals near the beginning of the Recent Bronze Age. In the early period they lived in villages with an average population of about 130 people living in wooden stilt houses : they had a square shape, built on land but generally near
1400-551: Is of more recent origin; formed by the deposit of detrital material on the continental shelf, coming from the erosion caused by surface waters, which accompanied the lifting of the Alpine chain, which rose to the west and north of the plain, and of the Apennine chain to the south, which filled the marine gulf existing in the Pliocene created by the uplift of the two mountain chains. Lombardy
1500-532: Is one of the most-air-polluted areas of Europe. Because of high levels of industrialisation and the lack of wind due to the region being enclosed between mountain ranges, air pollution remains a severe problem in Lombardy and northern Italy. In March 2019, the European Space Agency (ESA) published images taken from its satellites that show a large stain composed of nitrogen dioxide and fine particles above
1600-525: Is still debated; while most scholars considered them as fortresses, others see them as temples. A warrior and mariner people, the ancient Sardinians held flourishing trades with the other Mediterranean peoples. This is shown by numerous remains contained in the nuraghe, such as amber coming from the Baltic Sea , small bronze figures portraying African beasts, oxhide ingots and weapons from Eastern Mediterranean, Mycenaean ceramics. It has been hypothesized that
1700-810: Is the Alpine zone, which includes the Lepontine and Rhaetian Alps (4,020 m (13,190 ft)), which derive their name, respectively, from the Raeti , a population of Etruscan origin who took refuge in the Central Alps during the Celtic invasion of the Italian peninsula, and from the Ligurian population of the Lepontii settled in this area and then subjugated by the Roman emperor Augustus ,
1800-548: Is the economic capital of Italy and is a global financial centre . Of the fifty-eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy, eleven are in Lombardy, tying it with Castile and León in northwest-central Spain . Virgil , Pliny the Elder , Ambrose , Gerolamo Cardano , Caravaggio , Claudio Monteverdi , Antonio Stradivari , Cesare Beccaria , Alessandro Volta , and Alessandro Manzoni ; and popes John XXIII and Paul VI originated in
1900-462: Is the period during which the majority of the Italian peninsula was united in the Proto-Villanovan culture . Pianello di Genga is an exception to the small cemeteries characterized for the Protov-Villanovan culture. More than 500 burials were found in this cemetery which is known for its two centuries of usage by different communities. The Polada culture (Polada is a locality near Brescia ) was
2000-763: Is the second most populous region of the European Union (EU), and the second region of the European Union by nominal GDP. Lombardy is the first region of Italy in terms of economic importance, contributing to approximately a fifth of the national gross domestic product (GDP). Lombardy is a member of the Four Motors for Europe , an international economical organization whose other members are Baden-Württemberg in Germany, Catalonia in Spain, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France. Milan
2100-959: Is uncertain, although it was most likely of Pre-Indoeuropean stock, coming from the sea. The first Castellieri were indeed built along the Istrian coast and show a similar Cyclopean masonry which is also characterizing in the Mycenaean civilization at the time.The best researched Castelliere in Istria is Monkodonja near Rovinj. Hypotheses about an Illyrian origin of the people are not confirmed. The Castellieri were fortified settlements, usually located on hills or mountains or, more rarely (such as in Friuli), in plains. They were constituted by one or more concentric series of walls, of rounded or elliptical shape in Istria and Venezia Giulia, or quadrangular in Friuli, within which
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#17328513742642200-869: The Risorgimento , with the Five Days of Milan in March 1848, the Ten Days of Brescia in 1849, the Belfiore martyrs in Mantua in the years between 1851 and 1853. The annexation of Lombardy to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia occurred following the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859, a war during which Lombardy was the main theatre of battle (battles of Montebello , Palestro , Magenta , Solferino and San Fermo ). In 1861, with
2300-528: The plebs abandoned Rome for the nearby Monte Sacro . Marius was elected consul for the first of three years in a row. Civil wars would follow with the first breaking out in 238, another in 249 followed by a third in 253. From 235 through 284 the average reign of a Roman Emperor was just 18 months, down from average just over 9 years during the first centuries of the Empire. Lombardy Lombardy ( Italian : Lombardia ; Lombard : Lombardia )
