Italian Society
A history of the societies and social structures of Italian cultures.
Social Structures of Ancient Rome
From the city’s mythical founding in 753 BCE, Ancient Rome’s society evolved from kingdom to republic to empire. For most of its existence, power truly rested with the Roman Senate. The Senate elected Rome’s first kings and later toppled its last. It then replaced its kings with two elected consuls, each of whom served for a year at a time. The senate consisted of several hundred men—the true number rising and falling over the centuries. The descendants of the first 100 senators of Rome made up its patrician class, which dominated the early Republic. Most patricians owned large agricultural estates as well as houses in the city.
The plebeians, meanwhile, made up the bulk of the Roman populace. They had no special claim by birth and filled the less prestigious roles of society. A pleb might work as a farmer, laborer, servant, craftsmen, merchant, fisherman, courier, soldier, or any other necessary role. Plebeians could be citizens, though citizenship did not guarantee their right to vote. Lower still, the proletarii owned no land and were not even eligible for military service. Lowest of all were the slaves. These people often came from conquered provinces and held few rights. Women could be citizens but never carried voting privileges. For the most part, their status was determined by that of their husband or another male family member.
In the early days of the Republic, the patricians held almost all of the power. But as their ranks thinned and wealth spread to the commoners, the plebs fought for greater representation. They demanded and won the right to become senators and consuls. Military service and wealth grew to be more important determinants of status. Later upper classes consisted of senatorial families, powerful merchants, and the equestrians, a role similar to landed medieval knights. By the end, many of Rome’s most prominent consuls, and even emperors, were of plebeian stock.
Societies of the Italian City-States
The dissolution of Roman authority in Italy left a power vacuum for hundreds of years. The peninsula would not unify again until the late 1800s. In the absence of any centralizing force, the trading towns of Rome began to gather power as mercantile city-states. Each city possessed its own government, ruling families, and internal politics. Their social structures were similarly varied. As a general rule, each city contained a noble class, led either by elected officials or royalty. Beneath them were larger underclasses like merchants, tradesmen, farmers, and the working class.
The Kingdom of Italy
By the time Italy unified as a kingdom in the late 19th century, its regions had developed their own long-standing cultures and lifestyles. Because of this, familial and local politics remained important to Italian society. Its monarchy stemmed from the Kingdom of Sardinia and shared power with a senate and elected body known as the Chamber of Deputies.
The Kingdom of Italy survived at least nominally until 1946. By the 1920s, however, power had shifted from its king, Victor Emmanuel III, to Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. Mussolini, once an avid socialist, grew disillusioned with the ideology during his service in World War I. When he returned to Italy, he founded the Italian Fascist Party and began agitating against its liberal prime minister. By 1922, the king had appointed him prime minister. Mussolini soon maneuvered himself into a fascist dictatorship closely allied to other right-wing European leaders, most notably Adolf Hitler. After the king deposed him in 1943, Mussolini continued his regime in Northern Italy until his death in 1945. The monarchy did not survive its involvement with fascism. Its last king, Umberto II, resigned in 1946 to make way for the modern Italian Republic.
Modern Italian Society
Today, Italy is a parliamentary republic. The nation is run by a president and prime minister, supported by a Council of Ministers and bicameral parliament. Regional autonomy and linguistic differences continue to characterize Italian society. The peninsula is still home to many minority languages and dialects, including Sardinian, French, and Ladin. The Italian government provides healthcare to all of its citizens as part of the National Health Service and enjoys high levels of tourism. It is a founding member of the European Union and also participates in the UN, NATO, G7, and G20.
References
Crawford, Michael Hewson. The Roman Republic. Harvard University Press. 1993.
Duggan, Christopher. A Concise History of Italy. Cambridge University Press. 2014.
Jones, Philip. The Italian City-State: From Commune to Signoria. Oxford University Press. 1997.
Kelly, Christopher. The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. 2006.
Killinger, Charles. Culture and Customs of Italy. Greenwood Publishing. 2005.
“The World Factbook: Italy.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 12 July 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/it.html.
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