Italy

Italy
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"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
41°54′N 12°29′E / 41.9°N 12.483°E / 41.9; 12.483 |
Official language(s) | Italian[1] |
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 | 301,338 km2 (71st)
116,346 sq mi  |
 -  | Water (%) | 2.4 |
Population |
 -  | 2010 estimate | 60,605,053[2] (23rd) |
 -  | 2001 census | 56,995,744  |
 -  |Density | 201.1/km2 (61st)
520.9/sq mi |
GDP (PPP) | 2010 estimate |
 -  | Total | $1.773 trillion[3]  |
 -  | Per capita | $29,392[3]  |
GDP (nominal) | 2010 estimate |
 -  | Total | $2.055 trillion[3]  |
 -  | Per capita | $34,058[3]  |
Gini (2006) | 32[4]  |
HDI (2010) | 0.854[5] (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 theofficial 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 /ˈɪtəli/; Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiana[note 1]), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. Tothe 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, whilst Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. Theterritory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 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 numerousinvasions 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 Renaissance,[7] 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 fragmentedinto 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 1861,[8] 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,...