The National Roman Museum (Italian: Museo Nazionale Romano ) is a museum, with several branches in separate buildings throughout the city of Rome , Italy . It shows exhibits from the pre- and early history of Rome, with a focus on archaeological findings from the period of Ancient Rome .
148-531: Founded in 1889 and inaugurated in 1890, the museum's first aim was to collect and exhibit archaeologic materials unearthed during the excavations after the union of Rome with the Kingdom of Italy . The initial core of its collection originated from the Kircherian Museum , archaeologic works assembled by the antiquarian and Jesuit priest, Athanasius Kircher , which previously had been housed within
296-635: A 46- hectare concession from China in Tianjin (see Italian concession in Tianjin ). These foreign colonies and lands came under Italian control at different times and remained so over different periods. The Kingdom of Italy was a constitutional monarchy . Executive power belonged to the monarch , who governed through appointed ministers . The legislative branch was a bicameral Parliament comprising an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies . The kingdom maintained as its constitution
444-412: A burden on finances or a change in territory required the approval of the chambers to be effective. The king appointed to all state offices, sanctioned and promulgated the laws, which as well as the government acts had to be countersigned by the responsible ministers, and issued the decrees and regulations necessary for the execution of the laws. Justice was administered in his name, and he alone had
592-465: A chapel dedicated to Saint Isidore. This was part of the central complex of the Baths of Diocletian. It was the last of the four halls next to the caldarium. It was converted into a grain store in 1575, and in 1764 became a storage facility for oil. The dome is still the original one. The hall served as an exhibition site in 1911 but was then turned into a cinema and, in 1928, into a planetarium. The hall
740-415: A communic acid base, and they also include much succinic acid. Baltic amber yields on dry distillation succinic acid, the proportion varying from about 3% to 8%, and being greatest in the pale opaque or bony varieties. The aromatic and irritating fumes emitted by burning amber are mainly from this acid. Baltic amber is distinguished by its yield of succinic acid , hence the name succinite . Succinite has
888-491: A crop failure caused by insects, and Italy became the largest wine exporter in Europe. After France's recovery in 1888, Italian wine exports collapsed, causing a wave of unemployment and bankruptcies. From the 1860s, Italy invested heavily in the development of railways , with its rail network more than tripling between 1861 and 1872, then doubling again by 1890. Gio. Ansaldo & C. from the former Kingdom of Sardinia provided
1036-514: A hardness between 2 and 3, which is greater than many other fossil resins. Its specific gravity varies from 1.05 to 1.10. It can be distinguished from other ambers via infrared spectroscopy through a specific carbonyl absorption peak. Infrared spectroscopy can detect the relative age of an amber sample. Succinic acid may not be an original component of amber but rather a degradation product of abietic acid . Class Ib ambers are based on communic acid; however, they lack succinic acid. Class Ic
1184-609: A hardness between 2.0 and 2.5 on the Mohs scale , a refractive index of 1.5–1.6, a specific gravity between 1.06 and 1.10, and a melting point of 250–300 °C. Heated above 200 °C (392 °F), amber decomposes, yielding an oil of amber , and leaves a black residue which is known as "amber colophony", or "amber pitch"; when dissolved in oil of turpentine or in linseed oil this forms "amber varnish" or "amber lac". Molecular polymerization, resulting from high pressures and temperatures produced by overlying sediment, transforms
1332-564: A large collection of books and ancient sculpture. Though his position as the second son in his family meant Marco Sittico Altemps became a cleric, he was not inclined to priesthood. His mistress bore him a son, Roberto, made Duke of Gallese. Roberto Altemps was executed for adultery in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V . The Altemps family continued to mix in the circles of Italian nobility throughout the 17th century. Roberto's granddaughter Maria Cristina d'Altemps married Ippolito Lante Montefeltro della Rovere , Duke of Bomarzo . The Palazzo Altemps became
1480-558: A large scale in the formation of "ambroid" or "pressed amber". The pieces are carefully heated with exclusion of air and then compressed into a uniform mass by intense hydraulic pressure, the softened amber being forced through holes in a metal plate. The product is extensively used for the production of cheap jewelry and articles for smoking. This pressed amber yields brilliant interference colors in polarized light." Amber has often been imitated by other resins like copal and kauri gum , as well as by celluloid and even glass. Baltic amber
1628-497: A later 2013 study was unable to extract DNA from insects trapped in much more recent Holocene copal . In 1938, 12-year-old David Attenborough (brother of Richard who played John Hammond in Jurassic Park ) was given a piece of amber containing prehistoric creatures from his adoptive sister; it would be the focus of his 2004 BBC documentary The Amber Time Machine . Amber has been used since prehistory ( Solutrean ) in
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#17327725406531776-930: A leading member of the Axis Powers in 1940 and despite initial success, was defeated in North Africa and the Soviet Union . Allied landings in Sicily led to the fall of the Fascist regime and the new government surrendered to the Allies in September 1943. German forces occupied northern and central Italy, established the Italian Social Republic , and reappointed Mussolini as dictator. Consequentially, Italy descended into civil war , with
1924-544: A luscious garden with ornamental plants and pomegranate trees. The Museum's numismatic collection is the largest in Italy. Among the coins on exhibit are Theodoric ’s medallion , the four ducats of Pope Paul II with the navicella of Saint Peter , and the silver piastre of the Papal State with views of the city of Rome . The building was designed in the 15th century by Melozzo da Forlì for Girolamo Riario ,
2072-523: A major cholera epidemic killed at least 55,000 people. Government action was blocked by strong political and economic opposition from the large landowners. Another commission of inquiry in 1910 found similar problems. Around 1890 there was also an overproduction crisis in the Italian wine industry , almost the only successful sector in agriculture. In the 1870s and 1880s, viticulture in France suffered from
2220-623: A modern Italian Republic . The kingdom was established through the unification of several states over a decades-long process, called the Risorgimento . That process was influenced by the Savoy -led Kingdom of Sardinia , which was one of Italy's legal predecessor states . In 1866, Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia and, upon its victory, received the region of Veneto . Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power . In
2368-400: A modern building, this collection houses over 10,000 inscriptions. These were the storage facilities created by Pope Clement XIII in some of the former halls of the Baths of Diocletian. These large halls (numbered I to XI), most of them without roof cover, have been part of the museum since 1911. A small square room built next to a granary known Annona in 1640. In 1754 it was converted into
2516-475: A relation of Pope Sixtus IV . There is still a fresco on one wall of the rooms in the palazzo that celebrates the wedding of Girolamo to Caterina Sforza in 1477, showing the silver plates and other wedding gifts given to the couple. When the Riario family began to decline after the death of Pope Sixtus IV , the palazzo was sold to Cardinal Francesco Soderini of Volterra, who commissioned further refinements from
