History UsefulNotes / RepublicanItaly

After the Cold War ended (and thus the United States' interest in keeping left-wingers out of power vanished), the nepotism- and corruption-laden political system, dubbed '''Tangentopoli''' (Italian for "Bribeville") was exposed by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite ''Clean Hands'']] investigations of '''1992'''. These involved a big part of the Senate and House and caused the [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp collapse of the old dominant parties]] except the Italian Republican Party (the only party that survived and kept its name to this day), the Communists, who changed their name to the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) for other reasons (chiefly the fact that "Communism" [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp had become passé]], though this wasn't as apparent to the [[WeAREStrugglingTogether minority of members who instead created the considerably less popular Communist Refoundation Party, which in turn spawned the splinter Party of Italian Communists]]) and the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, who also changed their name to National Alliance (also because fascism was passé, and because it wanted to get rid of its fascist heritage, although just like with the communists there were those who did not agree, such as Pino Rauti's Tricolour Flame), the emergence of new parties in their stead, the adoption of a mixed member proportional representation electoral system after the 1993 referendum, and generally had such a large impact that the period afterwards is called the "Second Republic".

The elections of 2013 ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' ([=M5S=]) asserted itself while the two traditional parties ('''PD''' and '''PDL''') lost thousands of votes; the PDL itself, following the conviction of Silvio Berlusconi (who was then kicked out of Parliament), was dissolved and another party -- the "new" '''Forza Italia''' -- took its place. Mr. B's ex number two (Angelino Alfano) broke up with his master and founded the '''Nuovo Centrodestra''' (NCD), while members of the far-right wing of the PDL formed '''Fratelli d'Italia''' ([=FdI=]; the name comes from the first words of the Italian national anthem). The Northern League nearly collapsed after a series of scandals involving [[NoodleImplements its founder, his quasi-illiterate son and a fake [=PhD=]]], although they've since recovered thanks to a new, media-savvy secretary and the discontent over the immigrant crisis, to which Italy is strongly subject. The clusterfuck election also led to the Parliament failing to vote in a new President, so Giorgio Napolitano, who had just served a seven-year term, offered himself as a candidate again and was reelected overwhelmingly. '''Enrico Letta''' (PD) was appointed PM on April 2013 but resigned after less than a year. His successor '''Matteo Renzi''' (PD) enjoyed high popularity earlier on but, due to some unpopular policies and strong opposition even from inside his own party, it went down and he ultimately resigned in December 2016, following the defeat at a referendum on which he bet everything. '''Paolo Gentiloni''' (PD) was sworn in immediately after; the majority in the parliament hadn't changed however, so much that more than half of the previous government's ministers were reconfirmed or shifted to other positions by Gentiloni.

* ''Film/{{Inferno}}''

Despite the continued health emergency and political instability, 2021 also brought some unexpected but much-needed levity for Italian people in international sport and entertainment arenas. Over the span of a few months, the nation won both the Series/EurovisionSongContest and the UsefulNotes/EuropeanChampionship, being the first time ever that a country won both competitions in a single calendar year, as well as a top 10 placement in the 2020 Tokyo UsefulNotes/OlympicGames medal table, including the coveted gold medal in the men's 100m run, setting a new national record at 38 medals total. Of course, one side of the Italian population was quick to (somehow) attribute these successes in their entirety to PM Draghi, while the most cynical ones complained that they're just "bread and circuses" distracting from the more serious social and economical failures.

The elections of 2013 ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' ([=M5S=]) asserted itself while the two traditional parties ('''PD''' and '''PDL''') lost thousands of votes; the PDL itself, following the conviction of Silvio Berlusconi (who was then kicked out of Parliament), was dissolved and another party -- the "new" '''Forza Italia''' -- took its place. Mr. B's ex number two (Angelino Alfano) broke up with his master and founded the '''Nuovo Centrodestra''' (NCD), while members of the far-right wing of the PDL formed '''Fratelli d'Italia''' (FdI; the name comes from the first words of the Italian national anthem). The Northern League nearly collapsed after a series of scandals involving [[NoodleImplements its founder, his quasi-illiterate son and a fake [=PhD=]]], although they've since recovered thanks to a new, media-savvy secretary and the discontent over the immigrant crisis, to which Italy is strongly subject. The clusterfuck election also led to the Parliament failing to vote in a new President, so Giorgio Napolitano, who had just served a seven-year term, offered himself as a candidate again and was reelected overwhelmingly. '''Enrico Letta''' (PD) was appointed PM on April 2013 but resigned after less than a year. His successor '''Matteo Renzi''' (PD) enjoyed high popularity earlier on but, due to some unpopular policies and strong opposition even from inside his own party, it went down and he ultimately resigned in December 2016, following the defeat at a referendum on which he bet everything. '''Paolo Gentiloni''' (PD) was sworn in immediately after; the majority in the parliament hadn't changed however, so much that more than half of the previous government's ministers were reconfirmed or shifted to other positions by Gentiloni.

