Italy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Italian Republic
Repubblica italiana
Flag
Emblem
Anthem: Il Canto degli Italiani
The Song of the Italians
Location of Italy (dark green) on the European continent (green & dark grey)
the European Union (green)
[Legend]
Location of Italy (dark green)
on the European continent (green & dark grey)
in the European Union (green)
[Legend]
Capital
and largest city
Rome
4154'N 1229'E
Official languages
Italian[1]
Demonym
Italian
Government
Unitary parliamentary republic
President
Sergio Mattarella
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
Legislature
Parliament
Upper house
Senate of the Republic
Lower house
Chamber of Deputies
Formation
Unification
17 March 1861
Republic
2 June 1946
Area
Total 301,338 km2 (71st)
116,346 sq mi
Water (%)
2.4
Population
April 2011 estimate
60,681,514 [2] (23rd)
2001 census
56,995,744
Density
201.2/km2 (61st)
521.2/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2011 estimate
Total $1.828 trillion[3] (10th)
Per capita
$30,165[3] (30th)
GDP (nominal) 2011 estimate
Total $2.245 trillion[3] (8th)
Per capita
$37,046[3] (24th)
Gini (2006)
32[4]
medium
HDI (2011)
Increase 0.874[5]
very high 24th
Currency
Euro ( )2 (EUR)
Time zone
CET (UTC+1)
Summer (DST)
CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the right
Calling code
394
Internet TLD
.it3
1.
French is co-official in the Aosta Valley; Slovene is co-official in the
province of Trieste and the province of Gorizia; German and Ladin are co-offici
al in the province of South Tyrol.
2.
Before 2002, the Italian Lira. The euro is accepted in Campione d'Italia
, but the official currency there is the Swiss Franc.[6]
3.
The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union m

in

ember states.
4.
To call Campione d'Italia, it is necessary to use the Swiss code +41.
Italy is a country in Europe and a member of the European Union. Its official na
me is Repubblica Italiana. Italy is a democratic republic and is a founding memb
er of the European Union.[7]
Italy is also a member of the G8, as it has the 8th largest Gross Domestic Produ
ct in the world. Its President is Sergio Mattarella and its Prime Minister is Ma
tteo Renzi. Before 1861, it was made up of smaller kingdoms and city-states.
Contents
1 Geography
2 People and culture
3 Economy
4 Religion
5 Regions
6 Politics
7 History
8 Transportation
9 Related pages
10 References
11 Other websites
Geography
For more details, see Italian Peninsula
Satellite image of Italy
Italy is a peninsula, meaning it is encompassed by the sea on all of its sides a
part from one side of the country (its north side). Northern Italy is separated
from France, Switzerland, and Austria by the Alps,[8] a chain of mountains. Mont
Blanc (Monte Bianco in Italian or white mountain in English), the highest mount
ain in western Europe,[9] belongs to this chain. The second important chain of m
ountains in Italy is the Apennines (Appennini in Italian), which are in central
and southern Italy.
The capital of Italy is Rome. Other cities in Italy are Milan, Turin, Florence,
Genoa, Naples, Palermo and Venice. The country has a number of islands, the bigg
est of which are Sicily and Sardinia,[10][11] which can be reached by ship or ai
rcraft.[11]
The Po River is the longest river in Italy. It flows through 5 cities: Torino, P
iacenza, Cremona Ferrara and Rovigo.[12] The Tiber River runs through the city o
f Rome.
Northern Italy has some of the biggest lakes in the country, such as Lake Garda,
Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and Lake Iseo.[13] Because it is surrounded by the sea
, Italy has many kilometers of coast, which brings tourists from all over the wo
rld.[14] Tourists also come to see Italy's many historical places.[15]
Two very small countries are located within Italy. They are San Marino, which is
surrounded by part of Northern Italy, and the Vatican City, which is inside Rom
e.
People and culture
Leonardo Da Vinci
People from Italy are called Italians. Nearly all the Italians are Christians, a
nd most of these are Roman Catholics, which is based in the Vatican City and hom
e to its leader, the Pope.[16]

