I HISTORY OF ITALY
History
The migrations of Indo-European peoples into Italy probably began about 2000 B.C. and continued until 1000 B.C. From about the 9th century B.C. until it was overthrown by the Romans in the 3rd century B.C. , the Etruscan civilization was dominant. By 264 B.C. , all Italy south of Cisalpine Gaul was under the leadership of Rome. For the next seven centuries, until the barbarian invasions destroyed the western Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. , the history of Italy is largely the history of Rome. From 800 on, the Holy Roman Emperors, Roman Catholic popes, Normans, and Saracens all vied for control over various segments of the Italian peninsula. Numerous city-states, such as Venice and Genoa, whose political and commercial rivalries were intense, and many small principalities flourished in the late Middle Ages. Although Italy remained politically fragmented for centuries, it became the cultural center of the Western world from the 13th to the 16th century.
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. According to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin: Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning "land of young cattle" (cf. Lat vitulus "calf", Umbvitlo "calf").The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic 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, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides.
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 (modernCalabria: 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 1st century BC) that the term was expanded to cover the entire peninsula until the Alps.

Geography
Italy, slightly larger than Arizona, is a long peninsula shaped like a boot, surrounded on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the east by the Adriatic. It is bounded by France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia to the north. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone; the Alps form its northern boundary. The largest of its many northern lakes is Garda (143 sq mi; 370 sq km); the Po, its principal river, flows from the Alps on Italy's western border and crosses the Lombard plain to the Adriatic Sea. Several islands form part of Italy; the largest are Sicily (9,926 sq mi; 25,708 sq km) and Sardinia (9,301 sq mi; 24,090 sq km)

II PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
Italy is such a diverse country that it attracts people from all walks of life with all kinds of interests, and because of this it’s easy to list all the reasons why you should make it your next holiday destination. But, rather than state the obvious, like its magnificent art collections and the excellent cuisine, here are five different reasons to visit.
1. Local Markets: The Italian people love markets. They’re fascinating places to stand back and watch as people go about their daily routines. Fruit and vegetables are stacked high in a multitude of shapes and colours by local producers whose harvests are dictated by the season. In summer, fat red peppers shine in the sunshine, the scent of tomato wafts on the gentle breeze and chillies as hot as Etna’s lava tempt the shoppers. People come to the local markets to socialise, ladies stop to browse the stalls, turning items over in their hands as they continue their conversations. Men gather in corners discussing sport, as their wives, eager for a bargain, rummage through the tangle of clothing piled high upon second-hand stalls. Set against a backdrop of ancient buildings, the local market is an essential part of Italian life and, thankfully, a tradition that has no indication of disappearing soon.
2. The Passeggiata: Indulge in this most civilised of Italian practices! La passeggiata marks the end of the working day and takes place mostly during the week-end. In most towns, Italians take to the streets and savour this opportunity to walk through the city centre seeing and being seen. Take up a prime position in a local bar and sip your aperitivo as you watch the townsfolk stroll along the corso, occasionally pausing to swap gossip and shake hands with their neighbours. 3. The Backstreets: Saunter off the tourist track and head into the heart of the towns and villages. The cooler, narrow side streets will give you a better insight into life in Italy. No organised trip can equal the enjoyment gained by just strolling around a corner to find three chairs sat against a wall where friends meet each morning to chat, or hearing the swish of a fly screen as someone exits the fishmonger’s shop to be followed down the street by a couple of cats. Just strolling along as you take in the juxtaposition of modern shop signs on ancient buildings, while immersing yourself in the sights and sounds of daily Italian life, will create unique memories that will stay with you long after you’ve returned home. 4. The National Parks: Italy has 24 national parks, ranging from alpine wildernesses to marine archipelagos. The parks are made up of protected areas of scientific interest and nature reserves where indigenous species are protected and in many cases have been reintroduced. Everyone is welcomed to the parks on the understanding that they follow the rules; littering is not tolerated and the practice of lighting barbecues is strictly forbidden. The parks that are a haven for nature and photography enthusiasts include: Parco Nazionale Arcipelago Toscano. It is Europe’s largest marine park, made up of 17,887 hectares of land and 56,766 of sea. The park comprises also the seven islands of Giglio, Montecristo, Pianosa, Capraia, Giannutri, Gorgona, and Elba. The park is devoted to the study and protection of both marine life and rare flora. Parco Nazionale dell'Asinara. It is Sardinia’s third largest island with an unusual history. Human habitation dates back to the Neolithic period and part of its chequered history has led to it been referred to as Isola del Diavolo (Devil’s Island). It was used in World War I as a concentration camp, and later as a health centre for the quarantine of serious illness. In the 1970s, a high security prison was built for convicted terrorists, which closed when the park was established in 1997. Parco Nazionale del Pollino contains the southern Apennine mountain chain and the Pollino and Orsomarso massif and spreads through both Basilicata and Calabria, stretching out from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Ionian Sea. It is a large territory of unpolluted nature reserves that house many rare species like the Golden Eagle and the Bosnian Pine. The landscape is pitted with gorges and caves like Grotta del Romito and also clothed in wooded areas of scientific importance, while also having archaeological sites dating back to the Greek occupation. Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio houses one of the most famous active volcanoes in the world and is therefore an important area for scientific study. The park is a reserve filled with biodiversity with rare flora and fauna such as the Beech Marten and the endangered Oaken Mouse that is no longer found anywhere else in the country. A day spent exploring one of Italy’s national parks is an ideal way to enhance your holiday experience.
5. The Festivals: Italians love festivals, and one of the benefits is that anyone and everyone is invited to the party. There are many annual festivities that you can research in advance but the best time can be had by keeping an eye out for posters that promote either Festa di… (festival of…) or Sagra, food-related festivities. Many local festivals are not advertised too far in advance, meaning that it pays to be vigilant. Part of the enjoyment is discovering a festa and changing your plans to accommodate it. Festivals are usually opened by canon-fire or fireworks and the day-long activities will continue on into the early hours usually culminating in a spectacular firework display. Just taking part in a local festival will give you an insight into why the concept of community is so important to the Italian people, and it’s most certainly a good and different reason to visit Europe’s boot-shaped country. - See more at: http://www.italymagazine.com/news/five-different-reasons-visit-italy#sthash.ySUMXsvl.dpuf

