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Portale Italia

Italy (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja] (listen)), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it consists of a peninsula delimited by the Alps and surrounded by several islands; its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region. Italy shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino. It has a territorial exclave in Switzerland, Campione. Italy covers an area of 301,230 km² (116,310 sq mi), with a population of about 60 million. It is the third-most populous member state of the European Union, the sixth-most populous country in Europe, and the tenth-largest country in the continent by land area. Italy's capital and largest city is Rome.

Italy was the native place of civilizations such as the Italic peoples and the Etruscans, while due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, the country has also historically been home to myriad peoples and cultures, who immigrated to the peninsula throughout history. The Latins, native of central Italy, formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which eventually became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People. The Roman Republic initially conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the Italian peninsula, eventually expanding and conquering a large part of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. By the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became a leading cultural, political and religious centre, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Italy's law, technology, economy, art, and literature developed. (Full article...)

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The crowning of Manfred of Sicily in a manuscript of the Cronica; by the 16th century, there were multiple versions of the Cronica in printed form as well as in illuminated manuscript form.

The Nuova Cronica (also: Nova Cronica) or New Chronicles is a 14th-century history of Florence created in a year-by-year linear format and written by the Italian banker and official Giovanni Villani (c. 1276 or 1280–1348). The idea came to him after attending the first Jubilee in the city of Rome, in 1300, where he realized that Rome's many historical achievements were well-known, and he desired to lay out a history of the origins of his own city of Florence. In his Cronica, Villani described in detail the many building projects of the city, statistical information on population, ordinances, commerce and trade, education, and religious facilities. He also described several disasters such as famines, floods, fires, and the pandemic of the Black Death in 1348, which would take his own life. Villani's work on the Nuova Cronica was continued by his brother Matteo (from April 1348 until July 1363) and his nephew Filippo (until 1364) after his death. It has been described as the first introduction of statistics as a positive element in history.

The oldest manuscript is Vatican Library BAV Chigiano L VIII 296, dating to the time of composition. (Full article...)

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Image 1Porta Soprana is the best-known gate of the ancient walls of Genoa.
Image 2Dome of Florence Cathedral
Image 3View of Piazzetta San Marco toward Grand Canal of Venice, at dawn, with Doges' Palace on the left and Biblioteca Marciana on the right.
Image 4Interior of the Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome
Image 5Sellajoch, South Tyrol and Trentino (seen from Pordoi Pass), Langkofel on the left, Piz Ciavazes on the right
Image 6A section of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo
Image 7The Forma Urbis Romae is a massive marble map of ancient Rome, created under the emperor Septimius Severus between 203 and 211.
Image 8South face of the Tofana di Rozes in the Parco naturale regionale delle Dolomiti d'Ampezzo
Image 9Youth of Moses by Sandro Botticelli, 1481-82, Sistine Chapel

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...that the Italian automaker Autobianchi was founded by the bicycle manufacturer Bianchi, tire giant Pirelli and Fiat?

...that Umarell [uma'rɛːlː], is an Italian slang term for sidewalk superintendent, popular in Bologna and increasingly used in other part of the country?

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A multi-generational banquet depicted on a mural from Pompeii (1st century AD)

Food and dining in the Roman Empire reflect both the variety of food-stuffs available through the expanded trade networks of the Roman Empire and the traditions of conviviality from ancient Rome's earliest times, inherited in part from the Greeks and Etruscans. In contrast to the Greek symposium, which was primarily a drinking party, the equivalent social institution of the Roman convivium (dinner party) was focused on food. Banqueting played a major role in Rome's communal religion. Maintaining the food supply to the city of Rome had become a major political issue in the late Republic, and continued to be one of the main ways the emperor expressed his relationship to the Roman people and established his role as a benefactor. Roman food vendors and farmers' markets sold meats, fish, cheeses, produce, olive oil and spices; and pubs, bars, inns and food stalls sold prepared food. Bread was an important part of the Roman diet, with more well-to-do people eating wheat bread and poorer people eating that made from barley. Fresh produce such as vegetables and legumes were important to Romans, as farming was a valued activity. A variety of olives and nuts were eaten. While there were prominent Romans who discouraged meat eating, a variety of meat products were prepared, including blood puddings, sausages, cured ham and bacon. The milk of goats or sheep was thought superior to that of cows; milk was used to make many types of cheese, as this was a way of storing and trading milk products. While olive oil was fundamental to Roman cooking, butter was viewed as an undesirable Gallic foodstuff. Sweet foods such as pastries typically used honey and wine-must syrup as a sweetener. A variety of dried fruits (figs, dates and plums) and fresh berries were also eaten. (Full article...)

