Episode 170: Italy

**Reece Garlenski** (0:13)
My name is Ray Skarlynski, and this is Young History, episode 170 on Italy. The capital of this country is Rome.
Now, I usually open with talking about the name, and I'm going to do that in a sec, but I just wanted to say, for those of you that have watched for a long time, you probably know that I already did this episode. I covered Italy as my first episode just because it was a history I was very comfortable with about two and a half years ago, and now it's actually come up in the population list. So I am going to re-record this entire episode because I feel when I did it back then, it was not of the quality I put out now, whatever quality that is to you. But to me, I'm much better now than I was then. So I'm going to record this because I do have a lot of love for Italy. My family is half Italian, the other half is Polish. I put my soul into the Poland episode, and I want to do the same for Italy. So I'm going to do that in this episode, and I'm going to cover the stuff I usually do. So thank you guys for popping back. Just want to give you a little explanation, and let's get right into this. So some scholars suggested the name Italia may have originated from the Greek word Italos, which means calf. According to this theory, the region was named after the bull-shaped landmass of Italy as seen from the sea. Another theory proposes that the name Italia may have Etruscan origins. The Etruscans were an ancient civilization, which I'm going to talk about, and they may have referred to this entire land as Italia. As mentioned earlier, the name Italia could have been derived from the name of the Italic tribe. Over time, the term may have come to encompass the entire Italian peninsula, because that is where the Italian tribes lived, the Italic tribes lived.
And now for some facts for you guys. Italy is home to numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including iconic landmarks such as the Colosseum in Rome, the Leading Tower of Pisa, and the historic city of Venice. And of course, the archaeological ruins of Pompeii, which was wiped out by a volcano eruption.
Italy is synonymous with high fashion, boasting some of the world's most prestigious fashion houses and designers. Cities like Milan are known for its place in the global fashion world, and it hosts major fashion weeks there every year. Italian cuisine is one of the most famous things about the country, and I could do a whole episode on that, but just know, this food is delicious. Italy is renowned for its luxury goods, and that is because a large part of the economy is made up of luxury goods and handcrafted items. Things from very small, things as small as purses are handmade, and things as large as luxury cars are made by a designer, and were made by hand, and are very unique compared to the rest of the world. Italy is very known for its quality of craft. And Italy is a significant exporter of automobiles and machinery. Companies like Fiat, Ferrari, and Lamborghini produce some of the most well-known and renowned vehicles in the world. And I could continue to tell you more and more facts about Italy, but we're going to learn a bunch as we do this history. I just want to get right into that. So thank you guys so much for being here. And as always, I'm just going to say one more time, I don't want to dilly dally. Let's get into this thing. My name is Reese Garlonski. This is Young History.
And this is Italia. Grazie.
When the first Italians arrived on this landmass, it is hard to tell. People were not recording history, and archaeological evidence places it at as early as 20,000 years ago, and as far back as 200,000 years ago. But the first major people group that we will talk about is the Yamania.
And they had a major influence in a plethora of different ways. 90% of people alive during the Bronze Age were lactose intolerant. However, the usage of horses for their milk and meat by the Yamania is seen as the moment in history where humans became lactose tolerant, or at least started to build that trait. By 3000 BC, the Yamania mastered using horses for herding and hunting. The Yamania were one of the first civilizations to use wagons. Yamania language wasn't left in writing, but linguists believe the language was proto-Indo-European. That was because the different sound patterns from words can be traced back to the Yamania. They ran their civilization through a triangular hierarchy where clan leaders and priests were at the top, with priests holding power to command even the clan leaders. Warriors were the middle class, and then commoners and workers were the lowest of classes. The Yamania traveled through many different parts of Central and Western Europe, and they had a huge influence on the early people of Italy, but there are even more people that have a greater influence and are going to get into them right now. One of the big ones were the Villanovens. Villanova was the place these people left their remains, and this was found in northern Italy, eight kilometers south of Bologna. There were remains of burials that indicated social class, and then in another part of Italy, at Verruccio, another necropolis was found having remains in urns as well as vases that were almost indistinguishable from Western European and Celtic urns.