THC Science

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Italy portal
Portale Italia

Italy (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja] (listen)), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica Italiana [reˈpubblika itaˈljaːna]), is a country consisting of a peninsula delimited by the Alps and several islands surrounding it, whose territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region. Italy is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, in Southern Europe; it is also considered part of Western Europe. A unitary parliamentary republic with Rome as its capital and largest city, the country covers a total area of 301,230 km² (116,310 sq mi) and shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, as well as the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino. Italy has a territorial exclave in Switzerland, Campione. With around 60 million inhabitants, Italy is the third-most populous member state of the European Union.

Due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, Italy has historically been home to myriad peoples and cultures. In addition to the various ancient peoples dispersed throughout what is now modern-day Italy, the most predominant being the Indo-European Italic peoples who gave the peninsula its name, beginning from the classical era, Phoenicians and Carthaginians founded colonies mostly in insular Italy, Greeks established settlements in the so-called Magna Graecia of Southern Italy, while Etruscans and Celts inhabited central and northern Italy respectively. An Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which eventually became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People. The Roman Republic initially conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the Italian peninsula, eventually expanding and conquering parts of Europe, North Africa and Asia. By the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became a leading cultural, political and religious centre, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Italy's law, technology, economy, art, and literature developed. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

Portrait by Daniele da Volterra, c. 1545

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (Italian: [mikeˈlandʒelo di lodoˈviːko ˌbwɔnarˈrɔːti siˈmoːni]; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known simply as Michelangelo (English: /ˌmaɪkəlˈændʒəloʊ, ˌmɪk-/), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work had a major influence on the development of Western art, particularly in relation to the Renaissance notions of humanism and naturalism. He is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and elder contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci. Given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences, Michelangelo is one of the best-documented artists of the 16th century and several scholars have described Michelangelo as the most accomplished artist of his era.

He sculpted two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, before the age of thirty. Despite holding a low opinion of painting, he also created two of the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and The Last Judgment on its altar wall. His design of the Laurentian Library pioneered Mannerist architecture. At the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter's Basilica. He transformed the plan so that the western end was finished to his design, as was the dome, with some modification, after his death. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected picture - show another

Image 1View of Piazzetta San Marco toward Grand Canal of Venice, at dawn, with Doges' Palace on the left and Biblioteca Marciana on the right.
Image 2The Forma Urbis Romae is a massive marble map of ancient Rome, created under the emperor Septimius Severus between 203 and 211.
Image 3Dome of Florence Cathedral
Image 4Youth of Moses by Sandro Botticelli, 1481-82, Sistine Chapel
Image 5Porta Soprana is the best-known gate of the ancient walls of Genoa.
Image 6South face of the Tofana di Rozes in the Parco naturale regionale delle Dolomiti d'Ampezzo
Image 7Sellajoch, South Tyrol and Trentino (seen from Pordoi Pass), Langkofel on the left, Piz Ciavazes on the right
Image 8Interior of the Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome
Image 9A section of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo

Did you know... - show another

...that the Italian winery Vini Lunardelli produced a controversial "historical line" of wine bottles featuring images of Che Guevara, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin on their labels?

...that Vittorio Ambrosio was an Italian general who served an instrumental role in the fall of Mussolini and the eventual Italian renunciation of its alliance with Germany?

More did you know...

Selected fare or cuisine - show another

A bottle of ordinary Tuscan table wine in the kind of traditional fiasco formerly used for Chianti

A Chianti wine (/kiˈænti/, also US: /-ˈɑːn-/, Italian: [ˈkjanti]) is any wine produced in the Chianti region of central Tuscany. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a fiasco ("flask"; pl. fiaschi). However, the fiasco is only used by a few makers of the wine as most Chianti is now bottled in more standard shaped wine bottles. In the mid-late 19th century, Baron Bettino Ricasoli (later Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy) helped establish Sangiovese as the blend's dominant variety, creating the blueprint for today's Chianti wines.

The first definition of a wine area called Chianti was made in 1716. It described the area near the villages of Gaiole, Castellina and Radda; the so-called Lega del Chianti and later Provincia del Chianti (Chianti province). In 1932 the Chianti area was completely redrawn and divided into seven sub-areas: Classico, Colli Aretini, Colli Fiorentini, Colline Pisane, Colli Senesi, Montalbano and Rùfina. Most of the villages that in 1932 were added to the newly defined Chianti Classico region added in Chianti to their names, for example Greve in Chianti, which amended its name in 1972. Wines labelled Chianti Classico come from the largest sub-area of Chianti, which includes the original Chianti heartland. Only Chianti from this sub-zone may display the black rooster (gallo nero) seal on the neck of the bottle, which indicates that the producer of the wine is a member of the Chianti Classico Consortium, the local association of producers. Other variants, with the exception of Rufina north-east of Florence and Montalbano south of Pistoia, originate in the named provinces: Siena for the Colli Senesi, Florence for the Colli Fiorentini, Arezzo for the Colli Aretini and Pisa for the Colline Pisane. In 1996 part of the Colli Fiorentini sub-area was renamed Montespertoli. (Full article...)

List of fare/cuisine articles
Italian cuisine Pizza Ancient Roman cuisine Pasta Roman cuisine Parmigiano-Reggiano Sicilian cuisine Mozzarella Fettuccine Alfredo Acquacotta Carbonara Gelato Marron glacé Minestrone Pizza di Pasqua Food and dining in the Roman Empire Espresso Italian wine Testaroli Prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale

General images - show another

The following are images from various Italy-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Federico Fellini, considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 2Antonio Canova's Venus Victrix. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 3The Tusculum portrait, possibly the only surviving sculpture of Julius Caesar made during his lifetime. Archaeological Museum, Turin, Italy. (from History of Italy)
Image 4"Italophone" world.
  Official language.

  Secondary, widely spoken or understood.