2400-557: The Adriatic Sea . Celtic development was halted by the Roman expansion in the Po Valley from the 3d century BC. After centuries of struggle, at the end of the 2nd century B.C., the entirety of modern-day Lombardy became a Roman province called Gallia Cisalpina —" Gaul on the inner side (with respect to Rome) of the Alps ". The Roman culture and language overwhelmed the former civilisation in
2500-472: The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), Po Valley air pollution reduces life expectancy by about six months. Air pollution in the Po Valley is connected to livestock and factories. The use of NPK fertilizers , made of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, along with manure emissions from intensive breeding and high levels of nitrogen dioxide released by diesel and petrol engines are all causes of pollution in
2600-466: The Alpine passes , had already penetrated and settled in the western Po valley between Lake Maggiore and Lake Como ( Scamozzina culture ). They brought a new funerary practice— cremation —which supplanted inhumation . Canegrate terracotta is very similar to that known from the same period north to the Alps (Provence, Savoy, Isère, Valais , the area of Rhine -Switzerland-eastern France). The members of
2700-541: The Alta —an upper, permeable ground zone in the north—and the Bassa , a lower zone dotted by the line of fontanili , spring waters rising from impermeable ground. Inconsistent with the three distinctions above is the small sub-region of Oltrepò Pavese , which is formed by the Apennine foothills beyond the Po , and Lomellina , area particularly renowned for its rice paddies . The Po marks
2800-542: The Apennine Bronze Age in Central and Southern Italy was the period when settlements were established both on lowland and upland areas. Hierarchy among the social groups was experienced during this period according to the evidence of the tombs. The two-tier grave found at Toppo Daguzzo is an example of elite groups growth. On the top level, nearly 10 fractured skeletons have been found without any grave objects, while at
2900-766: The Bernina Pass (2,323 m (7,621 ft)), with the latter two which are located in Swiss territory. The most important national passes are the Stelvio Pass (2,759 m (9,052 ft)) and the Tonale Pass (1,883 m (6,178 ft)), which connect Lombardy with Trentino-Alto Adige . These Alpine passes are also of great importance from a historical point of view, given that they have always allowed easy communication between Lombardy and its bordering territories. It then resulted in constant commercial traffic, which contributed to
3000-628: The Fossa Interna , also known as the Inner Ring. The urban section of the Naviglio Martesana was covered over at the beginning of the 1930s, together with the entire Inner Ring, thus sounding the death knell for the north-eastern canals. The Lombard Alpine valleys are wider than those found, again in the Alps , in Piedmont and Aosta Valley . Most of them are crossed by streams that descend towards
3100-720: The Gonzagas in Mantua. This wealth, however, attracted the now-more-organised armies of national powers such as France and Austria, which waged a lengthy battle for Lombardy in the late 15th to early 16th centuries. After the Battle of Pavia , the Duchy of Milan became a possession of the Habsburgs of Spain; the new rulers did little to improve the economy of Lombardy, instead imposing a growing series of taxes to support their lengthy series of European wars. The eastern part of modern-day Lombardy, including
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3200-759: The Italian geographical area and therefore in Liguria . Copper begins to be mined from the middle of the 4th millennium BC in Liguria with the Libiola and Monte Loreto mines dated to 3700 BC. These are the oldest copper mines in the western Mediterranean basin. The Remedello , Rinaldone and Gaudo cultures are late Neolithic cultures of Italy, traces of which are primarily found in the present-day regions of Lombardy , Tuscany , Latium and Campania . They are sometimes described as Eneolithic cultures, due to their use of primitive copper tools. Other important eneolithic cultures of
3300-466: The Kingdom of Italy , both of which were puppet states of France's First Empire , with Milan as capital and Napoleon as head of state. During this period, Lombardy regained Valtellina from Switzerland. The restoration of Austrian rule in 1815 as the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia was characterised by a struggle with the new ideals introduced by the Napoleonic era. Lombardy was then an important centre of
3400-508: The Mesolithic and Neolithic ). Cardium pottery is a Neolithic decorative style that gets its name from the imprinting of the clay with the shell of the Cardium edulis , a marine mollusk . The alternative name Impressed Ware is given by some archaeologists to define this culture, because impressions can be with sharp objects other than Cardium shell, such as a nail or comb. Impressed Ware
3500-430: The Oltrepò Pavese , formerly the southern part of the Province of Novara , to the Province of Pavia . The Alpine front of World War I crossed the eastern Lombardy Alpine side, and in the post-war period Milan was the centre of the Italian Fasces of Combat . Milan then became the Gold Medal of Military Valor for the Italian resistance movement during the Italian Civil War after its liberation from fascism during
3600-589: The Orobic Alps (3,050 m (10,010 ft)) which derive their name from the Orobii , population of Ligurian or perhaps Celtic origin, the Ortler Alps and the Adamello massif. It is followed by the Alpine foothills zone Prealps , which are followed by hills that smooth the transition from the mountain to the Po Valley , the main peaks of which are the Grigna Group (2,410 m (7,910 ft)), Resegone 1,875 m (6,152 ft), and Presolana (2,521 m (8,271 ft)). The plains of Lombardy, which are formed by alluvial deposits, can be divided into
3700-404: The Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan in 1969 and the Piazza della Loggia bombing in Brescia in 1974. In the 1980s, Milan became a symbol of the country's economic growth, and a symbol of the economic-financial rampantism of the so-called "Milano da bere" , literally "Milan to be drunk", while the Milanese socialist group of Bettino Craxi was in the national government. The city of Milan, in
3800-435: The Po Valley , forming rivers which then flow into the Po on the hydrographic left. Thanks to the width of their valleys, the Lombard Alpine passes, although they are at a high altitude, are easily accessible. The most important international passes found in the Lombard Alps and which connect the region with Switzerland are the Splügen Pass (2,118 m (6,949 ft)), the Maloja Pass (1,815 m (5,955 ft)) and
3900-402: The Prealpine zone, up to 1,500 to 2,000 mm (59.1 to 78.7 in) annually, but is also abundant in the plains and alpine zones, with an average of 600 to 850 mm (23.6 to 33.5 in) annually. Average annual rainfall is 827 mm (32.6 in). Lake Garda, thanks to its size and position, mitigates the climate of its coasts, creating a " Mediterranean " microclimate which makes
4000-450: The Roman Kingdom . Timeline of Italian history Timeline This is a timeline of Italian history , comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Italy and its predecessor states, including Ancient Rome and Prehistoric Italy . Date of the prehistoric era are approximate. For further background, see history of Italy and list of prime ministers of Italy . Lucius Sicinius Vellutus ,
4100-404: The Valcamonica depicting animals, people, and symbols were made over 8,000 years before the Iron Age , based on about 300,000 records. The many artefacts found in a necropolis near Lake Maggiore and the Ticino demonstrate the presence of the Golasecca Bronze Age culture that prospered in western Lombardy between the ninth and the 4th centuries BC. In the following centuries, Lombardy
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4200-463: The World War II , while the partisan resistance spread across the valleys and provinces. Following the historical borders, in 1948 the administrative region of Lombardy was prefigured as part of the newly formed Italian Republic . In the years of the Italian economic miracle , Milan was one of the poles of the "industrial triangle" of northern Italy formed by the cities of Turin - Milan - Genoa . The Years of Lead had wide relevance in Lombardy, with
4300-457: The proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy , Lombardy became part of the modern Italian state, except for the central-eastern part of the province of Mantua which was annexed in 1866 after the Third Italian War of Independence . Regarding the battle of Solferino, it was during this conflict that Henry Dunant took the initiative to create the Red Cross . After the annexation of Mantua, Lombardy achieved its present-day territorial shape by adding
4400-480: The 2000 BC or shortly later. The Apennine culture is a cultural complex of central and southern Italy that, in its broadest sense (including the preceding Protoapennine B and following Subapennine facies), spans the Bronze Age. In the narrower sense more commonly used today, it refers only to the later phase of the Middle Bronze Age in the 15th and 14th centuries BCE. The people of the Apennine culture were, at least in part, cattle herdsmen grazing their ungulates over
4500-416: The Alpine foothills with oceanic climate ( Köppen Cfb), numerous lakes have a mitigating influence, allowing typically Mediterranean crops (olive, citrus fruit ) to grow. In the hills and mountains, the climate is humid continental ( Köppen Dfb). In the valleys, it is relatively mild while it can be severely cold with copious snowfalls above 1,500 m (4,900 ft). Precipitation is more intense in
