# HOI4 Italy Guide 2026: Every Focus Path (By Blood Alone)
> A tour of Italy's 314-focus By Blood Alone tree across twelve distinct playthroughs, from the historical Axis collapse and a competent-Mussolini Axis Victory through diplomatic, republican, papal, socialist, communist and novelty endings. Explains what triggers each path, what it becomes, and the two mechanics — a fast Ethiopian war and the Italian Civil War reset — that gate most of them.
- **Game:** Hearts of Iron IV
- **Category:** Nations
- **Author:** LongBeam (https://guides-factory.com/about)
- **Difficulty:** Intermediate
- **Reading time:** 44 min
- **Published:** 2026-08-09
- **Updated:** 2026-08-31
- **Tags:** Achievements, Economy, Focus tree, Single player
- **Adapted from:** [AtlasProductions - Every Way To Play Italy In Hearts of Iron 4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6d4mtNWKXA)
- **Canonical URL:** https://guides-factory.com/guides/hoi4-italy-guide
---
Up to date for the "By Blood Alone" DLC — named explicitly in narration ("every DLC up to Peace in Our Time active, but By Blood Alone is the one that updates Italy") and confirmed by a focus icon of that name in the tree itself. No patch number is spoken or shown. Checked against the video dated 2026-06-17.
**How to play Italy in HOI4** is really twelve questions rather than one. Italy's By Blood
Alone tree carries one of the widest sets of endings in the game, and deciding which one you
are steering toward is most of the work — the first two years are nearly identical
either way. So this 2026 guide does the shared half first: the early game, a focus order that
fits every branch, the Regia Marina, and the division types Italy's own national spirits
actually reward. Then it walks the twelve finished playthroughs the source video runs back to
back, and what triggers each one.
## 🎯 The core idea
This isn't one build — it's a map of Italy's whole 314-focus tree (up from 51 before its
rework), played as roughly a dozen branches back to back rather than one "best" build.
Below is every path the video shows, what triggers it, and what it turns Italy into.
free costs nothing
cheap small cost
setup needs preparation
grind pays off slowly
skip the thing to avoid
Four of the tree's political sub-branches, mixed and matched independently. The
bottom-left branch ends in a focus literally named **By Blood Alone** — on-screen
confirmation of the DLC named above.
## Two rules that decide almost everything else
Loses the war, switches sides, ends up a NATO republic
Axis Victory
Rush Ethiopia, stay Axis, move fast
Greater Italy — Mediterranean empire beside Germany and Japan
Italy First
Oust Mussolini for Italo Balbo
Imperium Romanum — independent fascist faction, not an Axis partner
Stresa Front
Oust Mussolini for Dino Grandi
Italian Empire — joins the Allies, absorbs Germany and the USSR as puppets
Christian Democracy
King restores free elections
United Italian Empire — neutral until late, measured Allied entry
Papal State
King cedes power to the Pope
Regnum Romanum — a literal world-conquering theocracy
Socialist Democracy
Civil war, back the industrial north
Democratic Italian Republic with communist advisors
European Democracies
Same civil war, played for speed
Free States of Europe — ends up puppeting everyone anyway
Communist
Civil war, back the agrarian south
Italian Union under Antonio Gramsci, Comintern-aligned
Anti-Stalinist
Same civil war, refuse the Comintern
United Socialist Front — invades the USSR instead
Roman Republic
King keeps his title, replay the Papal conquest
Roman Republic plus European Federation — cores to the Urals
Deunified
Reverse unification in game setup
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies — permanently fragmented, novelty only
In the video
No division templates, equipment designers, or production screens appear anywhere in this
video — it's told entirely through the focus tree, decisions, and the world map. For an
actual [division template](/guides/hoi4-defensive-division-templates) to hold these wars
with, that's covered in the linked guide rather than here.
## How to play Italy in HOI4: the early game
Every HOI4 Italy strategy below runs through the same 1936, because Italy is the one major
that starts the game already at war. Italy's Ethiopia war in HOI4 is live on day one, and
almost everything you can reach later is gated on how it goes.
