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ON ITALY: Another Utterly Immense Infographic
By Simo-The-Finlandized (c. 2021 CE)
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Italy is a country in south Europe
and a member of the European Union. Its official name
is Repubblica Italiana. The Italian flag is green, white
and red. Italy is a democratic republic and is a founding
member of the European Union. Its President is Sergio
Mattarella and its Prime Minister is Giuseppe Conte.
Italy is also a member of the G8, as it has the eighth
largest Gross Domestic Product in the world. Before
1861, it was made up of smaller kingdoms and city-
states. Italy has become famous for its wine, as well as
its food. Some foods are different between regions.
Famous dishes include various types of pasta, pizza,
and grapes. Olives are much used. The country's
capital, Rome, is one of the most famous cities in the
world, as it was the capital of the Roman Empire. Other
famous cities in Italy include, Venice, Naples, Genoa,
Florence, Palermo, and Milan.
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GEOGRAPHY:
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Italy is a peninsula, meaning it is encompassed by the
sea on all of its sides apart from one side of the country
(its north side). Northern Italy is separated from France,
Switzerland, and Austria by the Alps, a chain of
mountains. Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco in Italian or
white mountain in English), the highest mountain in
western Europe, belongs to this chain. The second
important chain of mountains in Italy is the Apennines
(Appennini in Italian), which are in central and southern
Italy. The capital of Italy is Rome where the Roman
Empire started. Other cities in Italy are Milan, Turin,
Florence, Genoa, Naples, Palermo, and Venice. The
country has a number of islands, the biggest of which
are Sicily and Sardinia, which can be reached by ship
or aircraft. It shares maritime borders with Libya to the
south. The Po River is the longest river in Italy. It flows
through 5 cities: Torino, Piacenza, Cremona Ferrara
and Rovigo. The Tiber River runs through the city of
Rome. Northern Italy has some of the biggest lakes in
the country, such as Lake Garda, Lake Como, Lake
Maggiore and Lake Iseo. Because it is surrounded by
the sea, Italy has many kilometers of coast, which
brings tourists from all over the world. Tourists also
come to see Italy's historical places. Two very small
separate countries are located within Italy. They are
San Marino, which is surrounded by part of Northern
Italy, and the Vatican City, which is inside Rome.
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PEOPLE AND CULTURE:
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People from Italy are called Italians. Even if an Italian
were to leave Italy, it is possible that their descendants
could also claim Italian citizenship due to Italian
nationality law relying mostly on ius sanguinis or "right
of blood" in Latin. Nearly all the Italians are Christians,
and most of these are Roman Catholics, which is
based in the Vatican City and home to its leader, the
Pope. Leonardo da Vinci is a famous artist, he is the
creator of the Mona Lisa which is now in the louvre
Paris. The population of Italy is a little over 60 million.
About 2.7 million of them live in Rome, and 1.3 million
in Milan. As of 31 December 2015, over 5 million
foreigners were living in Italy, which is 8.3% of the total
population. The official language of Italy is Italian and
in some small areas German, Slovenian or French.
People also speak dialects of Italian such as Sicilian
and Sardinian. There are many different dialects
spoken in Italy. They vary between regions and, in
some cases, also between provinces. The people of
Italy are mostly descendant from the ancient Romans.
Italy is home to more World Heritage Sites than any
other nation in the world. These sites are culturally
important and valued according to UNESCO. About
60% of the works of art of the world are in Italy. Italy is
also a big wine producer. In 2005 it made over 5 million
tonnes.
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ECONOMY:
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Italy has a modern social welfare system. The labor
market enjoys relative strength, with many foreigners,
especially from Romania, working in Italy where the
wages are much higher. But it could have been much
more workers on the labor market because men and
women already retired in the age of 57 and the
unemployment rate is relatively high at 8.2 percent.
Italy's modern society has been built up through loans
and now the country has a catastrophic high debt of
€1.9trn or 120 percent of the country's total GDP. And
the government cannot pay back the loans during the
time period the EU wish.
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RELIGION:
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Most people in Italy are Roman Catholics, but the
Catholic Church is no longer officially the state religion.
87.8% of the people said they were Roman Catholic.
Only about a third said they were active members
(36.8%). There are also other Christian groups in Italy,
more than 700,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians.
180,000 of them belong to the Greek Orthodox Church.
550,000 are Pentecostals and Evangelicals (0.8%).