4600-589: The Alps are a succession of low hills of morainic origin that were formed during the Last Glacial Period and small, barely fertile plateaux with typical heaths and conifer woods. A minor mountainous area the Oltrepò Pavese lies in the Apennines range south of the Po. The navigli are a system of interconnected canals in and around Milan dating back as far as the Middle Ages. The system consists of five canals: Naviglio Grande , Naviglio Pavese , Naviglio Martesana , Naviglio di Paderno , Naviglio di Bereguardo . The first three were connected through Milan via
4700-436: The Bronze Age, and subsequently that of Ausonio (divided into two phases, I and II). Palma Campania culture takes shape at the end of the third millennium BC and is representative of the Early Bronze Age of Campania . It owes its name to the locality of Palma Campania where the first findings were made. Many villages of this culture were buried under volcanic ash after an eruption of the Mount Vesuvius that took place in
4800-403: The Lombard people and the Gallo-Roman peoples improved. The Lombard language and culture was integrated with the Latin culture, leaving evidence in many names, the legal code and laws. The Lombards became intermixed with the Roman population owing to their relatively smaller number. The end of Lombard rule came in 774, when the Frankish king Charlemagne conquered Pavia , deposed Desiderius
4900-454: The Lombard side of the river Ticino to protect one of the last major examples of fluvial forest in northern Italy. There have also been efforts to protect the endangered Italian agile frog . Parco naturale lombardo della Valle del Ticino is the first Italian regional park to be established as well as the first European river park. In 2022 the two Parks were included by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves . Other parks in
5000-431: The Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit in England on what were previously thought to be Neanderthal baby teeth, which had been unearthed in 1964 from the Grotta del Cavallo , dated teeth from between 43,000 and 45,000 years ago. In 2011 the most ancient Sardinian complete human skeleton (called Amsicora ) was discovered at Pistoccu , in Marina di Arbus ; scientists date it to 8500 years ago (the transition period between
5100-545: The Po Valley area. Lombardy is the geographic and economic centre of this area, with more than 10 million residents and the highest GRP per inhabitant of the country. Most of its major cities are located in the Po river basin, which crosses the region. The stain analysed by ESA is the main reason Po Valley air pollution levels are so high. Milan also has high levels of ozone and nitrogen oxides , which are mainly produced by cars diesel and petrol engines. According to Chicago Energy Policy Institute , which has recently developed
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#17328513742645200-473: The Po Valley suffer the most serious impact of poor air quality in Europe, primarily the metropolitan area of Milan, which is 13th in terms of fine particulate impact, with an annual premature death rate of 3,967 – approximately 9% of the total. From archaeological findings of ceramics, arrows, axes, and carved stones, the area of current-day Lombardy has been settled at least since the second millennium BC. Well-preserved rock drawings left by ancient Camuni in
5300-443: The Po river in the south with the exception of the province of Mantua and Oltrepò Pavese . The western boundary is formed by the Lake Maggiore and the Ticino river, except Lomellina . Lombardy has three natural zones; mountains, hills and plains—the last being divided into Alta (high plains) and Bassa (low plains). The surface area of Lombardy is divided almost equally between the plains (which represent approximately 47% of
5400-487: The Prealpine area include some species of saxifrage , Lombardy garlic , groundsel and bellflowers . The highlands are characterised by the typical vegetation of the Italian Alps . At and below about 1,100 m (3,600 ft), oaks or broadleaf trees grow; on the mountain slopes between 2,000 and 2,100 m (6,600 and 6,900 ft), beech trees grow at the lowest limits with conifer woods higher up. Shrubs such as rhododendron , dwarf pine and juniper are native to
5500-530: The ancient Sardinians, or part of them, could be identified with the Sherden , one of the so-called People of the Sea who attacked ancient Egypt and other regions of eastern Mediterranean. Other original elements of the Sardinian civilization include the temples known as " Holy wells ", dedicated to the cult of the holy waters , the Giants' graves , the Megaron temples, several structures for juridical and leisure functions and numerous bronze statuettes , which were discovered even in Etruscan tombs, suggesting
