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Italian RepublicRepubblica Italiana
Template:Country flag alias Italy Flag Coat of arms of Italy Coat of arms
Anthem: Il Canto degli Italiani (also known as "Fratelli d'Italia")
Capitaland largest city	Rome
Official languages	Italian
Government	Republic
• President	Giorgio Napolitano
• Prime Minister	Romano Prodi
Formation
• Unification	17 March 1861
• Republic	2 June 1946
• Water (%)	2.4
Population
• 2006 estimate	58,751,711 (22nd)
• October 2001 census	57,110,144
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
• Total	$1.668 trillion (7th)
• Per capita	$28,760 (21st)
HDI (2003)	0.934 very high (18th)
Currency	Euro (€) (EUR)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Calling code	39
ISO 3166 code	IT
Internet TLD	.it
French is co-official in the Aosta Valley; German is co-official in Trentino-South Tyrol. Prior to 2002: Italian Lira.

Italy, officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Italia, IPA: or Repubblica Italiana, IPA: ), is a Southern European country. It comprises the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is shaped like a boot and for this reason Italians commonly call it "lo stivale" ("the boot").

The Italian Republic shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The country also shares a sea border with Croatia, Slovenia and France. The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italian territory. Also belonging to the republic is the commune of Campione d'Italia, an enclave in the territory of the Italian Switzerland. The Republic includes only the 93% of Italian physical region, delimited conventionanlly by the alpine watershed; besides the above-mentioned enclaves, the following territories do not belong to the country: the Principality of Monaco, Nice with Briga and Tenda, some strips of the Alps near the French border (Monginevro, Moncenisio and Piccolo San Bernardo), the Italian Switzerland (Canton Ticino and some valleys of Grigioni), the peninsula of Istria and a piece of Venezia Giulia, the island of Corsica and the archipelago of Malta.

Italy was home to many well-known and influential European civilizations, including the Etruscans, Greeks and the Romans. For more than 3,000 years Italy experienced migrations and invasions from Germanic, Celtic, Frankish, Lombard, Byzantine Greek, Saracen, Norman, and Angevin peoples, and was divided into many independent states until 1861 when Italy became a nation-state.

Italy is called "il Belpaese" (Italian for beautiful country) by its inhabitants, due to the beauty and variety of its landscapes and for having the world's largest artistic patrimony; the country is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (41 as of July 13 2006).

Today, Italy is a highly developed country with the 7th highest GDP in 2006, a member of the G8 and a founding member of what is now the European Union, having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957.

Inhabitants of Italy are referred to as Italians (Italian: Italiani or poetically Italici).

ITAlY SUCKS ASS!!!!

Politics

ITALY IS GAY!!!!

Administrative divisions

Italy is subdivided into 20 regions (regioni, singular regione). Five of these regions enjoy a special autonomous status that enables them to enact legislation on some of their specific local matters, and are marked by an *:

1. Abruzzo (with capital L'Aquila)
2. Basilicata (Potenza)
3. Calabria (Catanzaro)
4. Campania (Naples, Napoli)
5. Emilia-Romagna (Bologna)
6. Friuli-Venezia Giulia* (Trieste)
7. Latium, Lazio (Rome, Roma)
8. Liguria (Genoa, Genova)
9. Lombardy, Lombardia (Milan, Milano)
10. Marches, Marche (Ancona)
11. Molise (Campobasso)
12. Piedmont, Piemonte (Turin, Torino)
13. Apulia, Puglia (Bari)
14. Sardinia*, Sardegna (Cagliari)
15. Aosta Valley*, Valle d'Aosta / Vallée d'Aoste (Aosta, Aoste)
16. Tuscany, Toscana (Florence, Firenze)
17. Trentino-South Tyrol*, Trentino-Alto Adige / Trentino-Südtirol (Trento, Bolzano-Bozen)
18. Umbria (Perugia)
19. Sicily*, Sicilia (Palermo)
20. Veneto (Venice, Venezia)

All regions except the Aosta Valley are further subdivided into two or more provinces.

Geography

Italy consists predominantly of a large peninsula (the Italian 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 — which is Italy's biggest river with 652 km — and its many tributaries flowing down from the Alps (Dora Baltea, 160 km, Sesia, 138 km, Ticino, 248 km, Adda, 313 km, Oglio, 280 km, Mincio), 194 km, and Apennines (Tanaro, 276 km, Trebbia, 115 km, Taro, 115 km, Secchia, 172 km, Panaro, 148 km).

