Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary legislative republic in Europe. Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and has a mostly warm environment; due to its form, it is typically referred to in Italy as lo Stivale (the Boot).
Since ancient times, Etruscan, Magna Graecia and also other societies have flourished in the territory of present-day Italy, being eventually soaked up by Rome, that has for centuries stayed the leading political but spiritual centre of Western civilisation, resources of the Roman Empire and Christianity. Throughout the Dark Ages, the Italian Peninsula encountered disastrous intrusions by barbarian tribes, but beginning around the 11th century, countless Italian city-states rose to great prosperity via shipping, commerce as well as banking (indeed, modern capitalism has its roots in Medieval Italy). Specifically throughout The Renaissance, Italian culture thrived, generating scholars, polymaths, as well as artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. Italian travelers such as Polo, Columbus, Vespucci, but Verrazzano uncovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery. Italy would continue to be fragmented right into many warring states for the rest of the Middle Ages, subsequently falling victim to larger European powers such as France, Spain, but later Austria. Italy would thus enter an extended period of decline that lasted until the mid 19th century.
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