5600-403: The appearance of social stratification. The Latial culture ranged approximately over ancient Old Latium . The Iron Age Latial culture coincided with the arrival in the region of a people who spoke Old Latin . The culture was likely therefore to identify a phase of the socio-political self-consciousness of the Latin tribe , during the period of the kings of Alba Longa and the foundation of
5700-431: The area of modern-day Lombardy. The name Lombardy comes from Lombard , which is derived from Late Latin Longobardus, Langobardus ("a Lombard"), which derived from the Proto-Germanic elements * langaz + * bardaz ; equivalent to long beard . According to some scholars, the second element derives from Proto-Germanic *bardǭ , *barduz ("axe"), related to German Barte . The name of
5800-422: The beginning of a new culture in Northern Italy and is distinguished by the Polada culture . Polada settlements were mainly widespread in wetland locations such as around the large lakes and hills along the Alpine margin. The cities of Toppo Daguzzo and La Starza were known as the center of the Proto-Apennine stage of Palma Campania culture spread in southern Italy at this time. The Middle Bronze Age known as
5900-504: The cities Bergamo and Brescia , was controlled by the Republic of Venice , which had begun to extend its influence in the area from the 14th century onwards. Between the mid-15th century and the battle of Marignano in 1515, the northern part of east Lombardy from Airolo to Chiasso (modern Ticino ), and the Valtellina valley came under possession of the Old Swiss Confederacy . Pestilences like that of 1628–1630, which Alessandro Manzoni described in his I Promessi Sposi , and
6000-444: The cities, whose increasing wealth made them able to defy the traditional feudal supreme power that was represented by the German emperors and their local legates. This process peaked in the 12th and 13th centuries, when Lombard Leagues formed by allied cities of Lombardy, usually led by Milan, defeated the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick I , at Legnano but not his grandson Frederick II at Battle of Cortenuova . Although having
6100-412: The cultivation of olive trees and the production of olive oil possible; the so-called "Lombard oil" is also produced in other Lombard lake areas. The geological structure of Lombardy derives from the orogeny of the Alps due to the collision between the African and Eurasian plates which generated the Alpine chain from the Upper Cretaceous to the Miocene . The Po Valley , on the other hand,
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#17328513742646200-504: The culture have been described as a warrior population who had descended to Pianura Padana from the Swiss Alps passes and the Ticino. It was a culture of the end of the Bronze Age (12th-10th century BC), widespread in much of the Italian peninsula and north-eastern Sicily (including the Aeolian Islands ), characterized by the funeral ritual of incineration . The ashes of the deceased were placed into biconical urns decorated with geometric patterns. Their settlements were often located on
6300-481: The deceased's ashes were housed in bi-conical urns and buried. The burial characteristics relate the Villanovan culture to the Central European Urnfield culture (c. 1300–750 BC), and Hallstatt culture (which succeeded the Urnfield culture). The Villanovans were initially devoted to agriculture and animal husbandry, with a simplified social order. Later, specialized craftsmanship activities such as metallurgy and ceramics created an accumulation of richness, which caused
6400-426: The developed Early and Middle Bronze Age , and later expanded into Friuli , the modern Venezia Giulia , Dalmatia and the neighbouring areas. It lasted for more than a millennium, from the 15th century BC until the Roman conquest in the third century BC. It takes its name from the fortified boroughs ( Castellieri , Friulian cjastelir ) which characterized the culture. The ethnicity of the Castellieri civilization
6500-433: The development of the region. The plains have been intensively cultivated for centuries, and little of the original environment remains. The most common trees are elm , alder , sycamore , poplar , willow and hornbeam . In the area of the foothills lakes, however, olive , cypresses and larches grow, as do varieties of subtropical flora such as magnolia , azalea and acacias . Numerous species of endemic flora in
6600-455: The early 1990s, was the origin of the series of scandals known as Tangentopoli which emerged from the judicial investigations of the Milanese prosecutor's office known as Mani pulite , which then spread to the rest of the country. In early 2020, Lombardy was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic , in which Italy was one of the worst-affected countries in Europe. Several towns were quarantined from 22 February after community transmission