The population of Italy is a little over 60 million.[17] About 2.7 million of th

em live in Rome,[18] and 1.3 million in Milan.[19] As of 31 December 2015, over
5 million foreigners were living in Italy, which is 8.3% of the total population
.[20]
The official language of Italy is Italian and in some small areas German, Sloven
ian or French. People also speak languages such as Sicilian and Sardinian, which
are very similar to Italian, but are different dialects of Italian.
There are many different dialects spoken in Italy. They vary between regions and
, in some cases, also between provinces.
The people of Italy are partly descendant from the ancient Romans.
Italy is home to more World Heritage Sites than any other nation in the world.[2
1] These sites are culturally important and valued according to UNESCO. About 60
% of the works of art of the world are in Italy. Italy is also a big wine produc
er. In 2005 it made over 5 million tonnes.[22]
Economy
Italy has a modern social welfare system. The labor market enjoys relative stren
gth, with many foreigners, especially from Romania, working in Italy where the w
ages are much higher. But it could have been much more workers on the labor mark
et because men and women already retired in the age of 57 and the unemployment r
ate is relatively high at 8.2 percent.[23][24] Italy's modern society has been b
uilt up through loans and now the country has a catastrophic high debt of 1.9trn
or 120 percent of the country's total GDP. And the government can't pay back the
loans during the time period the EU wish.[25]
Religion
Italy religiosity
religion
percent
Christianity
?
90%
No religion
?
7%
Islam
?
2%
Others
?
1%
Most people in Italy are Roman Catholics, but the Catholic Church is no longer o
fficially the state religion. 87.8% of the people said they were Roman Catholic.
[26] Only about a third said they were active members (36.8%). There are also ot
her Christian groups in Italy, more than 700,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians. 18
0,000 of them belong to the Greek Orthodox Church.[27]
550,000 are Pentecostals and Evangelicals (0.8%). 235,685 Jehovah's Witnesses (0
.4%),[28] 30,000 Waldensians,[29] 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists, 22,000 Mormons,
20,000 Baptists, 7,000 Lutherans, 4,000 Methodists.[30] The country's oldest re
ligious minority is the Jewish community. It has roughly 45,000 people. It is no
longer the largest non-Christian group. About 825,000 Muslims live in Italy. Mo
st of them immigrated.[31] (1.4% of the total population) Only 50,000 are Italia
n citizens. In addition, there are 50,000 Buddhists[32][33] 70,000 Sikh[34] and
70,000 Hindus in Italy.
Regions

