Italy

ITALY

Name of the country: Italian Republic

Nationality: Italian

Flag
The flag of Italy consists of three equal sized vertical stripes - the left stripe is green; the middle one is white; and the right stripe is red.




Oficial language: Italian



Territiry: 301,230 km².

Location: this country is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largestislands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.

Climate: it is highly diverse and can be far from the stereotypical Mediterranean climate depending on the location. Most of the inland northern areas of Italy, for example Turin, Milan and Bologna, have a continental climate often classified as humidsubtropical. The coastal areas of Liguria and most of the peninsula south of Florence generally fit the Mediterranean stereotype. The coastal areas of the peninsula can be very different from the interior higher altitudes 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 generallydry summers, although lowland valleys can be quite hot in summer.

Geography: The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone; the Alps form its northern boundary. The largest of its northern lakes is Garda (143 sq mi/370 km2); in the centre is Trasimeno Lake. The Po, Italy's principal river, flows from the Alps on the western border and crosses the great Padan plain to the Adriatic Sea.Several islands form part of Italy; the largest are Sicily (9,926 sq mi/25,708 km2) and Sardinia (9,301 sq mi/24,089 km2). There are several active volcanoes in Italy: Etna, the second-largest active volcano in Europe; Vulcano; Stromboli; and Vesuvius, the only active volcano on the mainland of Europe.

Religion: Roman Catholicism is by far the largest religion in the country, although the CatholicChurch is no longer officially the state religion. Fully 87.8% of Italians identified themselves as Roman Catholic, Even though the main Christian denomination in Italy is Roman Catholicism, there are some minorities of Protestant, Waldensian, Eastern Orthodox and other Christian churches. And there is also other kind of religions like Islam, which is the second largest faith after Catholicism,jews, hinduism, and buddhism.



Typical food: Italians are known throughout the world for pizza, pasta, and tomato sauce, the national diet of Italy has traditionally differed greatly by region. Prior to the blending of cooking practices among different regions, it was possible to distinguish Italian cooking simply by the type of cooking fat used: butter was used in the north, pork fat in thecenter of the country, and olive oil in the south. Staple dishes in the north were rice and polenta, and pasta was most popular throughout the south. Pasta is more likely to be served with a white cheese sauce in the north and a tomato-based sauce in the south.
Italians are known for their use of herbs in cooking, especially oregano, basil, thyme, parsley, rosemary, and sage. Cheese also plays animportant role in Italian cuisine. There are more than 400 types of cheese made in Italy, with Parmesan, mozzarella, and asiago among the best known worldwide. Prosciutto ham, the most popular ingredient of the Italian antipasto was first made in Parma, a city that also gave its name to Parmesan cheese.

[pic] [pic]













Typical dressing: Thetraditional dress for Italy is from their Renaissance era. Men wore hose and short breeches which were padded. They wore broadtoed shoes and wide brimmed caps. Women wore voluminous and pleated skirts that were topped with pleated aprons. The neckline has a standing collar. This can be considered as their traditional dress




Holidays:
Italian people celebrate the new year´s day, on january...