About Italy

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• Etymology
The name Italy (Italia) was already in use during Roman times and came into the Latin language from a southern Greek dialect. Its etymology is linked to a Greek word meaning “calf”, and according to a modern interpretation it is a reference to Calabria, a region in southern Italy, where early inhabitants adopted the calf as their symbol.

• Geography
Italy is a boot shaped peninsula extending southward from the Alps to the Mediterranean sea. It is largely a country of mountains and highlands; it also includes Sardinia and Sicily, two of the largest European islands.

Alps, among the word’s highest and rugged mountains loop from east to west along Italy’s northern boundaries with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.

The Apennine mountain system stretches southward the length of the country, narrowing in the South into Sicily. The country plains, or lowlands, occupy less than one-fourth of the total land area; nearly two-thirds of these lowlands lie in the Po river valley, the principal agricultural region in Italy.

Italy has several volcanoes, the most famous of which is Mount Vesuvius, whose eruption in AD 79 destroyed Pompei. Another big volcano is Mount Etna, in Sicily, which is still active.

• History
Italy was united under Rome from the 2nd century BC to the collapse of the Empire in AD 476. In the Middle Ages, it was dominated by several city/states and the papacy, and was the centre of the Renaissance. Modern Italy was created by the nationalist movement of the mid 19th century, called Risorgimento, led by Garibaldi and the kingdom of Sardinia. The Sardinian monarch, from the House of Savoy, Victor Emmanuel II, became king of Italy in 1861. A republic was established by popular vote in 1946. There are 20 administrative regions, each of them has an elected council. Italy is a member of the European Union.

Tourism is well developed, centring on Italy’s unsurpassed Roman antiquities and works of art and architecture from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and on into the 18th century.