Italian Republic


Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Il Canto degli Italiani
(also known as Inno di Mameli)
The Song of the Italians
Location of Italy (dark green)

– on the European continent (light green & dark grey)
– in the European Union (light green) — [Legend]
Capital
(and largest city)		 Rome
41°54′N 12°29′E / 41.9°N 12.483°E / 41.9; 12.483
Official languages Italian1
Ethnic groups ([1]) 94.2% Italian
1.94% Romanian, Albanian, Ukrainian
Demonym Italian
Government Parliamentary republic
- President Giorgio Napolitano
- Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Legislature Parliament
- Upper House Senate
- Lower House Chamber of Deputies
Formation
- Unification 17 March 1861
- Republic 2 June 1946
EU accession 25 March 1957 (founding member)
Area
- Total 301,338 km2 (71st)
116,346 sq mi
- Water (%) 2.4
Population
- 2009 estimate 60,088,880[2] (23rd)
- 2001 census 56,995,744
- Density 199.4/km2 (54th)
516.5/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2009 estimate
- Total $1.815 trillion[3] (10th)
- Per capita $29,273[3] (27th)
GDP (nominal) 2009 estimate
- Total $2.314 trillion[3] (7th)
- Per capita $33,253[3] (21st)
Gini (2000) 36 (medium)
HDI (2006) ▲ 0.945[4] (high) (19th)
Currency Euro (€)2 (EUR)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the right
Internet TLD .it3
Calling code 394
1 French is co-official in the Aosta Valley; Slovenian is co-official in the province of Trieste and the province of Gorizia; German and Ladin are co-official in the province of Bolzano-Bozen.
2 Before 2002, the Italian Lira. The euro is accepted in Campione d'Italia, but the official currency is the Swiss Franc.[5]
3 The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states.
4 To call Campione d'Italia, it is necessary to use the Swiss code +41.

Italy en-us-Italy.ogg /ˈɪtəli/ (help·info) (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica Italiana), is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within the Italian Peninsula, and Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland.

The land known as Italy today has been the cradle of many European cultures and peoples, such as the Etruscans and the Romans. Later it was the birthplace of the Renaissance that began in Tuscany[citation needed] and spread all over Europe. It also played a major role in the development of modern science and astronomy, particularly heliocentrism, as well as the University, and opera. Italy's capital, Rome, was for centuries the center of Western civilization. Italy possessed a colonial empire from the second half of the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century.

Today, the cultural significance of Italy is reflected in the fact that it boasts by far the largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (44) in the world. Contemporary Italy is a democratic republic and a developed country with the eighth-highest quality of life index rating in the world.[6] It is a founding member of what is now the European Union, having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957, and it is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is a member of the G8, having the world's seventh-largest nominal GDP, and is also a member state of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Council of Europe, the Western European Union, and the Central European Initiative. Italy is a Schengen state. It has the world's seventh-largest defence budget and shares NATO's nuclear weapons.