The title is just alliteration, go easy on me. 
From 300 BC until 1820 Italy was a place of science, learning, and a prize for anyone to control (okay, maybe I'm pushing it a bit, but everyone wanted Italy). Beyond that, and once Italy unified in the mid 19th century, Italy was horribly weak, had a poor army, and was one of the least influential European powers up to today. Why did this happen?
I certainly think that a couple of issues that might have contributed to this might be centralization, loyalty, ambition and lack of resources.
Take another fragmented power similar to Italy... Germany. Germany became a world superpower for the decades after it unified, while Italy stagnated. Germany had resources and a high population, but those were about the only advantages that it held over Italy during the time, and yet Germany was nearly able to beat 3 countries at a time during World War I, and again in World War II, while Italy could barely handle one in either (first the stagnating Austrian Empire, and then Britain in Africa [among other countries]). What could be the cause of Germany becoming so much more powerful than Italy?
From 300 BC until 1820 Italy was a place of science, learning, and a prize for anyone to control (okay, maybe I'm pushing it a bit, but everyone wanted Italy). Beyond that, and once Italy unified in the mid 19th century, Italy was horribly weak, had a poor army, and was one of the least influential European powers up to today. Why did this happen?
I certainly think that a couple of issues that might have contributed to this might be centralization, loyalty, ambition and lack of resources.
Take another fragmented power similar to Italy... Germany. Germany became a world superpower for the decades after it unified, while Italy stagnated. Germany had resources and a high population, but those were about the only advantages that it held over Italy during the time, and yet Germany was nearly able to beat 3 countries at a time during World War I, and again in World War II, while Italy could barely handle one in either (first the stagnating Austrian Empire, and then Britain in Africa [among other countries]). What could be the cause of Germany becoming so much more powerful than Italy?