Italy

Country Profile

Official Name:
Repubblica Italiana
short form: Italia
int'l long form: Italian Republic
int'l short form: Italy
former: Kingdom of Italy

ISO Country Code: it, ITA
Actual Time: Sat-Sept-14  10:32
Local Time = UTC +1h;
Daylight Saving Time (DST) March - October (UTC +2)

Country Calling Code: +39

Capital City: Rome (pop. 2.8 million)

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Official Government Sites of Italy



The Palazzo Madama in Rome is the seat of the Senate of the Italian Republic.
Image: Paul Hermans


Political system of Italy

Italy is a parliamentary republic since June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished. The Italian parliament is a bicameral legislature that consists of the Senate of the Republic (Senato della Repubblica) and the House of Representatives (Camera dei deputati).
Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers, which is headed by the Prime Minister. Head of State is the President.

Italy is currently governed by a center-right coalition led by Giorgia Meloni, who became the Prime Minister in 2022. Her party, Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia), is part of the coalition along with other right-wing parties such as the League (Lega) and Forza Italia.


Government

Note: External links will open in a new browser window.

Palazzo del Quirinale
Official website of the Italien President. The Palazzo del Quirinale is one of the three current official residences of the President of the Italian Republic.

Governo Italiano
Official website of the Italian Government and the office of the President of the Council of Ministers, Italy's Prime Minister.


Parliament
Parlamento Italiano
The Italian Parliament. (in Italian)
Senato della Repubblica
The Italian Parliament consists of two houses: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic.

Ministero degli Affari Esteri (MAE)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy.


Diplomatic Representations
Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations
Italy at the UN.
Ambasciata d'Italia
The Italian Embassy, Washington D.C.
Italian Diplomatic Representations
Map of Italian embassies and consulates abroad.
Foreign Diplomatic Representations in Italy
List of Foreign Missions in Italy.


Statistics
Instituto Nazionale di Statistica
Italy's National Institute of Statistics.

Tourism
Italian State Tourism Board
Una finestra sull' Italia - A window to Italy.

Weather
Centro Nazionale di Meteorologia e Climatologia Aeronautica
National center of Meteorology and Aeronautical Climatology (in Italian).

 

Maps of Italy



Map of Italy (click map to enlarge)
Image: © nationsonline.org

Maps

Map of Italy
Political Map of Italy.

Google Map Italy
Searchable map and satellite view of Italy.

Searchable maps and satellite views of Italian cities:
Google Map Rome (capital city),
Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples

Italian Landmarks:
Colosseum
Satellite view of the ancient Roman amphitheater.
Mount Vesuvius near Naples
Searchable map and satellite view of Mount Vesuvius showing the volcano near Naples and the location of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Leaning Tower of Pisa
More about Pisa and the Leaning Tower, with a searchable map and satellite view.
Saint Peter Basilica (Holy See)
More about Vatican City and Saint Peter Basilica, with a searchable map and satellite view.

Continent:
Map of the Mediterranean
Political Map of the Mediterranean Region.
Map of Europe
Political Map of Europe.
 
 

News from Italy

Online News from Italy

Italy's mix of politics and media has often made headlines at home and abroad. Concerns have regularly been raised about the concentration of media ownership in the hands of one man - former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. ^[1]
About 20 Italian journalists are currently receiving round-the-clock police protection because of serious threats or murder attempts by the mafia. The level of violence against reporters keeps on growing, especially in Rome and the surrounding region, and in the south. ^[2]

l'ANSA
Italians News Agency.

Corriere della Sera
Italy's most influential newspaper with national and international news (in Italian and English).

Il Giorno
Italian Newspaper online (in Italian).
Il Mattino
Italian News - Naples (in Italian).
Il Messaggero
Italian News - Rome (in Italian).
la Repubblica
The second-most important newspaper in Italy with national and international news (in Italian).
La Stampa
National and international news - Turin (in Italian and English).
virgilio
Italian portal and news magazine.

 

Arts & Culture of Italy



Birth of Venus, possibly the most famous painting by Sandro Botticelli, the Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. The painting is on display at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Arts & Culture

Art
La Biennale di Venezia
Venice Biennale (Biennale Arte) is an international exhibition of contemporary arts, and also includes events for art, modern dance, architecture, cinema, music, and theater.

Galleria degli Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery in Florence shows artworks of Leonardo, Giotto, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, and many others.

Palazzo Grassi
Centro di Cultura di Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana in Venice are location of temporary art exhibitions of the Pinault Collection.

Galleria dell'Accademia
The art museum in Florence is best known as the home of Michelangelo's sculpture David.

Galleria Borghese
The Galleria Borghese in Rome shows paintings, sculptures, and antiques of the Borghese collection.