What you are handed:
1936
What Italy actually starts with
Army
46 divisions and 264,000 manpower: 17 Infantry Division, 7 CC.NN. Infantry Division militia, 5 Mountain Division, 3 Cavalry Division, and the rest colonial Ascari, Spahis and Irregular Bands
Navy
154 ships: 2 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, 11 light cruisers, 82 destroyers, 51 submarines, plus 200 convoys. No carriers at all.
Air force
708 aircraft: 300 fighters, 288 tactical bombers, 72 naval bombers, 48 close air support
Research
4 slots. Expand National Universities in the industry branch is the fifth.
A lot of that army is decoration. The colonial and irregular formations are lightly equipped
and fine against Ethiopia; the handful of light tank divisions behave closer to cavalry than
to armour. Against France or Britain this is a starting position, not a force.
And then there is what Italy is handed that actively hurts. Eight national spirits are
running on day one, and most of them are bills:
Starting spirit
What it does
Victor Emmanuel III
The other good one, and the only spirit here that is purely a gift: +5% stability
Military Industry
−15% research speed across armour, weapons, artillery, air and naval; −10% factory output; −10% production efficiency cap; −5% production efficiency growth
Regio Esercito
−10% division speed, −10% division organisation, +15% org loss when moving, +10% land doctrine cost — against +10% max entrenchment
+15% night operations penalty, +15% bad weather penalty, −10% naval mission efficiency — against +10% ace generation and +5% air superiority bonus in combat
Vittoria Mutilata
−5% justify war goal time, +10 acceptance of fascist diplomacy, −10 for communist and democratic
Ricostruzione Industriale
The good one: +5% construction speed, −15% on every designer, −35% industrial concern cost
London Naval Treaty Signatory
Design cost caps: 11,500 for a heavy ship, 10,250 for a carrier, 5,700 for a cruiser
### How the Ethiopian war is scored
Italy is given two conquest missions from January 1936, one for northern Ethiopia and one
for southern Ethiopia, and the tree resolves the war for you into exactly one of three
mutually exclusive focuses:
Outcome
Focus that fires
Effect
Both missions succeeded
Solid Progress
+5% fascism, +3% war support, +3% stability, +25 political power
The middle result
Struggle in Ethiopia
−5% fascism, −3% stability, −25 political power
Both missions failed
The Abyssinian Fiasco
−15% fascism, −3% war support
That fascism swing is the same dial the civil war paths further down are turning. A run that
means to stay fascist wants Solid Progress; a run that wants the Italian Civil War does not
mind the Fiasco at all.
Whichever fires, **Servizio Informazioni Militare** follows it and builds Italy's
intelligence agency, and then **Triumph in Africa** pays the war off properly: +5% war
support, +5% stability, +50 political power, the Italian Occupation decisions, and the
National Balance of Power opening at 35% toward Mussolini. Two follow-ups behind it are
worth the political power — **Devalue the Lire**, which shaves 3% off consumer goods
for a year, and **Anglo-Italian Agreements**, which unblocks the Suez Canal if Britain has
closed it, once Ethiopian compliance is over 40%.
Tip
The timing rule in "Two rules that decide almost everything else" above is about the
emperor, not these missions — capitulating Ethiopia before he flees is what
the video's diplomacy depends on. The three focuses here are the separate, mechanical
scoring of the same war. A good run wants both.
One habit worth building during this war specifically: Italy fights in mountains and desert
for the rest of the game, so push a general toward Mountaineer and Desert Fox now. Holding
both terrain traits is what opens Adaptable, which cuts terrain penalties across the board,
and Ethiopia is the cheapest place in the game to farm the experience for it.
### The WW1 revanchism question
There is no branch in the tree called anything like a HOI4 Italy WW1 revanchism path —
the revanchism is a national spirit you already have, not a choice you make. **Vittoria
Mutilata** is the "mutilated victory" grievance modelled directly, and it never expires on
its own. It does two jobs at once: it makes Italy quick to declare war, and it makes the
democratic and left-wing paths further down measurably harder to negotiate from, because the
same spirit is −10 acceptance for both.
