Culture of Italy

Theculture of Italyencompasses the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, and customs of the Italian peninsula and of the Italians throughout history. Italy has been the centre of theRoman civilization, theCatholic Church, and of theRenaissance, as well as the starting point of movements with a great international impact such as theBaroque,Neoclassicism, andFuturismand significantly contributed to historical phenomenons such as theAge of Discoveryand theScientific Revolution.Italy is considered acultural superpowerand the Italian peninsula one of the birthplaces ofWestern civilization.
Italy was home of theEtruscansand of theItalic peoplessuch as theSamnitesand theRomans, while also hosting cities from foreign civilizations such as thePhoeniciansand theGreeks. Etruscan and Samnite cultures flourished in Italy before the emergence of the Roman Republic, which conquered and incorporated them. Phoenicians and Greeks established settlements in Italy beginning several centuries before the birth of Christ, and the Greek settlements in particular developed into thriving classical civilizations, for example the cities ofMagna Graecia.
From the Middle Ages to the early modern period the region that is now Italy was divided intonumerous independent states, until 1861 when it became a nation-state.Due to this comparatively late unification, and the historical autonomy of the regions that comprise the Italian peninsula, many traditions and customs that are now recognised as distinctly Italian can be identified by their regions of origin. Despite the political and social isolation of some of these regions, Italy made significant contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of Europe.
The main elements of Italian culture are its art, music, cinema, style, and food. Italy was the birthplace ofopera,and for generations the language of opera wasItalian, irrespective of the nationality of the composer. Italy had a significant presence in the development ofClassical music, birthingBaroque music, many forms of musical composition such as theSymphony, theSonataand theConcerto, as well as many important composers such asClaudio Monteverdi,Antonio Vivaldi,Gioachino Rossini,Gaetano Donizetti,Vincenzo Bellini,Giuseppe Verdi, andGiacomo Puccini. Italy is known for its livelyfolk dances. The most recognised Italian folk dance is theTarantella, a dance originating in theprovince of Taranto, Apulia, as well as its many variations across Italy such as theCalabrian Tarantella, thePizzica, and theTammurriata. Italy haselectronic dance musicscenes consisting of Italian-born genres such asItalo disco,lento violento,anddream tranceas well as foreign genres such ashardstyle. Before being exported to France, theBalletdance genre also originated in Italy. Popular tastes in drama in Italy have long favoured comedy; the improvisational style known as thecommedia dell'artebegan in Italy in the mid-16th centuryand is still performed today.Italian cinemais revered throughout the world. Theart filmhas its origins in Italy.Spaghetti Westernsemerged with the release ofSergio Leone'sA Fistful of Dollars, a genre consisting of films mostly produced and directed by Italians.
The country boasts several well-known cities.Romewas the ancient capital of the Roman civilization, seat of the Pope of the Catholic Church, capital of reunified Italy and artistic, cultural, and cinematographic centre of world relevance.Florencewas the heart of theRenaissance, a period of great achievements inthe artsat the end of the Middle Ages.Venice, former capital of amajor financial and maritime powerfrom the Middle Ages to the early modern period, with its intricate canal system attracts tourists from all over the world, especially during theCarnival of Veniceand theBiennale.Other important Italian cities includeMilan, which is the industrial and financial capital of Italy and one of the world'sfashion capitals.Naples, with the oldest active public opera house in the world (Teatro di San Carlo)Turin, which used to be the capital of Italy, and is now one of the world's great centres of automobile engineering.Italyis considered one of the birthplaces ofWestern civilizationand acultural superpower.Italian culture is the culture of theItalians, aRomanceethnic group, and is incredibly diverse spanning the entirety of theItalian peninsulaand the islands ofSardiniaandSicily. Italy has been the starting point of phenomena of international impact such as theRoman Republic,Roman Empire, theRoman Catholic Church, theLatin alphabet, theMaritime republics,Romanesque art,Scholasticism, theRenaissanceand thehumanism, theAge of Discovery,Mannerism, theOpera, theScientific Revolution,theBaroque,Neoclassicism, theRisorgimento, theFuturism, andEuropean integration.
Italy is home to the greatest number ofUNESCOWorld Heritage Sites(60).During its history, the nation has given birth to a significant number of notable people who have made major contributions to the world.
Italian art has influenced several major movements throughout the centuries and has produced several great artists, including painters, architects, and sculptors. Today, Italy has an essential place in the international art scene, with several major art galleries, museums, and exhibitions; major artistic centres in the country include Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Turin, Genoa, Naples, Palermo, and other cities. Italy ishome to 60World Heritage Sites, the largest number of any country in the world.
Since ancient times,GreeksandEtruscanshave inhabited the south, centre, and north of the Italian peninsula respectively. The very numerousrock drawings in Valcamonicaare as old as 8,000 BC, and there are rich remains ofEtruscan artfrom thousands of tombs, as well as rich remains from the Greek cities atPaestum,Agrigento, and elsewhere.Ancient Romefinally emerged as the dominant Italian and European power. The Roman remains in Italy are of extraordinary richness, from the grand Imperial monuments ofRomeitself to the survival of exceptionally preserved ordinary buildings inPompeiiand neighbouring sites. Following thefall of the Roman Empire, in theMiddle AgesItaly, remained an important centre, not only of theCarolingian artandOttonian artof theHoly Roman Emperors, but for theByzantine artofRavennaand other sites.
Italy was the main centre of artistic developments throughout theRenaissance(1300–1600), beginning with theProto-RenaissanceofGiottoand reaching a particular peak in theHigh RenaissanceofLeonardo da Vinci,Michelangelo, andRaphael, whose works inspired the later phase of the Renaissance, known asMannerism. Italy retained its artistic dominance into the 17th century with theBaroque(1600–1750).Cultural tourismandNeoclassicism(1750–1850) became a major prop to an otherwise faltering economy. Both Baroque and Neoclassicism originated in Romeand were the last Italian-born styles that spread to allWestern art.
However, Italy maintained a presence in the international art scene from the mid-19th century onwards, with cultural movements such as theMacchiaioli,Futurism,Metaphysical,Novecento Italiano,Spatialism,Arte Povera, andTransavantgarde.
Italy is known for its considerable architectural achievements,such as the construction of arches, domes and similar structures during ancient Rome, the founding of theRenaissance architectural movementin the late-14th to 16th centuries, and being the homeland ofPalladianism, a style of construction which inspired movements such as that ofNeoclassical architecture, and influenced the designs which noblemen built their country houses all over the world, notably in the UK, Australia and the US during the late 17th to early 20th centuries. The history of architecture in Italy is one that begins with the ancient styles of the Etruscans and Greeks, progressing to classical Roman,then to the revival of the classical Roman era during the Renaissance and evolving into the Baroque era. During the period of theItalian Renaissanceit had been customary for students of architecture to travel to Rome to study the ancient ruins and buildings as an essential part of their education.
The Christian concept of a basilica, a style of church architecture that came to dominate the early Middle Ages, was invented in Rome. They were known for being long, rectangular buildings, which were built in an almost ancient Roman style, often rich in mosaics and decorations. The early Christians' art and architecture were also widely inspired by that of the pagan Romans; statues, mosaics and paintings decorated all their churches.Old St. Peter's Church (begun about AD 330) was probably the first significant early Christian basilica, a style of church architecture that came to dominate the early Middle Ages. Old St. Peter's stood on the site of the presentSt. Peter's BasilicainRome. The first significant buildings in the medieval Romanesque style were churches built in Italy during the 800s. Several outstanding examples of the Byzantine architectural style of the Middle East were also built in Italy. The Byzantines kept Roman principles of architecture and art alive, and the most famous structure from this period is theBasilica of St Markin Venice.
The Romanesque movement, which went from approximately 800 AD to 1100 AD, was one of the most fruitful and creative periods in Italian architecture, when several masterpieces, such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa in thePiazza dei Miracoli, and theBasilica of Sant'Ambrogioin Milan were built. It was known for its usage of the Roman arches, stained glass windows, and also its curved columns which commonly featured in cloisters. The main innovation of Italian Romanesque architecture was the vault, which had never been seen before in the history of Western architecture.
A flowering of Italian architecture took place during the Renaissance.Filippo Brunelleschicontributed to architectural design with his dome for the Cathedral of Florence, a feat of engineering that had not been accomplished since antiquity.A popular achievement of Italian Renaissance architecture was St. Peter's Basilica, originally designed byDonato Bramantein the early 16th century. Also,Andrea Palladioinfluenced architects throughout western Europe with the villas and palaces he designed in the middle and late 16th century; the city ofVicenza, with its twenty-three buildings designed by Palladio, and twenty-fourPalladian Villas of the Venetoare listed by UNESCO as part of a World Heritage Site namedCity of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.
The Baroque period produced several outstanding Italian architects in the 17th century, especially known for their churches. The most original work of all late Baroque and Rococo architecture is thePalazzina di caccia di Stupinigi, dating back to the 18th century.Luigi Vanvitellibegan in 1752 the construction of theRoyal Palace of Caserta. In this large complex, the grandiose Baroque-style interiors and gardens are opposed to a more sober building envelope.In the late 18th and early 19th centuries Italy was affected by the Neoclassical architectural movement. Villas, palaces, gardens, interiors and art began to be based on Roman and Greek themes.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Italy was affected by the Neoclassical architectural movement. Everything from villas, palaces, gardens, interiors and art began to be based on Roman and Greek themes,and buildings were also widely themed on theVilla Capra "La Rotonda", the masterpiece by Andrea Palladio.
Italianmodern and contemporary architecturerefers to architecture in Italy during the 20th and 21st centuries. During theFascist periodthe so-called "Novecento movement" flourished, with figures such asGio Ponti,Peter Aschieri, andGiovanni Muzio. This movement was based on the rediscovery of imperial Rome.Marcello Piacentini, who was responsible for the urban transformations of several cities in Italy, and remembered for the disputedVia della Conciliazionein Rome, devised a form of "simplified Neoclassicism".
The fascist architecture (shown in theEUR buildings) was followed by the "Neoliberty" style (seen in earlier works ofVittorio Gregotti) andBrutalist architecture(Torre Velascain Milan groupBBPR, aresidential building via Piagentinain Florence,Leonardo Savioliand works byGiancarlo De Carlo).
The history ofItalian cinemabegan a few months after theLumière brothersbegan motion picture exhibitions.The first Italian director is considered to beVittorio Calcina, a collaborator of the Lumière Brothers, who filmedPope Leo XIIIin 1896.In the 1910s the Italian film industry developed rapidly.In 1912, the year of the greatest expansion, 569 films were produced in Turin, 420 in Rome and 120 in Milan.Cabiria, a 1914 Italianepic filmdirected byGiovanni Pastrone, is considered the most famous Italiansilent film.It was also the first film in history to be shown in theWhite House.The oldest Europeanavant-gardecinema movement,Italian futurism, took place in the late 1910s.
After a period of decline in the 1920s, the Italian film industry was revitalized in the 1930s with the arrival ofsound film. A popular Italian genre during this period, theTelefoni Bianchi, consisted of comedies with glamorous backgrounds.Calligrafismowas instead in a sharp contrast toTelefoni Bianchi-American style comedies and is ratherartistic, highlyformalistic,expressivein complexity, and deals mainly with contemporary literary material.Cinema was later used byBenito Mussolini, who founded Rome's renownedCinecittà studioalso for the production ofFascist propagandauntil World War II.
After the war, Italian film was widely recognised and exported until an artistic decline around the 1980s.Notable Italian film directorsfrom this period includeFederico Fellini,Sergio Leone,Pier Paolo Pasolini,Duccio Tessari,Luchino Visconti,Vittorio De Sica,Michelangelo Antonioni, andRoberto Rossellini; some of these are recognised among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.Movies include world cinema treasures such asBicycle Thieves,La dolce vita,8½,The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, andOnce Upon a Time in the West. The mid-1940s to the early 1950s was the heyday ofneorealist films, reflecting the poor condition of post-war Italy.
As the country grew wealthier in the 1950s, a form of neorealism known as pink neorealism succeeded, and starting from the 1950s through thecommedia all'italianagenre, and otherfilm genres, such assword-and-sandalfollowed asspaghetti Westerns, were popular in the 1960s and 1970s.Actresses such asSophia Loren,Giulietta Masina, andGina Lollobrigidaachieved international stardom during this period. Erotic Italian thrillers, orgialli, produced by directors such asMario BavaandDario Argentoin the 1970s, also influenced the horror genre worldwide.In recent years, the Italian scene has received only occasional international attention, with movies such asCinema Paradiso, written and directed byGiuseppe Tornatore;Mediterraneo, directed byGabriele Salvatores;Il Postino: The Postman, withMassimo Troisi;Life Is Beautiful, directed byRoberto Benigni; andThe Great Beauty, directed byPaolo Sorrentino.
The aforementioned Cinecittà studio is today the largest film and television production facility inEurope,where many international box office hits were filmed. In the 1950s, the number of international productions being made there led to Rome's being dubbed "Hollywood on the Tiber". More than 3,000 productions have been made on its lot, of which 90 received anAcademy Awardnomination and 47 of these won it, from some cinema classics to recent rewarded features (such asRoman Holiday,Ben-Hur,Cleopatra,Romeo and Juliet,The English Patient,The Passion of the Christ, andGangs of New York).
Italy is the most awarded country at theAcademy AwardsforBest Foreign Language Film, with 14 awards won, 3Special Awards, and 28nominations.As of 2016, Italian films have also won 12Palmes d'Or,11Golden Lions,and 7Golden Bears.The list of the100 Italian films to be savedwas created with the aim to report "100 films that have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978".
The official birth of Italian comics (usually calledFumettiin Italian) is 27 December 1908, when the first issue of theCorriere dei Piccoliwas published. Attilio Mussino has produced for this weekly a wide range of characters, including a little black child,Bilbolbul, whose almost surrealist adventures took place in a fantastic Africa.
In 1932 publisher Lotario Vecchi, had already begun publication ofJumbomagazine, using exclusively North American authors.The magazine reached a circulation of 350.000 copies in Italy, sanctioning comics as a mainstream medium with broad appeal. Vecchi moved to Spain three years later, bringing the same title.
In December 1932, the first Disney comic in Italy, Mickey Mouse, orTopolinoin Italian, had been launched by the Florentine publisher Nerbini. The Disneyfranchisewas then taken over by the Mondadori subsidiary, API, in 1935.
In 1945,Hugo Prattwhile attending the Venice Academy of Fine Arts, created, in collaboration withMario FaustinelliandAlberto Ongaro,Asso di Picche. Their distinctive approach to the art form earned them the name of the Venetian school of comics.
In 1948Gian Luigi Bonelliinitiated a long and successful series of Western strips, starting with the popularTex Willer. This comic would become the model for a line of publications centred around the popular comic book format that became known asBonelliano, from the name of the publisher.
