Antiquity and Early Middle Ages shown in blue In pre-Roman centuries it was inhabited by different peoples among whom the
Ligures, the ancient
Veneti, who prospered through their trade in amber and breeding of horses, the
Etruscans, attested in northern Italy at least since the early
Iron Age during the
Villanova period, founded the city of
Bologna and spread the use of writing; later, starting from the 5th century BC, the area was invaded by
Celtic – Gallic tribes. These people founded several cities like
Turin and
Milan and extended their rule from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea. Their development was halted by the
Roman expansion in the Po Valley from the 3rd century BC onwards. After centuries of struggle, probably officially around 81 BC, the entire area of what is now northern Italy became a Roman province with the name of
Gallia Cisalpina ("Gaul on the inner side (with respect to Rome) of the Alps"). In 49 BC, with the
Lex Roscia,
Julius Caesar granted to the populations of the province full Roman citizenship. The
Rubicon River marked its southern boundary with
Italia proper. By crossing this river in 49 BC with his loyal
XIII Legion, returning from the conquest of
Gaul, Julius Caesar precipitated the civil war within the Roman Republic which led, eventually, to the establishment of the
Roman Empire. To this day the term "crossing the Rubicon" means, figuratively, "reaching the point of no return". In late antiquity, the strategic role of northern Italy was emphasized by the moving of the capital of the Western Empire from Rome to
Mediolanum in 286 and later to
Ravenna from 402 until the
empire collapsed in 476. towards northern Italy After the fall of the
Western Empire, northern Italy suffered heavily from destruction brought about by
migration from Germanic peoples. In 493 the
Ostrogoths managed to create a stable and prosperous
kingdom, with its capital first in
Ravenna and then in
Pavia, but the
Gothic War caused the kingdom to fall and devastated the region. In the 570s the Germanic
Lombards, or Longobardi, entered northern Italy from
Friuli and founded a
long-lasting reign (with its capital in
Pavia) that gave the medieval name to the whole northern Italy and the current name to the Lombardy region. After the initial struggles, relationships between the Lombard people and the Latin-speaking people improved. In the end, the Lombard language and culture assimilated with the Latin culture, leaving evidence in many names, the legal code and laws, and other things. The end of Lombard rule came in 774, when the
Frankish king
Charlemagne conquered Pavia, deposed
Desiderius, the last Lombard king, and annexed the Lombard Kingdom to his empire changing the name in
Kingdom of Italy. The former
Lombard dukes were mostly replaced by Frankish counts, prince-bishops or marquises.
High Middle Ages and Renaissance in northern Italy, founded in 1088, is the
world's oldest university in continuous operation. In the 10th century, north Italy, 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, however, gradually, starting from the last decades of the 11th century was in fact divided in a multiplicity of small, autonomous city-states, the
medieval communes and
maritime republic. The 11th century marked a significant boom in northern Italy's economy, due to improved trading and agricultural innovations, culture flourished as well with many universities founded, among them the
University of Bologna, the
world's oldest university in continuous operation. during the
battle of Legnano (1176) by
Amos Cassioli (1832–1891) The increasing richness of the city-states made them able to defy the traditional feudal supreme power, represented by the German emperors and their local vassals. This process led to the creation of different
Lombard Leagues formed by allied cities of Lombardy that defeated the Hohenstaufen Emperor
Frederick I, at
Legnano, and his grandson
Frederick II, at
Parma, and becoming virtually independent from the German emperors. Although having the military purpose as preponderant, the Lombard League also had its own stable government, considered one of the first examples of
confederation in Europe. The Leagues failed to develop from an alliance to a lasting confederation and subsequently, among the various local city-states, a process of consolidation took place; most of them became lordships ruled by powerful families like the
Della Scala of
Verona or the
Visconti of Milan, and conquered neighbouring cities threatening to unify northern Italy into one kingdom, a revived Lombard empire. In the end, a balance of power was reached in 1454 with the