Other well-known or importants rivers include the Tiber (Tevere) (405 km), Adige (410 km), Arno (241 km), Piave (220 km), Reno (212 km), Volturno (175 km), Tagliamento (170 km), Liri-Garigliano (158 km), Isonzo (136 km).

Its highest point is Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) at 4,810 metres (15,781 feet)(refactored from montblanc). Italy is more typically associated with two famous volcanoes: the currently dormant Vesuvius near Naples and the very active Etna on Sicily.

Sicily and Sardinia are the two major islands of Italy (comprehensive list).

Climate

The Italian climate is unique and can be far from the stereotype of a "land of sun." Depending on the region.

In fact the north of Italy (Turin, Milan, and Bologna) has a true continental climate, while below Florence it becomes more and more Mediterranean.

The climate of the coastal areas of the Peninsula is very different from that of the interior, particularly during the winter months. The higher areas are cold, wet, and often snowy. The coastal regions, where most of the large towns are located, have a typical Mediterranean climate with mild winters and hot and generally dry summers. The length and intensity of the summer dry season increases southwards (compare the tables for Rome, Naples, and Brindisi).

Between north and south there is a quite remarkable difference in the temperatures, above all during the winter: in some days of December or January it can snow in Milan by -2°C while Palermo or Naples have just clouds and +17°C. In some morning Turin can be by -12°C while on the same time Rome has got +6°C and Reggio Calabria +12°C. In the summer the difference is lighter. (‘‘See how Po valley can be frosty in winter )

The east coast of the peninsula is not as wet as the west coast, but during winter is usually colder. The east coast north of Pescara is occasionally affected by the cold bora winds in winter and spring, but the wind is less strong here than around Trieste. During these frosty spells from E-NE cities like Rimini, Ancona, Pescara and the entire eastern hillside of the Apennines can be affected by true "blizzards". The town of Fabriano, located just around 300 mt a.s.l., can often see 50/60 cm of fresh snow fall in 24 hours during these episodes.

Italy is subject to highly diverse weather conditions in autumn, winter, and spring, while summer is usually more stable, even if in the north cities like Turin, Milan, Brescia, Verona or Udine sees a lot of thunderstorms in the afternoon/night hours. So, while below Florence the summer is typically dry and sunny, in the north is quite cloudier and relatively rich of rain, even if a little muggy/sultry.

The least number of rainy days and the highest number of hours of sunshine occur in the extreme south of the mainland and in Sicily and Sardinia. Here sunshine averages from four to five hours a day in winter and up to ten or eleven hours in summer. In the north the precipitations are quite well distributed during the year, and so the amount of them, even if generally there is a "minimum" in winter. Between November and March the Po valley is often covered by tight fog, above all the central zone (Pavia, Cremona, and Mantua). Snow is quite a common thing between early December and mid February in cities like Turin, Milan and Bologna. In the last winter (2005-2006) Milan received around 75/80cm of fresh snow, Como around 100cm, Brescia 50cm, Trento 160 cm, Vicenza around 45cm, Bologna around 30cm, Piacenza around 80 cm. (see the late January 2006 snowfall of Bergamo )

Generally, the hottest month is August in the south and July in the north; during these months the thermometer can reach 38°C/42°C in the south and 33°C/35°C in the north. The coldest month is January; Po valley's average temperature is around 0°C, Florence 5°C/6°C, Rome 7°C/8°C, Naples 9°C, Palermo 13°C.

Winter morning lows can occasionally reach -14°C in Po valley, -5°C/-6°C in Florence, -4°C in Rome, -2°C in Naples and 1°C in Palermo.

The record low (near the sea level) was -28.8°C recorded during January 1985 near Bologna, while in the south cities like Catania, Lecce or Alghero had highs till 46°C/47°C in some hot summers.

Demographics

Italy is largely homogeneous in language and religion but is diverse culturally, economically, and politically. The country has the fifth-highest population density in Europe at 193 persons per square kilometre (499/sq. mi). For a country of 58.7 million people, Italy has a smaller number of immigrants than France and Germany.

Since the beginning of Roman civilisation, important ethnic groups like Greek settlers, Germanic and Celtic invaders and plunderers, and Norman French colonisers have all left important impressions on the people today.