Some of the series that followedTex WillerwereZagor(1961),Mister No(1975), and more recently,Martin Mystère(1982) andDylan Dog(1986).The subject matter was always an adventure, whether western, horror, mystery or science fiction. TheBonellianiare to date the most popular form of comics in the country.
Italy also produces manyDisney comics, i.e., stories featuring Disney characters (fromMickey MouseandDonald Duck universes). After the 1960s, American artists of Disney comics, such asCarl BarksandFloyd Gottfredsondid not produce as many stories as in the past. At present American production of new stories has dwindled (Don Rosapublishes in Europe), and this niche has been filled by companies in South America, Denmark and Italy. The Italian 'Scuola disneyana' has produced several innovations: building the Italian standard length for stories (30 pages), reinterpreting famous works of literature in 'Parodie', and writing long stories up to 400 pages.
Among the most important artists and authors areBonvi,Marco Rota,Romano Scarpa,Giorgio Cavazzano,Giovan Battista Carpi, andGuido Martina. The best-known Disney character created in Italy isPaperinik(known as Duck Avenger or Phantom Duck to English audiences).
Italy also produces many comic books for children, preteens, and teens, such asGormiti, based on a popular toy line, andAngel's FriendsandWinx Club, based on the animated series global phenomenon.
Italian folk dancehas been an integral part ofItalianculture for centuries.  Dance has been a continuous thread in Italian life fromDantethrough theRenaissance, the advent of thetarantellain southern Italy, and the modern revivals offolk musicand dance. One of the earliest attempts to systematically collect folk dances is Gaspare Ungarelli's 1894 workLe vecchie danze italiane ancora in uso nella provincia bolognese('Old Italian dances still in use in theprovince of Bologna') which gives brief descriptions and music for some 30 dances.An interest in preserving and fostering folk art, music and dance amongItalian Americansand the dedication and leadership of Elba Farabegoli Gurzau led to the formation of the Italian Folk Art Federation of America (IFAFA) in May 1979. The group sponsors an annual conference and has published a newsletter,Tradizioni, since 1980.
Italian fashion hasa long tradition. Milan, Florence and Rome are Italy's mainfashion capitals. According toTop Global Fashion Capital Rankings2013 byGlobal Language Monitor, Rome ranked sixth worldwide while Milan was twelfth. Previously, in 2009, Milan was declared as the "fashion capital of the world" by Global Language Monitor itself.Currently, Milan and Rome, annually compete with other major international centres, such as Paris, New York, London, and Tokyo.
The Italian fashion industry is one of the country's most important manufacturing sectors. The majority of the older Italian couturiers are based in Rome. However, Milan is seen as the fashion capital of Italy because many well-known designers are based there and it is the venue for the Italian designer collections. Major Italian fashion labels, such asGucci,Armani,Prada,Versace,Valentino,Dolce & Gabbana,Missoni,Fendi,Moschino,Max Mara,Trussardi,Benetton, andFerragamo, to name a few, are regarded as among the finest fashion houses in the world.
Accessory and jewellery labels, such asBulgari,Luxottica, andBuccellatihave been founded in Italy and are internationally acclaimed, and Luxottica is the world's largest eyewear company. Also, the fashion magazineVogue Italia, is considered one of the most prestigious fashion magazines in the world.The talent of young, creative fashion is also promoted, as in the ITS young fashion designer competition in Trieste.
Italy is also prominent in the field of design, notably interior design, architectural design,industrial design, and urban design. The country has produced some well-known furniture designers, such asGio PontiandEttore Sottsass, and Italian phrases such asBel DisegnoandLinea Italianahave entered the vocabulary of furniture design.Examples of classic pieces of Italianwhite goodsand pieces of furniture includeZanussi's washing machines and fridges,the "New Tone" sofas by Atrium,and the post-modern bookcase by Ettore Sottsass, inspired by Bob Dylan's song "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again".
Italy is recognised as a worldwide trendsetter and leader in design.Italy today still exerts a vast influence onurban design,industrial design,interior design, andfashion designworldwide.Today, Milan and Turin are the nation's leaders in architectural design and industrial design. The city of Milan hosts theFieraMilano, Europe's biggest design fair.Milan also hosts major design and architecture-related events and venues, such as theFuori Saloneand theSalone del Mobile, and has been home to the designersBruno Munari,Lucio Fontana,Enrico Castellani, andPiero Manzoni.
Formal Latin literature began in 240 BC when the first stage play was performed in Rome.Latin literature was, and still is, highly influential in the world, with numerous writers, poets, philosophers, and historians, such asPliny the Elder,Pliny the Younger,Virgil,Horace,Propertius,Ovid, andLivy. The Romans were also famous for their oral tradition, poetry, drama and epigrams.In early years of the 13th century,Francis of Assisiwas considered the first Italian poet by literary critics, with his religious songCanticle of the Sun.
Another Italian voice originated in Sicily. At the court of Emperor Frederick II, who ruled the Sicilian kingdom during the first half of the 13th century, lyrics modelled on Provençal forms and themes were written in a refined version of the local vernacular. One of these poets was the notaryGiacomo da Lentini, inventor of thesonnetform, although the most famous early sonneteer wasPetrarch.
Guido Guinizelliis considered the founder of theDolce Stil Novo, a school that added a philosophical dimension to traditional love poetry. This new understanding of love, expressed in a smooth, pure style, influencedGuido Cavalcantiand theFlorentinepoetDante Alighieri, who established the basis of the modernItalian language; his greatest work,The Divine Comedy, is considered among the finest works ofworld literature;furthermore, the poet invented the difficultterza rima. Two major writers of the 14th century, Petrarch andGiovanni Boccaccio, sought out and imitated the works of antiquity and cultivated their own artistic personalities. Petrarch achieved fame through his collection of poems,Il Canzoniere. Petrarch's love poetry served as a model for centuries. Equally influential was Boccaccio'sThe Decameron, one of the most popular collections of short stories ever written.
Italian Renaissance authors produced works includingNiccolò Machiavelli'sThe Prince, an essay on political science and modern philosophy in which the "effectual truth" is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal;Ludovico Ariosto'sOrlando Furioso, continuation ofMatteo Maria Boiardo's unfinished romanceOrlando Innamorato; andBaldassare Castiglione's dialogueThe Book of the Courtierwhich describes the ideal of the perfect court gentleman and of spiritual beauty. The lyric poetTorquato TassoinJerusalem Deliveredwrote a Christian epic inottava rima, with attention to the Aristotelian canons of unity.
Giovanni Francesco StraparolaandGiambattista Basile, who wroteThe Facetious Nights of Straparola(1550–1555) and thePentamerone(1634) respectively, printed some of the first known versions of fairy tales in Europe.In the early 17th century, some literary masterpieces were created, such asGiambattista Marino's long mythological poem,L'Adone. The Baroque period also produced the clear scientific prose ofGalileoas well asTommaso Campanella'sThe City of the Sun, a description of a perfect society ruled by a philosopher-priest. At the end of the 17th century, theArcadiansbegan a movement to restore simplicity and classical restraint to poetry, as inMetastasio's heroic melodramas. In the 18th century, playwrightCarlo Goldonicreated full-written plays, many portraying the middle class of his day.
Romanticism coincided with some ideas of theRisorgimento, the patriotic movement that brought Italy political unity and freedom from foreign domination. Italian writers embraced Romanticism in the early 19th century. The time of Italy's rebirth was heralded by the poetsVittorio Alfieri,Ugo Foscolo, andGiacomo Leopardi. The works byAlessandro Manzoni, the leading Italian Romantic, are a symbol of the Italian unification for their patriotic message and because of his efforts in the development of the modern, unified Italian language; his novelThe Betrothedwas the first Italian historical novel to glorify Christian values of justice and Providence, and it is generally ranked among the masterpieces ofworld literature.This novel is a fundamental milestone in the development of the modern, unifiedItalian language.
In the late 19th century, a realistic literary movement calledVerismoplayed a major role in Italian literature;Giovanni VergaandLuigi Capuanawere its main exponents. In the same period,Emilio Salgari, writer of action-adventureswashbucklersand a pioneer of science fiction, published hisSandokanseries.In 1883,Carlo Collodialso published the novelThe Adventures of Pinocchio, the most celebrated children's classic by an Italian author and one of themost translatednon-religious books in the world.A movement calledFuturisminfluenced Italian literature in the early 20th century.Filippo Tommaso MarinettiwroteManifesto of Futurism, called for the use of language and metaphors that glorified the speed, dynamism, and violence of the machine age.
Modern literary figures and Nobel laureates areGabriele D'Annunziofrom 1889 to 1910, nationalist poetGiosuè Carducciin 1906, realist writerGrazia Deleddain 1926, modern theatre authorLuigi Pirandelloin 1936, short stories writerItalo Calvinoin 1960, poetsSalvatore Quasimodoin 1959 andEugenio Montalein 1975,Umberto Ecoin 1980, and satirist and theatre authorDario Foin 1997.
Fromfolk musictoclassical, music is an intrinsic part of Italian culture. Instruments associated with classical music, including the piano and violin, were invented in Italy,and many of the prevailing classical music forms, such as thesymphony, concerto, andsonata, can trace their roots back to innovations of 16th- and 17th-century Italian music.
Italy's most famous composers include theRenaissance composersPalestrina,MonteverdiandGesualdo, theBaroque composersScarlatti,CorelliandVivaldi, theClassical composersPaisiello,PaganiniandRossini, and theRomantic composersVerdiandPuccini. Modern Italian composers such asBerioandNonoproved significant in the development ofexperimentalandelectronic music. While the classical music tradition still holds strong in Italy, as evidenced by the fame of its innumerable opera houses, such asLa Scalaof Milan andSan Carloof Naples (the oldest continuously active venue for public opera in the world),and performers such as the pianistMaurizio Polliniand tenorLuciano Pavarotti,Italianshave been no less appreciative of their thriving contemporary music scene.
Italy is widely known for being the birthplace of opera.Italian operawas believed to have been founded in the early 17th century, in cities such asMantuaandVenice.Later, works and pieces composed by native Italian composers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, such asRossini,Bellini,Donizetti,Verdi, andPuccini, are among the most famous operas ever written and today are performed in opera houses across the world. La Scala opera house in Milan is also renowned as one of the best in the world. Famous Italian opera singers includeEnrico CarusoandAlessandro Bonci.
Introduced in the early 1920s,jazztook a particularly strong foothold in Italy, and remained popular despite the xenophobic cultural policies of the Fascist regime. Today, the most notable centres of jazz music in Italy include Milan, Rome, and Sicily. Later, Italy was at the forefront of theprogressive rockand pop movement of the 1970s, with bands such asPFM,Banco del Mutuo Soccorso,Le Orme,Goblin, andPooh.The same period saw diversification in thecinema of Italy, andCinecittàfilms included complex scores by composers includingEnnio Morricone,Armando Trovaioli,Piero Piccioni, andPiero Umiliani. In the early 1980s, the first star to emerge from theItalian hip hopscene was singerJovanotti.Italian metal bands includeRhapsody of Fire,Lacuna Coil,Elvenking,Forgotten Tomb, andFleshgod Apocalypse.
Italy contributed to the development ofdiscoandelectronic music, withItalo disco, known for its futuristic sound and prominent use of synthesisers anddrum machines, being one of the earliest electronic dance genres, as well as European forms of disco aside fromEuro disco(which later went on to influence several genres such asEurodanceandNu-disco).By the latter half of the 1990s, a subgenre of Eurodance known asItalo danceemerged. Taking influences from Italo disco and Italo house, Italo dance generally included synthesizer riffs, a melodic sound, and the usage of vocoders. Notable Italian DJs and remixers includeGabry Ponte(member of the groupEiffel 65),Benny Benassi,Gigi D'Agostino, and the trioTacabro.
Producers such asGiorgio Moroder, who won threeAcademy Awardsand fourGolden Globesfor his music, were highly influential in the development ofelectronic dance music.Today, Italian pop music is represented annually with theSanremo Music Festival, which served as inspiration for theEurovisionsong contest, and theFestival of Two WorldsinSpoleto.Singers such asMina,Andrea Bocelli,GrammywinnerLaura Pausini,Zucchero,Eros Ramazzotti,Elisa, andTiziano Ferrohave attained international acclaim.Gigliola Cinquetti,Toto Cutugno, andMåneskinwon theEurovision Song Contest, in1964,1990, and2021respectively.
Italian folk musichas a deep and complex history.National unificationcame quite late to theItalian peninsula, so its many hundreds of separate cultures remained un-homogenized until quite recently. Moreover, Italian folk music reflects Italy's geographic position at the south ofEuropeand in the centre of theMediterranean Sea:Slavic,Arabic,Greek,Spanish, andByzantineinfluences are readily apparent in the musical styles of the Italian regions. Today, Italy's folk music is often divided into several spheres of geographic influence, a classification system proposed byAlan Lomaxin 1956 and often repeated since.
Over the ages, Italian philosophy and literature had a vast influence onWestern philosophy, beginning with the Greeks and Romans, and going ontoRenaissance humanism, theAge of Enlightenmentandmodern philosophy.Philosophy was brought to Italy byPythagoras, founder of the Italian school of philosophy inCrotone,Magna Graecia.Major Italian philosophers of the Greek period includeXenophanes,Parmenides,Zeno,Empedocles, andGorgias. Roman philosophers includeCicero,Lucretius,Seneca the Younger,Musonius Rufus,Plutarch,Epictetus,Marcus Aurelius,Clement of Alexandria,Sextus Empiricus,Alexander of Aphrodisias,Plotinus,Porphyry,Iamblichus,Augustine of Hippo,Philoponus of Alexandria, andBoethius.
Italian Medieval philosophy was mainly Christian, and included philosophers and theologians such asThomas Aquinas, the foremost classical proponent ofnatural theologyand the father ofThomism, who reintroducedAristotelian philosophyto Christianity.Notable Renaissance philosophers include:Giordano Bruno, one of the major scientific figures of the western world;Marsilio Ficino, one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the period; andNiccolò Machiavelli, one of the main founders of modernpolitical science. Machiavelli's most famous work wasThe Prince, whose contribution to the history of political thought is the fundamental break between politicalrealismand politicalidealism.Italy was also affected by theEnlightenment, a movement which was a consequence of the Renaissance.University cities such as Padua, Bologna and Naples remained centres of scholarship and the intellect, with several philosophers such asGiambattista Vico(widely regarded as being the founder of modern Italian philosophy)andAntonio Genovesi.Cesare Beccariawas a significant Enlightenment figure and is now considered one of the fathers ofclassical criminal theoryas well as modernpenology.Beccaria is famous for hisOn Crimes and Punishments(1764), a treatise that served as one of the earliest prominent condemnations of torture and the death penalty and thus a landmark work in anti-death penalty philosophy.
