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.

Since April 9, 1956, Rome and Paris are exclusively and reciprocally twinned with each other, with the popular saying: The France-Italy Treaty, signed in 1947, established a close partnership between France and Italy following World War II.

The France-Italy Treaty played a significant role in promoting peace and stability in post-war Europe while fostering mutual prosperity and collaboration between France and Italy.

[5] France played a central role as Emperor Napoleon III sponsored the unification of Italy in the 1850s, and then blocked it by protecting the papal states in the 1860s.

Italy, a latecomer to imperialism also wanted Tunisia because many Italians lived there and especially because control of both Tunis and Sicily would make it a major Mediterranean power.

The new Kaiser William II removed Bismarck from power in 1890, and engaged in reckless diplomatic adventurism in North Africa that disturbed Rome and Paris.

[10] As a consequence, when the First World War broke out in July 1914, Italy announced the Triple Alliance did not apply, declared itself neutral, and negotiated the best deal available.

Britain and France thought Italian military manpower would be an advantage, and offered Italy large swaths of territory from Austria and the Ottoman Empire.

[15] In September 1938 in the Munich Agreement Britain and France used appeasement to meet Hitler's commands control of the German-speaking portion of Czechoslovakia.

The Vichy regime that controlled southern France was friendly toward Italy, seeking concessions of the sort Germany would never make in its occupation zone.

With a powerful Communist Party in Parliament, and a strong presence of neutral elements among the people, Italy was at first hesitant to join NATO.

However, French leadership realized soon enough that the security of their country depended on a non-hostile Mediterranean region, leading to overall support of Italy joining.

Wanting closer ties to the United States, Italy did eventually join NATO, but avoided deep involvement in military planning.

[20][21] In the 1960s, France's Charles de Gaulle, developed a foreign policy that would minimize the role of Britain and the United States, while trying to build up an independent European base.

Italy generally was reluctant to follow France, and insisted on the importance of the strong European Union that included Britain.

In June 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Italy of "cynicism and irresponsibility" for turning away the Aquarius Dignitus migrant rescue ship.

[24] In September 2018, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini condemned France's foreign policy in Libya, including its advocacy for the 2011 military intervention in Libya and actions during the Second Libyan Civil War, accusing France of "putting at risk the security of North Africa and, as a result, of Europe as a whole" for "economic motives and selfish national interest".

[25] On 9 October 2018, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe accused Salvini of "posturing" on immigration and urged Italy to coordinate with other European countries prior to a meeting between the two men.

Immediately following the meeting, Salvini praised the leader of the French opposition National Rally party, noting that he feels "closer to the views of Marine Le Pen".

[27] On 7 January 2019, both Italian Deputy Prime Ministers, Salvini and Luigi Di Maio, announced their support for the yellow vests movement in France, which has been involved in widespread protests against the French government.

[31] On 5 February 2019, Di Maio met with leaders of the French yellow vests movement, saying "The wind of change has crossed the Alps,".

[32] On 7 February 2019, France recalled its ambassador from Rome in order to protest Italian criticism of French policies, which it described as "repeated accusations, unfounded attacks and outrageous declarations" that were "unprecedented since the end of the war".

[34] In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde on 27 February 2020, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio praised Macron's trip to Naples during the outbreak as a show of European solidarity.

[35] On that same day, during the first Franco-Italian summit since the cooling of relations in 2018, Premier Giuseppe Conte further remarked that France is Italy's historic ally and that ties between the two countries can never be damaged in the long-term due to occasional disagreements.

A notable and more recent example, the Renaissance had great political, ideological, social and architectural influence on France during the 16th century, and is regarded as a precursor to the Age of Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

Benvenuto Cellini and Leonardo da Vinci were active at Francis I's court and brought with them Italian models for the emergent French Renaissance.

[40] Immigrants have sometimes suffered a violent anti-Italianism like the Vêpres marseillaises [fr] (Marseilles vespers) in June 1881 or Aigues-Mortes massacre on 17 August 1893.

[citation needed] Provençal writers and troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries had an important influence on the Dolce Stil Novo movement and on Dante Alighieri.

The academy was founded in 1666 by Louis XIV to train French artists (painters, sculptors, architects) and make them familiar with Roman and Italian Renaissance art.

The Savoy dynasty who ruled on Piedmont and Sardinia and led the unification of Italy in 1861 is of French descent, coming from the French-speaking region of Savoie, in the western Alps.