Portal:Italy

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Portale Italia

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. It is located on a peninsula that extends into the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land border, as well as islands, notably Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and two enclaves: Vatican City and San Marino. It is the tenth-largest country in the Europe, covering an area of 301,340 km² (116,350 sq mi), and third-most populous member state of the European Union, with a population of nearly 60 million. Its capital and largest city is Rome; other major urban areas include Milan, Naples, Turin, Florence, and Venice.

In antiquity, the Italian peninsula was home to numerous peoples; the Latin city of Rome, founded as a Kingdom, became a Republic that conquered the Mediterranean world and ruled it for centuries as an Empire. With the spread of Christianity, Rome became the seat of the Catholic Church and the Papacy. During the Early Middle Ages, Italy experienced the fall of the Western Roman Empire and inward migration from Germanic tribes. By the 11th century, Italian city-states and maritime republics expanded, bringing renewed prosperity through commerce and laying the groundwork for modern capitalism. The Italian Renaissance flourished in Florence during the 15th and 16th centuries and spread to the rest of Europe. Italian explorers discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, leading the European Age of Discovery. However, centuries of rivalry and infighting between city-states left the peninsula divided until the late modern period. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Italian economic and commercial importance waned significantly. (Full article...)

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Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
A view of Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance
The Doge's palace in Venice
St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the most renowned work of architecture of the Renaissance
Galileo Galilei, Tuscan scientist and father of the experimental method, Portrait by Justus Sustermans, 1636
Machiavelli, author of The Prince
Christopher Columbus, Genoese explorer and colonizer whose voyages initiated the European colonization of the New World, Posthumous portrait by Sebastiano del Piombo, 1519
Creation of Adam by Michelangelo

The Italian Renaissance (Italian: Rinascimento [rinaʃʃiˈmento]) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. Proponents of a "long Renaissance" argue that it started around the year 1300 and lasted until about 1600. In some fields, a Proto-Renaissance, beginning around 1250, is typically accepted. The French word renaissance (corresponding to rinascimento in Italian) means "rebirth", and defines the period as one of cultural revival and renewed interest in classical antiquity after the centuries during what Renaissance humanists labelled as the "Dark Ages". The Italian Renaissance historian Giorgio Vasari used the term rinascita ("rebirth") in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects in 1550, but the concept became widespread only in the 19th century, after the work of scholars such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt.

The Renaissance began in Tuscany in Central Italy and centred in the city of Florence. The Florentine Republic, one of the several city-states of the peninsula, rose to economic and political prominence by providing credit for European monarchs and by laying down the groundwork for developments in capitalism and in banking. Renaissance culture later spread to Venice, the heart of a Mediterranean empire and in control of the trade routes with the east since its participation in the Crusades and following the journeys of Marco Polo between 1271 and 1295. Thus Italy renewed contact with the remains of ancient Greek culture, which provided humanist scholars with new texts. Finally the Renaissance had a significant effect on the Papal States and on Rome, largely rebuilt by humanist and Renaissance popes, such as Julius II (r. 1503–1513) and Leo X (r. 1513–1521), who frequently became involved in Italian politics, in arbitrating disputes between competing colonial powers and in opposing the Protestant Reformation, which started c. 1517. (Full article...)

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Image 1Youth of Moses by Sandro Botticelli, 1481-82, Sistine Chapel
Image 2South face of the Tofana di Rozes in the Parco naturale regionale delle Dolomiti d'Ampezzo
Image 3A section of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo
Image 4View of Piazzetta San Marco toward Grand Canal of Venice, at dawn, with Doges' Palace on the left and Biblioteca Marciana on the right.
Image 5Porta Soprana is the best-known gate of the ancient walls of Genoa.
Image 6Dome of Florence Cathedral
Image 7Sellajoch, South Tyrol and Trentino (seen from Pordoi Pass), Langkofel on the left, Piz Ciavazes on the right
Image 8The Forma Urbis Romae is a massive marble map of ancient Rome, created under the emperor Septimius Severus between 203 and 211.
Image 9Interior of the Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome

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...that unemployment protection in Italy is guaranteed by the Italy's constitution?

...that in 2002, hundreds of former mobsters incarcerated in eight jails across Italy, supposedly having no way to contact one another, joined a hunger strike to protest against article 41-bis of the Italian Penitentiary Act?

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Parmesan (Italian: Parmigiano Reggiano, Italian: [parmiˈdʒaːno redˈdʒaːno]) is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cow's milk and aged at least 12 months or, outside the European Union, a locally produced imitation.

The full, legally protected, name of the Italian cheese is Parmigiano Reggiano. It is named after two of the areas which produce it, the Italian provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia (Parmigiano is the Italian adjective for Parma and Reggiano that for Reggio Emilia); in addition to Reggio Emilia and Parma, it is also produced in the part of Bologna west of the River Reno and in Modena (all of the above being located in the Emilia-Romagna region), as well as in the part of Mantua (Lombardy) which is on the south bank of the River Po. (Full article...)