Peace of Lodi and northern Italy ended up divided between a small number of regional states, the most powerful were the Duchies of
Savoy,
Milan,
Mantua,
Ferrara and the Republics of
Genoa and
Venice, which had begun to extend its influence in the mainland from the 14th century onwards. , where almost all the
kings of Italy were crowned up to
Frederick Barbarossa In the 15th century, northern Italy became one of the centres of the
Renaissance whose culture and works of art were highly regarded. The enterprising class of the communes extended its trade and banking activities well into northern Europe and "
Lombards", the term that designated the merchants or bankers coming from northern Italy, were present in all of Europe. The
Italian Wars between 1494 and 1559 ended the north Italian Renaissance and brought the region to be fought between
France and the Spanish and Austrian
House of Habsburg. After the decisive
Battle of Pavia, most of present-day Lombardy became under the direct or indirect control of
Spain. At the same time
Ottoman control of the eastern Mediterranean and the
discoveries of sea routes to Asia around Africa and the Americas led to the decline of the Venetian Republic. While the Republic of Genoa managed to become the main banking base of the Spanish Empire. Pestilences, like that of
1628/1630, and the generally declining conditions of Italy's economy in the 17th and 18th centuries halted the further development of northern Italy. The only polity that managed to thrive in this period was the Savoy's state which, thanks to military and diplomatic victories in 1720, managed to acquire the island of
Sardinia, through which the then Dukes gained legitimacy as a
proper Kingdom and increased Turin's importance as a European capital.
Modern history , for centuries a symbol of the
Kings of Italy After the
French Revolution in the late 18th century northern Italy was conquered by the French armies, many client republics were created by
Napoleon and in 1805 a new
Kingdom of Italy, made of all of northern Italy but
Piedmont that was annexed to
France, was established with Milan as capital and Napoleon as head of state. In the
congress of Vienna, the
Kingdom of Sardinia was restored, and furthermore enlarged by annexing the
Republic of Genoa, contravening the principle of restoring the legitimate governments and monarchies of the old Republic. The rest of northern Italy was under
Austrian rule, either direct like in the
Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom or indirect like in the Duchies of
Parma and
Modena.
Bologna and Romagna were given to the
Papal State. The Austrian imperial government was unpopular because of their anti-liberal politics and northern Italy became the intellectual centre leading the
Italian unification process. Piedmont and the Kingdom of Sardinia, in particular, was the state that launched Italy's unification in 1859–1861. After
defeating the Austrians in 1859 and annexing northern Italy the new state proceeded to launch a campaign to
conquer southern and central Italy and
Turin briefly became the capital of the almost
whole of Italy. in Milan during the
liberation of Italy, April 1945 After Italian unification the capital was moved from Turin to
Rome and the administrative and institutional importance of northern Italy was substantially reduced. However, from the late 19th century and especially with the
economic boom of the 1950s–1960s, northern Italy and especially the cities of Turin, Genoa, and Milan was the most important region in the
Italian industrialization and sharpened its status of richest and most industrialized part of Italy. During
World War I Italian and
Austro-Hungarian fought in brutal
Mountain warfare between 1915 and 1918 on the
Italian front where many large battles such as the
Battles of the Isonzo and the
Battle of Monte Grappa took place. Italy would be victorious over
Austria-Hungary but at a high price. Between 1943 and 1945, during the
Second World War, northern Italy was part of the
Fascist Italian Social Republic and the main theatre of the
anti-fascist partisan activity. Between April 19 and 25, 1945 the cities of northern Italy began an
insurrection against Fascist and Nazi forces that led to the liberation of northern Italy by Allied forces.
Economic differences between northern Italy and the rest of the country, as well as the short history of Italy as a single nation, led in the 1990s to the emergence of
Padanian nationalism, as
Lega Nord promoted either
secession or larger
autonomy for Padania, the name chosen to represent northern Italy. ==Geography==