Italy (Italian: Italia, officially the Italian Republic; Italian: Repubblica Italiana), is a country located in Southern Europe, that comprises the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is also called by Italians lo Stivale ("the Boot", due to its boot-like shape), il Bel Paese ("the Beautiful Country") or la Penisola ("the Peninsula" as an antonomasia).
Italy shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent countries of San Marino are enclaves within Italian territory, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland.
Italy is a highly-developed country with the 7th-highest GDP and the seventeenth-highest Human Development Index rating in the world. It is a member of the G8 and a founding member of what is now the European Union (having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957), of the Council of Europe and of the Western European Union.
Origin of the name Italy
The name originally applied to a small part of southern Italy. According to Antiochus of Syracuse, it was originally just the southern portion of the Bruttium peninsula (modern Calabria), but by his time Oenotria and Italy were synonymous, and covered most of Lucania as well. It was only under Augustus that this denomination was applied to the whole peninsula.
History of Italy Info
Excavations throughout Italy have unearthed proof of human presence in Italy dating back to the Palaeolithic period (the "Old Stone Age") some 200,000 years ago.
Greek migrations as early as 600 BC saw many Greek intelligentsia migrate to Western Europe especially to Italy, including Pythagoras who built his University at Crotone, Calabria, Italy.
Italy has influenced the cultural and social development of the whole Mediterranean area, deeply influencing European culture as well. As a result, it has also influenced other important cultures. Such cultures and civilisations have existed there since prehistoric times. After Magna Graecia, the Etruscan civilisation and especially the Roman Republic and Empire that dominated this part of the world for many centuries, Italy was central to European science and art during the Renaissance.
Centre of the Roman civilization for centuries, Italy lost its unity after the collapse of the Roman Empire and subsequent barbarian invasions. Conquered by the Ostrogoths and briefly regained by the Eastern Empire (552), it was partially occupied by the Longobards in 568, resulting in the peninsula becoming irreparably divided. For centuries the country was the prey of different populations, resulting in its ultimate decadence and misery. Most of the population fled from cities to take refuge in the countryside under the protection of powerful feudal lords. Italy became part of the Holy Roman Empire. Pippin the Short created the first nucleus of the State of the Church, which later became a strong countervailing force against any unification of the country.
Population and economy started slowly to pick up after 1000, with the resurgence of cities (which organized themselves politically in Comuni), trade, arts and literature. During the later Middle Ages the partially democratic Comuni, which could not face the challenges of that period, were substituted by monarchic-absolutistic governments (Signorie), but the fragmentation of the peninsula, especially in the northern and central parts of the country, continued, while the southern part, with Naples, Apulia and Sicily, remained under a single domination. Venice and Genoa created powerful commercial empires in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea.
The Black Death in 1348 inflicted a terrible blow to Italy, resulting in one third of the population killed by the disease. The recovery from the disaster led to a new resurgence of cities, trade and economy which greatly stimulated the successive phase of the Humanism and Renaissance (15th-16th centuries) when Italy again returned to be the centre of Western civilization, strongly influencing the other European countries. During this period the many Signorie gathered in a small number of regional states, but none of them had enough power to unify the peninsula.
After a century where the fragmented system of Italian states and principalities were able to maintain a relative independence and a balance of power in the peninsula, in 1494 the French king Charles VIII opened the first of a series of invasions, lasting half of the sixteenth century, and a competition between France and Spain for the possession of the country. Ultimately Spain prevailed (the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559 recognised the Spanish possession of the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples) and for almost two centuries became the hegemon in Italy. The holy alliance between reactionary Habsburg Spain and the Holy See resulted in the systematic persecution of any Protestant movement, with the result that Italy remained a Catholic country with marginal Protestant presence.
The Spanish domination and the control of the Church resulted in intellectual stagnation and economic decadence, also attributable to the shifting of the main commercial routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic War (1796-1815) introduced the modern ideas of equality, democracy, law and nation. The peninsula was not a main battle field as in the past but Napoleon (born in Corsica in 1769, one year after the cession of the island from Genoa to France) changed completely its political map, destroying in 1799 the Republic of Venice, which never recovered its independence. The states founded by Napoleon with the support of minority groups of Italian patriots were short-lived and did not survive the defeat of the French Emperor in 1815. The Restoration had all the pre-Revolution states restored with the exception of the Republic of Venice (forthwith under Austrian control) and the Republic of Genoa (under Savoy domination). Napoleon had nevertheless the merit to give birth to the first national movement for unity and independence.