Egyptian Museum - Museo Egizio
The Egyptian Museum in Turin is considered one of the most important collections of ancient Egyptian art and culture outside Cairo.

Opera
Teatro alla Scala, Milano
The opera house in Milan is one of the world's most famous theaters.

Teatro La Fenice
The Opera of Venice, founded in 1792, reopened in December 2003 after it was almost destroyed by fire in 1996.

Arena di Verona
The Arena of Verona is a Roman amphitheater now used for the annual Opera Festival. The arena has also hosted several concerts of international rock and pop bands in recent years.

Italy Museum
A guide to Italy's museums.


Cinema
Cinecitta
Italian cinema production; official web site of the Italian Hollywood.

Italian Food
Mangiare Bene
Italian internet recipe archive and guide to Italian cooking. (in Italian)

Cucina italiana
Pane, pizza, pasta, riso, carne, e pesce. Italian Wikipedia page about Italian cuisine.

Italian wine
Comprehensive Wikipedia page about Italian wine.


Sports
Lega Serie A
Italy's national football (soccer) league.

 
Film-set of the British-American-Italian historical television drama series "Rome" at Cinecitta Studios.
Image: Claudio Caravano
 

Business & Economy of Italy


The port of Genoa is an important sea port in the northern Italian city of Genoa. It is the busiest cargo port in Italy and an important port of call for cruise ships.
Image: Alessio Sbarbaro


Italy's Economy
Italy's advanced economy is the 3rd-largest national economy in the European Union. Italy's business model is based on the production of high-quality consumer goods. The most significant industrial sectors in Italy are the automotive industry (Fiat), textiles, electrical products, office equipment, agriculture, and tourism.


Banca d'Italia
Banca d'Italia (also known as Bankitalia) is the central bank of the Italian Republic, an integral part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) since 1998.

Borsa Italiana
Borsa Italiana S.p.A., based in Milan, is the only stock exchange in Italy.

Unioncamere
The Italian union of chambers of commerce, Unioncamere, is the public body that represents the Italian chamber system vis-à-vis territorial, national, and international governing bodies.


Italian Products

Italian Cars
Ferrari
Typical Italian car.
Fiat
Native Italian car.
Lamborghini
Typical Italian car.
Lancia
The Italian automobile manufacturer is today a subsidiary of the multinational corporation Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Maserati
Also a typical Italian car.
Alfa Romeo
Typical Italian car. The Italian sports car manufacturer was founded by a Frenchman, Alexandre Darracq, in 1909.


Italian Design

Alessi
Housewares and kitchen utensil s.
B&B Italia
Interior decoration.
Luxottica
The world's largest company in the eyewear industry.

Italian Fashion, Perfumes, and Accessories
Benetton
United Colors of Benetton. The fashion brand is based near Venice in Ponzano Veneto; it was founded in 1965.
Bvlgari
Bulgari, stylized as BVLGARI, is an Italian luxury brand of jewelry, watches, perfume and leather goods.
Dolce & Gabbana
The Italian luxury fashion house was founded in 1985 by the Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
Gucci
Gucci is an Italian fashion company for clothing and accessories in the luxury goods segment with retail outlets worldwide.
Kiton
Neapolitan Tailors.
Laura Biagiotti
Fashion, Accessories, Parfumes.
Missoni
Luxury Knitwear
Moschino
Italian Fashion from Milano.
Prada
Founded in 1913 in Milan, offers men's and women's clothing, leather goods, footwear, eyewear and fragrances, and Made to Measure service.
Trussardi
Fashion style handbags, shoes, eyewear, perfume, and more.
Versace
Italian luxury fashion company.
Fendi
Founded in 1925 in Rome, Fendi is renowned for its fur and fur accessories.
Giorgio Armani
is an Italian fashion designer, particularly noted for his menswear


Transportation

Airlines

Alitalia CityLiner
Alitalia CityLiner operates short-haul domestic and international point to point flights.

Alitalia
Italy's flag airline.

Meridiana
Privately owned Italian airline with its main base at Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport in Olbia, Sardinia. The airline ceased operations in February 2018.

Airports
Aeroporti di Roma
Airport Rome provides information on both Fiumicino and Rome Ciampino airports.


Railroad
Trenitalia
Italy's Railway.
Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori
The Italian private railway company uses the brand name ".italo"; it operates high-speed services between major Italian cities.

Ferrovie Turistiche
FTI - Italian Touristics Railways - Italy by historical railways.



