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Italy
Bordered on three sides by the Mediterranean Sea, Italy is shaped like a boot about to kick a stone—the rugged island of Sicily. Rising in the far north are the high peaks of the Alps. Just to the south, their slopes drop down to a wide, triangular plain across which flow the River Po and its tributaries. Running down the length of the Italian peninsula all the way to its "toe" are the hills and mountains of the Apennines. To either side, the land slopes down to the Mediterranean coastal plain. Across the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west lies the island of Sardinia. Northern Italy has a mild continental climate with short, cool winters and hot summers. Away from the high ground, the climate is sunny and Mediterranean. Two millennia ago, Italy lay at the centre the Roman Empire. Today, it is a major European country. Its economy is the third largest in Europe and the eighth largest in the world.
People
More than 60 million people live in Italy, making it Europe’s fifth most populous country. Like other Western European countries, most of its people have a high level of education and literacy (ability to read and write), life expectancy and overall quality of life.
Italians are the modern descendants of the ancient Romans, as well as of the Etruscans, Gauls and Greeks, all of whom lived in Italy before them. The Italian language, is known as a “Romance” language: it has its origins in Latin, the language of the Romans. Since the early 1990s, small populations of Romanians, Albanians and Moroccans have come to live in Italy. Some areas of Italy, such as in the Apennines or parts of Sicily or Sardinia, are very rural and empty.
Family
The family is very important in Italian culture. Often, several generations of a family live together; many Italian children live with their parents for a long time—into their 30s or until they marry. It is also common for older people to move in with their children when they retire. Italy has an ageing population: its people are living longer but having fewer children. In 2010, one in five Italians were over 65 years old.
Northern Italy
Running along Italy’s northern border are the snow-capped mountains of the Alps, including, in the northeast, the jagged Dolomites. Some valleys are filled by long, thin lakes. The mountains’ lower slopes are covered by woodlands and meadows. Further down, south-flowing rivers meet the River Po in a wide, fertile plain which opens out to meet the Adriatic Sea.
Po Valley
The Po Valley is home to almost half of Italy’s entire population. Here, the great cities of Milan and Turin are situated. It is also Italy's industrial heartland: this region is known for manufacturing high-quality cars, electrical items and clothing. After World War II, industries in northern Italy developed rapidly, and by the mid-1960s, its economy had become extremely successful. The southern edges of the Po Valley is marked by the foothills of the Apennines.
Venice
The city of Venice, in northeastern Italy, is sometimes known as the “Floating City” or the “City of Bridges”. It is built on a group of 117 tiny islands in the Venetian lagoon. The islands are separated by canals and linked by hundreds of bridges—altogether, there are 409. There are very few cars and only some of the islands have roads. People travel by foot or by water buses called vaporetti. The buildings are built on foundations of wood and limestone which act like stilts.
In the late 13th century, Venice was Europe’s richest city. The Venetian Republic was a powerful, independent state from the Middle Ages until its decline in the 18th century. Venetian ships dominated Mediterranean trade, particularly in the east.
In the early 20th century, local industries in Venice began drilling wells in the lagoon bed to draw up water. This caused the whole city to begin slowly to sink. The wells were banned in the 1960s, but the city still suffers from flooding and unstable foundations. It sinks by about 1 to 2 millimetres each year.
Central Italy
Central Italy is dominated by the Apennines. To either side, the landscape is rolling and hilly. On the western side are the hills of Tuscany and Umbria; on the eastern side, steep valleys lead down to a narrow coastal plain bordering the Adriatic Sea. Tuscany, a rich farming and wine-growing region, was where the Etruscan civlization grew up in the 8th century BC. In the 15th century, Tuscany became the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. Today, Renaissance cities such as Florence, Siena and Pisa attract millions of tourists every year.
Rome
Farther south, situated on the plains of Lazio, lies the historic city of Rome. It once ruled over one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen, and, when it was rebuilt by the Papacy in the 15th century, became a major centre of the Renaissance and Baroque itself. Today, Rome is Italy's capital and largest city. It is also a magnet for tourists as well as hi-tech industries.
Southern Italy
The southern part of Italy and the island of Sicily are known as the Mezzogiorno ("midday" in Italian, also meaning "south", because of the sun's position at midday). The sunny coastal regions are perfect for growing citrus fruits, grapes, olives, figs and almonds. Most people live along the coastal plains—the population is particularly dense around the Bay of Naples. The island of Sicily has a small population but a large tourist industry; people visit its sunny beaches and archaeological ruins.
Today, southern Italy lags well behind the north in industrial development. Levels of unemployment and crime are much higher here than in the North. Most of the south’s income is from agriculture and tourism. As Northern Italy’s industries boomed in the 1950s and 60s, many people left the rural south to find work in the north, making the economic divide even wider.
Ghost towns
Southern Italy has long been undergoing a catastrophic economic decline. Its levels of unemployment and population loss have dramatically worsened in recent years. Since 2008, 583,000 southern Italians have lost their jobs. In Calabria, the average per capital annual income is less than half the average for northern Italy. For the first time since the deadly flu epidemic following World War I in 1918–19, the number of people dying in southern Italy has surpassed the number of babies being born. On top of that, more than 100,000 people decide to emigrate each year. If this trend continues, the south may lose more than 4 million people in the next half century, leaving behind ghost towns and villages.
At present, there are about 6000 “extinct” villages, while another 15,000 villages have lost 90% of their residents, and will soon die out too. Some town councils in the south—Riace in Calabria is one example—are calling for the migrants arriving on Europe's Mediterranean shores from troubled parts of Africa and the Middle East to be allowed to repopulate their disappearing communities. Others, such as Gangi in Sicily, are hoping to attract new residents by cutting the prices of some of their empty houses to just 1 euro each.