Albeit formed by small groups with almost no contact with the masses, the Italian patriots and liberals staged several uprisings in the decades up to 1860. Mazzini and Garibaldi are the best-known leaders of this political-military movement. From 1849 onwards the Italian patriots were more or less openly supported by Vittorio Emanuele II, the king of Sardinia, who put his arms in the Italian tricolour dedicating the House of Savoy to the Italian unity.
Parliamentary democracy developed considerably at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Sardinian Statuto Albertino of 1848, extended to the whole Kingdom of Italy in 1861, provided for basic freedoms, but the electoral laws excluded the non-propertied and uneducated classes from voting. In 1913 male universal suffrage was allowed. The Socialist Party resulted the main political party, outclassing the traditional liberal and conservative organisations. The path to a modern liberal democracy was interrupted by the tragedy of the First World War (1914-1918), which Italy fought along with France and the United Kingdom. Italy was able to beat the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in November 1918. It obtained Trentino, South Tyrol(Alto-Adige), Trieste and Istria, besides Fiume and a few territories on the Dalmatian coast (Zara), gaining respect as an international power, but the population had to pay a heavy human and social price.
The war produced more than 600,000 dead, inflation and unemployment, economic and political instability, which in the end favoured the Fascist movement to violently seize power in 1922, albeit with the support of the King Vittorio Emanuele III, who feared civil war and revolution, and preserving, at least initially, constitutional procedures.
The fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini lasted from 1922 to 1943 but in the first years Mussolini maintained the appearance of a liberal democracy. After rigged elections in 1924 gave to Fascism and its conservative allies an absolute majority in Parliament, Mussolini cancelled all democratic liberties on January 3, 1925. He then proceeded to establish a totalitarian state, imposing the control of the state upon all single social and political activity. Political parties were banned, independent trade unions were closed. The only permitted party was the National Fascist Party. A secret police (OVRA) and a system of quasi-legal repression (Tribunale Speciale) ensured the total control of the regime upon Italians who, in their majority, either resigned or welcomed the dictatorship, many considering it a last resort to stop the spread of communism.
Mussolini tried to spread his authoritarian ideology to other European countries and dictators such as Salazar in Portugal, Francisco Franco in Spain and Adolf Hitler in Germany were heavily influenced by the Italian examples. Conservative but democratic leaders in the United Kingdom and United States were at the beginning favourable to Mussolini. Mussolini tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to spread fascism amongst the millions of Italians living abroad.
In 1935 he declared war on Ethiopia on a pretext. Ethiopia was subjugated in few months. This resulted in the alienation of Italy from its traditional allies, France and the United Kingdom, and its nearing to Nazi Germany. A first pact with Germany was concluded in 1936 and then in 1938 (the Pact of Steel). Italy supported Franco's revolution in Spanish civil war and Hitler's pretensions in central Europe, accepting the annexation of Austria to Germany in 1938, although the disappearance of a buffer state between mighty Germany and Italy was unfavourable for the country. In October 1938 Mussolini managed to avoid imminent eruption of another war in Europe, bringing together the United Kingdom, France and Germany at the expense of Czechoslovakia's integrity.
The Italian Empire in 1940In April 1939 Italy occupied Albania, a de-facto protectorate for decades, but in September 1939, after the invasion of Poland, Mussolini decided not to intervene on Germany's side, due to the poor preparation of the armed forces. Italy entered in war in June 1940 when France was almost defeated. Mussolini hoped for a quick victory but Italy showed from the very beginning the poor nature of its army and the scarce ability of its generals. Italy invaded Greece in October 1940 via Albania but after a few days was forced to withdraw. After conquering British Somalia in 1940, a counter-attack by the Allies led to the loss of the whole Italian empire in the Horn of Africa. Italy was also defeated by Allied forces, notably Australians, in Northern Africa and saved only by the German armed forces led by Erwin Rommel.
