Italy

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{{Infobox Country |native_name = Repubblica Italiana |conventional_long_name = Italian Republic |common_name = Italy |image_flag = Flag of Italy.svg |image_coat = Italy-Emblem.svg |symbol_type = Coat of arms |image_map = Location Italy EU Europe.png

|national_motto = |national_anthem = Il Canto degli Italiani
(also known as Inno di Mameli) |official_languages = Italian¹ |capital = Rome |latd=41 |latm=54 |latNS=N |longd=12 |longm=29 |longEW=E |largest_city = capital |demonym = Italian |government_type = Parliamentary republic |leader_title1 = President |leader_name1 = Giorgio Napolitano |leader_title2 = President of the Council of Ministers |leader_name2 = Romano Prodi |accessionEUdate = 25 March 1957 (founding member) |EUseats = 78 |area_rank = 71st |area_magnitude = 1 E11 |area_km2 = 301,318 |area_sq_mi = 116,346.5 |population_estimate_rank = 23rd |population_estimate_year = feb 2007 |population_census = 9 |population_census_year = October 2001 |population_density_km2 = 196.2 |population_density_rank = 54th |population_density_sq_mi = 507.9 In 1946, Vittorio Emanuele III's son, Umberto II, was forced to abdicate. Italy became a Republic after the result of a popular referendum held on June 2 1946, a day celebrated since as Republic Day. This was the first election in Italy allowing women to vote.^[1] The republic won with a 9% margin in a referendum whose results are disputable as fraudulent. The Republican Constitution was approved and came into force on January 1 1948.

Under the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947, the eastern border area was annexed by Yugoslavia. In 1954, the free territory of Trieste was divided between Italy and Yugoslavia. In 1949, Italy became an ally of the United States, which helped to revive the Italian economy through the Marshall Plan. Moreover, Italy became a member of the European Economic Community, which later transformed into the European Union (EU). In 1950s and 1960s the country enjoyed prolonged economic growth.

Italy faced political instability in the 1970s, which ended in the 1980s. Known as the Years of Lead, this period was characterized by widespread social conflicts and terrorist acts carried out by extra-parliamentary movements. The assassination of the leader of the Christian Democracy (DC), Aldo Moro, led to the end of a "historic compromise" between the DC and the Communist Party (PCI). In the 1980s, for the first time, two governments were managed by a republican and a socialist (Bettino Craxi) rather than by a member of DC.

At the end of the Lead years, the PCI gradually increased their votes thanks to Enrico Berlinguer. The Socialist party (PSI), led by Bettino Craxi, became more and more critical of the communists and of the Soviet Union; Craxi himself pushed in favour of US president Ronald Reagan's positioning of Pershing missiles in Italy.

In 2000, a Parliament Commission report from the Olive Tree left-of-center coalition concluded that the strategy of tension had been supported by the United States to "stop the PCI, and to a certain degree also the PSI, from reaching executive power in the country".^[2][3] The report was dismissed by the centrist Republican party, which called it "worthy of a 1970s Maoist group". A source in the U.S. Embassy in Rome characterized the report as "allegations that have come up over the last 20 years" and have "absolutely nothing to them", while other commentators deemed it nothing more than "a manoeuvre dictated primarily by domestic political considerations".[1]

[edit] The Second Republic (1992-present)

Bettino Craxi, viewed by many as the symbol of Tangentopoli, leader of the Italian Socialist Party, is greeted by a salvo of coins as a sign of loathing by protesters.

From 1992 to 1997, Italy faced significant challenges as voters disenchanted with political paralysis, massive government debt, extensive corruption, and organized crime's considerable influence collectively called the political system Tangentopoli. As Tangentopoli was under a set of judicial investigations by the name of Mani pulite (Italian for "clean hands"), voters demanded political, economic, and ethical reforms. The Tangentopoli scandals involved all major parties, but especially those in the government coalition: between 1992 and 1994 the DC underwent a severe crisis and was dissolved, splitting up into several pieces, among whom the Italian People’s Party and the Christian Democratic Center. The PSI (and the other governing minor parties) completely dissolved.

