"Italia" redirects here. For other uses see Italia (disambiguation). This article is about the republic. For other uses see Italy (disambiguation). 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)  in the European Union  (green)    Legend Capital (and largest city) Rome 4154N 1229E / 41.9N 12.483E / 41.9; 12.483 Official language(s) Italian1 Demonym Italian Government Unitary parliamentary republic  -  President Giorgio Napolitano  -  Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (PdL) Legislature Parliament  -  Upper House Senate of the Republic  -  Lower House Chamber of Deputies Formation  -  Unification 17 March 1861   -  Republic 2 June 1946  Area  -  Total 301338 km2 (71st) 116346 sq mi   -  Water (%) 2.4 Population  -  2010 estimate 606050532 (23rd)  -  2001 census 56995744   -  Density 201.1/km2 (61st) 520.9/sq mi GDP (PPP) 2010 estimate  -  Total $1.773 trillion3   -  Per capita $293923  GDP (nominal) 2010 estimate  -  Total $2.055 trillion3   -  Per capita $340583  Gini (2006) 324  HDI (2010) 0.8545 (very high) (23rd) Currency Euro ()2 (EUR) Time zone CET (UTC+1)  -  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2) Drives on the Right ISO 3166 code IT Internet TLD .it3 Calling code 394 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-official 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 member states. 4 To call Campione d'Italia it is necessary to use the Swiss code +41.

Italy (i /tli/; Italian: Italia italja) officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiananote 1) is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north it borders France Switzerland Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula Sicily Sardiniathe two largest islands in the Mediterranean Seaand many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy whilst Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301338 km2 (116347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants it is the fifth most populous country in Europe and the 23rd most populous in the world.

Rome the capital of Italy was for centuries the political centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire. After its decline Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths to the Byzantines and later the Normans among others. Centuries later Italy became the birthplace of the Renaissance7 an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.

Through much of its post-Roman history Italy was fragmented into numerous kingdoms and city-states (such as the Kingdom of Sardinia the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Duchy of Milan) but was unified in 18618 following a tumultuous period in history known as "Il Risorgimento" ("The Resurgence"). In the late 19th century through World War I and to World War II Italy possessed a colonial empire which extended its rule to Libya Eritrea Somalia Ethiopia Albania the Dodecanese and a concession in Tianjin China.9

Modern Italy is a democratic republic. It has been ranked the world's twenty-third most-developed country10 and its Quality-of-life index has been ranked in the top ten in the world.11 Italy enjoys a very high standard of living and has a high nominal GDP per capita.1213 It is a founding member of what is now the European Union and part of the Eurozone. Italy is also a member of the G8 G20 and NATO. It has the world's seventh-largest nominal GDP tenth highest GDP (PPP)14 and the sixth highest government budget in the world.15 It is also a member state of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development the World Trade Organization the Council of Europe the Western European Union and the United Nations. Italy has the world's ninth-largest defence budget and shares NATO's nuclear weapons.

Italy plays a prominent role in European and global military cultural and diplomatic affairs. The country's European political social and economic influence make it a major regional power.1617 The country has a high public education level and is a highly globalised nation.18 Contents 1 History 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Prehistory and ancient Rome 1.3 Middle Ages 1.4 Renaissance (15th16th century) 1.5 Foreign domination and Napoleonic Wars (17th19th centuries) 1.6 Italian unification and Liberal Italy (18611922) 1.7 Fascist dictatorship (19221943) 1.8 Italian Republic (1946present) 2 Geography 2.1 Environment 2.2 Climate 2.3 Administrative divisions 3 Politics 3.1 Government 3.2 Law and criminal justice 3.3 Foreign relations 3.4 Military 4 Economy 4.1 Corporations 4.2 Tourism 4.3 Transport 5 Demographics 5.1 Urbanization 5.2 Migration 5.3 Languages 5.4 Religion 5.5 Education 5.6 Health 6 Culture 6.1 Architecture 6.2 Arts 6.3 Literature and theatre 6.4 Music 6.5 Cinema 6.6 Science 6.7 Sport 6.8 Fashion and design 6.9 Cuisine 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links History Main article: History of Italy Etymology

The assumptions on the etymology of the name "Italia" are very numerous and the corpus of the solutions proposed by historians and linguists is very wide.19 According to one of the more common explanations the term Italia from Latin: Italia20 was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Vteli meaning "land of young cattle" (cf. Lat vitulus "calf" Umb vitlo "calf").21 The bull was a symbol of the southern Italian tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Samnite Wars. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus22 mentioned also by Aristotle23 and Thucydides.24

The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italyaccording to Antiochus of Syracuse the southern portion of the Bruttium peninsula (modern Calabria). But by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name "Italia" to a larger region but it was not until the time of the Roman conquests that the term was expanded to cover the entire peninsula.25 Prehistory and ancient Rome Main articles: Prehistoric Italy and Ancient Rome The Colosseum in Rome built ca. 70 80 AD.

Excavations throughout Italy reveal a modern human presence dating back to the Paleolithic period some 200000 years ago.26 The Italic tribes of pre-Roman Italy such as the Umbrians the Latins (from which the Romans emerged) Volsci Samnites the Celts and the Ligures which inhabited northern Italy and many others are most of Indo-European stock; main historic peoples of non-Indo-European heritage include the Etruscans the Elymians and Sicani in Sicily and the prehistoric Sardinians.

Between the 17th to the 11th century BC Mycenaean Greeks established contacts with Italy27282930313233 and in the 8th and 7th centuries BC Greek colonies were established all along the coast of Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula became known as Magna Graecia. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily. Ancient Rome was at first a small agricultural community founded c. the 8th century BC that grew over the course of the centuries into a colossal empire encompassing the whole Mediterranean Sea in which Ancient Greek and Roman cultures merged into one civilization. This civilization was so influential that parts of it survive in modern law administration philosophy and arts forming the ground that Western civilization is based upon. In a slow decline since the late 4th century AD the empire finally broke into two parts in 395 AD: the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. The western part under the pressure of the Franks the Vandals the Huns the Goths and other populations from Eastern Europe finally dissolved leaving the Italian peninsula divided into small independent kingdoms and feuding city states for the next 1300 years. The eastern part sole heir to the Roman legacy. Middle Ages Main article: Italy in the Middle Ages Coats of arms of the four Maritime Republics. Clockwise starting from the upper left: Venice Genoa Pisa Amalfi. In the 6th century the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I reconquered Italy from the Ostrogoths. The invasion of a new wave of Germanic tribes the Lombards late in the same century reduced the Byzantine presence to the Exarchate of Ravenna and other lands in southern Italy. The Lombard reign of northern and central Italy was absorbed into the Frankish Empire by Charlemagne in the late 8th century. The Frankish kings also helped the Popes to establish a true state in central Italy extending from Rome to Ravenna although for most of the Middle Ages they effectively controlled only what is now Lazio. Until the 13th century Italian politics was dominated by the relationship between the German Holy Roman Emperors and the popes with most of the Italian states siding for one or another depending from momentary convenience. It was during this vacuum of authority that the region saw the rise of institutions such as the Signoria and the medieval commune. In the anarchic conditions that often prevailed in medieval Italian city-states people looked to strong men to restore order and disarm the feuding elites. Despite the devastation of the numerous wars Italy maintained especially in the north a relatively developed urban civilization which later evolved in the peculiar phenomenon of its merchant Republics. These city-states oligarchical in reality had a dominant merchant class which under relative freedom nurtured academic and artistic advancement. Notable amongst them in northern Italy was Milan: in the 12th century it led the Lombard League in the defeat of the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa which led to a process granting effective independence to most of northern and central Italian cities. During the same period Italy saw the rise to numerous Maritime Republics the most famous of which were Venice Genoa Pisa and Amalfi. These maritime republics were also heavily involved in the Crusades taking advantage of the new political and trading opportunities. Venice and Genoa soon became Europe's main gateways to trade with the East establishing colonies as far as the Black Sea and often controlling most of the trades of the Byzantine Empire and with the Islamic Mediterranean world. Milan also formed a state of its own the Duchy of Milan occupying western Lombardy. Piedmont evolved from the unimportant county of Savoy to a mid-size duchy in the late Middle Ages. Florence developed into a highly organized commercial and financial city becoming for many centuries the European capital of silk wool banks and jewelry. In the south Sicily became an Islamic emirate in the 9th century and thrived until the Normans conquered it in the late 11th century together with most of the Lombard and Byzantine states of southern Italy. Through a complex series of events southern Italy remained an unified kingdom first under the House of Hohenstaufen then under the House of Anjou and from the 15th century the house of Aragon (although Sicily was separate under Aragon from the late 13th to the 15th century). In Sardinia the former Byzantines provinces became independent states known as giudicati although most of the island was under Genoese or Pisan control until the Aragonese conquered it in the 15th century. Renaissance (15th16th century) Main article: Italian Renaissance Creation of Adam by Michelangelo. The Black Death pandemic in 1348 left its mark on Italy by killing one third of the population.3435 However the recovery from the disaster of the Black Death led to a resurgence of cities trade and economy which greatly stimulated the successive phase of the Humanism and Renaissance that best known for its cultural achievements. Accounts of Renaissance literature usually begin with Petrarch (best known for the elegantly polished vernacular sonnet sequence of Il Canzoniere and for the craze for book collecting that he initiated) and his friend and contemporary Boccaccio (author of the Decameron). Famous vernacular poets of the 15th century include the renaissance epic authors Luigi Pulci (Morgante) Matteo Maria Boiardo (Orlando Innamorato) and Ludovico Ariosto (Orlando Furioso). 15th century writers such as the poet Poliziano and the Platonist philosopher Marsilio Ficino made extensive translations from both Latin and Greek. In the early 16th century Castiglione (The Book of the Courtier) laid out his vision of the ideal gentleman and lady while Machiavelli cast a jaundiced eye on "la verita effetuale delle cose"  the actual truth of things  in The Prince composed humanist style chiefly of parallel ancient and modern examples of Virt. Italian Renaissance painting exercised a dominant influence on subsequent European painting (see Western painting) for centuries afterwards with artists such as Giotto di Bondone Masaccio Piero della Francesca Domenico Ghirlandaio Perugino Michelangelo Raphael Botticelli Leonardo da Vinci and Titian. The same is true for architecture as practiced by Brunelleschi Leone Alberti Andrea Palladio and Bramante. Their works include Florence Cathedral St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini (to name a only a few not to mention many splended private residences: see Renaissance architecture). Finally the Aldine Press founded by the printer Aldo Manuzio active in Venice developed Italic type and the small relatively portable and inexpensive printed book that could be carried in one's pocket as well as being the first to publish editions of books in Ancient Greek. Foreign domination and Napoleonic Wars (17th19th centuries) Flag of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. The history of Italy in the early modern period was characterized by foreign domination: following the Italian Wars (1494 to 1559) Italy saw a long period of relative peace first under Habsburg Spain (1559 to 1713) and then under Habsburg Austria (1713 to 1796). The Black Death repeatedly returned to haunt Italy throughout the 14th to 17th centuries. The plague of 157577 claimed some 50000 victims in Venice.36 In the first half of the 17th century a plague claimed some 1730000 victims or about 14% of Italys population.37 The Great Plague of Milan occurred from 1629 through 1631 in northern Italy with the cities of Lombardy and Venice experiencing particularly high death rates. In 1656 the plague killed about half of Naples' 300000 inhabitants.38 During the Napoleonic Wars the northern part of the country was invaded and reorganized as a new kingdom of Italy that was a client state of the French Empire from 1796 to 1814 while the southern half of the peninsula was administered by Joachim Murat Napoleon's brother in law that was crowned as King of Naples. The Congress of Vienna (1814) restored the situation of the late 18th century which was however quickly overturned by the incipient movement of Italian unification. Italian unification and Liberal Italy (18611922) Main articles: Italian unification and Military history of Italy during World War I Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II. The creation of the Kingdom of Italy was the result of efforts by Italian nationalists and monarchists loyal to the House of Savoy to establish a united kingdom encompassing the entire Italian Peninsula. In the context of the 1848 liberal revolutions that swept through Europe an unsuccessful war was declared on Austria. Giuseppe Garibaldi led the Italian republican drive for unification in southern Italy39 while the northern Italian monarchy of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia whose government was led by Camillo Benso conte di Cavour had the ambition of establishing a united Italian state under its rule. The kingdom successfully challenged the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian War of Independence with the help of Napoleon III liberating the Lombardy-Venetia. It established Turin as capital of the newly formed state. In 1865 the capital was moved to Florence. In 1866 Victor Emmanuel II aligned the kingdom with Prussia