Italy also had a renowned philosophical movement in the 1800s, withIdealism,Sensism, andEmpiricism. The main Sensist Italian philosophers wereMelchiorre GiojaandGian Domenico Romagnosi.Criticism of the Sensist movement came from other philosophers such asPasquale Galluppi(1770–1846), who affirmed thata priorirelationships were synthetic.Antonio Rosmini, instead, was the founder ofItalian idealism. During the late 19th and 20th centuries, there were also several other movements which gained some form of popularity in Italy, such asOntologism(whose main philosopher wasVincenzo Gioberti),Christian democracy, communism, socialism, futurism, fascism, andanarchism.Giovanni GentileandBenedetto Crocewere two of the most significant 20th-century Idealist philosophers. Anarcho-communism first fully formed into its modern strain within the Italian section of theFirst International.Antonio Gramsciremains a relevant philosopher within Marxist and communist theory, credited with creating the theory ofcultural hegemony. Italian philosophers were also influential in the development of the non-Marxistliberal socialismphilosophy, includingCarlo Rosselli,Norberto Bobbio,Piero Gobetti, andAldo Capitini. In the 1960s, many Italian left-wing activists adopted theanti-authoritarianpro-working class leftist theories that would become known asautonomismandoperaismo.
EarlyItalian feministsincludeSibilla Aleramo,Alaide Gualberta Beccari, andAnna Maria Mozzoni, although proto-feminist philosophies had previously been touched upon by earlier Italian writers such asChristine de Pizan,Moderata Fonte, andLucrezia Marinella. Italian physician and educatorMaria Montessoriis credited with the creation of thephilosophy of education that bears her name, an educational philosophy now practised throughout the world.Giuseppe Peanowas one of the founders of analytic philosophy and contemporary philosophy of mathematics. Recent analytic philosophers includeCarlo Penco,Gloria Origgi,Pieranna Garavaso, andLuciano Floridi.
The art of sculpture in the Italian peninsula has its roots in ancient times. In the archaic period, when Etruscan cities dominated central Italy and the adjacent sea, Etruscan sculpture flourished. The name of an individual artist,Vulca, who worked at Veii, has been identified. He has left a terracottaApolloand other figures, and can perhaps claim the distinction of being the most ancient master in the long history of Italian art.
A significant development of this art occurred between the 6th century BC and 5th century AD during the growth of theRoman Empire. The earliest Roman sculpture was influenced by the Etruscans to the north of Rome and by Greek colonists to the south. During the Empire period, the pure realism of the Republican period portrait busts was joined to Greek idealism. The result, evident inAugustus of Primaporta, was often a curious juxtaposition of individualized heads with idealized, anatomically perfect bodies in Classical poses.
During theMiddle Ages, large sculpture was largely religious.Carolingian artists(named after Charlemagne's family) in northern Italy created sculpture for covers of Bibles, as decoration for parts of church altars, and forcrucifixesand giant candlesticks placed on altars.
In the late 13th century,Nicola Pisanoand his sonGiovannibegan the revolutionary changes that led up to the Renaissance in Italian sculpture, drawing influences from Romansarcophagiand other remains. Both are noted for their reliefs and ornamentation on pulpits.The Massacre of the Innocentsby Giovanni Pisano is an example.
The greatest sculptor of the early Renaissance wasDonatello.In 1430, he produced a bronze statue ofDavid, which re-established the classical idea of beauty in the naked human body. Conceived fully in the round and independent of any architectural surroundings, it was the first major work of Renaissance sculpture. Among the other brilliant sculptors of the 15th century wereJacopo della Quercia,Michelozzo,BernardoandAntonio Rossellino,Giambologna, andAgostino di Duccio.
Michelangelo's great brooding sculptures, such as the figures ofNightandDayin theMedici Chapelin Florence, dominatedHigh RenaissanceItalian sculpture. HisDavid, is perhaps, the most famous sculpture in the world.It differs from previous representations of the subject in that David is depicted before his battle with Goliath and not after the giant's defeat. Instead of being shown victorious over a foe much larger than he, David looks tense and ready for combat.
Gian Lorenzo Berniniwas the most important sculptor of theBaroqueperiod.He combined emotional and sensual freedom with theatrical presentation and an almost photographic naturalism. Bernini's saints and other figures seem to sit, stand, and move as living people—and the viewer becomes part of the scene. This involvement of the spectator is a basic characteristic of Baroque sculpture. One of his most famous works isEcstasy of Saint Teresa.
TheNeoclassicalmovement arose in the late 18th century. The members of this very international school restored what they regarded as classical principles of art. They were direct imitators of ancient Greek sculptors, and emphasized classical drapery and the nude. The leading Neoclassical artist in Italy wasAntonio Canova, who like many other foreign neoclassical sculptors includingBertel Thorvaldsenwas based in Rome. His ability to carve pure white Italian marble has seldom been equalled. Most of his statues are in European collections, but theMetropolitan Museum of Artin New York City owns important works, includingPerseus and CupidandPsyche.
In the 20th century, many Italians played leading roles in the development of modern art.Futuristsculptors tried to show how space, movement, and time affected form. These artists portrayed objects in motion, rather than their appearance at any particular moment. An example isUmberto Boccioni'sUnique Forms of Continuity in Space.
Italian theatreoriginates from theMiddle Ages, with its background dating back to the times of theancient Greekcolonies ofMagna Graecia, in southern Italy,the theatre of theItalic peoplesand thetheatre of ancient Rome. It can therefore be assumed that there were two main lines of which the ancient Italian theatre developed in the Middle Ages. The first, consisting of the dramatization of Catholic liturgies and of which more documentation is retained, and the second, formed by pagan forms of spectacle such as the staging for city festivals, the court preparations of the jesters and the songs of thetroubadours.TheRenaissancetheatre marked the beginning of the modern theatre due to the rediscovery and study of the classics, the ancient theatrical texts were recovered and translated, which were soon staged at the court and in the curtensi halls, and then moved to real theatre. In this way, the idea of theatre came close to that of today: a performance in a designated place in which the public participates. In the late 15th century two cities were important centres for the rediscovery and renewal of theatrical art:FerraraandRome. The first, vital centre of art in the second half of the 15th century, saw the staging of some of the most famous Latin works byPlautus, rigorously translated into Italian.
During the 16th century and on into the 18th century,commedia dell'artewas a form ofimprovisational theatre, and it is still performed today. Travelling troupes of players would set up an outdoor stage and provide amusement in the form ofjuggling,acrobaticsand, more typically, humorous plays based on a repertoire of established characters with a rough storyline, calledcanovaccio. Plays did not originate from written drama but from scenarios calledlazzi, which were loose frameworks that provided the situations, complications, and outcome of the action, around which the actors would improvise. The characters of thecommediausually represent fixed social types andstock characters, each of which has a distinctcostume, such as foolish old men, devious servants, or military officers full of falsebravado. The main categories of these characters include servants, old men, lovers, and captains.
The first recorded commedia dell'arte performances came from Rome as early as 1551,and was performed outdoors in temporary venues by professional actors who were costumed and masked, as opposed tocommedia erudita, which were written comedies, presented indoors by untrained and unmasked actors.By the mid-16th century, specific troupes ofcommediaperformers began to coalesce, and by 1568 theGelosibecame a distinct company.Commediaoften performed inside in court theatres or halls, and also in some fixed theatres such as Teatro Baldrucca in Florence. Flaminio Scala, who had been a minor performer in the Gelosi published the scenarios of the commedia dell'arte around the start of the 17th century, really in an effort to legitimise the form—and ensure its legacy. These scenarios are highly structured and built around the symmetry of the various types in duet: twoZanni,vecchi,innamorateandinnamorati, among others.
In the commedia dell'arte, female roles were played by women, documented as early as the 1560s, making them the first known professional actresses in Europe since antiquity.Lucrezia Di Siena, whose name is on a contract of actors from 10 October 1564, has been referred to as the first Italian actress known by name, withVincenza ArmaniandBarbara Flaminiaas the first primadonnas and the first well-documented actresses in Europe.
TheBalletdance genre also originated in Italy. It began during the Italian Renaissance court as an outgrowth of court pageantry,where aristocratic weddings were lavish celebrations. Court musicians and dancers collaborated to provide elaborate entertainment for them.Domenico da Piacenzawas one of the first dancing masters. Along with his students,Antonio CornazzanoandGuglielmo Ebreo, he was trained in dance and responsible for teaching nobles the art. Da Piacenza left one work:De arte saltandi et choreus ducendi('On the art of dancing and conducting dances'), which was put together by his students.
At first, ballets were woven into the midst of an opera to allow the audience a moment of relief from the dramatic intensity. By the mid-17th century, Italian ballets in their entirety were performed in between the acts of an opera. Over time, Italian ballets became part of theatrical life: ballet companies in Italy's major opera houses employed an average of four to twelve dancers; in 1815 many companies employed anywhere from eighty to one hundred dancers.
Carlo Goldoni, who wrote a few scenarios starting in 1734, superseded the comedy of masks and the comedy of intrigue by representations of actual life and manners through the characters and their behaviours. He rightly maintained that Italian life and manners were susceptible to artistic treatment such as had not been given them before. Italian theatre has been active in producing contemporary European work and in staging revivals, including the works ofLuigi PirandelloandDario Fo.
TheTeatro di San Carloin Naples is the oldest continuously active venue for public opera in the world, opening in 1737, decades before both Milan'sLa Scalaand Venice'sLa Fenicetheatres.
The history of Italian visual arts is significant to the history ofWestern painting. Since ancient times,GreeksandEtruscanshave inhabited the south, centre and north of the Italian peninsula respectively. The very numerousrock drawings in Valcamonicaare as old as 8,000 BC, and there are rich remains ofEtruscan art.
Roman artwas influenced by Greece and can in part be taken as a descendant of ancient Greek painting. Roman painting does have its own unique characteristics. The only surviving Roman paintings are wall paintings, many from villas inCampania, in southern Italy. Such paintings can be grouped into four main "styles" or periodsand may contain the first examples oftrompe-l'œil, pseudo-perspective, and pure landscape.
Panel painting becomes more common during theRomanesqueperiod, under the heavy influence of Byzantine icons. Towards the middle of the 13th century,Medieval artandGothic paintingbecame more realistic, with the beginnings of interest in the depiction of volume and perspective in Italy withCimabueand then his pupilGiotto. From Giotto onwards, the treatment of composition in painting became much more free and innovative.
TheItalian Renaissanceis said by many to be thegolden ageof painting; roughly spanning the 14th through the mid-17th centuries with a significant influence also out of the borders of modern Italy. In Italy artists such asPaolo Uccello,Fra Angelico,Masaccio,Piero della Francesca,Andrea Mantegna,Filippo Lippi,Giorgione,Tintoretto,Sandro Botticelli,Leonardo da Vinci,Michelangelo Buonarroti,Raphael,Giovanni Bellini, andTitiantook painting to a higher level through the use ofperspective, the study ofhuman anatomyand proportion, and through their development of refined drawing and painting techniques.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, theHigh Renaissancegave rise to a stylised art known asMannerism. In place of the balanced compositions and rational approach to perspective that characterised art at the dawn of the 16th century, the Mannerists sought instability, artifice, and doubt. The unperturbed faces and gestures ofPiero della Francescaand the calm Virgins of Raphael are replaced by the troubled expressions ofPontormoand the emotional intensity ofEl Greco.
In the 17th century, among the greatest painters ofItalian BaroqueareCaravaggio,Annibale Carracci,Artemisia Gentileschi,Mattia Preti,Carlo Saraceni, andBartolomeo Manfredi. Subsequently, in the 18th century,Italian Rococowas mainly inspired by French Rococo, since France was the founding nation of that particular style, with artists such asGiovanni Battista TiepoloandCanaletto.
In the 19th century, major ItalianRomanticpainters wereFrancesco Hayez,Giuseppe Bezzuoli, andFrancesco Podesti.Impressionismwas brought from France to Italy by theMacchiaioli, led byGiovanni FattoriandGiovanni Boldini; andRealismbyGioacchino TomaandGiuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo. In the 20th century, withFuturism, primarily through the works ofUmberto BoccioniandGiacomo Balla, Italy rose again as a seminal country for artistic evolution in painting. Futurism was succeeded by the metaphysical paintings ofGiorgio de Chirico, who exerted a strong influence on theSurrealistsand generations of artists to follow such asBruno CarusoandRenato Guttuso.
Metaphysical paintingis an Italian art movement, born in 1917 with the work of Carlo Carrà andGiorgio de Chiricoin Ferrara. The wordmetaphysical, adopted by De Chirico himself, is core to the poetics of the movement;Novecento movement, a group of Italian artists, formed in 1922 in Milan, that advocated a return to the great Italian representational art of the past. The founding members of the Novecento ('20th century') movement were the criticMargherita Sarfattiand seven artists:Anselmo Bucci,Leonardo Dudreville,Achille Funi, Gian Emilio Malerba, Piero Marussig, Ubaldo Oppi, and Mario Sironi.
Spatialismwas founded by the Italian artistLucio Fontanaas themovimento spaziale, its tenets were repeated in manifestos between 1947 and 1954. Combining elements of concrete art, dada and tachism, the movement's adherents rejected easel painting and embraced new technological developments, seeking to incorporate time and movement in their works. Fontana's slashed and pierced paintings exemplify his thesis.Arte Poverais an artistic movement that originated in Italy in the 1960s, combining aspects of conceptual, minimalist, and performance art, and making use of worthless or common materials such as earth or newspaper, in the hope of subverting the commercialization of art.
Transavantgardeis the Italian version ofNeo-expressionism, an art movement that swept through Italy and the rest of Western Europe in the late 1970s and 1980s. The termtransavanguardiawas coined by the Italian art critic,Achille Bonito Oliva,originating in the "Aperto '80" at theVenice Biennale,and literally means 'beyond theavant-garde'.
Italian cuisineis aMediterranean cuisineconsisting of theingredients,recipes, andcooking techniquesdeveloped inItalysinceRoman times, and later spread around the world together with waves ofItalian diaspora.Italian cuisine includes deeply rooted traditions common to the whole country, as well as all theregionalgastronomies, different from each other, especially betweenthe north,the centre, andthe southof Italy, which are in continuous exchange.Many dishes that were once regional have proliferated with variations throughout the country.The cuisine has influenced several other cuisines around the world, chieflythat of the United Statesin the form ofItalian-American cuisine.
One of the main characteristics of Italian cuisine is its simplicity, with many dishes made up of few ingredients, and therefore Italian cooks rely on the quality of the ingredients, rather than the complexity of preparation.The most popular dishes and recipes, over the centuries, have often been created by ordinary people more so than bychefs, which is why many Italian recipes are suitable for home and dailycooking, respecting regional specificities, privileging only raw materials and ingredients from the region of origin of the dish and preserving its seasonality.
Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, it has its roots in ancient Rome.Artichokes,peas,lettuce,parsley,melons, andapples, as well aswineandcheese, many types ofmeat, andgrainswere all enjoyed by ancient Romans. For feasts Roman cooks used many spices, developed recipes forcheesecakeandomelets, and roasted all types of meat.From this noble beginning a sophisticated and flavorful cuisine has emerged. Significant changesoccurred with the discovery of the New Worldand the introduction ofpotatoes,tomatoes,bell peppers, andmaize, now central to the cuisine but not introduced in quantity until the 18th century.
