Italy Wikitravel. Italy. Italy Italian Italia is a country in Southern Europe. Together with Greece, it is acknowledged as the birthplace of Western culture. Not surprisingly, it is also home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world. High art and monuments are to be found everywhere around the country. It is also famous worldwide for its delicious cuisine, its trendy fashion industry, luxury sports cars and motorcycles, diverse regional cultures and dialects, as well as for its beautiful coast, alpine lakes and mountain ranges the Alps and Apennines. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Downloadable Books and Magazines BARD Braille and Audio Reading Download. Experience luxury and a tropical paradise at Barcelo Maya Caribe and Beach with CheapCaribbean. Barcelo Maya Caribe features highlyrated beaches. Dame Joan Collins was one of thousands forced to evacuate their homes as fires raged along the French Riviera and across southern Europe yesterday. The apocalyptic. News and opinion from The Times The Sunday Times. A sheltered young high society woman joins the United States Army on a whim and finds herself in a more difficult situation than she ever expected. Yahoo Lifestyle is your source for style, beauty, and wellness, including health, inspiring stories, and the latest fashion trends. The Great Riviera Bank Robbery Full MovieThe Great Riviera Bank Robbery MovieNo wonder it is often nicknamed the Bel Paese the Beautiful Country. Two independent mini states are surrounded entirely by Italy San Marino and Vatican City. While technically not part of the European Union, both of these states are also part of the Schengen Area and the European Monetary Union EMU. The Great Riviera Bank Robbery Cast' title='The Great Riviera Bank Robbery Cast' />Apart from different police uniforms, there is no evident transition from these states and Italys territory, and the currency is the same. Italian is also the official language in both countries. UnderstandeditItaly is, for the most part, a peninsula situated on the Mediterranean Sea, bordering France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia in the north. Italy, which is boot shaped, is surrounded by the Ligurian and the Tyrrhenian Seas to the west, the Mediterranean and Ionian Seas to the South, and the Adriatic Sea to the East. Italian is the official language spoken by the majority of the population, but as you travel throughout the country you will find that there are several distinct Italian dialects depending on the region youre in. French is spoken in the northwest and German in the northeast. The Great Riviera Bank Robbery Watch Online' title='The Great Riviera Bank Robbery Watch Online' />Italy has a very diverse landscape, but can be primarily described as mountainous, including the Alps and the Apennines mountain ranges that run through the vast majority of it. Two major islands are part of this country Sardinia, which is an island off the west coast of Italy, and Sicily, at the southern tip the toe of the boot. Anglais Medical Cours Pdf. While abroad somewhat preserving the reputation as a fiercely catholic society, the Italian religious reality is actually rather diverse. If churches are a ubiquitous sight in large cities as in tiny small towns, the actual practice and mass attendance among believers is in line with that of other European countries older generations being more observant while younger ones more on the indifferent side. All possible Christian denominations and a sizeable Jewish community have made Italy their home for centuries. Moreover, in recent decades Islam and Buddhism have also become increasingly visible, partly as a consequence of mass immigration from North Africa and Asia, but also due to sporadic conversions among Italians. Agnosticism or downright atheism have also become common, according to the latest census, accounting for nearly 2. HistoryeditThe Pantheon, a huge Roman temple, which is a symbol of the Roman civilization in Italy. Certainly, humans inhabited the Italian peninsula for at least 2. Neolithic civilisations flourished in prehistoric Italy but were either wiped out, or assimilated, around 2. BC by a group of Indo European tribes, which are collectively known as the Italic peoples. These were more or less closely related to each other and comprised tribes such as the Latins, Etruscans, Umbrians, Samnites, Sicels, Ligures, Oscans, just to name a few. The Etruscan civilisation was among the first to rise in the 6th century BC and lasted until the late Republican period it flourished in what are now northern Lazio, Umbria and Tuscany. In the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Greek colonies were established in Sicily and the southern part of Italy the Etruscan culture rapidly became influenced by that of Greece. Hannah Montana Games Disney Channel. This is well illustrated at some excellent Etruscan museums Etruscan burial sites are also well worth visiting. Rome itself was dominated by Etruscan kings until 5. BC, when the last of them Tarquinius Superbus was ousted from power and the Roman Republic was founded. After a series of wars, the Romans sacked the nearby Etruscan city of Veii in 3. BC this triggered the collapse of the Etruscan confederation and the Etruscan people themselves began to be assimilated. The Celts settled in what is now Northern Italy, where their civilisation flourished, in the 1st millennium BC and began expanding further south they made the mistake of sacking Rome in 3. BC and the Romans, hell bent on revenge, waged wars against them until they were conquered and their people assimilated. Ancient Rome was at first a small village founded around the 8th century BC. In time, its primitive kingdom grew into a republic which would later evolve into an empire covering the whole Mediterranean and expanding as far north as Scotland and as far east as Mesopotamia and Arabia. Its steady decline began in the 2nd century AD, and the empire finally broke into two parts in 2. AD the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire in the East. The western part came under attack from various Germanic tribes Visigoths sacked Rome in 4. AD and their Vandal fellows would follow in 4. AD. The Western Roman Empire finally collapsed in 4. AD, and the barbarian chiefs divided the Italian peninsula among themselves after this, Italy plunged into the so called Dark Ages. Following a lengthy, and bloody, reconquest by the Byzantines the so called Gothic Wars, much of Italy was controlled by the Eastern Roman Empire. Needless to say, this wouldnt last long as a Germanic tribe, the Lombards, invaded Italy once more in 5. Lombardy. Like their predecessors, they divided the land among themselves however, due to their numerical inferiority, they were eventually assimilated by the native populace. Only parts of southern Italy which were under Byzantine control and what would later become the Papal States that is, Rome and the surrounding region, which were under the authority of the Pope survived as relatively independent entities indeed, the Church was so independent that it saw fit to call other barbarians, the Franks, in order to get rid of their now almost completely romanised violent, unstable, nosy Lombard neighbours. These were defeated in 7. Franks and subsequently lost their kingdom. Meanwhile, the Veneto was being devastated by the barbarians a part of its inhabitants thought theyd been safe on the islands in the Venetian lagoon and thus founded a city there Venice was born. The first evidence of what would become the Italian language dates back to this century and more precisely to 9. Sicily remained in Byzantine hands until the late 8th century, when it was conquered by the Arabs whose reign, however, was short lived in 1. Normans after having kicked out the Byzantines from the rest of Southern Italy proceeded to invade Sicily. They created the Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples which would later become the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, as a result of the unification of these two realms in 1. Naples. In the north, Italy was a collection of small, independent city states and kingdoms which were under the authority of the Holy Roman Emperor. However, they revolted against the then Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1. Imperial army at Legnano, thus gaining their independence.