List of fare/cuisine articles
Italian cuisine Pizza Ancient Roman cuisine Pasta Roman cuisine Sicilian cuisine Mozzarella Fettuccine Alfredo Acquacotta Carbonara Gelato Marron glacé Minestrone Pizza di Pasqua Chianti Food and dining in the Roman Empire Espresso Italian wine Testaroli Prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale Latte

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The following are images from various Italy-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Dante Alighieri, one of the greatest poets of the Middle Ages. His epic poem The Divine Comedy ranks among the finest works of world literature. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 2Columbus Breaking the Egg by William Hogarth (from Culture of Italy)
Image 3The historic seat of the Corriere della Sera in via Solferino in Milan (from Culture of Italy)
Image 4Rai Radio 1 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 5Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome is a perfect example of modern Italian architecture. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 6Tagliatelle with ragù (from Culture of Italy)
Image 7Festival of Saint Agatha (from Culture of Italy)
Image 8The Sagra dell'uva in Marino, celebrating grapes (from Culture of Italy)
Image 9Alessandro Manzoni is famous for the novel The Betrothed (1827), generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 10The cover of the Corriere dei Piccoli on 11 July 1911 carries a cartoon strip in the Italian style without speech bubbles. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 11Romulus and Remus, the Lupercal, Father Tiber, and the Palatine on a relief from a pedestal dating to the reign of Trajan (AD 98–117) (from Culture of Italy)
Image 12The Sistine Chapel ceiling, with frescos done by Michelangelo (from Culture of Italy)
Image 13The Piazza dei Miracoli, with Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistery, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, in Pisan Romanesque style (from Culture of Italy)
Image 14The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (from Culture of Italy)
Image 15Federico Fellini, considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers in the history of cinema (from Culture of Italy)
Image 16Statues of Pantalone and Harlequin, two stock characters from the Commedia dell'arte, in the Museo Teatrale alla Scala (from Culture of Italy)
Image 17The statue of Italia turrita in Reggio Calabria. Italia turrita is the national personification of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 18Gelato is Italian ice cream. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 19Palazzo Senatorio, seat of the municipality of Rome. It has been a town hall since AD 1144, making it the oldest town hall in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 20The Calling of St Matthew by Caravaggio (from Culture of Italy)
Image 21The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., reflects the president's admiration for classical Roman aesthetics (from Culture of Italy)
Image 22Roman mosaic of Virgil, the most important Latin poet of the Augustan period (from Culture of Italy)
Image 23Traditional pizza Margherita, whose ingredients, tomato (red), mozzarella (white) and basil (green), are inspired by the colours of the national flag of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 24Palio di Siena (from Culture of Italy)
Image 25Castel del Monte, Apulia (from Culture of Italy)
Image 26The Forum of Pompeii with Vesuvius in the distance (from Culture of Italy)
Image 27Royal Palace of Caserta, the largest royal residence in the world (from Culture of Italy)
Image 28The Roman Empire provided an inspiration for the medieval European. Although the Holy Roman Empire rarely acquired a serious geopolitical reality, it possessed great symbolic significance. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 29Antonio Vivaldi, in 1723. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 30The Colosseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 31The espresso comes from the Italian esprimere, which means "to express," and refers to the process by which hot water is forced under pressure through ground coffee. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 32Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is an Italian art masterpiece worldwide famous. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 33Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana Store on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas (from Culture of Italy)
Image 34Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (c. 1486). Tempera on canvas. 172.5 cm × 278.9 cm (67.9 in × 109.6 in). Uffizi, Florence. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 35Pietà, by Michelangelo is a key work of Italian Renaissance sculpture. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 36David, by Michelangelo (Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, Italy) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 37Pinocchio Disney film is based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 38Clockwise from top left: Thomas Aquinas, proponent of natural theology and the Father of Thomism; Giordano Bruno, one of the major scientific figures of the Western world; Cesare Beccaria, considered the Father of criminal justice and modern criminal law; and Maria Montessori, credited with the creation of the Montessori education (from Culture of Italy)
Image 39Regional seat of RAI in Cosenza (from Culture of Italy)
Image 40Scrovegni Chapel. The chapel contains a fresco cycle by Giotto, completed about 1305 and considered to be an important masterpiece of Western art. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 41The Altare della Patria in Rome, a national symbol of Italy celebrating the first king of the unified country, and resting place of the Italian Unknown Soldier since the end of World War I. It was inaugurated in 1911, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 42The Arch of Constantine in Rome (from Culture of Italy)
Image 43Carnival of Venice (from Culture of Italy)
Image 44Folkloristic reconstruction of the Company of Death led by Alberto da Giussano who is preparing to carry out the charge during the battle of Legnano at the Palio di Legnano 2014 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 45The Leaning Tower of Pisa (from Culture of Italy)
Image 46The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 47A wooden puppet depicting the Befana (from Culture of Italy)
Image 48Teatro di San Carlo, Naples. It is the oldest continuously active venue for opera in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 49John Florio is recognised as the most important Renaissance humanist in England (from Culture of Italy)
Image 50William Shakespeare is an example of an Italophile of the 16th century. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 51Entrance to Cinecittà in Rome, the largest film studio in Europe (from Culture of Italy)
Image 52Italian folk dance in Molise (from Culture of Italy)
Image 53The Creation of Adam is one of the scenes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, painted by Michelangelo sometime between 1508 and 1512. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 54The discovery of the New World by Christoper Columbus (from Culture of Italy)
Image 55Dario Fo, one of the most widely performed playwrights in modern theatre, received international acclaim for his highly improvisational style. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 56Luciano Pavarotti, considered one of the finest tenors of the 20th century and the "King of the High Cs" (from Culture of Italy)
Image 57The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, possibly one of the most famous and iconic examples of Italian art (from Culture of Italy)
Image 58Italian wine and salumi (from Culture of Italy)
Image 59Ferragosto fireworks display in Padua on 15 August 2010 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 60The Uffizi in Florence (from Culture of Italy)
Image 61The Trevi Fountain in Rome (from Culture of Italy)
Image 62Prada shop at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan (from Culture of Italy)
Image 63Giorgio Moroder, pioneer of Italo disco and electronic dance music, is known as the "Father of disco". (from Culture of Italy)