Italy is divided into 20 Regions (Regioni in Italian) and every Region is divide
d into Provinces.
There are 20 Regions. 5 of them have a special status, they are called autonomou
s. This means that they can make certain local laws more easily. These regions a
re marked with an asterisk (*) below.
In Venice, gondolas are a way for people to get around.
Region Capital
Area (km)
Population
Abruzzo
L'Aquila
10,794 1,324,000
Aosta Valley* Aosta 3,263 126,000
Apulia Bari
19,362 4,076,000
Basilicata
Potenza
9,992 591,000
Calabria
Catanzaro
15,080 2,007,000
Campania
Naples 13,595 5,811,000
Emilia-Romagna Bologna
22,124 4,276,000
Friuli-Venezia Giulia* Trieste
7,855 1,222,000
Lazio Rome
17,207 5,561,000
Liguria
Genoa 5,421 1,610,000
Lombardy
Milan 23,861 9,642,000
Marche Ancona 9,694 1,553,000
Molise Campobasso
4,438 320,000
Piedmont
Turin 25,399 4,401,000
Sardinia*
Cagliari
24,090 1,666,000
Sicily*
Palermo
25,708 5,030,000
Tuscany
Florence
22,997 3,677,000
Trentino-Alto Adige*
Trento 13,607 1,007,000
Umbria Perugia
8,456 884,000
Veneto Venice 18,391 4,832,000
Politics
The Chamber of Deputies
The Head of State is Sergio Mattarella, whose task began in February 2015. Matta
rella is currently the President of the Italian Republic. The first president wa
s Enrico De Nicola.
The Head of Government is Matteo Renzi, who became Prime Minister on February 22
, 2014, succeeding Enrico Letta. Renzi was previously the Mayor of Florence and
is Italy's youngest-ever Prime Minister, at age 39 when taking office.
Italy was one of the first members of the European Union and in 2002, along with
11 other European countries, it changed to using the euro as its official curre
ncy. Before this, the Italian lira had been used since 1861.
Anyone who wants to be President of Italy must have Italian citizenship, be at l
east 50 years old, and must be able to hold political and civil rights.
History
The Colosseum in Rome. Its original name is Flavian Amphitheatre, being built un
der the Flavian dynasty, an imperial Family of the Ancient Rome.
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Before 1861, Italy was not a state. The area was made of a group of independent
states, ruled by other countries (such as Austria, France, and Spain). In the 18
50s the Earl of Camillo Cavour was the Head of Government of the "State of Sardi
nia". He talked to the Austrians in Lombardy and Veneto and said they should cre
ate a Northern Italian state. This happened, but other Central and Southern Ital
ian states also joined Piedmont to create a bigger state.
In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi took control of Sicily, creating the Kingdom of Ital
y in 1861.[11] Vittorio Emanuele II was made the King. But, in 1861, Latium and

Veneto were still not part of Italy, because they were ruled by the Pope and Aus
trian Empire.
Veneto was made part of Italy in 1866 after a war with Austria, and Italian sold
iers won Latium in 1870. That was when they took away the Pope's power. The Pope
, who was angry, said that he was a prisoner to keep Catholic people from being
active in politics. That year, Italy finally came back together.
Italy participated in World War I as an ally of Great Britain, France, and Russi
a against the Central Powers. Almost all of Italy's fighting was on the Eastern
border, near Austria. After the "Caporetto defeat", Italy thought they would los
e the war. But, in 1918, the Central Powers surrendered, and Italy gained the Tr
entino-South Tyrol, which once was owned by Austria.
In 1922, a new Italian government started, and it was ruled by Benito Mussolini,
the leader of Fascism in Italy. He became Head of Government and dictator, call
ing himself "duce" - which means "leader" in Italian. He became friends with Ger
man dictator Hitler, and Mussolini followed him into World War II. Italy entered
the war in 1940 as an ally of Germany and Japan against France, Great Britain,
and Russia. During the war, Italy controlled most of the Mediterranean Sea.
On July 25, 1943, Mussolini was removed by the Great Council of Fascism, and, on
September 8, 1943, Badoglio said that the war as an ally of Germany was ended.
Italy started fighting as an ally of France and the UK, but Italian soldiers did
not know who to shoot. In Northern Italy, a movement called Resistenza started
to fight against the German invaders.
Mussolini tried to make another Northern Italian fascist state, the Republic of
Sal, but it failed. On April 25, 1945, Italy became free. The state became a repu
blic on June 2, 1946, and, for the first time, women were able to vote. Italian
people ended the Savoia dynasty and adopted a republic government.
In February 1947, Italy signed a peace treaty with the Allies losing all the col
onies and some territorial areas (Istria and parts of Dalmatia).
Since then Italy has joined NATO and the European Community (as a founding membe
r), becoming one of the seven biggest industrial economies in the world.
Transportation
Rome-Fiumicino Airport was the sixth busiest airport in Europe in 2008.
The railway network in Italy totals 16,627 kilometres (10,331 mi), the 17th long
est in the world. High speed trains include ETR-class trains which travel at 300
km/h (190 mph).
Related pages
Italy at the Olympics
Italy national football team
Italian cuisine
Italophilia
Italian Mare Nostrum
List of rivers of Italy
References
"Ethnologue report"
. Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
"Monthly demographic balance: January 2011"
(in Italian). Istat. 10 September 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
"Italy"
. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 14 October 2011.