Where the grievance actually gets *spent* is the claim focuses. **Bend the Bars** and
**Subdue the Sentinels** in the Greater Italy ladder, **Masters of the Aegean** and
**Masters of the Mediterranean** behind them, and in Foreign Affairs the Balkan set —
**Albanian Occupation**, **War with Greece**, **Claims on Turkey**. If you came looking for
an irredentist Italy that takes back what 1919 withheld, that is the list, and Towards a
Greater Italy is its branch.
## HOI4 Italy focus order: an opening that fits every path
Italy's tree splits into an industrial and military half that every run wants, and a
political half that decides the ending. Take the first half in roughly this order and you can
still turn into any of the twelve paths below.
Two focuses in the African branch are mutually exclusive and easy to click
past: Polizia dell'Africa Italiana tunes the Colonial Police law further,
while Strengthen Ascari Corps instead hands you free colonial infantry,
cavalry and camelry divisions and the Reorganize Ascari decision. Take the Ascari if you
intend to garrison Africa with Africa and send Italians north.
### Supporting Germany: the Pact of Steel line
How to play Italy to support Germany in HOI4 is one focus and a short branch behind it. In
Foreign Affairs you first take **Balkan Ambition** or **Potential Allies in the Balkans**,
and either one opens **Pact of Steel** — which is mutually exclusive with both **Italy
First** and **Guarantee Austrian Independence**, so this is the click that commits the run.
Pact of Steel needs you at peace with Germany, sharing its ideology, outside any faction,
and with Germany already leading one. It pays +30 opinion with Germany and +10% factory
output for a year. Behind it:
- **German Military Cooperation** — −5% air and land doctrine cost
- **Sea Wolves** — +25 navy experience and a submarine research bonus
- **Secret Weapons** — +5% special project speed
- **Treaty with Germany** — equipment subsidies running both ways, with the DLC
Supporting Germany and being useful to Germany are different jobs.
Italy's real contribution is the Mediterranean: closing Gibraltar and Suez strands the Royal
Navy inside a lake, which is worth more to the Axis than any number of divisions sent east.
The Axis Victory chapter below is that idea played out.
## HOI4 Italy navy guide: the Regia Marina in the Mediterranean
Italy starts with 154 ships and the worst eyes of any major. The **Regia Marina** spirit is
−10% naval detection, −10% spotting speed and −5% fleet coordination
against +5% screening efficiency — a fleet that fights well and finds nothing. On top
of that, **London Naval Treaty Signatory** caps what you are allowed to design at all: 11,500
for a heavy ship, 10,250 for a carrier, 5,700 for a cruiser. And there is no carrier in the
starting fleet to work around it with.
The Naval Power Projection branch is where that gets fixed:
Focus
What it gives
Naval Power Projection
+25 navy experience and a 50% naval doctrine discount, for no prerequisite at all
Intensify Torpedo Manufacturing
+5% submarine attack, +5% convoy raiding efficiency and +5% naval bombing on the Regia Marina spirit
Expand Naval Facilities
+2 naval bases in each of the coastal states it names, plus building slots and naval infrastructure for what you control
Supermarina
+10% ship recovery rate, −5% strike force org loss, −10% naval doctrine cost, +50 navy experience
Incrociatori Leggeri or Incrociatori Pesanti
The real fork, and mutually exclusive. Light: +5% screening efficiency, −5% screen production cost, +5% screen speed. Heavy: −5% capital ship production cost, +5% capital ship armour, −5% strike force org loss.
Decima Flottiglia MAS
+5% submarine retreat speed, +2% convoy raiding, +2% critical hit chance, Junio Valerio Borghese as an admiral, and the Human Torpedo Raid decision
Cruiser Submarines or Midget Submarines
Behind the light cruiser fork, mutually exclusive, each a free submarine model and its own special project
Cacciatorpediniere di Scorta
A free destroyer model, a 25% naval doctrine discount and the Comandanti Medaglie d'Oro escort line
Navi da Battaglia
Behind the heavy cruiser fork: a free battleship model and two Littorio Class production lines
Proper Carriers
Where Italy's carrier arm comes from — a free carrier model, the 1936 carrier hull and an Aquila Class line. Mutually exclusive with Refit Civilian Ships.