Italy was struck by one of the first and worst outbreaks of the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic in the West, also becoming one of the first countries to go into a full lockdown. Conte enjoyed great popularity during those difficult months. A referendum strongly wanted by the Five Stars to reduce the number of members of the Parliament was also successful. However as the second wave of the pandemic struck in late 2020, discontent over the management of the situation increased along with internal struggle within the government which ultimately led to Italia Viva withdrawing its support in January 2021. Conte decided to resign and, while the main parties of the coalition insisted on wanting to form a third government with him, not enough members of the opposition open to support a new majority were found. The President decided to appoint as PM '''Mario Draghi''', the independent former president of the Bank of Italy and the European Central Bank, in order to create a technocratic government to manage the continued health emergency and the so-called "recovery fund" (a bunch of financial aids granted by the European Union to fix the economical and social damages caused by the pandemic and the lockdown). This move paid off as Forza Italia and even the League gave their support, as did Italia Viva, leading to the formation of a large coalition government.

The elections of 2013 ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' (M5S) asserted itself while the two traditional parties ('''PD''' and '''PDL''') lost thousands of votes; the PDL itself, following the conviction of Silvio Berlusconi (who was then kicked out of Parliament), was dissolved and another party -- the "new" '''Forza Italia''' -- took its place. Mr. B's ex number two (Angelino Alfano) broke up with his master and founded the '''Nuovo Centrodestra''' (NCD), while members of the far-right wing of the PDL formed '''Fratelli d'Italia''' (FdI; the name comes from the first words of the Italian national anthem). The Northern League nearly collapsed after a series of scandals involving [[NoodleImplements its founder, his quasi-illiterate son and a fake [=PhD=]]], although they've since recovered thanks to a new, media-savvy secretary and the discontent over the immigrant crisis, to which Italy is strongly subject. The clusterfuck election also led to the Parliament failing to vote in a new President, so Giorgio Napolitano, who had just served a seven-year term, offered himself as a candidate again and was reelected overwhelmingly. '''Enrico Letta''' (PD) was appointed PM on April 2013 but resigned after less than a year. His successor '''Matteo Renzi''' (PD) enjoyed high popularity earlier on but, due to some unpopular policies and strong opposition even from inside his own party, it went down and he ultimately resigned in December 2016, following the defeat at a referendum on which he bet everything. '''Paolo Gentiloni''' (PD) was sworn in immediately after; the majority in the parliament hadn't changed however, so much that more than half of the previous government's ministers were reconfirmed or shifted to other positions by Gentiloni.

The February 2018 general election saw a triumph for the Five Stars, a strong affirmation of the League, which removed the "Northern" from its name to (successfully) extend its appeal as a populist/sovereignist party on a national level, and an historical defeat for the PD. However as PD and League got almost equal votes and seats in the Parliament, it caused a stall regarding the formation of a government and it took May for the Five Stars and League to agree to forming a majority; '''Giuseppe Conte''', a lawyer and university teacher with sympathies for the M5S and no previous political experience, was sworn in. The following months saw the approval rating of the M5S rapidly going down as their inexperience became evident now that they could govern, while League leader Matteo Salvini, also appointed Interior Minister, took advantage by using his position to forward his party and political agenda. In August 2019 Salvini, wanting to bank on his rising popularity, decided to retire the League's support to the government, expecting elections to follow. In a surprise move, the PD offered themselves to help form a new majority despite years of previous enmity (the Five Stars' communication machine mostly targeted and demonized them). A second government, with Conte at the helm again, was sworn in and the League found themselves at the opposition. Around the same time Matteo Renzi and some of his followers broke off from PD and formed a new party called '''Italia Viva''' (IV), although they still supported Conte's government.

Just a few months later, Italy was struck by one of the first and worst outbreaks of the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic in the West, also becoming one of the first countries to go into a full lockdown. Conte enjoyed great popularity during those difficult months. A referendum strongly wanted by the Five Stars to reduce the number of members of the Parliament was also successful. However, as the second wave of the pandemic struck in late 2020, discontent over the management of the situation increased, along with internal struggle within the government which ultimately led to Italia Viva withdrawing its support in January 2021. Conte decided to resign and, while the main parties of the coalition insisted on wanting to form a third government with him, not enough members of the opposition open to support a new majority were found. The President decided to appoint as PM '''Mario Draghi''', the independent former president of the Bank of Italy and the European Central Bank, in order to create a technocratic government to manage the continued health emergency and the so-called "recovery fund" (a bunch of financial aids granted by the European Union to fix the economical and social damages caused by the pandemic and the lockdown). This move paid off as Forza Italia and even the League gave their support, as did Italia Viva, leading to the formation of a large coalition government.

The elections of 2013 ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' (M5S) asserted itself while the two traditional parties ('''PD''' and '''PDL''') lost thousands of votes; the PDL itself, following the conviction of Silvio Berlusconi (who was then kicked out of Parliament), was dissolved and another party -- the "new" '''Forza Italia''' -- took its place. Mr. B's ex number two (Angelino Alfano) broke up with his master and founded the '''Nuovo Centrodestra''' (NCD). The Northern League nearly collapsed after a series of scandals involving [[NoodleImplements its founder, his quasi-illiterate son and a fake [=PhD=]]], although they've since recovered thanks to a new, media-savvy secretary and the discontent over the immigrant crisis, to which Italy is strongly subject. The clusterfuck election also led to the Parliament failing to vote in a new President, so Giorgio Napolitano, who had just served a seven-year term, offered himself as a candidate again and was reelected overwhelmingly. '''Enrico Letta''' (PD) was appointed PM on April 2013 but resigned after less than a year. His successor '''Matteo Renzi''' (PD) enjoyed high popularity earlier on but, due to some unpopular policies and strong opposition even from inside his own party, it went down and he ultimately resigned in December 2016, following the defeat at a referendum on which he bet everything. '''Paolo Gentiloni''' (PD) was sworn in immediately after; the majority in the parliament hadn't changed however, so much that more than half of the previous government's ministers were reconfirmed or shifted to other positions by Gentiloni.

