Italy (Chaos)

Disunited

Since the fall of Rome, Italy had been disunited; for some while, there had been a kingdom of Italy, which was part of the HRE, but even that fell apart. Before 1688, the history of Italy was thus mostly that of several states: Florence, Venice and Savoy in the north, the Papal States in the center, and Naples in the south. Before 1435, many more states (like Genoa, Parma, Pisa and Milan) also existed, but were mopped up in the first third of the 15th century due to the plan of Maffeo Servitore. Around this time, the Rum-Seljuks also invaded Italy and swallowed Naples and to the horror of all Christians, the Papal States with Rome too. Later, they were expelled again during several wars.

There were some shortlived states too, like the protectorate of the Marches, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica.

The new kingdom of Italy

The king Francisco II of Sicily had married Condolcessa, the daughter of the last Medici grand duke of Florence. When Lorenzo III died in 1688, the two states were united to form the united Italy. The successful anti-French War enlarged the kingdom with Milan, Ravenna and Genoa in the peace of Amsterdam 1694.