"Distribution of family income

Gini index"
. CIA
The World Factbook. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
"Human Development Report 2011"
. United Nations. 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
"Comune di Campione d'Italia"
. Comune.campione-d-italia.co.it. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
"European Countries"
. European Union. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
"Alps are the border between Italy and other countries"
.
"Four missing in Alps avalanche"
. BBC News. 20 April 2002. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
"Biggest Islands in the World"
.
"Italy: Encarta"
. MSN. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
Zwingle, Eria. "National Geographic"
. National Geographic. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
Watson, Philip (19 March 2005). "The lake show"
. The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
"Tourism damaging Med's wetlands"
. BBC News. 15 July 2004. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
"Alarm sounded over Italy's treasures"
. BBC News. 20 November 2002. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
"Italy"
. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
"Flag Counter: Italy"
. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
"Rome's Population"
.
"Milan's Population"
.
"National demographic balance, 2015"
. www.istat.it. Italian Government. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
"List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites"
. UNESCO. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
"Countries by wine Production"
.
http://www.pensionfundsonline.co.uk/113/country-profiles/italy/
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2009&ey=
2016&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=136&s=LUR&grp=0&a=&pr.x=16&pr.y=16
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2058965/Italy-debt-crisis-Rome-burns-E
uroland-bridges.html
(Italian) "Italy: 88% of Italians declare themselves Catholic"
. Corriere della Sera. 2006-01-18. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
The Holy Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Malta
(Italian) Center for Studies on New Religions
(Italian) Waldensian Evangelical Church
World Council of Churches
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(Italian) Italian Buddhist Union
(Italian) Italian Buddhist Institute "Soka Gakkai"
Etnomedia
Other websites
The Simple English Wiktionary has a definition for: Italy.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Italy
Italian Tourism Official Website

v t e
Regions of Italy
Abruzzo
Apulia Basilicata
Latium
Liguria
Lombardy
-Alto Adige/Sdtirol Umbria

Calabria Campania
Emilia-Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giuli
Marche
Molise Piedmont
Sardinia Sicily
Tuscany
Valle d'Aosta
Veneto

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Italy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Italian Republic
Repubblica italiana
Flag
Emblem
Anthem: Il Canto degli Italiani
The Song of the Italians
Location of Italy (dark green) on the European continent (green & dark grey)
the European Union (green)
[Legend]
Location of Italy (dark green)
on the European continent (green & dark grey)
in the European Union (green)
[Legend]
Capital
and largest city
Rome
4154'N 1229'E

in

Official languages
Italian[1]
Demonym
Italian
Government
Unitary parliamentary republic
President
Sergio Mattarella
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
Legislature
Parliament
Upper house
Senate of the Republic
Lower house
Chamber of Deputies
Formation
Unification
17 March 1861
Republic
2 June 1946
Area
Total 301,338 km2 (71st)
116,346 sq mi
Water (%)
2.4
Population
April 2011 estimate
60,681,514 [2] (23rd)
2001 census
56,995,744
Density
201.2/km2 (61st)
521.2/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2011 estimate
Total $1.828 trillion[3] (10th)
Per capita
$30,165[3] (30th)
GDP (nominal) 2011 estimate
Total $2.245 trillion[3] (8th)
Per capita
$37,046[3] (24th)
Gini (2006)
32[4]
medium
HDI (2011)
Increase 0.874[5]
very high 24th
Currency
Euro ( )2 (EUR)
Time zone
CET (UTC+1)
Summer (DST)
CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the right
Calling code
394
Internet TLD
.it3
1.
French is co-official in the Aosta Valley; Slovene is co-official in the
province of Trieste and the province of Gorizia; German and Ladin are co-offici
al in the province of South Tyrol.
2.
Before 2002, the Italian Lira. The euro is accepted in Campione d'Italia
, but the official currency there is the Swiss Franc.[6]
3.
The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union m
ember states.
4.
To call Campione d'Italia, it is necessary to use the Swiss code +41.
Italy is a country in Europe and a member of the European Union. Its official na
me is Repubblica Italiana. Italy is a democratic republic and is a founding memb
er of the European Union.[7]
Italy is also a member of the G8, as it has the 8th largest Gross Domestic Produ
ct in the world. Its President is Sergio Mattarella and its Prime Minister is Ma
tteo Renzi. Before 1861, it was made up of smaller kingdoms and city-states.
Contents
1
2
3
4
5