6700-512: The fall of Pavia on the river Ticino , in CE 774 by the Frankish Charlemagne on the Pope's behalf. As such, "Lombardy" and "Italy" were almost interchangeable; by the mid-8th century, the Lombards ruled everywhere except the Papal possessions around Rome —roughly modern Lazio and northern Umbria — Venice and some Byzantine possessions in the south—southern Apulia and Calabria ; some coastal settlements including Amalfi , Gaeta , Naples and Sorrento ; Sicily and Sardinia ; their culture
6800-423: The famous Edict of Milan that gave freedom of confession to all religions within the Roman Empire. During and after the fall of the Western Empire, Lombardy heavily suffered from destruction brought about by a series of invasions by tribal peoples. After 540, Pavia became the permanent capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom , the fixed site of the court and the royal treasury. The last and most effective invasion
6900-399: The following centuries. In the 10th century, Lombardy, although formally under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, was included in the kingdom of Italy , of which Pavia remained the capital until 1024. Starting gradually in the late-11th century, Lombardy became divided into many small, autonomous city-states, the medieval communes . Also in the 11th century, the region's economy underwent
7000-458: The following years, and Lombardy became one of the most-developed and richest areas of Italy with the construction of roads and the development of agriculture and trade. Important figures were born here, such as Pliny the Elder (in Como ) and Virgil (in Mantua). In late antiquity the strategic role of Lombardy was emphasised by the move of the capital of the Western Empire to Mediolanum (Milan). Here, in 313 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine issued
7100-399: The general decline of Italy's economy in the 17th and 18th centuries halted further development of Lombardy. In 1706 the Austrian Empire came to power, and introduced some economic and social measures that allowed a degree of recovery to occur. Austrian rule was interrupted in the late-18th century by the French; under Napoleon , Lombardy became the centre of the Cisalpine Republic and of
7200-568: The largest in the EU. Its territory is divided into 1,502 comuni (region with the largest number of comuni in the entire national territory ), distributed in twelve administrative subdivisions (eleven provinces plus the Metropolitan City of Milan ). The region ranks first in Italy in terms of population, population density and number of local authorities, while it is fourth in terms of surface area, after Sicily , Piedmont and Sardinia . It
7300-437: The last Lombard king, and annexed the Kingdom of Italy —mostly northern and central present-day Italy—to his newly established Holy Roman Empire . Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope on 25 December 800. The former Lombard dukes and nobles were replaced by other German vassals, prince-bishops and marquises. The entire northern part of the Italian peninsula continued to be called "Lombardy" and its population "Lombards" throughout
7400-709: The lower level eleven burials were found accompanied by different valuable pieces: 6 males with bronze weapons, 4 females with beads and a child. The Middle Bronze Age in Northern Italy was characterised by the Terramare culture . The Recent Bronze Age, known as the Sub-Apennine period in Central Italy , is a frame of time when sites relocated to defended locations. At this time settlement hierarchy obviously appeared in cities such as Latium and Tuscany . The Final Bronze Age
7500-488: The mainland. The Adriatic Sea began at what is now the Gargano Peninsula , and what is now its surface up to Venice was a fertile plain with a humid climate. The arrival of the first known hominins was 850,000 years ago at Monte Poggiolo . The presence of Homo neanderthalensis has been demonstrated in archaeological findings dating to c. 50,000 years ago (late Pleistocene ). There are some twenty such sites,
7600-486: The meadows and groves of mountainous central Italy, including on the Capitoline Hill at Rome , as shown by the presence of their pottery in the earliest layers of occupation. The primary picture is of a population that lived in small hamlets located in defensible places. There is evidence that herdsmen, when traveling between summer pastures, built temporary camps or lived in caves and rock shelters. However, their range
7700-565: The metallurgy of copper and bronze (axes, daggers, pins etc.). Pottery was coarse and blackish. It was followed in the Middle Bronze Age by the facies of the pile dwellings and of the dammed settlements . Located in Sardinia (with ramifications in southern Corsica ), the Nuragic civilization , who lasted from the early Bronze Age (18th century B.C.) to the second century A.D. when the island