2664-631: A result, Italy accepted the British invitation to join the Allied Powers during World War I , as the western powers promised territorial compensation (at the expense of Austria-Hungary) for participation that was more generous than Vienna's offer in exchange for Italian neutrality. Victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations , but it did not receive all
2812-708: A seat to the Jesuit Roman College , originally within the convent of the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius . In 1871, the College had been ousted from the convent by the government which converted it into the Liceo Visconti , the first secular public high school of Italy. Erected between 1883 and 1887 by the architect Camillo Pistrucci in Neo-Renaissance style, it was one of
2960-417: A single species; and indeed a large number of conifers belonging to different genera are represented in the amber-flora. Amber is a unique preservational mode, preserving otherwise unfossilizable parts of organisms; as such it is helpful in the reconstruction of ecosystems as well as organisms; the chemical composition of the resin, however, is of limited utility in reconstructing the phylogenetic affinity of
3108-429: A third type of resin, which is often found as amber within their veins. The composition of resins is highly variable; each species produces a unique blend of chemicals which can be identified by the use of pyrolysis – gas chromatography – mass spectrometry . The overall chemical and structural composition is used to divide ambers into five classes. There is also a separate classification of amber gemstones, according to
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#17327725406533256-442: A very strong reflection, almost white. Only about 100 kg (220 lb) is found per year, which makes it valuable and expensive. Sometimes amber retains the form of drops and stalactites , just as it exuded from the ducts and receptacles of the injured trees. It is thought that, in addition to exuding onto the surface of the tree, amber resin also originally flowed into hollow cavities or cracks within trees, thereby leading to
3404-507: Is Highgate copalite . The oldest amber recovered dates to the late Carboniferous period ( 320 million years ago ). Its chemical composition makes it difficult to match the amber to its producers – it is most similar to the resins produced by flowering plants; however, the first flowering plants appeared in the Early Cretaceous, about 200 million years after the oldest amber known to date, and they were not common until
3552-468: Is a macromolecule formed by free radical polymerization of several precursors in the labdane family, for example, communic acid , communol , and biformene . These labdanes are diterpenes (C 20 H 32 ) and trienes, equipping the organic skeleton with three alkene groups for polymerization . As amber matures over the years, more polymerization takes place as well as isomerization reactions, crosslinking and cyclization . Most amber has
3700-411: Is as yet impossible, since no amber with fossilized mosquitoes has ever yielded preserved blood. Amber is, however, conducive to preserving DNA , since it dehydrates and thus stabilizes organisms trapped inside. One projection in 1999 estimated that DNA trapped in amber could last up to 100 million years, far beyond most estimates of around 1 million years in the most ideal conditions, although
3848-601: Is even an ammonite Puzosia (Bhimaites) and marine gastropods found in Burmese amber . The preservation of prehistoric organisms in amber forms a key plot point in Michael Crichton 's 1990 novel Jurassic Park and the 1993 movie adaptation by Steven Spielberg . In the story, scientists are able to extract the preserved blood of dinosaurs from prehistoric mosquitoes trapped in amber, from which they genetically clone living dinosaurs. Scientifically this
3996-431: Is given by polishing with flannel. When gradually heated in an oil bath, amber "becomes soft and flexible. Two pieces of amber may be united by smearing the surfaces with linseed oil, heating them, and then pressing them together while hot. Cloudy amber may be clarified in an oil bath, as the oil fills the numerous pores that cause the turbidity. Small fragments, formerly thrown away or used only for varnish are now used on
4144-514: Is less dense than water and floats, whereas amber is too dense to float, though less dense than stone. The classical names for amber, Latin electrum and Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον ( ēlektron ), are connected to a term ἠλέκτωρ ( ēlektōr ) meaning "beaming Sun". According to myth, when Phaëton son of Helios (the Sun) was killed, his mourning sisters became poplar trees, and their tears became elektron , amber. The word elektron gave rise to
4292-446: Is mainly based on enantio -labdatrienonic acids, such as ozic and zanzibaric acids. Its most familiar representative is Dominican amber,. which is mostly transparent and often contains a higher number of fossil inclusions. This has enabled the detailed reconstruction of the ecosystem of a long-vanished tropical forest. Resin from the extinct species Hymenaea protera is the source of Dominican amber and probably of most amber found in
4440-504: Is mined through bell pitting , which is dangerous because of the risk of tunnel collapse. An important source of amber is Kachin State in northern Myanmar , which has been a major source of amber in China for at least 1,800 years. Contemporary mining of this deposit has attracted attention for unsafe working conditions and its role in funding internal conflict in the country . Amber from
4588-543: Is often referred to as "Michelangelo's Cloister" as he was tasked by the Pope with transforming the Baths into a church and chapterhouse. However, it is more likely that Michelangelo just came up with the layout and that a pupil of his, Giacomo del Duca, was responsible for most of the actual architecture, at least in the initial phase of construction. The cloister was built only after Michelangelo's death in 1564. Construction began in 1565 but took at least until 1600. The upper floor
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4736-575: Is only by guided tour. The first section ("archaeology and history of an urban landscape") presents the results of the excavations, and puts them in the context of the history of the area. As well as showing the remains from the site itself, this section also tells of the Monastero di Santa Maria Domine Rose (begun nearby in the 8th century), of medieval merchants' and craftsmen's homes, of the Conservatorio di Santa Caterina dei Funari (built in
4884-621: Is rare and highly sought after. Yellow amber is a hard fossil resin from evergreen trees, and despite the name it can be translucent, yellow, orange, or brown colored. Known to the Iranians by the Pahlavi compound word kah-ruba (from kah "straw" plus rubay "attract, snatch", referring to its electrical properties ), which entered Arabic as kahraba' or kahraba (which later became the Arabic word for electricity , كهرباء kahrabā ' ), it too
5032-625: Is roughly 125–135 million years old, is considered of high scientific value, providing evidence of some of the oldest sampled ecosystems. In Lebanon, more than 450 outcrops of Lower Cretaceous amber were discovered by Dany Azar, a Lebanese paleontologist and entomologist. Among these outcrops, 20 have yielded biological inclusions comprising the oldest representatives of several recent families of terrestrial arthropods. Even older Jurassic amber has been found recently in Lebanon as well. Many remarkable insects and spiders were recently discovered in
5180-407: Is sometimes colored artificially but also called "true amber". Amber occurs in a range of different colors. As well as the usual yellow-orange-brown that is associated with the color "amber", amber can range from a whitish color through a pale lemon yellow, to brown and almost black. Other uncommon colors include red amber (sometimes known as "cherry amber"), green amber, and even blue amber , which
5328-674: The Franco-Prussian War . To keep the large Prussian Army at bay, France abandoned its positions in Rome – which protected the remnants of the Papal States and Pius IX – to fight the Prussians. Italy benefited from Prussia's victory against France by taking over the Papal States from French authority. The Kingdom of Italy captured Rome after several battles and guerrilla-like warfare by Papal Zouaves and official troops of
