France–Italy relations

International relations between France and Italy occur on diplomatic, political, military, economic, and cultural levels, officially the Italian Republic (since 1946), and its predecessors, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (1814–1861) and the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946).

France played an important role in helping the Italian unification, especially in the defeat of the Austrian Empire, as well as in financial support. They were rivals for control of Tunisia and North Africa in the late 19th century. France won out, which led Italy to join the Triple Alliance in 1882 with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Tensions were high in the 1880s as expressed in a trade war. France needed allies against Germany, so it secretly negotiated a series of arrangements and treaties with Italy that by 1902 made sure that Italy would not support Germany in a war.

When World War I broke out in 1914, Italy was neutral at first but bargained for territorial aggrandizement. The best offer was made by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and France, which promised Italy large swaths of Austria and the Ottoman Empire. Both countries were among the "Big Four" of the Allies of World War I; however, Italian resentment at the difference between the promises of 1915 and the actual results of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles would be powerful factors in the rise to power of Benito Mussolini in 1922.

In the interwar period, France tried to be friendly with Mussolini to avoid his support of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. The efforts failed and when Germany defeated France in the Battle of France (1940), Italy also declared war, and was given control of an occupied zone near the common border. Corsica was added in 1942.

Both nations were among the Inner six that founded the European Community, the predecessor of the European Union. They are also founding members of the G7/G8 and NATO. Since April 9, 1956, Rome and Paris are exclusively and reciprocally twinned with each other, with the popular saying:

(in French) Seule Paris est digne de Rome; seule Rome est digne de Paris.

(in Italian) Solo Parigi è degna di Roma; solo Roma è degna di Parigi.

"Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris."