Italia, why is it called so?

M – Good morning, and welcome. I’m Marcello Cordovani, founder of VITOR, VISIT ITALY ON THE ROAD.
For those of you who don’t know us, VITOR is a Tour Operator based in Italy. We were born several years ago to offer travellers from all over the world the opportunity to visit our wonderful country with the assistance of local “friends”, and share with them our love for Italy.
Over the years, our travellers have asked us countless questions about Italy and Italians. So, we decided to start this podcast and call it “Curious about Italy?”, a podcast in which we want to answer the curiosities of our travellers. Climate, customs, food, unknown destinations: with this podcast, we will try to give you a few more reasons to visit Italy if you haven’t already done so, or to discover its most hidden aspects, if you are thinking of a future trip.
Here with me is Patrizia, my colleague who takes care of the “artistic” part of Vitor, who has collected some of the questions our clients often ask us.
P – Good morning, everyone. Let’s start from the very basics, Marcello: why is Italy called Italia?
M – Well, it is not easy to answer this question. Historians have not yet come to an agreement on this. But the most credible theory seems to be this: a Greek prince named Italo conquered part of southern Italy starting from Calabria, then expanded into Basilicata and Puglia.
The people who inhabited these lands took their name from the warrior who had conquered them and became the first Italians: Italy, or Land of the Itali.
P – So, do we owe our name to a Greek?
M – It would seem so. But there’s another version: the name Italy would come from the Latin word vitulus, meaning “calf”? According to modern scholars, the first Italians had the calf as their totem, and their name would mean “Worshippers of calves”.
P – No, Marcello, I prefer the Greek prince.
M – Me too.
Before the Romans, between the 6th and 4th centuries BC, all of southern Italy was known as “Magna Graecia” (Great Greece in Latin): the Greeks who emigrated from the motherland had founded several cities on the coasts of southern Italy, that then had developed to such an extent that they rivalled the main cities of Greece in wealth. Agrigento, Naples (NeaPolis, Città Nuova), Palermo, Taranto, Bari, the Greeks founded all these cities. Their presence is still clearly evidenced by the architectural treasures they have left us: temples, theatres, even food and wine traditions. Just think of Sicily and the splendid Valley of the Temples in Agrigento.
Roman culture was filled with Hellenism. Rome was a small city-state that slowly extended to the south, incorporating the territories dominated by the Greeks, and to the north those inhabited by the Etruscans, who were mainly present in Umbria and Tuscany. The Romans were so fascinated by the Greeks, to whom they recognized cultural supremacy: Greece inspired all their culture, art, architecture, and they imported statues and precious objects, but also philosophers and architects, from Greece.
For the Romans, Italy was not what we have in mind today. For them, the northern borders were not the Alps but two rivers: to the west, the Arno (the river that passes through Florence) and to the east, the Rubicon, a small river near Rimini.
North of these two rivers, it was not Italy, but Gaul, Cisalpine (south of the Alps), to distinguish it from Transalpine (beyond the Alps), and its inhabitants were called Gauls.
Despite being a small river, the Rubicon is a famous river. “Crossing the Rubicon” means doing something, after which there is no turning back. And here’s the story….. At the end of the war in Gaul, Caesar, on his way back to Rome, put forward his candidacy for the consulship, the highest office of the Republic. In Rome, his rival, Pompey, supported by the aristocracy, demanded that Caesar be present in Rome to present his candidacy and, above all, that he lay down the command of the army of Gaul. Sensing his rival’s political move and not wanting to put himself at his mercy, Caesar prepared for armed conflict, strengthened by the confidence of his soldiers and the popularity he had acquired throughout Rome thanks to ten years of victories in Gaul, and on January 10, 49 BC, he crossed the Rubicon. So, Caesar was declared a public enemy, since he had violated the law prohibiting the presence of magistrates in command of an army on the territory under direct control of the Republic. It was the beginning of the Civil War between the two sides, commanded respectively by Caesar and Pompey, which ended at Pharsalus, Greece, in 46 BC with Caesar’s victory.
The historian Suetonius, in recounting Caesar’s deeds, writes that he uttered a famous phrase: “Alea iacta est”, a phrase that is traditionally translated as “the die is cast”, in the metaphorical sense of “the decision is made”, “the challenge is now launched”. A phrase that we learn since childhood and that, once in a lifetime, probably all of us happened to say, in the footsteps of Julius Caesar.
P – We are talking about 2000 years ago. Has Italy always been united since then?
M – NOOOO. From Charlemagne, in the late 8th century, from time to time, the term Kingdom of Italy was used to refer to very different territories. Italy came under the domination of the Lombards, Franks, Germans, French and Spaniards. Annexations, splits, partitions in the form of duchies, feuds, states….. everything happened over the centuries. In the end, this set of statelets was unified in 1860 under King Vittorio Emanuele II, by the main work of a gentleman named Giuseppe Garibaldi, we will certainly have a chance to talk about him in the future. Only the Papal State remained outside, with Rome: ten years later, in 1870, the Italian army entered Rome almost without a shot being fired, and the Papal States were annexed to Italy. The Pope, very angry, understandably, withdrew into the territory that is now Vatican City and solemnly declared that he would not leave until Rome was returned to him, which, of course, did not happen.
With the win in First World War, Italy extended northwards, annexing the cities of Trento, Bolzano and Trieste and the surrounding territories. But then, as Italy was defeated in the Second World War, all the territories east of Trieste passed to Yugoslavia. With these last territorial changes, Italy acquired its final structure.
P – Listen, Marcello, is there a place in Rome that you would recommend visiting that can represent part of what we discussed today?
M – I would say that one of the most representative places in the history of Italy, a very beautiful and important spot, is undoubtedly the Quirinale Palace. Quirinale is one of the seven original hills of Rome, and Pope Paul V had his Palace built on its summit starting in 1573 as an alternative residence to the Vatican Palaces. The Quirinale Palace has been the official residence of more than 30 Popes, then from 1870, the Residence of the King of Italy, and from 1946, the official residence of the President of the Republic.
The Quirinale Palace is a wonderful 16th-century palace, rich in history and unique works of art. If you stay in Rome, you can’t miss it. And just as in the US, the words “The White House” are also used to refer to the President, in Italy, to refer to the President of the Republic, we also respectfully say “il Quirinale”.
P – Thank you, Marcello, for all the interesting things you told us and thanks also to you for listening.
M – Thank you all, and see, or better, hear you next time. CIAO!!!