  Understood by some due to former colonisation.
(from Culture of Italy)
Image 5Maximum extent of the Italian Empire (from History of Italy)
Image 6Christopher Columbus leads an expedition to the New World, 1492. His voyages are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a new era in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds. (from History of Italy)
Image 7Alessandro Manzoni, one of Italy's greatest 19th-century writers. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 8Ambitions of fascist Italy in Europe in 1936.
Legend:
  Metropolitan Italy and dependent territories;
  Client states;
  Claimed territories to be annexed;
  Territories to be transformed into client states.
Albania, which was a client state, was considered a territory to be annexed. (from History of Italy)
Image 9Rai Radio 1. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 10the EUR in Rome is a perfect example of modern Italian architecture (from Culture of Italy)
Image 11Brunello di Montalcino is one of Italy's finest red wines, made around the town of Montalcino from a Sangiovese variant known locally as Brunello. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 12Su Nuraxi nuraghe, Sardinia, Italy, 2nd millennium BC. (from History of Italy)
Image 13The Vitruvian man by Leonardo da Vinci, representing the ideal human proportions as described by Roman architect Vitruvius, is a quintessential masterpiece of the Renaissance. (from History of Italy)
Image 14Exhausted nurse takes a break in an Italian hospital during the COVID-19 emergency. (from History of Italy)
Image 15Ancient Greek colonies and their dialect groupings in Southern Italy.
  NW Greek
  Achaean
  Doric
  Ionian
(from History of Italy)
Image 16The Roman Forum, the commercial, cultural, and political centre of the city and the Republic which housed the various offices and meeting places of the government. (from History of Italy)
Image 17A Ferrari SF70H by Scuderia Ferrari, the oldest surviving and most successful Formula One team. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 18Changes to the Italian eastern border from 1920 to 1975.
  The Austrian Littoral, later renamed Julian March, which was assigned to Italy in 1920 with the Treaty of Rapallo (with adjustments of its border in 1924 after the Treaty of Rome) and which was then ceded to Yugoslavia in 1947 with the Treaty of Paris
  Areas annexed to Italy in 1920 and remained Italian even after 1947
  Areas annexed to Italy in 1920, passed to the Free Territory of Trieste in 1947 with the Paris treaties and definitively assigned to Italy in 1975 with the Treaty of Osimo
  Areas annexed to Italy in 1920, passed to the Free Territory of Trieste in 1947 with the Paris treaties and definitively assigned to Yugoslavia in 1975 with the Osimo treaty
(from History of Italy)
Image 19Marco Polo at the court of Kublai Khan (painting by Tranquillo Cremona, 1863). (from History of Italy)
Image 20Pompeii (from Culture of Italy)
Image 21St. Peter's Basilica, a showcase of Renaissance and Baroque architecture (from Culture of Italy)
Image 22The espresso comes from the Italian esprimere, which means "to express," and refers to the process by which hot water is forced under pressure through ground coffee. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 23The Capitoline Wolf sculpture in the Capitoline Museums. According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf. (from History of Italy)
Image 24Mussolini and Hitler in June 1940. (from History of Italy)
Image 25Asylum seekers arrive in Sicily, 2015. The Arab Spring and the Syrian War caused a migrant crisis that saw hundred of thousands of boat people seeking refuge in Italy and other Mediterranean countries. (from History of Italy)
Image 26Ötzi, a natural mummy discovered in the southern Alps (region of Trentino-Alto Adige) dating from the 4th millennium BC. (from History of Italy)
Image 27Italy before the Napoleonic invasion (1796). (from History of Italy)
Image 28The Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence, which has the biggest brick dome in the world, and is considered a masterpiece of Italian architecture and world architecture. (from History of Italy)
Image 29Antonio Vivaldi, in 1723. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons (from Culture of Italy)
Image 30The Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries a symbol of the Kings of Italy (from History of Italy)
Image 31Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, ca. 1482–85. (from History of Italy)
Image 32The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, possibly one of the most famous and iconic examples of Italian art (from Culture of Italy)
Image 33Mannerism, Christ at the Sea of Galilee, by Tintoretto (from Culture of Italy)
Image 34The Roman Empire provided an inspiration for the medieval European. Although the Holy Roman Empire rarely acquired a serious geopolitical reality, it possessed great symbolic significance. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 35A Prada shop in Singapore. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 36Marchese Guglielmo Marconi was the inventor of radio. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 37Andrea Palladio is often described as the most influential architect in the Western world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 38Benito Mussolini during the March on Rome in 1922. (from History of Italy)
Image 39The defense of the Carroccio during the battle of Legnano (by Amos Cassioli, 1860). (from History of Italy)
