In seeking the causes for the historical division of the Italian Peninsula, one has to go back
a long way, even before the collapse of Roman power in Italy in 476. From 410 AD, the
Italian Peninsula was subject repeatedly to invasion.  The successor to Rome was the
Eastern (Byzantine) Empire, whose capital was Constantinople. It had been for some time
more important and influential than Rome itself. 

Important dates:
 

• 410: for the first time in over 800 years, Rome was sacked, by Goths, led by Alaric

• 455: the Vandals sacked Rome

• 476: the German commander of the Imperial army, Odoacer, overthrew the last emperor in the western Roman emperor, and established his rule in Italy

• 493:  Theodoric, leader of the Ostrogoths defeated Odoacer

• 535-562: the eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperor, Justinian, based in Constantinople,conquered Italy, bringing it back into the Empire. The Ostrogoths are ruined, as is much of Italy

• 568: yet another Germanic tribe, the Lombards, invaded Italy, conquering the Po valley and much of central Italy. The Byzantines retained Sicily, the South,  Rome, Ravenna, and a strip of land commecting these two cities. Ravenna remained the Byzantine capital in Italy. This began the political division of Italy

• 751: the Lombards captured Ravenna and moved on Rome. The bishop of Rome was threatened by this, as the Lombards adhered to the Arian heresy, which the Church had condemned in 325

• 754: Pope Steven II sought aid from an Orthodox Christian ruler. The only one with sufficient power was Pepin the Short. He was the chief official of the Merovingian dynasty which reigned in France until Pepin deposed the last Merovingian king and declared himself ruler in 751. Steven recognized Pepin as King of the Franks, and in return, Pepin invaded Italy to rescue Rome from the Lombards. His son Charlemagne (768-814)  completed the conquest of northern Italy from the Lombards

• 800:  on Christmas day Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Roman Emperor. These events established the claim of Charlemagne and his successors to control of northern Italy 

Pepin was said to have recognized a document, later proved to be a forgery, according
to which Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome gave both Rome and
Ravenna to the Pope Sylvester I (314-335). From that time on, the Papacy claimed the
territory between Rome and Ravenna. Using a combination of clever diplomacy,
alliances, and military campaigns, the popes who succeeded Steven II managed to hold
on to much of the territory included in the so-called “Donation of Constantine” and at
times to expand it.

As long as both the Papacy and the Empire managed to defend their lands, division of
the northern part of the peninsula was inevitable. 
 

As the empire of Charlemagne (768-814), successor to Pepin, broke up, Italy was
invaded by Arabs in the south and along the western coasts as far north as Genoa and
Huns in the Po valley. By 950, political fragmentation was the rule throughout the
peninsula.

They succeeded despite waves of invasions in the ninth century. As the empire of
Charlemagne (768-814), successor to Pepin, broke up, Italy was invaded by Arabs in
the south and along the western coasts as far north as Genoa and Huns in the Po
valley. By 950, political fragmentation was the rule throughout the peninsula.
 
 
 
 

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