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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. It consists of a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land border, as well as nearly 800 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 Europe by area, covering 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. Italy's capital and largest city is Rome; other major urban areas include Milan, Naples, Turin, Palermo, Bologna, Florence, Genoa, and Venice.

The history of Italy goes back to numerous Italic peoples, notably including the ancient Romans, who conquered the Mediterranean world during the Roman Republic and ruled it for centuries during the Roman Empire. With the spread of Christianity, Rome became the seat of the Catholic Church and the Papacy. Between late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Italy experienced the arrival of Germanic tribes and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. 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 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, contributing significantly to the European Age of Discovery. (Full article...)

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View of Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius

Pompeii (/pɒmˈpeɪ(i)/ ^ⓘ pom-PAY(-ee), Latin: [pɔmˈpei̯.iː]) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and many surrounding villas, the city was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Largely preserved under the ash, Pompeii offers a unique snapshot of Roman life, frozen at the moment it was buried, as well as insight into ancient urban planning. It was a wealthy town of 10,000 to 20,000 residents at the time it was destroyed. It hosted many fine public buildings and luxurious private houses with lavish decorations, furnishings and artworks, which were the main attractions for early excavators; subsequent excavations have found hundreds of private homes and businesses reflecting various architectural styles and social classes, as well as numerous public buildings. Organic remains, including wooden objects and human bodies, were interred in the ash; their eventual decay allowed archaeologists to create moulds of figures in their final moments of life. The numerous graffiti carved on outside walls and inside rooms provide a wealth of examples of the largely lost Vulgar Latin spoken colloquially at the time, contrasting with the formal language of classical writers. (Full article...)

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

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Carlo Orelli

...that Carlo Orelli (pictured) was the last surviving Italian veteran to see service on Italy's entry into World War I?

...that wine made from the Italian grape Schioppettino was served at weddings in 1282 and the grape is still being grown today?

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Italian wine (Italian: vino italiano) is produced in every region of Italy. Italy is the country with the widest variety of indigenous grapevine in the world, with an area of 702,000 hectares (1.73 million acres) under vineyard cultivation, as well as the world's second largest wine producer and the largest exporter as of 2023^[update]. Contributing 49.8 million hl of wine in 2022, Italy accounted for over 19.3% of global production, ahead of France (17.7%) and Spain (13.8%); the following year, production decreased by 11.5 million hl, and Italy was surpassed by France. Italian wine is also popular domestically among Italians, who consume a yearly average of 46.8 litres per capita, ranking third in world wine consumption.

The origins of vine-growing and winemaking in Italy has been illuminated by recent research, stretching back even before the Phoenician, Etruscans and Greek settlers, who produced wine in Italy before the Romans planted their own vineyards. The Romans greatly increased Italy's viticultural area using efficient viticultural and winemaking methods. (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 Chianti Food and dining in the Roman Empire Espresso Testaroli Prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale Latte

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

Image 1The Trevi Fountain in Rome (from Culture of Italy)
Image 2Italian wine and salumi (from Culture of Italy)
Image 3Galileo Galilei, an astronomer, physicist, engineer, and polymath, played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. He is considered the "father" of observational astronomy, modern physics, the scientific method, and modern science. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 4Antonio Vivaldi, in 1723. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 5The Leaning Tower of Pisa (from Culture of Italy)
Image 6Royal Palace of Caserta is the largest former royal residence in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 7The Azzurri in 2012. Football is the most popular sport in Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 8John Florio is recognised as the most important Renaissance humanist in England. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 9Andrea Palladio is often described as the most influential architect in the Western world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 10Antonio Meucci, inventor of the first telephone (from Culture of Italy)
Image 11Milan Cathedral is the fourth-largest church in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 12Clockwise 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 13Alessandro Manzoni is famous for the novel The Betrothed (1827), generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 14An Alfa Romeo 159 vehicle of the Carabinieri corps (from Culture of Italy)
Image 15Folkloristic 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 16The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. reflects the president's admiration for classical Roman aesthetics. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 17Anti-fascist demonstration at Porta San Paolo in Rome on the occasion of the Liberation Day on 25 April 2013 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 18A wooden puppet depicting the Befana (from Culture of Italy)
Image 19Dante 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 20Giosuè Carducci. In 1906, he became the first Italian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 21The Sistine Chapel ceiling, with frescos done by Michelangelo (from Culture of Italy)
Image 22Prada shop at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan (from Culture of Italy)
Image 23Holographic copy of 1847 of "Il Canto degli Italiani", the Italian national anthem since 1946 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 24The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 25Celebration of the 2777th Natale di Roma at the Circus Maximus (from Culture of Italy)
Image 26Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome is a perfect example of modern Italian architecture. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 27The Uffizi in Florence (from Culture of Italy)
Image 28Florence Cathedral, which has the biggest brick dome in the world (from Culture of Italy)
Image 29Pinocchio Disney film is based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 30David, by Michelangelo (Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, Italy), is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 31Giorgio Moroder, pioneer of Italo disco and electronic dance music, is known as the "Father of disco". (from Culture of Italy)
Image 32The 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 33Roman mosaic of Virgil, the most important Latin poet of the Augustan period (from Culture of Italy)
Image 34The Calling of St Matthew by Caravaggio (from Culture of Italy)
Image 35Teatro di San Carlo, Naples. It is the oldest continuously active venue for opera in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 36Espresso is a coffee brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans. The term 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 37Chiostro of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (from Culture of Italy)
Image 38Ernesto Teodoro Moneta was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1907. He adopted the motto In varietate unitas! which later inspired Motto of the European Union. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 39Carnival of Venice (from Culture of Italy)
Image 40Palazzo 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 41Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is an Italian art masterpiece worldwide famous. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 42The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 43Leonardo da Vinci, a polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect (from Culture of Italy)
Image 44The Forum of Pompeii with Vesuvius in the distance (from Culture of Italy)
Image 45Romulus 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 46The 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 47Tagliatelle with ragù (from Culture of Italy)
Image 48Regional seat of RAI in Cosenza (from Culture of Italy)
Image 49Linguistic map of the Italian language throughout the world
  Official language