Image 40The historic seat of the Corriere della Sera in via Solferino in Milan. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 41Pinocchio Disney film is based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 42The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world and one of the "Big Three" alongside Cannes and Berlin (from Culture of Italy)
Image 43Bettino Craxi, viewed by many as the symbol of Tangentopoli, leader of the Socialist Party and Prime Minister from 1983 to 1987, is greeted by a salvo of coins as a sign of loathing by protesters. (from History of Italy)
Image 44A chocolate gelato ice cream dessert. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 45Leonardo da Vinci is one of the greatest painters and most versatile geniuses in history. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 46David, by Michelangelo (Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, Italy) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 47The discovery of the New World by Christoper Columbus. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 48St. Peter's Basilica is the world's largest Christian church. It is the second church to stand above the crypt (tomb) believed to hold the body of Saint Peter, the first pope. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 49The Victor Emmanuel II Monument in Rome, a national symbol of Italy celebrating the first king of the unified country, and resting place of the Italian Unknown Soldier since the end of World War I. It was inaugurated in 1911, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the unification of Italy (from History of Italy)
Image 50The Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century AD, depicting Augustus, the first Roman emperor (from History of Italy)
Image 51William Shakespeare is an example of an Italophile of the 16th century. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 52The Sassi cave houses of Matera are believed to be among the first human settlements in Italy dating back to the Paleolithic. (from History of Italy)
Image 53the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 54Palazzo della Carovana, the current seat of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 55Map of Great Italy according to the 1940 fascist project in case Italy had won the Second World War (the orange line delimits metropolitan Italy, the green line the borders of the enlarged Italian Empire) (from History of Italy)
Image 56Marco Minghetti (from History of Italy)
Image 57Agostino Depretis. (from History of Italy)
Image 58Contemporary engraving of Naples during the Naples Plague in 1656 (from History of Italy)
Image 59Fiat 600, iconic middle-class dream car and status symbol of the 1950-60s. (from History of Italy)
Image 60Fall of the Republic of Venice (1797): the abdication of the last Doge, Ludovico Manin (from History of Italy)
Image 61The Battle of Bitonto by Giovanni Luigi Rocco (from History of Italy)
From left to right, Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini and Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano at the signing of Munich Agreement. (from History of Italy)
Image 63Insurgents celebrating the liberation of Naples after the Four days of Naples (27–30 September 1943). (from History of Italy)
Image 64Pasta with pesto sauce. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 65Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti was murdered a few days after he openly denounced Fascist violence during the 1924 elections. (from History of Italy)
Image 66Galileo Galilei, the founder of modern experimental science. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 67Petroglyph in Valcamonica, Lombardy, the largest collection of prehistoric petroglyphs in the world (10th millennium BC). (from History of Italy)
Image 68Attack of the far-right terrorist group NAR at the Bologna railway station on 2 August 1980, which caused the death of 85 people. (from History of Italy)
Image 69The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello (ca. 1438–40). (from History of Italy)
Image 70Animated map of the Italian unification from 1829 to 1871 (from History of Italy)
Image 71Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (c. 1486). Tempera on canvas. 172.5 cm × 278.9 cm (67.9 in × 109.6 in). Uffizi, Florence (from Culture of Italy)
Image 72Map of Etruscan civilisation. (from History of Italy)
Image 73The Colosseum in Rome, built in the 1st century (from History of Italy)
Image 74the Arch of Constantine in Rome. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 75Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is an Italian art masterpiece worldwide famous. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 76Italian kingdom in 1919. (from History of Italy)
Image 77Vatican and Italian delegations prior to signing the Lateran Treaty (from History of Italy)
Image 78Giuseppe Garibaldi, celebrated as one of the greatest generals of modern times and as the "Hero of the Two Worlds", who commanded and fought in many military campaigns that led to Italian unification. (from History of Italy)
Image 79Neapolitan pizza Margherita. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 80Aragonese Castle in Reggio Calabria (from History of Italy)
Image 81Commedia dell'arte troupe Gelosi in a late 16th-century Flemish painting. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 82Greek temple of Hera, Selinunte, Sicily. (from History of Italy)
Image 83Etruscan fresco in the Tomb of the Leopards, Monterozzi necropolis, 5th century BC. (from History of Italy)