during the Austro-Prussian War waging the Third Italian War of Independence which allowed Italy to annex Venice. In 1870 as France during the disastrous Franco-Prussian War abandoned its positions in Rome Italy rushed to fill the power gap by taking over the Papal State from French sovereignty. Italian infantrymen in 1916. More than 650000 Italian soldiers lost their lives on the battlefields of World War I. Italian unification finally was achieved and shortly afterwards Italy's capital was moved from Florence to Rome. Whilst keeping the monarchy the government became a parliamentary system dominated by the liberals. As Northern Italy became industrialized and modernized Southern Italy and rural areas of the north remained under-developed and stagnant forcing millions of people to migrate to the emerging Industrial Triangle or abroad. The Sardinian Albertine Statute of 1848 extended to the whole Kingdom of Italy in 1861 provided for basic freedoms but the electoral laws excluded the non-propertied and uneducated classes from voting. In 1913 male universal suffrage was adopted. The Italian Socialist Party increased in strength challenging the traditional liberal and conservative organisations. The highest point of Italian emigration was reached in 1913 when 872598 persons left Italy.40 Starting from the last two decades of the 19th century Italy developed into a colonial power by forcing Somalia Eritrea and later Libya and the Dodecanese under its rule.41 During World War I Italy at first stayed neutral but in 1915 signed the Treaty of London entering Entente on the promise of receiving Trento Trieste Gorizia and Gradisca Istria and northern Dalmatia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire as well as parts of Ottoman Empire. During the war more than 650000 Italian soldiers died42 and the economy collapsed. Under the Peace Treaties of Saint-Germain Rapallo and Rome Italy obtained most of the promised territories including the town of Fiume. Nevertheless the victory was described as "mutilated" by the nationalists since most of Dalmatia was assigned to Yugoslavia. Fascist dictatorship (19221943) Main articles: Italian Fascism and Military history of Italy during World War II Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in 1940. The turbulence that followed the devastation of World War I inspired by the Russian Revolution led to turmoil and anarchy. The liberal establishment fearing a socialist revolution started to endorse the small National Fascist Party led by Benito Mussolini. In October 1922 the fascists attempted a coup (the Marcia su Roma "March on Rome") supported by king Victor Emmanuel III. Over the next few years Mussolini banned all political parties and curtailed personal liberties thus forming a dictatorship. In 1935 Mussolini invaded Ethiopia resulting in an international alienation and leading to Italy's withdrawal from the League of Nations. Consequently Italy allied with Nazi Germany and Empire of Japan and strongly supported Franco in the Spanish civil war. In 1939 Italy occupied Albania a de facto protectorate for decades and entered World War II in 1940 on the side of the Axis powers. Mussolini wanting a quick victory like Hitler's Blitzkriegs in Poland and France invaded Greece in October 1940 but was forced to accept a humiliating stalemate after a few months. At the same time Italy after initially conquering British Somalia and parts of Egypt saw an allied counter-attack lead to the loss of all possessions in the Horn of Africa and in North Africa. Italy was then invaded by the Allies in July 1943 leading to the collapse of the Fascist regime and the fall of Mussolini. In September 1943 Italy surrendered. The country remained a battlefield for the rest of the war as the allies were moving up from the south as the north was the base for loyalist Italian fascist and German Nazi forces fought also by the Italian resistance movement.The hostilities ended on 2 May 1945. Nearly half a million Italians (including civilians) died in the conflict43 and the Italian economy had been all but destroyed; per capita income in 1944 was at its lowest point since the beginning of the 20th century.44 Italian Republic (1946present) Main article: History of the Italian Republic Partisans parading in Milan after the liberation of the city in 1945. In 1946 Victor Emmanuel III's son Umberto II was forced to abdicate. Italy became a republic after a referendum held on 2 June 1946 a day celebrated since as Republic Day. This was also the first time that Italian women were entitled to vote.45 The Republican Constitution was approved and came into force on 1 January 1948. Under the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 the eastern border area was lost to Yugoslavia and later the free territory of Trieste was divided between the two states. Fears in the Italian electorate of a possible Communist takeover proved crucial for the first universal suffrage electoral outcome on 18 April 1948 when the Christian Democrats under the leadership of Alcide De Gasperi obtained a landslide victory. Consequently in 1949 Italy became a member of NATO. The Marshall Plan helped to revive the Italian economy which until the late 1960s enjoyed a period of sustained economic growth commonly called the "Economic Miracle". In 1957 Italy was a founding member of the European Economic Community (EEC) which became the European Union (EU) in 1993. The 1957 Treaties of Rome signing ceremony. From the late 1960s till the early 1980s the country experienced the Years of Lead a period characterized by economic crisis (especially after the 1973 oil crisis) widespread social conflicts and terrorist massacres carried out by opposing extremist groups with the probable involvement of US intelligence.464748 The Years of Lead culminated in the assassination of the Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro in 1978 an event that deeply impressed the whole country. In the 1980s for the first time since 1945 two governments were led by non-Christian-Democrat premiers: a liberal (Giovanni Spadolini) and a socialist (Bettino Craxi); the Christian Democrats remained however the main government party. During Craxi's government economy recovered and Italy became the world's fifth largest industrial nation gaining entry into the G7 Group. However as a result of his spending policies the Italian national debt skyrocketed during the Craxi era soon passing 100% of the GDP. In the early 1990s Italy faced significant challenges as voters disenchanted with political paralysis massive government debt and the extensive corruption system (known as Tangentopoli) uncovered by the 'Clean Hands' investigation demanded for radical reforms. The scandals involved all major parties but especially those in the government coalition: the Christian Democrats which ruled for almost 50 years underwent a severe crisis and eventually disbanded splitting up into several factions. The Communists reorganized as a social-democratic force. During the 1990s and the 2000s center-right (dominated by media magnate Silvio Berlusconi) and center-left coalitions alternatively governed the country. Geography Main article: Geography of Italy Topographic map of Italy. Italy is located in Southern Europe and comprises the boot-shaped Italian Peninsula and a number of islands including the two largest Sicily and Sardinia. It lies between latitudes 35 and 48 N and longitudes 6 and 19 E. Although the country occupies the Italian peninsula and most of the southern Alpine basin some of Italy's territory extends beyond the Alpine basin and some islands are located outside the Eurasian continental shelf. These territories are the comuni of: Livigno Sexten Innichen Toblach (in part) Chiusaforte Tarvisio Graun im Vinschgau (in part) which are all part of the Danube's drainage basin while the Val di Lei constitutes part of the Rhine's basin and the island comune of Lampedusa e Linosa is on the African continental shelf. The country's total area is 301230 km of which 294020 km is land and 7210 km is water. Including the islands Italy has a coastline and border of 7600 km on the Adriatic Ionian Tyrrhenian seas (740 km) and borders shared with France (488 km) Austria (430 km) Slovenia (232 km) and Switzerland; San Marino (39 km) and Vatican City (3.2 km) both enclaves account for the remainder. Mont Blanc is the highest point in Italy and the European Union. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone and the Alps form its northern boundary where Italy's highest point is located on Mont Blanc (4810 m/15782 ft).note 2 The Po Italy's longest river (652 km/405 mi) flows from the Alps on the western border with France and crosses the Padan plain on its way to the Adriatic Sea. The five largest lakes are in order of diminishing size:49 Garda (367.94 km2/142 sq mi) Maggiore (212.51 km2/82 sq mi) Como (145.9 km2/56 sq mi) Trasimeno (124.29 km2/48 sq mi) and Bolsena (113.55 km2/44 sq mi). The country is situated at the meeting point of the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate leading to considerable seismic and volcanic activity. There are 14 volcanoes in Italy three of which are active: Etna (the traditional site of Vulcans smithy) Stromboli and Vesuvius. Vesuvius is the only active volcano in mainland Europe and is most famous for the destruction of Pompeii and Herculanum. Several islands and hills have been created by volcanic activity and there is still a large active caldera the Campi Flegrei north-west of Naples. Environment See also: List of national parks of Italy and List of regional parks of Italy Map of national parks in Italy. After its quick industrial growth Italy took a long time to confront its environmental problems. After several improvements it now ranks 84th in the world for ecological sustainability.50 National parks cover about five percent of the country.51 In the last decade Italy has became one of the world's largest producers of renewable energy ranking as the worlds fifth largest solar energy producer in 20095253 and the sixth largest producer of wind power in 2008.54 Wild donkey in the Asinara National Park. However air pollution remains a severe problem especially in the industrialised north reaching the tenth highest level worldwide of industrial carbon dioxide emissions in the 1990s.55 Italy is the twelfth largest carbon dioxide producer.5657 Extensive traffic and congestion in the largest metropolitan areas continue to cause severe environmental and health issues even if smog levels have decreased dramatically since the 1970s and 80s and the presence of smog is becoming an increasingly rarer phenomenon and levels of sulphur dioxide are decreasing.58 Many watercourses and coastal stretches have also been contaminated by industrial and agricultural activity while due to rising water levels Venice has been regularly flooded throughout recent years. Waste from industrial activity is not always disposed of by legal means and has led to permanent health effects on inhabitants of affected areas as in the case of the Seveso disaster. The country has also operated several nuclear reactors between 1963 and 1990 but after the Chernobyl disaster and a referendum on the issue the nuclear program was terminated a decision that was overturned by the government in 2008. A deal was signed with France in 2009 for the construction of up to four new nuclear plants. Deforestation illegal building developments and poor land management policies have led to significant erosion all over Italy's mountainous regions leading to major ecological disasters like the 1963 Vajont Dam flood the 1998 Sarno59 and 2009 Messina mudslides. Climate Main article: Climate of Italy The climate of Italy is highly diverse and can be far from the stereotypical Mediterranean climate depending on location. Most of the inland northern regions of Italy for example Piedmont Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna have a climate variously described as humid continental or temperate. Adriana Rigutti (in Meteorologia Giunti 2005) states that the climte of the Po valley region is continental ... with harsh winters and hot summers.60 The coastal areas of Liguria and most of the peninsula south of Florence generally fit the Mediterranean stereotype (Kppen climate classification Csa). Conditions on peninsular coastal areas can be very different from the interior's higher ground and valleys particularly during the winter months when the higher altitudes tend to be cold wet and often snowy. The coastal regions have mild winters and warm and generally dry summers although lowland valleys can be quite hot in summer. Administrative divisions Main articles: Regions of Italy Provinces of Italy and Municipalities of Italy Italy is subdivided into 20 regions (regioni singular regione). Five of these regions have a special autonomous status that enables them to enact legislation on some of their local matters; these are marked by an asterisk (*) in the table below. The country is further divided into 110 provinces (province) and 8100 municipalities (comuni). Map Region Capital Area (km) Area (sq mi) Population Abruzzo L'Aquila 10763 4156 1342177 Aosta Valley* Aosta 3263 1260 128129 Apulia Bari 19358 7474 4090577 Basilicata Potenza 9995 3859 587680 Calabria Catanzaro 15080 5822 2011537 Campania Naples 13590 5247 5833131 Emilia-Romagna Bologna 22446 8666 4429766 Friuli-Venezia Giulia* Trieste 7858 3034 1235761 Lazio Rome 17236 6655 5724365 Liguria Genoa 5422 2093 1616993 Lombardy Milan 23844 9206 9909348 Marche Ancona 9366 3616 1564886 Molise Campobasso 4438 1713 319834 Piedmont Turin 25402 9808 4456532 Sardinia* Cagliari 24090 9301 1675286 Sicily* Palermo 25711 9927 5050486 Tuscany Florence 22993 8878 3749074 Trentino-Alto Adige/Sdtirol* Trento 13607 5254 1036639 Umbria Perugia 8456 3265 906675 Veneto Venice 18399 7104 4936197 Politics Main article: Politics of Italy Giorgio Napolitano 11th President of the Italian Republic. Italy is a unitary parliamentary republic since 2 June 1946 when the monarchy was abolished by a constitutional referendum. The President of the Italian Republic (Presidente della Repubblica) currently Giorgio Napolitano since 2006 is Italy's head of state. The President is elected for a single seven years mandate by the Parliament in joint session. Italy has a written democratic constitution resulting from the work of a Constituent Assembly formed by the representatives of all the anti-fascist forces that contributed to the defeat of Nazi and Fascist forces during the Civil War.61 Government Italy has a parliamentary government based on a proportional voting system. The Parliament of Italy is perfectly bicameral: the two houses the Chamber of Deputies (that meets in Palazzo Montecitorio) and the Senate of the Republic (that meets in Palazzo Madama) have the same powers. The Prime Minister officially President of the Council of Ministers (Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri) is Italy's head of government. The Prime Minister and the cabinet are appointed by the President of the Republic but must pass a vote of confidence in Parliament to become in office. While the office is similar to those in most other parliamentary systems the Italian prime minister has less authority than some of his counterparts. The prime minister is not authorized to request the dissolution of Parliament or dismiss ministers (that are exclusive prerogatives of the President of the Republic) and must receive a vote of approval from the Council of Ministerswhich holds effective executive powerto execute most political activities. Palazzo Montecitorio seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Silvio Berlusconi since 8 May 2008 has been Prime Minister leading a center-right coalition. The Italy's four major political parties are the People of Freedom the Democratic Party