7800-466: The mid-Bronze Age (13th century BC) until the Iron Age in the Pianura Padana , in what is now western Lombardy , eastern Piedmont and Ticino . It takes its name from the township of Canegrate where, in the 20th century, some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects were found. It represents the first migratory wave of the proto- Celtic population from the northwest part of the Alps that, through
7900-554: The military purpose as preponderant, the Lombard League also had its own stable government, considered one of the first examples of confederation in Europe. Subsequently, among the local city-states, a process of consolidation took place, and by the end of the 14th century, two signoria emerged as rival hegemons in Lombardy; Milan and Mantua . In the 15th century, the Duchy of Milan
8000-616: The most important being that of the Grotta Guattari at San Felice Circeo , on the Tyrrhenian Sea south of Rome; another is at the grotta di Fumane ( province of Verona ) and the Breuil grotto, also in San Felice. Homo sapiens sapiens appeared during the upper Palaeolithic : the earliest site in Italy dated 48,000 years ago is Riparo Mochi (Italy). In November 2011 tests conducted at
8100-526: The north of Italy. Lombardy also produces vast amounts of animal waste, a big contributor to pollution. Lombardy produces more than 40% of Italy's milk and over half of the Italian pig production is located in the Po Valley. According to research published in The Lancet Planetary Health , in January 2021, Brescia and Bergamo had the highest death rate from fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) in Europe. The data show many cities in Lombardy and
8200-535: The northwestern and southwestern coasts of Sicily, previously occupied by the Conca d'Oro culture, while in the late Bronze Age there are signs in northeastern Sicily of cultural osmosis with the people of the peninsula that led to the appearance of Proto-Villanovan culture at Milazzo , perhaps linked to the arrival of Sicels . The nearby Aeolian Islands hosted the flourishing of the Capo Graziano and Milazzo cultures in
8300-572: The pan-Western European Megalithic phenomenon. Later, in the Bronze Age, megalithic structures were built also in Latium, Puglia and Sicily. The latter region, about the end of the third millennium B.C. imported from Sardinia typical cultural aspects of Atlantic world, including the Culture of small dolmen-shaped structures that reached all over the Mediterranean basin. The Copper Age arrives very early in
8400-884: The peninsula and the islands, often related to those previously mentioned, are the Laterza culture in Apulia and Basilicata , the Abealzu-Filigosa culture in Sardinia , the Conelle-Ortucchio culture in Abruzzo and Marche , the Serraferlicchio culture in Sicily , and the Spilamberto group in Emilia-Romagna . The earliest Statue menhirs , frequently depicting weapons, were erected by
8500-468: The populations of northern Italy and Sardinia during this period. This sculptural tradition of possible steppe origin ( Yamna culture ), lasted in some regions well into the Bronze Age and even into the Iron Age. The Bell Beaker culture marks the transition between the Eneolithic and the early Bronze Age. The Italian Bronze Age is conditionally divided into four periods: The Early Bronze Age shows
8600-640: The region are the Campo dei Fiori and the Cinque Vette Park , both of which are located in the Province of Varese . The system of protected areas in Lombardy consists of one national park, 24 regional parks, 65 natural reserves and 30 natural monuments . In total, protected areas cover more than 27% of the regional territory. Lombardy has a wide array of climates due to variance in elevation, proximity to inland water basins, and large metropolitan areas. The climate
8700-667: The region derives from the name of the people of the Lombards who arrived in Italy in 568 and made Pavia their capital. During the Early Middle Ages , "Lombardy" referred to the Kingdom of the Lombards ( Latin : Regnum Langobardorum ), which was ruled by the Germanic Lombard raiders who had controlled most of early Christian Italy since their invasion of Byzantine Italy in CE 568 until
8800-710: The settlements were abandoned and the populations moved southward, where they mingled with the Apennine peoples. The influence of this population abandoning the Po valley and moving south may have formed the basis of the Tyrrhenian culture , ultimately leading to the historic Etruscans , based on a surprising level of correspondence between archeological evidence and early legends recorded by the Greeks. The Castellieri culture developed in Istria during
8900-649: The southeastern part of the island. In these cultures, in particular in the Castelluccio phase, there are obvious influences from the Aegean Sea , where the Helladic civilization was flourishing. Some small monuments date back to this phase, used as tombs and found almost everywhere, both inland and along the coasts of this region. Belonging to a western (Iberian-Sardinian) type is the Bell Beaker culture known from sites on