After several defeats, Italy was invaded in June 1943. In July 1943 King Vittorio Emanuele III and a group of Fascist leaders staged a coup d'etat against Mussolini, having him arrested. While the old pre-Fascist political parties resurfaced, secret peace negotiations with the Allies were started. In September 1943 Italy surrendered. It was immediately invaded by Germany and for nearly two years the country was divided and became a battlefield. The Nazi-occupied part of the country, where a puppet fascist state under Mussolini was reconstituted, was the theatre of a savage civil war between Italian partisans ("partigiani") and Nazi and fascist troops. The country was liberated by a national uprising on 25 April 1945 (the Liberazione).
Under the 1947 peace treaty, minor adjustments were made to Italy's frontier with France, the eastern border area was transferred to Yugoslavia, and the area around the city of Trieste was designated a free territory. In 1954, the free territory, which had remained under the administration of U.S. UK forces (Zone A, including the city of Trieste) and Yugoslav forces (Zone B), was divided between Italy and Yugoslavia, principally along the zonal boundary.
Particularly in the north agitation against the king ran high, left wing and communist armed partisans wanting to depose him as being responsible for the fascist regime. Vittorio Emanuele gave up the throne to his son Umberto II who again faced the possibility of civil war. Italy became a Republic after the result of a popular referendum held on 2 June 1946, a day since then celebrated as Republic Day. The republic won with a 9% margin; the north of Italy voted prevalently for a republic, the south for the monarchy. The Republican Constitution was approved and entered into force on 1 January 1948, including a provisional measure banning all male members of the house of Savoy from Italy. This stipulation was redressed in 2002.
In the fifties Italy became a member of the NATO alliance and an ally of the United States, which helped to revive the Italian economy through the Marshall Plan. In the same years, Italy also became a member of the European Economical Community (EEC), which later transformed into the European Union (EU). At the end of the fifties an impressive economic growth was termed "Economic Miracle", which lifted the country among the most industrialised nations in the world, with a perennial political instability.
Italy is a founding member of the European Community, European Union, Council of Europe, NATO and G8.
Geography of Italy Info
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 Padan plain, drained by the Po River which is Italy's longest river with 652 km and its many tributaries flowing down from the Alps: Dora Baltea (160 km), Sesia (138 km), Ticino (280 km), Adda (313 km), Oglio (280 km), Mincio (194 km); and flowing down from the Apennines: (Tanaro (276 km), Trebbia (115 km), Taro (126 km), Secchia (172 km), Panaro (148 km). Other notable rivers include the Tiber (Tevere) (405 km), Adige (410 km), Arno (241 km), Piave(220 km), Reno (212 km), Volturno (175 km), Tagliamento (175 km), Liri-Garigliano (158 km), Isonzo (136 km).
Italy is also rich of lakes: Lake Garda with a surface area of 370 km² is the largest italian lake, others notable lakes in Northern Italy are Lake Como (146 km²), Lake Maggiore (212.5 km²), Lake Iseo (65.3 km²); notable lakes in Central Italy are Lake Trasimeno (128 km²), Lake Bolsena (113.5 km²), Lake Bracciano (57 km²). Southern Italy is an area rather poor in freshwater.
Italy's highest point is Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) at 4,810 metres (15,781 feet)3. Italy is more typically associated with two famous volcanoes: the currently dormant Mount Vesuvius (1,281 m) near Naples and the very active Mount Etna (3,326 m) in Sicily. The greatest distance between two points on Italy mainland is 1,150 km (715 miles) between Vetta d'Italia (Trentino-Alto Adige) and Capo Isola delle Correnti (Sicily).
Climate Info
The climate in Italy is uniquely diverse and can be far from the stereotypical Mediterranean climate and "land of sun", depending on the location. The inland northern areas of Italy (Turin, Milan, and Bologna) have a continental climate, while the coastal areas of Liguria and the peninsula south of Florence fit the stereotype (even if the city of Genoa, about once a year, may experience heavy snow falls). The coastal areas of the peninsula can be very different from the interior, particularly during the winter months. The higher altitudes 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 the north and south there is a quite remarkable difference in the temperatures, above all during the winter: in some winter days it can be -2°C and snowing in Milan while Rome gets +12°C and it is +18°C in Palermo. Temperature differences are less extreme in the summer. (See how Po valley can be frosty in winter [1])
The east coast of the peninsula is not as wet as the west coast, but is usually colder in the winter. 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 0.50-0.60 m of fresh snow fall in 24 hours during these episodes.