The 1994 elections also swept media magnate Silvio Berlusconi (leader of "Pole of Freedoms" coalition) into office as Prime Minister. Berlusconi, however, was forced to step down in December 1994 when the Lega Nord withdrew support. The Berlusconi government was succeeded by a technical government headed by Prime Minister Lamberto Dini, which left office in early 1996.

In April 1996, national elections led to the victory of a center-left coalition under the leadership of Romano Prodi. Prodi's first government became the third-longest to stay in power before he narrowly lost a vote of confidence, by three votes, in October 1998. A new government was formed by Democrats of the Left leader and former communist Massimo D'Alema, but in April 2000, following poor performance by his coalition in regional elections, D'Alema resigned. The succeeding center-left government, including most of the same parties, was headed by Giuliano Amato (social-democratic), who previously served as Prime Minister in 1992-93, from April 2000 until June 2001. In 2001 the centre-right formed the government and Silvio Berlusconi was able to remain in power for a complete five year mandate, becoming the longest government in post-war Italy. Berlusconi participated in the US-led military coalition in Iraq.

The last elections in 2006 returned Prodi in the government with a slim majority in the Senate. In the first year of his government, Mr. Prodi has followed a cautious policy of economic liberalization and reduction of public debt.

[edit] Geography

Main article: Geography of Italy

[edit] Topography

Italy occupies a long, boot-shaped peninsula, surrounded on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the east by the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia to the north. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone; the Alps form its northern boundary. The largest of its northern lakes is Garda (143 sq mi; 370 km²); the Po, its principal river, flows from the Alps on Italy's western border and crosses the Padan plain to the Adriatic Sea. Several islands form part of Italy; the largest are Sicily (9,926 sq mi; 25,708 km²) and Sardinia (9,301 sq mi; 24,090 km²).

[edit] Volcanoes

Main article: Volcanism in Italy

There are several active volcanoes in Italy: Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe; Vulcano; Stromboli; and Vesuvius, the only active volcano on the mainland of Europe.

[edit] Climate

Main article: Climate of Italy

The climate in Italy is highly diverse and can be far from the stereotypical Mediterranean climate depending on the location. Most of the inland northern areas of Italy (for example Turin, Milan, and Bologna) have a continental climate often classified as Humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa). The coastal areas of Liguria and most of the peninsula south of Florence generally fit the Mediterranean stereotype (Köppen climate classification Csa). The coastal areas of the peninsula can be very different from the interior higher altitudes and valleys, particularly during the winter months when the higher altitudes tend to be cold, wet, and often snowy. The coastal regions enjoy mild winters and warm and generally dry summers, although lowland valleys can be quite hot in summer.

[edit] Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Italy

Giorgio Napolitano, 11th President of the Italian Republic.

The 1948 Constitution of Italy established a bicameral parliament (Parlamento), consisting of a Chamber of Deputies (Camera dei Deputati) and a Senate (Senato della Repubblica), a separate judiciary, and an executive branch composed of a Council of Ministers (cabinet) (Consiglio dei ministri), headed by the prime minister (Presidente del consiglio dei ministri).

The President of the Italian Republic (Presidente della Repubblica) is elected for seven years by the parliament sitting jointly with a small number of regional delegates. The president nominates the prime minister, who proposes the other ministers (formally named by the president). The Council of Ministers must retain the support (fiducia) of both houses.

The houses of parliament are popularly and directly elected through a complex electoral system (latest amendment in 2005) which combines proportional representation with a majority prize for the largest coalition (Chamber). All Italian citizens older than 18 can vote. However, to vote for the senate, the voter must be at least 25 or older. The electoral system in the Senate is based upon regional representation. During the elections in 2006, the two competing coalitions were separated by few thousand votes, and in the Chamber the centre-left coalition (L'Unione; English: The Union ) got 345 Deputies against 277 for the centre-right one (Casa delle Libertà; English: House of Freedoms), while in the Senate l'Ulivo got only two Senators more than absolute majority. The Chamber of Deputies has 630 members and the Senate 315 elected senators; in addition, the Senate includes former presidents and appointed senators for life (no more than five) by the President of the Republic according to special constitutional provisions. As of May 15 2006, there are seven life senators (of which three are former Presidents). Both houses are elected for a maximum of five years, but both may be dissolved by the President before the expiration of their normal term if the Parliament is unable to elect a stable government. In the post war history, this has happened in 1972, 1976, 1979, 1983, 1994 and 1996.

A peculiarity of the Italian Parliament is the representation given to Italian citizens permanently living abroad (about 2.7 million people). Among the 630 Deputies and the 315 Senators there are respectively 12 and 6 elected in four distinct foreign constituencies. Those members of Parliament were elected for the first time in April 2006 and they enjoy the same rights as members elected in Italy. Legislative bills may originate in either house and must be passed by a majority in both. The Italian judicial system is based on Roman law modified by the Napoleonic code and later statutes. The Constitutional Court of Italy (Corte Costituzionale) rules on the conformity of laws with the Constitution and is a post-World War II innovation.

See also: List of Prime Ministers of Italy

[edit] Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Italy

Italy was a founding member of the European Community--now the European Union (EU). Italy was admitted to the United Nations in 1955 and is a member and strong supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Council of Europe. Its recent turns as rotating Presidency of international organisations include the CSCE (the forerunner of the OSCE) in 1994 G-8, the EU in 2001 and from July to December 2003.

Italy supports the United Nations and its international security activities. Italy deployed troops in support of UN peacekeeping missions in Somalia, Mozambique, and East Timor and provides support for NATO and UN operations in Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania. Italy deployed over 2,000 troops to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in February 2003. Italy still supports international efforts to reconstruct and stabilize Iraq, but it has withdrawn its military contingent of some 3,200 troops as of November 2006, maintaining only humanitarian workers and other civilian personnel.

In August 2006 Italy sent about 3,000 soldiers to Lebanon for the ONU peacekeeping mission UNIFIL.^[4] Furthermore, since 2 February 2007 an Italian, Claudio Graziano is the commander of the UN force in the country.

See also: Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs

[edit] Military

Main article: Military of Italy

An Iveco-Oto Melara Ariete main battle tank of Esercito Italiano.

Article 11 of the Italian Constitution says: "Italy rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the freedoms of others peoples and as a means for settling international controversies; it agrees, on conditions of equality with other states, to the limitations of sovereignty necessary for an order that ensures peace and justice among Nations; it promotes and encourages international organizations having such ends in view".

The Italian armed forces are divided into four branches:

• Esercito Italiano (Army)
• Aeronautica Militare (Air Force)
• Marina Militare (Navy)
• Carabinieri (Gendarmerie)

The Italian armed forces are under the command of the Italian Supreme Defense Council, presided over by the President of the Italian Republic. The total number of military personnel is approximately 308,000. Italy has the eighth-highest military expenditure in the world.^[5]

The Italian Army (Esercito Italiano) is the ground defense force of the Italian Republic. It has recently (July 29th, 2004) become a professional all-volunteer force of 115,687 active duty personnel. Its most famous combat vehicles are Dardo, Centauro and Ariete, and Mangusta attack helicopters, recently deployed in UN missions; but the Esercito Italiano also has at its disposal a large number of Leopard 1 and M113 armored vehicles.

Agusta A129 Mangusta.

The Aeronautica Militare Italiana (AMI) is the air force of Italy. It was founded as an independent service arm on the 28th March, 1923, by King Vittorio Emanuele III as the Regia Aeronautica (which equates to "Royal Air Force"). After World War II, when Italy was made a republic by referendum, the Regia Aeronautica was given its current name. Today the Aeronautica Militare has a strength of 45,879 and operates 585 aircraft, including 219 combat jets and 114 helicopters. As a stopgap and as replacement for leased Tornado ADV interceptors, the AMI has leased 30 F-16A Block 15 ADF and four F-16B Block 10 Fighting Falcons, with an option for some more. The coming years also will see the introduction of 121 EF2000 Eurofighter Typhoons, replacing the leased F-16 Fighting Falcons. Furthermore updates are foreseen on the Tornado IDS/IDT and the AMX-fleet. The transport capacity is guaranteed by a fleet of 22 C-130Js, also a completely-new developed G222, called C-27J Spartan (12 aircraft ordered), will enter service replacing the G222's.

The Marina Militare (the Italian Navy) is one of the four branches of the military forces of Italy. It was created in 1946, as the Navy of the Italian Republic, from the Regia Marina. Today's Marina Militare is a modern navy with a strength of 35,261 and ships of every type, such as aircraft carriers, destroyers, modern frigates, submarines, amphibious ships and other smaller ships such as oceanographic research ships.

The Marina Militare is now equipping herself with a bigger aircraft carrier (the Cavour), new destroyers, submarines and multipurpose frigates. In modern times, the Marina Militare, being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), has taken part in many coalition peacekeeping operations. The Marina Militare is considered the fourth strongest navy of the world.

The Carabinieri are the gendarmerie and military police of Italy. At the Sea Islands Conference of the G8 in 2004, the Carabinieri was given the mandate to establish a Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU) to spearhead the development of training and doctrinal standards for civilian police units attached to international peacekeeping missions.^[6]

[edit] Regions, provinces, and municipalities

Administrative divisions.

Main articles: Regions of Italy, Provinces of Italy, and Municipalities of Italy

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 *. It is further divided into 109 provinces (province) and 8,101 municipalities (comuni).

[edit] Demographics

Main article: Demography of Italy

[edit] Population

The latest population estimate from ISTAT (Italian Statistics Office) shows 59,206,382 inhabitants in Italy in February 2007[2], an increase of 49,084 persons from a month earlier. Italy has the fourth largest population in the European Union (after Germany, France and the United Kingdom), and the 22nd in the world. Gradual increase of population is mainly supplemented by immigrants and an increase in life expectancy of 79.81 years[3]. Despite population growth, Italy is rapidly aging. Though the Italian fertility rate is climbing gradually, it sits at 1.35 children per woman[4], almost one in five Italian inhabitants is a pensioner; if this aging trend continues, the Italian population could shrink by a quarter by 2050.[5]

Italy has the fifth highest population density in Europe with 196 persons per square kilometre. The highest density is in Northwestern Italy, as two regions out of twenty (Lombardy and Piedmont) combined, contain one quarter of the Italian population, where an estimated 7.4 million people live in the metropolitan Milan area[6]. The literacy rate in Italy is 98% overall, and school is mandatory for children aged 6 to 18^[7]. Approximately two thirds of the population live in urban areas[7], which is much lower than other Western European nations.

[edit] Largest cities

Rome.

Italian cities with a population of 300,000 or more (ISTAT data, December 2006):

Milan.

[edit] Metropolitan areas

According to the OECD[8], these are the major Italian metropolitan areas:

[edit] Migration and ethnicity

Italy is a destination for immigrants from all over the world. At the end of 2006, foreigners comprised 5% of the population or 2,938,922 persons^[8], an increase of 270,000 since the previous year. In some Italian cities, such as Brescia, Milan, Padua, and Prato, immigrants total more than 10 percent of the population.

Turin.

Naples.

The most recent wave of migration has been from surrounding European nations, particularily Eastern Europe, replacing North Africans as a major source of migrants. Around 500,000 Romanians are officially registered as living in Italy, but unofficial estimates put the actual number at double that figure or perhaps even more.^[9] As of 2006, migrants came from Eastern Europe (39.14%), North Africa (17.77%), Asia (17.43%), Latin America (8.90%). Smaller groups came from sub-saharan Africa, North America and other European Union nations.^[10]

[edit] Religion

Main article: Religion in Italy

Monreale Cathedral in Sicily.

Roman Catholicism is by far the largest religion in the country. Although the Catholic Church is no longer officially the state religion, it still plays a role in the nation's political affairs, partly due to the Holy See's location in Rome. 87.8% of Italians identified as Roman Catholic [9], although only about one-third of these described themselves as active members (36.8%).

Other Christian groups in Italy include more than 700,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians [10], including 470,000 newcomers [11]PDF (65.4 KiB)

and some 180,000 Greek Orthodox, 550,000 Pentecostals and Evangelicals (0.8%), of whom 400,000 are members of the Assemblies of God, 235,685 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.04%) [12], 30,000 Waldensians [13], 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists, 22,000 Mormons, 15,000 Baptists (plus some 5,000 Free Baptists), 7,000 Lutherans, 5,000 Methodists (affiliated to the Waldensian Church) [14].

The country's oldest religious minority is the Jewish community, comprising roughly 45,000 people. It is no longer the largest non-Christian group.

