Italy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the republic. For other uses, see Italy (disambiguation). "Italia" and "Italian Republic" redirect here. For other uses, see Italia (disambiguation). For the short-lived 19th century state, see Italian Republic (Napoleonic). Italian Republic Repubblica italiana Flag Emblem Anthem: Il Canto degli Italiani (Italian) The Song of the Italians Menu 0:00 Location of Italy (dark green) – in Europe (green & dark grey ) – in the European Union (green) — [Legend] Capital Rome and largest city 41°54′N 12°29′E Official languages Italiana[1] Demonym Italian Unitary parliamentary Government constitutional republic - President Giorgio Napolitano - Prime Minister Mario Monti President of - Renato Schifani the Senate President of the - Chamber of Gianfranco Fini Deputies Legislature Parliament - Upper house Senate of the Republic - Lower house Chamber of Deputies Formation - Unification 17 March 1861 - Republic 2 June 1946 Area 2 - Total 301,338 km (71st) 116,346 sq mi - Water (%) 2.4 Population - 2011 estimate 60,813,326[2] (23rd) - 2011b census 59,570,581[3] 2 - Density 201.8/km (61st) 522.7/sq mi GDP (PPP) 2012 estimate - Total $1.834 trillion[4] (10th) - Per capita $30,116[4] (29th) GDP (nominal) 2012 estimate - Total $1.980 trillion[4] (8th) - Per capita $32,522[4] (24th) [5] Gini (2006) 32 medium [6] HDI (2013) 0.881 very high · 25th c Currency Euro (€) (EUR) Time zone CET (UTC+1) - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2) Drives on the right Calling code 39d ISO 3166 code IT Internet TLD .ite French is co-of f icial in the Aosta Valley ; Slov ene is co-of f icial in a. the prov ince of Trieste and the prov ince of Gorizia; German and Ladin are co-of f icial in the prov ince of South Ty rol. b. Preliminary results. Bef ore 2002, the Italian Lira. The euro is accepted in Campione c. d'Italia, but the of f icial currency there is the Swiss Franc.[7] To call Campione d'Italia, it is necessary to use the Swiss code d. +41. The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European e. Union member states. Italy i/ˈɪtÉ™li/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaËlja]), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiana[note 1]), is a unitary parliamentary republic in Southern 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, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.8 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world. Rome, the capital of Italy, has for centuries been a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, 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 Maritime republics and the Renaissance. Through much of its post-Roman history, Italy was fragmented into numerous city and regional states (such as the Republic of Venice and the Church State), but was unified in 1861.[8] In the late 19th century, through World War I, and to World War II, Italy possessed a colonial empire.[9] Modern Italy is a democratic republic. It has been ranked as the world's 25th most-developed country[6] and it Quality-of-life Index was ranked in the world's top ten in 2005.[10] Italy enjoys a very high standard of living partially due to a high GDP per capita[11][12] and has a high public education level. Italy is also one of the worlds most globalised nations.[13] 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 third-largest gold reserves, eighth-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 and the United Nations. Italy maintains the world's eleventh-largest defence budget and is a participant in NATO's nuclear sharing policy. Thanks to the country's political, military, social and economic influence in Europe it is sometimes considered to be a regional power.[16][17] Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Prehistory and antiquity 2.2 Middle Ages 2.3 Early Modern 2.4 Italian unification and Liberal Italy 2.5 Fascist regime 2.6 Italian Republic 3 Geography 3.1 Environment 3.2 Climate 4 Politics 4.1 Government 4.2 Law and criminal justice 4.3 Foreign relations 4.4 Military 4.5 Administrative divisions 5 Economy 5.1 Infrastructure 6 Demographics 6.1 Ethnic groups 6.2 Languages 6.3 Religion 6.4 Education 6.5 Healthcare 7 Culture 7.1 Architecture 7.2 Visual art 7.3 Literature and theatre 7.4 Music 7.5 Cinema 7.6 Science 7.7 Sport 7.8 Fashion and design 7.9 Cuisine 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External links 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.[18] According to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin: Italia,[19] was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning "land of young cattle" (cf. Lat vitulus "calf", Umb vitlo "calf").[20] 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 Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus,[21] mentioned also by Aristotle[22] and Thucydides.[23] The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, the southern portion of the Bruttium peninsula (modern Calabria: province of Reggio, and part of the provinces of Catanzaro and Vibo Valentia). 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 during the reign of Emperor Augustus (end of the first century BC) that the term was expanded to cover the entire peninsula until the Alps.[24] History Main article: History of Italy Prehistory and antiquity Main articles: Prehistoric Italy, Magna Graecia, Etruscan Civilization, Ancient Rome, Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire The Colosseum in Rome, built ca. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering. Excavations throughout Italy reveal a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Paleolithic period, some 200,000 years ago,[25] modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. The Ancient peoples 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 – were Indo-European peoples; the main historic peoples of non-Indo-European heritage include the Etruscans, the Elymians and Sicani in Sicily and the prehistoric Sardinians. Between the 17th and the 11th century BC Mycenaean Greeks established contacts with Italy[26][27][28][29][30][31][32] 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 around 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 its legacy is profound in the world. Ancient Rome heavily influenced and left its mark in modern government, law, politics, administration, urban planning, engineering, philosophy, architecture, arts and many more aspects in the western world, forming the ground that Western civilization is based upon. In a slow decline since the late 2nd 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 in 476 AD, when the last western Emperor was deposed by the Barbarian chief Odoacer. Middle Ages This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2013) Main article: Italy in the Middle Ages Italy's Naval Jack, featuring the coats of arms of the four major Maritime Republics. Clockwise from upper left: Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Amalfi. After the fall of Rome, Italy was conquered by the Germanic Tribe of the Ostrogoths, but in the 6th century the East Roman Emperor Justinian reconquered it.