Just a few months later, Italy was struck by one of the first and worst outbreaks of the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic in the West, also becoming one of the first countries to go into a full lockdown. Conte enjoyed great popularity during those difficult months. A referendum strongly wanted by the Five Stars to reduce the number of members of the Parliament was also successful. However, as the second wave of the pandemic struck in late 2020, discontent over the management of the situation increased, along with internal struggle within the government which ultimately led to Italia Viva withdrawing its support in January 2021. Conte decided to resign and, while the main parties of the coalition insisted on wanting to form a third government with him, not enough members of the opposition open to support a new majority were found. The President decided to appoint as PM '''Mario Draghi''', the independent former president of the Bank of Italy and the European Central Bank, in order to create a technocratic government to manage the continued health emergency and the so-called "recovery fund" (a bunch of financial aids granted by the European Union to fix the economical and social damages caused by the pandemic and the lockdown).

Berlusconi was reelected in 2001 along with the ''Northern League'' and became the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister by making it through a five-year term without being backstabbed by his coalition, but was defeated fairly narrowly in the 2006 elections and replaced, again, by Romano Prodi. Prodi proceeded to ignore the abovementioned moral and form an ''eight''-party coalition government, which predictably imploded quickly. In 2008, Berlusconi became Prime Minister again despite numerous controversies and gaffes, which leads one to wonder why (and how the hell) it happened; In 2011 he referred to Italy as "this shitty country" and people were not happy (even moreso than usual). He [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing resigned on November 14, 2011]] in favour of independent '''Mario Monti''', who chaired a transitional government tasked with implementing urgently-needed reforms to stave off a debt crisis. Then, he announced that he would run in the new elections after Monti's government '''collapsed''' due to a vote of no confidence on '''December 21, 2012'''. Despite the short-lived governments and Monti's footnote to history, the Second Republic was characterised by an alternance at power of the two main parties (Berlusconi's "Forza Italia" -- which was later renamed the "People of Liberty" -- and the various left-wing coalitions, which were merged in 2008 into the [Italian] "Democratic Party"), making it automatically an improvement over the First Republic.

The elections of 2013 ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' asserted itself while the two traditional parties ('''PD''' and '''PDL''') lost thousands of votes; the PDL itself, following the conviction of Silvio Berlusconi (who was then kicked out of Parliament), was dissolved and another party -- the "new" '''Forza Italia''' -- took its place. Mr. B's ex number two (Angelino Alfano) broke up with his master and founded the '''Nuovo Centrodestra'''. The Northern League nearly collapsed after a series of scandals involving [[NoodleImplements its founder, his quasi-illiterate son and a fake [=PhD=]]], although they've since recovered thanks to a new, media-savvy secretary and the discontent over the immigrant crisis, to which Italy is strongly subject. The clusterfuck election also led to the Parliament failing to vote in a new President, so Giorgio Napolitano, who had just served a seven-year term, offered himself as a candidate again and was reelected overwhelmingly. '''Enrico Letta''' (PD) was appointed PM on April 2013 but resigned after less than a year. His successor '''Matteo Renzi''' (PD) enjoyed high popularity earlier on but, due to some unpopular policies and strong opposition even from inside his own party, it went down and he ultimately resigned in December 2016, following the defeat at a referendum on which he bet everything. '''Paolo Gentiloni''' (PD) was sworn in immediately after; the majority in the parliament hadn't changed however, so much that more than half of the previous government's ministers were reconfirmed or shifted to other positions by Gentiloni.

The February 2018 general election saw a triumph for the Five Stars, a strong affirmation of the League, which removed the "Northern" from its name to (succesfully) extend its appeal as a populist/sovereignist party on a national level, and an historical defeat for the PD. However as PD and League got almost equal votes and seats in the Parliament, it caused a stall regarding the formation of a government and it took May for the Five Stars and League to agree to forming a majority; '''Giuseppe Conte''', a lawyer and university teacher with sympathies for the FS and no previous political experience, was sworn in. The following months saw the approval rating of the FS rapidly going down as their inexperience became evident now that they could govern, while League leader Matteo Salvini, also appointed Interior Minister, took advantage by using his position to forward his party and political agenda. In August 2019 Salvini, wanting to bank on his rising popularity, decided to retire the League's support to the government, expecting elections to follow. In a surprise move, the PD offered themselves to help form a new majority despite years of previous enmity (the Five Stars' communication machine mostly targeted and demonized them). A second government, with Conte at the helm again, was sworn in and the League found themselves at the opposition. Around the same time Matteo Renzi and some of his followers broke off from PD and formed a new party called '''Italia Viva''', although they still supported Conte's government.

