Prodi, Romano, 1939-, Italian politician, premier of Italy (1996-98, 2006-8), b. Scandiano. Educated at the Catholic Univ. of Milan (grad. 1961), he is a trained economist and served (1978-79) as Italy's minister for industry; he also was a professor of economics at the Univ. of Bologna, a visiting professor at Harvard, and a researcher at the London School of Economics. An expert on European industrial policy, he twice served (1982-89, 1993-94) as chairman of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI), Italy's state holding company. Prodi reentered politics in 1994 as leader of the Olive Tree Alliance, a center-left coalition that was victorious in the Apr., 1996, general elections. As premier, Prodi formed the first left-leaning Italian government since World War II. He made Italy's joining the single European currency a prime goal and won passage of budgets that significantly reduced the government deficit. From 1999 to 2004, Prodi was president of the European Commission. In 2005 he won a center-left primary to lead the opposition coalition challenge to Premier Berlusconi in 2006, and the center-left subsequently narrowly won control of parliament. Loss of a foreign policy vote in the Italian senate led Prodi to resign and re-form his government in Feb., 2007. His coalition finally collapsed in Jan., 2008, and new elections were called; Walter Veltroni, head of the Democratic party, succeeded Prodi as coalition leader, and Berlusconi's conservatives subsequently won the elections.

Romano, Giulio: see Giulio Romano.

orig. Giulio di Pietro di Filippo de' Gianuzzi

(born 1492/99, Rome, Papal States—died Nov. 1, 1546, Mantua, Duchy of Mantua) Italian painter and architect. Apprenticed to Raphael in Rome, on his master's death he became Raphael's principal heir and artistic executor, completing several of Raphael's important Vatican frescoes. From 1524 he lived in Mantua, where he came to dominate artistic activity at the Gonzaga court and developed a personal, anti-Classical style. His most important commission, the Palazzo del Te (begun 1526), was one of the first Mannerist buildings to deliberately flout the tenets of Classical architecture. He achieved great fame in his lifetime, and his work presaged the illusionistic ceiling painting of the Baroque period.

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(born Aug. 9, 1939, Scandiano, Italy) Italian prime minister (1996–98; 2006– ) and president of the European Commission (1999–2004), one of the governing bodies of the European Union (EU). Prodi graduated from Catholic University in Milan in 1961 and did postdoctoral work at the London School of Economics. After serving as a professor of economics at the University of Bologna, he entered government as minister of industry in 1978. In 1996, after two productive stints as chairman of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (1982–89 and 1993–94), he was narrowly elected prime minister as head of the centre-left Olive Tree coalition. During his 28 months in office, Prodi privatized telecommunications and reformed the government's employment and pension policies. Budget disputes with members of his own party led to his resignation in October 1998. During his five-year term as president of the European Commission, the EU expanded beyond its western European roots to include Malta, Cyprus, and eight eastern and central European members. In 2006 Prodi again became Italy's prime minister after his centre-left coalition won the general elections.

Learn more about Prodi, Romano with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 9, 1939, Scandiano, Italy) Italian prime minister (1996–98; 2006– ) and president of the European Commission (1999–2004), one of the governing bodies of the European Union (EU). Prodi graduated from Catholic University in Milan in 1961 and did postdoctoral work at the London School of Economics. After serving as a professor of economics at the University of Bologna, he entered government as minister of industry in 1978. In 1996, after two productive stints as chairman of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (1982–89 and 1993–94), he was narrowly elected prime minister as head of the centre-left Olive Tree coalition. During his 28 months in office, Prodi privatized telecommunications and reformed the government's employment and pension policies. Budget disputes with members of his own party led to his resignation in October 1998. During his five-year term as president of the European Commission, the EU expanded beyond its western European roots to include Malta, Cyprus, and eight eastern and central European members. In 2006 Prodi again became Italy's prime minister after his centre-left coalition won the general elections.

Learn more about Prodi, Romano with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Romano-British culture is that of the Romanized Britons under the Roman Empire and later the Western Roman Empire, and of those exposed to Roman culture in the years after the Roman departure.

Arrival of the Romans

The Romano-British were originally a diverse group of Celtic (mostly or wholly Brythonic) peoples living, and frequently fighting, with each other. They first united when Roman troops, mainly from nearby Germanic provinces, under Emperor Claudius invaded Britannia in 43 AD. Defeated and conquered, the various tribes were assimilated into the Roman Empire as the province of Britannia. Roman businessmen and officials came to Britannia to settle by the thousands along with their families. Roman troops from all across the Empire as far as Spain, North Africa, and Egypt, but mainly from the Germanic provinces, Batavia and Frisia (modern Netherlands, Belgium, and the Rhineland area of Germany) were garrisoned in Roman towns, taking local Britons for wives and intermarrying. This diversified Britannia's cultures and religions, while the populace remained mainly Celtic with a Roman way of life.

Britain was also independent of the rest of the Roman Empire for a number of years, first as a part of the Gallic Empire, then a couple of decades later under the usurpers Carausius and Allectus.

Christianity came to Britain in the third century. One early figure was Saint Alban, who was martyred near the Roman town of Verulamium, on the site of the modern St Albans, by tradition during the reign of the emperor Decius.

Roman citizenship

One vector of Roman influence into British life was the grant of Roman citizenship At first this grant went out very selectively: to the council members of certain classes of towns, which Roman practice made citizens; to veterans, either legionaries or soldiers in auxiliary units; and to a number of natives whose patrons were able to obtain it for them. Some of the local Celtic kings, such as Togidubnus, received citizenship in this manner. However, the number of citizens steadily increased over the years, as people inherited citizenship and more grants were made. Eventually all people who were not slaves or freed slaves were granted citizenship by the Constitutio Antoniniana in 212.

The other inhabitants of Britain, who did not enjoy citizenship, the Peregrini, continued to live under the laws of their ancestors. The principal handicaps were that they could not:

• own land with a Latin title,
• serve as a legionary in the army (although they could serve in an auxiliary unit, and become a Roman citizen upon discharge)
• in general, inherit from a Roman citizen

But for the majority of British inhabitants, who were peasants tied to the soil, citizenship would not dramatically alter daily operation of their lives.

The Roman withdrawal

Britannia became one of the most loyal provinces of the Empire until its decline, when Britannia's manpower started to be diverted by civil wars, eventually leading Honorius to bring Roman troops back home to help fight the invading hordes.

After the withdrawal of Roman troops, the Romano-British were commanded by Honorius to "look to their own defences". A written plea to General Flavius Aëtius known as The Groan of the Britons may have seen some brief naval assistance from the fading Roman Empire of the West, but otherwise they were on their own. In the early stages the lowlands and cities may have had some organisation or "council" and the Bishop of London appears to have played a key role, but they were divided politically as former soldiers, mercenaries, nobles, officials and farmers declared themselves kings, fighting amongst each other and leaving Britain open to invasion. Two factions could have emerged; a pro-Roman faction and a traditionalist faction. The only named leader at this time was Vortigern who may have held the position of "High King". The depredations of the Picts from the north and Scotti (Scots) from Ireland forced them to seek help from pagan Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who decided to settle. Some of the Romano-British may have migrated to Brittany and possibly Ireland.

Some histories (in context) refer to the Romano-British people with the blanket term "Welsh". The term Welsh is an Old English word meaning 'foreigner', referring to the old inhabitants of southern Britain. Historically Wales and the Cornish peninsula were known respectively as North Wales and West Wales. The Celtic north of England was referred to as Hen Ogledd.

The struggles of this period have given rise to the legends of Uther Pendragon and King Arthur. It is sometimes said that Ambrosius Aurelianus, the leader of the Romano-British forces, was the model for the former, and that Arthur's court of Camelot (Camelod or Camelodonum is the old name for modern Colchester) is an idealised Welsh memory of pre-Saxon Romano-British civilisation.

See also

• Roman Britain
• Roman sites in the United Kingdom
• Gallo-Roman

References