5476-596: The Italian Co-belligerent Army and resistance movement contending with the Social Republic's forces and its German allies. Shortly after the surrender of all fascist forces in Italy , civil discontent prompted an institutional referendum , which established a republic and abolished the monarchy in 1946. The Kingdom of Italy covered and at times exceeded the land area of present-day Italy. The Kingdom gradually extended its area through
5624-592: The Italian unification until 1870. In 1919 it annexed Trieste and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol . The Triple Entente promised to grant to Italy – if the state joined the Allies in World War I – several regions, including former Austrian Littoral , western parts of former Duchy of Carniola , Northern Dalmatia and notably Zara , Šibenik and most of the Dalmatian islands (except Krk and Rab ), according to
5772-616: The Kingdom of Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War . In exchange, Prussia would allow Italy to annex Austria-controlled Veneto . King Emmanuel agreed to the alliance, and the Third Italian War of Independence began. Italy fared poorly in the war with a badly-organized military against Austria, but Prussia's victory allowed Italy to annex Veneto . At this point, one major obstacle to Italian unity remained: Rome. In July 1870, Prussia went to war with France, igniting
5920-866: The Late Cretaceous . Amber becomes abundant long after the Carboniferous, in the Early Cretaceous , when it is found in association with insects. The oldest amber with arthropod inclusions comes from the Late Triassic (late Carnian c. 230 Ma) of Italy, where four microscopic (0.2–0.1 mm) mites, Triasacarus , Ampezzoa , Minyacarus and Cheirolepidoptus , and a poorly preserved nematoceran fly were found in millimetre-sized droplets of amber. The oldest amber with significant numbers of arthropod inclusions comes from Lebanon. This amber, referred to as Lebanese amber ,
6068-598: The Lateran Treaties , which granted independence to the Vatican City . The following decade presided over an aggressive foreign policy , with Italy launching successful military operations against Ethiopia in 1935, Spain in 1937, and Albania in 1939. This led to economic sanctions, departure from the League of Nations , growing economic autarky , and the signing of military alliances with Germany and Japan . Fascist Italy entered World War II as
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6216-604: The Lithuanian term for amber is gintaras and the Latvian dzintars . These words, and the Slavic jantar and Hungarian gyanta ('resin'), are thought to originate from Phoenician jainitar ("sea-resin"). A number of regional and varietal names have been applied to ambers over the centuries, including Allingite , Beckerite , Gedanite , Kochenite , Krantzite , and Stantienite . Theophrastus discussed amber in
6364-802: The Ludovisi Ares , Ludovisi Throne , and the Suicide of a Gaul (from the same Pergamon group as the Dying Gaul ) and the Egyptian collection (sculptures of eastern deities). The palace also includes the historic private theatre, at present used to house temporary exhibitions, and the church of Sant' Aniceto. In 1981, digging on a derelict site in the Campus Martius between the churches of Santa Caterina dei Funari and Santo Stanislao dei Polacchi , Daniel Manacorda and his team discovered
6512-464: The Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity. Amber is used in jewelry and as a healing agent in folk medicine . There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents. Because it originates as a soft, sticky tree resin, amber sometimes contains animal and plant material as inclusions . Amber occurring in coal seams is also called resinite , and
6660-508: The Rivne Oblast of Ukraine, referred to as Rivne amber , is mined illegally by organised crime groups, who deforest the surrounding areas and pump water into the sediments to extract the amber, causing severe environmental deterioration. The Vienna amber factories, which use pale amber to manufacture pipes and other smoking tools, turn it on a lathe and polish it with whitening and water or with rotten stone and oil. The final luster
6808-582: The Statuto Albertino , the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible solely to the king. However, by this time, a king couldn't appoint a government of his choosing or keep it in office against the express will of Parliament. Members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected through a plurality voting system in single-member districts. A candidate needed
6956-577: The USSR in 1946, becoming the Kaliningrad Oblast . Pieces of amber torn from the seafloor are cast up by the waves and collected by hand, dredging, or diving. Elsewhere, amber is mined, both in open works and underground galleries. Then nodules of blue earth have to be removed and an opaque crust must be cleaned off, which can be done in revolving barrels containing sand and water. Erosion removes this crust from sea-worn amber. Dominican amber
7104-569: The pardon and mitigation of punishment. The first state coat of arms of the kingdom was adopted from Sardinia-Piedmont. It included the coat of arms of the House of Savoy in the middle and four Italian flags dating from 1848. On 4 May 1870, by royal decree, two lions in gold , which now carried the shield , a crowned knight's helmet, which bore the Military Order of Savoy , the Order of
7252-572: The state budget , though proceeding with great caution. The government secured the support of large companies and banks. Most criticism the project came from conservatives, with a majority of the public supporting the soundness of public finances. The state budget, which from 1900 had an annual income of around 50 million lire, was to be additionally strengthened by the nationalization of the railways. In March 1905, after serious labor unrest among railroad workers, Giolitti resigned due to illness, and suggested his fellow party member Alessandro Fortis to
7400-405: The telephone system was nationalized. The Fortis government remained in office until the beginning of 1906. It was followed from 8 February to 29 May by a brief government under Sidney Sonnino . Finally, Giolitti entered his third term. In this he dealt mainly with the economic situation in southern Italy, due both to long-term demographic and economic factors, as well as natural disasters such as
7548-563: The 1904 law for the development of Naples , prepared by economist and later prime minister Nitti. In 1898, in order to make the steel-industry completely independent from foreign coal imports, the Neapolitan engineer Ernesto Stassano invented the Stassano furnace , the first indirect-arc electric furnace . By 1917, Italian iron and steel plants operated 88 indirect-arc furnaces, manufactured by Stassano, Bassanese and Angelini. In 1899
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#17327725406537696-582: The 4th century BCE, as did Pytheas ( c. 330 BCE ), whose work "On the Ocean" is lost, but was referenced by Pliny, according to whose Natural History : Pytheas says that the Gutones , a people of Germany, inhabit the shores of an estuary of the Ocean called Mentonomon, their territory extending a distance of six thousand stadia; that, at one day's sail from this territory, is the Isle of Abalus , upon
7844-515: The Chamber of Deputies. The highest state administration was divided into the following ministries, with their headquarters in Rome: Due to the war, a number of other short-lived ministries were created during the First and Second World War . The Court of Auditors of the Kingdom had an independent status. The King of Italy was formally the holder of state power, but he could only exercise
7992-548: The Crown of Italy , the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus and the Order of the Annunciation around its collar, were added. The motto FERT was deleted. The lions carried lances that held the national flag. From the helmet fell a royal cloak, which was supposed to protect the nation. Above the coat of arms was the star of Italy (Italian Stella d’Italia ). The newly adopted national coat of arms of 1 January 1890 removed