Just a few months later, Italy was struck by one of the first and worst outbreaks of the Covid-19 pandemic in the West, also becoming one of the first countries to go into a full lockdown. Conte enjoyed great popularity during those difficult months. A referendum strongly wanted by the Five Stars to reduce the number of members of the Parliament was also successful. However as the second wave of the pandemic struck, discontent over the management of the situation increased, along with internal struggle within the government which ultimately led to Italia Viva withdrawing its support in January 2021. Conte decided to resign and, while the main parties of the coalition insist on wanting to form a third government with him, the need to find some members of the opposition open to support a new majority may not ensure he stays.

The elections of 2013 ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' asserted itself while the two traditional parties ('''PD''' and '''PDL''') lost thousands of votes; the PDL itself, following the conviction of Silvio Berlusconi (who was then kicked out of Parliament), was dissolved and another party -- the "new" '''Forza Italia''' -- took its place. Mr. B's ex number two (Angelino Alfano) broke up with his master and founded the '''Nuovo Centrodestra'''. The Northern League nearly collapsed after a series of scandals involving [[NoodleImplements its founder, his quasi-illiterate son and a fake [=PhD=]]], although they've since recovered thanks to a new, media-savvy secretary and the discontent over the immigrant crisis, to which Italy is strongly subject. The clusterfuck election also led to the Parliament failing to vote in a new President, so Giorgio Napolitano, who had just served a seven-year term, offered himself as a candidate again and was reelected overwhelmingly. '''Enrico Letta''' (PD) was appointed PM on April 2013 but resigned the following year. His successor Matteo Renzi (PD) enjoyed high popularity earlier on but, due to some unpopular policies and strong opposition even from inside his own party, it went down and he ultimately resigned in December 2016, following the defeat at a referendum on which he bet everything. Paolo Gentiloni was sworn in immediately; the majority in the parliament hadn't changed however, so much that more than half of the previous government's ministers were reconfirmed or shifted to other positions by Gentiloni.

The February 2018 general election saw a triumph for the Five Stars, a strong affirmation of the League, which removed the "Northern" from its name to (succesfully) extend its appeal as a populist/sovereignist party on a national level, and an historical defeat for the PD. However as PD and League got almost equal votes and seats in the Parliament, it caused a stall regarding the formation of a government and it took May for the Five Stars and League to form a majority; Giuseppe Conte, a lawyer and university teacher with sympathies for the FS and no previous political experience, was sworn in. The following months saw the approval rating of the FS rapidly going down as their inexperience became evident now that they could govern, while League leader Matteo Salvini, also appointed Interior Minister, took advantage by using his position to forward his party and political agenda. In August 2019 Salvini, wanting to bank off his rising popularity, decided to retire the League's support to the government but in a surprise move, the PD offered themselves to help form a new majority despite years of previous enmity (the Five Stars' communication machine mostly targeted and demonized them). A second government, with Conte at the helm again, was sworn in and the League found themselves at the opposition. Around the same time former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and some of his followers broke off from PD and formed a new party called Italia Viva, although they still supported Conte's government.

And the crisis is only making things worse.

The elections of 2013 ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' asserted itself while the two traditional parties ('''PD''' and '''PDL''') lost thousands of votes; the PDL itself, following the conviction of Silvio Berlusconi (who was then kicked out of Parliament), was dissolved and another party -- the "new" '''Forza Italia''' -- took its place. Mr. B's ex number two (Angelino Alfano) broke up with his master and founded the '''Nuovo Centrodestra'''. The Northern League nearly collapsed after a series of scandals involving [[NoodleImplements its founder, his quasi-illiterate son and a fake [=PhD=]]], although they've since recovered thanks to a new, media-savvy secretary and the discontent over the immigrant crisis, to which Italy is strongly subject. The clusterfuck election also led to the Parliament failing to vote in a new President, so Giorgio Napolitano, who had just served a seven-year term, offered himself as a candidate again and was reelected overwhelmingly. '''Enrico Letta''' (PD) was appointed PM on 28 April 2013 but resigned the following year.

The current Prime Minister is '''Paolo Gentiloni''' (PD), who was sworn in on '''December 11th 2016''' after the resignation of his predecessor Matteo Renzi, following the defeat at a referendum on which Renzi bet everything; the majority in the parliament hasn't changed however, so much that more than half of the previous government's ministers have been reconfirmed or shifted to other positions by Gentiloni.

The current President is '''Sergio Mattarella''', who was elected by the Parliament on '''31 January 2015''' after his predecessor Napolitano decided to resign after serving less than two years of his second term. Unlike last time, the election went very smoothly: after many discussions between the parties, most of the members of the parliamentary majority left a blank ballot during the first three votings -- which require a majority of two thirds rather than half plus one. Mattarella was then elected at the fourth voting, and with almost two thirds of the total votes anyway.

* ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' (the modern-day strips)

The old King - in the (admittedly, vain) hope to restore the Royal Family's reputation - abdicated in favour his eldest son, prince Umberto, who was crowned on '''9 May 1946''' as '''Umberto II''' and remained King of Italy for just over a month, which is why he was nicknamed ''il Re di Maggio'' ("the King of May"). During his incredibly short reign, he had to defuse the various sources of tension within the country which could have led to another unnecessary bloodbath; at that time, some Sicilian factions were pushing for independence (thus threatening the unity and the stability of the whole nation), while the Yugoslavians wanted to annex much of North-Eastern Italy. However, he - showing the good sense his father lacked - promptly granted Sicily fiscal and political autonomy, making the indepentist campaigners run out of steam; sent fresh troops to the border and called for a referendum which would hopefully strengthen his position.

Italy had already signed an Armistice with the Allies in 1943, which would later lay the foundation for the Peace Treaty. In brief - Italy was, by virtue of the Treaty, obliged to disband a good part of the Navy (most of its vessels were ceded to the Allied powers) [[note]] one of these - the Italian battleship ''Giulio Cesare'' - was ceded to the Soviets who, in 1955, lost it in a mysterious incident; that ship is said to have been sunk by disgruntled members of her former crew with the blessing of the Italian government and NATO.[[/note]] and the country was not allowed to deploy the Army (which was reduced in size) outside its borders; minorities had their status recognised. Finally, Italy had to pay hefty economic reparations and was forced to relinquish all its overseas possessions along with parts of its North-Eastern territory, as following:

In '''1954''', the city of Trieste - after a series of lenghty negotiations involving the United States, Britain and Yugoslavia - was finally reunited with Italy; '''television''' was introduced and the national broadcasting company, ''RAI'', created. However, Italy had all the stability of a BananaRepublic, the premiership changed hands more than 40 times in 50 years and endured short-lived governments (average shelf life: around 11 months; shortest: ''21 days''[[note]]That'd be Amintore Fanfani's first government, between 18 January and 10 February 1954 - it lost a vote of confidence[[/note]]). The main reason for this was that the important parties ended up playing a game of dividing important posts in government and important state conglomerates between themselves on purely strategic considerations as opposed to, say, competence - a practice called, for the cabinet, ''Manuale Cencelli'' from a popular guest manual of the 1950s; state conglomerates were subject to ''lottizzazione'', that is, were split between parties. These methods led to the situation of party chairmen actually being more powerful than Presidents or Prime Ministers, a fact illustrated by the way Prime Minister Mario Scelba was forced to resign in 1955 by his inner party rivals instead of parliamentary reasons.

which established the ''European Economic Community'' - the ancestor of UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion.

From the late 50s to the mid-60s, Italy enjoyed a period of unprecedented '''economic growth''' and '''prosperity''', despite surreally widespread levels of corruption and state inefficiency - the so-called ''Italian Miracle''. The country's GDP '''doubled''', while industrial production skyrocketed; new highways, dams, power plants, schools and hospitals were built; Italian films and pop music became well known. Cars such as the FIAT 500, along with Vespas, became symbols of that period of unprecedented prosperity.

Italian '''brands''', too, became fashionable: Olivetti, [=FIAT=], Piaggio, Ferrari, Lancia, Alfa Romeo... you name it, not to mention the several designer clothing and furniture firms that begun exporting all over the world. The factories of Northern Italy experienced a dramatic shortage of manpower and millions of workers from Southern Italy emigrated there in search of a better life - unemployment was virtually non-existent - and social services were extended while a raft of measures were adopted to improve Italians' livelihoods. Italy seemed prosperous as never before: a hitherto poor, agricultural country became the fifth most industrialised nation in the world.

Between '''1974''' and '''1978''' two important '''referenda''' were held - one on divorce and another on abortion - and despite the pressure from the Catholic Church, Italian voters chose to retain these two rights.

Berlusconi was reelected in 2001 along with the ''Northern League'' and became the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister by making it through a five-year term without being backstabbed by his coalition, but was defeated fairly narrowly in the 2006 elections and replaced, again, by Romano Prodi. Prodi proceeded to ignore the abovementioned moral and form an ''eight''-party coalition government, which predictably imploded quickly. In 2008, Berlusconi became Prime Minister again despite numerous controversies and gaffes, which leads one to wonder why (and how the hell) it happened; In 2011 he referred to Italy as "this shitty country" and people were not happy (even moreso than usual). He [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing resigned on November 14, 2011]] in favour of independent '''Mario Monti''', who chaired a transitional government tasked with implementing urgently-needed reforms to stave off a debt crisis. Then, he announced that he would run in the new elections after Monti's government '''collapsed''' due to a vote of no confidence on '''December 21, 2012'''. Despite the short-lived governments and Monti's footnote to history, the Second Republic was characterised by an alternance at power of the two main parties (Berlusconi's "Forza Italia" - which was later renamed the "People of Liberty" - and the various left-wing coalitions, which were merged in 2008 into the [Italian] "Democratic Party"), making it automatically an improvement over the First Republic.

