Italy

"This is Italy? This doesn't look like Earth anymore."

- Nod Militant, observing the current state of Italy

Italy (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic; (Italian: Repubblica Italiana), was a European country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shared its northern Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.

Italy has been the home of many European cultures, such as the Etruscans and the Romans, and later was the birthplace of the movement of the Italian Renaissance. Italy's capital Rome has been the center of Western Civilization, and is the center of Roman Catholic Church.

History
Rome, the capital of Italy, has for centuries been a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance. Through much of its post-Roman history, Italy was fragmented into numerous city and regional states (such as the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Republic of Venice and the Church State), but was unified in 1861. In the late 19th century, through World War I, and to World War II, Italy possessed a colonial empire

Red Alert Universe
The country was taken over by the USSR during the Second World War, and heavy fighting took place between the Allies and the Soviets over the region, and while the aggressor managed to push the defenders out from Italy temporarily, eventually the Allies took back the country. The third iteration of the Third World War had seen the Soviets capturing Rome along with Paris on BCN.

Italy was supposed to be one of the playable countries in the original Red Alert, as seen in the editor for beta version 0.09c. Eventually, it was cut, and its slot was most likely given to Ukraine, as both countries share the same orange faction color.

Tiberium Universe
In the 1990s, Italy once again found itself in the spotlight, as the first Tiberium meteorite hit Earth near the Tiber river in Italy. Considered an extremely valuable resource, the ecological consequences weren't at first understood or taken into account. Due to this, Italy was eventually overrun by Tiberium and designated as a Red Zone. Completely devoid of non-Tiberium life, ruins of civilian buildings and military installations litter the increasingly alien and hostile environment.

In 2047, during the Scrin invasion, Italy was one of the Red Zones where Thresholds were erected. These massive gateway towers were apparently supposed to open Earth to more Scrin forces, but GDI prevented the finishing of eighteen out of nineteen towers, with the last, on Sicily, secured by the Brotherhood of Nod. The Battle of Ground Zero and Battle of Kane's Tower occurred there.

As of 2077, Tiberium had mostly withdrawn from Italy because of the Tiberium Control Network, leaving long stretches of deserted landscapes with the occasional Tiberium glaciers littering the wastes. The last Threshold tower in Italy once more became a battleground between GDI extremists and the reunited Brotherhood of Nod as both sides attempted to activate the TCN for different purposes.

Areas of Interests

 * Rome: Rome, the ancient capital city of Italy, has been abandoned by 2047 due to extensive Tiberium encroachment. The Scrin built one of their Thresholds here during their excursion on Earth in TWIII, which was destroyed by a GDI Ion Cannon. In the Red Alert Universe, the city was captured by the Soviets twice.
 * Ground Zero: The impact site on the Tiber River of the first known meteorite containing Tiberium in 1995. More than half a century later, in 2048, the Scrin would build their Relay Node here. The final battle of the Third Tiberium War, known as the Battle of Ground Zero, took place here.
 * Northern Italy: Nod has a research facility here, hidden among the Tiberium glaciers. This was where Nod's Catalyst Missile was first deployed.
 * Italian Hills: The Scrin created a base here which Nod subsequently infiltrated during the Third Tiberium War.
 * Kane's Tower: The last remaining Scrin Threshold in Southern Italy, protected from GDI assault by ferocious Nod and Scrin resistance. It is now under the control of the Brotherhood.