Italy

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Today Italy has one national language, which is "Italian". In Italy, some other languages are also spoken. Over the centuries many regional languages have developed are considered as modern Italian. Just as, Milanese, which is spoken near the city of Milan, Neapolitan which is spoken near Naples, Sicilian which is spoken on Sicily.

Italy is a peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea. Its most prominent feature is its boot-like shape kicking the island of Sicily. About 75% of Italy is mountainous or hilly, and roughly 20% of the country is forested. There are narrow strips of low-lying land along the Adriatic coast and parts of the Tyrrhenian coast.

• Greetings are enthusiastic yet rather formal.
• Italians are guided by first impressions, so it is important that you demonstrate propriety and respect when greeting people, especially when meeting them for the first time.
• Many Italians use calling cards in social situations. These are slightly larger than traditional business cards and include the person’s name, address, title or academic honours, and their telephone number.
• If you are staying in Italy for an extended period of time, it is a good idea to have calling cards made.

Italy’s Population has grown up to 58,751,711 people according to the latest census. It is the fourth largest populated country of Europe and ranks twenty-second in the world. The great majority of the population speaks Italian (including several dialects). There are small German, French, and Slavic speaking minorities. Italy’s Population growth has been mainly affected by the high birth rate of 8.72 births per 1,000 people and relatively high life expectancy and low death rate of 10.4 deaths/1,000 people. The most populous cities are Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Palermo and Genoa.

Italy has been a democratic republic since 2 June, 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum. The constitution was promulgated on 1 January, 1948. The 1948 Constitution of Italy established a bicameral parliament, consisting of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate, with a separate judiciary, and an executive branch composed of a Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister. The President of the Italian Republic is elected for seven years by the parliament sitting jointly with a small number of regional delegates.

Greeks settled in the southern tip of the Italian Peninsula in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. Etruscans, Romans, and others inhabited the central and northern mainland. The peninsula subsequently was unified under the Roman Republic. The neighbouring islands came under Roman control by the third century B.C. By the first century A.D., the Roman Empire effectively dominated the Mediterranean world. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West in the fifth century A.D., the peninsula and islands were subjected to a series of invasions, and political unity was lost.

The Italian economy has changed dramatically since the end of World War II. From an agriculturally based economy, it has developed into an industrial state ranked as the world’s sixth-largest market economy. Italy belongs to the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized nations. It is a member of the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Italy’s economic strength is in the processing and manufacturing of goods, primarily in small and medium-sized family-owned firms.

Area: 301,318 km2

Population: 59.13 m

Capital City: Rome (population: 2.7 m)

The highest peak: Monte Bianco 4,807 m

The longest river: Po 652 km

The largest lake: Lago di Garda 370 km2

People: Mostly Italian, with small populations of German, French and Slovene Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south.