Italy History

The fascist period of the twentieth century was a low point in Italy’s history. In 1925 Mussolini gained power and entered the country into WWII on the side of Germany. The defeat followed and Mussolini was killed by partisans in 1945.

Insofar as the post war era is concerned, Italy can be called highly successful; it was one of the founding members of the EC (European Community); it survived a time of terror during the Seventies and grew economically until 1980, at which point followed several crises and bribery scandals.

Media magnate Silvio Berlusconi became Prime minister in 1994 for a short while, and in 2001 he again became Italy’s Prime Minister. After the vote in 2006, the country’s general elections were won by Romano Prodi, who is supported by a centre-left coalition.

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