Ø Italy is slightly larger than Arizona.
Ø Almost 20% of Italy's population is over 65
years old.
Ø Italy borders Austria, France, Vatican
City, San Marino, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
Ø Its longest border is with Switzerland.
Ø The average Italian family has 1.27
children.
Ø Everybody 18 and over can vote, however you
have to be at least 25 to vote in Senate elections.
Ø The Italian flag is inspired by the French
flag introduced during Napoleon's 1797 invasion of the peninsula.
Ø The average Italian makes $26,700 a year,
however those in the more prosperous north make almost $40,000
Ø The thermometer, Ice Cream Cone, Eyeglasses
are a few Italian inventions.
Ø Italy's unemployment rate is around 8.6%,
but it is as high as 20% in the more impoverished south.
Ø Italian farms produce grapes, potatoes,
sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives, beef, and dairy.
Ø The average life expectancy at birth for an
Italian is 79.54 years and the average Italian is 41 years old.
Ø The famous children's story, Pinocchio , was
written by an Italian.
Ø The city of Naples gave birth to the pizza .
Ø The piano hails from Italy.
Ø The longest river in Italy is the Po.
Ø Italy's contributions to science include
the barometer, electric battery, nitroglycerin, and wireless telegraphy.
Ø Famous Italian explorers include
Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, John Cabot, and Amerigo Vespucci.
Ø Today's modern Italian language originated
in the region of Tuscany.
Ø Enrico Fermi, inventor of the nuclear
reactor, was an Italian.
Ø The automobile, Fiat , is one of
Italy's greatest products.
Ø With almost 40 million visitors, Italy is
the fourth most visited country in the world.
Ø Italy is home to two microstates, San
Marino and Vatican
City .
Ø Besides Julius
Caesar, Shakespeare also set in Italy ( entirely or partially): Romeo and Juliet, Othello, The Merchant of Venice,
Antony and Cleopatra,
Coriolanus, Cymbeline,Much Ado About Nothing,
Othello,The Taming of the Shrew,
Titus Andronicus,
The Two Gentlemen of
Verona,The
Winter's Tale
Ø Cologne came out of Italy.
Ø The majority of Italian-American immigrants
came from Naples and southern Italy.
Ø The ancient city of Pompeii was destroyed
by the volcano Mt.
Vesuvius.
Ø Mt. Vesuvius last erupted in 1944,
destroying a number of neighboring villages.
Ø Italy has 16 regions and 4 autonomous
regions.
Ø Before adopting the euro, Italy's currency
was known as the lira.
Ø The average Italian consumes 26 gallons of
wine a year.
Ø Italy's major industries include tourism,
machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor
vehicles, clothing, footwear, and ceramics.
Ø Italy has more hotel rooms than any other
nation in Europe.
Ø The espresso machine hails from Italy.
Ø Italy is the world's fifth largest
industrial economy.
Ø Barely a third of Italy's land is arable
and suitable for farming.
Ø Italy's biggest trading partners are
Germany, France, the United States, and Great Britain.
Ø Over 40% of Italy's labor force is
unionized.
Ø The telephone was created by an Italian
(Meucci) *Note.
Ø Since the end of WWII, Italy has seen
almost 60 governments come and go.
Ø The area around Venice is the wealthiest
region in Europe.
Ø Over 75% of Italy is mountainous or hilly.
Ø The typewriter is an Italian invention.
Ø Italians used to be known for having large
families, however Italy is now known for having Europe's lowest birthrate.
Ø Italy owes much of its prosperity to
thousands of small private family enterprises.
Ø Italian families save more money than the
Japanese and Germans, and three times more than Americans do.
Ø The average Italian consumes 25 kilograms
of pasta a year.
Ø The Jewish Ghetto in Rome is now one of the
most expensive real estate area in the city
Ø With over 5 million people, Rome is
Italy's largest Italy.
Ø Italy has a population of over 58 million.
Ø Italians refer to their country as Italia.
Ø The service sector accounts for almost 70%
of the Italian economy.
Ø Agriculture used to make up over a third of
Italy's economy. It now makes up less than three percent.
Ø The official language is Italian, but
German and French are also spoken in some regions.
Ø Italy's north has warm summers and cool
winters. Italy's south has hot summers and mild winters.
Ø The Seven Hills of Rome are Aventine,
Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal, and Viminal.
Ø The symbol SPQR can be found on many
ancient buildings in Rome. It stands for "the senate and people of
Rome."
Ø Italy did not become a united country until 1861
Ø The national protest song of Italy is Bella Ciao. It was
made famous by Italian partisans in WWII, and can be heard at almost any
protest.
Ø Before Rome became a republic and an
empire, it had seven kings.
Ø The first king of Rome was its legendary
founder, Romulus.
Ø "Ars longa, vita brevis" is a
common saying in Italy. It means "art is long, life is short" and
reflects the Italian love of leisure.
Ø An engineering marvel of the ancient world,
Cloacus Maxima, is the sewer of Rome.
Ø The first Roman Emperor was Augustus
Octavian, who came to power in 27 BC.
Ø The Roman Empire fell in 476 AD, after its
last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was forced to abdicate by barbarian invaders.
Ø A Roman Centurion commanded 100 hundred
men.
Ø A Roman Legion was made up of 6,000 men.
Ø Italy has a resident foreign population of
1.27 million.
Ø Italy's current constitution took effect
January 1, 1948
Ø The president of Italy is a ceremonial
figure.
Ø Since October 1946, the national anthem of
Italy has been Inno de
Memeli .
