European Country Discover Project
By: Lilly Barnett
Intro to Italy
Italy is a well knows spot in Europe. In Italy you could be siting in the café having some coffee and the next second you are strolling down the river in a boat. You will never un out of thing to do in Italy.
Country Basics
In Italy's capitol ( Rome ) you find over 3,000 years of influential art and lots of architecture. The flag is also a big part of Italy. The flag was inspired by the French flag brought to Italy by Napoleon in 1797. Italy's flag has three vertical bands; a green band on the hoist side then white and red in that order. The green stands for hope, the white stands for faith and red stands for charity or sometimes the green stands for the hills, the white is for the snowcapped mountains and the red is for the blood lost in Italy's war for independence.
This picture shows the Italian Flag.
Geography
Italy is in Southern Europe; a peninsula continuing into the central Mediterranean Sea, north east of Tunisia (another country). Italy also has many land forms and landmarks so here are some examples.....
Landforms-
The Alps- This mountain range is the most extensive mountain range in Europe that runs through France, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. With a length of 1,200 kilometers.
Apennine Range- This mountain range runs 870 miles long and 25 to 125 miles wide. It is a series of mountain ranges combined to make the backbone of peninsular Italy.
Landmarks-There are numerous landmarks throughout Italy showing it's history and great architecture. A few examples are:
The Leaning Tower of Pisa-1173 was the year when construction started. The tower was interpreted many times during wars, fights, etc. But it began to lean because of the soft soil when the workers were only on the third floor in 1178. In the 1300's, the tower was complete. Over the next 800 years, it was noted that the tower is not just leaning anymore, it is falling at a rate of two millimeters per year. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is now a popular place to visit in Italy.
The Colosseum- The Colosseum is the largest and most famous amphitheater in the world. It was finished in the year 80 A.D.
The Sistine Chapel, located in Vatican City (inside the city of Rome) has famous paintings, completed by Michelangelo.
The city of Venice could be a landmark...but it is surrounded by water. It is known as "The City of Water", and is known for it's canals that connect the city together. It is a city where the canals and waterways are its streets.
Bodies of water-
Po River, Tiber River, Arno River, Garda Lake, Maggiore Lake, Lake Como, Lake Trasimeno, Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea, and Mediterranean Sea
These landforms and attractions get peoples attention and make Italy a great traveling destination for visitors.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Government
Economy
Italy is a very rich country. In fact it is one of the twenty most richest countries in the world. It is not very surprising because they have competitive agriculture, a major supplies in auto mobiles and appliances, great fashion industries and the largest wine production in the world. But they don't use dollars like we do, they use Euros to pay. Here are some important facts about Italy's Economy.....
Exports- engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; foodstuffs, beverages, and tobacco; minerals, nonferrous metals
Imports- engineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages, tobacco
life expectancy-82.94 years
birth rate- 8.5
literacy rate-97.8%
Euros
Culture
Fireworks on New Year's Eve
Climate / Weather
This picture shows Italy in the winter when it snowed.
History
800-600 B.C.- Greeks, Etruscans and others settle in Italy
753 B.C.- Rome is founded. This marks the beginning of the Roman Kingdom
509 B.C.- The monarchy is overthrown, and Rome becomes a republic. From 46 to 44 B.C., Julius Caesar rules as dictator
27 B.C- Augustus becomes the first emperor of the Roman Empire. He is Julius Caesar's grand-nephew and adopted son
1200-1600 A.D-Rome, Florence and Venice prosper during the Renaissance, a period of renewed interest in culture.
1861-Italy becomes a unified nation under King Victor Emmanuel II.
1915-Italy enters World War I on the side of the Allies.
1940-1943-Italy sides with Germany and enters World War II. In 1943, dictator Benito Mussolini is forced to resign
1946-Italians vote to end the monarchy and make their nation a democratic republic.
1984-Catholicism is no longer Italy's formal state religion.
2008-Billionaire Silvio Berlusconi returns to power as prime minister. He begins a third term.
2009-In April, the mountainous area of Abruzzo is badly hit by an earthquake. Many people are injured and left homeless
All these events are important to us even today because this is what builds up Italy and makes it such a great country.
Italy enters WWI
Compare and Contrast
In Italy you will see many things that are totally different than what we see in the U.S. First, you have Italian restaurants in the U.S. but is it as good as the real deal in Italy? Well in Italy you have your nice cheesy pastas with salads while in the U.S. we eat well... EVERYTHING! We have Chinese restaurants, Italian restaurants, fast food restaurants, etc. But we really eat all American food like burgers, fries, hotdogs, etc. We also speak different languages. Italian speaks Italian and we speak English. As simple as that, or is it? Americans may speak English and are able to speak another languages but English is the hardest language to learn/ speak.
In Italy you will pay for meals ,bills, fees, etc. in mostly cash because they don't use many debt or credit cards even some places wont let you pay with anything except cash but in the U.S. almost everything is accounted for with a card now days. But we also don't have the same transportation. In Italy, rivers run through the city like our streets in the U.S. Many people take boats or ride bikes depending on the weather. But we have some similarities! we both have a head leader (the president) and we both have a flag to represent our country because everybody has that. We also both celebrate holidays like Christmas, New Years Eve, etc.
This picture shows USA vs. Italy.
Cites
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/it.html
http://traveltips.usatoday.com/unique-landforms-italy-102227.html
http://www.kidport.com/reflib/worldgeography/italy/italy.htm
http://www.ducksters.com/geography/country/italy.php
https://www.justlanded.com/english/Italy/Articles/Culture/Government-in-Italy
https://www.walksofitaly.com/blog/traditions-2/italian-national-holidays
http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/italy/history-timeline