Climate
Southern Italy has a Mediterranean climate.
Thanks to the great longitudinal extension of the peninsula and the mostly mountainous internal conformation, the climate of Italy is highly diverse. In most of the inland northern and central regions, the climate ranges from humid subtropical to humid continental and oceanic. In particular, the climate of the Po valley geographical region is mostly continental, with harsh winters and hot summers.
The coastal areas of Liguria, Tuscany and most of the South generally fit the Mediterranean climate stereotype (Köppen 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. Average winter temperatures vary from 0 °C (32 °F) on the Alps to 12 °C (54 °F) in Sicily, like so the average summer temperatures range from 20 °C (68 °F) to over 30 °C (86 °F).

Economy

The Ferrari F12berlinetta. Italy is the world's 7th largest exporter of goods.

Vineyards in the Chianti region. Italy is the world's largest wine producer.

Italy is part of a monetary union, theEurozone (dark blue), and of the EU single market.
Italy has a market economy characterised by high per capita GDP and low unemployment rates. In 2012, it was the ninth-largest economy in the world and the fifth-largest in Europe in terms of nominal GDP, and the tenth-largest economy in the world and fourth-largest in Europe in terms of PPP. It is a founding member of the G7, G8, the Eurozone and the OECD.
After World War II, Italy was rapidly transformed from an agriculture based economy into one of the world's most industrialised nationsand a leading country in world trade and exports. It is a developed country, with the world's 8th highest quality of life in 2005 and the 25th Human Development Index. In spite of the recent global economic crisis, Italian per capita GDP at purchasing power parity remains approximately above to the EU average, while the unemployment rate (8.5%) stands as one of the EU's lowest. The country is well known for its influential and innovative business economic sector, an industrious and competitive agricultural sector (Italy is the world's largest wine producer), and for its creative and high-quality automobile, industrial, appliance and fashion design.
Italy has a smaller number of global multinational corporations than other economies of comparable size, but there is a large number ofsmall and medium-sized enterprises, notoriously clustered in 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.
The country was the world's 7th largest exporter in 2009. 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%).Finally, tourism is one of the fastest growing and profitable sectors of the national economy: with 43.6 million international tourist arrivals and total receipts estimated at $38.8 billion in 2010, Italy is both the fifth most visited country and highest tourism earner in the world.

Infrastructure

Italo high speed trains by NTV, with 360 km/h (224 mph), are the fastest trains in Italy and Europe
In 2004 the transport sector in Italy generated a turnover of about 119.4 billion euros, employing 935,700 persons in 153,700 enterprises. Regarding the national road network, in 2002 there were 668,721 km (415,524 mi) of serviceable roads in Italy, including 6,487 km (4,031 mi) of motorways, state-owned but privately operated by Atlantia. In 2005, about 34,667,000 passenger cars (590 cars per 1,000 people) and 4,015,000 goods vehicles circulated on the national road network.
The national railway network, state-owned and operated by Ferrovie dello Stato, in 2003 totalled 16,287 km (10,120 mi) of which 69% is electrified, and on which 4,937 locomotives and railcars circulated. The national inland waterways network comprised 1,477 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 389,000 units and a merchant fleet of 581 ships.

Languages

Main regional languages and dialects spoken in Italy
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. However, between 120 and 150 million people use Italian as a second or cultural language, worldwide.

Religion in Italy, 2001ReligionPercent
Christianity92%, None 6%, Islam 2%, Buddhism 0.3%, Hinduism 0.2%, Sikhism0.1%, Judaism 0.1%

Healthcare
The Italian state runs a universal public healthcare system since 1978. However, healthcare is provided to all citizens and residents by a mixed public-private system. The public part is the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, which is organised under the Ministry of Health and administered on a devolved regional basis. 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%.
Italy ranks as having the world's 2nd best healthcare system, and the world's 3rd best healthcare performance. Italy had the 8th highest worldwide life expectancy in 2013.

III CULTURE

The city of Venice, built on 117 islands.

The Leaning Tower and theDuomo of Pisa.

The Royal Palace of Caserta.
For centuries divided by politics and geography until its eventual unification in 1861, Italy has developed a unique culture, shaped by a multitude of regional customs and local centres of power and patronage. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a number of magnificent courts competed for attracting the best architects, artistis and scholars, thus producing an immense legacy of monuments, paintings, music and literature.

Education

Bologna University is the oldest academic institution of the world, founded in 1088.
Education in Italy is free and mandatory from ages six to sixteen, and consists of five stages: kindergarten (scuola dell'infanzia), primary school (scuola primaria), lower secondary school (scuola secondaria di primo grado), upper secondary school (scuola secondaria di secondo grado) and university (università). The Superior Graduate Schools are independent institutions similar to French Grandes écoles which offer advanced training and research through university-type courses or are dedicated to teaching at graduate or post-doctoral level.

Sport

The Azzurri during the 1982 FIFA World Cup (one of the four won by Italy).
The most popular sport in Italy is, by far, football.[226] Italy's Squadra Azzurra has won four FIFA World Cups (1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006), currently ranking as the world's second most successful national football team, just after Brazil. Italy's club sides have won 27 major European trophies, making them the most successful nation in European football.

IV POPULATION
Demographics

Population 1861–2011. Number of inhabitants.
Italy has 60,626,442 inhabitants according to 1 January 2011 municipal records (Anagrafe). Its population density, at 201/km² (520/sq. mile), is higher than that of most Western European countries. However the distribution of the population is widely uneven. The most densely populated areas are the Po Valley (that accounts for almost a half of the national population) and the metropolitan areas of Rome and Naples, while vast regions such as the Alps and Apennines highlands, the plateaus of Basilicata and the island of Sardinia are very sparsely populated.
The population of Italy almost doubled during the 20th century, but the pattern of growth was extremely uneven because of large-scale internal migration from the rural South to the industrial cities of the North, a phenomenon which happened as a consequence of the Italian economic miracle of the 1950–1960s. In addition, after centuries of net emigration, from the 1980s Italy has experienced large-scale immigration for the first time in modern history. According to the Italian government, there were 4,570,317 foreign residents in Italy as of January 2011.

V POLITICAL LEGAL ENVIRONMENT
Politics

Matteo Renzi, 56th Prime Minister of Italy, in office since 22 February 2014.

