Breakdown of Quella dinastia fu veramente influente in Italia.
essere
to be
quello
that
in
in / made of (material)
l'Italia
Italy
Questions & Answers about Quella dinastia fu veramente influente in Italia.
Why is fu used here instead of è stata or era?
fu is the passato remoto (historical past) of essere. We use it here because a dynasty is a historical entity from the distant past, and its period of influence is completely finished. If you were talking about a recent political family, you might use the passato prossimo (è stata). If you were describing their ongoing state in the background of a story, you would use the imperfetto (era), but fu states their past influence as a completed historical fact.
Why doesn't influente end in -a to match the feminine word dinastia?
Why is it in Italia instead of nell'Italia?
In Italian, you almost always use the simple preposition in without a definite article when talking about being inside or going to a country, region, or large island. You only add the article (combining it into nella or nell') if you add an adjective or description, like nell'Italia del Sud (in Southern Italy).