the Northern League and the Italy of Values. During the 2008 general elections these four parties won 590 out of 630 seats available in the Chamber of Deputies and 308 out of 315 seats available in the Senate of the Republic. Most of the remaining seats were won by minor parties that only contest election in one part of Italy like the South Tyrolean People's Party and the Movement for Autonomies. However during the last 3 years a so called "Third Pole" emerged merging the Christian Democrats of UDC with some dissident MPs coming from Mr. Berlusconi's cabinet. A peculiarity of the Italian Parliament is the representation given to Italian citizens permanently living abroad (about 3.6 million people): 12 Deputies and 6 Senators elected in four distinct overseas constituencies. In addiction the Italian Senate is characterized also by a small number of senators for life appointed by the President of the Italian Republic "for outstanding patriotic merits in the social scientific artistic or literary field". Former Presidents of the Republic are ex officio life senators. Law and criminal justice Main articles: Judiciary of Italy and Law enforcement in Italy The Supreme Court of Cassation. The Italian judicial system is based on Roman law modified by the Napoleonic code and later statutes. The Supreme Court of Cassation is the highest court in Italy for both criminal and civil appeal cases. The Constitutional Court of Italy (Corte Costituzionale) rules on the conformity of laws with the Constitution and is a postWorld War II innovation. Since their appearance in the middle of the 19th century Italian organized crime and criminal organizations have infiltrated the social and economic life of many regions in Southern Italy the most notorious of which being the Sicilian Mafia which would later expand into some foreign countries including the United States. The Mafia receipts could reach 9%6263 of Italy's GDP64 14.6% of the Italian GDP is produced in 610 comuni where lives 13 million Italians with a strong presence of the Mafia.6566 The Calabrian 'Ndrangheta nowadays probably the most powerful crime syndicate of Italy accounts alone by 3% of the country's GDP.67 However at 0.013 per 1000 people Italy has only the 47th highest murder rate68 (in a group of 62 countries) and the 43rd highest number of rapes per 1000 people in the world (in a group of 65 countries) relatively low figures among developed countries. Foreign relations Main article: Foreign relations of Italy US President Barack Obama and Giorgio Napolitano in Rome. Italy is a founding member of the European Community now the European Union (EU) and of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Italy was admitted to the United Nations in 1955 and it is a member and strong supporter of a wide number of international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO) the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) the Council of Europe and the Central European Initiative. Its recent turns in the rotating presidency of international organisations include the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) the forerunner of the OSCE in 1994; G8; and the EU in 2009 and from July to December 2003. Italy strongly supports multilateral international politics endorsing the United Nations and its international security activities. Italy deployed troops in support of UN peacekeeping missions in Somalia Mozambique and East Timor and provides support for NATO and UN operations in Bosnia Kosovo and Albania. Italy deployed over 2000 troops in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) from February 2003. Italy still supports international efforts to reconstruct and stabilize Iraq but it has withdrawn its military contingent of some 3200 troops as of November 2006 maintaining only humanitarian operators and other civilian personnel. In August 2006 Italy deployed about 2450 troops in Lebanon for the United Nations' peacekeeping mission UNIFIL.69 Military Main article: Italian Armed Forces The new Italian aircraft carrier Cavour (550) (MM Cavour) The Italian Army Navy Air Force and Gendarmerie collectively form the Italian armed forces under the command of the Supreme Defence Council presided over by the President of the Italian Republic. From 1999 military service is voluntary.70 In 2010 the Italian military had 293202 personnel on active duty71 of which 114778 in the national gendarmerie.72 Total Italian military spending in 2010 ranked tenth in the world standing at $35.8 billion equal to 1.7% of national GDP. As part of NATO's nuclear sharing strategy Italy also hosts 90 United States nuclear bombs located in the Ghedi and Aviano air bases.73 The Italian Army is the national ground defense force numbering 109703 in 2008. Its best-known combat vehicles are the Dardo infantry fighting vehicle the Centauro tank destroyer and the Ariete tank and among its aircraft the Mangusta attack helicopter recently deployed in UN missions. It also has at its disposal a large number of Leopard 1 and M113 armored vehicles. A Eurofighter Typhoon operated by the Italian Air Force The Italian Navy in 2008 had 35200 active personnel with 85 commissioned ships and 123 aircraft.74 It is now equipping itself with a bigger aircraft carrier (the Cavour) new destroyers submarines and multipurpose frigates. In modern times the Italian Navy being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has taken part in many coalition peacekeeping operations around the world. The Italian Air Force in 2008 had a strength of 43882 and operated 585 aircraft including 219 combat jets and 114 helicopters. As a stopgap and as replacement for leased Tornado ADV interceptors the AMI has leased 30 F-16A Block 15 ADF and four F-16B Block 10 Fighting Falcons with an option for more. The coming years also will see the introduction of 121 EF2000 Eurofighter Typhoons replacing the leased F-16 Fighting Falcons. Further updates are foreseen in the Tornado IDS/IDT and AMX fleets. A transport capability is guaranteed by a fleet of 22 C-130Js and Aeritalia G.222s of which 12 are being replaced with the newly developed G.222 variant called the C-27J Spartan. An autonomous corps of the military the Carabinieri are the gendarmerie and military police of Italy policing the military and civilian population alongside Italy's other police forces. While the different branches of the Carabinieri report to separate ministries for each of their individual functions the corps reports to the Ministry of Internal Affairs when maintaining public order and security.75 Economy Main article: Economy of Italy Milan Stock Exchange Italy's main. Italy has a capitalist economy with high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and developed infrastructure. According to the International Monetary Fund in 2008 Italy was the seventh-largest economy in the world and the fourth-largest in Europe. Italy is member of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations the European Union and the OECD. In the post-war period Italy was transformed from a weak agricultural based economy which had been severely affected by the consequences of World War II into one of the world's most industrialized nations76 and a leading country in world trade and exports. According to the World Bank Italy has high levels of freedom for investments business and trade. Italy is a developed country and according to The Economist has the world's 8th highest quality of life.11 The country enjoys a very high standard of living. According to the last Eurostat data Italian per capita GDP at purchasing power parity remains approximately equal to the EU average77 while the unemployment rate (8.5%) stands as one of the EU's lowest.78 Italy owns the world's 4th largest gold reserve.79 The country is also well-known for its influential and innovative business economic sector80 an industrious and competitive agricultural sector80 (Italy is the world's largest wine producer81) and for its creative and high-quality automobile industrial appliance and fashion design.80 Italy is part of a monetary union the Eurozone (dark blue) and of the EU single market. Despite these important achievements the country's economy today suffers from many and relevant problems. After a strong GDP growth of 56% per year from the 1950s to the early 1970s82 and a progressive slowdown in the 1980s and 1990s the last decade's average annual growth rates poorly performed at 1.23% in comparison to an average EU annual growth rate of 2.28%.83 The stagnation in economic growth and the political efforts to revive it with massive government spending from the 1980s onwards eventually produced a severe rise in public debt. In 2010 the EU's statistics body Eurostat published that Italian public debt standed at 116% of GDP ranking as the second biggest debt ratio after Greece (with 126.8%).84 However the biggest chunk of Italian public debt is owned by national subjects that is a major difference between Italy and Greece.85 In addition Italian living standards have a considerable north-south divide. The average GDP per capita in Northern Italy exceeds by far the EU average whilst some regions and provinces in Southern Italy are dramatically below.86 Italy has often been referred the sick man of Europe8788 characterised by economic stagnation political instability and problems in pursuing reform programs. Vineyards in South Tyrol. Italy is the world's top wine producer. More specifically Italy suffers from structural weaknesses due to its geographical conformation and the lack of raw materials and energy resources: in 2006 the country imported more than 86% of its total energy consumption (99.7% of the solid fuels 92.5% of oil 91.2% of natural gas and 15% of electricity).8990 The Italian economy is weakened by the lack of infrastructure development market reforms and research investment and also high public deficit.80 In the Index of Economic Freedom 2008 the country ranked 64th in the world and 29th in Europe the lowest rating in the Eurozone. Italy still receives development assistance from the European Union every year. Between 2000 and 2006 Italy received 27.4 billion from the EU.91 The country has an inefficient state bureaucracy low property rights protection and high levels of corruption heavy taxation and public spending that accounts for about half of the national GDP.92 In addition the most recent data show that Italy's spending in R&D in 2006 was equal to 1.14% of GDP below the EU average of 1.84% and the Lisbon Strategy target of devoting 3% of GDP to research and development activities.93 Finally organized crime is also a strong contributing factor in Italy's economic weakness. Corporations Italy has a smaller number of global multinational corporations than other economies of comparable size but there is a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises and in the Northern "industrial triangle" (Milan-Turin-Genoa) or the Tuscan industrial triangle (Florence-Prato-Pistoia) where there is an area of intense industrial and machinery production notably in their several industrial districts which are the backbone of the Italian industry. This has produced a manufacturing sector often focused on the export of niche market and luxury products that if on one side is less capable to compete on the quantity on the other side is more capable of facing the competition from China and other emerging Asian economies based on lower labour costs with higher quality products.94 The new Ferrari 458 Italia. Italy is the world's 7th largest exporter of goods. The country was the world's 7th largest exporter in 2009.95 Italy's major exports and companies by sector are motor vehicles (Fiat Aprilia Ducati Piaggio); chemicals and petrochemicals (Eni); energy and electrical engineering (Enel Edison); home appliances (Candy Indesit) aerospace and defense technologies (Alenia Aeronautica Agusta Finmeccanica) firearms (Beretta) fashion (Armani Valentino Versace Dolce & Gabbana Roberto Cavalli Benetton Prada Luxottica); food processing (Ferrero Barilla Group Martini & Rossi Campari Parmalat); sport and luxury vehicles (Ferrari Maserati Lamborghini Pagani); yachts (Ferretti Azimut). Italy's closest trade ties are with the other countries of the European Union with whom it conducts about 59% of its total trade. Its largest EU trade partners in order of market share are Germany (12.9%) France (11.4%) and Spain (7.4%).96 Tourism Tourism is one of the fastest growing and profitable sectors of the national economy: with 43.7 million international tourist arrivals and total receipts estimated at $42.7 billion Italy is the fourth highest tourism earner and the fifth most visited country in the world.97 Despite a slump in the late-1980s and during the Gulf War Italy has since the mid-1990s rebuilt a strong tourism industry.43 Italy's most popular tourist attractions are the Colosseum (4 million tourists per year and the world's 39th most visited sight) and the ruins at Pompeii (48th in the world with 2.5 million visitors).citation needed Transport Main article: Transport in Italy Frecciarossa high speed trains capable of 355 km/h (220.59 mph).9899100 In 2004 the transport sector in Italy generated a turnover of about 119.4 billion euros employing 935700 persons in 153700 enterprises. Regarding the national road network in 2002 there were 668721 km (415612 mi) of serviceable roads in Italy including 6487 km (4031 mi) of motorways state-owned but privately operated by Atlantia. In 2005 about 34667000 passenger cars (590 cars per 1000 people) and 4015000 goods vehicles circulated on the national road network.101 The national railway network state-owned and operated by Ferrovie dello Stato in 2003 totalled 16287 km (10122 mi) of which 69% is electrified and on which 4937 locomotives and railcars circulated. The national inland waterways network comprised 1477 km (918 mi) of navigable rivers and channels in 2002. In 2004 there were approximately 30 main airports (including the two hubs of Malpensa International in Milan and Leonardo Da Vinci International in Rome) and 43 major seaports (including the seaport of Genoa the country's largest and second largest in the Mediterranean Sea). In 2005 Italy maintained a civilian air fleet of about 389000 units and a merchant fleet of 581 ships.101 Demographics Main article: Demography of Italy Population 18612008. Number of inhabitants in thousands. With a population estimated in 60.6 million Italy has the fourth-largest population in the European Union and the 23rd-largest population worldwide. The population density at over 200 persons per square kilometre (over 500/sq mi) is the fifth highest in the European Union. The highest density is in Northern Italy as that one-third of the country contains almost half of the total population. After World War II Italy enjoyed a prolonged economic boom which caused a major rural exodus to the cities and at the same time transformed the nation from a massive emigration country to a net immigrant-receiving country. High fertility persisted until the 1970s when it plunged below the replacement rates so that as of 2008 one in five Italians was over 65 years old.102 Despite this thanks mainly to the massive immigration of the last two decades in the first decade of the 21st century Italy experienced a growth in the crude birth rate (especially in the northern regions) for the first time in many years.103 The total fertility rate has also significantly grown in the past few years thanks to rising births among both in foreign-born and Italian women as it climbed from an all-time minimum of 1.18 children per woman in 1995 to 1.41 in 2008.104 Urbanization See also: Metropolitan areas in Italy and List of cities in Italy by population view talk view talk Largest cities of Italy ISTAT estimates for 31 December 2010 Rome Milan Rank City Name Region Pop. Rank