Italian culture in the context of "Augustan literature (ancient Rome)"

Italians (Italian: italiani, pronounced [itaˈljaːni]) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common culture, history, ancestry and language. Their ancestors, differing regionally, include all the various ancient peoples of Italy and among them the Romans, who helped create and evolve the Italian identity.The Latin equivalent of the term Italian had been in use for natives of the geographical region since antiquity. Ethnic Italians (a group which includes people of Italian descent without Italian citizenship) can be distinguished from Italian nationals, who are citizens of Italy regardless of ancestry or nation of residence.

The majority of Italian nationals are native speakers of the country's official language, Italian, a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin. However, some of them also speak a regional or minority language native to Italy, the existence of which predates the national language. (According to UNESCO, there are approximately 30 languages native to Italy, although many are often misleadingly referred to as "Italian dialects".)

Duecento (UK: /ˌdjuːəˈtʃɛntoʊ/ DEW-ə-CHEN-toh, Italian: [ˌdu.eˈtʃɛnto]; lit. 'two hundred', short for '1200'), or Dugento, is the Italian word for the Italian culture of the 13th century—that is to say 1200 to 1299. It was during this period that the first shoots of the Italian Renaissance appeared in art and literature, to be further developed in the following trecento period.

This period grew out of the Renaissance of the 12th century and movements originating elsewhere, such as the Gothic architecture of France. Most of the innovation in both the visual arts and literature was concentrated in the second half of the century, after about 1250, when major new directions opened up in both painting and sculpture, mostly in northern Italy, and the Dolce Stil Novo (Sweet New Style) emerged in poetry.

Italianization (Italian: italianizzazione [italjaniddzatˈtsjoːne]; Croatian: talijanizacija; French: italianisation; Spanish: italianización; Portuguese: italianização; Slovene: poitaljančevanje; German: Italianisierung; Greek: Ιταλοποίηση, romanized: Italopoíisi) is the spread of Italian culture, language and identity by way of integration or assimilation. It is also known for a process organized by the Kingdom of Italy to force cultural and ethnic assimilation of the native populations living, primarily, in the former Austro-Hungarian territories that were transferred to Italy after World War I in exchange for Italy having joined the Triple Entente in 1915; this process was mainly conducted during the period of Fascist rule between 1922 and 1943.

Romanticism in Italy was a distinctive blend of European romantic ideals and Italian cultural traditions. It emphasized relationship with nature, emotion, imagination and individual freedom, as well as reevaluating the spiritual, religious, and historical aspects of national identity, generating a desire for political union.

Romantic culture in Italy thus played a key role in the Risorgimento, tying itself to the struggle for national unity. While sharing common ground with Romanticism elsewhere in Europe, such as opposition to the Enlightenment and Neoclassicism, Italian Romanticism developed distinctive characteristics influenced by Italy's own classical heritage and its unique political context.