About the book: 1970 / Italy is an ancient and young country. As a single state, it exists for only one century. In fact, its history goes back almost one and a half thousand years, going back to the times when the formation of the Italian people began on the ruins of the Roman Empire. The first volume, “History of Italy,” covers events from the 5th to the 18th centuries. It tells about the medieval city and countryside, about the development of feudalism and the emergence in its depths of the sprouts of capitalist relations, about the Renaissance period, which is associated with an unprecedented flowering of science, art, and literature. However, after the brilliant rise of the Renaissance, the time of feudal reaction comes. The fragmented country, subject to foreign invasions, is in decline. Only in the 18th century. there are signs of recovery. The last centuries of the Middle Ages are narrated in the chapters that conclude the book..