8140-601: The Fascist Party an absolute majority of the Chamber seats. Between 1925 and 1943, Italy was a quasi- de jure Fascist dictatorship, as the constitution formally remained in effect without alteration while the monarchy formally accepted Fascist policies and institutions. In 1928 the Grand Council of Fascism took control of government administration, and in 1939 the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations replaced
8288-612: The Germans exported amber to Pannonia , from where the Veneti distributed it onwards. The ancient Italic peoples of southern Italy used to work amber; the National Archaeological Museum of Siritide (Museo Archeologico Nazionale della Siritide) at Policoro in the province of Matera ( Basilicata ) displays important surviving examples. It has been suggested that amber used in antiquity, as at Mycenae and in
8436-515: The Gotthard tunnel 90% of miners came from northern Italy, while at the Lötschberg tunnel 97% were Italian, chiefly from the south. In addition to the now completed nationalization of the railways, the planned nationalization of insurance was tackled and thetrade war with France, which had lasted since 1887, ended. Giolitti thereby interrupted Crispi's pro-German foreign policy and thus enabled
8584-658: The Holy See against the Italian invaders. Italy's unification was completed and its capital moved to Rome. Victor Emmanuel, Garibaldi, Cavour, and Mazzini are remembered as Italy's Four Fathers of the Fatherland . Garibaldi was elected in 1871 in his home city of Nice to the French National Assembly , where he tried to promote the cession of the city from France to the newborn Italian unitary state. He
8732-444: The Italian republican drive for unification in Southern Italy. However, the Northern Italy monarchy of the House of Savoy in the Kingdom of Sardinia , whose government was led by Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour , also had ambitions of establishing a united Italian state. In the context of the 1848 liberal revolutions that swept through Europe, an unsuccessful First Italian War of Independence , led by King Charles Albert of Sardinia ,
8880-402: The Jesuit complex of Sant'Ignazio . The collection was appropriated by the state in 1874, after the suppression of the Society of Jesus. Renamed initially as the Royal Museum, the collection was intended to be moved to a Museo Tiberino (Tiberine Museum), which was never completed. In 1901 the Italian state granted the National Roman Museum the recently acquired Collection Ludovisi as well as
9028-455: The Kingdom of Italy was the result of efforts by Italian nationalists and monarchists loyal to the House of Savoy to establish a united kingdom encompassing the entire Italian Peninsula . Following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the political and social Italian unification movement, or Risorgimento , emerged to unite Italy consolidating the different states of the peninsula and liberate it from foreign control. A prominent radical figure
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#17327725406539176-428: The Kingdom of Sardinia ceded Savoy and Nice to France, an event that caused the Niçard exodus , that was the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy. In 1860–1861, Garibaldi led the drive for unification in Naples and Sicily (the Expedition of the Thousand ), while the House of Savoy troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States . Teano
9324-419: The Museum of Castel Sant'Angelo. Its seat was established in the charterhouse designed and realised in the 16th century by Michelangelo within the Baths of Diocletian , which currently houses the epigraphic and the protohistoric sections of the modern museum, while the main collection of ancient art was moved to the nearby Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, acquired by the Italian state in 1981. The reconversion of
9472-506: The Napoleonic precedent, so their harmonization was relatively straightforward. The next challenge was to develop a parliamentary legislative system. Cavour and most liberals up and down the peninsula highly admired the British system , which became the model for Italy. Harmonizing the Navy ( Regia Marina ) and the Royal Italian Army was much more complex, chiefly because the systems of recruiting soldiers and selecting and promoting officers were so different and grandfathered exceptions to
9620-401: The National Roman Museum. Its restoration and adaptation began in 1983 and was completed in 1998. The palace eventually became the main seat of the museum as well as the headquarters of the Agency of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities of Italy ( Italian : Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma ), in charge for the archaeological heritage of Rome. The museum houses
9768-464: The Royal Decree of 17 July 1861 which specified the exchange of pre-unification coins into lire and the fact that local coins continued to be legal tender in their respective provinces of origin. In the entire period from 1861 to 1940, Italy experienced considerable economic growth despite several economic crises and the First World War. Unlike most modern nations, where industrialization was undertaken by large corporations , industrial growth in Italy
9916-410: The Sardinian government to declare a united Italian kingdom on 17 March 1861. Victor Emmanuel II , since March 1849 King of Sardinia, then became the first king of a united Italy, and the capital was moved from Turin to Florence. The title of "King of Italy" had been out of use since the abdication of Napoleon I of France on 6 April 1814. Following the unification of most of Italy, tensions between
10064-499: The aim of establishing a base of heavy industry. In the 1880s industrialisation moved into high gear, which lasted until 1912/13 and reached its peak under Giolitti . Industrial plants soon clustered around areas of hydropower energy. Between 1887 and 1911 hydroelectricity became the main source of energy, with over sixty plants constructed. From 1881 to 1887, Italy's textile, mechanical, steel, iron, and chemical industries grew by an average 4.6 percent annually. The backbone of
10212-440: The amber of Jordan including the oldest zorapterans , clerid beetles , umenocoleid roaches , and achiliid planthoppers . Burmese amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar is the only commercially exploited Cretaceous amber. Uranium–lead dating of zircon crystals associated with the deposit have given an estimated depositional age of approximately 99 million years ago. Over 1,300 species have been described from
10360-465: The amber to have an unexpected color. Pyrites may give a bluish color. Bony amber owes its cloudy opacity to numerous tiny bubbles inside the resin. However, so-called black amber is really a kind of jet . In darkly clouded and even opaque amber, inclusions can be imaged using high-energy, high-contrast, high-resolution X-rays . Amber is globally distributed in or around all continents , mainly in rocks of Cretaceous age or younger. Historically,
10508-410: The amber while the resin was yet fresh, suggesting relations with the flora of eastern Asia and the southern part of North America. Heinrich Göppert named the common amber-yielding pine of the Baltic forests Pinites succiniter , but as the wood does not seem to differ from that of the existing genus it has been also called Pinus succinifera . It is improbable that the production of amber was limited to
10656-531: The amber, with over 300 in 2019 alone. Baltic amber is found as irregular nodules in marine glauconitic sand, known as blue earth , occurring in Upper Eocene strata of Sambia in Prussia. It appears to have been partly derived from older Eocene deposits and it occurs also as a derivative phase in later formations, such as glacial drift . Relics of an abundant flora occur as inclusions trapped within
10804-867: The ancient art (sculptures, paintings, mosaics and goldsmiths’ crafts from the Republican Age to the Late Antiquity) as well as the numismatic collection, housed in the Medagliere , i.e. the coin cabinet. The ground floor features the notable bronze statues of the Boxer at Rest and the Athlete . One room is devoted to the mummy that was found in 1964 on the Via Cassia , inside a richly decorated sarcophagus with several artefacts in amber and pieces of jewellery also on display. Sculptures of