235,685 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.4%), 30,000
Waldensians, 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists, 22,000
Mormons, 20,000 Baptists, 7,000 Lutherans, 4,000
Methodists. The country's oldest religious minority is
the Jewish community. It has roughly 45,000 people. It
is no longer the largest non-Christian group. About
825,000 Muslims live in Italy. Most of them immigrated.
(1.4% of the total population) Only 50,000 are Italian
citizens. In addition, there are 50,000 Buddhists 70,000
Sikh and 70,000 Hindus in Italy.
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FOOD:
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During the celebration of Epiphany, it's traditional to eat
a special cake called 'Rosca de Reyes' Three Kings
Cake. A figure of Baby Jesus is hidden inside the cake.
Whoever has the baby Jesus in their piece of cake is
the 'Godparent' of Jesus for that year. Famous Italian
foods include pasta or pizza.
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POLITICS:
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The Head of State is Sergio Mattarella, whose task
began in February 2015. Mattarella is currently the
President of the Italian Republic. The first president
was Enrico De Nicola. The Head of Government is
Paolo Gentiloni, who became Prime Minister on
December 12, 2016, succeeding Matteo Renzi. Renzi
was previously the Mayor of Florence and is Italy's
youngest-ever Prime Minister, at age 39 when taking
office. Italy was one of the first members of the
European Union and in 2002 along with 11 other
European countries, it changed to using the euro as its
official currency. Before this, the Italian lira had been
used since 1861. Anyone who wants to be President of
Italy must have Italian citizenship, be at least 50 years
old, and must be able to hold political and civil rights.
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HISTORY:
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Before 1861, Italy was not a state. The area was made
of a group of separate states, ruled by other countries
(such as Austria, France, and Spain). In the 1850s the
Earl of Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour was the Head
of Government of the "State of Sardinia". He talked to
the Austrians in Lombardy and Veneto and said they
should create a Northern Italian state. This happened,
but other Central and Southern Italian states also
joined Piedmont to create a bigger state.In 1860,
Giuseppe Garibaldi took control of Sicily, creating the
Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Victor Emmanuel II was made
the king. But in 1861, Latium and Veneto were still not
part of Italy, because they were ruled by the Pope and
Austrian Empire.Veneto was made part of Italy in 1866
after a war with Austria, and Italian soldiers won Latium
in 1870. That was when they took away the Pope's
power. The Pope, who was angry, said that he was a
prisoner to keep Catholic people from being active in
politics. That was the year of Italian unification.
Italy participated in World War I as an ally of Great
Britain, France, and Russia against the Central Powers.
Almost all of Italy's fighting was on the Eastern
border, near Austria. After the "Caporetto defeat", Italy
thought they would lose the war. But, in 1918, the
Central Powers surrendered, and Italy gained the
Trentino-South Tyrol, which once was owned by
Austria. In 1922, a new Italian government started. It
was ruled by Benito Mussolini, the leader of Fascism in
Italy. He became Head of Government and dictator,
calling himself "duce" - which means "leader" in Italian.
He became friends with German dictator Adolf Hitler.
Germany, Japan, and Italy became the Axis Powers
and entered World War II together in 1940 against
France, Great Britain, and later the Soviet Union.
During the war, Italy controlled most of the
Mediterranean Sea.On July 25, 1943, Mussolini was
removed by the Great Council of Fascism, and, on
September 8, 1943, Badoglio said that the war as an
ally of Germany was ended. Italy started fighting as an
ally of France and the UK, but Italian soldiers did not
know whom to shoot. In Northern Italy, a movement
called Resistenza started to fight against the German
invaders. Mussolini tried to make a small Northern
Italian fascist state, the Republic of Salò, but it failed.
On April 25, 1945, Italy became free. The state became
a republic on June 2, 1946, and, for the first time,
women were able to vote. Italian people ended the
Savoia dynasty and adopted a republic government. In
February 1947, Italy signed a peace treaty with the
Allies losing all the colonies and some territorial areas:
(Istria and parts of Dalmatia). Since then
Italy has joined NATO and the European
Community (as a founding member), becoming one of
the seven biggest industrial economies in the world.
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TRANSPORTATION:
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The railway network in Italy totals 16,627 kilometres
(10,332 mi), the 17th longest in the world. High speed
trains include ETR-class trains which travel at 300 km/h
(190 mph).
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