[b][font:8f6f="]Italy is a country in
southern Europe. It is made up of a long peninsula that juts out into the
Mediterranean Sea. The country is long and thin. When you look at it on a map,
you will see that it is shaped like a boot.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]To the north, Italy shares
borders with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. If you went all the way
from the north to the southern tip of the peninsula, you would travel about
1,360 kilometres. Yet the peninsula is just 240 kilometres across at its widest
point. The country has an area of 301,323 square kilometres.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]The peninsula is surrounded
by three arms of the Mediterranean. The west coast is on the Tyrrhenian Sea,
which lies between the mainland and the Italian island of Sardinia. To the east
is the Adriatic Sea, which separates Italy from Croatia and Albania. And the
Ionian Sea lies beneath the sole of the Italian “boot”.[/font][/b]
[b][color:8f6f=#FFC000][font:8f6f="]TWO GREAT MOUNTAIN RANGES[/font][/color][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]The high mountains of
the Alps stretch in a wide curve across the northern frontiers of Italy. Near the
Swiss border, Monte Rosa rises to 4,634 metres. But the highest point in Italy
lies on the French border, near where Monte Bianco (the “White Mountain” that
is called Mont Blanc in French) reaches its highest peak at 4,810 metres.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]The Apennines mountain
chain branches off the Alps and extends all the way down the Italian peninsula.
The chain is almost 1,300 kilometres long, and is made up of eight connected
mountain ranges. It forms the backbone of Italy. The average height of the
mountains is about 1,220 metres, and the highest peak is Monte Corno at 2,914
metres.[/font][/b]
[b][color:8f6f=#FFC000][font:8f6f="]ANCIENT ERUPTION[/font][/color][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Mount Vesuvius (1,277
metres) stands near the Bay of Naples at the western edge of the Campanian
Apennines. Though it is only just above average Apennine height, this mountain
is famous because it is an active volcano.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]In ad 79, Vesuvius erupted
and sent tonnes of lava and ash into the sky. A thick blanket of volcanic ash
and rock soon buried the nearby town of Pompeii, killing thousands of people.
In the 19th century, archaeologists started excavating Pompeii and uncovered
many of its ancient buildings. They even managed to make plaster casts of the
spaces taken up by stricken bodies. These casts showed how people died on that
terrifying day.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Vesuvius has erupted many
times since. The last eruption, in 1944, destroyed a whole village. Today, many
people visit the mountain, and even more go to see the remains of ancient
Pompeii.[/font][/b]
[b][color:8f6f=#FFC000][font:8f6f="]LAKES, RIVERS AND PLAINS[/font][/color][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Alpine rivers feed the
beautiful lakes Garda, Como and Maggiore, which are all popular with
holidaymakers. The lakes in turn feed rivers that flow southwards into the Po
valley. The Po, which is Italy's longest river, flows for 670 kilometres from
the Alps to the Adriatic.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Large ships can use the
River Po to carry cargo to the cities of Piacenza and Turin. It forms the
southern border of the Plain of Lombardy, the largest of Italy's lowland
plains. The Po waters the plain, but the river has often caused disastrous
floods.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]The Po valley is the richest
farming region. The chief crops include grapes and olives. Many of the grapes
are made into wine, which is an important Italian product. Italian olive oil is
also sold all over the world.[/font][/b]
[b][color:8f6f=#FFC000][font:8f6f="]POPULATION[/font][/color][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]About 58.1 million people
live in Italy. Around two thirds of the population live in the northern half of
the country, where there are more towns and cities. The northern area is also
much wealthier, with more successful businesses. The southern part of Italy is
less developed, though the Italian government is trying to help southerners and
make the balance more even.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]All over the country nearly
everyone speaks Italian, the official language. There are various dialects in
different parts of the country, but most people speak Standard Italian as well.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Around two thirds of Italian
people live in towns and cities. The largest city is the national capital,
Rome, which has a population of about 2.55 million. The second-largest city is
Milan (with about 1.30 million inhabitants), which lies on the Plain of
Lombardy and is an important industrial and commercial city. It is also the
centre of the Italian fashion industry, and has many stylish shops selling
clothes by famous designers, such as Armani, Gucci and Prada.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Naples, to the south of
Rome, is a busy port with 1 million inhabitants. But the country's busiest port
is the northern city of Genoa (with about 605,084 people), where Christopher
Columbus was born in 1451. Genoa was an independent city-state during the
Middle Ages, and was at the height of its power in the 13th century.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Venice has a much smaller
population (of about 271,251), but it is also a leading seaport and is one of
the world's most famous cities. That is because it is built on islands linked
by canals, where the traditional method of transport is the gondola, a Venetian
boat. A famous carnival leads up to Shrove Tuesday each year in Venice, and
every September there is a regatta on the Grand Canal.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Like Genoa, Venice was
an important city-state in medieval times. The Venetians fought several sea
battles against the Genoese, and finally defeated their great rivals in 1380.
