Italy

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General

• Area: 301,323 sq km (116,341 sq miles).

• Population: 57,587,985 (1998).

• Population Density: 191.1 per sq km.

• Capital: Rome

• Population: 2,645,322 (1996).

Geography: 

Italy is situated in Europe and attached in the north to the European mainland. To the north the Alps separate Italy from France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.

Northern Italy: The Alpine regions, the Po Plain and the Ligurian-Etruscan Appennines. Piedmont and Val d'Aosta contain some of the highest mountains in Europe and are good areas for winter sports. Many rivers flow down from the mountains towards the Po Basin, passing through the beautiful Italian Lake District (Maggiore, Como, Garda). The Po Basin, which extends as far south as the bare slopes of the Appennines, is covered with gravel terraces and rich alluvial soil and has long been one of Italy's most prosperous regions. To the east, where the River Po flows into the Adriatic Sea, the plains are little higher than the river itself; artificial (and occasionally natural) embankments prevent flooding.

Central Italy: The northern part of the Italian peninsula. Tuscany (Toscana) has a diverse landscape with snow-capped mountains (the Tuscan Appennines), lush countryside, hills and a long sandy coastline with

Southern Italy: Campania consists of flat coastal plains and low mountains, stretching from Baia Domizia to the Bay of Naples and along a rocky coast to the Calabria border. Inland, the Appennines are lower, mellowing into the rolling countryside around Sorrento. The islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida in the Tyrrhenian Sea are also part of Campania. The south is wilder than the north, with mile upon mile of olive trees, cool forests and rolling hills. Puglia, the 'heel of the boot', is a landscape of volcanic hills and isolated marshes. Calabria, the 'toe', is heavily forested and thinly populated. The Calabrian hills are home to bears and wolves.

The Islands: Sicily (Sicilia), visible across a 3km (2-mile) strait from mainland Italy, is fertile but mountainous with volcanoes (including the famous landmark of Mount Etna) and lava fields, and several offshore islands. Sardinia (Sardegna) has a mountainous landscape, fine sandy beaches and rocky offshore islands.
For more information on each region, see the Resorts & Excursions .

Government: 

• Unification in 1861. Republic since 1946. 

• Head of State: President  

• Head of Government: Prime Minister.

Language: Italian is the official language. Dialects are spoken in different regions. German and Latin are spoken in the South Tyrol region (bordering Austria). French is spoken in all the border areas from the Riviera to the area north of Milan (border with France and Switzerland). German is spoken around the Austrian border. English, German and French are also spoken in the biggest cities and in tourism and business circles.

Religion: Roman Catholic with Protestant minorities.

• Time: GMT + 1 (GMT + 2 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in September).

• Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50Hz.

Communications:  

• Telephone: Full IDD service available. Country code: 390 (followed by 6 for Rome, 2 for Milan, 11 for Turin, 81 for Naples, 41 for Venice and 55 for Florence). Outgoing international code: 00. Telephone kiosks now only accept phonecards, which can be purchased at post offices, tobacconists and certain newsagents.

• Mobile telephone: GSM 900 and 1800 networks.

• Fax: Some hotels have facilities.

• Internet/E-mail: ISPs include Telecom Italia Net (http://www.tin.it). Public access is available in Internet Corner Kiosks operated by Telecom Italia. Kiosks have been installed at airports, major hotels and in other public places. Access costs L200 per minute, and phonecards can be used. There are also cybercafés in all main towns.

• Telegram: Both internal and overseas telegrams may be dictated over the telephone.

• Post: The Italian postal system tends to be subject to delays. Letters between Italy and other European countries usually take a week to ten days to arrive. Letters intended for Poste Restante collection should be addressed to Fermo Posta and the town. Stamps are sold in post offices and tobacconists. Post office hours: 0800/0830-1200/1230 and 1400/1430-1730/1800 Monday to Friday; Saturday mornings only.

• Press: The main towns publish a weekly booklet with entertainment programmes, sports events, restaurants, nightclubs, etc. There are several English-language publications: monthly magazines Italy-Italy (Rome), Grapevine (on the Lucca area) and The Informer (Milan), as well as Wanted In Rome, published twice monthly, and the English-language newspaper, Daily American (Rome). Among the most important Italian dailies are La Stampa (Turin), Corriere della Sera (Milan), La Repubblica (Rome), Il Messaggero (Rome), Il Giorno (Milan) and Il Giornale (Milan).

The Vatican State

The Vatican State, which was created following the Lateran Treaty on 11 February 1929, occupies the Ager Vaticanus, on the right bank of the Tiber, the site which the first Christians, including S. Piter himself, were martyred. \par In the year 324 Costantino, himself a convert to Christianity, erected a sumptuous basilica in honor of the Apostle. 
Enriched and embellishment throughout the Middle Ages, this early Christian basilica eventually became so dilapidated that it was decided to rebuild it completely: the commission to do was entrusted to Bramante in 1506. 

In the years that followed numerous alterations to the original plant were made, and Raffaello, Peruzzi, Sangallo and Michelangelo were all successively involved in the project as architects. 

The latter, basing himself in part of Bramante's plan ( which had already begun to the build) conceived a huge basilica on a Greek-cross plan, topped by a magnificent double-shell dome. In the early years of the 17th century Maderno transformed the Greek-cross into a Latin-cross by elongating the nave, and also designed the existing facade. Later Bernini laid out the el liptical colonnade embracing St. Peter's square.

In the Vatican City there are the Vatican Museum that contains the Museo delle antichit`, The picture gallery (pinacoteca) and the Museo Gregoriano Profano e Pio Cristiano. In the Musei Vaticani we can also find The Cappella Sistina, designed by the Architect Giovannino derquote Dolci for Pope Sisto IV, it represent one of the most important complexes both from an artistic and a religious and historical point of view. It consist of a large rectangular hall, surmounted by a richly frescoed barrel vault. The frescoes of the walls of the Sistin Chapel date to 1481/1483; those of the ceiling to quarter century later.

The painters involved in this sublime work of pictorial decoration include the most authoritative names in the whole word Italian painting: first and foremost Michelangelo, then Pinturicchio and Signorelli and the most noted representative of the Florentine school, such as Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli.