Kingdom of the South
Regno d'Italia (Italian) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1943–1944 | |||||||||
| Motto: FERT (Motto for the House of Savoy) | |||||||||
| Anthem: (1943–1944) La Leggenda del Piave ("The Legend of Piave") | |||||||||
Territory controlled by the Kingdom of Italy
| |||||||||
| Status | Rump State of Italian Monarchy | ||||||||
| Capital | Rome (de jure) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Italian | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
| Demonym | Italian | ||||||||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy under Allied military administration | ||||||||
| King | |||||||||
• 1900 - 1946 | Victor Emmanuel III | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1943 - 1944 | Pietro Badoglio | ||||||||
| Historical era | |||||||||
| 8 September 1943 | |||||||||
| 29 September 1943 | |||||||||
| 4 June 1944 | |||||||||
| Currency | AM-Lira | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | IT | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Italy | ||||||||
The Kingdom of the South (Italian: Regno del Sud) was the short period of the Kingdom of Italy from 1943 to 1944, when Pietro Badoglio controlled the country in the aftermath of the German occupation of Italy in the latter part of World War II. During this period, the country was under the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories in southern Italy, as opposed to the German-occupied northern and central Italy, where the Italian Social Republic was established.
Strictly speaking, the term is used with reference to the period between September 1943, when King Victor Emmanuel III and the government fled Rome to Brindisi in the aftermath of the Armistice of Cassibile until Rome was liberated by the Allies on June 1944 and resumed its function as capital of Italy. However, its use is often extended to cover the period up to 1945 and the end of the war, that is, the entire period that Italy remained divided, during which time the Italian government, although it had re-established itself in Rome, still did not have full control of its nominal territory or local, police and military bodies. Administrative, military and political activities, and their documentation, were split between those managed by the government of Rome, by the Italian Social Republic, by the partisan forces and by the armies in the field.
Regno del Sud was never an official designation. All documents and acts continued to refer to the Kingdom of Italy, and it was recognized internationally (other than by the Axis powers) as the legitimate state for the whole of Italy, including the German-occupied north.