As a result of significant immigration from other parts of the world, some 825,000 Muslims [15] (1.4%) live in Italy, though only 50,000 are Italian citizens. In addition, there are 110,000 Buddhists (0.2%) [16] [17] [18]PDF (65.4 KiB) , 70,000 Sikhs [19], and 70,000 Hindus (0.1%) in Italy.

See also: Christianity in Italy, Islam in Italy, Jews in Italy, Buddhism in Italy, and List of Italian religious minority politicians

[edit] Economy

Main article: Economy of Italy

According to GDP calculations, Italy was ranked as the seventh largest economy in the world in 2006, behind the United States, Japan, Germany, China, 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. The Mafia represents the biggest segment of the Italian economy, accounting for more than $127 billion; making organized crime 7 percent of Italy's GDP. [20]

Most raw 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 introduction 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 economic slowdown and opposition from labour unions.

The new Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.

Italy has a smaller number of world class multinational corporations than other economies of comparable size. Instead, the country's main economic strength has been its large base of small and medium size companies. Some of these companies manufacture products that are technologically moderately advanced and therefore face increasing competition from China and other emerging Asian economies which are able to undercut them on labour costs. These Italian companies are responding to the Asian competition by concentrating on products with a higher technological content, while moving lower-tech manufacturing to plants in countries where labour is less expensive. The small average size of Italian companies remains a limiting factor, and the government has been working to encourage integration and mergers and to reform the rigid regulations that have traditionally been an obstacle to the development of larger corporations in the country.

Italy's major exports are motor vehicles (Fiat Group, Aprilia, Ducati, Piaggio), chemicals, petrochemicals and electric goods (Eni, Enel, Edison), aerospace and defense tech (Alenia, Agusta, Finmeccanica), firearms (Beretta) ; but the country's more famous exports are in the fields of fashion (Armani, Valentino, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Benetton, Prada, Luxottica), food industry (Barilla Group, Martini & Rossi, Campari, Parmalat), luxury vehicles (Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Pagani) and motoryachts (Ferretti, Azimut).

Tourism is very important to the Italian economy: with over 37 million tourists a year, Italy is ranked as the fifth major tourist destination in the world.^[12] (see Tourism in Italy).

[edit] Transport

Main article: Transport in Italy

The railway network in Italy totals 19,394 kilometres (12,051 mi), ranking the country 16th in the world, and is operated by Ferrovie dello Stato. High speed trains include ETR-class trains, of which the ETR 500 travels at 300 km/h (190 mph).

In 1991 Treno Alta Velocità SpA was created, a special purpose entity owned by RFI (itself owned by Ferrovie dello Stato) for the planning and construction of high-speed rail lines along Italy's most important and saturated transport routes. These lines are often referred as "TAV" lines. The purpose of TAV construction is to aid travel along Italy's most saturated rail lines and to add tracks to these lines, namely the Milan-Naples and Turin-Milan-Venice corridors. One of the focuses of the project is to turn the rail network of Italy into a modern and high-tech passenger rail system in accordance with updated European rail standards. A secondary purpose is to introduce high-speed rail to the country and its high-priority corridors. When demand on regular lines is lessened with the opening of dedicated high-speed lines, those regular lines will be used primarily for low-speed regional rail service and freight trains. With these ideas realised, the Italian train network can be integrated with other European rail networks, particularly the French TGV, German ICE, and Spanish AVE systems.

There are approximately 654,676 km(406,797 mi) of serviceable roadway in Italy, including 6,957 km (4,323 mi) of expressways [21].

There are approximately 133 airports in Italy, including the two hubs of Malpensa International (near Milan) and Leonardo Da Vinci International (near Rome).

There are 27 major ports in Italy, the largest is in Genoa, which is also the second largest in the Mediterranean Sea, after Marseille. 2,400 km (1,500 mi) of waterways traverse Italy.

[edit] Culture

Raffaello.

Main articles: Culture of Italy, Freedom of the press in Italy, Italian literature, Music of Italy, Sport in Italy, and Cinema of Italy

Italy, as a state, did not exist until the unification of the country in 1861. Due to this comparatively late unification, and the historical autonomy of the regions that comprise the Italian Peninsula, many traditions and customs that we now recognise as distinctly Italian can be identified by their regions of origin. Despite the political and social isolation of these regions, Italy's contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of Europe remain immense. Italy is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (41) to date.

