Italy

History
Ancient Rome

● Rome, a settlement around a ford on the river Tiber in central Italy conventionally
founded in 753 BC
● Julius Caesar, was a Roman dictator, politician, and military general who played a
critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of
the Roman Empire.
● The Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and
military forces in the world of its time, and it was one of the largest empires in world
history.
Leonardo da
Christopher Columbus
Vinci
Colosseum
Geography
● Italy is located in Southern Europe
● Italy borders France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia and is roughly delimited by the
Alpine watershed, enclosing the Po Valley and the Venetian Plain.
● To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula and the two
Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Sardinia (the two biggest islands of the
Mediterranean), in addition to many smaller islands.
● Four different seas surround the Italian Peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea from three
sides: the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea in the south, and the Ligurian Sea and
the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west.
● Over 35% of the Italian territory is mountainous.
Map of italy
Tre Cime di Lavaredo
Government
● Italy has a parliamentary government based on a mixed proportional and majoritarian
voting system.
● The parliament is perfectly bicameral: the two houses, the Chamber of Deputies that
meets in Palazzo Montecitorio, and the Senate of the Republic that meets in Palazzo
Madama, have the same powers.
● The Prime Minister, officially President of the Council of Ministers, is Italy's head of
government.
● The Italian judicial system is based on Roman law modified by the Napoleonic code and
later statutes.
● The Supreme Court of Cassation is the highest court in Italy for both criminal and civil
appeal cases.
Economy
● Italy has a major advanced capitalist mixed economy, ranking as the third-largest in
the Eurozone and the eighth-largest in the world.
● Italy is the world's sixth largest manufacturing country.
● Italy was the world's 7th largest exporter in 2016. Its closest trade ties are with the
other countries of the European Union, with whom it conducts about 59% of its total
trade.
● In 2004 the transport sector in Italy generated a turnover of about 119.4 billion euros,
employing 935,700 persons in 153,700 enterprises.
● Italy is the fifth most visited country in the world, with a total of 52.3 million
international arrivals in 2016.
● The main exports of Italy are precision machinery that represents 18 percent of total
exports, metals and metal products, worth 13 percent, but also clothing and footwear,
motor vehicles, including luxury vehicles, motorcycles and scooters.
Culture
● During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a number of magnificent courts
competed for attracting the best architects, artists and scholars, thus producing a great
legacy of monuments, paintings, music and literature.
● Italy is known for its considerable architectural achievements, such as the construction
of arches, domes and similar structures during ancient Rome, the founding of the
Renaissance architectural movement in the late-14th to 16th centuries, and being the
homeland of Palladianism, a style of construction which inspired movements such as
that of Neoclassical architecture, and influenced the designs which noblemen built their
country houses all over the world, notably in the UK, Australia and the US during the
late 17th to early 20th centuries.
 The Duomo and the
Leaning Tower of Pisa

Venice
Castel del Monte

The Royal Palace of Caserta

● Area: 301,338 km²
● Population: 59+ million
● Family is an extremely important value within the Italian culture.
● Children are reared to remain close to the family upon adulthood and incorporate their
future family into the larger network.
● The major religion in Italy is Roman Catholicism.
● Family gatherings are frequent and often centered around food and the extended
networks of families.
● The way you dress can indicate your social status, your family's background, and your
education level.
● First impressions are lasting impressions in Italy.
● The concept of 'bella figura' or good image is important to Italians.
● They unconsciously assess another person's age and social standing in the first few
seconds of meeting them, often before any words are exchanged.
● Clothes are important to Italians.
● They are extremely fashion conscious and judge people on their appearance.
● Greetings are enthusiastic yet rather formal.
● The usual handshake with direct eye contact and a smile suffices between strangers.
● If you bring wine, make sure it is a good vintage. Quality, rather than quantity, is
important.
● Punctuality is not mandatory. You may arrive between 15 minutes late if invited to
dinner and up to 30 minutes late if invited to a party.
● The name Italy comes from the word italia, meaning “calf land”
Source
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy