Quick facts for kids
Italian Republic
Repubblica Italiana (Italian)
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|---|---|
.svg)  Location of Italy (dark green)
– on the European continent (light green & dark grey) |
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| Capital and largest city
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Rome 41°54′N 12°29′E / 41.900°N 12.483°E |
| Official languages | Italiana |
| Native languages | See full list |
| Ethnic groups
(2017)
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| Religion
(2012)
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| Demonym(s) | Italian |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic |
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• President
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Sergio Mattarella |
| Giuseppe Conte | |
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• President of the Senate
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Elisabetta Casellati |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Senate of the Republic | |
| Chamber of Deputies | |
| Formation | |
| 17 March 1861 | |
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• Republic
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2 June 1946 |
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• Current constitution
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1 January 1948 |
| 1 January 1958 | |
| Area | |
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• Total
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301,340 km2 (116,350 sq mi) (71st) |
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• Water (%)
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1.24 (as of 2015) |
| Population | |
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• 2020 estimate
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 60,317,116 (23rd) |
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• 2011 census
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 59,433,744 |
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• Density
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201.3/km2 (521.4/sq mi) (63rd) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2019 estimate |
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• Total
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 $2.443 trillion (12th) |
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• Per capita
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$40,470 (33rd) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2019 estimate |
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• Total
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$1.989 trillion (8th) |
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• Per capita
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$32,947 (25th) |
| Gini (2018) | ▼ 33.4 medium |
| HDI (2018) | 0.883 very high · 29th |
| Currency | Euro (€)b (EUR) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
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• Summer (DST)
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UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy yyyy-mm-dd (AD) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +39c |
| ISO 3166 code | IT |
| Internet TLD | .itd |
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Italy is a country in south Europe and a member of the European Union. Its official name is Repubblica Italiana. The Italian flag is green, white and red. Italy is a democratic republic and is a founding member of the European Union. Its President is Sergio Mattarella and its Prime Minister is Giuseppe Conte. Italy is also a member of the G8, as it has the eighth largest Gross Domestic Product in the world.
Before 1861, it was made up of smaller kingdoms and city-states. Italy has become famous for its wine, as well as its food. Some foods are different between regions. Famous dishes include various types of pasta, pizza, and grapes. Olives are much used.
The country's capital, Rome, is one of the most famous cities in the world, as it was the capital of the Roman Empire. Other famous cities in Italy include, Venice, Naples, Genoa, Florence, Palermo, and Milan.
Contents
History
Excavations throughout Italy have found proof of people in Italy dating back to the Palaeolithic period (the "Old Stone Age") some 200,000 years ago.
Italy has influenced the cultural and social development of the whole Mediterranean area, deeply influencing European culture as well. As a result, it has also influenced other important cultures. Such cultures and civilisations have existed there since prehistoric times. After Magna Graecia, the Etruscan civilisation and especially the Roman Republic and Empire that dominated this part of the world for many centuries, Italy was central to European science and art during the Renaissance.
Roman and Medieval Italy
Center of the Roman civilization for centuries, Italy lost its unity after the collapse of the Roman Empire and subsequent barbaric invasions. Conquered by the Ostrogoths and briefly regained by the Eastern Empire (552), it was partially occupied by the Longobards in 568, resulting in the peninsula becoming irreparably divided. For centuries the country was the prey of different populations, resulting in its ultimate decadence and misery. Most of the population fled from cities to take refuge in the countryside under the protection of powerful feudal lords. After the Longobards came the Franks (774). Italy became part of the Holy Roman Empire. Pippin the Short created the first nucleus of the State of the Church, which later became a strong countervailing force against any unification of the country.
Population and economy started slowly to pick up after 1000, with the resurgence of cities (which organised themselves politically in Comuni), trade, arts and literature. During the later Middle Ages the partially democratic Comuni, which could not face the challenges of that period, were substituted by monarchic-absolutistic governments (Signorie), but the fragmentation of the peninsula, especially in the northern and central parts of the country, continued, while the southern part, with Naples, Apulia and Sicily, remained under a single domination. Venice and Genoa created powerful commercial empires in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea.
Italy during the Renaissance and Baroque
The Black Death in 1348 inflicted a terrible blow to Italy, resulting in one third of the population killed by the disease. The recovery from the disaster led to a new resurgence of cities, trade and economy which greatly stimulated the successive phase of the Humanism and Renaissance (15th-16th centuries) when Italy again returned to be the center of Western civilisation, strongly influencing the other European countries. During this period the many Signorie gathered in a small number of regional states, but none of them had enough power to unify the peninsula.
After a century where the fragmented system of Italian states and principalities were able to maintain a relative independence and a balance of power in the peninsula, in 1494 the French king Charles VIII opened the first of a series of invasions, lasting half of the 16th century, and a competition between France and Spain for the possession of the country. Ultimately Spain prevailed (the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559 recognized the Spanish possession of the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples) and for almost two centuries became the hegemon in Italy. The holy alliance between reactionary Catholic Spain and the Holy See resulted in the systematic persecution of any Protestant movement, with the result that Italy remained a Catholic country with marginal Protestant presence. The Spanish domination and the control of the Church resulted in intellectual stagnation and economic decadence, also attributable to the shifting of the main commercial routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.
Napoleonic Italy and struggle for unification
Austria succeeded Spain as hegemon in Italy after the Peace of Utrecht (1713), having acquired the State of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples. The Austrian domination, thanks also to the Enlightenment embraced by Habsburgic emperors, was a considerable improvement upon the Spanish one. The northern part of Italy, under the direct control of Vienna, again recovered economic dynamism and intellectual fervor, had improved its situation.
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic War (1796-1815) introduced the modern ideas of equality, democracy, law and nation. The peninsula was not a main battle field as in the past but Napoleon (born in Corsica in 1769, one year after the cession of the island from Genoa to France) changed completely its political map, destroying in 1799 the Republic of Venice, which never recovered its independence. The states founded by Napoleon with the support of minority groups of Italian patriots were short-lived and did not survive the defeat of the French Emperor in 1815.
The Restoration had all the pre-Revolution states restored with the exception of the Republic of Venice (forthwith under Austrian control) and the Republic of Genoa (under Savoy domination). Napoleon had nevertheless the merit to give birth to the first national movement for unity and independence. Albeit formed by small groups with almost no contact with the masses, the Italian patriots and liberals staged several uprisings in the decades up to 1860. Mazzini and Garibaldi were the most economical reformists for the impoverished masses. From 1848 onwards the Italian patriots were more or less openly supported by Vittorio Emanuele II, the king of Sardinia, who put his arms in the Italian tricolor dedicating the House of Savoy to the Italian unity.
Unification
The unification of Italy was obtained on March 17 1861, after a successful war (the Second War of Independence) against Austria with the support of France, and the successive invasion of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Naples and Sicily), led in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi. Vittorio Emanuele II became the first king of the united Italy.
The national territory was enlarged to Veneto with Venice in 1866 after the Third War of Independence, fought by allied Italy and Prussia against Austria. Rome with Lazio, thanks to French protection remained for a little less than a decade under the Papacy and became part of the Kingdom of Italy on September 20 1870, after Italian troops stormed the city.
The first unified state was plagued by a gruesome rebellion of the Southern populations opposed to the new domination, by economic stagnation, misery, illiteracy and a weak national consciousness. Italian was spoken by a small part of the population while the rest spoke local dialects.
In 1878 Umberto I succeeded his father Vittorio Emanuele II as King of Italy. He was killed by an anarchist in 1900 and succeeded by his son Vittorio Emanuele III.
Industrialisation, World Wars and Fascism
Industrialisation and modernisation, at least in the northern portion of the country, started in the last part of the 19th century under a protectionist regime. The south, in the meanwhile, stagnated under overpopulation and underdevelopment, so forcing millions of people to search for employment and better conditions of life abroad. This lasted until 1970. It is calculated that more than 26 million Italians migrated to France, Germany, Switzerland, United States, Argentina, Brazil and Australia.
Democracy moved its first steps at the beginning of the 20th century. The Statuto Albertino of 1848 provided for basic freedoms, but the electoral laws excluded the disposed and the uneducated from voting. Only in 1913 male universal suffrage was allowed. The Socialist Party resulted the main political party, outclassing the traditional liberal and conservative organizations. The path to a modern liberal democracy was interrupted by the tragedy of the First World War (1915-1918), which Italy fought along with France and Great Britain. Italy was able to beat the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in November 1918. It obtained Trentino, South Tyrol, Trieste and Istria, besides Fiume and few territories on the Dalmatian coast (Zara), gaining respect as an international power, but the population had to pay a heavy human and social price. The war produced more than 600,000 dead, inflation and unemployment, economic and political instability, which in the end favoured the Fascist movement to seize power in 1922 with the tacit support of King Vittorio Emanuele III, who feared civil war and revolution.
The fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini lasted from 1922 to 1943 but in the first years Mussolini maintained the appearance of a liberal democracy. Mussolini tried to spread his authoritarian ideology to other European countries and dictators such as Salazar in Portugal, Franco in Spain and Hitler in Germany were heavily influenced by the Italian examples. Conservative but democratic leaders in Great Britain and United States were at the beginning favourable to Mussolini. Mussolini tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to spread fascism amongst the millions on Italians living abroad.
In 1929 Mussolini realised a pact with the Holy See, resulting in the rebirth of an independent state of the Vatican for the Catholic Church in the heart of Rome. In 1935 he declared war on Ethiopia on a pretext. Ethiopia was subjugated in few months. This resulted in the alienation of Italy from its traditional allies, France and Great Britain, and its nearing to Nazi Germany. A first pact with Germany was concluded in 1936 and then in 1938 (the Pact of Steel). Italy supported Franco's revolution in Spanish civil war and Hitler's pretensions in central Europe, accepting the annexation of Austria to Germany in 1938, although the disappearance of a buffer state between mighty Germany and Italy was unfavourable for the country. In October 1938 Mussolini managed to avoid the eruption of another war in Europe, bringing together Great Britain, France and Germany at the expense of Czechoslovakia's integrity.
In April 1939 Italy occupied Albania, a de-facto protectorate for decades, but in September 1939, after the invasion of Poland, Mussolini wisely decided not to intervene on Germany's side, due to the poor preparation of the armed forces. Italy entered in war in June 1940 when France was almost defeated. Mussolini hoped for a quick victory but Italy showed from the very beginning the poor nature of its army and the scarce ability of its generals. Italy invaded Greece in October 1940 via Albania but after a few days was forced to withdraw. After conquering British Somalia in 1940, a counter-attack by the Allies led to the loss of the whole Italian empire in the Horn of Africa. Italy was also defeated in Northern Africa and saved only by the German armed forces led by Rommel.
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 whom to shoot. In Northern Italy, a movement called Resistenza started to fight against the German invaders.
Mussolini tried to make a small Northern Italian fascist state, the Republic of Salò, but it failed. On April 25, 1945, Italy became free. The state became a republic 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 colonies and some territorial areas: (Istria and parts of Dalmatia).
Since then Italy has joined NATO and the European Community (as a founding member), becoming one of the seven biggest industrial economies in the world.
Geography
Italy is a peninsula, meaning it is encompassed by the sea on all of its sides apart from one side of the country (its north side). Northern Italy is separated from France, Switzerland, and Austria by the Alps, a chain of mountains. Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco in Italian or white mountain in English), the highest mountain in western Europe, belongs to this chain. The second important chain of mountains in Italy is the Apennines (Appennini in Italian), which are in central and southern Italy.
The capital of Italy is Rome where the Roman Empire started. Other cities in Italy are Milan, Turin, Florence, Genoa, Naples, Palermo, and Venice. The country has a number of islands, the biggest of which are Sicily and Sardinia, which can be reached by ship or aircraft. It shares maritime borders with Libya to the south.
The Po River is the longest river in Italy. It flows through 5 cities: Torino, Piacenza, Cremona Ferrara and Rovigo. The Tiber River runs through the city of Rome.
Northern Italy has some of the biggest lakes in the country, such as Lake Garda, Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and Lake Iseo. Because it is surrounded by the sea, Italy has many kilometers of coast, which brings tourists from all over the world. Tourists also come to see Italy's historical places.
Two very small separate countries are located within Italy. They are San Marino, which is surrounded by part of Northern Italy, and the Vatican City, which is inside Rome.
People and culture
People from Italy are called Italians. Even if an Italian were to leave Italy, it is possible that their descendants could also claim Italian citizenship due to Italian nationality law relying mostly on ius sanguinis or "right of blood" in Latin. Nearly all the Italians are Christians, and most of these are Roman Catholics, which is based in the Vatican City and home to its leader, the Pope. Leonardo da Vinci is a famous artist, he is the creator of the Mona Lisa which is now in the louvre Paris.
The population of Italy is a little over 60 million. About 2.7 million of them live in Rome, and 1.3 million in Milan. As of 31 December 2015, over 5 million foreigners were living in Italy, which is 8.3% of the total population.
The official language of Italy is Italian and in some small areas German, Slovenian or French. People also speak dialects of Italian such as Sicilian and Sardinian. There are many different dialects spoken in Italy. They vary between regions and, in some cases, also between provinces.
The people of Italy are mostly descendant from the ancient Romans.
Italy is home to more World Heritage Sites than any other nation in the world. 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 producer. In 2005 it made over 5 million tonnes.
Economy
Italy has a modern social welfare system. The labor market enjoys relative strength, with many foreigners, especially from Romania, working in Italy where the wages are much higher. But it could have been much more workers on the labor market because men and women already retired in the age of 57 and the unemployment rate is relatively high at 8.2 percent. Italy's modern society has been built 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 cannot pay back the loans during the time period the EU wish.
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 officially the state religion. 87.8% of the people said they were Roman Catholic. Only about a third said they were active members (36.8%). There are also other Christian groups in Italy, more than 700,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians. 180,000 of them belong to the Greek Orthodox Church.