9000-940: The southern border of the region for about 210 km (130 mi); its major tributaries are the Ticino , which rises in the Val Bedretto in Switzerland and joins the Po near Pavia, the Olona , the Lambro , the Adda , the Oglio and the Mincio . The numerous lakes of Lombardy are all of glacial origin and are located in the northern highlands. From west to east, these are: Lake Maggiore , Lake Lugano (both shared with Switzerland), Lake Como , Lake Iseo , Lake Idro , and Lake Garda (the largest lake in Italy). South of
9100-459: The summit zone beyond 2,200 m (7,200 ft). Lombardy includes many protected areas. The most important is Stelvio National Park , established in 1935 —the fourth largest Italian natural park, with typically alpine wildlife such as red deer , roe deer , ibex , chamois , foxes, ermine and golden eagles ; and the Parco naturale lombardo della Valle del Ticino , which was instituted in 1974 on
9200-606: The territory) and the mountainous areas (which represent 41%). The remaining 12% of the region is hilly. The orography of Lombardy is characterised by three distinct belts; a northern mountainous belt constituted by the Alpine relief, a central piedmont area of mostly alluvial pebbly soils, and the Lombard section of the Padan Plain in the south of the region. The main valleys are Val Camonica , Val Trompia , Valle Sabbia , Valtellina , Val Seriana , Val Brembana , Valsassina , and Valassina . The most important mountainous area
9300-545: The top of the hills and protected by stone walls. The Luco-Meluno culture originated in the transition period between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age and occupied Trentino and part of South Tyrol . It was succeeded, in the Iron Age, by the Fritzens-Sanzeno culture . The name of this Iron Age civilization derives from a locality in the frazione Villanova of Castenaso , Città metropolitana di Bologna , in Emilia , where
9400-450: Was already Romanized, evolved during the Bonnanaro period from the preexisting megalithic cultures that built dolmens , menhirs , more than 2,400 Domus de Janas and also the imponent altar of Monte d'Accoddi . It takes its name from the characteristic Nuraghe . The nuraghe towers are unanimously considered the best-preserved and largest megalithic remains in Europe. Their effective use
9500-520: Was documented in Lombardy and Veneto the previous day. The entirety of Lombardy was placed under lockdown on 8 March, followed by all of Italy the following day, making Italy the first country to implement a nationwide lockdown in response to the epidemic, which the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic on 11 March. The lockdown was extended twice, and the region toughened restrictions on 22 March, banning outdoor exercise and
9600-600: Was inhabited by different peoples; the Etruscans founded the city of Mantua and spread the use of writing. It was seat of the Celtic Canegrate culture starting from the 13th century BC, and later of the Celtic Golasecca culture . From the 5th century BC, the area was invaded by more Celtic Gallic tribes coming from north of the Alps. These people settled in several cities including Milan and extended their rule to
9700-413: Was not confined to the hills, nor was their culture confined to herding cattle, as shown by sites like Coppa Nevigata , a well-defended and somewhat sizeable coastal site where a variety of subsistence strategies were practiced alongside advanced industries such as dye production . The Terramare was a Middle and Recent Bronze Age culture, between the 16th and the 12th centuries B.C., in the area of what
9800-462: Was one of the wealthiest states during the Renaissance . Milan and Mantua became centres of the Renaissance , whose culture with people such as Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea Mantegna , and works of art such as da Vinci's The Last Supper were highly regarded. The enterprising class of the communes extended its trade and banking activities well into northern Europe; the metonym "Lombard" designated
9900-635: Was that of the Germanic Lombards or Longobards, whose nation migrated to the region from the Carpathian basin in fear of the conquering Pannonian Avars in 568. The Lombards' long-lasting reign, with its capital in Pavia , gave the current name to the region. There was a close relationship between the Frankish , Bavarian and Lombard nobility for many centuries. After the initial struggles, relationships between
10000-422: Was the inhabited area. Some hundred Castellieri have been discovered in Istria, Friuli, and Venezia Giulia, such as that of Leme , in west-central Istria, of Elerji , near Muggia , of Monte Giove near Prosecco ( Trieste ) and San Polo, not far from Monfalcone . However, the largest castelliere was perhaps that of Nesactium , in southern Istria, not far from Pula . The Canegrate culture developed from
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