Italy

"Italia" redirects here. For other uses, see Italy (disambiguation) and Italia (disambiguation).

Italian Republic
Repubblica Italiana (Italian)
Anthem: "Il Canto degli Italiani"
"The Song of the Italians"
Location of Italy (dark green)

– in Europe (light green & dark grey)
– in the European Union (light green)  –  [Legend]

Capital
and largest city
Rome
41°54′N 12°29′E / 41.900°N 12.483°E / 41.900; 12.483
Official languagesItaliana
Nationality (2021)[1]
Native languagesSee main article
Religion
(2020)[2]
Demonym(s)Italian
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary republic
• President
Sergio Mattarella
Giorgia Meloni
Ignazio La Russa
Lorenzo Fontana
LegislatureParliament
• Upper house
Senate of the Republic
• Lower house
Chamber of Deputies
Formation
17 March 1861
• Republic
12 June 1946
1 January 1948
Area
• Total
301,340[3][4] km2 (116,350 sq mi) (71st)
• Water (%)
1.24 (2015)[5]
Population
• 2024 estimate
Neutral increase 58,968,501[6] (25th)
• Density
195.7/km2 (506.9/sq mi) (71st)
GDP (PPP)2024 estimate
• Total
Increase $3.597 trillion[7] (13th)
• Per capita
Increase $60,992[7] (30th)
GDP (nominal)2024 estimate
• Total
Increase $2.376 trillion[7] (8th)
• Per capita
Increase $40,286[7] (26th)
Gini (2020)Positive decrease 32.5[8]
medium inequality
HDI (2022)Steady 0.906[9]
very high (30th)
CurrencyEuro (€)b (EUR)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+2 (CEST)
Calling code+39c
ISO 3166 codeIT
Internet TLD.it
  1. German is co-official in South Tyrol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia; French is co-official in the Aosta Valley; Slovene is co-official in the province of Trieste, the province of Gorizia, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia; Ladin is co-official in South Tyrol, in Trentino and in other northern areas; Friulian is co-official in Friuli-Venezia Giulia; Sardinian is co-official in Sardinia.[10]
  2. Before 2002, the Italian lira. The euro is accepted in Campione d'Italia but its official currency is the Swiss franc.[11]
  3. To call Campione d'Italia, it is necessary to use the Swiss code +41.

Italy,[a] officially the Italian Republic,[b] is a country in Southern[12] and Western[13][c] Europe. It consists of a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land border, as well as nearly 800 islands, notably Sicily and Sardinia.[15] Italy shares its borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and two enclaves: Vatican City and San Marino. It is the tenth-largest country in Europe by area, covering 301,340 km2 (116,350 sq mi),[3] and third-most populous member state of the European Union, with a population of nearly 60 million.[16] Italy's capital and largest city is Rome; other major urban areas include Milan, Naples, Turin, Palermo, Bologna, Florence, Genoa, and Venice.

The history of Italy goes back to numerous Italic peoples, notably including the ancient Romans, who conquered the Mediterranean world during the Roman Republic and ruled it for centuries during the Roman Empire.[17] With the spread of Christianity, Rome became the seat of the Catholic Church and the Papacy. Between late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Italy experienced the arrival of Germanic tribes and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. By the 11th century, Italian city-states and maritime republics expanded, bringing renewed prosperity through commerce and laying the groundwork for modern capitalism.[18][19] The Italian Renaissance flourished during the 15th and 16th centuries and spread to the rest of Europe. Italian explorers discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, contributing significantly to the European Age of Discovery.

After centuries of political and territorial divisions, Italy was almost entirely unified in 1861, following wars of independence and the Expedition of the Thousand, establishing the Kingdom of Italy.[20] From the late 19th to the early 20th century, Italy rapidly industrialised, mainly in the north, and acquired a colonial empire,[21] while the south remained largely impoverished, fueling a large immigrant diaspora to the Americas.[22] From 1915 to 1918, Italy took part in World War I with the Entente against the Central Powers. In 1922, the Italian fascist dictatorship was established. During World War II, Italy was first part of the Axis until its surrender to the Allied powers (1940–1943), then a co-belligerent of the Allies during the Italian resistance and the liberation of Italy (1943–1945). Following the war, the monarchy was replaced by a republic and the country enjoyed a strong recovery.[23]

A developed country, Italy has the ninth-largest nominal GDP in the world, the second-largest manufacturing industry in Europe,[24] and plays a significant role in regional[25] and global[26] economic, military, cultural, and diplomatic affairs. Italy is a founding and leading member of the European Union, and is part of numerous international institutions, including NATO, the G7 and G20, the Latin Union and the Union for the Mediterranean. As a cultural superpower, Italy has long been a renowned global centre of art, music, literature, cuisine, fashion, science and technology, and the source of multiple inventions and discoveries.[27] It has the highest number of World Heritage Sites (60) and is the fifth-most visited country in the world.