Food and farming
Italian dishes such as pizza and pasta have become popular all over the world. Many are made from just a few fresh ingredients and are based on tomatoes, olive oil, vegetables and wheat—especially durum wheat from which pasta is made. Italy is the world’s leading producer of wine; it has been produced there for over 2000 years. There are more than one million vineyards all over the country.
On the fertile northern plains of the Po Valley, there are fields of wheat, maize, rice, sugar beet and tomatoes. Olives and citrus fruits are grown in the south, especially in Apulia, Campania, Calabria and Sicily. The plains of Campania are rich farming country: fruit, vegetables, olives, tomatoes and grapes are grown here, and Italian water buffalo are raised for making mozzarella cheese.
Sicily
Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, has been settled or ruled by many different empires over its long history. They include the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans and Spanish. The island is dominated by Mount Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe. Etna and the volcanoes of Aeolian Islands, including Stromboli and Vulcano (after which all volcanoes are named), to the north are all constantly erupting.
Sicily is mostly hilly, with most of its forests cleared for agriculture. Wheat, citrus fruits, olives and grapes grow well on its fertile, volcanic soils. Fishing and tourism are also important industries.
Sardinia
Sardinia is a land of rocky coasts and rugged uplands. While the thin soils are mostly unsuitable to farming, its upland pastures are grazed by nearly four million sheep. Tourism is Sardinia's main industry. The most widely spoken language is Sardinian, or Sardu. Although related to Italian and the other Romance languages, most Italian speakers cannot understand it.
Consultant: Nicholas Harris
Facts about Italy
Population 60,494,118
Area 294,140 sq km
Highest point Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) de Courmayeur 4748 m (15,577 ft)
Capital Rome, population 4,340,474
Other major cities Milan (pop. 3,208,509), Naples (3,113,898), Turin (2,282,127), Palermo (1,271,406), Bari (1,263,820), Catania (1,115,535), Florence (1,113,348), Bologna (1,005,831)
Language Italian
Religions Christian (Roman Catholic) 80%, others and none 20%
Ethnicity Italian
Currency Euro (EUR)
Chief exports textiles and clothing, machinery, motor vehicles, chemicals, food, drinks, tobacco, minerals
History of Italy
800 BC
Greeks build colonies along the coast of Sicily; a people called the Etruscans live in central Italy
753 BC
The city of Rome is founded
509 BC
Rome’s king is deposed and it becomes a republic with an elected head of state; Romans overtake the Etruscans
27 BC
Octavian (Augustus) becomes the first emperor of Rome, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire
380
Christianity becomes the empire’s official religion
395
The Roman empire splits into two: East and West. The West is rapidly overrun by Barbarians
476
Barbarian commander Odoacer deposes the Roman emperor and makes himself King of Italy, marking the end of the western Roman Empire
500s–1100
After Rome falls, Germanic tribes invade and conquer Italy; Byzantines take control of northern Italy
1100–1300
Northern cities of Florence, Venice and Milan emerge as independent, powerful city-states; Venice is a major port for ships trading with the East
1130
Southern Italy is part of the Kingdom of Sicily
1494–1559
Italian Wars: the city-states of Italy, along with foreign powers, including France, Spain and the Ottoman Empire, fight for power and territory in the Italian peninsula
mid-1500s
Peak of the Renaissance period: culture flourishes in the great cities of Rome, Florence and Venice
16th–18th centuries
Spain and Austria take control of parts of Italy
1600s
As the Spanish Empire begins to decline, its territories in southern Italy become poor and cut off from the rest of Europe
1861
King Victor Emmanuel I unites northern and southern regions and city-states to form the Kingdom of Italy
Late 19th century–1910s
Northern Italy becomes industrialized but southern regions remain poor and undeveloped; millions of people emigrate
1915–18
Italy enters World War I on the side of the Allies; at the end of the war, it gains new territories, including the city of Trieste
1922
Fascist leader Mussolini forms government and comes to power, ruling as a dictator
1935
Italy invades Ethiopia
1936
Mussolini allies Italy with Nazi Germany
1940
Italy enters World War II on the German side
1941
Italy declares war on the Soviet Union (USSR)
1943
Italy signs a truce with the Allies and declares war on Germany
1944
Rome is liberated by the Allies
1945
Mussolini is captured and executed by a mob of Italian protestors
1946
Italy loses its monarchy and becomes a republic
1955
Italy joins the United Nations (UN)
1957
Italy becomes a founder member of the European Economic Community (EEC)
1978
Italy’s former prime minister, Aldo Moro, is kidnapped and murdered by a left-wing political group, the Red Brigades
1980 (August)
Right-wing extremists bomb Bologna station, killing 84 people
1980 (November)
Irpinia earthquake devastates Southern Italy, leaving at least 2,483 people dead, at least 7700 injured and 250,000 homeless; Naples and Salerno are among the towns and cities damaged
1997
Earthquakes strike the central Umbria region of Italy, causing extensive damage in Assisi
2001
Silvio Berlusconi becomes prime minister
2002
Euro replaces the lira as Italy's currency
2009
Earthquake hits towns in the mountainous Abruzzo region, leaving hundreds of people dead and thousands homeless
2013 (March)
Former prime minister Berlusconi is sentenced to a total of eight years in jail for corruption in government and other crimes
2013 (October)
Sicily declares a state of emergency after hundreds of migrants die at sea while attempting to reach Europe from Africa by boat across the Mediterranean
2016
A major earthquake strikes central Italy in August, killing nearly 300 people; much of the town of Amatrice is destroyed
2018
Part of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa collapses after a violent storm, causing 43 deaths