Italy
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| President: Giorgio Napolitano (2006) Prime Minister: Silvio Berlusconi (2008) Land area: 113,521 sq mi (294,019 sq km); total area: 116,305 sq mi (301,230 sq km) Population (2010 est.): 58,090,681 (growth rate: –0.07%); birth rate: 8.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 5.4/1000; life expectancy: 80.3; density per sq km: 197 Capital and largest city (2003 est.):Rome, 3,550,900 (metro. area), 2,455,600 (city proper) Other large cities: Milan, 1,180,700; Naples, 991,700; Turin, 856,000; Palermo, 651,500; Genoa, 602,500; Bologna, 369,300; Florence, 351,600; Bari, 311,900; Catania, 305,900; Venice, 265,700 Monetary unit: Euro (formerly lira) |
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Geography
Italy, slightly larger than Arizona, is a long peninsula shaped like a boot, surrounded on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the east by the Adriatic. 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 many northern lakes is Garda (143 sq mi; 370 sq km); the Po, its principal river, flows from the Alps on Italy's western border and crosses the Lombard plain to the Adriatic Sea. Several islands form part of Italy; the largest are Sicily (9,926 sq mi; 25,708 sq km) and Sardinia (9,301 sq mi; 24,090 sq km).
Government
Republic.
History
The migrations of Indo-European peoples into Italy probably began about 2000 B.C. and continued until 1000 B.C. From about the 9th century B.C. until it was overthrown by the Romans in the 3rd century B.C. , the Etruscan civilization was dominant. By 264 B.C. , all Italy south of Cisalpine Gaul was under the leadership of Rome. For the next seven centuries, until the barbarian invasions destroyed the western Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. , the history of Italy is largely the history of Rome. From 800 on, the Holy Roman Emperors, Roman Catholic popes, Normans, and Saracens all vied for control over various segments of the Italian peninsula. Numerous city-states, such as Venice and Genoa, whose political and commercial rivalries were intense, and many small principalities flourished in the late Middle Ages. Although Italy remained politically fragmented for centuries, it became the cultural center of the Western world from the 13th to the 16th century.
Italy Becomes a Unified Peninsula
In 1713, after the War of the Spanish Succession, Milan, Naples, and Sardinia were handed over to the Hapsburgs of Austria, which lost some of its Italian territories in 1735. After 1800, Italy was unified by Napoléon, who crowned himself king of Italy in 1805; but with the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Austria once again became the dominant power in a disunited Italy. Austrian armies crushed Italian uprisings in 1820–1821 and 1831. In the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini, a brilliant liberal nationalist, organized the Risorgimento (Resurrection), which laid the foundation for Italian unity. Disappointed Italian patriots looked to the House of Savoy for leadership. Count Camille di Cavour (1810–1861), prime minister of Sardinia in 1852 and the architect of a united Italy, joined England and France in the Crimean War (1853–1856), and in 1859 helped France in a war against Austria, thereby obtaining Lombardy. By plebiscite in 1860, Modena, Parma, Tuscany, and the Romagna voted to join Sardinia. In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi conquered Sicily and Naples and turned them over to Sardinia. Victor Emmanuel II, king of Sardinia, was proclaimed king of Italy in 1861. The annexation of Venetia in 1866 and of papal Rome in 1870 marked the complete unification of peninsular Italy into one nation under a constitutional monarchy.Italy in Movies
1. A Room With A View
A delightful tale of Victorian romance and British conceit, concerning the interwoven lives and loves of a group of English tourists on holiday in Italy and their reunion back home.
2. Big Night
Deliciously passionate look at two Italian brothers who immigrate to New Jersey, where they open a small restaurant. But chef Primo and businessman Secondo's enterprise verges on disaster, until a rival restaurateur promises singer Louis Prima and his band will stop in for dinner.
3. The English Patient
In a ruined Italian monastery-turned-Allied hospital in World War II, a mysterious amnesiac patient, severely burned from a plane crash, is cared for by a devoted young nurse. Through flashbacks, the story of the man's past, a tale of wartime intrigue and forbidden love in the sands of North Africa, unfolds. Italian settings include such towns as: Arezzo, Pienza, Rome, Siena, Trieste, and Venice.
4. The Italian Job
A breezy reworking of the 1969 favorite boasts Mark Wahlberg as a master thief looking for revenge from Edward Norton, a former ally who killed mentor Donald Sutherland, then duped him by taking millions in gold bars from a Venice heist. Italian settings include such towns as: Canazei, Genoa, Trento, and Venice.
5. Much Ado About Nothing
The perfect answer to anyone who thinks Shakespeare means dark, stodgy dramas, this sunny and buoyant romp from Kenneth Branagh is loaded with mismatched lovers, squabbling brothers, comic constables and bawdy humor.
6. Roman Holiday
Audrey Hepburn won an Academy Award for her role as a beautiful princess traveling incognito in the Eternal City. Hard-bitten newspaperman Gregory Peck plans to get a story out of her, but winds up falling in love with her. Locations in Rome include the Bocca della Verita (Mouth of Truth), the Spanish Steps (where Hepburn eats a gelato), Ponte Sant'Angelo, and Via Margutta, 51 (where Peck's character lived). This was the film that also gave the buzz to the Vespa motorino!
7. The Godfather
An Involving drama, The Godfather tells the story of Don Vito Corleone and his struggle to stay in power.The story begins at the wedding of Costanzzia Corleone, the youngest daughter of Vito. Like no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter's marriage, Vito gets stuck in your office, noting requests all day. Vito also has three sons: The eldest, Santino Corleone, the middle, Fredo Corleone and Michael Corleone, who will be the new Godfather when Don Vito dies of a myocardial infarction.
8. The Talented Mr. Ripley
Lush, involving thriller based on Patricia Highsmith's novel stars Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, a young New Yorker hired by a tycoon to persuade wastrel son Jude Law to leave his Italian villa and return to America. After befriending Law and girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow, Damon's devious nature—and his knack for forgery and imitation—come into play. Italian settings include such towns as: Ischia Island, Naples, Palermo, Positano, Procida, Rome, Salerno, and Venice.
9. Tea With Mussolini
This poignant autobiographical tale from director Franco Zeffirelli is set in Florence, Italy, and covers the years 1935 to 1945 in the life of a boy named Luca who is sent by his father to live with Englishwoman Joan Plowright.