Image 84Giuseppe Verdi, one of Italy's greatest opera composers. Portrait by Giovanni Boldini. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 85Holographic copy of 1847 of Il Canto degli Italiani, the Italian national anthem since 1946 (from History of Italy)
Image 86Italy has been a home for innovation in science in the centuries since Galileo formulated his theories of planetary movement. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 87Alcide De Gasperi, first republican Prime Minister of Italy and one of the Founding Fathers of the European Union (from History of Italy)
Image 88The Creation of Adam is one of the scenes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, painted by Michelangelo sometime between 1508 and 1512. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 89The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., reflects the president's admiration for classical Roman aesthetics. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 90Division of Yugoslavia after its invasion by the Axis powers.
  Areas assigned to Italy: the area constituting the province of Ljubljana, the area merged with the province of Fiume and the areas making up the Governorate of Dalmatia
  Independent State of Croatia
  Area occupied by Nazi Germany
  Areas occupied by Kingdom of Hungary
(from History of Italy)
Image 91Milan Cathedral is the fourth-largest church in the world. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 92Dante Alighieri, one of the greatest poets of the Middle Ages. His epic poem The Divine Comedy ranks among the finest works of world literature. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 93The signing ceremony of the Treaty of Rome on 25 March 1957, creating the EEC, forerunner of the present-day EU. (from History of Italy)
Image 94The Colosseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 95The Sistine Chapel ceiling, with frescos done by Michelangelo (from Culture of Italy)
Image 96Residents of Fiume cheering D'Annunzio and his Legionari, September 1919. At the time, Fiume had 22,488 (62% of the population) Italians in a total population of 35,839 inhabitants. (from History of Italy)
Image 97Antonio Meucci, c.1880, inventor of the first telephone (from Culture of Italy)
Image 98The Uffizi. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 99Umberto II, the last King of Italy, was exiled to Portugal. (from History of Italy)
Image 100The Redipuglia War Memorial of Redipuglia, with the tomb of Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta in the foreground, nicknamed the Undefeated Duke for having reported numerous victories in the First World War without ever being defeated on the battlefield. This War Memorial is the resting place of 100,187 Italian soldiers killed between 1915 and 1917 in the eleven battles fought on the Karst and Isonzo front. (from History of Italy)
Image 101Giovanni Giolitti. (from History of Italy)
Image 102Chiostro of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 103Italy and the Habsburg Empire in 1547. (from History of Italy)
Image 104Francesco Crispi (from History of Italy)
Image 105Italian prisoners in El Alamein, November 1942. (from History of Italy)
Image 106Political map of Italy in the years around 1810 (from History of Italy)
Image 107Giuseppe Mazzini, highly influential leader of the Italian revolutionary movement. (from History of Italy)
Image 108Expansion of the territory called "Italy" from ancient Greece until Diocletian. (from History of Italy)
Image 109Sergio Mattarella, President of Italy, since 3 February 2015. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 110the Leaning Tower of Pisa (from Culture of Italy)
Image 111Iron Age hut foundations on the Palatine Hill considered to be the Casa Romuli, the reputed dwelling-place of Romulus. (from History of Italy)
Image 112Italian ethnic regions claimed by the Italian irredentism in the 1930s:* Green: Nice, Ticino and Dalmatia* Red: Malta* Violet: Corsica* Savoy and Corfu were later claimed (from History of Italy)
Image 113The Roman Empire at its greatest extent under Trajan in AD 117 (from History of Italy)
Image 114Samnite sanctuary complex at Pietrabbondante. (from History of Italy)
Image 115Tagliatelle with ragù. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 116Flag of the Cispadane Republic, which was the first Italian tricolour adopted by a sovereign Italian state (1797) (from History of Italy)
Image 117The Italian Peninsula in 1499. (from History of Italy)
Image 118Florence Cathedral, Arnolfo di Cambio, campanile by Giotto dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 119Carmine Crocco (from History of Italy)
Image 120The celebration of the Azzurri for the first victory (of four) in the 1934 World football championship (from Culture of Italy)
Image 121Italian cavalry in Trento on 3 November 1918, after the victorious Battle of Vittorio Veneto. Italy's victory marked the end of the war on the Italian Front, secured the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and contributed to the end of World War I just one week later. (from History of Italy)
Image 122Italian troops landing in Trieste, 3 November 1918 (from History of Italy)
Image 123Carnival of Venice attendees wearing Venetian masks and garb (from Culture of Italy)
Image 124Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana Store on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas (from Culture of Italy)
Image 125Regional seat of RAI in Cosenza. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 126Michelangelo's David, one of the symbols of Italian Renaissance. (from History of Italy)