Italian cuisine, like other facets of the culture, speaks with highly inflected regional accents. There are certain self-consciously national constants: spaghetti with tomato sauce and pizza are highly common, but this nationalisation of culinary identity didn't start to take hold until after the Second World War, when southern immigrants flooded to the north in search of work, and even those classics vary from place to place; small enclaves still hold fast to their unique local forms of pasta and particular preparations. Classics such aspasta e fagioli, while found everywhere, are prepared differently according to local traditions. Gastronomic explorations of Italy are best undertaken by knowing the local traditions and eating the local foods.
Northern Italy, mountainous in many parts, is notable for the alpine cheeses of the Valle d'Aosta, thepestoof Liguria and, in Piedmont, the Alba truffle. In the Alto Adige, the influence of neighbouring Austria may be found in a regional repertoire that includes speck and dumplings. In the north,risottoandpolentahave tended to serve the staple function taken by pasta across the rest of the country. Italy's centre includes the celebrated culinary regions of Tuscany, famous for its olive oil and bean dishes, and Emilia-Romagna, home of foods such asprosciutto di Parma,Parmigiano Reggiano, andragù alla bolognese. Southern Italy includes the hearty food of Lazio in which meat and offal frequently figure, but also the vegetable-focused fare of Basilicata, historically one of Italy's poorest regions. The islands of Sicily and Sardinia have distinctively different foodways. The former is notable for its many sweet dishes, seafood, and citrus fruit, while Sardinia has traditionally looked to its hilly and mountainous interior with acuisinecentred on lamb,suckling pig, bread, and cheese.
It is in the food of Naples and Campania, however, that many visitors would recognise the foods that have come to be regarded as quintessentially Italian:pizza,spaghettiwithtomato sauce,parmigiana, and so on.
Also, Italy exports and produces the highest level of wine,exporting over 2.38 million tonnes in 2011. As of 2005, Italy was responsible for producing approximately one-fifth of the world's wine.Some Italian regions are home to some of the oldest wine-producing traditions in the world. Etruscans and Greek settlers produced wine in the country long before the Romans started developing their own vineyards in the 2nd century BC. Roman grape-growing and winemaking were prolific and well-organised, pioneering large-scale production andstoragetechniques such asbarrel-makingand -bottling.Famous and traditional Italian wines includeBarbaresco,Barbera,Barolo,Brunello di Montalcino,Chianti,Corvina,Dolcetto, andNero d'Avola, to name a few.
The country is also famous for itsgelato, or traditional ice-cream often known as Italian ice cream abroad. There aregelaterieor ice-cream vendors and shops all around Italian cities, and it is a very popular dessert or snack, especially during the summer. Siciliangranitas, or a frozen dessert of flavoured crushed ice, more or less similar to asorbetor asnow cone, are popular desserts not only in Sicily or their native towns of Messina and Catania, but all over Italy (although the northern and central Italian equivalent,grattachecca, commonly found in Rome or Milan, is slightly different from the traditionalgranita siciliana). Italy also boasts an assortment of desserts.
The Christmas cakespandoroandpanettoneare popular in the north (pandorois from Verona, whilst panettone is from Milan); however, they have also become popular desserts in other parts of Italy and abroad.Colomba pasqualeis eaten all over the country on Easter day, and is a more traditional alternative to chocolateeaster eggs.Tiramisuis a very popular and iconic Italian dessert from Veneto which has become famous worldwide. Other Italian cakes and sweets includecannoli,cassata, fruit-shapedmarzipans, andpanna cotta.
Coffee, and more specificallyespresso, has become highly important to the cuisine of Italy.Cappuccinois also a famous Italian coffee drink, which is usually sweeter and less dark than espresso, and can be served with foam or cream on top, on which chocolate powder and sugar are usually sprinkled.Caffè latteis a mixture of coffee and milk, and is usually drunk at breakfast time (unlike most other Italian coffee types, children and adults drink it).Bicerinis Turin's own coffee, a mix between cappuccino and hot chocolate.
Italian meal structureis typical of theEuropean Mediterraneanregion and differs from North, Central, and Eastern European meal structure, although it still often consists ofbreakfast(colazione),lunch(pranzo), andsupper(cena).However, much less emphasis is placed on breakfast, and breakfast itself is often skipped or involves lighter meal portions than are seen in non-Mediterranean Western countries.Late-morning and mid-afternoon snacks, calledmerenda(pl.:merende), are also often included in this meal structure.
Italian cuisine is one of the most popular and copied around the world.The lack or total unavailability of some of its most characteristic ingredients outside of Italy, also and above all to falsifications (or food fraud), leads to the complete denaturalization of Italian ingredients.This phenomenon, widespread in all continents, is better known as "Italian Sounding", consisting in the use of words as well as images, colour combinations (theItalian tricolour), geographical references, brands evocative of Italy to promote and market agri-food products which in reality have nothing to do with Italian cuisine.Italy is home to 395Michelin star-rated restaurants.
Education in Italy is free and mandatory from ages six to sixteen,and consists of five stages: kindergarten (scuola dell'infanzia), primary school (scuola primaria),lower secondary school(scuola secondaria di primo grado),upper secondary school(scuola secondaria di secondo grado), and university (università).
Primary education lasts eight years. Students are given a basic education in Italian, English, mathematics, natural sciences, history, geography, social studies, physical education, and visual and musical arts. Secondary education lasts for five years and includes three traditional types of schools focused on different academic levels: theliceoprepares students for university studies with a classical or scientificcurriculum, while theistituto tecnicoand theistituto professionaleprepare pupils for vocational education.
In 2018, the Italian secondary education was evaluated as below theOECDaverage.Italy scored below the OECD average in reading and science, and near OECD average in mathematics.TrentoandBolzanoscored at an above the national average in reading.A wide gap exists betweennorthernschools, which perform near average, and schools in thesouth, that had much poorer results.
Tertiary education in Italy is divided betweenpublic universities, private universities, and the prestigious and selectivesuperior graduate schools, such as theScuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. 33 Italian universities were ranked among the world's top 500 in 2019, the third-largest number in Europe after the United Kingdom and Germany.Bologna University, founded in 1088, is theoldest university in continuous operation, and the first university in the sense of a higher-learning and degree-awarding institute, as the worduniversitaswas coined at its foundation,as well as one of the leading academic institutions in Italy and Europe.TheSapienza University of Rome, founded with thePapal bullIn supremae praeminentia dignitatisissued on 20 April 1303 byPope Boniface VIII, is the largestEUuniversity by enrollments,and at the same time it is present in all major international university rankings.
Milan'sBocconi Universityhas been ranked among the top 20 best business schools in the world byThe Wall Street Journalinternational rankings, especially thanks to itsMaster of Business Administrationprogram, which in 2007 placed it no. 17 in the world in terms of graduate recruitment preference by major multinational companies.In addition,Forbeshas ranked Bocconi no. 1 worldwide in the specific category Value for Money.In May 2008, Bocconi overtook several traditionally top global business schools in theFinancial Timesexecutive education ranking, reaching no. 5 in Europe and no. 15 in the world.Other top universities and polytechnics include thePolytechnic University of MilanandPolytechnic University of Turin.
In 2009, an Italian research ranked theSapienza University of Romeand theUniversity of Milanas the best in Italy (over indicators such as scientific production, attraction of foreign students, and others),whose research and teaching activities have developed over the years and have received important international recognitions. The University of Milan is the only Italian member of theLeague of European Research Universities, a prestigious group of twenty research-intensive European Universities.Sapienzais member of several international groups, such asEuropean Spatial Development Planning,Partnership of a European Group of Aeronautics and Space Universities,CINECA,Santander Network,Institutional Network of the Universities from the Capitals of Europe, andMediterranean Universities Union.
Folklore of Italyrefers to thefolkloreandurban legendsofItaly. On the Italian territory, in fact, different peoples have followed one another over time, each of which has left its traces in the popular imagination. Some tales also come fromChristianization, especially those concerningdemons, which are sometimes recognised by Christiandemonology.
In Italian folklore, theBefanais an old woman whodelivers gifts to childrenthroughout Italy onEpiphany Eve(the night of 5 January) in a similar way toSanta Clausor theThree Magi Kings.A popular belief is that her name derives from theFeastofEpiphany(Italian:Festa dell'Epifania).In popular folklore, the Befana visits all the children of Italy on the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany to fill their socks withcandyand presents if they are good, or a lump ofcoalor dark candy if they are bad. In many poorer parts of Italy and in particular rural Sicily, a stick in a stocking was placed instead of coal.  Being a good housekeeper, many say she will sweep the floor before she leaves. To some, the sweeping meant the sweeping away of the problems of the year.  The child's family typically leaves a small glass ofwineand a plate with a few morsels of food, often regional or local, for the Befana.
TheBadaliscis amythicalcreature of theVal Camonicain thesouthern central Alps.The Badalisc is represented today as a creature with a big head covered with agoatskin, two small horns, a huge mouth and glowing eyes. According to legend the Badalisc lives in the woods around the village ofAndrista(comuneofCevo) and is supposed to annoy the community: each year it is captured during the period ofEpiphany(5 & 6 January) and led on a rope into the village by musicians and masked characters, includingil giovane('the young man'),il vecchio('the old man'),la vecchia('the old woman'), andla signorina('the young woman'), who is "bait" for the animal's lust. There are also some oldwitches, who beat drums, and bearded shepherds, and ahunchback(un torvo gobetto) who has a "rustic duel" with the animal. Traditionally only men take part, although some aredressed as women. In medieval times women were prohibited from participating in the exhibition, or even seeing or hearing the Badalisc's Speech; if they did so they would be deniedHoly Communionthe following day.
Anegg of Columbusrefers to a brilliant idea or discovery that seems simple or easy after the fact. The expression refers to anapocryphalstory, dating from at least the 16th century, in which it is said thatChristopher Columbus, having been told that finding a new trade route was inevitable and no great accomplishment, challenges his critics to make aneggstand on its tip. After his challengers give up, Columbus does it himself by tapping the egg on the table to flatten its tip. The story is often alluded to when discussingcreativity.The term has also been used as the trade name ofa tangram puzzleandseveral mechanical puzzles. It also shows that anything can be done by anyone with the right set of skills; however, not everyone knows how to do it.
Alberto da Giussanois alegendary characterof the 12th century who would have participated, as a protagonist, in thebattle of Legnanoon 29 May 1176.In reality, according to historians, the actual military leader of theLombard Leaguein the famous military battle withFrederick BarbarossawasGuido da Landriano.Historical analyses made over time have indeed shown that the figure of Alberto daGiussanonever existed.In the past, historians, attempting to find a real confirmation, hypothesized the identification of his figure withAlbertus de Carathe(Alberto daCarate) andAlbertus Longus(Alberto Longo), both among the Milanese who signed the pact inCremonain March 1167 which established the Lombard League, or in an Alberto da Giussano mentioned in an appeal of 1196 presented toPope Celestine IIIon the administration of thechurch-hospital of San Sempliciano. These, however, are all weak identifications, given that they lack clear and convincing historical confirmation.
TheVal Camonica witch trialswere two largewitch trialswhich took place inVal Camonica, in Italy, in 1505–1510 and 1518–1521. They were among the biggest Italian witch trials, and caused the deaths of about 60 persons, in each trial: 110 in total. The best source for the trials is considered to be the VenetianMarin Sanudo, who was the chronicler to theCouncil of Tenfrom 1496 to 1536. The documentary evidence was destroyed by order ofGiacinto Gaggia, thebishop of Brescia, to prevent it from being used by the anticlerical opposition.
Mythology of Italyrefers to themythologyof people living in Italy. Major pantheons belong toRoman mythologyandEtruscan mythology. Roman mythology is the body ofmythsofancient Romeas represented in theliteratureandvisual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres ofRoman folklore,Roman mythologymay also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to the subject matter as represented in the literature and art of other cultures in any period. Roman mythology draws from the mythology of theItalic peoplesand ultimately fromProto-Indo-European mythology. Roman mythology also draws directly onGreek mythology, potentially as early as Rome'sprotohistory, but primarily during theHellenistic periodof Greek influence and through theRoman conquest of Greece, via the artistic imitation ofGreek literary modelsby Roman authors.
Italy is the wellspring ofWestern civilizationand has been a world crossroads for over 2,000 years.Continuous learning, creativity, and technological advancement on the Italian peninsula have shaped virtually every aspect of Western culture.
Although its archaeological record stretches back tens of thousands of years, Italian history begins with theEtruscans, an ancient civilization that rose between the Arno and Tiber rivers. At that time, Italy was a hodgepodge of peoples and languages. They included theEtruscansandCeltsin the north,Greek colonistsin southern Italy, and such mountain peoples as theSabinesand theSamnites. In addition, thePhoenicians, who were great sea traders, established colonies throughout the Mediterranean region, including settlements on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.
The Etruscans and the other inhabitants of the peninsula were supplanted in the 3rd century BC by theRomans, who soon became the chief power in the Mediterranean world and whose empire stretched from Iraq to Scotland by the 2nd century AD.The empire influenced the government, the arts, and the architecture of many later groups of people.
WithEmperor Constantine' conversion toChristianityin 312,Romebecame the open and official seat of theCatholic Church, and Italy has had a profound effect on the development of Christianity and of Western conceptsof faith andmoralityever since.Like the other works of Christian charity, the care of the sick was from the beginning a sacred duty for each of the faithful, but it devolved in a special way upon the bishops, presbyters, and deacons. According to historianWilliam Lecky, the hospitals were unknown before Christianity.After thefall of Romein the 5th century, the Italian peninsula was divided among many different rulers.
During the Middle Ages, which lasted from about the 5th century through the 15th century, theRoman Catholic Churchreplaced the Roman Empire as the unifying force in Europe.It used theLatin languageand preserved the classics of Latin literature. In addition, the influence of the Church on the spread of literacy has had a significant impact on European society. Günther S. Wegener has carefully documented the correlation betweenBibletranslation and the spread of literacy in European languages.In fact, during the Middle Ages, the most important branch of learning wastheology(the study of God). This new intellectual approach has been calledScholasticism. Italy, in virtue of this, became a seat of great formal learning in 1088 with the establishment of theUniversity of Bologna, the first university in Europe. Other Italian universities soon followed.
Among the eminent personalities of the Christian world during the Middle Ages, perhaps the most important was that ofBenedict of Nursia. His formulaora et labora,influenced the idea of work in Western monasticism and indirectly prepared the way for our modern high esteem of labour. For the development of their ideas aboutpurgatory, western theologians relied heavily on the authority ofPope Gregory I.In a society—like that of medieval Europe—deeply found on religion, changing the geography of the other world means to operate on a real mind revolution, it means to change life itself.
