Italy

The boot-shaped land of Rome and pizza

Italy looks like a boot on the map! 2,000 years ago the Roman Empire ruled the whole Mediterranean — the Colosseum remains from that time. Pizza, pasta and ice cream (gelato) are Italian. Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo lived here. Venice has canals instead of streets — people travel by boat. Italy has the most UNESCO sites in the world (60). The volcanoes Vesuvius and Etna are in Italy too.

Capital: Rome. Language: Italian.

The Italian Republic covers 301,340 km² with 59 million people in 20 regions; it surrounds two independent states — the Vatican and San Marino. Nature: the Alps, the Apennines, the Po Valley, Sicily and Sardinia, Etna, Vesuvius, Lake Garda. History: the Etruscans, Rome (753 BC – AD 476: law, roads, aqueducts, Latin), the Renaissance (Florence — the Medici, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael), Marco Polo (from Venice via Bukhara and Samarkand to China), Galileo, unification in 1861 (Garibaldi), a republic in 1946, a founder of the EU. Economy: 8th in the world, fashion (Milan — Gucci, Prada), Ferrari, food (pizza on the UNESCO list, Parmesan, olive oil), tourism (60 million). Science: Volta (the battery), Marconi (radio), Fermi. Football: 4 World Cups. Opera — Verdi, Puccini. 60 UNESCO sites (1st). With Uzbekistan: the Marco Polo route, Italian archaeologists in Samarkand, Bukhara–Rome trade history.

Fun facts

• Italy has 60 UNESCO sites — the most in the world.
• Two separate states lie inside Italy — the Vatican and San Marino.
• Marco Polo travelled from Venice to China via Bukhara and Samarkand.