Editing Italy

{{Era|Locations}}
{{WP-REAL}}
{{Location infobox
|name = Italy
|image = Italian Flag.png
|state = Italian Republic
|rulers = 
{{wiki|Roman Kingdom|Elective kingdom}} {{c|753 BCE–509 BCE}}<br>
[[Roman Republic|Republic]] {{c|509 BCE–27 BCE}}<br>
[[Roman Empire|Constitutional empire]] {{c|27 BCE–476}}<br>
Feudal kingdom {{c|476–962}}<br>
Constitutional kingdom {{c|1861–1946}}<br>
Parliamentary republic {{c|1946–present}}
|factions = [[Italian Brotherhood of Assassins|Italian Assassins]]<br>[[Roman Rite of the Templar Order|Italian Templars]]<br>[[Republic of Venice]]<br>[[Papacy]]<br>[[House of Medici]]<br>[[House of Borgia]]<br>[[House of Barbarigo]]<br>[[House of Pazzi]]
|founded = [[Romulus]] {{c|legendary}}<br>{{wiki|Odoacer}} {{c|as first King of Italy}}
|date = 753 BCE {{c|as Roman Kingdom}}<br>476 {{c|as Kingdom of Italy}}
|hidea = yes}}
'''Italy''' (Latin and Italian: ''Italia'') is a country located in southern [[Europe]] that shares borders with [[France]], [[Switzerland]], [[Austria]], and {{Wiki|Slovenia}} to the north.

==History==
===Antiquity===
During antiquity, the city of [[Rome]] gradually conquered all of Italy, which then served as the hearland of the [[Roman Republic]], and later, the [[Roman Empire|Empire]], as they expanded on other lands around the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]]; in this age, both [[Assassins]] and [[Templars]] were already an established presence in the country.

In the last days of the Republic, the Republican Senate was heavily manipulated by the Templars, who secretly backed the accession of [[Gaius Julius Caesar]] as dictator. However, Caesar was [[Assassination of Julius Caesar|killed]] by a group of [[Assassins]] calling themselves ''Liberatores'', led by [[Marcus Junius Brutus]] and [[Gaius Cassius Longinus]], in 44 BCE.<ref name="ACB">''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood]]''</ref>.

===Renaissance===
Italy served as the birthplace of the [[Renaissance]], a cultural movement which soon spread throughout all of Europe, during the 15th century. At this point, Italy was not yet a unified country, and was divided into numerous regional states that each strove to conquer the other lands of Italy. The primary polities were the {{Wiki|Republic of Florence}}, the [[Republic of Venice]] and the {{Wiki|Papal States}}. While the [[Assassins|Assassin Order]] and [[Templars|Templar Order]] had been active in Italy as far back as the time of the [[Roman Republic]], it was during the Renaissance that both orders had their primary presence in Italy.<ref name="AC2">''[[Assassin's Creed II]]''</ref>

When [[Rodrigo Borgia]] became [[Grand Master]] of the Italian Templars in 1476,<ref name="Initiates">''[[Assassin's Creed: Initiates]]''</ref> the Templars made plans to take over the main cities of northern Italy; notably [[Milan]], [[Florence]], [[Venice]] and [[Rome]]. Although most of their initial attempts were thwarted by the [[Assassins]], thanks to the actions of [[Ezio Auditore da Firenze]], the Templars nonetheless managed to seize control of Rome and the rest of the Papal States when Rodrigo Borgia was crowned Pope Alexander VI.<ref name="AC2"/>

Rodrigo's son, [[Cesare Borgia]], further conquered several other regions of Italy in his role as Captain General of the Papal Armies. However, due to the subsequent actions of the Assassins, coupled with Rodrigo's death at the hands of his son, the Templars' influence in Rome and Italy reduced. The succeeding Popes, [[Pius III]] and [[Julius II]], did not favor Cesare, and the Templars' influence in Italy collapsed, while the Assassins maintained a strong presence in the country.<ref name="ACBH">''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood]]''</ref>

===World War I===
In the century after its unification occurred, Italy joined with the [[British Empire]] in [[World War I|First World War]], supporting against the [[Germany|German Empire]].

===World War II===
During the inter-war period, the dictator {{Wiki|Benito Mussolini}}, joined forces with the Templar puppet, and dictator of [[Germany]], [[Adolf Hitler]]. Together with [[Japan]], the {{Wiki|Axis}} was formed, and the [[World War II|Second World War]] started against the {{Wiki|Allies of World War II|Allies}}, perpetrated by the [[United Kingdom]], the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]], led by [[Winston Churchill]], [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Joseph Stalin]], both three, sympathizers of the Templar Order.

===Modern times===
By the early 21st Century the Templars had returned to prominence in the country, thanks mainly to the establishment of an [[Abstergo Industries]] [[Animus Project laboratory|laboratory]] in Rome.<ref name="AC"> ''[[Assassin's Creed]]''</ref> In 2012, a team of Assassins consisting of [[Desmond Miles]], [[Lucy Stillman]], [[Shaun Hastings]], and [[Rebecca Crane]] traveled through the country in the weeks after Desmond escaped from the Roman facility.<ref name="AC2"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{AC2}}
{{ACB}}
{{ACComic}}
[[Category:Italy| ]]
[[Category:Countries in Europe]]