In Italymedieval communeswere sworn associations of townsmen that arose during the 11th century to overthrow the rule of the local bishop or feudal magnates. The communal experience of medieval Italy was somehow salient to the origins of modern democracy.Many cities—especiallyFlorence,Genoa,Pisa,Milan, andVenice—became powerful and independent city-states. An intellectual revival, stimulated in part by the freer atmosphere of the cities and in part by the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Latin writings, gave rise to thehumanistattitudes and ideas that formed the basis of the Renaissance.
Renaissance periodsaw a rebirth of many interests, particularly in the arts.By the early 15th century, in Florence, a circle of architects, painters, and sculptors sought to revive classical art. The leader of this group was an architect,Filippo Brunelleschi. He designed churches reflecting classical models. To him we also owe a scientific discovery of the first importance in the history of art: the rules ofperspective. In painting,Leonardo da Vinciand other Italian painters used a technique calledsfumatothat created softness in their portraits. At the same time, Italy witnessed the revival of thefresco. In music, both the small-scale madrigal and the large-scale opera were inventions of the period with a long future. Italian cities invented the modernconservatoryto train professional musicians, as they invented the art academy as a place to master the techniques and the theory of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Rome and Venice witnessed the emergence of the first art "market" where buyers and sellers exchanged artworks as commodities.
It was no accident that the origin of the European system ofbankswas born in Renaissance Italy. By the 1430s, theMedici familydominated the ruling class of Florence. The family controlled the largest bank in Europe and was headed by a series of talented and ambitious men. Under Medici domination, the Florentine republic in some ways resembled a signorial government.
Some of the greatest explorers of the late 15th century and early 16th century were Italians exposed to the traditions of the Renaissance.Christopher Columbus—like such other Italian explorers asJohn Cabot,Giovanni da Verrazzano, andAmerigo Vespucci—was willing to take enormous risks to achieve results that people had never dreamed of. In a sense, Columbus's arrival in America in 1492 was one of the greatest achievements of the Renaissance.
In general terms, theBaroque erais sometimes called the era of genius, since it was at this time in history that theScientific Revolutionthat established the foundations of modern science was launched. In the pantheon of the Scientific Revolution,Galileo Galileitakes a high position because of his pioneering use of quantitative experiments with results analyzed mathematically.
The intellectual dynamism in 18th century Italy was considerable, across the gamut of genres. Italian elites became conversant with French Enlightenment principles and with English ideas, too, spread by young aristocrats on thegrand tour. By the 1760s and 1770s, the Italian authors who were members of academies and contributors to philosophical and literary journals began to disseminate their ideas close to the realm of power in Milan and Turin, Parma and Modena, Florence and Naples. Important representatives of the Italian Enlightenment werePietro Verri,Pietro Giannone, andFilippo Mazzei, a close friend of Thomas Jefferson, who spent many years in America and had an indirect influence on the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Inspired byCesare Beccaria's theses—on liberal ideas and humanitarian sentiments—theGrand Duchy of Tuscanywas the first state in the world to abolish the death penalty in 1786.
Italy continued its leading cultural role through the Romantic period, when its dominance in painting and sculpture diminished and it re-established a strong presence in music. For example, the great vocal tradition of 19th-century European opera wasbel canto, which simply means 'beautiful singing'. At the same time Italy was forming itself into onenation, the period called theRisorgimento.
Italian artists have been quite influential in the 20th century, and some of the Italian exponents of Modernism in the 1920s and 1930s continue to have a strong presence in the international contemporary art market. A new movement calledFascism, led by Benito Mussolini, a former Socialist, grew increasingly popular. Italian Fascism became a model for similar movements in Europe and Latin America. The nationalism of Italian Fascism was culturally based.The parties and organizations associated with these leaders also adopted theRoman salute.
Known in many circles as the father of the Atomic Age,Enrico Fermiwas an Italian who bore witness to the discovery, control, and use of atomic power. FollowingWorld War II, Italian neorealism became an important force in motion pictures, and by the 1960s, Italy had established itself as one of a handful of great European film cultures. In the same years, the country has also been central to the formation of theEuropean Union.Today Italy is one of the international leaders in fashion and design.
Ancient Italy is identified with Rome and the so-calledRomanophilia. Despite the fall of the Roman Empire, its legacy continued to have a significant impact on the cultural and political life in Europe. For the medieval mind, Rome came to constitute a central dimension of the European traditionalist sensibility. The idealisation of this Empire as the symbol of universal order led to the construction of theHoly Roman Empire. Writing before the outbreak of the First World War, the historian Alexander Carlyle noted that "we can without difficulty recognize" not only "the survival of the tradition of the ancient empire", but also a "form of the perpetual aspiration to make real the dream of the universal commonwealth of humanity".
During much of the Middle Ages (about the 5th century through the 15th century), the Roman Catholic Church had great political power in Western Europe. Throughout its history, the Catholic faith has inspired many great works of architecture, art, literature, and music. These works include French medieval Gothic cathedrals, the Italian artist Michelangelo's frescoes in the Vatican, the Italian writer Dante's epic poemThe Divine Comedy, and the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart'sRequiem.
As for Italian artists they were in demand almost all over Europe.TorrigianoandZuccariworked in England,Masolinoin Hungary,Luca CambiasiandPellegrino Tibaldiin Spain,Jacopo Sansovinoin Portugal,Morando, and others in Poland. The demand seems to have been greatest in France, more especially at the French court, which employed (among others)Leonardo da Vinci,Rosso,Primaticcio,Niccolò dell'Abbate, andSebastiano Serlio. Italian craftsmen were engaged to work on building sites from Munich to Zamość. Italian actors performed at the courts of France, Spain, Poland and elsewhere.
The Italian language was fashionable, at court for example, as well as Italian literature and art. The famous lexicographerJohn Florioof Italian origin was the most important humanist in Renaissance England.and contributed to the English language with over 1,969 words.William Shakespeare's works show an important level of Italophilia, a deep knowledge of Italy and the Italian culture, like inRomeo and JulietandThe Merchant of Venice. According to Robin Kirkpatrick, Professor of Italian and English Literatures at Cambridge University, Shakespeare shared "with his contemporaries and immediate forebears a fascination with Italy".In 16th-century Spain, cultural Italophilia was also widespread (while the Spanish influence in southern Italy was also great) and king Philip IV himself considered Italian as his favourite foreign language.
The movement of "international Italophilia" around 1600 certainly held the German territories in its sway, with one statistic suggesting that up to a third of all books available in Germany in the early 17th century were in Italian.Themes and styles fromIl pastor fidowere adapted endlessly by German artists, includingOpitz, who wrote several poems based on Guarini's text, andSchützhimself, whose settings of a handful of passages appeared in his 1611 book of Italian madrigals. Emperors Ferdinand III and Leopold I were great admirers of Italian culture and made Italian (which they themselves spoke perfectly) a prestigious language at their court. German baroque composers or architects were also very much influenced by their Italian counterparts.
During the 18th century, Italy was in the spotlight of the European grand tour, a period in which learned and wealthy foreign, usually British or German, aristocrats visited the country due to its artistic, cultural and archaeological richness. Since then, throughout the centuries, many writers and poets have sung of Italy's beauty; fromGoethetoStendhaltoByron, Italy's natural beauty and her people's creativity inspired their works.Percy Bysshe Shelleyfamously said that Italy is "the paradise of exiles".
Italiophilia was not uncommon in the United States.Thomas Jeffersonwas a great admirer of Italy and ancient Rome. Jefferson is largely responsible for the neo-classical buildings in Washington, D.C. that echo Roman and Italian architectural styles.
Spain provided an equally telling example of Italian cultural admiration in the 18th century. The installation of a team of Italian architects and artists, headed byFilippo Juvarra, has been interpreted as part of Queen Elisabeth Farnese's conscious policy to mould the visual culture of the Spanish court along Italian lines. The engagement ofCorrado Giaquintofrom Molfetta and eventually the VenetianJacopo Amigonias the creators of the painted decorative space for the new seat of the Spanish court was a clear indication of this aesthetic orientation, while the later employment ofGiovanni Battista Tiepoloand his sonGiovanni Domenicoconfirmed the Italophile tendency.
TheVictorian erain Great Britain saw Italophilic tendencies. Britain supported its own version of the imperialPax Romana, calledPax Britannica.John Ruskinwas a Victorian Italophile who respected the concepts of morality held in Italy.Also the writerHenry Jameshas exhibited Italophilia in several of his novels. However,Ellen Moerswrites that, "In the history of Victorian Italophilia no name is more prominent than that ofElizabeth Barrett Browning....[She places] Italy astheplace for the woman of genius ..."
Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi, along with Giuseppe Mazzini and Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, led the struggle for Italian unification in the 19th century. For his battles on behalf of freedom in Europe and Latin America, Garibaldi has been dubbed the "Hero of Two Worlds". Many of the greatest intellectuals of his time, such asVictor Hugo,Alexandre Dumas, andGeorge Sandshowered him with admiration. He was so appreciated in the United States thatAbraham Lincolnoffered him a command during the Civil War (Garibaldi turned it down).
During theFascist era, several leaders in Europe and Latin America modelled their government and economic system on Italian Fascism.Adolf Hitlerwas an avid admirer of Benito Mussolini.To justify his Italophilia, Hitler had to convince himself that northern Italians were somehowracially Aryan—"from the cultural point of view", he once remarked, "we are more closely linked with the Italians than with any other people"—and that the veins of Mussolini, Dante and other heroes pulsed with nocontaminating bloodfrom theinferior"Mediterranean race". Or "The Italians have a splendid foundation of the peasantry. Once when I was travelling to Florence, I thought, as I passed through it, what a paradise this land of southern France is! But when I reached Italy – then I realised what a paradise on earth can really be!".The Führer also dreamed of touringTuscanyandUmbria: "my dearest wish would be to be able to wander about Italy as an unknown painter."
In 1940Walt Disney ProductionsproducedPinocchiobased on the Italian children's novelThe Adventures of PinocchiobyCarlo Collodi, themost translated non-religious bookin the world and one of thebest-selling booksever published, as well as a canonical piece of children's literature. The film was the second animated feature film produced by Disney.
After World War II, such brands asFerrariandAlfa Romeobecame well known for racing and sports cars. Since then Italy has experienced strong economic growth, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, which lifted the country to the position of being one of the most industrialized nations in the world.Italian product design, fashion, film, and cuisine and the notion of Italy as the embodiment ofLa dolce vitafor German tourism—all left an imprint on contemporary Italophilia.
The Italian peninsula has been at the heart of Western cultural development at least since Roman times.Important poets of the Roman republic and empire wereLucretius,Catullus,Virgil,Horace, andOvid. Also prominent in Latin literature were the orator-rhetoricianCicero, the satiristJuvenal, the prose writersPliny the Elderand his nephewPliny the Younger, and the historiansSallust,Livy, andSuetonius.Julius Caesar, renowned as a historian and prose stylist, is even more famous as a military and political leader. Roman jurists founded and developedRoman law, which still today represents the basic framework ofcivil law, the most widespread legal system in the world. Among the most famous jurists areGaius,Ulpianus,Papinianus, andPaulus. Italy, as the center ofMagna Graecia, was also the land that gave birth to personalities such asArchimedes,Pythagoras,Parmenides,Zeno, andGorgia. The first of the Roman emperors was Octavian, better known by the honorificAugustus. Noteworthy among later emperors are the tyrantsCaligulaandNero, the philosopher-statesmanMarcus Aurelius, andConstantine I, who was the first to accept Christianity. The history of the Christian Church during the medieval period would not be complete without mention of such men of Italian birth asBenedict of Nursia,Pope Gregory I,Francis of Assisi, and the philosopher-theologiansAnselm of Canterbury,Joachim of Fiore, andThomas Aquinas.
Sicilian kings and emperors such asRoger II of SicilyandFrederick IIof the Kingdom of Sicily had a significant impact on Italian culture and unified Italy for the first time. No land has made a greater contribution to the visual arts.In the 13th and 14th centuries there were the sculptorsNicola Pisanoand his sonGiovanni; the paintersCimabue,Duccio, andGiotto; and, later in the period, the sculptorAndrea Pisano. Among the many great artists of the 15th century—the golden age of Florence and Venice—were the architectsFilippo Brunelleschi,Lorenzo Ghiberti, andLeon Battista Alberti; the sculptorsDonatello,Luca della Robbia,Desiderio da Settignano, andAndrea del Verrocchio; and the paintersFra Angelico,Stefano di Giovanni,Paolo Uccello,Masaccio, FràFilippo Lippi,Piero della Francesca,Giovanni Bellini,Andrea Mantegna,Antonello da Messina,Antonio del Pollaiuolo,Luca Signorelli,Pietro Perugino,Sandro Botticelli,Domenico Ghirlandaio, andVittore Carpaccio.
During the 16th century, the High Renaissance, Rome shared with Florence the leading position in the world of the arts.Major masters included the painter-designer-inventorLeonardo da Vinci; the painter-sculptor-architectMichelangelo Buonarroti; the architectsDonato BramanteandAndrea Palladio; the sculptorBenvenuto Cellini; and the paintersTitian,Giorgione,Raphael,Andrea del Sarto, andAntonio da Correggio. Among the great painters of the late Renaissance wereTintorettoandPaolo Veronese.Giorgio Vasariwas a painter, architect, art historian, and critic.
Among the leading artists of the Baroque period were the sculptors-architectsGian Lorenzo BerniniandFrancesco Borromini; the architectsBartolomeo Rastrelli,Filippo Juvarra, andLuigi Vanvitelli; and the paintersCaravaggio,Guido Reni,Annibale Carracci,Pietro da Cortona,Luca Giordano,Andrea Pozzo,Guercino,Domenichino,Giovanni Battista Tiepolo,Canaletto,Pietro Longhi, andFrancesco Guardi. Leading figures in modern painting wereUmberto Boccioni,Amedeo Modigliani,Giorgio de Chirico,Lucio Fontana,Alberto Burri, andGiorgio Morandi. A noted contemporary architect wereGiuseppe Terragni,Marcello Piacentini,Adalberto Libera,Pier Luigi Nervi,Gio Ponti,Aldo Rossi, andRenzo Piano.
Music, an integral part of Italian life, owes many of its forms as well as its language to Italy. The inventor ofGregorian chantwas the Roman Pope Gregory I. The musical staff was either invented or established byGuido of Arezzo. A leading 14th-century composer was the blind Florentine organistFrancesco Landini. Leading composers of the High Renaissance and early Baroque periods wereGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; the madrigalistsLuca MarenzioandCarlo Gesualdo, prince of Venosa; the Venetian organistsAndrea GabrieliandGiovanni Gabrieli;Claudio Monteverdi, one of the founders of opera; organist-composerGirolamo Frescobaldi; andGiacomo Carissimi. One of the father of French opera, and master of French baroque style, was the Italian composer, after naturalized French,Jean-Baptiste Lully. Important figures of the later Baroque era wereArcangelo Corelli,Antonio Vivaldi,Luigi Boccherini,Alessandro Scarlatti, and his sonDomenico Scarlatti. Italian-bornLuigi Cherubiniwas the central figure of French music in the Napoleonic era, whileAntonio SalieriandGaspare Spontiniplayed important roles in the musical life of Vienna and Berlin, respectively.