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Italian cuisine Pizza Ancient Roman cuisine Pasta Roman cuisine Parmigiano-Reggiano Sicilian cuisine Mozzarella Fettuccine Alfredo Acquacotta Carbonara Gelato Marron glacé Minestrone Pizza di Pasqua Chianti Espresso Italian wine Testaroli Prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale

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The following are images from various Italy-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Bologna University, established in AD 1088, is the world's oldest academic institution. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 2Festival of Saint Agatha (from Culture of Italy)
Image 3The Sistine Chapel ceiling, with frescos done by Michelangelo (from Culture of Italy)
Image 4Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome is a perfect example of modern Italian architecture. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 5The Sagra dell'uva in Marino, celebrating grapes (from Culture of Italy)
Image 6Linguistic map of the Italian language throughout the world
  Official language

  Secondary, widely spoken or understood

  Understood by some due to former colonisation
(from Culture of Italy)
Image 7The discovery of the New World by Christoper Columbus (from Culture of Italy)
Image 8The Frecce Tricolori, with the smoke trails representing the national colours of Italy, during the celebrations of the Festa della Repubblica on 2 June 2005 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 9Antonio Meucci, inventor of the first telephone (from Culture of Italy)
Image 10Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato (from Culture of Italy)
Image 11Dante Alighieri, one of the greatest poets of the Middle Ages. His epic poem The Divine Comedy ranks among the finest works of world literature. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 12The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 13Entrance to Cinecittà in Rome, the largest film studio in Europe (from Culture of Italy)
Image 14The Forum of Pompeii with Vesuvius in the distance (from Culture of Italy)
Image 15Antonio Vivaldi, in 1723. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 16William Shakespeare is an example of an Italophile of the 16th century. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 17Leonardo da Vinci, a polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect (from Culture of Italy)
Image 18Gelato is Italian ice cream. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 19Olive oil and vegetables are central to the Mediterranean diet. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 20Clockwise from top left: Thomas Aquinas, proponent of natural theology and the Father of Thomism; Giordano Bruno, one of the major scientific figures of the Western world; Cesare Beccaria, considered the Father of criminal justice and modern criminal law; and Maria Montessori, credited with the creation of the Montessori education (from Culture of Italy)
Image 21The Trevi Fountain in Rome (from Culture of Italy)
Image 22Scrovegni Chapel. The chapel contains a fresco cycle by Giotto, completed about 1305 and considered to be an important masterpiece of Western art. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 23Anti-fascist demonstration at Porta San Paolo in Rome on the occasion of the Liberation Day on 25 April 2013 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 24The historic seat of the Corriere della Sera in via Solferino in Milan (from Culture of Italy)
Image 25Folkloristic reconstruction of the Company of Death led by Alberto da Giussano who is preparing to carry out the charge during the battle of Legnano at the Palio di Legnano 2014 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 26Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is an Italian art masterpiece worldwide famous. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 27Statues of Pantalone and Harlequin, two stock characters from the Commedia dell'arte, in the Museo Teatrale alla Scala (from Culture of Italy)
Image 28The Altare della Patria in Rome, a national symbol of Italy celebrating the first king of the unified country, and resting place of the Italian Unknown Soldier since the end of World War I. It was inaugurated in 1911, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 29Enrico Fermi, creator of the world's first nuclear reactor. He is considered the "architect of the nuclear age" and the "architect of the atomic bomb". (from Culture of Italy)
Image 30Tagliatelle with ragù (from Culture of Italy)
Image 31St Mark's Basilica in Venice, one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture (from Culture of Italy)
Image 32The Arch of Constantine in Rome (from Culture of Italy)
Image 33Samantha Cristoforetti is the first Italian woman in space. She holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight by a European astronaut (199 days, 16 hours). (from Culture of Italy)
Image 34Romulus and Remus, the Lupercal, Father Tiber, and the Palatine on a relief from a pedestal dating to the reign of Trajan (AD 98–117) (from Culture of Italy)
Image 35David, by Michelangelo (Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, Italy) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 36Dario Fo, one of the most widely performed playwrights in modern theatre, received international acclaim for his highly improvisational style. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 37Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana Store on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas (from Culture of Italy)
Image 38Valle dei Templi (from Culture of Italy)
Image 39St. Peter's Basilica, a representation of Renaissance and Baroque architecture (from Culture of Italy)
Image 40The city of Venice, ranked many times as the most beautiful city in the world (from Culture of Italy)
Image 41The cover of the Corriere dei Piccoli on 11 July 1911 carries a cartoon strip in the Italian style without speech bubbles. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 42Royal Palace of Caserta, the largest royal residence in the world (from Culture of Italy)
Image 43The President of Italy Sergio Mattarella during his entry into the Sala del Tricolore on the occasion of the Tricolour Day on 7 January 2017 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 44Andrea Palladio is often described as the most influential architect in the Western world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 45Chiostro of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (from Culture of Italy)
Image 46John Florio is recognised as the most important Renaissance humanist in England. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 47Alessandro Manzoni is famous for the novel The Betrothed (1827), generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 48Luigi Pirandello. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 49A wooden puppet depicting the Befana (from Culture of Italy)
Image 50Sergio Leone, widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema (from Culture of Italy)
Image 51World map of first level subdivisions (states, counties, provinces, etc.) that are home to Little Italys or Italian neighbourhoods (from Culture of Italy)
Image 52Roman mosaic of Virgil, the most important Latin poet of the Augustan period (from Culture of Italy)
Image 53The Roman Empire provided an inspiration for the medieval European. Although the Holy Roman Empire rarely acquired a serious geopolitical reality, it possessed great symbolic significance. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 54Traditional pizza Margherita, whose ingredients, tomato (red), mozzarella (white) and basil (green), are inspired by the colours of the national flag of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 55Regional seat of RAI in Cosenza (from Culture of Italy)
Image 56The Colosseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 57Ernesto Teodoro Moneta was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1907. He adopted the motto In varietate unitas! which later inspired Motto of the European Union. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 58An Alfa Romeo 159 vehicle of the Carabinieri corps (from Culture of Italy)
Image 59The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., reflects the president's admiration for classical Roman aesthetics. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 60Giosuè Carducci. In 1906, he became the first Italian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 61Federico Fellini, considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers in the history of cinema (from Culture of Italy)
Image 62Palio di Siena (from Culture of Italy)
Image 63A Ferrari SF21 by Scuderia Ferrari, the most successful Formula One team (from Culture of Italy)
Image 64Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (c. 1486). Tempera on canvas. 172.5 cm × 278.9 cm (67.9 in × 109.6 in). Uffizi, Florence. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 65Pinocchio Disney film is based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 66Galileo Galilei, an astronomer, physicist, engineer, and polymath, played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. He is considered the "father" of observational astronomy, modern physics, the scientific method, and modern science. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 67Sanremo Music Festival is the oldest music competition in the world and one of the world's longest-running television programmes. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 68The Uffizi in Florence (from Culture of Italy)
Image 69Ferragosto fireworks display in Padua on 15 August 2010 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 70Map of the Italian diaspora in the world
  Italy
  + 10,000,000
  + 1,000,000
  + 100,000
  + 10,000
(from Culture of Italy)
Image 71Carnival of Venice (from Culture of Italy)
Image 72The Creation of Adam is one of the scenes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, painted by Michelangelo sometime between 1508 and 1512. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 73Prada shop at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan (from Culture of Italy)
Image 74The Calling of St Matthew by Caravaggio (from Culture of Italy)
Image 75Starting in 1909, the Giro d'Italia is the Grands Tours' second oldest. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 76Italian wine and salumi (from Culture of Italy)
Image 77Florence Cathedral, which has the biggest brick dome in the world (from Culture of Italy)
Image 78Milan Cathedral is the fourth-largest church in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 79The Amalfi Coast is one of Italy's major tourist destinations. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 80Rai Radio 1 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 81Columbus Breaking the Egg by William Hogarth (from Culture of Italy)
Image 82The Leaning Tower of Pisa (from Culture of Italy)
Image 83Giuseppe Verdi, one of Italy's greatest opera composers. Portrait by Giovanni Boldini. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 84The espresso comes from the Italian esprimere, which means "to express," and refers to the process by which hot water is forced under pressure through ground coffee. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 85Pietà, by Michelangelo is a key work of Italian Renaissance sculpture. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 86Italian folk dance in Molise (from Culture of Italy)
Image 87The statue of Italia turrita in Reggio Calabria. Italia turrita is the national personification of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 88The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, possibly one of the most famous and iconic examples of Italian art (from Culture of Italy)
Image 89The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 90Guglielmo Marconi was the inventor of radio. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 91Giorgio Moroder, pioneer of Italo disco and electronic dance music, is known as the "Father of disco". (from Culture of Italy)
Image 92The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (from Culture of Italy)
Image 93Teatro di San Carlo, Naples. It is the oldest continuously active venue for opera in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 94The Azzurri in 2012. Football is the most popular sport in Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 95Palazzo della Carovana, the current seat of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (from Culture of Italy)