10952-580: The architects Sangallo the Elder and Baldassare Peruzzi . When the Soderini family fell on hard times, he in turn sold it in 1568 to the Austrian-born cardinal Mark Sittich von Hohenems Altemps , the son of the sister of Pope Pius IV . Cardinal Altemps commissioned the architect Martino Longhi to expand and improve the palazzo; it was Longhi who built the belvedere . Cardinal Altemps accumulated
11100-590: The area of the ancient bath/charterhouse into an exhibition space began on the occasion of the International Exhibition of Art of 1911 ; this effort was completed in the 1930s. The palace was built on the site once occupied by the Villa Montalto-Peretti , named after Pope Sixtus V , who had been born with the name Francesco Peretti di Montalto . The present building was commissioned by Prince Massimiliano Massimo , so as to give
11248-639: The automobile industry commenced when Giovanni Agnelli bought the designs and patents of the Ceirano brothers and founded the Fiat automobile works. In 1906 another automobile factory was built in the Portello district of Milan for the French entrepreneur Alexandre Darracq and the headquarters of his Italian branch Società Anonima Italiana Darracq . In 1910, the company brought the first successful model onto
11396-692: The capture of Rome in 1870 from French forces of Napoleon III , Papal troops, and Zouaves , relations between Italy and the Vatican remained sour for the next sixty years, with the Popes declaring themselves to be prisoners in the Vatican . The Catholic Church in Italy frequently protested the anti-clerical actions of the secular Italian governments, refused to meet with envoys from the King, and urged Roman Catholics not to vote in Italian elections. Not until 1929
11544-415: The challenges of bureaucratic coordination. Italy has a long history of different coinage types . Italian unification highlighted the confusion of the pre-unification Italian monetary system which was mostly based on silver monometallism and therefore in contrast with the gold monometallism in force in the Kingdom of Sardinia and in the major European nations. To reconcile the various monetary systems it
11692-437: The cherry, and resin from the ordinary pine. It is a liquid at first, which issues forth in considerable quantities, and is gradually hardened [...] Our forefathers, too, were of opinion that it is the juice of a tree, and for this reason gave it the name of "succinum" and one great proof that it is the produce of a tree of the pine genus, is the fact that it emits a pine-like smell when rubbed, and that it burns, when ignited, with
11840-539: The church. Construction began in the mid-16th century but continued beyond the 17th century. With a side length of 40 meters (half the size of Michelangelo's Cloister) it today features exhibits on the Arval Brethren and on the Secular Games . The late 16th-century travertine well in the centre was added during the recent renovation. Showing over 900 exhibits on inscriptions/writings, over three floors of
11988-620: The coast west of Königsberg in Prussia was the world's leading source of amber. The first mentions of amber deposits there date back to the 12th century. Juodkrantė in Lithuania was established in the mid-19th century as a mining town of amber. About 90% of the world's extractable amber is still located in that area, which was transferred to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of
12136-556: The colonnaded quadriporticus of the Theatre of Lucius Cornelius Balbus , the nearby statio annonae and evidence of later, medieval occupation of the site. These are presented in this branch of the museum, inaugurated in 2001, which houses the archaeological remains and finds from that dig (including a stucco arch from the porticus). As well as new material from the excavations, objects in this exhibition space come from The building's basement contains archaeological remains. Access
12284-655: The completion of the Simplon Tunnel in 1906. Shortly after the railway began its triumphal march through Switzerland , each region wanted its own north-south connection and with the construction of the railway tunnels on the Gotthard 14,998 km (1872–1880), Simplon 19,803 km (1898–1906) and Lötschberg 14,612 km (1907–1913), three major Alpine crossings were realized that were important for Switzerland and neighboring European countries. The workforce of these monumental projects were largely Italians: at
12432-579: The construction of the new Italian ocean liner SS Rex , which set a transatlantic sea voyage record of four days in 1933, and the development of the seaplane Macchi-Castoldi M.C.72 , which was the world's fastest seaplane in 1933. In 1933, Italo Balbo completed a flight across the Atlantic in a seaplane to the World's Fair in Chicago . The flight symbolized the power of the Fascist leadership and
12580-534: The culture of Latium from the Bronze Age (11th century BC) to the Orientalizing Period (10th to 6th century BC) by means of archaeological findings from the region around Rome. The small cloister of the charterhouse has been recently renovated. It occupies around a third of the area previously occupied by the natatio (swimming pool) of the Baths of Diocletian. It was originally built alongside
12728-452: The development of large lumps of amber of irregular form. Amber can be classified into several forms. Most fundamentally, there are two types of plant resin with the potential for fossilization. Terpenoids , produced by conifers and angiosperms , consist of ring structures formed of isoprene (C 5 H 8 ) units. Phenolic resins are today only produced by angiosperms, and tend to serve functional uses. The extinct medullosans produced
12876-421: The disadvantaged regions of the south followed. However, their implementation mostly failed due to the resistance of the large landowners. Nevertheless, there was a significant improvement in the economic situation of smallholders . In 1911, 55.4% of the Italian population worked in agriculture and 26.9% in industry . Strong social tensions came to light, Italy's social legislation took last place in Europe,
13024-621: The end of World War II colonies, protectorates, military occupations and puppet states beyond its borders. These included Eritrea , Italian Somaliland , Libya , Ethiopia (annexed by Italy from 1936 to 1941), Albania (an italian protectorate since 1939), British Somaliland , part of Greece , Corsica, southern France with Monaco , Tunisia , Kosovo and Montenegro (all territories occupied in World War II) Croatia (Italian and German client state in World War II), and
13172-483: The eruption of Vesuvius in 1906 and the earthquake in Messina , Calabria , and Palmi in 1908. Entire villages were depopulated and centuries-old regional cultures disappeared. Nevertheless, there was a slight economic upswing in the south afterwards. The government, which had initially discouraged emigration to avoid labor shortages , now gave its approval to the emigration of hundreds of thousands of Italians from
13320-524: The export of fruit, vegetables and wine to France. He also boosted the cultivation of sugar beets and their processing in the Po Valley and encouraged heavy industry to gain a foothold in the south as well. However, the latter was not very successful. In 1908, some laws limiting working hours for women and children up to 12 hours were passed with the support of the Socialist MPs. Special laws for
13468-404: The family Sciadopityaceae that once lived in north Europe. The abnormal development of resin in living trees ( succinosis ) can result in the formation of amber. Impurities are quite often present, especially when the resin has dropped onto the ground, so the material may be useless except for varnish-making. Such impure amber is called firniss . Such inclusion of other substances can cause
13616-590: The first Italian built locomotives with the FS Class 113 and the later FS Class 650 . The first railway section on the island of Sicily was inaugurated on 28 April 1863 with the Palermo – Bagheria line. By 1914 the Italian railway had around 17,000 km of railways. During the Fascist dictatorship, enormous sums were invested in new technological achievements, especially in military technology. But large sums of money were also spent on prestige projects such as
