When we think about Italy, we immediately imagine a country with a history that stretches back thousands of years.
The homeland of ancient Rome, the Renaissance, and one of the most influential cultures in the world.
But there is a surprising fact that we often forget.
When the Italian state was created in 1861, Italians — in the modern sense of the word — did not truly exist yet.
Many different peoples lived on the peninsula:
Sicilians,
Neapolitans,
Tuscans,
Lombards,
Venetians,
Piedmontese.
All of them had very different traditions, mentalities, and above all, languages.
It is no coincidence that the famous Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich once described Italy as “a mere geographical expression.”
In other words, it was a territory on the map — but not yet a true nation.
One of the key figures of the Risorgimento, Massimo d’Azeglio, summed up the situation perfectly with a phrase that later became famous:
“We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians.”
A Country Without a Common Language
The linguistic situation in nineteenth-century Italy was very different from what it is today.
At the time of unification, Italy had a population of about 23 million people.
Yet fewer than half of them spoke Italian.
Most people used local dialects, often very different from one another.
In many cases, a farmer from Lombardy would have had serious difficulty understanding a farmer from Sicily.
Education levels were also extremely low.
About 78% of the population was illiterate.
This made it even harder to create a shared national culture.
If we compare this situation with Germany during the same period, the difference becomes clear.
When Germany unified in 1871, a strong sense of national identity already existed among the population.
In Italy, by contrast, the idea of a nation was mainly shared by intellectuals.
They identified with the great cultural traditions of the country —
the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, and the broader legacy of the Renaissance.
But for the majority of the population, this national identity still felt very distant.
How the Italian State Was Created
The unification of Italy was not only the result of patriotic ideals.
It was also the outcome of a series of political and military events.
The process was led mainly by the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, which gradually extended its control over much of the peninsula.
The annexations were later confirmed through plebiscites.
However, popular support was not primarily driven by strong national feelings.
Many people saw unification as a way to free themselves from foreign domination.
In northern Italy, the Austrian Empire held power.
In the center, there was the Papal State.
In the south, the Bourbon dynasty ruled.
In many regions, people hoped that unification would bring political and social reforms.
When those expectations were not fully met, the newly formed Italian state faced several moments of instability.
The Birth of a True Nation
A stronger sense of national identity developed slowly in the decades that followed.
Two factors played a particularly important role.
The first was the introduction of compulsory elementary education.
Thanks to schooling, millions of people learned how to read and write.
And most importantly, they learned the Italian language.
The second factor was mandatory military service.
Young men from different regions of the country were brought together in the army.
For many of them, it was the first time they had ever met people from other parts of Italy.
Another decisive moment came during World War I.
Soldiers from all across the peninsula fought together in the trenches.
In particular, the dramatic defeat at Caporetto in 1917 became a national shock that helped strengthen the sense of unity.
A Country Still Very Diverse
Despite all this, Italy remains a very diverse country even today.
There are moments when national unity becomes very visible.
For example, when the Italian national team wins the World Cup.
During those moments, Italian flags fill streets and public squares across the entire country.
But in everyday life, regional differences remain strong.
Northern Italy is generally richer and more industrialized than the south.
And many Italians still identify first with their region or city.
Sicilians.
Romans.
Venetians.
Lombards.
And only second as Italians.
A Peninsula of Many Peoples
This diversity is not only the result of modern history.
The Italian peninsula has always been a meeting place of different peoples.
Before the rise of Rome, several populations lived there:
the Italic tribes,
the Etruscans,
the Celts,
the Greeks,
the Illyrians.
Later, Germanic peoples also arrived, including the Goths, Lombards, and Franks.
In southern Italy, Greek influence was so strong that the region became known as Magna Graecia.
Over the centuries, all these peoples mixed together, contributing to the complex identity of the peninsula.
The Mystery of the Etruscans
Among all these populations, one of the most fascinating is the Etruscans.
Between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE, they were one of the most advanced civilizations in ancient Italy.
They were skilled craftsmen, great builders, and refined artists.
However, their origin is still debated today.
Some scholars believe the Etruscans came from Anatolia, in present-day Turkey.
Others believe they developed directly within the Italian peninsula.
One of the most mysterious aspects of their culture is their language.
Unlike the surrounding languages, Etruscan was not part of the Indo-European family.
And even today it has not been fully deciphered.
The Unique Case of Sardinia
Another interesting case is Sardinia.
From a genetic point of view, Sardinians are somewhat different from other Italians.
This is mainly due to the island’s geographic isolation.
Many inhabitants still carry genetic traces of the first farmers who arrived in Europe about 8,000 years ago.
Sardinia is also famous for another remarkable phenomenon.
It is one of the regions in the world with the highest concentration of centenarians.
On average, about 31 people per 100,000 inhabitants live to be over one hundred years old.
And even more surprisingly, men live almost as long as women.
Conclusion
So, are modern Italians really descendants of the ancient Romans?
The answer is complex.
Rome certainly left a profound mark on the history and culture of the peninsula.
But the modern Italian population is the result of a long history of encounters, migrations, and mixing between many different peoples.
And it is precisely this extraordinary diversity that has contributed to the cultural richness of Italy.
Perhaps it is also what makes this country so fascinating.
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