City Name Region Pop. Naples Turin 1 Rome Lazio 2761477 11 Venice Veneto 270884 2 Milan Lombardy 1324110 12 Verona Veneto 263964 3 Naples Campania 959574 13 Messina Sicily 242503 4 Turin Piedmont 907563 14 Padua Veneto 214198 5 Palermo Sicily 655875 15 Trieste Friuli-Venezia Giulia 205535 6 Genoa Liguria 607906 16 Brescia Lombardy 193879 7 Bologna Emilia-Romagna 380181 17 Taranto Apulia 191810 8 Florence Tuscany 371282 18 Prato Tuscany 188011 9 Bari Apulia 320475 19 Parma Emilia-Romagna 186690 10 Catania Sicily 293458 20 Reggio Calabria Calabria 186547 About 68% of Italian population is classified as urban105 a relatively low figure among developed countries. During the last two decades Italy underwent a devolution process that eventually led to the creation of administrative metropolitan areas in order to give major cities and their metropolitan areas a provincial status (somehow similar to PRC's direct-controlled municipality). However none of these new local authorities has yet become fully operative. According to OECD106 the largest conurbations are: Milan 7.4 million Rome 3.7 million Naples 3.1 million Turin 2.2 million Migration Main article: Immigration to Italy Little Italy in New York ca.1900. Italy became a country of mass emigration soon after national reunification in the late 19th century. Between 1898 and 1914 the peak years of Italian diaspora approximately 750000 Italians emigrated each year.107 Italian communities once thrived in the former African colonies of Eritrea (nearly 100000 at the beginning of World War II)108 Somalia and Libya (150000 Italians settled in Libya constituting about 18% of the total population).109 All of Libya's Italians were expelled from the North African country in 1970.110 In the decade after World War II up to 350000 ethnic Italians left Yugoslavia (see Istrian exodus).111 Large numbers of people with full or significant Italian ancestry are found in Brazil (25 million)112 Argentina (20 million)113 US (17.8 million)114 France (5 million)115 Uruguay (1.5 million)116 Canada (1.4 million)117 Venezuela (900000)118 and Australia (800000).119 At the start of 2010 there were 4235059 foreign nationals resident in Italy and registered with the authorities.120 This amounted to 7.1% of the countrys population and represented a year-on-year increase of 388000.121 These figures include more than half a million children born in Italy to foreign nationalssecond generation immigrants are becoming an important element in the demographic picturebut exclude foreign nationals who have subsequently acquired Italian nationality; this applied to 53696 people in 2008.122 They also exclude illegal immigrants the so-called clandestini whose numbers are difficult to determine. In May 2008 The Boston Globe quoted an estimate of 670000 for this group.123 Since the expansion of the European Union the most recent wave of migration has been from surrounding European nations particularly Eastern Europe and increasingly Asia124 replacing North Africa as the major immigration area. Some 950000 Romanians around 10 percent of them being Romani125 are officially registered as living in Italy replacing Albanians and Moroccans as the largest ethnic minority group. The number unregistered Romanians is difficult to estimate but the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network suggested that in 2007 that there might have been half a million or more.126note 3 As of 2009 the foreign born population origin of Italy was subdivided as follows: Europe (54%) Africa (22%) Asia (16%) the Americas (8%) and Oceania (0.06%). The distribution of foreign born population is largely uneven in Italy: 87% of immigrants live in the northern and central parts of the country (the most economically developed areas) while only 13% live in the southern half of the peninsula. Estimated foreign-born population by country of birth 2006 figures. Origin of the Italy population as of 1 January 2010 Origin Population Percent Italian &000000005611809900000056118099 92.98% Romanian &0000000000887763000000887763 1.47% North African &0000000000646624000000646624 1.07% Albanian &0000000000466684000000466684 0.77% Chinese &0000000000188352000000188352 0.28% Ukrainian &0000000000153998000000153998 0.31% Asian (non-Chinese) &0000000000499013000000499013 0.83% Latin American &0000000000324917000000324917 0.54% Sub-Saharan African &0000000000285169000000285169 0.47% Other &0000000000782549000000782549 1.29% Languages Main article: Languages of Italy "Italophone" world. Dark blue:official language; green: secondary widely spoken or understood; light blue: understood by some due to former colonisation. Italy's official language is Italian. Ethnologue has estimated that there are about 55 million speakers of the language in Italy and a further 6.7 million outside of the country.128 However between 120 and 150 million people use Italian as a second or cultural language worldwide.129 Italian adopted by the state after the unification of Italy is based on the Florentine variety of Tuscan and is somewhat intermediate between the Italo-Dalmatian languages of the South and the Gallo-Romance Northern Italian languages. Its development was also influenced by the Germanic languages of the post-Roman invaders. Italy has numerous dialects spoken all over the country and some Italians cannot speak Italian at all.130 However the establishment of a national education system has led to decrease in variation in the languages spoken across the country. Standardisation was further expanded in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to economic growth and the rise of mass media and television (the state broadcaster RAI helped set a standard Italian). Several ethnic groups are legally recognized131 and a number of minority languages have co-official status alongside Italian in various parts of the country. French is co-official in the Valle dAostaalthough in fact Franco-Provencal is more commonly spoken there. German has the same status in the province of South Tyrol as in some parts of that province and in parts of the neighbouring Trentino does Ladin. Slovene is officially recognised in the provinces of Trieste Gorizia and Udine in Friuli Venezia Giulia. In these regions official documents are bilingual (trilingual in Ladin communities) or available upon request in either Italian or the co-official language. Traffic signs are also multilingual except in the Valle dAosta where with the exception of Aosta itself which has retained its Latin form in Italian (as in English) French toponyms are generally used attempts to italianise them during the Fascist period having been abandoned. Education is possible in minority languages where such schools are operating. Religion Main article: Religion in Italy Religion in Italy 2001132 Religion Percent Christianity   91.6% None   5.8% Islam   1.9% Buddhism   0.3% Hinduism   0.2% Sikhism   0.1% Judaism   0.1% Roman Catholicism is by far the largest religion in the country although the Catholic Church is no longer officially the state religion. The proportion of Italians that identify themselves as Roman Catholic is 87.8%133 although only about one-third of these described themselves as active members (36.8%). Most Italians believe in God or a form of a spiritual life force. According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005:134 74% of Italian citizens responded that 'they believe there is a God' 16% answered that 'they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force' and 6% answered that 'they do not believe there is any sort of spirit God or life force'. Christianity The Italian Catholic Church is part of the global Roman Catholic Church under the spiritual leadership of the Pope curia in Rome and the Conference of Italian Bishops. In addition to Italy two other sovereign nations are included in Italian-based dioceses San Marino and Vatican City. There are 225 dioceses in the Italian Catholic Church see further in this article and in the article List of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Italy. Even though by law Vatican City is not part of Italy it is in Rome and along with Latin Italian is the most spoken and second language of the Roman Curia.135 The Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence which has the biggest brick dome in the world136137 and is considered a masterpiece of Italian architecture. Italy has a rich Catholic culture especially as numerous Catholic saints martyrs and popes were Italian themselves. Roman Catholic art in Italy especially flourished during the Middle-Ages Renaissance and Baroque periods with numerous Italian artists such as Michelangelo Leonardo Da Vinci Raphael Caravaggio Fra Angelico Gian Lorenzo Bernini Sandro Botticelli Tintoretto Titian Raphael and Giotto. Roman Catholic architecture in Italy is equally as rich and impressive with churches basilicas and cathedrals such as St Peter's Basilica Florence Cathedral and St Mark's Basilica. Roman Catholicism is the largest religion and denomination in Italy with around 87.8% of Italians considering themselves Catholic. Italy is also home to the greatest number of cardinals in the world138 and is the country with the greatest number of Roman Catholic churches per capita.139 Even though the main Christian denomination in Italy is Roman Catholicism there are some minorities of Protestant Waldensian Eastern Orthodox and other Christian churches. In the 20th century Jehovah's Witnesses Pentecostalism non-denominational Evangelicalism and Mormonism were the fastest-growing Protestant churches. Immigration from Western Central and Eastern Africa at the beginning of the 21st century has increased the size of Baptist Anglican Pentecostal and Evangelical communities in Italy while immigration from Eastern Europe has produced large Eastern Orthodox communities. In 2006 Protestants made up 2.1% of Italy's population and members of Eastern Orthodox churches comprised 1.2%. Other Christian groups in Italy include more than 700000 Eastern Orthodox Christians including 180000 Greek Orthodox140 550000 Pentecostals and Evangelists (0.8%) of whom 400000 are members of the Assemblies of God 235685 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.4%)141 30000 Waldensians142 25000 Seventh-day Adventists 22000 Mormons 15000 Baptists (plus some 5000 Free Baptists) 7000 Lutherans 4000 Methodists (affiliated with the Waldensian Church).143 Other religions The longest-established religious faith in Italy is Judaism Jews having been present in Ancient Rome before the birth of Christ. Italy has seen many influential Italian-Jews such as Luigi Luzzatti who took office in 1910 Ernesto Nathan served as mayor of Rome from 1907 to 1913 and Shabbethai Donnolo (died 982). During the Holocaust Italy took in many Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. However with the creation of the Nazi-backed puppet Italian Social Republic about 15% of Italy's Jews were killed despite the Fascist government's refusal to deport Jews to Nazi death camps. This together with the emigration that preceded and followed the Second World War has left only a small community of around 45000 Jews in Italy today. Due to immigration from around the world there has been an increase in non-Christian faiths. In 2009 there were 1.0 million Muslims in Italy144 forming 1.6 percent of population although only 50000 hold Italian citizenship. Independent estimates put the Islamic population in Italy anywhere from 0.8 million145 to 1.5 million.146 There are more than 200000 followers of faith originating in the Indian subcontinent woth some 70000 Sikhs with 22 gurdwaras across the country147 70000 Hindus and 50000 Buddhists.148 There are an estimated some 4900 Bah's in Italy in 2005.149 Education Main article: Education in Italy See also: List of universities in Italy Academic grading in Italy and List of museums in Italy La Sapienza University in Rome is Europe's largest with 140000 students.150 Italy's public education is free and compulsory from 6 to 15 years of age151 and has a five-year primary stage and an eight-year secondary stage divided into first-grade secondary school (middle school) and second-grade secondary school (or high school). Italy has a high public education standard surpassing that of other comparable developed countries such as the UK and Germany.citation needed The country has both public and private education systems. According to National Science Indicators (19812002) a database produced by Research Services Group containing listings of output and citation statistics for more than 90 countries Italy has an above-average output of scientific papers (in terms of number of papers written with at least one author being from Italy) in space science (9.75% of papers in the world being from Italy) mathematics (5.51% of papers in the world) computer science neurosciences and physics; the lowest but still slightly above world-average output in terms of number of papers produced is recorded in the social sciences psychology and psychiatry and economics and business.152 University of Bologna is Europe's oldest founded in 1088. Italy hosts a broad variety of universities colleges and academies. Milan's Bocconi University has been ranked among the top 20 best business schools in the world by The Wall Street Journal international rankings especially thanks to its M.B.A. program which in 2007 placed it no. 17 in the world in terms of graduate recruitment preference by major multinational companies.153 Also Forbes has ranked Bocconi no. 1 worldwide in the specific category Value for Money.154 In May 2008 Bocconi overtook several traditionally top global business schools in the Financial Times Executive education ranking reaching no. 5 in Europe and no. 15 in the world.155 Other top universities and polytechnics include the Polytechnic University of Turin the Politecnico di Milano (which in 2009 was ranked as the 57th technical university in the world by Top Universities in a research conducted on behalf of Times Higher Education.156 This was a 6-positions growth from the 63rd position in 2008. In 2009 an Italian research ranked it as the best in Italy over indicators such as scientific production attraction of foreign students and others157) the University of Rome La Sapienza (which in 2005 was Europe's 33rd best university158 and ranks amongst Europe's 50 and the world's 150 best colleges159) and the University of Milan (whose research and teaching activities have developed over the years and have received important international recognitions. The University is the only Italian member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) a prestigious group of twenty research-intensive European Universities. It also been awarded ranking positions as such: -1st in Italy and 7th in Europe (The Leiden Ranking Universiteit Leiden). Italy and the Western world's oldest college is the University of Bologna.160 In 2009 the University of Bologna is according to The Times the only Italian college in the top 200 World Universities. The University of Padua also remains one of Europe's oldest. Health Italian public health insurance card. Main article: Healthcare in Italy Italy has had a public healthcare system since 1978.161 Healthcare spending in Italy accounted for more than 9.0% of the national GDP in 2008 slightly above the OECD countries' average of 8.9%.162 However Italy ranks as having the world's 2nd best healthcare system161163 and the world's 3rd best healthcare performance.164 Italy had the 12th highest worldwide life expectancy in 2010165 while as in many others western countries seeing an increase in the proportion of overweight and obese people with 34.2% of Italians self reporting as overweight and 9.8% self reporting as obese.166 The proportion of daily smokers was 22% in 2008.167 Smoking in public places including bars restaurants