13764-567: The fur coat and the lances and the crown on the helmet was replaced by the Iron Crown of the Lombards . The whole group stood under a canopy , crowned with the Italian royal crown, above which was the banner of Italy. The flagpole was carried by a golden crowned eagle . On 11 April 1929, Mussolini replaced the two Savoy lions with lictor's bundles . Only after his dismissal in 1944 was the old coat of arms from 1890 restored. The birth of
13912-524: The general system persisted for decades. The disorganization helps explain the dismal performance of the Italian navy in the 1866 war . Uniformizing the diverse education systems also proved complicated. Shortly before his death, Cavour appointed Francesco De Sanctis as minister of education, an eminent scholar from the University of Naples who proved an able and patient administrator. The addition of Veneto in 1866 and Rome in 1870 further complicated
14060-624: The important national collection of Ancient Sculpture. Findings during the urban renewal of the late 19th century added to the collections. In 1913, a ministerial decree sanctioned the division of the collection of the Museo Kircheriano among all the different museums that had been established over the last decades, such as the National Roman Museum, the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia and
14208-532: The industrial and technological progress the state had made under the Fascists. During the 1860s and 1870s, Italian manufacturing was backward and small-scale, while the oversized agrarian sector was the backbone of the national economy. The country lacked large coal and iron deposits. In the 1880s, a severe farm crisis led to the introduction of more modern farming techniques in the Po Valley , while from 1878 to 1887 protectionist policies were introduced with
14356-844: The industrial boom was, next to the labor force, institutions of higher learning such as the Politecnico founded in Milan in 1863 by Francesco Brioschi and the Technical School for Engineers in Turin established four years earlier. Steelworks were established with state and private capital, notably from the Credito Mobiliare : in 1884 in Terni and in 1897 in Piombino using iron-ore from Elba . The relative backwardness of
14504-516: The king as his successor. On 28 March Victor Emmanuel III appointed Fortis as the new prime minister, making him the first Jewish head of government worldwide. With Law 137 of 22 April 1905 he sanctioned the nationalization of the railways through a public recruitment process under the control of the Court of Audit and the supervision of the Ministries of Public Works and Finance. At the same time,
14652-613: The last two decades of the 19th century, Italy developed into a colonial power , and in 1882 it entered into a Triple Alliance with the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire , following strong disagreements with France about their respective colonial expansions. Although relations with Berlin became very friendly, the alliance with Vienna remained purely formal, due in part to Italy's desire to acquire Trentino and Trieste from Austria-Hungary. As
14800-470: The major party, but were unable to form a government in a parliament split among the three factions of Socialists, Christian populists , and classical liberals . Elections took place in 1919, 1921 and 1924: on this last occasion, Mussolini abolished proportional representation, replacing it with the Acerbo Law , by which the party that won the largest share of votes got two-thirds of the seats, which gave
14948-495: The market with the 24 HP and the brand name ALFA on the radiator grille. While automobiles were only affordable by few its popularity and fascination rose rapidly, and one of the first sports car racing events in the world, the Targa Florio , held annually in the mountains of Sicily was established in 1906. In the financial sector, Prime Minister Giolitti was mainly concerned with increasing pensions and restructuring
15096-580: The mid-16th century by Ignatius of Loyola to house the daughters of Roman prostitutes) and of the Botteghe Oscure . A second section ("Rome from Antiquity to the Middle Ages") is the Museum of Medieval Rome and illustrates the life and transformation of Rome between the 5th and 10th centuries AD. The cloister of the charterhouse of the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri , this
15244-413: The most highly prized amber is transparent, in contrast to the very common cloudy amber and opaque amber. Opaque amber contains numerous minute bubbles. This kind of amber is known as "bony amber". Although all Dominican amber is fluorescent, the rarest Dominican amber is blue amber. It turns blue in natural sunlight and any other partially or wholly ultraviolet light source. In long-wave UV light it has
15392-528: The most prestigious schools of Rome until 1960. During World War II , it was partially used as a military hospital , but it then returned to scholastic functions after the war only until the 1960s, when the school was moved to a newer seat in the EUR quarter. In 1981, when the palace was lying in a state of neglect and disrepair, the Italian Government acquired it for 19 billion lira and granted it to
15540-459: The neglect of agriculture, which declined after 1873. The Italian parliament initiated an investigation in 1877, which lasted eight years and blamed the lack of mechanization and modern farming techniques, and the failure of landowners to develop their lands. In addition, most farm laborers were temporary inexperienced short-term workers ( braccianti ). Farmers without a steady income were forced to subsist on meager food. Disease spread rapidly and
15688-556: The odour and appearance of torch-pine wood. He also states that amber is also found in Egypt and India, and he even refers to the electrostatic properties of amber, by saying that "in Syria the women make the whorls of their spindles of this substance, and give it the name of harpax [from ἁρπάζω, "to drag"] from the circumstance that it attracts leaves towards it, chaff, and the light fringe of tissues". The Romans traded for amber from
15836-472: The period between the late Roman Republic and the early imperial period (2nd century BC to 1st century AD), include: Frescoes, stuccoes and mosaics, including those from the villa of Livia , wife of Augustus , at Prima Porta on the Via Flaminia . It begins with the summer triclinium of Livia's Villa ad Gallinas Albas . The frescoes, discovered in 1863 and dating back to the 1st century BC, show
15984-499: The political and administrative systems of the seven different major components under a unified set of policies. The different regions were proud of their traditions and could not easily be fitted into the Sardinian model. Cavour started planning for integration, but died (on 6 June 1861) before it was fully developed – indeed, the challenge is thought to have hastened his early death . The regional administrative bureaucracies followed
16132-543: The prehistory of the Mediterranean, came from deposits in Sicily . Pliny also cites the opinion of Nicias ( c. 470–413 BCE), according to whom amber is a liquid produced by the rays of the sun; and that these rays, at the moment of the sun's setting, striking with the greatest force upon the surface of the soil, leave upon it an unctuous sweat, which is carried off by the tides of the Ocean, and thrown up upon
16280-584: The presence of amber, the island could have been Heligoland , Zealand , the shores of Gdańsk Bay , the Sambia Peninsula or the Curonian Lagoon , which were historically the richest sources of amber in northern Europe. It is assumed that there were well-established trade routes for amber connecting the Baltic with the Mediterranean (known as the " Amber Road "). Pliny states explicitly that
16428-494: The presence of both chambers. According to the law of 17 March 1861, his title was: " By the grace of God and by the will of the nation, King of Italy and King of Albania (only from 1939 to 1943) and Emperor of Ethiopia (only from 1936 to 1943)". He awarded the five Orders of Knighthood of Savoy and exercised constitutional sovereign rights. He commanded the land, sea and air power; he declared wars, concluded peace, alliance, trade and other treaties, of which only those that entailed