Flotta d'Evasione
+50 navy experience, the Bold trait on two admirals, and two Costanzo Ciano Class lines
Two habits the fleet rewards. First, the thing you are actually defending is the convoy route
to North Africa: lose it and the Allies raid your supply at will while the army in Libya is
still walking. Second, Italy's screens are better value than its capitals early —
torpedo destroyers and armoured light cruisers, with heavy cruisers added as steel allows,
before anything larger. Contesting the whole Mediterranean against the Royal Navy and the
French together is possible and expensive; keeping Libya supplied is neither. For the general
version of that argument rather than the Italian one, see the
[HOI4 navy guide](/guides/hoi4-navy-guide-2026).
## Best Italy templates in HOI4: what the Regio Esercito rewards
The callout further up is still true: the video never opens the Division Designer, so nothing
in this section comes from it. What follows is read off Italy's own national spirits and army
focuses instead, which is the only honest source for a best-templates answer.
Start from the penalty. **Regio Esercito** is −10% division speed, −10% division
organisation and +15% org loss when moving, against +10% max entrenchment. That is a precise
description of an army that should dig in and let the enemy come, and a poor fit for anything
asked to exploit a breakthrough. Two focuses argue over which half of it you fix:
- **Preserve Army Traditions** leans in — +5% division organisation, +5% division
recovery rate, +5% infantry defence, and mastery toward Grand Battleplan.
- **A Bandit's War** fights it — −15% org loss when moving, +5% division speed,
Alberto Pariani as a Mobile Warfare chief of army, and mastery toward Mobile Warfare.
Take Preserve Army Traditions if your line divisions are going to hold Alps, Balkan mountains
and desert, which most Italian runs are. Take A Bandit's War only once you have genuinely
committed to tanks. Either way **Superesercito** is worth reaching: +5% division organisation,
−5% org loss when moving, −10% land doctrine cost and +50 army experience.
### The four templates the tree actually pays for
Template
Why Italy specifically
Infantry with artillery, anti-tank and anti-air support
Increase Artillery Production takes 10% off the production cost of towed artillery, anti-tank and anti-air. Paired with Italy's +10% max entrenchment, a line that stands still and shoots is the template the whole spirit set is describing.
Mountaineers
Five Mountain Division are already in the field and every Italian front is terrain. Divisioni Alpine adds +3% mountaineer defence, +5% mountaineer organisation and +2% special forces capacity, behind a 100% research bonus for mountaineers.
Camicie Nere militia
Seven CC.NN. Infantry Division come free and cost almost nothing to keep. On the Mare Nostrum branch, Auxiliaries raises the Camicie Nere template cap by 12 and adds +3% militia attack and +5% militia speed. Garrison and second line, never a front line.
Special forces: Bersaglieri and paratroopers
Bersaglieri gives +3% special forces attack and defence and +5% special forces capacity, and unlocks bicycle infantry. Fanti dell'Aria behind it hands you three paratrooper divisions outright, plus +5% paratrooper organisation and −10% out-of-supply attrition for special forces — which is how Malta, Crete and the Aegean islands get taken cheaply.
Armour is the part to be honest about. Italy's starting mechanisation is close to nothing, and
the tree's armour focuses are cost reductions rather than capability: **Italian Tankettes** is
−5% light tank production cost with +5% armoured recon speed and organisation,
**Self-Propelled Guns** is −5% on self-propelled artillery and [tank destroyers](/guides/hoi4-meta-division-templates-and-tank-designs), and only
**Ferrea Mole Ferreo Cuore** at the end of that line gives +5% armour defence and breakthrough
with two 100% armour research bonuses. A real Italian tank arm is a mid-game project funded
out of the industry branch, not something the 1936 army is anywhere near.
Vallo Alpino del Littorio is the other half of the defensive
answer: land fortifications across the Alpine states, plus decisions to extend them. If
Germany is ever going to be the enemy — Stresa Front, Christian Democracy, and every
left-wing path below — that border is where the war starts.
═══ the fascist paths ═══
## Historical — what happens if you touch nothing
The baseline everyone already knows: Italy fights a second Ethiopian war, sends
volunteers to Spain, joins the Axis, and gets dragged along behind Germany — losing ground
in Africa and needing German/Bulgarian help just to take Greece — before switching sides in
an Italian Civil War once the Allies land in Sicily.
