What is the history of Italy between the Roman empire and the 20th Century? In my history classes we always would skip over this section and then suddenly out of nowhere, Italy became a country. Thanks in advance!
This question is really too big for even a single reddit post -there are many, many books about the history of Italy between Ancient Rome and the twentieth century. Honestly - there's a ton about the Italian Renaissance, and there are starting to be more on how the Reformations were felt in Italy. I'd say a weaker point in Italian historiography is post-Renaissance, pre-twentieth century.
It also depends on what kind of history you're looking for - religious? military? social? art?
If you want recommendations, you may need to be a bit more specific.
Even a simple list would tell you: Ostrogothic Italy, Justinian's reconquest for the Eastern Roman Empire, Lombard Italy, Papal States and Carolingian Empire, Venice, Genoa, Norman Sicily and Southern Italy.
For the Renaissance period look into Machiavelli and beyond