Region
Italia
Italien · Italy
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Italia began as a small realm: the name first belonged to the lands of a prince called Italus at the toe of the peninsula, and only under Augustus came to mean the whole country. Greek writers linked it with vitulus, a calf, and with the cattle this land was rich in, and during the Social War of 90 to 88 BC the rebel Italian allies struck coins showing a calf with the word Viteliu. On the map the letters stretch from the Alps to Rome across all of upper Italy, perhaps echoing the diocese of Italy created under Diocletian, and the second I quietly cuts through a road line.