Italy

**Italy** (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary
republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares
open land borders withFrance , Switzerland, Germany ,Slovenia , San Marino and
Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 324.733 km² (‪125.380 sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean
climate; due to its shape, it is often referred to in Italy as lo Stivale (the
Boot). With over 65 million inhabitants, one of the most populous EU member
states.

Since classical times, ancient
Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks established settlements in the south of
Italy, with Etruscans and Celts inhabiting the centre and north of Italy
respectively and various different ancient Italian tribes and Italic peoples
dispersed throughout the Italian Peninsula and insular Italy. The Italic tribe
known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a
republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. Rome
ultimately emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean basin, conquering
much of the ancient world and becoming the leading cultural, political, and
religious centre of Western civilisation. The legacy of the Roman Empire is
widespread and can be observed in the global distribution of civilian law,
republican governments, Christianity and the Latin script.

During the Middle Ages, Italy suffered
sociopolitical collapse amid calamitous barbarian invasions, but by the 11th
century, numerous rival city-states and maritime republics rose to great
prosperity through shipping, commerce, and banking, laying down the groundwork
for modern capitalism. These independent statelets, acting as Europe's main
trading hubs with Asia and the Near East, often enjoyed a greater degree of
democracy and wealth in comparison to the larger feudal monarchies that were
consolidating throughout Europe at the time, though much of central Italy
remained under the control of the theocratic Papal States, while Southern Italy
remained largely feudal until the 19th century, partially as a result of a
succession of Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Spanish, and Bourbon conquests of the
region.

The Renaissance began in Italy and spread
to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science,
exploration and art. Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous
scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo,
Michelangelo and Machiavelli. Italian explorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher
Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci and Giovanni da Verrazzano discovered new routes to
the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of
Discovery. Nevertheless, Italy's commercial and political power significantly
waned with the opening of the Atlantic trade route and the route to the Indian
Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope, that bypassed the Mediterranean.Furthermore,
the Italian city-states constantly engaged one another in bloody warfare,
culminating in the Italian Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, that left them
exhausted, with no one emerging as a dominant power. The weakened sovereigns
soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain, and
Austria, subsequently entering a long period of decline.

By the mid-19th century, a rising
movement in support of Italian nationalism and independence from foreign
control led to a period of revolutionary political upheaval known as the
Risorgimento, which sought the formation of a unified nation-state. After
various unsuccessful attempts, the Italian Wars of Independence and the
Expedition of the Thousand resulted in the eventual unification of the country
in 1861, now a great power after centuries of foreign domination and political
division. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, the new Kingdom
of Italy rapidly industrialised, although mainly in the north, and acquired a
colonial empire, while the south remained largely impoverished and excluded
from industrialisation, fuelling a large and influential diaspora. Being one of
the main victors in World War I, Italy annexing French lands, became a major
ally of Germany.  The subsequent
participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in military victory, but
the Monarchy was abolished in a referendum in 1948. Following the defeat of
France it got an own Occupation Zone. It continued to be a valuble ally of
Germany in the Cold War.

Today, Italy has on of the largest
economy in the Eurozone. It has a very high level of human development and is
ranked high in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent
role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic
affairs, and it is both a regional power and a great power. Italy is a founding
and leading member of the European Union and the member of numerous
international institutions, including the UN, and OECD, the Union for the
Mediterranean, the Council of Europe, and many more. As a reflection of its
cultural wealth, Italy is home to many World Heritage Sites, one of the most
visited countries in the world.