Italienische Einflüsse#

Italian Influences: Austria has had close contact to several regions of present-day Italy since Roman times, mainly intensified in the Middle Ages by the emperors' travels to Rome, in which Austrian princes participated. In the 12th century art objects from the Italian region came into the possession of Austrian abbeys (abbot crosiers at Altenburg and Goettweig, seven-armed candelabrum from Klosterneuburg). The Babenberg Leopold VI acquired Pordenone (before 1222), in Friuli; the patriarchate of Aquileia reached up to the River Drau/Drava. In the late Middle Ages Austrians studied in Padua, trade with and via Venice became important, and in 1382, after having acquired parts of Istria, the Habsburgs also acquired the town of Trieste. Several wives of the Babenbergs and Habsburgs also came from this region (Froiza Orseolo, wife of Duke Adalbert the Victorious; Viridis Visconti, wife of Duke Leopold III; Jeanne of Anjou-Naples, wife of Archduke Wilhelm; Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Emperor Maximilian I). Emperor Friedrich III called Enea Silvio Piccolomini to Austria, who was largely responsible for introducing the concepts of humanism to Austria. In the 16th century Italy became the destination of educational journeys undertaken by young noblemen, making Renaissance, and from about 1600 Baroque, art popular in Austria,. Architects, sculptors and painters from Austria were trained in Italy, spreading its style in the whole territory of the Habsburg Monarchy. From the 16th century on the empire experienced a substantial influx of craftsmen ("Roman bricklayers", chimney-sweeps). In the 17th century Italian became the most common foreign language in Vienna (newspapers and books in Italian), and the Italian theatre gained great influence. In the 18th century contacts became especially close due to territorial relations (Milan and Mantua as well as Naples-Sicily were Habsburg territories), the secundogeniture (right of possession by the second-born son and his line) in Tuscany after 1737 and later due to reigning dynasties in Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla. Italian influences became particularly predominant in music (Italian operas).

In 1797 Austria obtained important Italian-speaking territories with Venetia and Dalmatia, and after the Congress of Vienna the highly developed Lombard-Venetian kingdom. In the course of rising nationalism irreconcilable differences arose, and Austria became the main enemy for the Risorgimento (Italian unification movement in the 19th century). The wars of the 19th century (1848/49, 1859, 1866) caused Austria to lose its territories on the Apennine Peninsula, but parts of Tirol (Trentino), Istria and Dalmatia, that were inhabited by Italians remained within the union of the Austria-Hungarian Monarchy until 1918. Another matter of conflict was Austro-Hungary's function as protective power of the Vatican, although from 1882 on the Triple Alliance established a political pact and many Italians found jobs in Austria (railway and road construction). The end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries were characterised by increasing differences, which were eased only to a small extent by continuing cultural contacts (operas by Verdi and Puccini, Austrian Archaeological Institute in Rome). World War I and the fate of South Tyrol deepened the gulf, although political ties became closer after 1933 and, before 1938, Italy even temporarily acted as protective power of Austria against Germany. After World War II neighbourly relations were intensified mainly by tourism, as well as economic, cultural and scientific contacts. In the 2nd Republic, too, the biggest political burden for the relationship between the two countries was the South Tyrol conflict, which was ultimately settled after protracted negotiations.