Description
Book SynopsisFrom the earliest times, successive waves of foreign invaders have left their mark on Italy. Beginning with Germanic invasions that undermined the Roman Empire and culminating with the establishment of the modern nation, Girolamo Arnaldi explores the dynamic exchange between outsider and “native.”
Trade Review[Arnaldi's] interests stretch from the sack of Rome by Alaric to the American liberation of Italy in World War II...This elegant volume is an opportunity to consider the broad sweeps of history, illustrated through selected examples...It in some ways accomplishes more than the author claims, by making clear the central issues of Italian identity over centuries, and illustrating the shifting nature of how Italians have viewed themselves. A reader will be enriched by understanding the central flow of events that Arnaldi presents in their broadest context. -- John Lewis * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Arnaldi's book is a little gem, informative and fair on the historical vicissitudes of the peninsula. -- Antonio Santosuosso * International History Review *
Table of ContentsPreface 1. From the Sack of Rome to Odoacer, "King of the Nations" 2. Ostrogoths, Romans of Italy and Romans of the East 3. The Longobards in War and Peace and the Origins of the Temporal Dominion of the Popes and of Venice 4. In the Empire of Charlemagne and within the Shelter of the City Walls 5. Germans at Legnano, Normans in Southern Italy and Sicily 6. The Meteor Frederick II and the Bitter "Chickpeas" of the French in Sicily 7. The Chalk of Charles VIII and the Lance of Fieramosca 8. Milan and Naples in the Castilian Empire 9. The Austrians and the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom 10. A Pseudoconquest and a True Liberation Notes Index