The payoff for switching sides: peacetime NATO membership rather than sharing Germany's
fate, at the cost of the colonies and some land to Yugoslavia.
## Axis Victory — a competent Mussolini
The premise is "what if Mussolini didn't waste time" — rush Ethiopia, join the [Pact of
Steel](/guides/hoi4-germany-guide) on schedule, and move faster than the historical AI
ever does.
The result by the time Mussolini ends the monarchy and declares the Italian Social
Republic: Corsica, both Mediterranean exits, and puppet states running from France to the
Balkans.
In the video
Closing both Mediterranean exits traps the [Royal Navy](/guides/hoi4-navy-guide-2026) in
place — it's what turns Malta and Cyprus into easy naval invasions minutes later, and what
makes the eventual Britain invasion mostly a formality.
## Italy First — Mussolini gone, Germany kept at arm's length
If Ethiopia drags on too long, the Grand Council of Fascism ousts Mussolini for aviation
hero Italo Balbo — who builds an independent faction, the Italian League, instead of
following Germany into the Axis.
The actual fork: **Pact of Steel** on one side, **Italy First** on the other. Everything
downstream — Spanish-Italian Alliance, Italian Irredentism, the Balkan wars — comes from
this single choice.
In the video
A League member (Austria) independently annexes Hungary mid-game and justifies its own war
on Germany — Italy isn't obligated to join and instead signs a non-aggression pact with
Germany rather than open a second front it doesn't need.
## Greater Italy vs Mare Nostrum: the fork the forums argue about
Both fascist runs above end in a Mediterranean empire, and the argument about which one is
"right" usually skips the part that decides it: **Greater Italy** and **Mare Nostrum** are
not the same kind of thing at all.
**Towards a Greater Italy** and **Mare Nostrum** are two mutually exclusive sub-branches
hanging off the same three prerequisites — **Strengthen the Regime**, **Gain the
Blackshirt's Loyalty** or **Setting Course**. You get one per game. Greater Italy is a claims
branch: it hands you claims and a conquest casus belli and expects you to go and take the
map. Mare Nostrum is a construction-and-diplomacy branch: it builds, it recruits, and it
forms the Roman Empire out of whatever you end up holding.
Towards a Greater Italy
Mare Nostrum
Shape
A ladder of claims
A ladder of buildings, bonuses and allies
Extra requirement
None beyond the prerequisite focus
An owned state you control with at least one naval yard, and full independence
Formable it leads to
Greater Italy
Roman Empire
Main chain
Bend the Bars, Subdue the Sentinels, A Colonial Empire, By Blood Alone
The Italian Legions, All Roads Lead to Rome, then The King of the Skies, Modern Musculus and Caligula's Pride
Side chain
Masters of the Aegean then Masters of the Mediterranean: claims on the Greek and Turkish coast, then on every Mediterranean coastal state
Iberian Protection then South American Alliances: +75 opinion with a list of Latin American nations and an invitation into your faction
Best single modifier
A Colonial Empire: +15% non-core manpower
All Roads Lead to Rome: +10% supply range, +10% infrastructure construction speed, and an annex casus belli on non-allied European neighbours
What it costs
By Blood Alone trades −10% stability for +10% war support
Time. Nothing in the branch gives you a war goal early.
**Pick Greater Italy if you are already at war, or intend to be by 1938.** The claims are the
whole point: each focus in the ladder hands you claims on named states and a conquest casus
belli against whoever holds them, as long as they are not at war, not in a faction, not under
a non-aggression pact with you and not guaranteed by you. That is an entire diplomacy phase
skipped. And *A Colonial Empire*'s +15% non-core manpower is the modifier that makes an
African empire fieldable rather than decorative — conquering Egypt and the Horn is the
easy half, manning them is not.
