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About Italy
Italia
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Italy is located in Southern Europe.
Italy runs from the Alps to the Central Mediterranean Sea: it shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia and the open waters with France, Tunisia, Libya, Malta, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia.
The country is referred to as lo Stivale - "the Boot" - or il Bel Paese - "the Beautiful Country" or simply la Penisola - "the Peninsula".
Italy is one of the Founding Member States of the European Union. |
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About Italy |
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Italy became an independent nation-state for the first time in its history in 1861 as a result of the Italian unification of various city-states, most of them noted for their cultural achievements.
Italy is mainly mountainous, except for the the Po River valley or "Po plain" in the north, and includes Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia, together with Elba and about other 70 islands.
The independent states of the Vatican City and the Republic of San Marino are enclaves within Italian territory, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave inSwitzerland.
Italy is is the 7th largest economy and a member of the G8 group of world's industrialised countries: its main economic sectors are tourism, fashion, engineering, chemicals, motor vehicles and food. |
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Italy has been home to many great European cultures, including the Etruscans, the Greeks and the Romans.
Already the centre of a vast Roman empire, which left a huge archaeological, cultural and literary heritage, its capital Rome has been an important center of Western civilization, and is a historically important world city, not only as the core of ancient Rome but also of the Roman Catholic Church.
Italy was for for more than 3.000 years divided into many states which often experienced foreign domination, migrations and invasions from Celtic, Germanic, Frankish, Lombard, Byzantine Greek, Saracen and Norman peoples.
Following the Middle Ages the Italian peninsula saw the birth of humanism and the Renaissance: this further helped to shape European political thought, philosophy and art through the genius of Machiavelli, Dante, Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo.
Famous Italian artists are Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, just to name a few.
Italian are also opera composers such as Verdi and Puccini and film-makers like Federico Fellini and Roberto Benigni.
Italian cuisine is one of the most refined and varied in Europe, well known and appreciated all over the world. |
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Flag:
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Political system: Republic |
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Capital city: Rome |
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Total area: 301.263 kmē |
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Population: 58.8 million |
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Currency: Euro |
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© 1989-2009 AlterEgo & Partners™,
AlterEgo Business Development™ HB - AlterEgo Mediterranean Houses & Homes™ |
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Italy - and 
Croatia