A Frecciarossa 1000 high-speed train operated by Italian state railway operator Trenitalia at Milano Centrale Railway Station.
Image: Sabas88

 

Tourism in Italy



Siena Cathedral (Duomo di Siena) is a medieval church in the center of the city of Siena in Italy’s Tuscany region. The Historic Centre of Siena has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995.
Image: Jörg Bittner

Destination Italy - Travel and Tour Guides

Discover Italy

Italian State Tourism Board
Una finestra sull' Italia - A window to Italy, a comprehensive travel and tourism guide.

Italian Government Tourist Board - North America
Tourism in Italy, travel tips, information, Italian regions.


Italian Islands
Sardinia
Official tourism information for Sardinia
Visit Sicily
Official tourism information for Sicily.


Italian Regions
List of Italian regions with official tourism websites.

Abruzzo
Abruzzo is a mountainous region in central Italy, but through its culture, language, history, and economy, it belongs to southern Italy.

Aosta Valley
Valle d'Aosta is a mountainous autonomous region in northwestern Italy. The Alpine valley is the smallest and least populous region of Italy and home to the Italian part of the Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, Gran Paradiso, and the Matterhorn (Cervino).

Basilicata
Basilicata is a region in Southern Italy and an emerging tourist destination. The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera in the region's capital are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Calabria
The Calabria region occupies a peninsula, the "boot tip" of boot-shaped Italy. Its capital is Catanzaro.

Campania
Campania is a region in the southwestern portion of the Italian Peninsula; the largest city and capital is Naples. Campania is home to nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna lies between the River Po to the north, the Apennine Mountains to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the east. Its capital is Bologna; other renowned cities are Modena, Ravenna, Ferrara, Parma.

Friuli Venezia Giulia
Friuli Venezia Giulia is an autonomous region in the extreme north-east of Italy; it borders Austria to the north, Slovenia to the east, and the Gulf of Trieste to the south. The capital and largest city is Trieste.

Lazio
Lazio is a region in central Italy, with Rome as its capital.

Liguria
Crescent-shaped Liguria in north-western Italy borders the Ligurian Sea to the south and France to the west. Its Mediterranean coastal areas are known as the Riviera. The regional capital is the port city of Genoa.

Lombardy
The region encompasses the main part of the Po Valley. The cultural and economic capital is Milan.

Marche
Marche is a region in the central area of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea and San Marino; Marche's capital is the seaport of Ancona.

Molise
Molise is a small mountainous region in Southern Italy. (in Italian)

Piedmont
In terms of area, Piedmont is the largest region of mainland Italy; it borders Switzerland to the north and France to the west. The regional capital is Turin.

Puglia (Apulia)
Puglia is a region in southeast Italy with the capital Bari.

Trentino - Alto Adige
Trentino-Alto Adige, also knowns as Trentino-South Tyrol, is Italy’s northernmost region; it consists of two autonomous provinces, South Tyrol and Trentino. The capital is Trento, the capital of South Tyrol is Bozen.

Tuscany
Hilly Tuscany is located in the western part of central Italy and borders the Tyrrhenian Sea. Tuscany was the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and is home to famous cities like Florence, Pisa, and Siena.

Umbria
Situated in central Italy, Umbria is the only region in Italy that has neither a sea coast nor a border with a foreign country.

Veneto
The region includes the eastern part of the Po Valley and a part of the Dolomites in the north; it borders the Adriatic Sea in the southeast. The region's capital is Venice.

More destinations in Italy: Cities and Regions in Italy



Ancient ruins of the Greek theater (Teatro Antico di Taormina) in Taormina, a hilltop town on the east coast of Sicily island. Ancient and medieval Greek communities have lived in southern Italy for centuries.
Image: Lukasz Stachowiak

 

World Heritage Sites in Italy


The towers of San Gimignano in the Province of Siena, in Tuscany, Italy. The Historic Centre of San Gimignano is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990.
Image: LigaDue
 

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy

Italy is home to 55 UNESCO World Heritage Sites (50 cultural and five natural), making it the country with the most World Heritage Sites alongside China. (see UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in Italy)


Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura
The historic district of Rome was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980. Within the urban area are 25.000 important archaeological sites and locations.


Castel del Monte
The Castel del Monte near the port city of Bari in Apulia is one of the most famous Staufer castles in Italy; it was built during the reign of Frederick II in the middle of the 13th century.


Royal Palace at Caserta
The city of Caserta, north of Naples, is home to the Royal Palace, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the Royal Summer Palace of San Leucio Belvedere. The monumental complex was created in the mid-18th century by the Bourbon King Charles III on the model of the Palace of Versailles.


Pompeji
The Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum, and Torre Annunziata in the Campania region of southern Italy. When Vesuvius erupted on 24 August 79 AD, the flourishing Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Oplontis (Torre Annunziata) were destroyed by the volcano.
 