Composers of the 19th century who made their period the great age of Italian opera wereGioacchino Rossini,Gaetano Donizetti,Vincenzo Bellini, and, above all,Giuseppe Verdi.Niccolò Paganiniwas the greatest violinist of his time. More recent operatic composers includeRuggero Leoncavallo,Giacomo Puccini, andPietro Mascagni. Renowned operatic singers includeEnrico Caruso,Luisa Tetrazzini,Titta Ruffo,Amelita Galli-Curci,Beniamino Gigli,Ezio Pinza, andLuciano Pavarotti.Ferruccio Busoni,Ottorino Respighi,Luigi Dallapiccola,Alfredo Casella,Luigi Nono, andLuciano Berio.Arturo Toscaniniis generally regarded as one of the greatest operatic and orchestral conductors of his time; two noted contemporary conductors areClaudio AbbadoandRiccardo Muti. In the field of music for cinema, great Italian composers wereEnnio Morricone,Nino Rota,Armando Trovajoli, andGiorgio Moroder, the father of disco music. The foremost makers of stringed instruments wereGasparo da Salòof Brescia,Nicolò Amati,Antonio Stradivari, andGiuseppe Guarneriof Cremona.Bartolomeo Cristoforiinvented the piano.
Italian literature and literary language began withDante Alighieri, author ofThe Divine Comedy.Literary achievements—such as the poetry ofPetrarch,Torquato Tasso, andLudovico Ariosto, and the prose ofGiovanni Boccaccio,Niccolò Machiavelli, andBaldassare Castiglione—exerted a huge and lasting influence on the subsequent development of Western culture. Outstanding film directors areFederico Fellini,Sergio Leone,Pier Paolo Pasolini,Luchino Visconti,Vittorio De Sica,Michelangelo Antonioni,Roberto Rossellini,Paolo Sorrentino,Franco Zeffirelli,Bernardo Bertolucci,Lina Wertmüller, and Italian-bornFrank Capra. Famous film stars include Italian-bornRudolph Valentino,Marcello Mastroianni,Gina Lollobrigida, andSophia Loren.
In philosophy, exploration, and statesmanship, Italy has produced many world-renowned figures: the travelerMarco Polo; the statesman and patron of the artsCosimo de' Medici; the statesman, clergyman, and artistic patron Rodrigo Borgia, who becamePope Alexander VI; the soldier, statesman, and artistic patronLorenzo de' Medici, the son of Cosimo; the explorerJohn Cabot; the explorerChristopher Columbus; the explorerAmerigo Vespucci, after whom the Americas are named; the admiral and statesmanAndrea Doria;Caterina de medici, queen of France;Niccolò Machiavelli, author ofThe Princeand the outstanding political theorist of the Renaissance; the statesman and clergymanCesare Borgia, the son of Rodrigo; the explorerSebastian Cabot, the son of John; the historianFrancesco Guicciardini; the explorerGiovanni da Verrazzano; the explorerPietro Savorgnan di Brazzà, who gave his name to the city ofBrazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo; the philosopherBernardino Telesio; the explorer, missionary, and sinologistMatteo Ricci; the mathematician, astronomer, and philosopherGiordano Bruno; the scholarPaolo Sarpi, so well versed in many fields of human knowledge to be called the "Oracle of the century"; the philosopherTommaso Campanella; theCardinal Mazarin, a statesman, diplomat, and prime minister of France under Louis XIV; the imperial field marshal and statesmanPrince Eugene of Savoy;the political philosopherGiambattista Vico; the noted juristCesare Beccaria;Giuseppe Mazzini, the leading spirit of theRisorgimento;Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, its prime statesman; andGiuseppe Garibaldi, its foremost soldier and man of action.
The French military and political leaderNapoleonwas of Italian family and was born in the same year that theRepublic of Genoa(former Italian state) ceded the region of Corsica to France.
Notable intellectual and political leaders of more recent times include the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1907,Ernesto Teodoro Moneta; the sociologist and economistVilfredo Pareto; the political theoristGaetano Mosca; the educatorMaria Montessori; the philosopher, critic, and historianBenedetto Croce, with his idealistic antagonistGiovanni Gentile;Benito Mussolini, the founder of Fascism and dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943;Carlo Sforza,Alcide De Gasperi, andGiulio Andreotti, famous latter-day statesmen; and the Communist leadersAntonio Gramsci,Palmiro Togliatti, andEnrico Berlinguer.
Princess Marie-Joséwas one of the very few diplomatic channels between the German/Italian camp and the other European countries involved in the war; she sympathised with the partisans and, while she was a refugee in Switzerland, smuggled weapons, money, and food for them.Virginia Oldoini, mistress of Emperor Napoleon III of France, was a significant figure in the early history of photography.
Italian scientists and mathematicians of note includeGalileo Galilei,Fibonacci,Guglielmo Marconi,Antonio Meucci, Italian-AmericanEnrico Fermi,Gerolamo Cardano,Bonaventura Cavalieri,Evangelista Torricelli,Francesco Maria Grimaldi,Marcello Malpighi,Giuseppe Luigi Lagrangia,Luigi Galvani,Alessandro Volta,Amedeo Avogadro,Stanislao Cannizzaro,Giuseppe Peano,Angelo Secchi,Camillo Golgi,Ettore Majorana,Emilio Segrè,Tullio Levi-Civita,Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro,Daniel Bovet,Giulio Natta,Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian-AmericanRiccardo Giacconi, andGiorgio Parisi.Elena Cornaro Piscopiawas the first female Ph.D. graduate in the world history.
TheItalian diasporais the large-scale emigration ofItaliansfromItaly.
There were two major ItaliandiasporasinItalian history. The first diaspora began around 1880, two decades after the Risorgimento, and ended in the 1920s to the early 1940s with the rise ofFascist Italy.Poverty was the main reason for emigration, specifically the lack of land asmezzadriasharecroppingflourished in Italy, especially in the south, and property became subdivided over generations. Especially insouthern Italy, conditions were harsh.Until the 1860s to 1950s, most of Italy was arural societywith many small towns and cities and almost no modern industry in which land management practices, particularly in the south and the northeast, did not easily convince farmers to stay on the land and to work the soil.
Another factor was related to the overpopulation of southern Italy as a result of the improvements in socioeconomic conditions after unification.That created a demographic boom and forced the new generations to emigrate en masse in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, mostly to theAmericas.The new migration of capital created millions of unskilled jobs around the world and was responsible for the simultaneous mass migration of Italians searching for "work and bread".
The second diaspora started after the end ofWorld War IIand concluded roughly in the 1970s.
Between 1880 and 1980, about 15,000,000 Italians left the country permanently.By 1980, it was estimated that about 25,000,000 Italians were residing outside Italy.Between 1861 and 1985, 29,036,000 Italians emigrated to other countries, of whom 16,000,000 (55%) arrived before the outbreak ofWorld War I. About 10,275,000 returned to Italy (35%), and 18,761,000 permanently settled overseas (65%).There is now a National Museum of Italian Emigration, located in Rome, which has on display hundreds of photos from the first two migrations, and provides education to the public about this phenomenon from cultural, political, and economic perspectives.
A third wave, primarily affecting young people, is thought to be occurring, due to the socioeconomic problems caused by the financial crisis of the early 21st century. According to the Public Register of Italian Residents Abroad (AIRE), the number of Italians abroad rose from 3,106,251 in 2006 to 4,636,647 in 2015 and so grew by 49% in just 10 years.There are over 5 million Italian citizens living outside Italy,andc.80million people around the world claim full or partial Italian ancestry.
Internal migration within theItalian geographical bordersalso occurred for similar reasons;its largest wave consisted in 4 million people moving from southern Italy tonorthern Italy(and mostly to northern Italian industrial cities), between the 1950s and 1970s.
The Romantic English poetLord Byrondescribed the Italian language as «that soft bastard Latin, which melts like kisses from a female mouth, and sounds as if it should be writ on satin».Byron's description is not an isolated expression of poetic fancy but, in fact, a popular view of the Italian language across the world, often called the language of "love", "poetry", and "song".
Italian belongs to the Indo-European family of languages and, like French and Spanish, it is a Romance language, i.e. one of the modern languages that developed from Latin. It is spoken by about 60 million people inItaly, 23,000 in theRepublic of San Marino, 400,000 inSwitzerland, another 1,3 million in otherEuropean countries, and approximately 6 million in theAmericas.
Italian evolved from adialect spoken in Tuscany, which is the birthplace of writers such asDante,Boccaccio, andPetrarch. Thanks to its cultural prestige, this dialect was progressively adopted by theItalian statesand then, upon their unification in 1861, by theKingdom of Italy. It may be considered somewhat intermediate, linguistically and geographically, between theItalo-Dalmatian languagesof the centre-south and theGallo-Italic languagesof the north, becoming the centre of adialect continuum. Its development was also influenced by the otherItalian languagesand by the Germanic language ofpost-Roman invaders.
There are only a few communities in Italy in which Italian is not spoken as the first language, but many speakers are native bilinguals of both Italian and Italy'sregional languages, which historically predate today's national language. These include native communities of non-Romance and Indo-European languages such asAlbanian,Croatian, andGreekin southern Italy,SloveneandGermanvarieties in northern Italy, as well as dozens of various Romance languages, such asArpitan,Catalan,Friulan,Ladin,Lombard,Neapolitan,Occitan,Sardinian,Sicilian, and many others.
Italian is often natively spoken in aregional variety, not to be confused with Italy's regional and minority languages;however, the establishment of a national education system led to a decrease in variation in the languages spoken across the country during the 20th century. Standardisation was further expanded in the 1950s and 1960s due to economic growth and the rise ofmass mediaand television (the state broadcasterRAIhelped set a standard Italian).
Italy is one of the world's greatest centres of architecture, art, and books. Among its many libraries, the most important are in the national library system, which contains two central libraries, inFlorence(5.3 million volumes) andRome(5 million), and four regional libraries, inNaples(1.8 million volumes),Milan(1 million),Turin(973,000), andVenice(917,000).The existence of two national central libraries, while most nations have one, came about through the history of the country, as Rome was once part of the Papal States and Florence was one of the first capitals of the unifiedKingdom of Italy. While both libraries are designated as copyright libraries, Florence now serves as the site designated for the conservation and cataloguing of Italian publications and the site in Rome catalogues foreign publications acquired by the state libraries.
In 1986, the first internet connection in Italy was experimented inPisa, the third in Europe after Norway and the United Kingdom.Already in the late 1970s, Pisan researchers, firstly with Luciano Lenzini, were in contact with U.S. researchers who had written the history of the Internet. Among them wereVint CerfandBob Kahn, who were the first to inventTCP and IP, the two protocols at the heart of the internet, and are hence considered the "Fathers of the Internet".
Currently, Internet access is available to businesses and home users in various forms, including dial-up, cable, DSL, and wireless. The.itis the Internet country codetop-level domain(ccTLD) for Italy. The.eudomain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states.
According to data released by the fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) Council Europe, Italy represents one of the largestFTTHmarkets in Europe, with more than 2,5 million homes passed by fibre at end-December 2010;at the same date the country reported around 348,000 fibre subscribers.The "Fibre for Italy" project (with the participation of providersFastweb,Vodafone, andWindin a co-investment partnership) aims to reach 20 million people in Italy's 15 largest cities by 2015,and Telecom Italia plans to connect 138 cities by 2018.The government has also started the Italia Digitale project, which aims to provide at least 50% of Italians with high-speed internet access by 2020. The government aims to extend the fibre-optic network to rural areas.
Figures published by theNational Institute of Statisticsshowed at end-2011 that 58,8% of Italian families had a personal computer (up slightly from 57,6% in 2010);54,5% had access to the internet (up from 52,4%);and 45,8% had broadband access (up from 43,4%).Over one-fourth (26,3%, down slightly from 26,4% in 2010) of Italian internet users aged 14 and older made an online purchase during 2011.
As of 2002, there were about 90 daily newspapers in the country, but not all of them had national circulation.According to Audipress statistics, the major daily newspapers (with their political orientations and estimated circulations) are:la Repubblica, left-wing, 3,276,000 in 2011;Corriere della Sera, independent, 3,274,000 in 2011;La Stampa, liberal, 2,132,000 in 2011;Il Messaggero, left of centre, 1,567,000 in 2011;il Resto del Carlino, right of centre, 1,296,000 in 2011;Il Sole 24 Ore, a financial news paper, 1,015,000 in 2011;il Giornale, independent, 728,000 in 2011;andl'Unità, Communist, 291,000 in 2011.TV Sorrisi e Canzoniis the most popular news weekly with a circulation of 677,658 in July 2012.The periodical press is becoming increasingly important. Among the most important periodicals are the pictorial weeklies—Oggi,L'Europeo,L'Espresso, andGente.Famiglia Cristianais a Catholic weekly periodical with a wide readership.
The majority of papers are published in northern and central Italy, and circulation is highest in these areas. Rome and Milan are the most important publication centres. A considerable number of dailies are owned by political parties, the Roman Catholic Church, and various economic groups.
The law provides for freedom of speech and the press, and the government is said to respect these rights in practice.
Of all the claimants to the title of the "Father of Radio", the one most associated with it is the Italian inventorGuglielmo Marconi.He was the first person to send radio communication signals in 1895. By 1899 he flashed the first wireless signal across theEnglish Channeland two years later received the letter "S", telegraphed fromEnglandtoNewfoundland. This was the first successful transatlantic radiotelegraph message in 1902.
Today, radio waves that are broadcast from thousands of stations, along with waves from other sources, fill the air around us continuously. Italy has three state-controlled radio networks that broadcast day and evening hours on both AM and FM.Program content varies from popular music to lectures, panel discussions,  as well as frequent newscasts and feature reports. In addition, many private radio stations mix popular and classical music. A short-wave radio, although unnecessary, aids in the reception of VOA, BBC,Vatican Radioin English and the Armed Forces Network in Germany and in other European stations.
The first form of televised media in Italy was introduced in1939, when the first experimental broadcasting began. However, this lasted for a very short time: when fascist Italy entered World War II in 1940, all the transmissions were interrupted, and were resumed in earnest only nine years after the end of the conflict, in 1954.
There are two main national television organisations responsible for most viewing: state-ownedRAI, funded by a yearly mandatory licence fee andMediaset, a commercial network founded by Silvio Berlusconi. CurrentlyLa7is considered the third major network in Italy, it is owned by Telecom Italia Media, the media branch of the telephone companyTelecom Italia, which also owns 51% ofMTV Italia. While many other networks are also present, both nationally and locally, RAI and Mediaset together, with their six traditional ex-analogue stationsplus a number of new free to air digital channels, reach almost 70% of the TV ratings.
