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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 several islands, notably Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and two enclaves: Vatican City and San Marino. Its territory also includes Campione (an exclave surrounded by Switzerland) and the Pelagie Islands (an archipelago in the African Plate). It is the tenth-largest country by land area in the European continent, covering an area of 301,340 km² (116,350 sq mi), and the 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, Lombardy, Naples, Turin, Florence, and Venice.

In antiquity, the Italian peninsula was home to numerous peoples; the Latin city of Rome in central Italy, 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 of 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 also discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, leading the European Age of Discovery. However, centuries of rivalry and infighting between the Italian city-states among other factors left the peninsula divided into numerous states until the late modern period. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Italian economic and commercial importance waned significantly. (Full article...)

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Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Italian: [raffaˈɛllo ˈsantsjo da urˈbiːno]; March 28 or April 6, 1483 – April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael (UK: /ˈræfeɪ.əl/ RAF-ay-əl, US: /ˈræfi.əl, ˈreɪfi-, ˌrɑːfaɪˈɛl/ RAF-ee-əl, RAY-fee-, RAH-fy-EL), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

His father was court painter to the ruler of the small but highly cultured city of Urbino. He died when Raphael was eleven, and Raphael seems to have played a role in managing the family workshop from this point. He trained in the workshop of Perugino, and was described as a fully trained "master" by 1500. He worked in or for several cities in north Italy until in 1508 he moved to Rome at the invitation of Pope Julius II, to work on the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. He was given a series of important commissions there and elsewhere in the city, and began to work as an architect. He was still at the height of his powers at his death in 1520. (Full article...)

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

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...that the Italian automaker Autobianchi was founded by the bicycle manufacturer Bianchi, tire giant Pirelli and Fiat?

...that Umarell [uma'rɛːlː], is an Italian slang term for sidewalk superintendent, popular in Bologna and increasingly used in other part of the country?

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Chianti is an Italian red wine produced in the Chianti region of central Tuscany, principally from the Sangiovese grape. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a fiasco ("flask"; pl.: fiaschi). However, the fiasco is now only used by a few makers of the wine; most Chianti is bottled in more standard-shaped wine bottles. In the latter nineteenth century, Baron Bettino Ricasoli (later Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy) helped establish Sangiovese as the blend's dominant grape variety, creating the blueprint for today's Chianti wines.

The first definition of a wine area called Chianti was made in 1716. It described the area near the villages of Gaiole, Castellina and Radda; the so-called Lega del Chianti and later Provincia del Chianti (Chianti province). In 1932 the Chianti area was completely redrawn and divided into seven sub-areas: Classico, Colli Aretini, Colli Fiorentini, Colline Pisane, Colli Senesi, Montalbano and Rùfina. Most of the villages that in 1932 were added to the newly defined Chianti Classico region added in Chianti to their names, for example Greve in Chianti, which amended its name in 1972. Wines labelled Chianti Classico come from the largest sub-area of Chianti, which includes the original Chianti heartland. Only Chianti from this sub-zone may display the black rooster (gallo nero) seal on the neck of the bottle, which indicates that the producer of the wine is a member of the Chianti Classico Consortium, the local association of producers. Other variants, with the exception of Rufina north-east of Florence and Montalbano south of Pistoia, originate in the named provinces: Siena for the Colli Senesi, Florence for the Colli Fiorentini, Arezzo for the Colli Aretini and Pisa for the Colline Pisane. In 1996 part of the Colli Fiorentini sub-area was renamed Montespertoli. (Full article...)

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Italian cuisine Pizza Ancient Roman cuisine Pasta Roman cuisine Parmigiano-Reggiano Sicilian cuisine Mozzarella Fettuccine Alfredo Acquacotta Carbonara Gelato Marron glacé Minestrone Pizza di Pasqua 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 1The Sistine Chapel ceiling, with frescos done by Michelangelo (from Culture of Italy)
Image 2Federico Fellini, considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers in the history of cinema (from Culture of Italy)
Image 3The Arch of Constantine in Rome (from Culture of Italy)
Image 4Clockwise 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 5The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., reflects the president's admiration for classical Roman aesthetics (from Culture of Italy)
Image 6The 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 7Sandro 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 8Palazzo 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 9The Uffizi in Florence (from Culture of Italy)
Image 10Regional seat of RAI in Cosenza (from Culture of Italy)
Image 11John Florio is recognised as the most important Renaissance humanist in England (from Culture of Italy)
Image 12Carnival of Venice (from Culture of Italy)
Image 13William Shakespeare is an example of an Italophile of the 16th century. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 14Teatro di San Carlo, Naples. It is the oldest continuously active venue for opera in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 15Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana Store on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas (from Culture of Italy)
Image 16Alessandro Manzoni is famous for the novel The Betrothed (1827), generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 17The Sagra dell'uva in Marino, celebrating grapes (from Culture of Italy)
Image 18The 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 19The historic seat of the Corriere della Sera in via Solferino in Milan (from Culture of Italy)
Image 20Pietà, by Michelangelo is a key work of Italian Renaissance sculpture. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 21The 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 22Luciano Pavarotti, considered one of the finest tenors of the 20th century and the "King of the High Cs" (from Culture of Italy)
Image 23The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, possibly one of the most famous and iconic examples of Italian art (from Culture of Italy)
Image 24The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (from Culture of Italy)
Image 25Dante 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 26Gelato is Italian ice cream. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 27Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome is a perfect example of modern Italian architecture. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 28David, by Michelangelo (Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, Italy) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 29The 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 30The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 31Romulus 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 32The discovery of the New World by Christoper Columbus (from Culture of Italy)
Image 33Castel del Monte, Apulia (from Culture of Italy)
Image 34Antonio Vivaldi, in 1723. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 35Scrovegni 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 36Dario 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 37The 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 38Giorgio Moroder, pioneer of Italo disco and electronic dance music, is known as the "Father of disco". (from Culture of Italy)
Image 39Prada shop at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan (from Culture of Italy)
Image 40Italian folk dance in Molise (from Culture of Italy)
Image 41Royal Palace of Caserta, the largest royal residence in the world (from Culture of Italy)
Image 42The 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 43Traditional 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 44The Piazza dei Miracoli, with Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistery, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, in Pisan Romanesque style (from Culture of Italy)
Image 45Pinocchio Disney film is based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 46The Forum of Pompeii with Vesuvius in the distance (from Culture of Italy)
Image 47Festival of Saint Agatha (from Culture of Italy)
Image 48Palio di Siena (from Culture of Italy)
Image 49The Trevi Fountain in Rome (from Culture of Italy)
Image 50The Calling of St Matthew by Caravaggio (from Culture of Italy)
Image 51Rai Radio 1 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 52Ferragosto fireworks display in Padua on 15 August 2010 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 53Roman mosaic of Virgil, the most important Latin poet of the Augustan period (from Culture of Italy)
Image 54Entrance to Cinecittà in Rome, the largest film studio in Europe (from Culture of Italy)
Image 55A wooden puppet depicting the Befana (from Culture of Italy)
Image 56Statues of Pantalone and Harlequin, two stock characters from the Commedia dell'arte, in the Museo Teatrale alla Scala (from Culture of Italy)
Image 57The Leaning Tower of Pisa (from Culture of Italy)
Image 58Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is an Italian art masterpiece worldwide famous. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 59The statue of Italia turrita in Reggio Calabria. Italia turrita is the national personification of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 60Italian wine and salumi (from Culture of Italy)
Image 61Tagliatelle with ragù (from Culture of Italy)
Image 62Folkloristic 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 63Columbus Breaking the Egg by William Hogarth (from Culture of Italy)