 

Education in Italy



Via Zamboni in Bologna, the portico of the Basilica of San Giacomo Maggiore (left) and Palazzo Malvezzi Campeggi, which houses the Law Faculty of the University of Bologna.
Image: Adriana verolla



Museo della Scienza e della Tecnica
National Museum of Science and Technology "Leonardo da Vinci".

Nuova Accademia di Bella Arti
Fine art academy, Milan.
Politecnico di Torino
Public University in Turin.
Università Bocconi
The first school in Italy to grant a university degree in economics was founded in 1902 in Milan.
Università di Bologna
The University of Bologna is the oldest in the western world in continuous operation, founded in 1088.
Università degli Studi di Firenze
Italian public research university in Florence.
Università degli Studi di Milano
The University of Milan or UniMi is one of the largest universities in Europe.
Università di Padua
The University of Padua is the second-oldest university in Italy, founded in 1222.
Università di Pavia
Until the end of the 19th century, the University of Pavia was the only university in Milan and the Greater Lombardy Region, established in 1361.
Università di Pisa
The University of Pisa is a public research university founded in 1343. (in Italian)
Sapienza Università di Roma
Sapienza University in Rome is one of the oldest and most prestigious Italian universities, founded in 1303.
Università di Siena
The University of Siena was founded in 1252 and is today known above all for its law and medicine faculties.
Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia
Ca' Foscari is a university founded in the 19th century in the city of Venice.

 

Environment & Nature



Stromboli is a small island off the northeast coast of Sicily that consists only of the volcano with the same name. The island is the relatively small peak of the volcano Stromboli which rises about 3000 m from the seafloor.
On 30 August 2019, the Civil Protection Department raised the alert from yellow to orange, due to increased activities of the volcano.
Image: Dipartimento Protezione Civile


Environmental Organizations
Legambiente
Legambiente is part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the largest Italian environmental NGO.
LIPU - Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli
Italian Association for the Protection of Birds. (in Italian)
Terra Nuova
The Rome based Terra Nuova focuses on promoting equitable and sustainable socio-economic development in various African and Latin American countries.

National Parks
Parco Nazionale Arcipelago Toscano
The Tuscan Archipelago with the islands of Elba, Giglio, Capraia, Gorgona, Pianosa, Giannutri and Montecristo, is one of the largest marine parks in Europe.
Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre National Park in Northern Italy, in the region of Liguria, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio
Vesuvius National Park, founded in 1995, in order to protect the last-remaining active volcanic complex in Europe.

Google Map Mount Vesuvius
Searchable map and satellite view of Mount Vesuvius showing the volcano near Naples and the location of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Parks in Italy
Online guide to Italy's 25 National Parks and reserves.
 


Horses on pasture at Parco Naturale Tre Cime (Sexten Dolomites), South Tyrol. Cadini di Misurina, a group of mountains in the eastern Dolomites, in the background.
Image: kallerna
 

Italy History



The famous Piazza di Spagna in Rome with view of the Spanish Steps, Fontana della Barcaccia (fountain) in the foreground. Above the stairs is the French-built church and convent of Santissima Trinità dei Monti.
Image: Emilio García



Digital Forum Romanum
Research and teaching project of the Winckelmann-Institut of the Humboldt-Universität of Berlin.

Ancient History Encyclopedia: The Roman Empire
Illustrated History of the Roman Empire.

Imperium Romanum
Wikipedia site with information about the Roman Empire and Roman history and culture.

Portal:Ancient Rome
Wikipedia's Ancient Rome portal.


Italian History Index
WWW Virtual Library Resources produced in Italy together with other world-wide resources that deal with the history of Italy.

History of Italy
Wikipedia entry about Italy's ancient and modern history.


 

Additional Information

Selected country profiles of Italy published by international organizations.


Amnesty International: Italy
Amnesty International is a non-governmental organization focused on human rights.

BBC - Country profile: Italy
Country profiles by the British public service broadcaster.

FAO: Italy
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a UN agency that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.

Freedom House: Italy
The U.S. government-funded non-profit organization whose goal is to promote liberal democracies worldwide.

GlobalEDGE: Italy
The Global Business Knowledge Portal about Italy.

The Heritage Foundation: Italy
Index of Economic Freedom by The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank.

Human Rights Watch: Italy
HRW conducts research and advocacy on human rights.

OEC: Italy
The Observatory of Economic Complexity provides the latest trade data.

Reporters Without Borders: Italy
RSF (Reporters sans frontières) is an international NGO that defends and promotes media freedom.

Wikipedia: Italy
Wikipedia's Italy page in many languages.

The CIA World Factbook: Italy
The CIA World Factbook intelligence on Italy.