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Italy Overview

The Italian Republic or Italy (Italian: Repubblica Italiana or Italia) is a country in Southern Europe. It comprises a boot-shaped peninsula and two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia, and shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. It is a founding member of what is now the European Union, and a member state of the United Nations, NATO and the G8 nations. The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italian territory.

Official language - Italian

Capital and largest city - Rome

President - Carlo Azeglio Ciampi

Prime minister - Silvio Berlusconi

Population (2004) - 57,998,353

Unification - 17 March 1861

Currency - Euro (€)2

Time zone - CET (UTC+1)

- in summer - CEST (UTC+2)

Calling Code +39

History

Italy has shaped the cultural and social development of the whole Mediterranean area, deeply influencing European culture as well. Important cultures and civilizations have existed there since prehistoric times. After Magna Graecia, the Etruscan civilization and especially the Roman Republic and Empire that dominated this part of the world for many centuries, Italy was central to European philosophy, science and art during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Modern Italy became a nation-state belatedly -- on March 17, 1861, when most of the states of the peninsula were united under king Victor Emmanuel II of the Savoy dynasty, which ruled over Piedmont. The architects of Italian unification were Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, the Chief Minister of Victor Emmanuel, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and national hero. Rome itself remained for a decade under the Papacy, and became part of the Kingdom of Italy only on September 20, 1870, the final date of Italian unification. The Vatican is now an independent enclave surrounded by Italy, as is San Marino.

The Fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini that took over in 1922 led to the alliance with Germany and other Axis Powers and ultimately Italy's defeat in World War II. On June 2, 1946, a referendum on the monarchy resulted in the establishment of the Italian republic, which led to the adoption of a new constitution on January 1, 1948.

Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Union, and hence joined the growing political and economic unification of Western Europe, including the introduction of the Euro in 1999.

The name Italy (Italia) is an ancient name for the country and people of Southern Italy. Its origin is unclear, but could mean "Land of Cattle Calves or Veal". Coins bearing the name Italia were minted by an alliance of Italic tribes (Sabines, Samnites, Umbrians and other) competing with Rome in the first century B.C. By the time of emperor Augustus approximately, current territory of Italy was included in Italia as the central unit of the Empire; Cisalpine Gaul, the Upper Po valley, for example was appended in 42 B.C. Ever since, "Italy" or "Italian" was the collective name for diverse states appearing on the peninsula and their overseas properties.

Regions

Italy is subdivided into 20 regions (regioni, singular regione), of which five enjoy a special autonomous status, marked by an *:

* Abruzzo

* Basilicata

* Calabria

* Campania

* Emilia-Romagna

* Friuli-Venezia Giulia *

* Latium (Lazio)

* Liguria

* Lombardy (Lombardia)

* Marche

* Molise

* Piedmont (Piemonte)

* Apulia (Puglia)

* Sardinia (Sardegna) *

* Sicily (Sicilia) *

* Tuscany (Toscana)

* Trentino-South Tyrol (Trentino-Alto Adige) *

* Umbria

* Aosta Valley (Valle d'Aosta)*

* Veneto

All regions except Valle d'Aosta are further subdivided into two or more provinces.

Geography

Italy consists predominantly of a large peninsula with a distinctive boot shape that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, where together with its two main islands Sicily and Sardinia it creates distinct bodies of water, such as the Adriatic Sea to the north-east, the Ionian Sea to the south-east, the Tyrrhenian Sea to the south-west and finally the Ligurian Sea to the north-west.

The Apennine mountains form the backbone of this peninsula, leading north-west to where they join the Alps, the mountain range that then forms an arc enclosing Italy from the north. Here is also found a large alluvial plain, the Po-Venetian plain, drained by the Po River and its many tributaries flowing down from the Alps, Apennines and Dolomites. Other well-known rivers include the Tiber, Adige and Arno.

Its highest point is Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) at 4,810 m, but Italy is more typically associated with two famous volcanoes: the currently dormant Vesuvius near Naples and the very active Etna on Sicily.

Demographics

Italy is largely homogeneous in language and religion but is diverse culturally, economically, and politically. Italy has the fifth-highest population density in Europe at 196 persons per square kilometre. Indigenous minority groups are small.

Although Roman Catholicism is the majority religion (85% of native-born citizens are nominally Catholic) there are mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim (see: Islam in Italy) immigrant community

Culture

Italy is well-known for its art and culture. It has many famous works of architecture, among them the leaning tower of Pisa and the Roman Colosseum. It is renown for its food (pizza, pasta, etc.), wine, lifestyle, elegance, automobiles, visual art and design, cinema, theatre, literature, poetry, music (notably Opera), holidays, and generally speaking, taste.

Europe's Renaissance period began in Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries. Literary achievements, such as the poetry of Dante, Petrarch, Tasso, and Ariosto and the prose of Boccaccio, Machiavelli, and Castiglione exerted a tremendous and lasting influence on the subsequent development of Western culture, as did the painting, sculpture, and architecture contributed by giants such as Filippo Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, and Michelangelo. Modern artists include the sculptor Tommaso Geraci.

The musical influence of Italian composers Palestrina, Monteverdi, Corelli and Vivaldi proved epochal; in the 19th century, Italian romantic opera flourished under composers Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, and Giacomo Puccini. Contemporary Italian artists, writers, filmmakers, architects, composers, and designers continue to contribute significantly to Western culture.

Football is the main national sport and the Italians are well known for their passion for this sport. Italy has won the Football World Cup three times: in 1934, 1938 and 1982.

* List of Italians

* Cinema of Italy

* Music of Italy

* Holidays in Italy

Languages

Italy has many more languages than just Italian. Almost every region, in fact, has its own language, which derives from the history of that region. Near Venice, for instance, many persons know Venetian; near Naples, Neapolitan...

Some counts put the number of living languages spoken in Italy (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Italy) at 33, including Cimbrian, Sardinian, Neapolitan, Piemontese, Sicilian, Venetian, etc.

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