The number of immigrants or foreign residents in Italy has steadily increased to reach 2,402,157, according to the latest figures (1/2005) of ISTAT. They currently make up a little more than 4% of the official total population. The majority of immigrants in Italy come from other surrounding European nations, and they number 1,122,276, and chiefly come from Albania, Romania, the Ukraine, and Poland. French nationals living in Italy, according to ISTAT figures, are more commonly women than men. The next largest group consists of North African Arab groups, and they number some 447,310 chiefly from Morocco, and Tunisia. Smaller groups consists of Asians, South Americans, and sub-saharan Africans. Top 5 largest foreign minorities are Albanian (316,659), Moroccan (294,945), Romanian (248,849(refactored from Romanian)), Chinese (111,712), and Ukrainian (93,441).

Italian City Provinces, Urban Areas and Metropolitan Areas

• Milan (Milano, Lombardia): 3,869,037 - 4.240.000 - 6.500.000
• Rome (Roma, Lazio}: 3,831,959 - 3,831,959 - 3,831,959.
• Naples (Napoli, Campania): 3,086,622 - 3.800.000 - 4.150.000
• Turin (Torino, Piemonte): 2,242,775 - 2,242,775 - 2,242,775

Religion

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Roman Catholicism is by far the largest religion in the country. Although the Catholic church has been separated from the state, it still plays a role in the nation's political affairs partly due to Holy See's location in Rome. Some 90% of Italians are Roman Catholic of which one-third are active members. Other Christian groups in Italy include Jehovah's Witnesses 400,000 and the Waldensians (35,000).

In the past two decades, Italy has been receiving many waves of immigrants from all over the world especially eastern Europe and North Africa. As a result, some 825,000 Muslims (1.4%) live in Italy, although other estimates indicate that there are up to one million Muslims as well as, 75,000 Hindus , 60,000 Buddhists, and a historical community of 30,000 Jewish members.

• Buddhism in Italy
• Islam in Italy
• Jews in Italy

Economy

According to GDP calculations, as measured by purchasing power parity (PPP), Italy is ranked as the 8th largest economy in the world in 2006, behind the United States, Japan, Germany, China, India, UK, and France, and the fourth largest in Europe. According to the OECD, in 2004 Italy was the world's sixth-largest exporter of manufactured goods. This capitalistic economy remains divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less developed agricultural south.Italy's economy has deceptive strength because it is supported by a substantial “underground” economy that functions outside government controls.

Most new materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy requirements are imported. Over the past decade, Italy has pursued a tight fiscal policy in order to meet the requirements of the Economic and Monetary Union and has benefited from lower interest and inflation rates. Italy joined the Euro from its conception in 1999.

Italy's economic performance has at times lagged behind that of its EU partners, and the current government has enacted numerous short-term reforms aimed at improving competitiveness and long-term growth. It has moved slowly, however, on implementing certain structural reforms favoured by economists, such as lightening the high tax burden and overhauling Italy's rigid labour market and expensive pension system, because of the current economic slowdown and opposition from labour unions.

Italy has been less successful in terms of developing world class multinational corporations. Instead, the country's main economic strength has been its large base of small and medium size companies. These companies typically manufacture products that are technologically moderately advanced and therefore increasingly face crushing competition from China and other emerging Asian economies. Meanwhile, a base of corporations able to compete in markets for advanced goods and services is underdeveloped or lacking entirely. It is not obvious how Italy will overcome this significant structural weakness in the short run, and Italy has therefore been referred to as the new "sick man of Europe".

Culture

Italy, as a state, did not exist until the unification of the country came to a conclusion in year 1861. Due to this comparatively late unification, and the historical autonomy of the many regions that comprise the Italian Peninsula, many traditions and customs that we now recognize as distinctly Italian can be identified by their regions of origin, which further reflect the influence of the many different peoples that occupied those areas, and of the importance of religion, especially Roman Catholicism. Despite the pronounced political and social isolation of these regions that prevailed throughout Italy's history, Italy's contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of Europe remain immense.

Italy has been a seminal place for many important artistic and intellectual movements that spread throughout Europe and beyond, including the Renaissance and Baroque. Perhaps Italy's greatest cultural achievements lie in its long artistic heritage, which is often validated through the names of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, Bernini, Titian and Raphael, among many others. Beyond art, Italy's contributions to the realms of literature, science and music cannot be overlooked.