**Pick Mare Nostrum if you have bought yourself time** — a fast Ethiopian war, a Germany
busy elsewhere, or a plan that does not involve fighting Britain until 1940. Its payoff
compounds instead of arriving: dockyards and building slots first, then +5% division speed and
+15% command power from *The Italian Legions*, then the supply range from *All Roads Lead to
Rome*, and three unique designs behind that — the **Aquila Magna** strategic bomber, the
**Cataphract Mortis** super-heavy tank and the **Neptunus Class** capital ship. *New Roman
Citizens* adds +5% compliance and −10% resistance target everywhere you have resistance,
which is the quiet reason a Mare Nostrum empire is easier to hold than a Greater Italy one.
The forum version of this argument is usually "which one wins faster", and
Greater Italy does. The more useful answer is that they win different games: Greater Italy is
a snowball you have to keep pushing, Mare Nostrum is an empire that garrisons itself.
## HOI4 Italy Mare Nostrum path: playing the Roman branch out
The HOI4 Italy Mare Nostrum path has one requirement people miss, and then a fixed order. The
requirement: Italy has to be fully independent and hold an owned state with at least one naval
yard for the focus to complete at all. The order matters because two of the branch's best
focuses are gated on research you should already have started.
The branch ends at the **Roman Empire** formable, which grants cores across the old imperial
map once you actually control it — Italy, Greece, the Balkans, North Africa and the
Levant. Worth reading next to the Roman Republic chapter further down: that path reaches a
comparable map as a *democracy*, through the European Federation decisions, while Mare Nostrum
is the fascist route to the same idea. Running both is the only way to feel how differently
they get there.
═══ the diplomatic pivot ═══
## Stresa Front — joining the Allies instead
A second way to remove Mussolini: diplomat Dino Grandi takes over, explicitly anti-German,
and steers Italy toward the historical Allies instead.
In the video
Capitulating Ethiopia early directly changes what France and Britain hand over here. Done,
they hand over North/East African territory, Malta, and Balkan claim recognition for free.
Not done, Italy instead gives up roughly half of Ethiopia and gets only an Austria
guarantee back — the creator admits he doesn't know the mechanical reason, only that the
link is real.
## Christian Democracy — sitting the war out on purpose
The king cedes power and allows free elections instead of naming a new strongman. The
strategy that follows is deliberately passive: no rush to pick a side, time spent building
industry and pacifying Ethiopia instead of steamrolling it.
This is the mechanical moment the fork happens — revoking the Acerbo Law is what hands
power to elected government instead of a new dictator.
This is the one path in the whole video where NOT rushing Ethiopia is the
deliberate choice — every other fascist or diplomatic path treats a fast Ethiopian war as
close to mandatory.
═══ the papal and roman endings ═══
## Papal State — from king to Pope to world conquest
A branch off the same fork as Christian Democracy: instead of restoring elections, the
king becomes an absolute monarch (needs 50% support) and then hands all power to the
Catholic Church.
The narration rounds this to "about 7 million times" — the tooltip behind it gives the
exact multiplier, 7,850,000×, for how much the Pope's domain grows overnight.
The "final crusade" that closes this path: Germany falls in about a month, the Soviets in
about three, then Japan and China, then the United States — full world conquest under the
Pope.
In the video
The old Pope reportedly dies of shock from the sudden expansion; the new Pope — shown as
Pius XII — wants Catholicism "brought back to its former glory." The game actually names
the state the "Roman Kingdom," which the creator calls "kind of dumb" for a Pope-led realm.
## Roman Republic — the strongest single result in the video
A hybrid: reachable when the king keeps his title even under a democracy, then the same
conquest pattern as the Papal State (Eastern Mediterranean, puppet Spain and Portugal, beat
the Allies) gets replayed to found the "Roman Republic" — a constitutional monarchy with an
Augustus as its figurehead.
"Way better because we can core everything up to the Urals" — cores running past Poland and
the Baltics into Perm and Tobolsk.
There's a skippable decision to release a "useless" Bosporan Republic
partway through this chain — the creator declines it and keeps the territory instead.
═══ the left-wing paths ═══
## The civil war split: north or south
Every path below starts the same way — a fascist regime that loses enough legitimacy
(usually by struggling badly against Ethiopia) triggers an Italian Civil War, and the side
you back decides both the fight and which tree follows.
The Socialist Democracy run backs the industrial north — the Communist run below backs the
agrarian south instead, which the creator says is a noticeably stronger start.
