Dolomites, Florence, Livorno, Lucca, Milan, Naples, Pisa, Rome, Taormina, Turin, Venice

CAPITAL CITY OF Italy: Rome
LANGUAGE OF Italy: Italian
CURRENCY OF Italy: Euro (EUR)
COMMENTS ABOUT Italy:
Italy is a large country in Southern Europe.
Cities : Rome, Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, Pisa, Venice, Verona
Best Places : Capri and Ischia, Cinque Terre, Vatican City, Lago di Garda, Italian Alps
Electricity : 230V/50Hz (European or Italian plug)
Calling Code : +39
Time Zone : UTC +1

CLIMATE OF Italy: predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south
RELIGION OF Italy: predominately Roman Catholic with mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community
POPULATION OF Italy: 58,057,477 (July 2004 est.) Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)>>>>
HISTORY OF Italy: Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the prosperous north.
ECONOMY OVERVIEW OF Italy: Italy has a diversified industrial economy with roughly the same total and per capita output as France and the UK. This capitalistic economy remains divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less developed, welfare-dependent agricultural south, with 20% unemployment. Most raw materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy requirements are imported. Over the past decade, Italy has pursued a tight fiscal policy in order to meet the requirements of the Economic and Monetary Unions and has benefited from lower interest and inflation rates. The current government has enacted numerous short-term reforms aimed at improving competitiveness and long-term growth. Italy has moved slowly, however, on implementing needed structural reforms, such as lightening the high tax burden and overhauling Italy's rigid labor market and over-generous pension system, because of the current economic slowdown and opposition from labor unions.