  1. ^ "Indicatori demografici, anno 2020" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Special Eurobarometer 516". European Union: European Commission. September 2021. Archived from the original on 29 June 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2021 – via European Data Portal (see Volume C: Country/socio-demographics: IT: Question D90.2.).
  3. ^ a b "Italy". Central Intelligence Agency. 23 August 2023. Archived from the original on 1 July 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  4. ^ "Italy country profile". BBC News. 12 November 2023. Archived from the original on 18 December 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Surface water and surface water change". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  6. ^ "ISTAT – Demography, Statistics, Demographic Balance, Resident Population". demo.istat.it. Archived from the original on 6 July 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024 Edition. (Italy)". www.imf.org. International Monetary Fund. 22 October 2024. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income – EU-SILC survey". European Commission. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Human Development Report 2023/24" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. p. 288. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Legge Regionale 15 ottobre 1997, n. 26". Regione autonoma della Sardegna – Regione Autònoma de Sardigna. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2018.; "Regione Autonoma Friuli-Venezia Giulia – Comunità linguistiche regionali". regione.fvg.it. Archived from the original on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Comune di Campione d'Italia". Comune.campione-d-italia.co.it. 14 July 2010. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
  12. ^ "Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 1 July 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  13. ^ "UNITED NATIONS DGACM". United Nations. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  14. ^ Academic works describing Italy as a Western European country:
  15. ^ "Italia", Dizionario enciclopedico italiano (in Italian), vol. VI, Treccani, 1970, p. 413
  16. ^ "Italy Population 2022 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs)". worldpopulationreview.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  17. ^ Carl Waldman; Catherine Mason (2006). Encyclopedia of European Peoples. Infobase Publishing. p. 586. ISBN 978-1-4381-2918-1. Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2013.; Mommsen, Theodor (1855). History of Rome, Book II: From the Abolition of the Monarchy in Rome to the Union of Italy. Leipzig: Reimer & Hirsel.; Lazenby, John Francis (4 February 1998). Hannibal's War: A Military History of the Second Punic War. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-8061-3004-0 – via Internet Archive. Italy homeland of the Romans.
  18. ^ Sée, Henri. "Modern Capitalism Its Origin and Evolution" (PDF). University of Rennes. Batoche Books. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  19. ^ "Italian Trade Cities | Western Civilization". courses.lumenlearning.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  20. ^ "Unification of Italy". Library.thinkquest.org. 4 April 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
  21. ^ "The Italian Colonial Empire". All Empires. Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012. At its peak, just before WWII, the Italian Empire comprehended the territories of present time Italy, Albania, Rhodes, Dodecanese, Libya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the majority of Somalia and the little concession of Tientsin in China
  22. ^ Jon Rynn. "WHAT IS A GREAT POWER?" (PDF). economicreconstruction.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  23. ^ "IMF Advanced Economies List. World Economic Outlook, April 2016, p. 148" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 April 2016.
  24. ^ "Manufacturing by Country 2023". worldpopulationreview.com. Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  25. ^ Gabriele Abbondanza, Italy as a Regional Power: the African Context from National Unification to the Present Day (Rome: Aracne, 2016); "Operation Alba may be considered one of the most important instances in which Italy has acted as a regional power, taking the lead in executing a technically and politically coherent and determined strategy." See Federiga Bindi, Italy and the European Union (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2011), p. 171.
  26. ^ Canada Among Nations, 2004: Setting Priorities Straight. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. 17 January 2005. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-7735-2836-9. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2016. The United States is the sole world's superpower. France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom are great powers; Sterio, Milena (2013). The right to self-determination under international law: "selfistans", secession and the rule of the great powers. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. xii (preface). ISBN 978-0-4156-6818-7. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2016. The great powers are super-sovereign states: an exclusive club of the most powerful states economically, militarily, politically and strategically. These states include veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council (United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia), as well as economic powerhouses such as Germany, Italy and Japan.
  27. ^ Michael Barone (2 September 2010). "The essence of Italian culture and the challenge of the global age". Council for Research in Values and philosophy. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.


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