Giorgio Napolitano, 11thPresident of Italy, in office since 15 May 2006.
Italy has been a unitary parliamentary republic since 2 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by a constitutional referendum. The President of Italy (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 of Italy in joint session. Italy has a written democratic constitution, resulting from the work of a Constituent Assembly formed by the representatives of all theanti-fascist forces that contributed to the defeat of Nazi and Fascist forces during the Civil War.

Government
Italy has a parliamentary government based on a proportional voting system. The parliament is perfectly bicameral: the two houses, the Chamber of Deputies (that meets in Palazzo Montecitorio) and the Senate of the Republic (that meets inPalazzo 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 authorised 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 Ministers—which holds effective executive power—to execute most political activities.

Palazzo Montecitorio, seat of theItalian Chamber of Deputies.
After the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi on 12 November 2011, economist Mario Monti has been appointed as a technocratic Prime Minister. The Italy's four major political parties are the People of Freedom, the Democratic Party, the Northern League and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC). During the 2008 general elections these four parties won 589 out of 630 seats available in the Chamber of Deputies and 293 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 Partyand the Movement for Autonomies. However, during the last 3 years, a so-called "Third Pole" emerged, merging the Christian Democrats ofUDC 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: 12 Deputies and 6 Senators elected in four distinct overseas constituencies. In addition, the Italian Senate is characterised also by a small number of senators for life, appointed by the President "for outstanding patriotic merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field". Former Presidents of the Republic are ex officio life senators.

VI. Membership to International Organization
Foreign relations

The 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 organisations, 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. As of 2013, Italy was deploying 5,296 troops abroad, engaged in 33 UN and NATO missions in 25 countries of the world. Italy deployed troops in support of UN peacekeeping missions in Somalia, Mozambique, and East Timor and provides support for NATO and UN operations inBosnia, Kosovo and Albania. Italy deployed over 2,000 troops in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) from February 2003. Italy still supports international efforts to reconstruct and stabilise Iraq, but it had withdrawn its military contingent of some 3,200 troops by November 2006, maintaining only humanitarian operators and other civilian personnel. In August 2006 Italy deployed about 2,450 troops in Lebanon for the United Nations' peacekeeping mission UNIFIL. Italy is one of the largest financiers of the Palestinian National Authority, contributing € 60 million in 2013 alone.

Italian RepublicRepubblica italiana | | | Flag | Emblem | | Anthem: Il Canto degli Italiani (Italian)
The Song of the ItaliansMENU0:00 | Location of Italy (dark green)– in Europe (light green & dark grey)
– in the European Union (light green) – [Legend] | Capital and largest city | Rome
41°54′N 12°29′E | Official languages | Italiana | Demonym | Italian | Government | Unitaryparliamentaryconstitutional republic | - | President | Giorgio Napolitano | - | Prime Minister | Matteo Renzi | Legislature | Parliament | - | Upper house | Senate of the Republic | - | Lower house | Chamber of Deputies | Formation | - | Unification | 17 March 1861 | - | Republic | 2 June 1946 | - | Founded the EEC(now the European Union) | 1 January 1958 | Area | - | Total | 301,338 km2(72nd)
116,347 sq mi | - | Water (%) | 2.4 | Population | - | 2013 estimate | 60,782,668[1](23rd) | - | 2011 census | 59,433,744[2](23rd) | - | Density | 201.7/km2 (63rd)
522.4/sq mi | GDP (PPP) | 2014 estimate | - | Total | $1.847 trillion[3](11th) | - | Per capita | $30,803[3] (32nd) | GDP (nominal) | 2014 estimate | - | Total | $2.171 trillion[3](8th) | - | Per capita | $36,216[3] (27th) | Gini (2011) | 31.9[4] medium | HDI (2013) | 0.872[5] very high · 26th | Currency | Euro (€)b (EUR) | Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | - | Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | Drives on the | right | Calling code | 39c | ISO 3166 code | IT | Internet TLD | .itd | a. | 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 South Tyrol. | b. | Before 2002, the Italian Lira. The euro is accepted inCampione d'Italia, but the official currency there is the Swiss Franc.[6] | c. | To call Campione d'Italia, it is necessary to use the Swiss code +41. | d. | The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with otherEuropean Union member states. |

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy http://www.italymagazine.com/traditions
http://www.italia.it/en/home.html