The elections of 2013 ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' asserted itself while the two traditional parties ('''PD''' and '''PDL''') lost thousands of votes; the PDL itself, following the conviction of Silvio Berlusconi (who was then kicked out of Parliament), was dissolved and another party - the "new" '''Forza Italia''' - took its place. Mr. B's ex number two (Angelino Alfano) broke up with his master and founded the '''Nuovo Centrodestra'''. The Northern League nearly collapsed after a series of scandals involving [[NoodleImplements its founder, his quasi-illiterate son and a fake [=PhD=]]], although they've since recovered thanks to a new, media-savvy secretary and the discontent over the immigrant crisis, to which Italy is strongly subject. The clusterfuck election also led to the Parliament failing to vote in a new President, so Giorgio Napolitano, who had just served a seven-year term, offered himself as a candidate again and was reelected overwhelmingly. '''Enrico Letta''' (PD) was appointed PM on 28 April 2013 but resigned the following year.

The current President is '''Sergio Mattarella''', who was elected by the Parliament on '''31 January 2015''' after his predecessor Napolitano decided to resign after serving less than two years of his second term. Unlike last time, the election went very smoothly: after many discussions between the parties, most of the members of the parliamentary majority left a blank ballot during the first three votings - which require a majority of two thirds rather than half plus one. Mattarella was then elected at the fourth voting, and with almost two thirds of the total votes anyway.

* ''Literature/DonCamillo'' is set during the first trembling days of the Republic. The first story, ''Il Mondo Piccolo de Don Camillo'', begins with the Communists having won a victory in the first public election in 1946.

Italy after the fall of the Monarchy (1946) to the present day. [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Italia_Repubblica_6861.jpg]]

In '''1994''', the TV magnate '''Silvio Berlusconi''' (richest man in Italy and proud owner of three national TV channels as well as the AC Milan football club) won that year's general election and became PM for the first time, in an uneasy simultaneous coalition with the separatist '''Northern League''' and the nationalist, neo-fascist National Alliance. His government, predictably, only lasted nine months and was succeeded by the technocratic '''Lamberto Dini''' in 1995 (for fifteen months) and then by left-winger '''Romano Prodi''' in 1996, who adopted fiscal policies that successfully allowed [[DealWithTheDevil Italy join the Euro]] in 1999. He wasn't actually in office when this happened though, as he was [[TheStarscream starscreamed]] by his [[WeAREStrugglingTogether five-party coalition government]] when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew support, and was replaced by '''[=Massimo D'Alema=]''' in 1998, who became the first former Communist to be the Prime Minister of a NATO country (he was in office during Italy's participation in the NATO bombing of Serbia during the Kosovo War) and was, [[HereWeGoAgain in turn]], thrown out in 2000 in favour of former Prime Minister '''Giuliano Amato''', a LongRunner who had previously been Prime Minister in 1992-1993 during the Clean Hands investigations. Moral of the story? In Italian politics, the more parties are involved in a coalition, the shorter the length of a Prime Minister's term.

* ''Literature/DonCamillo''

The elections of 2013 ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' asserted itself while the two traditional parties ('''PD''' and '''PDL''') lost thousands of votes; the PDL itself, following the conviction of Silvio Berlusconi (who was then kicked out of Parliament), was dissolved and another party - the "new" '''Forza Italia''' - took its place. Mr. B's ex number two (Angelino Alfano) broke up with his master and founded the '''Nuovo Centrodestra'''. The Northern League nearly collapsed after a series of scandals involving [[NoodleImplements its founder, his quasi-illiterate son and a fake [=PhD=]]]. The clusterfuck election also led to the Parliament failing to vote in a new President, so Giorgio Napolitano, who had just served a seven-year term, offered himself as a candidate again and was reelected overwhelmingly. '''Enrico Letta''' (PD) was appointed PM on 28 April 2013 but resigned the following year.

The current Prime Minister is '''Matteo Renzi''' (PD), who was sworn in on '''22 February 2014''' after the resignation of his predecessor.

* '''Libya''' was first split between Britan, France and UK - only to become independent in 1951;

After the Cold War ended (and thus the United States' interest in keeping left-wingers out of power vanished), the nepotism- and corruption-laden political system, dubbed '''Tangentopoli''' (Italian for "Bribeville") was exposed by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite ''Clean Hands'']] investigations of '''1992'''. These involved a big part of the Senate and House and caused the [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp collapse of the old dominant parties]] except the Italian Republican Party (the only party that survived and kept its name to this day) and the Communists, who changed their name to the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) for other reasons (chiefly the fact that "Communism" [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp had become passé]], though this wasn't as apparent to the [[WeAREStrugglingTogether minority of members who instead created the considerably less popular Communist Refoundation Party, which in turn spawned the splinter Party of Italian Communists]]), the emergence of new parties in their stead, the adoption of a mixed member proportional representation electoral system after the 1993 referendum, and generally had such a large impact that the period afterwards is called the "Second Republic".

* ''Film/CasinoRoyale''

TheMafia was also very active during this period, routinely threatening the safety of the country. When magistrates began a maxi-investigation that led to over 400 convictions in 1987, the (Sicilian) Mafia was certainly not happy about it; between 1992 and 1993 a series of bombings and the [[HeroicSacrifice murder of two Sicilian magistrates, Giacomo Falcone and Paolo Borsellino]] prompted the Italian authorities to actively fight the Mafia, often with very good results.

* ''[[Film/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Identity]]''
* ''[[Film/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Supremacy]]''

The Communist party, meanwhile, gained consensus and another civil war seemed inevitable.

* The city of '''Trieste''' was declared "free territory".

