Italy (The Italian Republic)
Thomas Y.
The Italian Flag and National Anthem
The Italian Flag
- The flag features three vertical stripes, green, white, and red (in that order).
- The flag was inspired by the French flag.
- The current Flag was adopted on June 19, 1946
The National Anthem
- The national anthem is titled, "Song of the Italians" or "Hymn of Mameli".
- It was adopted in 1946.
- The lyrics are by Goffredo Mameli and the music is by Michele Novaro.
Italian National Anthem (Italy Inno de Mameli) by Frankie's Apartment
Population Facts
- Population: 61,482,297
- Population Growth Rate: 0.34%
- Urban Population Percentage: 68%
Climate Of Italy
- The climate of Italy changes greatly between northern and southern Italy.
- In the northern part of the country, between the Alps and Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, it has very harsh winters with freezing temperatures, while there are very hot, particularly humid summers.
- In the middle of the country, the climate is milder, where there is no major difference between the summer and winter temperatures.
- In the southern part of the country, winters are almost never harsh and cold, and spring and autumn temperatures are hotter than summers in the northern part of the country.
Culture
Language
- Italian is the official language of Italy, but has many different dialects that differ from region to region and sometimes city to city.
- Most youths speak English as a second language while most adults speak French as a second language.
- Significant French, German, and Slovene speaking minorities still exist today.
Religion
- Eighty percent of Italy's population is Catholic, which most of the eighty percent are Roman Catholic.
- Although people may not like it, Catholicism does affect political and social matters within Italy due to two things; most people are Catholics, and the head of the Catholic Church is located within the Vatican City within Italy.
- Attendance rates at churches across Italy are declining due to the fact that people are discovering alternative ways to worship including but not limited to pilgrimages, informal services, and praying at shrines.
- Since the Italian constitution guarantees the freedom of religion, there are small but still numbers of people who are Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim.
The Fine Arts and Products
- Italy has been one of the centers of art in the world for centuries. Starting with the Romans who were amazing architects who created buildings including arcs, domes, and vault doors, which they perfected.
- Italy was also the birthplace of the Renaissance time of art.
- Some of the greatest Western painters, architects, and sculptors were from Italy, including Giotto, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, da Vinci, Titian, Bernini, Caravaggio, and Modigliani.
- Museums in Italian cities such as Florence, Naples, Rome, and Venice house art collections that are internationally famous.
- Modern fashion designers such as Gucci, Cavalli, Valentino, and Versace have also become part of the list of artists of the modern world.
- The art of orafo, is famous because of the beauty of his gold jewelry.
- In addition, Italians take pride in their leather produces.
Housing
- A large percent of Italians own their own house.
- Unfortunately, do to rising prices of houses, especially in the big cites, some people cannot own homes so they have to rent apartments, which they still tend to call their house.
- Most Italians are proud of their house and apartment or whatever they live in because they own it and take care of it.
- Most modern apartments, especially in the center and south of the country and in big cities, have balconies on which occupants grow flowers and other plants so they have something to take care of and anticipate.
- Outside major urban centers, more people tend to live in houses.
- Very rich families may own large villas. These are usually brick structures covered with white- or cream-colored plaster and topped with the distinctively Mediterranean red-tiled roof. Some villas contain several units, in which various generations of the same family often live so they do not have to move somewhere else and buy another house.
Villa
An example of an Italian Villa
House
An example of a regular Italian house.
Apartments
An example of Italian apartments.
Government
There are many aspects to the Italian government, which may be hard to understand.
- First, Italy's president is head of state and is chosen to serve a seven-year term by an electoral college consisting of representatives from different regions.
- Second, the president chooses the prime minister is head of government. Prime ministers can be removed from office at any time if Parliament passes a vote of no confidence.
- Third, Italy has a bicameral government (two houses). It has an upper house (the 315-seat Senate) and a lower house (the 630-member Chamber of Deputies). Either the lower or upper house can initiate a law, but it must be approved by both house (Like the United States).
- Lastly, Italy is divided into 20 regions, which are divided into provinces. Each region has some authority over education, the environment, and taxation but cannot trump Parliament.