Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the regional states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His 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 is 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 sluggish economic growth, high youth and female unemployment, organized crime, corruption, and economic disparities between southern Italy and the more prosperous north.

Capital: Rome

Population: 61,482,297 (July 2013 est.)

Currency: Euro

Official Language: Italian

Ethnicty/ race: Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)

Religion: Christian 80% (overwhelming Roman Catholic with very small groups of Jehova Witnesses and Protestants), Muslims NEGL (about 700,000 but growing), Atheists and Agnostics 20%

*Source: CIA Factbook

3 Interesting Facts:

1. Italian city of Naples introduced the world to pizza.
2. Everyday 3,000 Euro get thrown into the Trevi Fountain, in Rome.
3. Italy manufactures the world’s top sports cars like: Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Maserati and Alfa Romeo. In Lazio you can’t outrun the police if you try. They drive Lamborghini’s.

See more on Italy from Cris2Travel:

• Bergamo
• Milan(o)
• San Remo
• Venezia (Venice)

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