* '''Libya''' was first split between Britan, France and UK only to become independent in 1951;
* '''Italian Somaliland''' became a U.N. Trust Territory which was managed by Italy until 1960, when it was merged with the British Somaliland and granted independence;

By the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, Italy was in ruins: the war reduced most factories to rubble, roads, railways were unusable and millions of people were left without a home. The last years of war saw Italians from both sides, Fascists and members of the [[LaResistance Italian Resistance]], fighting each other. There was also bitter resentment against the King and the Monarchy, fueled by Victor Emmanuel's support of Fascism and the Royal Family's hasty escape from Rome during the German occupation of Italy. The Communist party, meanwhile, gained consensus and another civil war seemed inevitable.

The King - in the (admittedly, vain) hope to restore the Royal Family's reputation - abdicated in favour his eldest son, prince Umberto, who was crowned on 9 May 1946 as '''Umberto II ''' and remained King of Italy for just over a month, which is why he was nicknamed ''il Re di Maggio'' ("the King of May"). During his incredibly short reign, he had to defuse the various sources of tension within the country which could have led to another unnecessary bloodbath; at that time, some Sicilian factions were pushing for independence (thus threatening the unity and the stability of the whole nation), while the Yugoslavians wanted to annex much of North-Eastern Italy. However, he - showing the good sense his father lacked - promptly granted Sicily fiscal and political autonomy, making the indepentist campaigners run out of steam; sent fresh troops to the border and called for a referendum which would hopefully strengthen his position.

On '''June 2, 1946'', the first free referendum since 1921 took place and that was also the first time Italian women were allowed to vote. Electoral results showed a nation almost split in two, with Northern Italians voting ''en masse'' for the Republic while Central and Southern Italians were willing to keep the Monarchy; but there were also widespread accusations that the anti-monarchists rigged the result, with the new government proclaiming the victory of the Republic ''well before'' the counting of the votes had even finished or repressing manifestations in support of the King (as it happened in Naples' via Medina on 11 June 1946: the Police was instructed to fire upon the protesters, leaving nine dead and a hundred people wounded). Umberto II, fearing that the country to plunge again into a civil war, chose not to contest the result and joined the rest of his family in Portugal.

Italy had become a Republic, and a couple of years later the 2nd of June became the (controversial) Italian national holiday.

The King - in the vain hope to restore the Royal Family's reputation - abdicated in favour his eldest son, prince Umberto, who was crowned on 9 May 1946' as '''Umberto II ''' and remained King of Italy for just over a month - which is why he was called ''il Re di Maggio'' ("the King of May"). During his incredibly short reign, he had to defuse the various sources of tension within the country which could have led to another unnecessary bloodbath; at that time, some Sicilian factions were pushing for independence (thus threatening the unity and the stability of the whole nation), while the Yugoslavians wanted to annex much of North-Eastern Italy. However, he - showing the good sense his father lacked - promptly granted Sicily fiscal and political autonomy, making the indepentist campaigners run out of steam; sent fresh troops to the border and called for a referendum which would hopefully strengthen his position.

On '''June 2, 1946'', the first free referendum since 1921 took place and that was also the first time Italian women were allowed to vote. Electoral results showed a nation almost split in two, with Northern Italians voting ''en masse'' for the Republic while Central and Southern Italians were willing to keep the Monarchy; but there were also widespread accusations that the anti-monarchists rigged the result, with the new government proclaiming the victory of the Republic ''well before'' the counting of the votes had even finished or repressing manifestations in support of the King (as it happened in Naples' via Medina on 11 June 1946: the Police was instructed to fire upon the protesters, leaving nine dead and a hundred people wounded). Umberto II, not wanting the country to plunge again into a civil war, chose not to contest the result joined the rest of his family in Portugal.

Italy had already signed an Armistice with the Allies in 1943, which would later lay the foundation for the Peace Treaty. In brief - Italy was, by virtue of the Treaty, obliged to disband a good part of the Navy (most of its vessels were ceded to the Allied powers) [[note]] one of these - the Italian battleship ''Giulio Cesare'' - was ceded to the Soviets who, in 1955, lost it in a mysterious incident; that ship is said to have been sunk by disgruntled members of her former crew with the blessing of the Italian government and the NATO.[[/note]] and the country was not allowed to deploy the Army (which was reduced in size) outside its borders; minorities had their status recognised. Finally, Italy had to pay hefty economic reparations and was forced to relinquish all its overseas possessions along with parts of its North-Eastern territory, as following:

Italian '''brands''', too, became fashionable: Olivetti, [=FIAT=], Piaggio, Ferrari, Lancia, Alfa Romeo... not to mention the several designer clothes and furniture that were exported all over the world. The factories of Northern Italy experienced a dramatic shortage of manpower and millions of workers from Southern Italy emigrated there in search of a better life - unemployment was virtually non-existent - and social services were extended while a raft of measures were adopted to improve Italians' livelihoods. Italy seemed prosperous as never before: a hitherto poor, agricultural country became the fifth most industrialised nation in the world.

