• Fascist leader Benito Mussolini forms a government after years of political and economic unrest following World War I. The fascist government's policies increase unemployment and decrease exports and eventually lead to significant deflation, which was accentuated during the Great Depression in 1929

  • The Vatican City State is created by the signing of the Lateran Treaty.

  • Italy invades Ethiopia. The League of Nations condemns this invasion and levies economic sanctions against Italy. These sanctions further the nation's drive for national self sufficiency and foreign trade is subsequently reduced greatly. 

  • After previously forming an axis with Nazi Germany in 1936, Italy entered World War II on the Nazi side. The war is a huge disaster for the nation with, the Italian army effectively being defeated in 1943. Italy goes on to become a battleground between Germany and the Allied forces until the conclusion of the war in 1945. 

  • The Allied forces' peace agreement with Italy, forces Italy to ceed land and pay hundreds of of millions of dollars in reparations. 

  • Italy joins the European Coal and Steel Community.

  • Italy becomes a founding member of the European Economic Community.
  • France signed the Masstricht Treaty, which forms the European Union.

  • The Euro replaces the Lira as Italy's currency.
  • The parliament approves a 54 billion euro austerity package aimed at reducing its public debt, which is one of the largest in the Eurozone.

  • EU regulators approve a state bailout of Monte dei Paschi, the world's oldest bank, which is at the center of Italy's banking crisis. 

  • Mario Draghi, an economist and ex-governor of the Bank of Italy, forms a government of national unity to lead Italy out of the COVID-19 crisis.

Sources:

BBC News open_in_new
Britannica open_in_new