night clubs and offices has been restricted to specially ventilated rooms since 2005.168 Culture Main article: Culture of Italy The city of Venice built on 117 islands. Italy did not exist as a state until the country's unification in 1861. Due to this comparatively late unification and the historical autonomy of the regions that comprise the Italian Peninsula many traditions and customs that are now recognized as distinctly Italian can be identified by their regions of origin. Despite the political and social distinction of these regions Italy's contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of Europe and the world remain immense. Italy is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (45) to date and has rich collections of world art culture and literature from many different periods. Italy has had a broad cultural influence worldwide also because numerous Italians emigrated to other countries during the Italian diaspora. Italy has overall an estimated 100000 monuments of any sort (museums palaces buildings statues churches art galleries villas fountains historic houses and archaeological remains).169 Architecture Main article: Architecture of Italy The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Italy has a very broad and diverse architectural style which cannot be simply classified by period but also by region due to Italy's division into several city-states until 1861. However this has created a highly diverse and eclectic range in architectural designs. Italy is known for its considerable architectural achievements170 such as the construction of arches domes and similar structure during ancient Rome the founding of the Renaissance architectural movement in the late-14th to 16th century and being the homeland of Palladianism a style of construction which inspired movements such as that of Neoclassical architecture and influenced the designs which noblemen built their country houses all over the world notably in the UK Australia and the US during the late-17th to early 20th centuries. Several of the finest works in Western architecture such as the Colosseum the Milan Cathedral and Florence cathedral the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the building designs of Venice are found in Italy. Italy has an estimated total of 100000 monuments of all varieties (museums palaces buildings statues churches art galleries villas fountains historic houses and archaeological remains).169 Italian architecture has also widely influenced the architecture of the world. Italianate architecture popular abroad from the 16th to mid-20th century was used to describe foreign architecture which was built in an Italian style. British architect Inigo Jones inspired by the avant-garde designs of Italian buildings and cities in the early-17th century brought back these ideas with him to London and ever since this Italianate architecture has been popular in construction designs all over the world. Arts Main article: Art of Italy The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci: equally to Mona Lisa it is the most famous most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time.171 Over the centuries Italian art has gone through many stylistic changes. Italian painting is traditionally characterized by a warmth of colour and light as exemplified in the works of Caravaggio and Titian and a preoccupation with religious figures and motifs. Italian painting enjoyed preeminence in Europe for hundreds of years from the Romanesque and Gothic periods and through the Renaissance and Baroque periods the latter two of which saw fruition in Italy. Notable artists who fall within these periods include Michelangelo Leonardo da Vinci Donatello Botticelli Fra Angelico Tintoretto Caravaggio Bernini Titian and Raphael. Thereafter Italy was to experience a continual subjection to foreign powers which caused a shift of focus to political matters leading to its decline as the artistic authority in Europe. Not until 20th century Futurism primarily through the works of Umberto Boccioni and Giacomo Balla would Italy recapture any of its former prestige as a seminal place of artistic evolution. Futurism was succeeded by the metaphysical paintings of Giorgio de Chirico who exerted a strong influence on the Surrealists and generations of artists to follow. Literature and theatre Main article: Literature of Italy Dante poised between the mountain of purgatory and the city of Florence displays the famous incipit Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita in a detail of Domenico di Michelino's painting Florence 1465. The basis of the modern Italian language was established by the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri whose greatest work the Divine Comedy is considered amongst the foremost literary statements produced in Europe during the Middle Ages. There is no shortage of celebrated literary figures in Italy: Giovanni Boccaccio Giacomo Leopardi Alessandro Manzoni Torquato Tasso Ludovico Ariosto and Petrarch whose best-known vehicle of expression the sonnet was invented in Italy. Prominent philosophers include Giordano Bruno Marsilio Ficino Niccol Machiavelli and Giambattista Vico. Modern literary figures and Nobel laureates are nationalist poet Giosu Carducci in 1906 realist writer Grazia Deledda in 1926 modern theatre author Luigi Pirandello in 1936 poets Salvatore Quasimodo in 1959 and Eugenio Montale in 1975 satirist and theatre author Dario Fo in 1997.172 Italian theatre can be traced back to the Roman tradition which was heavily influenced by the Greek; as with many other literary genres Roman dramatists tended to adapt and translate from the Greek. For example Seneca's Phaedra was based on that of Euripides and many of the comedies of Plautus were direct translations of works by Menander. During the 16th century and on into the 18th century Commedia dell'arte was a form of improvisational theatre and it is still performed today. Travelling troupes of players would set up an outdoor stage and provide amusement in the form of juggling acrobatics and more typically humorous plays based on a repertoire of established characters with a rough storyline called canovaccio. Music Main article: Music of Italy Giacomo Puccini Italian composer whose operas including La bohme Tosca Madama Butterfly and Turandot are among the most frequently worldwide performed in the standard repertoire.173174 From folk music to classical music has always played an important role in Italian culture. Instruments associated with classical music including the piano and violin were invented in Italy and many of the prevailing classical music forms such as the symphony concerto and sonata can trace their roots back to innovations of 16th and 17th century Italian music. Italy's most famous composers include the Renaissance composers Palestrina and Monteverdi the Baroque composers Alessandro Scarlatti Corelli and Vivaldi the Classical composers Paganini and Rossini and the Romantic composers Verdi and Puccini. Modern Italian composers such as Berio and Nono proved significant in the development of experimental and electronic music. While the classical music tradition still holds strong in Italy as evidenced by the fame of its innumerable opera houses such as La Scala of Milan and San Carlo of Naples and performers such as the pianist Maurizio Pollini and the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti Italians have been no less appreciative of their thriving contemporary music scene. Luciano Pavarotti one of the most famous tenors of all time. Italy is widely known for being the birthplace of opera.175 Italian opera was believed to have been founded in the early 17th century in Italian cities such as Mantua and Venice.175 Later works and pieces composed by native Italian composers of the 19th century and early 20th century such as Rossini Bellini Donizetti Verdi and Puccini are amongst the most famous operas ever written and today are performed in opera houses across the world. La Scala operahouse in Milan is also renowned as one of the best in the world. Famous Italian opera singers include Enrico Caruso Alessandro Bonci the late Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli to name a few. Introduced in the early 1920s jazz took a particularly strong foothold in Italy and remained popular despite the xenophobic cultural policies of the Fascist regime. Today the most notable centers of jazz music in Italy include Milan Rome and Sicily. Later Italy was at the forefront of the progressive rock movement of the 1970s with bands like PFM and Goblin. Today Italian pop music is represented annually with the Sanremo Music Festival which served as inspiration for the Eurovision song contest and the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto. Singers such as pop diva Mina classical crossover artist Andrea Bocelli Grammy winner Laura Pausini and European chart-topper Eros Ramazzotti have attained international acclaim. Cinema Federico Fellini considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century.176 Main article: Cinema of Italy The history of Italian cinema began a few months after the Lumire brothers began motion picture exhibitions. The first Italian film was a few seconds long showing Pope Leo XIII giving a blessing to the camera. The Italian film industry was born between 1903 and 1908 with three companies: the Societ Italiana Cines the Ambrosio Film and the Itala Film. Other companies soon followed in Milan and in Naples. In a short time these first companies reached a fair producing quality and films were soon sold outside Italy. Cinema was later used by Benito Mussolini who founded Rome's renowned Cinecitt studio for the production of Fascist propaganda until World War II.177 After the war Italian film was widely recognised and exported until an artistic decline around the 1980s. Notable Italian film directors from this period include Vittorio De Sica Federico Fellini Sergio Leone Pier Paolo Pasolini Luchino Visconti Michelangelo Antonioni and Dario Argento. Movies include world cinema treasures such as La dolce vita Il buono il brutto il cattivo and Ladri di biciclette. In recent years the Italian scene has received only occasional international attention with movies like La vita bella directed by Roberto Benigni and Il postino with Massimo Troisi. Science Main article: Science and technology in Italy Galileo is considered one of the fathers of modern science.178178179180 Through the centuries Italy has given birth to some notable scientific minds. Amongst them and perhaps the most famous polymath in history Leonardo da Vinci made several contributions to a variety of fields including art biology and technology. Galileo Galilei was a physicist mathematician and astronomer who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism. The physicist Enrico Fermi a Nobel prize laureate was the leader of the team that built the first nuclear reactor and is also noted for his many other contributions to physics including the co-development of the quantum theory. A brief overview of some other notable figures includes the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini who made many important discoveries about the Solar System; the physicist Alessandro Volta inventor of the electric battery; the mathematicians Lagrange Fibonacci and Gerolamo Cardano whose Ars Magna is generally recognized as the first modern treatment on mathematics made fundamental advances to the field; Marcello Malpighi a doctor and founder of microscopic anatomy; the biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani who conducted important research in bodily functions animal reproduction and cellular theory; the physician pathologist scientist and Nobel laureate Camillo Golgi whose many achievements include the discovery of the Golgi complex and his role in paving the way to the acceptance of the Neuron doctrine; and Guglielmo Marconi who received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of radio. Felipe Massa driving a Ferrari at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix. Sport Main article: Sport in Italy Italy has a long sporting tradition. In numerous sports both individual and team Italy has good representation and many successes. The most popular sport is by far football. Basketball and volleyball are the next most popular/played with Italy having a rich tradition in both. Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup and is currently the second most successful football team in the world after Brazil having won four FIFA World Cups.181 Italy has also got strong traditions in cycling tennis athletics fencing winter sports and rugby. Italian Scuderia Ferrari is the oldest surviving team in Grand Prix racing having competed since 1948 and statistically the most successful Formula One team in history with a record of 15 drivers' championships and 16 constructors' championships. Fashion and design Main articles: Italian fashion and Italian design A Wedding dress by Valentino. Italian fashion has a long tradition and is regarded as one of the most important in the world along with French fashion American fashion British fashion and Japanese fashion. Milan Florence and Rome are Italy's main fashion capitals however Naples Turin Venice Bologna Genoa and Vicenza are other major centres. According to the 2009 Global Language Monitor Milan was nominated the true fashion capital of the world even surpassing other international cities such as New York Paris London and Tokyo and Rome came 4th.182 Major Italian fashion labels such as Gucci Prada Versace Valentino Armani Dolce & Gabbana Missoni Fendi Moschino Max Mara and Ferragamo to name a few are regarded as amongst the finest fashion houses in the world. Also the fashion magazine Vogue Italia is considered the most important and prestigious fashion magazine in the world.183 Italy is also prominent in the field of design notably interior design architectural design industrial design and urban design. Italy has produced some well-known furniture designers such as Gio Ponti and Ettore Sottsass and Italian phrases such as "Bel Disegno" and "Linea Italiana" have entered the vocabulary of furniture design.184 Examples of classic pieces of Italian white goods and pieces of furniture include Zanussi's washing machines and fridges185 the "New Tone" sofas by Atrium185 and the post-modern bookcase by Ettore Sottsass inspired by Bob Dylan's song Memphis Blues.185 Today Milan and Turin are the nation's leaders in architectural design and industrial design. The city of Milan hosts the FieraMilano Europe's biggest design fair.186 Milan also hosts major design and architecture-related events and venues such as the "Fuori Salone" and the Salone del Mobile and has been home to the designers Bruno Munari Lucio Fontana Enrico Castellani and Piero Manzoni187 Authentic Neapolitan pizza. Cuisine Main article: Italian cuisine Modern Italian cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political changes with its roots reaching back to the 4th century BC. Significant change occurred with the discovery of the New World when vegetables such as potatoes tomatoes bell peppers and maize became available. However these central ingredients of modern Italian cuisine were not introduced in scale before the 18th century.188 Ingredients and dishes vary by region. However many dishes that were once regional have proliferated in different variations across the country. Cheese and wine are major parts of the cuisine playing different roles both regionally and nationally with their many variations and Denominazione di origine controllata (regulated appellation) laws. Coffee and more specifically espresso has become highly important to the cultural cuisine of Italy. Some famous dishes and items include pasta pizza lasagna focaccia and gelato. See also Italy portal European Union portal Index of Italy-related articles Outline of Italy List of English exonyms for Italian toponyms Notes In Italy other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous (regional) languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these Italy's official name is as follows: Emilian: Ripbblica Itaglina; Friulian: Republiche Taliane; Ladin: Republica taliana; Lombard: Repblega Taliana; Neapolitan: Repubbreca italiana; Piemontese: Repblica Italian-a; Sardinian: Repubrica Italiana; Sicilian: Ripbblica di Tlia; Venetian: Republica Taiana Official French maps show the border detouring south of the main summit and claim the highest point in Italy is Mont Blanc de Courmayeur (4748 m) but these are inconsistent with an 1861 convention and topographic watershed analysis. According to Mitrica an October 2005 Romanian report estimates that 1061400 Romanians are living in Italy constituting 37% of 2.8 million immigrants in that country127 but it is unclear how the estimate was made and therefore whether it should be taken seriously. References "Ethnologue report". Ethnologue.com. http://www.ethnologue.com/showcountry.aspnameIT. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Monthly demographic balance: JanuaryNovember 2010" (in Italian). Istat. 28 March 2011. http://www.istat.it/salastampa/comunicati/noncalendario/2011032800/testointegrale20110328.pdf. Retrieved 2 April 2011.  a b c d "Italy". International Monetary Fund. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/01/weodata/weorept.aspxsy2008&ey2011&scsm1&ssd1&sortcountry&ds.&br1&c136&sNGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp0&a&pr.x42&pr.y3. Retrieved 30 April 2011.  "Distribution of family income Gini index". CIA The World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2172.html. Retrieved 9 July 2010.  "Human Development Report 2010". United Nations. 2010. http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR2010ENTable1.pdf. Retrieved 5 November 2010.  "Comune di Campione d'Italia". Comune.campione-d-italia.co.it. 14 July 2010. http://www.comune.campione-d-italia.co.it/. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Italy: Birthplace of the Renaisssance". European Rennaisance and Reformation. Township of Washington NJ: Immaculate Heart Academy. n.d.. http://www.immaculateheartacademy.org/outside2/socialstudies/kuhns/1%20Italy%20Birthplace%20of%20the%20Renaissance.pdf. Retrieved 20 December 2009 .unreliable source "Unification of Italy". Library.thinkquest.org. 4 April 2003. http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312582/unification.html. Retrieved 19 November 2009.  "The Italian Colonial Empire". All Empires. http://www.allempires.com/article/index.phpqitaliancolonial. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  Human Development Report 2010dead link. The United Nations. Retrieved 5 October 2009. a b The Economist Intelligence Units quality-of-life index Economist 2005 "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". Imf.org. 14 September 2006. http://imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/02/weodata/weorept.aspxpr.x26&pr.y9&sy2009&ey2009&scsm1&ssd1&sortcountry&ds.&br1&c512%2C941%2C914%2C446%2C612%2C666%2C614%2C668%2C311%2C672%2C213%2C946%2C911%2C137%2C193%2C962%2C122%2C674%2C912%2C676%2C313%2C548%2C419%2C556%2C513%2C678%2C316%2C181%2C913%2C682%2C124%2C684%2C339%2C273%2C638%2C921%2C514%2C948%2C218%2C943%2C963%2C686%2C616%2C688%2C223%2C518%2C516%2C728%2C918%2C558%2C748%2C138%2C618%2C196%2C522%2C278%2C622%2C692%2C156%2C694%2C624%2C142%2C626%2C449%2C628%2C564%2C228%2C283%2C924%2C853%2C233%2C288%2C632%2C293%2C636%2C566%2C634%2C964%2C238%2C182%2C662%2C453%2C960%2C968%2C423%2C922%2C935%2C714%2C128%2C862%2C611%2C716%2C321%2C456%2C243%2C722%2C248%2C942%2C469%2C718%2C253%2C724%2C642%2C576%2C643%2C936%2C939%2C961%2C644%2C813%2C819%2C199%2C172%2C184%2C132%2C524%2C646%2C361%2C648%2C362%2C915%2C364%2C134%2C732%2C652%2C366%2C174%2C734%2C328%2C144%2C258%2C146%2C656%2C463%2C654%2C528%2C336%2C923%2C263%2C738%2C268%2C578%2C532%2C537%2C944%2C742%2C176%2C866%2C534%2C369%2C536%2C744%2C429%2C186%2C433%2C925%2C178%2C746%2C436%2C926%2C136%2C466%2C343%2C112%2C158%2C111%2C439%2C298%2C916%2C927%2C664%2C846%2C826%2C299%2C542%2C582%2C443%2C474%2C917%2C754%2C544%2C698&sNGDPDPC&grp0&a. Retrieved 2 August 2010.  "DDP Quick Query". Ddp-ext.worldbank.org. 20 July 2004. http://ddp-ext.worldbank.org/ext/DDPQQ/member.domethodgetMembers&userid1&queryId135. Retrieved 2 August 2010.  "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". Imf.org. 14 September 2006. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/01/weodata/weorept.aspxsy2008&ey2008&scsm1&ssd1&sortcountry&ds.&br1&c512%2C941%2C914%2C446%2C612%2C666%2C614%2C668%2C311%2C672%2C213%2C946%2C911%2C137%2C193%2C962%2C122%2C674%2C912%2C676%2C313%2C548%2C419%2C556%2C513%2C678%2C316%2C181%2C913%2C682%2C124%2C684%2C339%2C273%2C638%2C921%2C514%2C948%2C218%2C943%2C963%2C686%2C616%2C688%2C223%2C518%2C516%2C728%2C918%2C558%2C748%2C138%2C618%2C196%2C522%2C278%2C622%2C692%2C156%2C694%2C624%2C142%2C626%2C449%2C628%2C564%2C228%2C283%2C924%2C853%2C233%2C288%2C632%2C293%2C636%2C566%2C634%2C964%2C238%2C182%2C662%2C453%2C960%2C968%2C423%2C922%2C935%2C714%2C128%2C862%2C611%2C716%2C321%2C456%2C243%2C722%2C248%2C942%2C469%2C718%2C253%2C724%2C642%2C576%2C643%2C936%2C939%2C961%2C644%2C813%2C819%2C199%2C172%2C184%2C132%2C524%2C646%2C361%2C648%2C362%2C915%2C364%2C134%2C732%2C652%2C366%2C174%2C734%2C328%2C144%2C258%2C146%2C656%2C463%2C654%2C528%2C336%2C923%2C263%2C738%2C268%2C578%2C532%2C537%2C944%2C742%2C176%2C866%2C534%2C369%2C536%2C744%2C429%2C186%2C433%2C925%2C178%2C746%2C436%2C926%2C136%2C466%2C343%2C112%2C158%2C111%2C439%2C298%2C916%2C927%2C664%2C846%2C826%2C299%2C542%2C582%2C443%2C474%2C917%2C754%2C544%2C698&sPPPGDP&grp0&a&pr.x9&pr.y12. Retrieved 2 August 2010.  "CIA World Factbook Budget". Cia.gov. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2056.html. Retrieved 26 January 2011.  M. De Leonardis Il Mediterraneo nella politica estera italiana del secondo dopoguerra Bologna Il Mulino 2003 p. 17 The Middle East and Europe. Google Books. 1998-11-24. http://books.google.com/idX4xw8-Oj9usC&pgPA157&lpgPA157&dqregional+power+italy+in+europe#PPP1M1. Retrieved 2011-05-30.  "KOF Pressemitteilung" (PDF). http://globalization.kof.ethz.ch/static/pdf/pressrelease2009en.pdf. Retrieved 27 October 2009.  Alberto Manco Italia. Disegno storico-linguistico 2009 Napoli L'Orientale ISBN 978-88-95044-62-0 OLD p. 974: "first syll. naturally short (cf. Quint.Inst.1.5.18) and so scanned in Lucil.825 but in dactylic verse lengthened metri gratia." J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (London: Fitzroy and Dearborn 1997) 24. Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities 1.35 on LacusCurtius Aristotle Politics 7.1329b on Perseus Thucydides The Peloponnesian War 6.2.4 on Perseus Pallottino M. History of Earliest Italy trans. Ryle M & Soper K. in Jerome Lectures Seventeenth Series p. 50 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers 2001 ch. 2. ISBN 0-306-46463-2. The Mycenaeans and Italy: the archaeological and archaeometric ceramic evidence University of Glasgow Department of Archaeology Emilio Peruzzi Mycenaeans in early Latium (Incunabula Graeca 75) Edizioni dell'Ateneo & Bizzarri Roma 1980 Lord William Taylour Mycenaean Pottery in Italy and Adjacent Areas (Cambridge 1958) Gert Jan van Wijngaarden Use and Appreciation of Mycenaean Pottery in the Levant Cyprus and Italy (1600-1200 B.C.): The Significance of Context Amsterdam Archaeological Studies Amsterdam University Press 2001 Andrea Vianello Late Bronze Age Mycenaean and Italic Products in the West Mediterranean: A Social and Economic Analysis (British Archaeological Reports International Series) British Archaeological Reports Miriam S. Balmuth Robert J. Rowland Studies in Sardinian archaeology University of Michigan Press 1984 Bryan Feuer Mycenaean civilization: an annotated bibliography through 2002 McFarland & Company; Rev Sub edition (2 March 2004) Stphane Barry and Norbert Gualde "The Biggest Epidemics of History" (La plus grande pidmie de l'histoire) in L'Histoire n 310 June 2006 pp. 4546 "Plaguedead link". Brown University. History of Plague Texas Department of State Health Services Karl Julius Beloch Bevlkerungsgeschichte Italiens volume 3 pp. 359360. "Naples in the 1600s". Faculty.ed.umuc.edu. http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/jmatthew/naples/goldenage.htm. Retrieved 3 November 2008.  (Mack Smith Denis (1997). Modern Italy; A Political History. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-10895-6 p. 15. Monticelli Giuseppe Lucrezio (Summer 1967). "Italian Emigration: Basic Characteristic and Trends with Special Reference to the Last Twenty Years.". International Migration Review (The Center for Migration Studies of New York Inc.) 1 (3 Special issue The Italian Experience in Emigration): 1024. doi:10.2307/3002737. JSTOR 3002737. ISSN 01979183.  (Bosworth (2005) pp. 49.) Mortara G (1925). La Salute pubblica in Italia durante e dopo la Guerra. New Haven: Yale University Press.  a b "Italy Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/297474/Italy#. Retrieved 2 August 2010.  Adrian Lyttelton (editor) "Liberal and fascist Italy 19001945" Oxford University Press 2002. pp. 13 "Italia 1946: le donne al voto dossier a cura di Mariachiara Fugazza e Silvia Cassamagnaghi" (PDF). http://www.insmli.it/pubblicazioni/35/Voto%20donne%20versione%20def.pdf. Retrieved 2011-05-30.  (Italian) "Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sul terrorismo in Italia e sulle cause della mancata individuazione dei responsabili delle stragi (1995 Parliamentary Commission of Investigation on Terrorism in Italy and on the Causes of the Failing of the Arrests of the Responsibles of the Bombings)". 1995. Archived from the original on 2006-08-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20060819211212/http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/documents/collectiongladio/reportitalsenate.pdf. Retrieved 2006-05-02.  (English)/(Italian)/(French)/(German) "Secret Warfare: Operation Gladio and NATO's Stay-Behind Armies". Swiss Federal Institute of Technology / International Relation and Security Network. Archived from the original on 2006-04-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20060425182721/http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/collections/collgladio.htm#Documents. Retrieved 2006-05-02.  "Clarion: Philip Willan Guardian 24 June 2000 page 19". Cambridgeclarion.org. 2000-06-24. http://www.cambridgeclarion.org/presscuttings/us.terrorismgraun24jun2000.html. Retrieved 2010-04-24.  "Morphometric and hydrological characteristics of some important Italian lakes". Largo Tonolli 50 28922 Verbania Pallanza: Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi. http://www.iii.to.cnr.it/limnol/cicloac/lagit.htm. Retrieved 3 March 2010.  "Italy Environment". Dev.prenhall.com. http://dev.prenhall.com/divisions/hss/worldreference/IT/environment.html. Retrieved 2 August 2010.  "National Parks in Italy". Parks.it. 1995-2010. http://www.parks.it/indice/NatParks.html. Retrieved 15 March 2010.  REN21 (15 July 2010). "Renewables 2010 Global Status Report". REN21. http://www.ren21.net/globalstatusreport/REN21GSR2010full.pdf. Retrieved 16 July 2010.  "Photovoltaic energy barometer 2010 EurObservER". http://www.eurobserv-er.org/pdf/baro196.asp. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  Global installed wind power capacity (MW) Global Wind Energy Council 6.2.2008 "Italy Environment". Encyclopedia of the Nations. http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/Italy-ENVIRONMENT.html. Retrieved 7 April 2010.  United Nations Statistics Division Millennium Development Goals indicators: Carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) thousand metric tons of CO2 (collected by CDIAC) Human-produced direct emissions of carbon dioxide only. Excludes other greenhouse gases; land-use land-use-change and forestry (LULUCF); and natural background flows of CO2 (See also: Carbon cycle) 1dead link Nick Squires (2 October 2009). "Sicily mudslide leaves scores dead". London: The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/6255575/Sicily-mudslide-leaves-scores-dead.html#. Retrieved 2 October 2009.  Thomas A. Blair Climatology: General and Regional Prentice Hall pages 131132; Adriana Rigutti Meteorologia Giunti p 95 2009. Smyth Howard McGaw Italy: From Fascism to the Republic (19431946) The Western Political Quarterly vol. 1 no. 3 (pp. 205222) September 1948 Claudio Tucci (11 November 2008). "Confesercenti la crisi economica rende ancor pi pericolosa la mafia" (in Italian). Confesercenti. Ilsole24ore.com. http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/SoleOnLine4/Economia%20e%20Lavoro/2008/11/confesercenti-mafia-racket-pizzo.shtmluuid20ff3b9c-afe7-11dd-8057-9c09c8bfa449. Retrieved 21 April 2011.  Nick Squires (09 Jan 2010). "Italy claims finally defeating the mafia". Telegraph.co.uk. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/6957240/Italy-claims-finally-defeating-the-mafia.html. Retrieved 21 April 2011.  Kiefer Peter (October 22 2007). "Mafia crime is 7% of GDP in Italy group reports". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/world/europe/22iht-italy.4.8001812.htmlr1. Retrieved April 19 2011.  Maria Loi (October 1 2009). "Rapporto Censis: 13 milioni di italiani convivono con la mafia" (in Italian). Censis. Antimafia Duemila. http://www.antimafiaduemila.com/content/view/20052/78/. Retrieved April 21 2011.  Kington Tom (1 October 2009). "Mafia's influence hovers over 13m Italians says report". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/01/mafia-influence-hovers-over-italians. Retrieved 5 May 2010.  ANSA (March 14 2011). "Italy: Anti-mafia police arrest 35 suspects in northern Lombardy region". adnkronos.com. Mafia Today. http://mafiatoday.com/sicilian-mafia-ndrangheta/italy-anti-mafia-police-arrest-35-suspects-in-northern-lombardy-region/. Retrieved April 21 2011.  "Crime Statistics > Murders (per capita) (most recent) by country". NationMaster.com. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/crimurpercap-crime-murders-per-capita. Retrieved 4 April 2010.  "Italian soldiers leave for Lebanon Corriere della Sera 30 August 2006 "Law n6433 of September 3 1999". Difesa.it. http://www.difesa.it/Difesa-cittadino/Riforma+del+Servizio+Militare.htm. Retrieved 30 October 2010. dead link "The Military Balance 2010" pp. 141145. International Institute for Strategic Studies 3 February 2010. Italian Ministry of Defence. "Nota aggiuntiva allo stato di previsione per la Difesa per l'anno 2009" (in Italian). http://www.difesa.it/NR/rdonlyres/5EF11493-59DD-4FB7-8485-F4258D9F5891/0/NotaAggiuntiva2009.pdf. Retrieved 27 April 2009. dead link Hans M. Kristensen / Natural Resources Defense Council (2005). "NRDC: U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe part 1" (PDF). http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/euro/europt1.pdf. Retrieved 2011-05-30.  "Marina Militare (Italian military navy website)" (in Italian). Marina.difesa.it. http://www.marina.difesa.it/. Retrieved 2011-05-30.  "The Carabinieri Force is linked to the Ministry of Defence". Carabinieri. http://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Multilingua/EN/GoverningBodies/. Retrieved 14 May 2010.  "Hobsons Careers in Europe Country profiles". Careersineurope.hobsons.com. http://www.careersineurope.hobsons.com/countryitaly.aspx. Retrieved 2 August 2010.  "GDP per capita in PPS". Eurostat. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITYPUBLIC/2-25062009-BP/EN/2-25062009-BP-EN.PDF. Retrieved 25 June 2009.  2 Ocse tasso di disoccupazione stabile nell'eurozona "Please login to download > World Gold Council the information resource for gold investment jewellery science and technology historical and culture > Please login to download". Gold.org. http://www.gold.org/deliver.phpfile/value/stats/statistics/archive/pdf/WorldOfficialGoldHoldingsDec2009.pdf. Retrieved 27 January 2010.  a b c d "Italy Economics". Dev.prenhall.com. http://dev.prenhall.com/divisions/hss/worldreference/IT/economics.html. Retrieved 2 August 2010.  "UK tops world wine imports table". BBC. 14 January 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7827713.stm.  Nicholas Crafts Gianni Toniolo (1996). Economic growth in Europe since 1945. Cambridge University Press. p. 428. ISBN 0-521-49627-6.  Eurostat. "Real GDP growth rate Growth rate of GDP volume percentage change on previous year". http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.dotabtable&init1&plugin1&languageen&pcodetsieb020. Retrieved 10 May 2009.  "Europolitics". Europolitics.info. http://www.europolitics.info/economy-monetary-affairs/deficits-increase-in-eurozone-and-eu-artb287086-50.html. Retrieved 26 January 2011.  "Could Italy Be Better Off than its Peers". CNBC. 2010-05-18. http://www.cnbc.com/id/37207942/CouldItalyBeBetterOffthanitsPeers. Retrieved 2011-05-30.  "EUROPA Press Releases Regional GDP per inhabitant in the EU27 GDP per inhabitant in 2006 ranged from 25% of the EU27 average in Nord-Est in Romania to 336% in Inner London". Europa. 19 February 2009. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.doreferenceSTAT/09/23&formatHTML&aged0&languageEN&guiLanguageen. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "The real sick man of Europe". The Economist. 19 May 2005. http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfmstoryid3987219. Retrieved 10 May 2009.  "Italy: The sick man of Europe". London: The Daily Telegraph. 29 December 2008. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3557277/Italy-The-sick-man-of-Europe.html. Retrieved 10 May 2009.  Eurostat. "Energy transport and environment indicators". http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITYOFFPUB/KS-DK-08-001/EN/KS-DK-08-001-EN.PDF. Retrieved 10 May 2009.  Eurostat. "Panorama of energy". http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITYOFFPUB/KS-GH-09-001/EN/KS-GH-09-001-EN.PDF. Retrieved 10 May 2009.  "European Cohesion Policy in Italy" (PDF). http://ec.europa.eu/regionalpolicy/sources/docgener/informat/country2009/iten.pdf. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Index of Economic Freedom". The Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on 3 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080503060552/http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/country.cfmIDItaly. Retrieved 4 November 2008.  Eurostat. "R&D Expenditure and Personnel". http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITYOFFPUB/KS-SF-08-091/EN/KS-SF-08-091-EN.PDF. Retrieved 10 May 2009.  "Knowledge Economy Forum 2008: Innovative Small And Medium Enterprises Are Key To Europe & Central Asian Growth". The World Bank. 19 May 2005. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/0contentMDK:21808326menuPK:258604pagePK:2865106piPK:2865128theSitePK:25859900.html. Retrieved 17 June 2008.  "2010 Press Releases Trade to expand by 9.5% in 2010 after a dismal 2009 WTO reports Press/598". WTO. http://www.wto.org/english/newse/pres10e/pr598e.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-30.  "CIA The World Factbook". CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/it.html. Retrieved 26 January 2011.  World Tourism Organization. "Tourism Highlights 2008 Edition". http://unwto.org/facts/eng/pdf/highlights/UNWTOHighlights08enHR.pdf. Retrieved 10 May 2009.  "Nuovo record di velocit sulla linea AV Milano-Bologna" (in Italian). FSNews. 3 March 2008. Archived from the original on 22 August 2008. http://209.85.129.132/searchqcache:m5-u7afI-asJ:www.fsnews.it/fsnews/v/index.jsp%3Fvgnextoid%3D07a4a4b1fb478110VgnVCM1000001c42fe0aRCRD. Retrieved 31 December 2008.  "Record italiano di velocit" (in Italian). Tutto Treno. April 2008. http://www.duegieditrice.it/tuttotreno/default.aspnum218. Retrieved 2 January 2009. dead link "200 giorni al primo treno Alta Velocit sulla Milano-Bologna" (in Italian). FSNews. 28 May 2008. http://www.fsnews.it/cms/v/index.jspvgnextoidd203c7bd6d20b110VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD. Retrieved 31 December 2008.  a b European Commission. "Panorama of Transport" (PDF). http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITYOFFPUB/KS-DA-07-001/EN/KS-DA-07-001-EN.PDF. Retrieved 3 May 2009.  EUROSTAT. "Ageing characterises the demographic perspectives of the European societies Issue number 72/2008". http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITYOFFPUB/KS-SF-08-072/EN/KS-SF-08-072-EN.PDF. Retrieved 28 April 2009.  ISTAT. "Crude birth rates mortality rates and marriage rates 20052008" (in Italian). http://demo.istat.it/altridati/indicatori/2008/Tab1.pdf. Retrieved 10 May 2009.  ISTAT. "Average number of children born per woman 20052008" (in Italian). http://demo.istat.it/altridati/indicatori/2008/Tab4.pdf. Retrieved 3 May 2009.  CIA World Factbook 2010 OECD. "Competitive Cities in the Global Economy" (PDF). http://213.253.134.43/oecd/pdfs/browseit/0406041E.PDF. Retrieved 30 April 2009. dead link "Causes of the Italian mass emigration". ThinkQuest Library. 15 August 1999. http://library.thinkquest.org/26786/en/articles/view.php3arKey4&paKey7&loKey0&evKey&toKey&torKey&tolKey. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Essay on Italian emigration to Eritrea (in Italian)" (PDF). http://www.ilcornodafrica.it/rds-01emigrazione.pdf. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  Libya Italian colonization. Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Libya cuts ties to mark Italy era.. BBC News. 27 October 2005. Election Opens Old Wounds In Trieste. The New York Times. 6 June 1987. Consulta Nazionale Emigrazione. Progetto ITENETs Gli italiani in Brasile; pp. 11 19 . Retrieved 10 September 2008. (Spanish) Lee Adam (3 April 2006). "Unos 20 millones de personas que viven en la Argentina tienen algn grado de descendencia italiana" (in Spanish). http://www.asteriscos.tv/dossier-3.html. Retrieved 27 June 2008.  American FactFinder United States Census Bureau. "U.S Census Bureau Selected Population Profile in the United States". American FactFinder United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTablebmy&-regACS2006ESTG00S0201:543;ACS2006ESTG00S0201PR:543;ACS2006ESTG00S0201T:543;ACS2006ESTG00S0201TPR:543&-qrnameACS2006ESTG00S0201&-qrnameACS2006ESTG00S0201PR&-qrnameACS2006ESTG00S0201T&-qrnameACS2006ESTG00S0201TPR&-dsnameACS2006ESTG00&-TABLENAMEX&-citypeA&-redoLogtrue&-charIterations047&-geoid01000US&-geoidNBSP&-format&-langen. Retrieved 2011-05-30.  "The Cambridge survey of world migration". Robin Cohen (1995). Cambridge University Press. p. 143. ISBN 0-521-44405-5 "Ethnic origins 2006 counts for Uruguay provinces and territories 20% sample data". http://www.hotelsclick.com/hoteles/UY/Uruguay-DEMOGRAF%C3%ADA-5.html.  "Ethnic origins 2006 counts for Canada provinces and territories 20% sample data". http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/highlights/ethnic/pages/Page.cfmLangE&GeoPR&Code01&DataCount&Table2&StartRec1&Sort3&DisplayAll&CSDFilter5000.  Santander Laya-Garrido Alfonso. Los Italianos forjadores de la nacionalidad y del desarrollo economico en Venezuela. Editorial Vadell. Valencia 1978 "20680-Ancestry by Country of Birth of Parents Time Series Statistics (2001 2006 Census Years) Australia". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 27 June 2007. http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/ViewDataaction404&documentproductno0&documenttypeDetails&order1&tabnameDetails&areacode0&issue2006&producttypeCensus%20Tables&javascripttrue&textversionfalse&navmapdisplayedtrue&breadcrumbLPTD&&collectionCensus&period2006&productlabelAncestry%20by%20Country%20of%20Birth%20of%20Parents%20-%20Time%20Series%20Statistics%20(2001%202006%20Census%20Years)&producttypeCensus%20Tables&methodPlace%20of%20Usual%20Residence&topicAncestry&. Retrieved 30 December 2008.  http://www.istat.it/salastampa/comunicati/noncalendario/2010101200/testointegrale20101012.pdf "Italy wakes up to the realities of immigration". The Guardian. 21 February 2010. "La popolazione straniera residente in Italia al 1 gennaio 2009 The Foreign Population Resident in Italy on 1 January 2009" (in Italian) (PDF). Istat. 8 October 2009. pp. 13. http://www.istat.it/salastampa/comunicati/noncalendario/2009100800/testointegrale20091008.pdf. Retrieved 27 October 2009.  Elisabeth Rosenthal "Italy cracks down on illegal immigration". The Boston Globe. 16 May 2008. "Milan police in Chinatown clash". BBC News. 13 April 2007. "EUROPE: Home to Roma And No Place for Them". IPS ipsnews.net. "Balkan Investigative Reporting Network". Birn.eu.com. 08 11 2007. http://www.birn.eu.com/en/111/15/5745/. Retrieved 4 November 2008.  Mitrica Mihai Un milion de romani s-au mutat in Italia ("One million Romanians have moved to Italy"). Evenimentul Zilei 31 October 2005. Visited 11 April 2006. Ethnologue report for language code:ita (Italy) Gordon Raymond G. Jr. (ed.) 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World Fifteenth edition. Dallas Tex.: SIL International. Online version Italian Language: Geographic Distribution Discovery Media'.' Retrieved 16 May 2010. "Italian language Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. 3 November 2008. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/297241/Italian-language. Retrieved 19 November 2009.  L.cost. 26 febbraio 1948 n. 4 Statuto speciale per la Valle d'Aosta; L.cost. 26 febbraio 1948 n. 5 Statuto speciale per il Trentino-Alto Adige; L.cost. 31 gennaio 1963 n. 1 Statuto speciale della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia Religious Populations Office for National Statistics "Italy: 88% of Italians declare themselves Catholic" (in Italian). Corriere della Sera. 18 January 2006. http://www.corriere.it/PrimoPiano/Cronache/2006/01Gennaio/17/cattolici.shtml. Retrieved 10 May 2009.  "ReportDGResearchSocialValuesEN2.PDF" (PDF). http://ec.europa.eu/publicopinion/archives/ebs/ebs225reporten.pdf. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Country profile: Vatican". BBC News. 26 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/countryprofiles/1066140.stm. Retrieved 5 May 2010.  "The Duomo of Florence Tripleman". www.tripleman.com. http://www.tripleman.com/index.phpshowimage737. Retrieved 25 March 2010.  "Brunelleschi's Dome". Brunelleschi's Dome.com. http://www.brunelleschisdome.com/. Retrieved 25 March 2010.  "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church Living cardinals arranged by country". Fiu.edu. 15 October 2010. http://www.fiu.edu/mirandas/countrynow.htm#Top. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Italy Italian Language Culture Customs and Business Etiquette". Kwintessential. http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/italy-country-profile.html. Retrieved 2 August 2010.  "The Holy Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Malta". Ortodossia Arcidiocesi Ortodossa d'Italia e Malta. http://www.ortodossia.it/The%20Holy%20Orthodox%20Archdiocese%20of%20Italy%20ed%20Malta.htm. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Le religioni in Italia: I Testimoni di Geova (Religions in Italy: The Jehovah's Witnesses)" (in Italian). Center for Studies on New Religions. http://www.cesnur.org/religioniitalia/t/testimonigeova02.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-30.  "Chiesa Evangelica Valdese Unione delle chiese Metodiste e Valdesi (Waldensian Evangelical Church Union of Waldensian and Methodist churches)" (in Italian). Chiesa Evangelica Valdese Unione delle chiese Metodiste e Valdesi (Waldensian Evangelical Church Union of Waldensian and Methodist churches. http://www.chiesavaldese.org/pages/storia/doveviviamo.php. Retrieved 2011-05-30.  "World Council of Churches Evangelical Methodist Church in Italy". World Council of Churches. http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/europe/italy/evangelical-methodist-church-in-italy.html. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Italy: Country's muslims raise funds to help quake victims Adnkronos Religion". Adnkronos. 7 April 2003. http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/id3.0.3202304679. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Muslims in Europe: Country guide". BBC News. 23 December 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4385768.stm. Retrieved 5 May 2010.  Rosenthal Elisabeth (25 July 2005). "Pressure is growingon Muslims in Italy". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/world/europe/24iht-rome.htmlr1. Retrieved 31 March 2010.  "NRI Sikhs in Italy". Nriinternet.com. 15 November 2004. http://www.nriinternet.com/EUROPE/ITALY/2004/111604Gurdwara.htm. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Unione Buddhista Italiana UBI: L'Ente". Buddhismo.it. 18 August 2009. http://www.buddhismo.it/ente.htm. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Most Baha'i Nations (2005)". QuickLists > Compare Nations > Religions >. The Association of Religion Data Archives. 2005. http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList40c.asp. Retrieved 30 January 2010.  "Il Tempo il pi grande ateneo d'Europa". Iltempo.ilsole24ore.com. http://iltempo.ilsole24ore.com/2008/09/20/929140-grandeateneoeuropa.shtml. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Si abbassa l'obbligo scolastico a 15 anni. L'apprendistato diventa scuola". Flcgil.it. http://www.flcgil.it/notizie/news/2010/marzo/siabbassalobbligoscolasticoa15annilapprendistatodiventascuola. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  Nancy Imelda Schafer ISI. "SCI-BYTES: Science in Italy 19982002". In-cites.com. http://in-cites.com/research/2003/june92003-1.html. Retrieved 27 January 2010.  "Conferenze ospiti news ed eventi legati agli MBA della SDA Bocconi MBA SDA Bocconi". SDA Bocconi. http://mba.sdabocconi.it/home/main.phpid12001&ym2007-09. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Gatech :: OIE :: GT Study Abroad Programs". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 8 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080508020611/http://www.oie.gatech.edu/sa/programs/show.htmlidbocc. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Sda Bocconi supera London Business School ViviMilano". Corriere della Serra. 12 November 2008. http://www.corriere.it/vivimilano/cronache/articoli/2008/05Maggio/12/sdabocconi.shtml. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  "Politecnico di milano". Top Universities. http://www.topuniversities.com/university/408/politecnico-di-milano. Retrieved 27 October 2009.  "Vision Forum Web Site". Vision. http://www.visionwebsite.eu/vision/progetti2.phpprogetto28. Retrieved 27 October 2009.  "Top 100 European Universities". Arwu.org. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080430202044/http://www.arwu.org/rank/2005/ARWU2005TopEuro.htm. Retrieved 27 October 2009.  "ARWU2008". Arwu.org. Archived from the original on 22 August 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080822033350/http://www.arwu.org/rank2008/ARWU2008TopEuro(EN).htm. Retrieved 27 October 2009.  "Universit di Bologna (oldest university in the world)". Virtual Globetrotting. 21 October 2006. http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/universit-di-bologna-oldest-university-in-the-world/. Retrieved 27 October 2009.  a b "Italy Health". Dev.prenhall.com. http://dev.prenhall.com/divisions/hss/worldreference/IT/health.html. Retrieved 2 August 2010.  "OECD Health Data 2008 How Does Italy Compare". OECD. 2008. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/45/52/38979929.pdf. dead link "The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems". (Photius Coutsoukis). http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html. Retrieved 27 October 2009.  "Health system attainment and performance in all Member States". (Photius Coutsoukis). http://www.photius.com/rankings/worldhealthperformanceranks.html. Retrieved 27 October 2009.  United Nations World Population Prospects: 2006 revision Table A.17 for 20052010 "Global Prevalence of Adult Obesity" (PDF). International Obesity Taskforce. Archived from the original on 2009-12-11. http://www.webcitation.org/5lwMsu50m. Retrieved 29 January 2008.  World Health Organization (2008) (PDF). WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008: the MPOWER package. World Health Organization. pp. 267288. ISBN 978-92-4-159628-2. http://www.who.int/entity/tobacco/mpower/mpowerreportfull2008.pdf. Retrieved 1 January 2008.  "Smoking Ban Begins in Italy". Deutsche Welle. 10 January 2005. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0145359000.html. Retrieved August 2010.  a b Eyewitness Travel (2005) pg. 19 Architecture in Italy ItalyTravel.com Vitruvian Man is referred to as "iconic" at the following websites and many others:Vitruvian Man Fine Art Classics Key Images in the History of Science; Curiosity and difference; The Guardian: The Real da Vinci Code "All Nobel Prizes in Literature". Nobelprize.org. http://nobelprize.org/nobelprizes/literature/laureates/. Retrieved 2011-05-30.  "Quick Opera Facts 2007". OPERA America. 2007. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061001054025/http://www.operaamerica.org/pressroom/quickfacts2006.html. Retrieved 23 April 2007.  Alain P. Dornic (1995). "An Operatic Survey". Opera Glass. http://opera.stanford.edu/misc/Dornicsurvey.html. Retrieved 23 April 2007.  a b Kimbell David R. B (29 April 1994). Italian Opera Google Books. Books.google.co.uk. ISBN 9780521466431. http://books.google.com/idC37Gq2GagZIC&dqItalian+opera&printsecfrontcover&q. Retrieved 20 December 2009.  Burke and Waller 12 "The Cinema Under Mussolini". Ccat.sas.upenn.edu. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/italians/resources/Amiciprize/1996/mussolini.html. Retrieved 30 October 2010.  a b Weidhorn Manfred (2005). The Person of the Millennium: The Unique Impact of Galileo on World History. iUniverse. p. 155. ISBN 0-595-36877-8.  Finocchiaro (2007) "Galileo and the Birth of Modern Science by Stephen Hawking American Heritage's Invention & Technology Spring 2009 Vol. 24 No. 1 p. 36 "Previous FIFA World Cups". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/index.html. Retrieved 8 January 2011.  "The Global Language Monitor " Fashion". Languagemonitor.com. 20 July 2009. http://www.languagemonitor.com/popular-culture/fashion. Retrieved 27 October 2009.  http://books.google.com/booksidpkeaOOxbisC&pgPA16&sigJJmC6YC-Hmmm6Z5P2CfbvzjrSA#vonepage&q&ffalse Miller (2005) p. 486 a b c Insight Guides (2004) p.220 "Design City Milan". Wiley. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470026839.html. Retrieved 3 January 2010.  "Frieze Magazine Archive Milan and Turin". Frieze. http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/milanturin. Retrieved 3 January 2010.  Del Conte 1121. Bibliography Italy. DK. 2005. ISBN 1405307811.  Miller Judith (2005). Furniture: world styles from classical to contemporary. DK Publishing. ISBN 075661340X.  Northern Italy. APA Publications. 2004. ISBN 9812349030.  Hacken Richard. "History of Italy: Primary Documents". EuroDocs: Harold B. Lee Library: Brigham Young University. http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/HistoryofItaly:PrimaryDocuments. Retrieved 6 March 2010.  "FastiOnline: A database of archaeological excavations since the year 2000". International Association of Classical Archaeology (AIAC). 2004-2007. http://www.fastionline.org/. Retrieved 6 March 2010.  "Italy History Italian History Index" (in Italian English). European University Institute The World Wide Web Virtual Library. 1995-2010. http://vlib.iue.it/hist-italy/Index.html. Retrieved 6 March 2010.  External links Find more about Italy on Wikipedia's sister projects: Definitions from Wiktionary Images and media from Commons Learning resources from Wikiversity News stories from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Source texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Country profiles by the BBC News by the Economist by the U.S. Department of State General Italy entry at The World Factbook Italia Tourism official website Italy at UCB Libraries GovPubs Italy at the Open Directory Project Wikimedia Atlas of Italy Italy travel guide from Wikitravel Government President of the Republic of Italy Parliament (Italian) Chamber of Deputies Senate (Italian) Main institutional portal (Italian) Council of Ministries (Italian) Constitutional Court (Italian) Supreme Court (Italian) Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Interior (Italian) Ministry of Education (Italian) Ministry of Education: international exchanges Ministry of Health (Italian) Ministry of Defense (Italian) Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare Ministry of Agriculture (Italian) Ministry of Justice Chief of State and Cabinet Members Public institutions ENIT North America Italian railways Italian national and regional parks Italian language in: :  Croatia   Slovenia   Switzerland   United States   Venezuela  Articles related to Italy v d e Italy topics History Prehistory  Etruscan Civilization  Magna Graecia  Ancient Rome (Kingdom  Republic  Empire)  Regnum Italicum  Middle Ages  Years of the 12th 14th century  Renaissance  Italian Wars  Foreign domination  Unification  Monarchy and the World Wars  Republic  Historical states  Fashion history  Wine history  Language history  Railway history  Postal history  History of the Jews  Citizenship history  Musical history Geography Areas Alps  Apennines  Northern / Central / Southern / Insular Italy Topics Major cities  Cities by population  Metropolitan areas  Regions by area  Islands  National parks  Plants  Regions  Regional rankings  Volcanism  Volcanoes  Provinces  Municipalities Governance Judiciary and legal system  Constitution  Law enforcement  President  Parliament  Senate  Prime Minister  Chamber of Deputies Politics Elections  Political parties  Political scandals Military Military history  Army  Navy  Air force  Carabinieri Economy Economic history under Fascism  Post-war economic miracle  Currency history  Bank of Italy  Companies  Stock exchange  Nuclear energy  Renewable energy  Taxation  Transportation  Automotive industry  Communications  Tourism  Banking  Euro coins  Regions by GDP (PPP)  Regions per capita (nominal)  Economic growth and statistics Demographics Regions by population  Immigration  Education  Healthcare  International rankings Society Crime  Social class  Customs and etiquette  Women  Media  Telecommunications  Public Holidays  Health and nutrition  LGBT rights Culture Cultural history (14th century)  Cultural history (15th century)  Cultural history (16th century)  Cultural history (17th century)  Cultural history (18th century)  Architecture  Art  Sculpture  Cinema  Cuisine  Folklore  Folk dance  Languages and dialects  Design  Literature  Theatre  Philosophy  Science and technology  Music  Opera  Sport  Fashion  Wines  Alcoholic beverages and beer  Olympics  World Heritage Sites Religion Freedom of religion  Christianity (Roman Catholicism  Old Catholicism  Eastern Orthodoxy  Protestantism  Baptism)  Judaism  Islam  Buddhism  Hinduism  Sikhism  Bah'  Neopaganism  Witchcraft  Cathedrals  Basilicas People Ancient people  List of people (Actors  Actresses  Architects  Billionaires  Chefs and cooks  Comedians  Composers  Designers  Explorers  Filmmakers  Painters  Poets  Politicians  Writers) Symbols Coat of arms  National flag  Regional flags Category  Portal  WikiProject   Geographic locale Lat. and Long. 4154N 1229E / 41.9N 12.483E / 41.9; 12.483 (Rome) v d eSovereign states and dependent territories of Europe Sovereign states Albania  Andorra  Armenia  Austria  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Belgium  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bulgaria  Croatia  Cyprus  Czech Republic  Denmark  Estonia  Finland  France  Georgia  Germany  Greece   Hungary  Iceland  Ireland  Italy  Kazakhstan  Latvia  Liechtenstein  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Macedonia  Malta  Moldova  Monaco  Montenegro  Netherlands  Norway  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Russia  San Marino  Serbia  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  Turkey  Ukraine  United Kingdom  Vatican City States with limited recognition Abkhazia  Kosovo  Nagorno-Karabakh  Northern Cyprus  South Ossetia  Transnistria Dependencies and other territories Denmark Faroe Islands Finland land Islands Norway Svalbard United Kingdom Akrotiri and Dhekelia  Gibraltar  Guernsey  Isle of Man  Jersey v d eCountries and territories of the Mediterranean Sea  Albania   Algeria   Bosnia-Herzegovina   Croatia   Cyprus   Egypt   France   Gibraltar   Greece   Israel   Italy   Lebanon   Libya   Malta   Monaco   Montenegro   Morocco   Palestinian Authority   Slovenia   Spain   Syria   Tunisia   Turkey   Akrotiri / Dhekelia  International membership v d eMember states of the European Union Austria  Belgium  Bulgaria  Cyprus  Czech Republic  Denmark  Estonia  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Hungary  Ireland  Italy  Latvia  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Malta  Netherlands  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain  Sweden  United Kingdom Member states by: political system  GDP v d eCouncil of Europe Institutions Secretary General  Committee of Ministers  Parliamentary Assembly  Congress  Court of Human Rights  Commissioner for Human Rights  Commission for the Efficiency of Justice  Commission against Racism and Intolerance Members Full Albania  Andorra  Armenia  Austria  Azerbaijan  Belgium  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bulgaria  Croatia  Cyprus  Czech Republic  Denmark  Estonia  Finland  France  Georgia  Germany  Greece  Hungary  Iceland  Ireland  Italy  Latvia  Liechtenstein  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Macedonia1  Malta  Moldova  Monaco  Montenegro  Netherlands  Norway  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Russia  San Marino  Serbia  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  Turkey  Ukraine  United Kingdom Observer Canada  Israel  Japan  Mexico  United States  Vatican City Former Czechoslovakia (19911992)  Saar (assoc. 19501956) 1 Provisionally referred to by the Council of Europe as "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"; see Macedonia naming dispute. v d eNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) History North Atlantic Treaty  Summit  Operations  Enlargement Structure North Atlantic Council (Secretary General)  Chairman of the NATO Military Committee  Allied Command Operations (Supreme Allied Commander)  Allied Command Transformation Members Albania  Belgium  Bulgaria  Canada  Croatia  Czech Republic  Denmark  Estonia  France  Germany  Greece  Hungary  Iceland  Italy  Latvia  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Netherlands  Norway  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain  Turkey  United Kingdom  United States v d eOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) History Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development  OECD Anti-Bribery Convention Guidelines Multinational Enterprises  Testing of Chemicals Members Australia  Austria  Belgium  Canada  Chile  Czech Republic  Denmark  Estonia  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Hungary  Iceland  Ireland  Italy  Israel  Japan  Luxembourg  Mexico  Netherlands  New Zealand  Norway  Poland  Portugal  Slovakia  Slovenia  South Korea  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  Turkey  United Kingdom  United States v d eGroup of Eight (G8) Members Canada  France  Germany  Italy  Japan  Russia  United Kingdom  United States Representative European Union v d eGroup of Twenty (G-20) Argentina Australia Brazil Canada China European Union France Germany India Indonesia Italy Japan Mexico Russia Saudi Arabia South Africa South Korea Turkey United Kingdom United States v d eStates belonging to the Community of Democracies at the United Nations Members  Cape Verde   Chile   Czech Republic   El Salvador   India   Italy   South Korea   Lithuania   Mali   Mexico   Mongolia   Morocco   Philippines   Poland   Portugal   South Africa   United States v d eOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Members Albania  Andorra  Armenia  Austria  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Belgium  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bulgaria  Canada  Croatia  Cyprus  Czech Republic  Denmark  Estonia  Finland  France  Georgia  Germany  Greece  Holy See  Hungary  Iceland  Ireland  Italy  Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Latvia  Liechtenstein  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Macedonia  Malta  Moldova  Monaco  Montenegro  Netherlands  Norway  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Russia  San Marino  Serbia  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  Tajikistan  Turkey  Turkmenistan  Ukraine  United Kingdom  United States  Uzbekistan Partners for Cooperation Afghanistan  Algeria  Egypt  Israel  Japan  Jordan  Mongolia  Morocco  South Korea  Thailand Bodies and posts Parliamentary Assembly  ODIHR  Commissioner on National Minorities  Representative on Freedom of the Media v d eUnion for the Mediterranean Member states Albania  Algeria3  Austria1  Belgium1  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bulgaria1  Croatia2  Cyprus1  Czech Republic1  Denmark1  Egypt3  Estonia1  Finland1  France1  Germany1  Greece1  Hungary1  Ireland1  Israel  Italy1  Jordan3  Latvia1  Lebanon3  Libya34  Lithuania1  Luxembourg1  Malta1  Mauritania3  Monaco  Montenegro  Morocco3  Netherlands1  Palestinian Authority3  Poland1  Portugal1  Romania1  Slovakia1  Slovenia1  Spain1  Sweden1  Syria3  Tunisia3  Turkey2  United Kingdom1   Bold: countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea   Italic: countries with overseas territory bordering the sea 1 EU member   2 EU candidate   3 Arab League member   4 Observer member See also Euromediterranean Partnership  Euromed FTA v d eLatin Union Member nations Andorra  Angola  Bolivia  Brazil  Cape Verde  Chile  Colombia  Costa Rica  Cte d'Ivoire  Cuba  Dominican Republic  East Timor  Ecuador  El Salvador  France  Guatemala  Guinea-Bissau  Haiti  Honduras  Italy  Mexico  Moldova  Monaco  Mozambique  Nicaragua  Panama  Paraguay  Peru  Philippines  Portugal  Romania  San Marino  So Tom and Prncipe  Senegal  Spain  Uruguay  Venezuela Permanent observers Argentina  Holy See  Sovereign Military Order of Malta Official languages Catalan  French  Italian  Portuguese  Romanian  Spanish v d eNational personifications Argentina: Effigies of Argentina  Armenia: Mother Armenia  Brazil: Efgie da Repblica  Cambodia: Preah Thaong and Neang Neak  Canada: Johnny Canuck  Finland: Finnish Maiden (Suomi-neito)  France: Marianne  Germany: Deutscher Michel Germania  Greece: Athena "Greece" of Delacroix  Iceland: Lady of the Mountain  India: Bharat Mata  Indonesia: Ibu Pertiwi  Ireland: riu Hibernia Kathleen Ni Houlihan  Israel: Srulik  Italy: Italia Turrita  Japan: Amaterasu  Indonesia: Ibu Pertiwi (East Malaysia)  Netherlands: Netherlands Maiden  New Zealand: Zealandia  Norway: Ola Nordmann  Pakistan: Pak Watan  Philippines: Juan dela Cruz Maria Clara  Poland: Polonia  Portugal: Efgie da Repblica Z Povinho  Russia: Mother Russia  Spain: Hispania  Sweden: Mother Svea  Switzerland: Helvetia  Ukraine: Cossack Mamay  United Kingdom: Britannia John Bull (England) Dame Wales (Wales)  United States: Brother Jonathan Columbia Uncle Sam Billy Yank (northern states) / Johnny Reb (southern states)