16576-521: The property of the Holy See in the 19th century, and the building was used as a seminary for a short time. It was granted to the Italian state in 1982 and after 15 years of restoration, inaugurated as a museum in 1997. The palazzo houses the museum's exhibits on the history of collecting (sculptures from Renaissance collections such as the Boncompagni - Ludovisi and Mattei collections, including
16724-462: The proportion employed in agriculture fell below 50% around the turn of the century. However, not everyone benefited from these developments, as southern agriculture in particular suffered from the hot arid climate , while in the north malaria hampered cultivation of low-lying areas on the Adriatic coast. The government's focus on foreign and military policy in the early years of the state led to
16872-578: The recorded Old High German word glas and by the Old English word glær for "amber" (compare glass ). In Middle Low German , amber was known as berne-, barn-, börnstēn (with etymological roots related to "burn" and to "stone" ). The Low German term became dominant also in High German by the 18th century, thus modern German Bernstein besides Dutch barnsteen . In the Baltic languages ,
17020-404: The resin first into copal . Sustained heat and pressure drives off terpenes and results in the formation of amber. For this to happen, the resin must be resistant to decay. Many trees produce resin, but in the majority of cases this deposit is broken down by physical and biological processes. Exposure to sunlight, rain, microorganisms, and extreme temperatures tends to disintegrate the resin. For
17168-470: The resin producer. Amber sometimes contains animals or plant matter that became caught in the resin as it was secreted. Insects , spiders and even their webs, annelids , frogs , crustaceans , bacteria and amoebae , marine microfossils, wood, flowers and fruit, hair, feathers and other small organisms have been recovered in Cretaceous ambers (deposited c. 130 million years ago ). There
17316-531: The resin to survive long enough to become amber, it must be resistant to such forces or be produced under conditions that exclude them. Fossil resins from Europe fall into two categories, the Baltic ambers and another that resembles the Agathis group. Fossil resins from the Americas and Africa are closely related to the modern genus Hymenaea , while Baltic ambers are thought to be fossil resins from plants of
17464-533: The right of legislation in conjunction with the national parliament, and the government was de facto responsible to parliament. According to the Salic Law , the throne was inherited in the male line of the royal House of Savoy . The king and his house professed allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church . He came of age at the age of 18 and, upon assuming power, took an oath to the constitution in
17612-691: The royalists and republicans erupted. In April 1861, Garibaldi entered the Italian parliament and challenged Cavour's leadership, accusing him of dividing Italy, and threatened a civil war between the Kingdom in the North and his forces in the South. On 6 June 1861, the Kingdom's strongman Cavour died. During the ensuing political instability, Garibaldi and the republicans became increasingly revolutionary in tone. Garibaldi's arrest in 1862 set off worldwide controversy. In 1866, Otto von Bismarck , Minister President of Prussia , offered Victor Emmanuel II an alliance with
17760-660: The secret London Pact of 1915. After the refusal by President Woodrow Wilson to acknowledge the London Pact and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, with the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920 Italian claims on Northern Dalmatia were abandoned. During World War II, the Kingdom gained additional territory in Slovenia ( province of Lubiana ) and Dalmatia ( Governatorate of Dalmatia ) from Yugoslavia after its breakup in 1941. The Kingdom established and maintained until
17908-464: The shores of Germany. Besides the fanciful explanations according to which amber is "produced by the Sun", Pliny cites opinions that are well aware of its origin in tree resin, citing the native Latin name of succinum ( sūcinum , from sucus "juice"). In Book 37, section XI of Natural History , Pliny wrote: Amber is produced from a marrow discharged by trees belonging to the pine genus, like gum from
18056-690: The shores of the southern Baltic at least as far back as the time of Nero . Amber has a long history of use in China, with the first written record from 200 BCE. Early in the 19th century, the first reports of amber found in North America came from discoveries in New Jersey along Crosswicks Creek near Trenton , at Camden , and near Woodbury . Amber is heterogeneous in composition, but consists of several resinous bodies more or less soluble in alcohol , ether and chloroform , associated with an insoluble bituminous substance. Amber
18204-648: The shores of which, amber is thrown up by the waves in spring, it being an excretion of the sea in a concrete form; as, also, that the inhabitants use this amber by way of fuel, and sell it to their neighbors, the Teutones . Earlier Pliny says that Pytheas refers to a large island—three days' sail from the Scythian coast and called Balcia by Xenophon of Lampsacus (author of a fanciful travel book in Greek)—as Basilia —a name generally equated with Abalus . Given
18352-515: The socialists were opposed not only to social policy but also to colonial expansion. Prime Minister Francesco Crispi financed the colonial policy with tax increases and austerity measures. The internal political differences culminated in the Bava Beccaris massacre in Milan. There, on 7 May 1898, there were mass demonstrations against rising bread prices. General Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris , after
18500-463: The south continued to be a central problem for the state. Various solutions were proposed for the so-called " Southern question " by Francesco Saverio Nitti , Gaetano Salvemini and Sidney Sonnino, but the government only acted in special problem areas such as Naples . The ILVA group of Genoa , with the political and financial backing of the Italian state, built the Bagnoli steel plant as part of
18648-466: The south. This was motivated by fear of increasing social tensions and monetary instability. In 1906 the government lowered the national interest tax rate from 5% to 3.75%. This move eased the burden on the state's required finances, reduced the fears of state bondholders , and encouraged the growth of heavy industry . The subsequent budget surplus made it possible to finance major government work projects which massively reduced unemployment , such as
18796-430: The state and its creditors. It consisted of a president, three section presidents, 24 councilors of state and the service staff, and was appointed by the king on the proposal of the Council of Ministers. There was brief experimentation in 1882 with multi-member districts, and after World War I proportional representation was introduced with large, regional, multi-seat electoral constituencies. The Socialists became
18944-487: The state of siege was declared, fired artillery and rifles at the crowd. Depending on the information, between 82 and 300 people were killed. King Umberto I congratulated the general in a telegram and awarded him a medal. This made him enemies, and in 1900 he, who had been king for 22 years, was shot in Monza by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci . Amber Amber is fossilized tree resin . Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since
19092-415: The support of 50% of votes and 25% of all enrolled voters to be elected in the first round of ballots. Seats not adjudicated on the first ballot, were filled through a runoff held shortly after the first ballots. In addition to this, there was a Council of State , which had consultative powers and decided on conflicts of jurisdiction between administrative authorities and courts, as well as on disputes between
19240-440: The term ambrite is applied to that found specifically within New Zealand coal seams. The English word amber derives from Arabic ʿanbar عنبر (ultimately from Middle Persian ambar ) via Middle Latin ambar and Middle French ambre . The word referred to what is now known as ambergris ( ambre gris or "gray amber"), a solid waxy substance derived from the sperm whale . The word, in its sense of "ambergris,"
19388-419: The territories it was promised . In 1922, Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy, ushering in an era of National Fascist Party government known as " Fascist Italy ". Authoritarian rule was enforced, crushing all political opposition while promoting economic modernization, traditional values, and territorial expansion . In 1929, the Italian government reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church through
19536-473: The tropics. It is not "succinite" but " retinite ". These ambers are formed from resins with a sesquiterpenoid base, such as cadinene . These ambers are polystyrenes . Class IV is something of a catch-all : its ambers are not polymerized, but mainly consist of cedrene -based sesquiterpenoids. Class V resins are considered to be produced by a pine or pine relative. They comprise a mixture of diterpinoid resins and n -alkyl compounds. Their main variety
19684-414: The unification period as continuing past 1871, including activities during the late 19th century and the First World War (1915–1918), and reaching completion only with the Armistice of Villa Giusti on 4 November 1918. This more expansive view of the unification is presented at the Central Museum of the Risorgimento . A major challenge for the prime ministers of the new Kingdom of Italy was integrating
19832-449: The way of production. This class is by far the most abundant. It comprises labdatriene carboxylic acids such as communic or ozic acids . It is further split into three sub-classes. Classes Ia and Ib utilize regular labdanoid diterpenes (e.g. communic acid, communol, biformenes), while Ic uses enantio labdanoids (ozic acid, ozol, enantio biformenes). Class Ia includes Succinite (= 'normal' Baltic amber) and Glessite . They have
19980-401: The words electric, electricity , and their relatives because of amber's ability to bear a charge of static electricity . Pliny the Elder says that the German name of amber was glæsum , "for which reason the Romans, when Germanicus commanded the fleet in those parts, gave to one of these islands the name of Glæsaria, which by the barbarians was known as Austeravia". This is confirmed by
20128-541: Was adopted in Middle English in the 14th century. In the Romance languages , the sense of the word was extended to Baltic amber (fossil resin) from as early as the late 13th century. At first called white or yellow amber ( ambre jaune ), this meaning was adopted in English by the early 15th century. As the use of ambergris waned, this became the main sense of the word. The two substances ("yellow amber" and "gray amber") conceivably became associated or confused because they both were found washed up on beaches. Ambergris
20276-506: Was called amber in Europe (Old French and Middle English ambre). Found along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, yellow amber reached the Middle East and western Europe via trade. Its coastal acquisition may have been one reason yellow amber came to be designated by the same term as ambergris. Moreover, like ambergris, the resin could be burned as an incense. The resin's most popular use was, however, for ornamentation—easily cut and polished, it could be transformed into beautiful jewelry. Much of
20424-401: Was decided to mint coins that nominally had 900‰ fine silver, but which in fact they contained 835‰ so as to approach the real exchange rate between gold and silver which was approximately 1 to 14.38. Exactly four months after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy , the government introduced the new national currency, the Italian lira . The legal tender of the new currency was established by
20572-411: Was decided to opt for bimetallism , taking inspiration from the French franc model, from which the dimensions of the coins and the exchange rate of 1 to 15.50 between gold and silver were taken. The Italian monetary system, however, differed from the French one in two aspects: silver coins could be exchanged in unlimited quantities with the State, but limited quantities between private individuals and it
20720-430: Was declared on Austria . In 1855, the Kingdom of Sardinia became an ally of Britain and France in the Crimean War , giving Cavour's diplomacy legitimacy in the eyes of the great powers. The Kingdom of Sardinia again attacked the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian War of Independence of 1859, with the aid of France , resulting in liberating Lombardy . On the basis of the secret Plombières Agreement (21 July 1858),
20868-404: Was finished in 1676 and the central fountain dates to 1695. Inside the square of the cloister, a 16th-century garden features outdoor displays of altars and funerary sculpture and inscriptions. These notably include some colossal animal heads, several of which date from Antiquity and were found near Trajan's Column in 1586. On the upper floor of the cloister, this exhibit shows the development of
21016-410: Was mostly due to small and medium-sized family businesses. Political unification did not automatically bring about economic integration , because of the sharp contrasts in culture, politics, and economic practices among the various regions. Italy managed to industrialize in several steps, although the country remained the most backward economy among the great powers (except for the Russian Empire ) and
21164-529: Was prevented from speaking, which led the Garibaldini to riots called the " Niçard Vespers ". Fifteen of the Nice rebels were tried and sentenced. Economic conditions in united Italy were poor. The country lacked transportation facilities (see here ) and industry, and suffered from extreme poverty (especially in the Mezzogiorno ) and high illiteracy. Only a small wealthy elite had the right to vote. The unification movement relied largely on foreign powers' support and continued to do so afterwards. Following
21312-482: Was restored in 1991. It is devoted to sculptures found on baths sites in Rome. Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( Italian : Regno d'Italia , Italian: [ˈreɲɲo diˈtaːlja] ) was a state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy , until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished, following civil discontent that led to an institutional referendum on 2 June 1946 . This resulted in
21460-459: Was the Roman question resolved and positive relations restored between the Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican, after the signing of the Lateran Pacts . Some of the states that had been targeted for unification ( terre irredente ), Trentino-Alto Adige and the Julian March , did not join the Kingdom of Italy until 1918 after Italy had defeated Austria-Hungary at the end of the First World War . For this reason, historians sometimes describe
21608-501: Was the patriotic journalist Giuseppe Mazzini , member of the secret revolutionary society of Carbonari and founder of the influential political movement Young Italy in the early 1830s. Mazzini favoured a unitary republic and advocated a broad nationalist movement. His prolific output of propaganda helped to spread the unification movement. The most famous member of Young Italy was the revolutionary and general Giuseppe Garibaldi , renowned for his extremely loyal followers, who led
21756-438: Was the site of the famous meeting of 26 October 1860 between Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II , last King of Sardinia, in which Garibaldi shook Victor Emanuel's hand and hailed him as King of Italy ; thus, Garibaldi sacrificed republican hopes for the sake of Italian unity under a monarchy. Cavour agreed to include Garibaldi's Southern Italy allowing it to join the union with the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860. This allowed
21904-411: Was very dependent on foreign trade , especially the international markets through which it imported coal and exported grain . After unification, Italy had a predominantly agricultural society, with 60 percent of the labor force employed in agriculture. Advances in technology increased export opportunities for Italian agricultural produce after a period of crisis in the 1880s. With industrialization,
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