550,000 are Pentecostals and Evangelicals (0.8%). 235,685 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.4%), 30,000 Waldensians, 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists, 22,000 Mormons, 20,000 Baptists, 7,000 Lutherans, 4,000 Methodists. The country's oldest religious 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. Most of them immigrated. (1.4% of the total population) Only 50,000 are Italian citizens. In addition, there are 50,000 Buddhists 70,000 Sikh and 70,000 Hindus in Italy.
Food
During the celebration of Epiphany, it's traditional to eat a special cake called 'Rosca de Reyes' Three Kings Cake. A figure of Baby Jesus is hidden inside the cake. Whoever has the baby Jesus in their piece of cake is the 'Godparent' of Jesus for that year. Famous Italian foods include pasta or pizza.
Major cities
Regions
Italy is divided into 20 Regions (Regioni in Italian) and every Region is divided into Provinces.
There are 20 Regions. 5 of them have a special status, they are called autonomous. This means that they can make certain local laws more easily. These regions are marked with an asterisk (*) below.
| Region | Capital | Area (km²) | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abruzzo | L'Aquila | 10,794 | 1,329,000 |
| 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
- See also: List of presidents of Italy
The Head of State is Sergio Mattarella, whose task began in February 2015. Mattarella is currently the President of the Italian Republic. The first president was Enrico De Nicola.
The Head of Government is Paolo Gentiloni, who became Prime Minister on December 12, 2016, succeeding Matteo Renzi. 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 currency. Before this, the Italian lira had been used since 1861.
Anyone who wants to be President of Italy must have Italian citizenship, be at least 50 years old, and must be able to hold political and civil rights.
Transportation
The railway network in Italy totals 16,627 kilometres (10,332 mi), the 17th longest in the world. High speed trains include ETR-class trains which travel at 300 km/h (190 mph).
Related pages
- List of presidents of Italy
- Italy at the Olympics
- Italy national football team
- Italian cuisine
- Italophilia
- Italian Mare Nostrum
- List of rivers of Italy
Images for kids
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Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, opening a new era in the history of humankind
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Victor Emmanuel meets Giuseppe Garibaldi near Teano
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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 at the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitoline Hill
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Mount Vesuvius, as seen from the ruins of Pompeii
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National (green) and regional (orange) parks in Italy
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Examples of Italian fauna, clockwise from left: Paramuricea clavata, Marsican brown bear, Praying mantis and Bluethroat.
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Southern Italy has a Mediterranean climate
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The Italian Parliament in plenary session
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The Supreme Court of Cassation
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Lamborghini Gallardo provided to the Polizia di Stato corps
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Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni with EU High Representative Federica Mogherini
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The aircraft carrier MM Cavour
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A Eurofighter Typhoon operated by the Italian Air Force
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A Ferrari 488, produced by the world's most powerful brand Ferrari. Italy maintains an innovative automotive industry, and is one of the largest exporters of manufactured goods.
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Boxes of Ferrero Rocher, manufactured by Ferrero, the third biggest chocolate producer and confectionery company in the world
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Vineyards and olive plantation in the Chianti region (the Italian food industry is well known for the high quality and variety of its products)
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Clockwise from left: Alessandro Volta, inventor of the electric battery and discoverer of methane;Galileo Galilei, recognized as the Father of modern science, physics and observational astronomy;Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the long-distance radio transmission;Enrico Fermi, creator of the first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1
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Map of population density in Italy as of 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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Italy is home to many of the world’s largest churches and masterpieces of architecture. Clockwise from left: Florence Cathedral, which has the biggest brick dome in the world; St. Peter's Basilica, the largest church of Christendom; Milan Cathedral, the largest Italian church and the fifth largest in the world; and St Mark's Basilica, one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture
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Bologna University is the oldest academic institution of the world, founded in AD 1088
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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, poised between the mountain of Purgatory and the city of Florence, displays the famous incipit "Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita" of the Divine Comedy in a detail of Domenico di Michelino's painting, 1465
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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, one of the most influential tenors of all time
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A Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival, the oldest film festival in the world and one of the "Big Three" alongside the Cannes Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival
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Entrance to the Cinecittà studios in Rome, whose together with Hollywood is the most recognizable film industry in the world
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The Azzurri at the 1982 FIFA World Cup (one of the four won by Italy)
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Starting in 1909, the Giro d'Italia is the second oldest of the prestigious Grands Tours
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Beach of Cala Goloritzé in Sardinia
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Monte Bianco/Mont Blanc in Aosta Valley, the highest point in the European Union
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the Po river in Emilia-Romagna
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Lake Garda, the largest Italian lake, from Riva del Garda
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Lake Como with Grigna Mountains and Bellagio
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The legendary Mount Etna
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The Marmore's Falls in Ombria
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The Gulf of Naples in Campania
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