The television networks offer varied programs, including news,soap operas, reality TV shows, game shows, sitcoms, cartoons, and films-all in Italian. All programs are in colour, except for the old black-and-white movies. Most Italians still depend on VHF/UHF reception, but both cable systems and direct satellite reception is increasingly common. Conventional satellite dishes can pick up European broadcasts, including some in English.
National symbols of Italyare thesymbolsthat uniquely identifyItalyreflectingits historyand culture.They are used to represent theNationthroughemblems,metaphors,personifications, andallegories, which are shared by the entireItalian people.
The three main official symbols, are:
Of these only the flag is explicitly mentioned in the Italian Constitution; this puts the flag under the protection of the law, with criminal penalties for contempt of it.
Other official symbols, as reported by the Presidency of the Italian Republic,are:
The teaching in the schools of the "Il Canto degli Italiani", an account of theRisorgimentoevents, and on the adoption of the flag of Italy are prescribed by law n. 222 of 23 November 2012.
There are also other symbols or emblems of Italy which, although not defined by law, are part of the Italian identity:
Italy has been aunitaryparliamentary republicsince 2 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by aconstitutional referendum. Thepresident of Italy(presidente della Repubblica), currentlySergio Mattarellasince 2015, is Italy'shead of state. The president is elected for a single seven years mandate by theParliament of Italyand some regional voters injoint session. Italy has a written democraticconstitution, resulting from the work of aConstituent Assemblyformed by the representatives of all theanti-fascistforces that contributed to the defeat of Nazi and Fascist forces during theItalian Civil War.
Italy has a parliamentary government based on a mixedproportionaland majoritarian voting system. The parliament is perfectlybicameral: the two houses, theChamber of Deputiesthat meets inPalazzo Montecitorio, and theSenate of the Republicthat meets inPalazzo Madama, have the same powers. Theprime minister, officially president of the Council of Ministers (presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is Italy'shead of government. The prime minister and the cabinet are appointed by the president of the Republic of Italy and must pass a vote of confidence in Parliament to come into office. To remain, the prime minister has to pass also eventual further votes of confidence or no confidence in Parliament.
The prime minister is the president of theCouncil of Ministers—which holds effective executive power—and he must receive a vote of approval from it to execute most political activities. The office is similar to those in most otherparliamentary systems, but the leader of the Italian government is not authorised to request the dissolution of theParliament of Italy.
Another difference with similar offices is that the overall political responsibility for intelligence is vested in the president of the Council of Ministers. By virtue of that, the prime minister has exclusive power to: co-ordinate intelligence policies, determining the financial resources and strengthening national cyber security; apply and protect State secrets; authorise agents to carry out operations, in Italy or abroad, in violation of the law.
A peculiarity of theItalian Parliamentis the representation given toItalian citizenspermanently living abroad: 12 Deputies and 6 Senators elected in four distinctoverseas constituencies. In addition, the Italian Senate is characterised also by a small number ofsenators for life, appointed by the president "for outstanding patriotic merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field". Former presidents of the Republic areex officiolife senators.
Italy was a founding member of the European Community—now theEuropean Union. Italy was admitted to theUnited Nationsin 1955 and is a member and strong supporter of theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization, theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, theGeneral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization, theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and theCouncil of Europe. Its recent turns in the rotating presidency of international organisations include theConference for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the forerunner of the OSCE, in 1994;G8; and the EU in 2001 and from July to December 2003.
Thelaw of Italyhas a plurality of sources of production. These are arranged in a hierarchical scale, under which the rule of a lower source cannot conflict with the rule of an upper source (hierarchy of sources).TheConstitution of 1948is the main source.Thejudiciary of Italyis based onRoman lawmodified by theNapoleonic codeand later statutes. TheSupreme Court of Cassationis the highest court in Italy for both criminal and civil appeal cases. TheConstitutional Court of Italy(Corte Costituzionale) rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution and is a post-World War II innovation.
The Italian law enforcement system is complex, with multiple police forces.The national policing agencies are thePolizia di Stato('state police'), theArma dei Carabinieri, theGuardia di Finanza('financial guard'), and thePolizia Penitenziaria('prison police'),as well as theGuardia Costiera('coast guard police').
The Polizia di Stato is a civil police supervised by theInterior Ministry, while the Carabinieri is agendarmeriesupervised by theDefense Ministry; both share duties in law enforcement and the maintenance of public order.Within the Carabinieri is a unit devoted to combatingenvironmental crime.The Guardia di Finanza is responsible for combatingfinancial crimeandwhite-collar crime,as well ascustoms.The Polizia Penitenziaria is responsible for guarding the prison system.TheCorpo Forestale dello Stato('state forestry corps') formerly existed as a separate nationalpark rangeragency,but was merged into the Carabinieri in 2016.Although policing in Italy is primarily provided on a national basis,there also existsPolizia Provinciale('provincial police') andPolizia Municipale('municipal police').
Public holidays celebrated in Italy include religious, national, and regional observances. Italy's National Day, theFesta della Repubblica('Republic Day'),is celebrated on 2 June each year, with the main celebration taking place inRome, and commemorates thebirth of the Italian Republicin 1946.The ceremony of the event organised in Rome includes the deposition of alaurel wreathas a tribute to theItalian Unknown Soldierat theAltare della Patriaby thepresident of the Italian Republicand amilitary paradealongVia dei Fori Imperialiin Rome.
Liberation Dayis a national holiday inItalythat commemorates the victory of theItalian resistance movementagainstNazi Germanyand theItalian Social Republic,puppet stateof the Nazis andrump stateof the fascists, in theItalian Civil War, acivil warin Italy fought duringWorld War II, which takes place on 25 April. The date was chosen by convention, as it was the day of the year 1945 when theNational Liberation Committeeof Upper Italy (CLNAI) officially proclaimed the insurgency in a radio announcement, propounding the seizure of power by the CLNAI and proclaiming the death sentence for all fascist leaders (includingBenito Mussolini, who was shot three days later).
National Unity and Armed Forces Dayis anItalian national daysince 1919 which commemorates the victory inWorld War I, a war event considered the completion of the process ofunification of Italy. It is celebrated every 4 November, which is the anniversary of thearmistice of Villa Giustibecoming effective in 1918, declaringAustria-Hungary's surrender.Italy entered the World War I in 1915 with the aim of completing national unity: for this reason, the Italian intervention in the World War I is also considered theFourth Italian War of Independence,in a historiographical perspective that identifies in the latter the conclusion of the unification of Italy, whose military actions began during therevolutions of 1848with theFirst Italian War of Independence.TheTreaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye(1919) and theTreaty of Rapallo(1920) allowed the annexation ofTrentino Alto-Adige,Julian March,Istria, andKvarner, as well as theDalmatiancity ofZara; the subsequentTreaty of Rome(1924) led to the annexation of the city ofFiumeto Italy.
TheAnniversary of the Unification of Italyis anational daythat falls annually on 17 March and celebrates the birth of Italy as modernnation state, which took place following theproclamation of the Kingdom of Italyon 17 March 1861; however, the complete unification of Italy took place only in the following years. In 1866,Venetoand theprovince of Mantuawere annexed after theThird Italian War of Independence, then in 1870Lazioafter thecapture of Rome, and finally in 1918Trentino-Alto AdigeandJulian Marchafter the World War I. The anniversary of the birth of the Italian state was solemnly celebrated in 1911 (50 years), in 1961 (100 years), and in 2011 (150 years).
TheTricolour Day, officially National Flag Day, is theflag dayof Italy. Celebrated on 7 January, it was established by Law 671 on 31 December 1996. It is intended as a celebration, although not a public holiday.The official celebration of the day is held inReggio Emilia, the city where theItalian tricolourwas first adopted by an Italian sovereign state, theCispadane Republic, on 7 January 1797. In Rome, at theQuirinal Palace, the ceremonial foresees instead the change of theGuard of honourin solemn form with the deployment and the parade of theCorazzieri Regimentin gala uniform and the Fanfare of theCarabinieri Cavalry Regiment.This solemn rite is carried out only on three other occasions, during the celebrations of the Anniversary of the Unification of Italy (17 March), of theFesta della Repubblica(2 June), and of theNational Unity and Armed Forces Day(4 November).
TheNational Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibeis an Italian celebration for the memory of thevictims of the Foibeand theIstrian–Dalmatian exodus, which led to the emigration of hundreds of thousands (between 230,000 and 350,000) of local ethnicItalians(Istrian ItaliansandDalmatian Italians) fromYugoslaviaafter the end of theWorld War II.The Italian Law 92 of 30 March 2004 instituted aDay of Remembranceon 10 February to commemorate the victims of Foibe and the forced exodus of nearly the entire population of Italian origin living inDalmatiaandJulian Marchbrought about by Yugoslavia.The law also instituted a special medal to be conferred on relatives of victims.The date of 10 February is the day on which thepeace treaties of Pariswere signed. These treaties transferred the previously Italian areas ofIstria,Kvarner, the Dalmatian city ofZadar, and most of Julian March to Yugoslavia.
Natale di Roma, historically known asDies Romanaand also referred to as Romaia, is the festival linked to thefoundation of Rome, celebrated on 21 April.According tolegend,Romulusis said to have founded the city ofRomeon 21 April,753 BC. From this date, the Roman chronology derived its system, known by theLatinphraseAb urbe condita, meaning 'from the founding of the city', which counted the years from this presumed foundation.
In 2017, the proportion ofItalianswho identified themselves asRoman Catholic Christianswas 74.4%.Since 1985, Catholicism is no longer officially thestate religion.Italy has theworld's fifth-largest Catholic population, and is the largest Catholic nation in Europe.
TheHoly See, theepiscopal jurisdiction of Rome, contains the central government of theCatholic Church. It is recognised by other subjects of international law as asovereignentity, headed by thepope, who is also the bishop of Rome, with whichdiplomatic relationscan be maintained.Often incorrectly referred to as "the Vatican", the Holy See is not the same entity as theVatican CityState because the Holy See is the jurisdiction and administrative entity of the pope.The Vatican City came into existence only in 1929.
In 2011, minority Christian faiths in Italy included an estimated 1.5 million Orthodox Christians, or 2.5% of the population,500,000PentecostalsandEvangelicals(of whom 400,000 are members of theAssemblies of God), 251,192Jehovah's Witnesses,30,000 Waldensians,25,000Seventh-day Adventists, 26,925Latter-day Saints, 15,000 Baptists (plus some 5,000 Free Baptists), 7,000Lutherans, and 4,000Methodists(affiliated with the Waldensian Church).
One of the longest-established minority religious faiths in Italy isJudaism,Jewshaving been present inancient Romesince before the birth of Christ. Italy has for centuries welcomed Jews expelled from other countries, notably Spain. However, about 20% of Italian Jews were killed during theHolocaust.This, together with the emigration which preceded and followed World War II, has left only around 28,400 Jews in Italy.
Soaring immigration in the last two decades has been accompanied by an increase in non-Christian faiths. Following immigration from the Indian subcontinent, in Italy there are 120,000Hindus,70,000Sikhs, and 22gurdwarasacross the country.
The Italian state, as a measure to protect religious freedom, devolves shares of income tax to recognised religious communities, under a regime known asEight per thousand. Donations are allowed to Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu communities; however, Islam remains excluded, since no Muslim communities have yet signed a concordat with the Italian state.Taxpayers who do not wish to fund a religion contribute their share to the state welfare system.
It is noteworthy to pinpoint that owing to theItalian Renaissance, church art in Italy is extraordinary, including works byLeonardo da Vinci,Michelangelo,Sandro Botticelli,Gian Lorenzo Bernini,Fra Carnevale,Tintoretto,Titian,Raphael,Giotto, and others. Italian church architecture is equally spectacular and historically important toWestern culture, notablySt. Peter's Basilicain Rome,Cathedral of St. Mark's inVenice, andBrunelleschi'sFlorence Cathedral, which includes the "Gates of Paradise" doors at the Baptistery byLorenzo Ghiberti.
Through the centuries, Italy has fostered the scientific community that produced many major discoveries in physics and the other sciences. During theRenaissanceItalian polymaths such asLeonardo da Vinci(1452–1519),Michelangelo(1475–1564), andLeon Battista Alberti(1404–1472) made contributions in a variety of fields, including biology, architecture, and engineering.Galileo Galilei(1564–1642), anastronomer,physicist,engineer, andpolymath, played a major role in theScientific Revolution. He is considered the "father" ofobservational astronomy,modern physics,thescientific method,andmodern science.
Other astronomers such asGiovanni Domenico Cassini(1625–1712) andGiovanni Schiaparelli(1835–1910) made discoveries about theSolar System. In mathematics,Joseph Louis Lagrange(born Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia, 1736–1813) was active before leaving Italy.Fibonacci(c.1170–c.1250) andGerolamo Cardano(1501–1576) made fundamental advances in mathematics.Luca Pacioliestablishedaccountingto the world. PhysicistEnrico Fermi(1901–1954), a Nobel prize laureate, led the team in Chicago that developed thefirst nuclear reactor. He is considered the "architect of thenuclear age"and the "architect of theatomic bomb".He,Emilio G. Segrè(1905–1989), who discovered the elementstechnetiumandastatine, and theantiproton),Bruno Rossi(1905–1993), a pioneer in Cosmic Rays and X-ray astronomy), and a number of Italian physicists were forced to leave Italy in the 1930s byFascist laws against Jews.
Other prominent physicists includeGuglielmo Marconi(inventor of radio),Alessandro Volta(inventor of electric battery),Evangelista Torricelli(inventor of barometer),Amedeo Avogadro(most noted for his contributions tomolecular theory, in particular theAvogadro's lawand theAvogadro constant),Galileo Ferraris,Antonio Pacinotti, pioneers of the induction motor,Alessandro Cruto, pioneer of light bulb,Innocenzo Manzetti, eclectic pioneer of auto and robotics,Ettore Majorana(who discovered theMajorana fermions), andCarlo Rubbia(1984 Nobel Prize in Physics for work leading to the discovery of theW and Z particlesatCERN).Antonio Meucciis known for developing a voice-communication device which is often credited as the firsttelephone.Pier Giorgio Perottoin 1964 designed one of the first desktopprogrammable calculators, theProgramma 101.
In biology,Francesco Redihas been the first to challenge the theory of spontaneous generation by demonstrating that maggots come from eggs of flies, and he described 180 parasites in details;Marcello Malpighifoundedmicroscopic anatomy;Lazzaro Spallanzaniconducted research in bodily functions, animal reproduction, and cellular theory;Camillo Golgi, whose many achievements include the discovery of theGolgi complex, paved the way to the acceptance of theNeuron doctrine;Rita Levi-Montalcinidiscovered thenerve growth factor(awarded 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine). In chemistry,Giulio Nattareceived the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963 for his work on highpolymers;Giuseppe Occhialinireceived theWolf Prize in Physicsfor the discovery of thepionor pi-mesondecay in 1947;Ennio De Giorgi, aWolf Prize in Mathematicsrecipient in 1990, solvedBernstein's problemaboutminimal surfacesand the19th Hilbert problemon the regularity of solutions ofElliptic partial differential equations.
Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso(LNGS) is the largest underground research center in the world.ELETTRA,Eurac Research,ESA Centre for Earth Observation,Institute for Scientific Interchange,International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology,Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation, and theInternational Centre for Theoretical Physicsconduct basic research.Triestehas the highest percentage of researchers in Europe in relation to the population.Italy was ranked 29th in theGlobal Innovation Indexin 2021, up from 30th in 2019.There are numeroustechnology parksin Italy such as the Science and Technology Parks Kilometro Rosso (Bergamo), theAREA Science Park(Trieste), The VEGA-Venice Gateway for Science and Technology (Venezia), the Toscana Life Sciences (Siena), the Technology Park of Lodi Cluster (Lodi), and the Technology Park of Navacchio (Pisa),as well asscience museumssuch as theMuseo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da VinciinMilan, theCittà della ScienzainNaples, and theInstitute and Museum of the History of ScienceinFlorence.
TheAccademia dei Linceiis one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions,located at thePalazzo Corsinion theVia della LungarainRome, Italy. Founded in thePapal Statesin 1603 byFederico Cesi, the academy was named after thelynx, an animal whose sharp vision symbolises the observational prowess that science requires. The country and especially theItalian Institute of Technologyhave produced some ingenioushumanoid robotssuch asiCub. TheItalian Space Agencyis a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate, and coordinatespace explorationactivities in Italy.The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospace research and technology.On 15 December 1964, the first Italiansatellitewas launched, theSan Marco 1,while on 31 July 1992Franco Malerba, following theSTS-46space mission, was the first Italian to go into space.On 23 November 2014Samantha Cristoforetti, following theExpedition 42mission, was the first Italian woman to go into space.
The most popular sport in Italy isfootball.Italy'snational football teamis one of the world's most successful teams, with fourFIFA World Cupvictories (1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006).Italian clubs have won 48 major European trophies, making Italy thesecond most successful country in European football. Italy's top-flight club football league is namedSerie Aand is followed by millions of fans around the world.
Other popular team sports in Italy includebasketball,volleyball, andrugby.Italy'smaleandfemalenational volleyball teams are oftenfeatured among the world's best. TheItalian national basketball team's best results were gold atEurobasket 1983andEuroBasket 1999, as well as silver at the Olympics in2004.Lega Basket Serie Ais widely considered one of the most competitive in Europe.Italy'srugby national teamcompetes in theSix Nations Championship, and is a regular at theRugby World Cup. Themen's volleyball teamwon three consecutiveWorld Championships(in 1990, 1994, and 1998) and earned theOlympicsilver medal in 1996, 2004, and 2016.
Italy has a long and successful tradition in individual sports as well.Bicycle racingis a familiar sport in the country.Italianshave won theUCI World Championshipsmore than any other country, exceptBelgium. TheGiro d'Italiais a cycling race held every May, and constitutes one of the threeGrand Tours.Alpine skiingis also a widespread sport in Italy, and the country is a popular international skiing destination, known for its ski resorts.Italian skiers achieved good results inWinter Olympic Games,Alpine Ski World Cup, andtennishas a significant following in Italy, ranking as the fourth most practised sport in the country.TheRome Masters, founded in 1930, is one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world.Italian professional tennis players won theDavis Cupin 1976 and theFed Cupin 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2013.
Motorsportsare also extremely popular in Italy.Italy has won, by far,the most MotoGP World Championships. ItalianScuderia Ferrariis the oldest surviving team inGrand Prixracing,having competed since 1948, and statistically themost successful Formula One team in historywith a record of 232 wins. TheItalian Grand PrixofFormula 1is the fifth oldest surviving Grand Prix, having been held since 1921.It is also one of the two Grand Prix present in every championship since the first one in1950.Every Formula 1 Grand Prix (except for the1980) has been held atAutodromo Nazionale Monza.Formula 1 was also held atImola(1980–2006,2020–2024) andMugello(2020). Other successful Italian car manufacturers in motorsports areAlfa Romeo,Lancia,Maserati, andFiat.
Historically, Italy has been successful in theOlympic Games, taking part from thefirst Olympiadand in 47 Games out of 48, not having officially participated in the1904 Summer Olympics.Italian sportsmenhave won 522 medals at theSummer Olympic Games, and another 106 at theWinter Olympic Games, for a combined total of 628 medals with 235 golds, which makes them thefifth most successful nation in Olympic historyfor total medals. The country hosted two Winter Olympics and will host a third (in1956,2006, and2026), and one Summer games (in1960).
Christmas in Italy(Italian:Natale,Italian:[naˈtaːle]) is one of thecountry's major holidaysand begins on 8 December, with the feast of theImmaculate Conception, the day on which traditionally theChristmas treeis mounted and ends on 6 January, of the following year with theEpiphany(Italian:Epifania,Italian:[epifaˈniːa]).The termNatalederives from theLatinnatalisand the Greetings formulas in Italian arebuon Natale('Merry Christmas') andfelice Natale('Happy Christmas').
The tradition of thenativity scenecomes from Italy. The first seasonal nativity scene, which seems to have been a dramatic rather than sculptural rendition, is attributed toSaint Francis of Assisi. Francis' 1223 living nativity scene inGrecciois commemorated on the calendars of the Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican liturgical calendars,and its creationis described bySaint Bonaventurein hisLife of Saint Francis of Assisic.1260.Nativity scenes were popularised by Saint Francis of Assisi from 1223, quickly spreading across Europe.In Italy, regional crib traditions then spread, such as that of theBolognese crib, theGenoese crib, and theNeapolitan crib.
In Italy,New Year's Eve(Italian:Vigilia di CapodannoorNotte di San Silvestro) is celebrated by the observation of traditional rituals, such as wearing redunderwear.An ancient tradition in southern regions, which is rarely followed today, was disposing of old or unused items by dropping them from the window.Dinner is traditionally eaten with relatives and friends. It often includeszampone Modenaorcotechino(a meal made withpig's trottersor entrails), and lentils. At 20:30, thepresident of Italyreads a television message of greetings to Italians.At midnight, fireworks are displayed all across the country. Rarely followed today is the tradition that consists in eatinglentilstew when the bell tolls midnight, one spoonful per bell. This is supposed to bring good fortune; the round lentils represent coins.
TheSaint Lucy's Day, which take place on 13 December, is popular among children in some Italian regions, where she plays a role similar to Santa Claus.In addition, theEpiphanyin Italy is associated with thefolkloristicfigure of theBefana, a broomstick-riding old woman who, in the night between 5 and 6 January, bringing good children gifts and sweets, and bad ones charcoal or bags of ashes.TheAssumption of Marycoincides withFerragostoon 15 August, the summer vacation period which may be a long weekend or most of the month.
In Italy, asagra(pl.:sagre) is a popular festival of local nature and annual frequency, which traditionally arises from a religious festival, celebrated on the occasion of a consecration or to commemorate a saint (usually the patron saint), but also used to celebrate the harvest or promote a food and wine product local.During a festival the local fair, the market and various celebrations usually take place.Asagrais often dedicated to some specific local food, and the name of the sagra includes that food; for example:Festival delle Sagre astigiane, aSagra dell'uva(grapes) atMarino, aSagra della Rana(frog) at Casteldilago nearArrone, aSagra della Cipolla(onion) atCannara, aSagra della Melanzana ripiena(stuffed eggplant) atSavona, aSagra dellaPolentaat Perticara di Novafeltria, aSagra delLattarinoatBracciano, aSagra delFricoatCarpacco-Dignano, and so on. Among the most commonsagreare those celebratingolive oil,wine,pastaandpastryof various types,chestnuts, andcheese.
The Italian nationalpatronal day, on 4 October, celebratesSaints Francis and Catherine. Each city or town also celebrates a public holiday on the occasion of the festival of the local patron saint,for example:Romeon 29 June (Saints Peter and Paul),Milanon 7 December (Saint Ambrose),Napleson 19 September (Saint Januarius),Veniceon 25 April (Saint Mark the Evangelist), andFlorenceon 24 June (Saint John the Baptist). Notable traditional patronal festivals in Italy are theFeast of Saints Francis and Catherine, theFestival of Saint Agatha, theFeast of Saints Peter and Paul, theFeast of San Gennaro, and theFeast of Our Lady of the Hens.
There are many traditional festivals in Italy. Some of them include thePalio di Sienahorse race,Holy Weekrites,Saracen Joustof Arezzo,Saint Ubaldo Dayin Gubbio,Festival of Saint Agatha of Catania,Scoppio del carroin Florence,Infiorate di Spello,Notte della TarantaofSalento,Festa del RedentoreinVenice,Macchina di Santa RosainViterbo,Barcolana regattainTrieste, andRegatta of the Historical Marine Republics.In 2013,UNESCOhas included among theintangible cultural heritagesome Italian festivals andpasos(Italian:macchine a spalla), such as theVaria di Palmi, theMacchina di Santa RosainViterbo, the Festa dei Gigli inNola, andfaradda di li candareriinSassari.Another traditional festival is thecalcio storico fiorentino(also referred to ascalcio storico, 'historic football'), an early form offootball(soccerandrugby) that originated during theMiddle Agesand is still played annually today in thePiazza Santa CroceinFlorence.Other important traditional festivals are thePalio di Asti, thePalio di Legnano, thePalio di Ferrara, theGiostra del Saracino, and theGiostra della Quintana.
Where theAmbrosian riteis observed, that is, in most of the churches of thearchdiocese of Milanand in some of the neighbouring dioceses, theCarnival(Italian:Carnevale) ends on the first Sunday ofLent; the last day of Carnival is Saturday, 4 days later than the Tuesday, when it ends where theRoman riteis observed. Above all, theCarnival of Veniceand theCarnival of Viareggio, but also theCarnival of Ivrea, have a reputation that goes beyond national borders and are popular with tourists from both Italy and abroad.These carnivals include sophisticated masquerades and parades. A completely different form or carnival takes place inSardinia, based on rituals to awaken the earth after Winter, possibly descending from pre-Christian traditions.
TheUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO)World Heritage Sitesare places of importance toculturalornatural heritageas described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972.Cultural heritage consists of monuments (such as architectural works, monumental sculptures or inscriptions), groups of buildings, and sites (including archaeological sites). Natural features (consisting of physical and biological formations), geological and physiographical formations (including habitats of threatened species of animals and plants), and natural sites which are important from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty are defined as natural heritage.Italyratified the convention on 23 June 1978.
The first site in Italy, theRock Drawings in Valcamonica, was listed at the 3rd Session of theWorld Heritage Committee, held inCairoandLuxor, Egypt, in 1979.Italy is the country with the highest concentration in the world of theUNESCO World Heritage Sites.As of 2021, Italyhas a total of 60 inscribed sites, making it the country with the most World Heritage Sites just above China (56).Out of Italy's 58 heritage sites, 53 are cultural and 5 are natural.
Among the most famous Italian UNESCO World Heritage Sites there areSassi di Matera;Porto Venere,Palmaria,Tino,Tinetto, andCinque Terre;Val d'Orcia; early Christian monuments ofRavenna;Valle dei Templi;Alberobello; Etruscan necropolises ofCerveteriandTarquinia;Pompeii,Torre Annunziata, andHerculaneum;Palmanova;Barumini nuraghes;Dolomites;Santa Maria delle GrazieandThe Last Supper;Castel del Monte;Royal Palace of Caserta,Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, andSan Leucio Complex;SyracuseandNecropolis of Pantalica;Villa d'Este;Langhe-RoeroandMontferrat;Aeolian Islands;Val di Noto;Amalfi Coast;Rhaetian Railwayin theAlbula/BerninaLandscapes;Aquileia;Duomoand theLeaning Tower of Pisa;Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale;Residences of the Royal House of Savoy;Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni,Paestum,Velia, andCertosa di Padula; andScrovegni Chapel.
Seven sites are transnational. The Historic Centre of Rome is shared with theVatican; theMonte San GiorgioandRhaetian RailwaywithSwitzerland; theVenetian Works of DefencewithCroatiaandMontenegro; thePrehistoric pile dwellings around the Alpswith 5 other countries; theGreat Spa Towns of Europewith 6 other countries; and theAncient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europeare shared with 17 other countries.
Women in Italyrefers to females who are from (or reside in)Italy. The legal and social status of Italian women has undergone rapid transformations and changes during the past decades. This includesfamily laws, the enactment ofanti-discrimination measures, and reforms to the penal code (in particular with regard to crimes of violence against women).
During theMiddle Ages, Italian women were considered to have very few social powers and resources, although some women inherited ruling positions from their fathers. Educated women could find opportunities for leadership only in religious convents. TheRenaissance(15th–16th centuries) challenged conventional customs from the Medieval period. Women were still confined to the roles of "monaca, moglie, serva, cortigiana" ('nun, wife, servant, courtesan').By the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Italian women intellectuals were embraced by contemporary culture as learned daughters, wives, mothers, and equal partners in their households.In the 18th century, the Enlightenment offered for the first time to Italian women the possibility to engage in the fields of science and mathematics.
In the 19th century, theNapoleonic Ageand theRisorgimentooffered for the first time to Italian women the opportunity to be politically engaged.In the early 19th century, some of the most influential salons where Italian patriots, revolutionaries, and intellectuals were meeting were run by women. By the 1880s, women were making inroads into higher education. In the 20th century, women's rights suffered a setback under the Fascist government ofBenito Mussolini, with fascist ideology dictating procreation as a woman's duty.More than 50,000 women, mostly in their twenties, took part in theItalian resistance movementduring theItalian Civil War, when Italy was under German occupation (1939–1945). Their mass participation increased the involvement of women in Italian political life.
AfterWorld War II, women were given the right to vote in1946 Italian institutional referendum. The newItalian Constitutionof 1948 affirmed that women had equal rights. It was not however until the 1970s that women in Italy scored some major achievements with the introduction of laws regulating divorce (1970), abortion (1978), and the approval in 1975 of the new family code. Today, women have the same legal rights as men in Italy, and have mainly the same job, business, and education opportunities.
Famous women of the period include politiciansNilde Iotti,Tina Anselmi, andEmma Bonino; actressesAnna Magnani,Sofia Loren, andGina Lollobrigida; sopranoRenata Tebaldi; ballet dancerCarla Fracci; costume designerMilena Canonero; sportswomenSara Simeoni,Deborah Compagnoni,Valentina Vezzali,Francesca Schiavone,Flavia Pennetta, andFederica Pellegrini; writersNatalia Ginzburg,Elsa Morante,Dacia Maraini,Maria Bellonci,Cristina Campo,Anna Maria Ortese,Antonia Pozzi,Alda Merini, andOriana Fallaci; architectGae Aulenti; scientist and 1986 Nobel Prize winnerRita Levi-Montalcini; astrophysicistMargherita Hack; astronautSamantha Cristoforetti; pharmacologistElena Cattaneo; andCERNDirector-GeneralFabiola Gianotti. In 2022,Giorgia Melonibecame the first femaleprime minister of Italy.