Italy unified in the 15th century: the hoax spreading on YouTube

Italy unified in the 15th century: the hoax spreading on YouTube

The idea that a YouTuber and Google's artificial intelligence claim Italy attempted to unify in the 15th century and failed would be amusing if it weren't dangerous when misinformation dresses itself up as history. The claim, which has spread like wildfire on social media, clashes head-on with what any high school student knows: the Italian peninsula at that time was a chessboard of kingdoms, republics and papal states in constant tension, but with no real unification project.

The Peace of Lodi (1454) is often cited as an example of this supposed attempt, but a little scratching is enough: it was a non-aggression pact between Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States and Naples to carve up the pie, not a declaration of Italian unity. In fact, soon afterwards the French, Spanish and Germans arrived to fight over the territory. Real unification would not come until the Risorgimento of the 19th century.

Were there Italians who dreamed of unity?

Yes, but they were isolated visionaries. Machiavelli, for example, longed for a prince who would expel the "barbarians from beyond the Alps" (French, Spanish, imperial forces) and unify the peninsula, then the most developed territory in Europe but subject to foreign powers. However, his wish never left the page: most Italians were more concerned with their own local affairs than with an abstract idea called Italy.

One of the elements feeding the confusion is the role of the Crown of Aragon, which from the 13th century controlled the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily through the Valencians. But that was not a "united Italy", it was the rule of a foreign monarchy over part of the territory, similar to the earlier Byzantine or Norman presence.

The conclusion is clear: Italian unification in the 15th century is a modern myth, probably the result of a hasty reading of the Peace of Lodi or the idealization of figures like Machiavelli. But if the YouTuber and Google's AI say so, maybe we should revise the history books. Or not.