With the basis of the modern Italian language established through the eminent Florentine poet, Dante Alighieri, whose greatest work, the Divina Commedia is often considered the foremost literary statement produced in Europe during the Middle Ages, there is no shortage of celebrated literary figures; the writers Boccaccio, Giacomo Leopardi, Alessandro Manzoni, Tasso, Ludovico Ariosto, and Petrarca, whose best known vehicle of expression, the sonnet, was invented in Italy. Prominent philosophers include Bruno, Ficino, Machiavelli, Vico. Modern literary figures and Nobel laureates are nationalist poet Giosuè Carducci in 1906, realist writer Grazia Deledda in 1926, modern theatre author Luigi Pirandello in 1936, poets Salvatore Quasimodo in 1959 and Eugenio Montale in 1975, satiryst and theatre author Dario Fo in 1997.

In science, Galileo Galilei made considerable advancements toward the scientific revolution, and Leonardo da Vinci was the quintessential Renaissance Man. Other notable Italian scientists and inventors include Fermi, Cassini, Volta, Lagrange, Fibonacci, Marconi, and Meucci.

From folk music to classical, music has always played an important role in Italian culture. Having given birth to opera, for example, Italy provides many of the very foundations of the classical music tradition. Some of the instruments that are often associated with classical music, including the piano and violin, were invented in Italy, and many of the existing classical music forms can trace their roots back to innovations of 16th and 17th century Italian music (such as the symphony, concerto, and sonata). Some of Italy's most famous composers include the Renaissance composers Palestrina and Monteverdi, the Baroque composers Corelli and Vivaldi, the Classical composers Paganini and Rossini, and the Romantic composers Verdi and Puccini. Modern Italian composers such as Berio and Nono proved significant in the development of experimental and electronic music.

Football (calcio) is a popular spectator and participation sport. The Italian national team has won the World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006) and is the current titleholder, while major Italian clubs frequently compete at a high level of European competitions. Basketball (pallacanestro) is a sport gaining rapid popularity in Italy, although national teams have existed since the 1950s. The nation's top pro league (Lega A1) is widely regarded as the third best national league in the world after the American NBA and Spain's ACB. In some cities, (see Bologna, Siena,Pesaro or Varese) basketball is the most popular sport. Cycling is also a well represented sport in Italy. Italians have won more World Cycling Championships than any other country except Belgium. The Giro d'Italia is a world famous long distance cycling tournament normally held every year and constitutes one of the three Grand Tours along with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. Auto racing receives much attention in Italy, while the nation is host to a number of notable automobile racing events, such as the famed Italian Grand Prix. The Italian flair for design is legendary, and it should come as no surprise that Ferrari has won more Formula Ones than any other manufacturer.

• Cuisine of Italy
• Music of Italy
• Cinema of Italy
• Art of Italy
• Italian Literature
• List of Italians

Languages

The official language of Italy is Standard Italian, descendant of Tuscan dialect and a direct descendant of Latin. (Some 75% of Italian words are of Latin origin.) However, when Italy was unified, in 1861, Italian existed mainly as a literary language, and was spoken by less than 3% of the population. Different languages were spoken throughout Italian peninsula, many of which were Romance languages which had developed in every region, due to political fragmentation of Italy(refactored from dialects). Indeed, each historical region of Italy had its own so-called ‘dialetto’ (with ‘dialect’ usually meaning, improperly, a non-Italian Romance language), with variants existing at the township-level.

Massimo d'Azeglio. One of Cavour's ministers, is said to have stated, following Italian unification, that having created Italy, all that remained was to create Italians. Given the high number of languages spoken throughout the peninsula, it was quickly established that 'proper' or 'standard' Italian would be based on the Florentine dialect spoken in most of Tuscany (given that it was the first region to produce authors such as Dante Alighieri, who between 1308 and 1321 wrote the Divina Commedia). A national education system was established - leading to a decrease in variation in the languages spoken throughout the country over time. But it was not until the 1960s, when economic growth enabled widespread access to the television programmes of the state television broadcaster, RAI, that Italian truly became broadly-known and quite standardised.

Today, despite regional variations in the form of accents and vowel emphasis, Italian is fully comprehensible to most throughout the country. Nevertheless certain dialects have become cherished beacons of regional variation—the Neapolitan dialect which is extensively used for the singing of popular folk-songs, for instance—and in recent years many people have developed a particular pride in their dialects.

