Italia facts for kids

Old Italy map 1584

Flag of Italy

The Italian Republic or Italy is a country in the south of Europe, consisting mainly of a boot-shaped peninsula together with two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. To the north it is bound by the Alps, where it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.

Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Union, and hence joined the growing political and economic unification of Western Europe, including the introduction of the Euro in 1999.

History

Italy's history is perhaps the most important one for the cultural and social development of the Mediterranean area as a whole. The country has been host to important human activities in prehistoric times, and thusly archaeological sites of note can be found in many regions: Latium and Tuscany, Umbria and Basilicata.

After Magna Graecia, the Etruscan civilisation and especially the Roman Empire that came to dominate this part of the world for many centuries, came the medieval Humanism and the Renaissance that further helped to shape European philosophy and art. The city of Rome contains some of the most important examples of the Baroque.

Geography

Italy consists predominantly of a large peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, where together with its two main islands Sicily and Sardinia it creates distinct bodies of water, such as the Adriatic Sea to the north-east, the Ionian Sea to the south-east, the Tyrrhenian Sea to the south-west and finally the Ligurian Sea to the north-west.

The Appennine mountains form the backbone of this peninsula, leading north-west to where they join the Alps, the mountain range that then forms an arc enclosing Italy from the north. Here is also found a large plain, the Po-Venetian plain, drained by the Po River and its many tributaries flowing down from the Alps, Appennines and Dolomites. Other well-known rivers include the Tiber, Adige and Arno.

Its highest point is the Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) at 4,810 m, but Italy is more typically associated with two famous volcanoes: the currently dormant Vesuvius near Naples and the very active Etna on Sicily.

Culture

Italy is well-known for its art, culture, and several monuments, among them the leaning tower of Pisa and the Roman Colosseum, as well as for its food (pizza, pasta, etc.), wine, lifestyle, elegance, design, cinema, theatre, literature, poetry, visual arts, music (notably Opera), holidays, and generally speaking, for taste.

Europe's Renaissance period began in Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries. Literary achievements, such as the poetry of Petrarch, Tasso, and Ariosto and the prose of Boccaccio, Machiavelli, and Castiglione exerted a tremendous and lasting influence on the subsequent development of Western culture, as did the painting, sculpture, and architecture contributed by giants such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raffaello, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, and Michelangelo.

Football is the main national sport. Italy has won the Football World Cup three times: in 1934, 1938 and 1982. Italian football has produced some of world's best football players and teams.

Images for kids

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  Expansion of the territory called "Italy" from ancient Greece until Diocletian

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  The Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries a symbol of the Kings of Italy

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  Marco Polo, explorer of the 13th century, recorded his 24 years-long travels in the Book of the Marvels of the World, introducing Europeans to Central Asia and China.

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  Leonardo da Vinci, the quintessential Renaissance man, in a self-portrait (ca. 1512, Royal Library, Turin)

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  Christopher Columbus leads an expedition to the New World, 1492. His voyages are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a new era in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds.

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  Flag of the Cispadane Republic, which was the first Italian tricolour adopted by a sovereign Italian state (1797)

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  Holographic copy of 1847 of Il Canto degli Italiani, the Italian national anthem since 1946

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  Animated map of the Italian unification from 1829 to 1871

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  The Victor Emmanuel II Monument in Rome, a national symbol of Italy celebrating the first king of the unified country, and resting place of the Italian Unknown Soldier since the end of World War I. It was inaugurated in 1911, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy.

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  The fascist dictator Benito Mussolini titled himself Duce and ruled the country from 1922 to 1943.

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  Italian partisans in Milan during the Italian Civil War, April 1945

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  Alcide De Gasperi, first republican Prime Minister of Italy and one of the Founding Fathers of the European Union

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  The signing ceremony of the Treaty of Rome on 25 March 1957, creating the European Economic Community, forerunner of the present-day European Union

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  Italian government task force to face the COVID-19 emergency

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  Topographic map of Italy

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  Dolphins in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Aeolian Islands

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  Gran Paradiso, established in 1922, is the oldest Italian national park.

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  The Italian wolf, the national animal of Italy

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  Milan is the economic capital of Italy, and is a global financial centre and a fashion capital of the world.

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  A Carrara marble quarry

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  The Autostrada dei Laghi ("Lakes Motorway"), the first motorway built in the world

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  FS' Frecciarossa 1000 high speed train, with a maximum speed of 400 km/h (249 mph)

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  Trieste, the main port of the northern Adriatic and starting point of the Transalpine Pipeline

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  ENI is considered one of the world's oil and gas "Supermajors".

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  Solar panels in Piombino. Italy is one of the world's largest producers of renewable energy.

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  Galileo Galilei, the father of modern science, physics and astronomy

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  Enrico Fermi, creator of the world's first first nuclear reactor

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  The Amalfi Coast is one of Italy's major tourist destinations.

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  Map of Italy's population density at the 2011 census

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  Italy is home to a large population of migrants from Eastern Europe and North Africa.

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  Linguistic map showing the languages spoken in Italy

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  Vatican City, the Holy See's sovereign territory

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  Bologna University, established in AD 1088, is the world's oldest academic institution.

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  Carnival of Venice

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  The Last Supper (1494–1499), Leonardo da Vinci, Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

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  Michelangelo's David (1501–1504), Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence

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  Dante shown holding a copy of the Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the mount of Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelino's fresco, 1465

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  Niccolò Machiavelli, founder of modern political science and ethics

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  Pinocchio is one of the world's most translated books and a canonical piece of children's literature.

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  Clockwise from top left: Thomas Aquinas, proponent of natural theology and the Father of Thomism; Giordano Bruno, one of the major scientific figures of the Western world; Cesare Beccaria, considered the Father of criminal justice and modern criminal law; and Maria Montessori, credited with the creation of the Montessori education

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  La Scala opera house

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  Statues of Pantalone and Harlequin, two stock characters from the Commedia dell'arte, in the Museo Teatrale alla Scala

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  Dario Fo, one of the most widely performed playwrights in modern theatre, received international acclaim for his highly improvisational style.

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  Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, are among the most frequently worldwide performed in the standard repertoire

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  Luciano Pavarotti, considered one of the finest tenors of the 20th century and the "King of the High Cs"

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  Giorgio Moroder, pioneer of Italo disco and electronic dance music, is known as the "Father of disco".

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  Entrance to Cinecittà in Rome

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  The Azzurri in 2012. Football is the most popular sport in Italy.

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  Starting in 1909, the Giro d'Italia is the Grands Tours' second oldest.

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  A Ferrari SF21 by Scuderia Ferrari, the most successful Formula One team

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  Prada shop at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan

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  The traditional recipe for spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce

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  Italian wine and salumi

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  The Frecce Tricolori, with the smoke trails representing the national colours of Italy, during the celebrations of the Festa della Repubblica

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  The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world.

See also

In Spanish: Italia para niños