All in all, the Cold War-era '''strategy of tension''' with its assorted intrigues (Operation Gladio and the Propaganda Due lodge) and links to the "years of lead", the government's failure to alleviate the North-South divide (most of the money sank thanks to corruption, and incompetent planning led to factories being plonked down in less than optimal places), a string of governments so incompetent or irresponsible with economics that Italy ran a gigantic budget deficit all throughout the Cold War accumulating an enormous amount of public debt and the power of the Mafia in Southern Italy, just for starters, made the First Republic looking like a very resilient CrapsaccharineWorld, where Italians enjoyed a high standard of living despite all the aforementioned pervasive problems. The collapsing value of the [[RidiculousExchangeRates lira]] as far back as 1957 led the government to pass various laws mandating the indexation of wages to inflation, which was extended in 1975 to create the "moving staircase" system whereby workers received an additional flat fee to automatically compensate them for three months' of price increases and quarterly wage revisions, making wages rise faster than prices. Combined with Italy's extremely generous welfare provisions, this meant that Italian workers were among the best paid, most protected, and best treated in Europe; the costliness of this system and state inefficiency later forced Italy to adopt harsh austerity measures to cope with the resulting rise in public debt.

!!'''A Third Republic?'''

The current Prime Minister is '''Matteo Renzi''' (PD), who was sworn in on '''22 February 2014''' after the resignation of his predecessor. The current President is '''Sergio Mattarella''', who was elected by the Parliament on '''31 January 2015''' after his predecessor Napolitano decided to resign after serving less than two years of his second term. Contrarily to the last time, the election went very smoothly: after many discussions between the parties in the preceding days, during the first three votings - which require a majority of two thirds rather than half plus one - most of the parliamentarians of the majority left a blank ballot, then Mattarella was elected at the fourth voting, and with almost two thirds of the total votes anyway.

The King - hoping to restore the Royal Family's reputation - abdicated in favour his eldest son, prince Umberto, who was crowned on '''9 May 1946''' as '''Umberto II ''' and remained King of Italy for just over a month - which is why he was called ''il Re di Maggio'' ("the King of May"). During his incredibly short reign, he had to defuse the various sources of tension within the country which could have led to another unnecessary bloodbath; at that time, some Sicilian factions were pushing for independence (thus threatening the unity and the stability of the whole nation), while the Yugoslavians wanted to annex much of North-Eastern Italy. However, he - showing the good sense his father lacked - promptly granted Sicily fiscal and political autonomy, making the indepentist campaigners run out of steam; sent fresh troops to the border and called for a referendum which would hopefully strengthen his position.

On '''June 2''', 1946, the first free referendum since 1921 took place and that was also the first time Italian women were allowed to vote. Electoral results showed a nation almost split in two, with Northern Italians voting ''en masse'' for the Republic while Central and Southern Italians were willing to keep the Monarchy; there were also widespread accusations that the anti-monarchists rigged the result, but Italy eventually became a Republic. A couple of years later, this date became the Italian national holiday.

* '''Libya''' became independent;

* '''Eritrea''' was federated with Ethiopia;

In '''1954''', the city of Trieste - after a series of lenghty negotiations involving the United States, Britain and Yugoslavia - was finally '''reunited''' with Italy; '''television''' was introduced and the national broadcasting company, ''RAI'', created. However, Italy had all the stability of a BananaRepublic, the premiership changed hands more than 40 times in 50 years and endured short-lived governments (average shelf life: around 11 months; shortest: ''21 days''[[note]]That'd be Amintore Fanfani's first government, between 18 January and 10 February 1954 - it lost a vote of confidence[[/note]]). The main reason for this was that the important parties ended up playing a game of dividing important posts in government and important state conglomerates between themselves on purely strategic considerations as opposed to, say, competence - a practice called, for the cabinet, ''Manuale Cencelli'' from a popular guest manual of the 1950s; state conglomerates were subject to ''lottizzazione'', that is, were split between parties. These methods led to the situation of party chairmen actually being more powerful than Presidents or Prime Ministers, a fact illustrated by the way Prime Minister Mario Scelba was forced to resign in 1955 by his inner party rivals instead of parliamentary reasons.

As a result of this, Italy's economy is, in many ways, an economy of regions. In some sectors, Italy is at or near the forefront, such as tourism, wine (Piedmont, Lazio and the Chianti region), motor industry (Turin, Milan), steel industry (Taranto), shipbuilding (Genoa, Chioggia and Monfalcone), design (Milan), film industry (Rome hosts the ''Cinecittà'' studios), services such as banking (Rome and Milan again) and textiles, particularly luxury textiles (Lumbardy, which includes Milan... again). In other fields, the combined effect of high labor costs, government corruption, archaic regulations, constantly striking unions, lack of central government investment, and (controversially) an overvalued Euro, Italy is not particularly dynamic.

The current Prime Minister is '''Matteo Renzi''' (PD), who was sworn in on '''22 February 2014''' after the resignation of his predecessor. The current President is '''Sergio Mattarella''', who was elected by the Parliament on '''31 January 2015''' after his predecessor Napolitano decided to resign after serving less than two years of his second term. Contrarily to the last time, the election went very smoothly: after many discussion between the parties in the preceding days, during the first three votes - which require a majority of two thirds rather than half plus one - most of the parliamentaries of the majority left a blank vote, then Mattarella was elected at the fourth voting, and with almost two thirds of the votes anyway.