In addition to the various regional variations and dialects of standard Italian, a number of truly separate languages are spoken:

• In the north, the province of South Tyrol (Südtirol in German, Alto Adige in Italian) is almost entirely German-speaking; the area was awarded to Italy following the First World War and her defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Pockets of German speakers also persist in other north-eastern Italian regions—a remnant of the old Austrian influence on this area of Italy. In total some 300,000 or so Italians speak German as their first language and indeed many identify themselves as ethnic Austrian Germans.
• Some 120,000 or so people live in the Aosta Valley region, where a dialect of Franco-Provençal is spoken that is similar to patois dialects spoken in France. About 1,400 people living in two isolated towns in Foggia speak another dialect of Franco-Provençal.
• About 80,000 Slovene-speakers live in the north-eastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia near the border with Slovenia.
• In the Dolomite mountains of Trentino-South Tyrol and Veneto there are some 40,000 speakers of the Rhaetian language Ladin.
• A very large community of some 700,000 people in Friuli speak Friulian—another Rhaetian language.
• In the Molise region of central-south Italy some 4,000 people speak Serbo-Croatian. These are the Molise Croats, descendants of a group of people who migrated from the Balkans in the Middle Ages.
• Scattered across southern Italy (Salento and Calabria) are a number of some 30,000 Greek-speakers—considered to be the last surviving traces of the region's Greek heritage. (Ancient Greek colonists reached southern Italy and Sicily about 1500 BC.) They speak a Greek dialect, Griko.
• Some 15,000 Catalan speakers reside around the area of Alghero in the north-west corner of Sardinia—believed to be the result of a migration of a large group of Catalans from Barcelona in ages past.
• The Arbëreshë, of whom there are around 100,000 in southern Italy and in central Sicily—the result of past migrations—are speakers of the Arbëresh dialect of Albanian.
• A large number of northern Italians speak English fluently
• Finally, the largest group of non-Italian speakers, some 1.6 million people, are those who speak Sardinian, a Romance language which retains many pre-Latin words.

Notes

Template:Ent According to Mitrica, an October 2005 Romanian report estimates that 1,061,400 Romanians are living in Italy, constituting 37.2% of 2.8 million immigrants in that country but it is unclear how the estimate was made, and therefore whether it should be taken seriously or not. Template:Ent See also (in Italian): L. Lepschy e G. Lepschy, La lingua italiana: storia, varietà d'uso, grammatica, Milano, Bompiani Template:Ent Official French maps show the border detouring south of the main summit, and claim the highest point in Italy is Mont Blanc de Courmayeur (4,748 m), but these are inconsistent with an 1861 convention and topographic watershed analysis.

References

Other references can be found in the more detailed articles linked to in this article.

• Mitrica, Mihai Un milion de romani s-au mutat in Italia ("One million Romanians have moved to Italy"). Evenimentul Zilei, October 31 2005. Visited April 11 2006.

External links

Official sites

• Presidenza della Repubblica - Official site of the President of the Republic of Italy (in Italian)
• Parlamento - Official site of the Italian Parliament (Senate in Italian only)
• Camera dei Deputati - Chamber of Deputies (few languages)
• Senato della Repubblica - Senate (in Italian)
• Italia.gov.it - Main institutional portal (in Italian)
• The Italian Government - Official site of the President of the Council of Ministriesor Prime Minister's Office
• Corte Costituzionale - Italian Constitutional Court
• Corte Suprema di Cassazione - Italian Supreme Court Court of Cassation
• Corte dei Conti - Italian Court of Accounts
• Ministero degli Affari Esteri - Italian Foreign Office
• Ministero dell'interno - Ministry of Interior (in Italian)
• Ministero dell'Istruzione, Università e Ricerca - Ministry of Education, University and Research
• Study in Italy - International exchanges - Ministry of Education
• Ministero della Salute - Ministry of Health
• Ministero della Difesa - Ministry of Defence
• Ministero del lavoro - Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare
• Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico - Ministry for Economic Development
• Ministero dell'Agricoltura - Ministry of Agriculture
• Ministero di Grazia e Giustizia - Ministry of Justice
• Istituto nazionale di statistica - National Statistics Office (in Italian)

Others

• Webcams in Italy
• History of Italy: Primary Documents
• Encyclopaedia Britannica's Italy country page
• Italian Railways
• ENIT - Italian State Tourism Board
• Italian Parks - National and regional parks and protected areas
• List and maps of archaeological sites in Italy
• WWW-VL: History: Italy at IUE

Travel

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