Today, Venice is often flooded, and this has weakened the foundations of many
of the city's wonderful buildings. Experts are looking at ways of saving the
city from further damage.[/font][/b]
[b][color:8f6f=#FFC000][font:8f6f="]REGIONS AND PROVINCES[/font][/color][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Italy is divided into
20 regions, such as Lombardy, Tuscany and Umbria. The regions are further
divided into 94 provinces.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]The “heel” and the “toe”
of the boot-shaped peninsula are in separate regions. The “heel” forms part of
Apulia, and the “toe” region is called Calabria. These two southern regions are
hot and dry for much of the year.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]The Italian regions include
two large islands, Sicily and Sardinia. Sicily is the largest island in the
Mediterranean. It is separated from the tip of the peninsula's “toe” by the
narrow Strait of Messina. Its regional capital and main port is Palermo, which
has about 675,084 people.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Sicily is a mountainous
island, and its highest peak is Mount Etna at 3,323 metres. Like Vesuvius, Etna
is an active volcano. It erupts regularly, and its volcanic ash makes soil on
the lower slopes very fertile. This soil and the warm climate make ideal
growing conditions for fruits such as oranges, lemons and grapes.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Sicily has an extraordinary
history, with cultural influences from all over Europe. It was first colonized
by the ancient Greeks, who were followed by Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs from
North Africa, Normans from France and Aragonese from Spain. Sicily became part
of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Sardinia is across the
Tyrrhenian Sea. It is also a mountainous island and, like Sicily, it has
attracted increasing numbers of tourists in recent years. Its Costa Smeralda
(Emerald Coast) attracts many holidaymakers because of its beautiful beaches.[/font][/b]
[b][color:8f6f=#FFC000][font:8f6f="]ART AND CULTURE[/font][/color][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Throughout history, Italy
has played an important part in the world's art and culture. Italians have
given us some of the best paintings, sculpture and architecture ever seen. Many
of them were produced during the Renaissance (a French word meaning rebirth),
which started in 14th-century Italy. Great painters, such as Leonardo da Vinci,
Raphael and Michelangelo, produced works that have been admired all over the
world ever since.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]One of the greatest cultural
centres was Florence, where many great artists lived and worked. Florence is
now a city of 368,059 people and capital of the region of Tuscany. Visitors
flock from all over the world to see its famous art galleries and museums.[/font][/b]
[b][color:8f6f=#FFC000][font:8f6f="]SEPARATE STATES[/font][/color][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]The Renaissance artists
looked back to the earlier times of ancient Rome, which they admired for its
culture. The ancient Romans had ruled the whole of the Italian peninsula by 270
bc, and went on to build an even
greater empire.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]The Roman Empire began
to lose power in the 4th century ad,
and in 476 a Germanic chieftain overthrew the last emperor of Rome. Many more
invasions followed—by Lombards, Byzantines, Franks and others. The Normans
invaded southern Italy in the 11th century, and independent city-states (such
as Florence, Milan and Pisa) grew up in the north of the peninsula. Many were
ruled by individual families, such as the Medici family in Florence.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]The separate states and
regions of the peninsula were fought over by the French and Spanish for
centuries. Only Venice and the Papal States (a region that was under the
authority of the pope) remained independent.[/font][/b]
[b][color:8f6f=#FFC000][font:8f6f="]ITALIAN REPUBLIC[/font][/color][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]After the conquest by
the emperor Napoleon was brought to an end in 1815, the Italian states looked
towards independence and unity. This was finally achieved in 1861, when the
Kingdom of Italy was founded. Rome and Venice had joined the kingdom by 1871,
to make it complete.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]In 1922 the fascist leader
Benito Mussolini took power. He fought wars in Ethiopia and sided with Adolf
Hitler and Nazi Germany in World War II. Mussolini was executed at the end of
the war. Italians voted to make their country a republic in 1946; the king
stepped down and was replaced by a president. Italy was a founding member of
the European Economic Community (now the European Union) in 1957.[/font][/b]
[b][font:8f6f="]Microsoft
Encarta
2007.
1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.[/font][/b]
Home 
Calendar