  Secondary, widely spoken or understood

  Understood by some due to former colonisation
(from Culture of Italy)
Image 50A Ferrari SF21 by Scuderia Ferrari, the most successful Formula One team (from Culture of Italy)
Image 51Palio di Siena (from Culture of Italy)
Image 52Starting in 1909, the Giro d'Italia is the Grands Tours' second oldest. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 53Pietà, by Michelangelo, is a key work of Italian Renaissance sculpture. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 54Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana Store on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas (from Culture of Italy)
Image 55Festival of Saint Agatha (from Culture of Italy)
Image 56Map of the Italian diaspora in the world
  Italy
  + 10,000,000
  + 1,000,000
  + 100,000
  + 10,000
(from Culture of Italy)
Image 57The Trevi Fountain in Rome (from Culture of Italy)
Image 58St. Peter's Basilica, a representation of Renaissance and Baroque architecture (from Culture of Italy)
Image 59The president of Italy Sergio Mattarella during his entry into the Sala del Tricolore on the occasion of the Tricolour Day on 7 January 2017 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 60Bologna University, established in AD 1088, is the world's oldest university in continuous operation. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 61Gelato is Italian ice cream. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 62William Shakespeare is an example of an Italophile of the 16th century. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 63Castel del Monte, Apulia (from Culture of Italy)
Image 64The Frecce Tricolori, with the smoke trail representing the national colours of Italy, above the Victor Emmanuel II Monument in Rome during the celebrations of the Festa della Repubblica on 2 June 2022 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 65The Piazza dei Miracoli, with Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistery, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, in Pisan Romanesque style (from Culture of Italy)
Image 66Rai Radio 1 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 67Italian folk dance in Molise (from Culture of Italy)
Image 68Dario 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 69The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus leads an expedition to the New World, 1492. His voyages are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a new era in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 70Columbus Breaking the Egg by William Hogarth (from Culture of Italy)
Image 71Valle dei Templi (from Culture of Italy)
Image 72Palazzo della Carovana, the current seat of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (from Culture of Italy)
Image 73Luciano Pavarotti, considered one of the finest tenors of the 20th century and the "King of the High Cs" (from Culture of Italy)
Image 74The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, possibly one of the most famous and iconic examples of Italian art (from Culture of Italy)
Image 75The Sagra dell'uva in Marino, Lazio, celebrating grapes (from Culture of Italy)
Image 76Augustus created during the Roman Empire for the first time an administrative region called Italia with inhabitants called Italicus Populus; for this reason historians called him Father of Italians. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 77Entrance to Cinecittà in Rome, the largest film studio in Europe (from Culture of Italy)
Image 78Scrovegni 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 79The 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 80The statue of Italia turrita in Naples. Italia turrita is the national personification of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 81Commedia dell'arte troupe I Gelosi performing, by Hieronymus Francken I, c. 1590 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 82The ingredients of traditional pizza Margherita—tomatoes (red), mozzarella (white), and basil (green)—are inspired by the colours of the national flag of Italy. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 83The historic seat of the Corriere della Sera in via Solferino in Milan (from Culture of Italy)
Image 84The 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 85The Arch of Constantine in Rome (from Culture of Italy)
Image 86The 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 87Federico Fellini, considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers in the history of cinema (from Culture of Italy)
Image 88The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (from Culture of Italy)
Image 89Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato (from Culture of Italy)
Image 90Ferragosto fireworks display in Padua on 15 August 2010 (from Culture of Italy)
Image 91World map of first level subdivisions (states, counties, provinces, etc.) that are home to Little Italys or Italian neighbourhoods (from Culture of Italy)
Image 92Samantha Cristoforetti is the first Italian woman in space. She holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight by a European astronaut (199 days, 16 hours). (from Culture of Italy)
Image 93Sandro 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 94Guglielmo Marconi was the inventor of radio. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 95Enrico Fermi, creator of the world's first nuclear reactor. He is considered the "architect of the nuclear age" and the "architect of the atomic bomb". (from Culture of Italy)