Geography
People and culture
Economy
Religion
Regions

6 Politics
7 History
8 Transportation
9 Related pages
10 References
11 Other websites
Geography
For more details, see Italian Peninsula
Satellite image of Italy
Italy is a peninsula, meaning it is encompassed by the sea on all of its sides a
part from one side of the country (its north side). Northern Italy is separated
from France, Switzerland, and Austria by the Alps,[8] a chain of mountains. Mont
Blanc (Monte Bianco in Italian or white mountain in English), the highest mount
ain in western Europe,[9] belongs to this chain. The second important chain of m
ountains in Italy is the Apennines (Appennini in Italian), which are in central
and southern Italy.
The capital of Italy is Rome. Other cities in Italy are Milan, Turin, Florence,
Genoa, Naples, Palermo and Venice. The country has a number of islands, the bigg
est of which are Sicily and Sardinia,[10][11] which can be reached by ship or ai
rcraft.[11]
The Po River is the longest river in Italy. It flows through 5 cities: Torino, P
iacenza, Cremona Ferrara and Rovigo.[12] The Tiber River runs through the city o
f Rome.
Northern Italy has some of the biggest lakes in the country, such as Lake Garda,
Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and Lake Iseo.[13] Because it is surrounded by the sea
, Italy has many kilometers of coast, which brings tourists from all over the wo
rld.[14] Tourists also come to see Italy's many historical places.[15]
Two very small countries are located within Italy. They are San Marino, which is
surrounded by part of Northern Italy, and the Vatican City, which is inside Rom
e.
People and culture
Leonardo Da Vinci
People from Italy are called Italians. Nearly all the Italians are Christians, a
nd most of these are Roman Catholics, which is based in the Vatican City and hom
e to its leader, the Pope.[16]
The population of Italy is a little over 60 million.[17] About 2.7 million of th
em live in Rome,[18] and 1.3 million in Milan.[19] As of 31 December 2015, over
5 million foreigners were living in Italy, which is 8.3% of the total population
.[20]
The official language of Italy is Italian and in some small areas German, Sloven
ian or French. People also speak languages such as Sicilian and Sardinian, which
are very similar to Italian, but are different dialects of Italian.
There are many different dialects spoken in Italy. They vary between regions and
, in some cases, also between provinces.
The people of Italy are partly descendant from the ancient Romans.
Italy is home to more World Heritage Sites than any other nation in the world.[2
1] These sites are culturally important and valued according to UNESCO. About 60
% of the works of art of the world are in Italy. Italy is also a big wine produc

er. In 2005 it made over 5 million tonnes.[22]

