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Italy - Travel guideItaly - OverviewItaly became a nation-state in 1861 when the regional 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. |
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Italy General Information |
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| Country full name : | conventional long form: Italian Republic conventional short form: Italy local long form: Repubblica Italiana local short form: Italia former: Kingdom of Italy |
| Capital : | Rome |
| Religions : | approximately 90% Roman Catholic (about one-third regularly attend services); mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community |
| Languages : | Italian (official), German, French, Slovene |
| Location : | Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia |
| Geographic coordinates : | 42 50 N, 12 50 E |
| Area : | total: 301,230 sq km land: 294,020 sq km water: 7,210 sq km note: includes Sardinia and Sicily |
| Climate : | predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south |
| Population : | 58,133,509 (July 2006 est.) |
| Nationality : | noun: Italian(s) adjective: Italian |
| Ethnic groups : | Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south) |
| Government type : | republic |
| Administrative divisions: | 15 regions (regioni, singular - regione) and 5 autonomous regions* (regioni autonome, singular - regione autonoma); Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia*, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Molise, Piemonte, Puglia, Sardegna*, Sicilia*, Toscana, Trentino-Alto Adige*, Umbria, Valle d'Aosta*, Veneto |
| Legal system : | based on civil law system; appeals treated as new trials; judicial review under certain conditions in Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Suffrage : | 18 years of age; universal (except in senatorial elections, where minimum age is 25) |
| Internet code : | .it |
| Calling code : | +39 |
| Time zone : | GMT/UTC +1 (+2 in summer) |
| Electricity : | 220V 50Hz |
| National holiday : | Republic Day, 2 June (1946) |
| Interesting link : | Italy travel guide - Lonely Planet Italy travel guide - Wikitravel Tourism Office of Italy |
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Italy Travel Guide Information