[edit] Visual Art

Italy has seen many artistic and intellectual movements that spread throughout Europe and beyond, including the Renaissance and Baroque. Italy's artistic heritage includes the achievements of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, Bernini, Titian and Raphael.

[edit] Literature

Dante, author of the Divine Comedy.

With the basis of the modern Italian language established through the Florentine poet, Dante Alighieri, whose greatest work, the Divina Commedia, is considered amongst the foremost literary statements 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 Petrarch, whose best known vehicle of expression, the sonnet, was invented in Italy. Prominent philosophers include Giordano Bruno, Marsilio Ficino, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Giambattista 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^[13].

[edit] Science

Galileo.

In science, Galileo Galilei made advancements toward the scientific revolution, and Leonardo da Vinci was the quintessential Renaissance Man. Italy has been the home of scientists and inventors: the physicist Enrico Fermi, one of the fathers of quantum theory and head of the Manhattan Project; the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini; the physicist Alessandro Volta, inventor of the electric battery; the mathematicians Lagrange and Fibonacci; Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the radio; and Antonio Meucci, candidate for inventor of the telephone.

Giacomo Puccini.

[edit] Music

From folk music to classical, music has played an important role in Italian culture. Having given birth to opera, Italy provides many of the foundations of the classical music tradition. Instruments 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). Italy's most famous composers include the Renaissance composers Palestrina and Monteverdi, the Baroque composers Alessandro Scarlatti, 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.

[edit] Sport

Popular sports include football, basketball (2nd national team sport since the '50s), volleyball, waterpolo, fencing, rugby, cycling, ice hockey (mainly in Milan, Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto), roller hockey and F1 motor racing. The Italians also enjoy many other sports.

Winter sports are most popular in the Northern regions, with Italians competing in international games and Olympic venues. Sports are incorporated into Italian festivities like Palio (see also Palio di Siena), and the Gondola race (regatta) that takes place in Venice on the first Sunday of September.

Sports venues have extended from the Gladiatorial games of Ancient Rome in the Colosseum to the Stadio Olimpico of contemporary Rome, where football clubs compete.

The most popular sport in Italy is football, the Serie A being one of the most famous competitions in the world.

[edit] Languages

Main article: Languages of Italy

See also: Italian dialects

Gondolas in Venice; Rialto Bridge in background.

The official language of Italy is Standard Italian, a descendant of the Tuscan dialect and a direct descendant of Latin (Some 75 percent of Italian words are of Latin origin). The Tuscan dialect (or Florentine dialect) spoken in Tuscany was promoted as the standard in large part due to its literary heritage (Dante's Divine Comedy is often credited with the emergence of the Tuscan dialect as a standard). Pietro Bembo, influenced by Petrarch, also promoted Tuscan as the standard literary language (volgare illustre). The spread of the printing press and literary movements (such as petrarchism and bembismo) also furthered Italian standardization.

When Italy was unified in 1861, Italian existed mainly as a literary language. Many Romance regional languages were spoken throughout the Italian Peninsula (Italian dialects), each with local variants. Following Italian unification Massimo Taparelli, one of Cavour's ministers, is said to have stated that having created Italy, all that remained was to create Italians (a national identity).

The establishment of a national education system led to a decrease in variation in the languages spoken across the country. Standardization was further expanded in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to economic growth and the rise of mass media and television (the state broadcaster RAI helped set an Italian standard).

Some historic romance languages spoken in Italy are not considered Italian dialects, but are languages in their own right. These include Friulian, Neapolitan, Sardinian, Sicilian, Venetian and other Gallo-Italian languages of the north. These languages have given way to regional varieties of Italian. variety is often used in idioms and folk songs.