## Socialist Democracy — a democratic republic, not a communist one
Backing the industrial north and letting the moderate socialists win the internal power
struggle produces a democratic Italian Republic that still leans on communist advisors
"because they're so much better."
In the video
The creator flags parts of the Republican tree as visibly broken — a follow-up
mafia-cooperation focus does "literally nothing," and a focus called "Enemies of
Capitalism" is what actually gets the war goal on the USSR, despite this being the
socialist path.
## European Democracies — the same civil war, played for speed
A faster version of the same north-backing civil war, redirected into founding the "Free
States of Europe" instead of letting Italy simply absorb territory.
In the video
Only Spain, France and Switzerland actually join this faction — everyone else stays
neutral or leans Allied. The creator's own verdict: "there's basically nothing else to do
with this path," and it closes the same way Axis Victory does — by puppeting everyone.
## Communist — Antonio Gramsci and a decolonization loophole
Backing the agrarian south produces the "Italian Union" under Antonio Gramsci, joining the
Comintern and running a decolonization mechanic that gains territory while staying
technically anti-colonial.
This is exactly the requirement the creator says doesn't actually get enforced: the
tooltip states the focus should be blocked once the civil war has happened, but he reports
it still completes afterward anyway.
From the comments (not in the video)
- @Madmuli reports their own decolonization vote came out 5 of 6 regions choosing to stay
as cores, with only North Africa refusing — a real outcome the video's own single
playthrough doesn't show, since this run's own vote tally isn't narrated in full. — @Madmuli
## Anti-Stalinist — communist, but invading the USSR
Same civil war start, but this time refusing the Comintern in favor of a much weaker
faction of its own — and eventually invading the [Soviet Union](/guides/hoi4-soviet-union-guide-2026)
instead of allying with it.
None of this is narrated: relations sit at -10/-20 with 100%/100% trust, diplomatic actions
cost 10-100 political power depending on the action, and the visible army group runs
4/24/24/24/4 divisions by type.
In the video
This path is reachable even after fully conquering Ethiopia rather than only after letting
the war fail — the civil war start is worse that way, but keeping Ethiopia matters later
for the same decolonization-cores mechanic used above.
═══ the novelty ending ═══
## Deunified — playing a fragment on purpose
The opposite of everything above: a game-setup toggle (not a focus) reverses Italian
unification, putting the player in charge of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies instead of a
unified Kingdom of Italy.
Starting from the Two Sicilies with the historical military and the Ethiopian war already
inherited, the default tree can still conquer the other Italian mini-states one at a time.
In the video
Unlike Germany's mini-kingdoms, there is no decision anywhere to reform a unified Italy —
conquering every other Italian state grants no new cores and no name change. Creator's own
verdict: "is there a reason anyone should play like this? Not really. I just wanted to show
it off."
From the comments (not in the video)
- A reported bug specific to this path: designing any tank or aircraft (light tanks
possibly excepted) reportedly crashes the game, persisting a while without a fix. — @Leyte_Gulf_69
═══ what the comments add ═══
From the comments (not in the video)
- @NotARealHuman14 disputes the Axis Victory chapter's "the entire world has been carved"
line at 13:15, pointing out South America is shown unchanged on the very same map.
- @themakebelieverproductions6342 asks "what happened to my screen?" at the same moment the
world map goes near-white during the Papal "final crusade" — confirms that flash is shared,
not a one-off capture artifact.
Not independently verified: a comment citing "55 days at London" during the
Italy First UK invasion has no matching screenshot, so it's reported only as a comment
claim. Also unresolved: an unlabeled 50% indicator in the diplomacy-panel screenshot's top
bar, and most in-path day counts, which this video simply never states.
## Sources
Channel: AtlasProductions. Video: "Every Way To Play Italy In Hearts of Iron 4" (46:13).
Top comments reviewed; substantive ones credited above.
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## FAQ
### What is the best focus tree path for Italy in HOI4?
There isn't a single best path — this guide covers twelve distinct ones the video plays back to back, from a fast Axis conquest to diplomatic, republican, papal, socialist, communist and novelty endings. The strongest single territorial result shown is the Roman Republic path, which combines the Papal State's conquest pattern with the democracy-only European Federation decisions to core land as far as the Urals.
### Why does capitulating Ethiopia quickly matter so much for Italy?
Capitulating Ethiopia before its emperor flees the country changes outcomes across multiple paths: it's what makes Balkan fascist-flip diplomacy succeed in Italy First, and it's what determines whether the Stresa Front negotiation hands over free African territory or costs Italy half of Ethiopia in return for only an Austria guarantee. Several paths treat rushing this war as close to mandatory.
### How does the Italian Civil War mechanic work?
Losing enough legitimacy — usually by struggling badly in the Ethiopian war — triggers an Italian Civil War that replaces Italy's focus tree entirely. Which side you back (the industrial north or the agrarian south) determines both the fight itself and which of the socialist, communist, or European-democracy trees follows, effectively resetting the game into a different playthrough.
### What is the Papal State path in HOI4 Italy?
It's reached when the king becomes an absolute monarch and cedes all power to the Pope instead of restoring elections. The new Papal State's territory grows by a stated 7,850,000x overnight, and the path ends in a "final crusade" that conquers the entire world under the Pope — Germany falls in about a month, the Soviets in about three, then Japan, China and the United States.
### Is there a real division template or tank/ship design in this Italy guide?
No. The source video never opens the Division Designer, the equipment designers, or the production tab — it's told entirely through the focus tree, decisions and the world map, so no template or design numbers are reported here. Readers who want an actual division template are pointed to this site's dedicated defensive-templates guide instead.
### Greater Italy or Mare Nostrum — which should you pick in HOI4?
They are two mutually exclusive sub-branches hanging off the same prerequisite focus, so you get one per game. Towards a Greater Italy is the claims branch: Bend the Bars, Subdue the Sentinels and Masters of the Mediterranean each hand you claims on named states plus a conquest casus belli against whoever holds them, and A Colonial Empire's +15% non-core manpower is what makes an African empire fieldable rather than decorative. Mare Nostrum is the building branch: dockyards and building slots first, then +5% division speed and +15% command power from The Italian Legions, +10% supply range from All Roads Lead to Rome, and three unique designs, ending at the Roman Empire formable. Pick Greater Italy if you intend to be at war by 1938, Mare Nostrum if you have bought yourself time.
### How do you play Italy to support Germany in HOI4?
Take Balkan Ambition or Potential Allies in the Balkans in the Foreign Affairs sub-branch, then Pact of Steel — which is mutually exclusive with Italy First and Guarantee Austrian Independence, so that focus is the commitment. It needs you at peace with Germany, sharing its ideology, outside any faction and with Germany already leading one, and it pays +30 opinion and +10% factory output for a year. German Military Cooperation, Sea Wolves, Secret Weapons and Treaty with Germany sit behind it. The most useful thing Italy can actually do for the Axis, though, is close Gibraltar and Suez rather than send divisions east.
### What focus order should Italy open with in HOI4?
Italian Highways first — it is +25% infrastructure construction speed for a year and a hard prerequisite for Ministry of Italian Africa later. Then the Terni fork, Industria della Gomma Sintetica, either Strengthen Northern Industry or Modernize the Mezzogiorno, and Expand National Universities for the fifth research slot. Army Primacy and Naval Power Projection are worth taking early purely for their 50% doctrine discounts, which offset the +10% doctrine cost the Regio Esercito and Regia Marina spirits charge. The political half can wait until the Ethiopian war resolves itself into Solid Progress, Struggle in Ethiopia or The Abyssinian Fiasco.
### How should you use Italy's navy in HOI4?
Italy starts with 154 ships — 2 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, 11 light cruisers, 82 destroyers and 51 submarines — and no carriers, while the Regia Marina spirit gives it −10% naval detection and −10% spotting speed, so it fights well and finds nothing. Take Naval Power Projection for the free 50% naval doctrine discount, then Supermarina, then choose Incrociatori Leggeri for cheaper, faster screens or Incrociatori Pesanti for cheaper, better-armoured capital ships. The job that actually matters is protecting the convoy route to North Africa; contesting the whole Mediterranean against Britain and France at once is a far larger commitment.