Economy
Italy has a modern social welfare system. The labor market enjoys relative stren
gth, with many foreigners, especially from Romania, working in Italy where the w
ages are much higher. But it could have been much more workers on the labor mark
et because men and women already retired in the age of 57 and the unemployment r
ate is relatively high at 8.2 percent.[23][24] Italy's modern society has been b
uilt up through loans and now the country has a catastrophic high debt of 1.9trn
or 120 percent of the country's total GDP. And the government can't pay back the
loans during the time period the EU wish.[25]
Religion
Italy religiosity
religion
percent
Christianity
?
90%
No religion
?
7%
Islam
?
2%
Others
?
1%
Most people in Italy are Roman Catholics, but the Catholic Church is no longer o
fficially the state religion. 87.8% of the people said they were Roman Catholic.
[26] Only about a third said they were active members (36.8%). There are also ot
her Christian groups in Italy, more than 700,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians. 18
0,000 of them belong to the Greek Orthodox Church.[27]
550,000 are Pentecostals and Evangelicals (0.8%). 235,685 Jehovah's Witnesses (0
.4%),[28] 30,000 Waldensians,[29] 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists, 22,000 Mormons,
20,000 Baptists, 7,000 Lutherans, 4,000 Methodists.[30] The country's oldest re
ligious minority is the Jewish community. It has roughly 45,000 people. It is no
longer the largest non-Christian group. About 825,000 Muslims live in Italy. Mo
st of them immigrated.[31] (1.4% of the total population) Only 50,000 are Italia
n citizens. In addition, there are 50,000 Buddhists[32][33] 70,000 Sikh[34] and
70,000 Hindus in Italy.
Regions
Italy is divided into 20 Regions (Regioni in Italian) and every Region is divide
d into Provinces.
There are 20 Regions. 5 of them have a special status, they are called autonomou
s. This means that they can make certain local laws more easily. These regions a
re marked with an asterisk (*) below.
In Venice, gondolas are a way for people to get around.
Region Capital
Area (km)
Population
Abruzzo
L'Aquila
10,794 1,324,000
Aosta Valley* Aosta 3,263 126,000
Apulia Bari
19,362 4,076,000
Basilicata
Potenza
9,992 591,000
Calabria
Catanzaro
15,080 2,007,000
Campania
Naples 13,595 5,811,000
Emilia-Romagna Bologna
22,124 4,276,000
Friuli-Venezia Giulia* Trieste
7,855 1,222,000
Lazio Rome
17,207 5,561,000

Liguria
Genoa 5,421 1,610,000
Lombardy
Milan 23,861 9,642,000
Marche Ancona 9,694 1,553,000
Molise Campobasso
4,438 320,000
Piedmont
Turin 25,399 4,401,000
Sardinia*
Cagliari
24,090 1,666,000
Sicily*
Palermo
25,708 5,030,000
Tuscany
Florence
22,997 3,677,000
Trentino-Alto Adige*
Trento 13,607 1,007,000
Umbria Perugia
8,456 884,000
Veneto Venice 18,391 4,832,000
Politics
The Chamber of Deputies
The Head of State is Sergio Mattarella, whose task began in February 2015. Matta
rella is currently the President of the Italian Republic. The first president wa
s Enrico De Nicola.
The Head of Government is Matteo Renzi, who became Prime Minister on February 22
, 2014, succeeding Enrico Letta. Renzi was previously the Mayor of Florence and
is Italy's youngest-ever Prime Minister, at age 39 when taking office.
Italy was one of the first members of the European Union and in 2002, along with
11 other European countries, it changed to using the euro as its official curre
ncy. Before this, the Italian lira had been used since 1861.
Anyone who wants to be President of Italy must have Italian citizenship, be at l
east 50 years old, and must be able to hold political and civil rights.
History
The Colosseum in Rome. Its original name is Flavian Amphitheatre, being built un
der the Flavian dynasty, an imperial Family of the Ancient Rome.
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Before 1861, Italy was not a state. The area was made of a group of independent
states, ruled by other countries (such as Austria, France, and Spain). In the 18
50s the Earl of Camillo Cavour was the Head of Government of the "State of Sardi
nia". He talked to the Austrians in Lombardy and Veneto and said they should cre
ate a Northern Italian state. This happened, but other Central and Southern Ital
ian states also joined Piedmont to create a bigger state.
In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi took control of Sicily, creating the Kingdom of Ital
y in 1861.[11] Vittorio Emanuele II was made the King. But, in 1861, Latium and
Veneto were still not part of Italy, because they were ruled by the Pope and Aus
trian Empire.
Veneto was made part of Italy in 1866 after a war with Austria, and Italian sold
iers won Latium in 1870. That was when they took away the Pope's power. The Pope
, who was angry, said that he was a prisoner to keep Catholic people from being
active in politics. That year, Italy finally came back together.
Italy participated in World War I as an ally of Great Britain, France, and Russi
a against the Central Powers. Almost all of Italy's fighting was on the Eastern
border, near Austria. After the "Caporetto defeat", Italy thought they would los
e the war. But, in 1918, the Central Powers surrendered, and Italy gained the Tr
entino-South Tyrol, which once was owned by Austria.
In 1922, a new Italian government started, and it was ruled by Benito Mussolini,
the leader of Fascism in Italy. He became Head of Government and dictator, call
ing himself "duce" - which means "leader" in Italian. He became friends with Ger
man dictator Hitler, and Mussolini followed him into World War II. Italy entered

