Were people from the Italian area called Italians even before the unification?

by Aureus07
AlviseFalier

Yes, in spite of long discussions on the method by which unification occurred in the 19th century, "Italy" as a construct existed long before the proclamation of the Italian kingdom in 1861, and there had been several polities calling themselves "Kingdom of Italy" between the fall of the Roman Empire and the 19th century. I wrote a long and winding answer on the use of the name "Italy" for a political construct in this older answer.