Northwide, on the coast line from Ravenna to Venice and Trieste, snow falls more rarely: during cold spells from east, the cold can be harsh but with bright skies; while, during the snowfalls that affects Northern Italy, on the Adriatic coast usually blows a milder Scirocco wind which makes snow turning into rain - the mild effects of this wind, anyway, often disappear just a few kilometers inside the plain, and sometime the coast from Venice to Grado sees snow while it is raining in Trieste, the Po mouths and Ravenna. Rarely, the city of Trieste may see snow blizzards with north-eastern winds, but just in very particular conditions; in the colder winters, the Venice Lagoon may freeze, and in the coldest ones even enough to walk on the ice sheet.
Italy is subject to highly diverse weather conditions in autumn, winter, and spring, while summer is usually more stable, although the northern regions often experience thunderstorms in the afternoon/night hours and some grey and rainy day. So, while south of Florence the summer is typically dry and sunny, the north is tends to be more humid and cloudy. Spring and Autumn weather can be very changeable, with sunny and warm weeks (sometime with Summer-like temperatures) suddenly broken off by cold spells (sometime bringing snow in November, March or April even at sea level) or followed by rainy and cloudy weeks.
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 precipitation is more evenly distributed during the year, although the summer is usually slightly wetter. Between November and March the Po valley is often covered by fog, especially in the central zone (Pavia, Cremona, and Mantua), while the number of frost days usually goes from 60 to 80 a year. Snow is quite common between early December and early March in cities like Turin, Milan and Bologna, but sometime it appears in late November or late March and even April. In the winter of 2005-2006, Milan received around 0.75-0.80 m of fresh snow, Como around 1.00 m, Brescia 0.50 m, Trento 1.60 m, Vicenza around 0.45 m, Bologna around 0.30 m, and Piacenza around 0.80 m.
Summer temperatures are often similar North to South, but with the different weather conditions seen above. July temperatures are 23-24°C north of river Po, like in Milan or Venice, and south of river Po can reach 25-26°C like in Bologna, with less thunderstorms; on the coasts of Central and Southern Italy, and in the near plains, mean temperatures goes from 23°C to 27°C. Generally, the hottest month is August in the south and July in the north; during these months the thermometer can reach 38-42°C in the south and 33-35°C in the north; rarely, the country can be splitted as during winter, with rain and fresh temperatures like 20-22°C during the day in the North, and 30°C to 40°C in the South; but, having a hot and dry summer does not mean that Southern Italy never see rain from June to August.
The coldest month is January: the Po valley's mean temperature is around 0-1°C, Venice 2-3°C, Trieste 4-5°C, Florence 5-6°C, Rome 7-8°C, Naples 9°C, Palermo 12°C. Winter morning lows can occasionally reach -30/-20°C in the Alps, -14/-8°C in Po valley, -7°C in Florence, -4°C in Rome, -2°C in Naples and 2°C in Palermo. In cities like Rome and Milan, heat island can be very strong, so inside the hurban area the winter can be milder and the summer more sultry. Often, the biggest snow falls happen in February, sometime in January or March; in the Alps, snow falls more in Autumn and overall Spring over 1500m, because winter is usually marked by cold and dry weeks; while the Appennines see many more snow falls during winter, but they are warmer and less wet in the other seasons; both the mountain chains can see up to 5-10m of snow along a year at 2000m; on the highest pikes of Alps, snow may fall even during mid summer, and small to large glaciers are present.
Culture of Italy Info
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 and poets 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, and 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 sixteenth and seventeenth 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.
Italians are renowned for their love of sports. Their zeal for sports events is, indeed, no less than legendary; from the Gladiatorial games of Ancient Rome, to the Stadio Olimpico of contemporary Rome, where prestigious football clubs compete regularly, the impact that sports has had on Italian culture is enduring and undeniable. Towards the alps, the popularity of winter sports grows, with many Italians from that region competing in international games and Olympic venues. Moving downwards the peninsula, the disparity between participation in sports becomes less regional. Despite any regional variation that may exist, the incorporation of sports in many Italian festivities like Palio, and the Gondola race that takes place in Venice on the first Sunday of September, affirms the role sports play in everyday Italian life. Popular sports include football, cycling, and auto racing (a sport which shares its renown with a staple of Italian design, Ferrari), among others.
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