the war in 1940 as an ally of Germany and Japan against France, Great Britain,
and Russia. During the war, Italy controlled most of the Mediterranean Sea.
On July 25, 1943, Mussolini was removed by the Great Council of Fascism, and, on
September 8, 1943, Badoglio said that the war as an ally of Germany was ended.
Italy started fighting as an ally of France and the UK, but Italian soldiers did
not know who to shoot. In Northern Italy, a movement called Resistenza started
to fight against the German invaders.
Mussolini tried to make another Northern Italian fascist state, the Republic of
Sal, but it failed. On April 25, 1945, Italy became free. The state became a repu
blic on June 2, 1946, and, for the first time, women were able to vote. Italian
people ended the Savoia dynasty and adopted a republic government.
In February 1947, Italy signed a peace treaty with the Allies losing all the col
onies and some territorial areas (Istria and parts of Dalmatia).
Since then Italy has joined NATO and the European Community (as a founding membe
r), becoming one of the seven biggest industrial economies in the world.
Transportation
Rome-Fiumicino Airport was the sixth busiest airport in Europe in 2008.
The railway network in Italy totals 16,627 kilometres (10,331 mi), the 17th long
est in the world. High speed trains include ETR-class trains which travel at 300
km/h (190 mph).
Related pages
Italy at the Olympics
Italy national football team
Italian cuisine
Italophilia
Italian Mare Nostrum
List of rivers of Italy
References
"Ethnologue report"
. Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
"Monthly demographic balance: January 2011"
(in Italian). Istat. 10 September 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
"Italy"
. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
"Distribution of family income
Gini index"
. CIA
The World Factbook. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
"Human Development Report 2011"
. United Nations. 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
"Comune di Campione d'Italia"
. Comune.campione-d-italia.co.it. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
"European Countries"
. European Union. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
"Alps are the border between Italy and other countries"
.
"Four missing in Alps avalanche"
. BBC News. 20 April 2002. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
"Biggest Islands in the World"
.
"Italy: Encarta"
. MSN. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
Zwingle, Eria. "National Geographic"
. National Geographic. Retrieved 2009-07-20.

Watson, Philip (19 March 2005). "The lake show"

. The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
"Tourism damaging Med's wetlands"
. BBC News. 15 July 2004. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
"Alarm sounded over Italy's treasures"
. BBC News. 20 November 2002. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
"Italy"
. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
"Flag Counter: Italy"
. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
"Rome's Population"
.
"Milan's Population"
.
"National demographic balance, 2015"
. www.istat.it. Italian Government. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
"List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites"
. UNESCO. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
"Countries by wine Production"
.
http://www.pensionfundsonline.co.uk/113/country-profiles/italy/
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2009&ey=
2016&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=136&s=LUR&grp=0&a=&pr.x=16&pr.y=16
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2058965/Italy-debt-crisis-Rome-burns-E
uroland-bridges.html
(Italian) "Italy: 88% of Italians declare themselves Catholic"
. Corriere della Sera. 2006-01-18. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
The Holy Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Malta
(Italian) Center for Studies on New Religions
(Italian) Waldensian Evangelical Church
World Council of Churches
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(Italian) Italian Buddhist Union
(Italian) Italian Buddhist Institute "Soka Gakkai"
Etnomedia
Other websites
The Simple English Wiktionary has a definition for: Italy.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Italy
Italian Tourism Official Website
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