In addition to the regional linguistic varieties and dialects of standard Italian, a number of languages enjoying some form of official recognition are spoken:

• In Sardinia there is the largest group of non-Italian speakers, some 1.3 million people, they speak Sardinian, a Romance language which retains pre-Latin words.
• A community of 700,000 in Friuli speak Friulian, a Rhaeto-Romance language.
• The Province of Bolzano-Bozen has a majority German-speaking population (Upper German). This area was annexed from Austro-Hungary by Italy under the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye after World War I. Some German-speaking communities also exist in other parts of north Italy. Cimbrian is a German language related to Austro-Bavarian spoken in some parts of Veneto (Asiago, Luserna) and the Walsers in Aosta Valley (Gressoney). In total some 300,000 or so Italians speak German as their first language. Some identify themselves as ethnic Austrians.
• A community of 175.000 in Province of Sassari speak Sassarese, a diasystem of the Corsican and Sardinian with Ligurian, Catalan and Spanish influences.
• The Province of Olbia-Tempio has a majority Gallurese-speaking population (87%), in total some 129.000; cause the migration of a large group of Corsicans from south-Corsica from 15th to 19th century.
• Some 120,000 people live in the Aosta Valley region, where a dialect of Franco-Provençal is spoken that is similar to dialects spoken in France. About 1,400 people living in two isolated towns in Foggia speak another dialect of Franco-Provençal.
• 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.
• 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-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto there are some 40,000 speakers of the Rhaeto-Romance language Ladin.
• Scattered across southern Italy (Salento and Calabria) are some 30,000 Greek-speakers—considered to be the last surviving traces of the region's Magna Graecia heritage. They speak a Greek dialect, Griko.
• Some 15,000 Catalan speakers reside around the area of Alghero in the north-west corner of Sardinia; cause the migration of a large group of Catalans from Barcelona.
• Some 12,000 Ligurian speakers reside in Carloforte and Calasetta, in the south-west corner of Sardinia; cause the migration of a large group of ligurians from Tabarka, Tunisia.
• In the Molise region of central-south Italy some 4,000 people speak Molise Croatian. These are the Molise Croats, descendants of a group of people who migrated from the Balkans in the Middle Ages.

[edit] See also

v • d • e      Topics in Italy
History	Timeline: Etruscan Civilization · Ancient Rome (Roman Kingdom) - (Roman Republic) - (Roman Empire) · Italy in the Middle Ages · Italian Renaissance · Italian Wars · Italy during Foreign Domination and the Unification · Italian unification (Risorgimento) · Italian Monarchy and World Wars · History of the Italian Republic Topics: Military history · Economic history · Constitutional history · Current Events
Politics	Constitution · Constitutional Court · President · Parliament · Senate · Prime Minister · Chamber of Deputies · Courts · Supreme Court · Elections · Political parties · Military
Geography	Areas: Alps · Apennines · Northern Italy · Central Italy · Southern Italy Topics: Animals · Cities · Islands · National parks · Plants · Regions · Provinces · Municipalities
Economy	Bank of Italy · Companies · Borsa Italiana (main stock exchange) · Taxation · Transportation · Communications
Demographics	Immigration · Citizenship · Languages · Religion · Education
Culture	Architecture · Art · Cinema · Famous Italians · Holidays · Literature · Music (Classical - Opera - Pop - Rock) · Newspapers · Fascism · Sport
	Coat of Arms · National Flag · Regional flags

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

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

Italy Portal

[edit] External links

Articles on this topic in other Wikimedia projects can be found at: Italy

[edit] Government

• Italia.it Official Tourism Website
• President of the Republic of Italy (Italian)
• Parliament (Italian)
• Chamber of Deputies
• Senate (Italian)
• Main Institutional Portal (Italian)
• Council of Ministries
• Constitutional Court
• Supreme Court
• Court of Accounts
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of the Interior (Italian)
• Ministry of Education
• Ministry of Education - International Exchanges
• Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Defense
• Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare
• Ministry for Economic Development
• Ministry of Agriculture
• Ministry of Justice

[edit] Public institutions

• National Statistics Office (Italian)
• ENIT Italian State Tourism Board
• ENIT North America
• Italian Railways
• Italian National and Regional Parks

[edit] Additional profiles

• by the BBC News
• by the CIA Factbook
• by the Economist
• by the U.S. Department of State
• by the World Bank

[edit] Others

• History of Italy: Primary Documents
• List and maps of archaeological sites in Italy
• WWW-VL: History: Italy at IUE

[edit] Travel

• {{{2}}} travel guide from Wikitravel

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