Il Bel PaeseThe history of Italy is truly fascinating. Since classical times, ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Celts have inhabited the Italian Peninsula, with various Italic peoples dispersed throughout Italy alongside other ancient Italian tribes and Greek, Carthaginian, and Phoenician colonies. Italy was the homeland of the Romans and the metropole of the Roman Empire. Rome was founded as a Kingdom in 753 BC and became a Republic in 509 BC, when the monarchy was overthrown in favor of a government of the Senate and the People. The Roman Republic then unified Italy at the expense of the Etruscans, Celts, and Greeks of the peninsula but subsequently fell following the assassination of Julius Caesar, whereby Italy was fragmented in numerous city-states and regional polities, and, despite seeing famous personalities from its territory and closely related ones (such as Dante Alighieri, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Niccolò Machiavelli, Galileo Galilei or even Napoleon Bonaparte) rise, it remained politically divided to a large extent. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Italian Renaissance spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, and art with the start of the modern era. By the mid-19th century, the Italian unification (led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, backed by the Kingdom of Sardinia) had led to the establishment of an Italian nation-state. The new Kingdom of Italy, established in 1861, quickly modernized and built a large colonial empire, colonizing parts of Africa, and countries along the Mediterranean. The images in this collection is a snapshot of diverse locations across Italy during, by comparison, the very short period of one person's lifespan. From Manarola, Cinque Terre in the North West to the Dolomites in the North East to the Amalfi Coast and Sicily in the South West and to Matera and Puglia in the South East, I will never grow tired of the endless beauty and history of Il Bel Paese.
