[Edit]Overview
Italy embodies the term la dolce vita. Its wonderfully warm climate, rich cultural heritage, world famous food and welcoming people make this an ideal travel destination whatever the time of year. Whether it is lying on a beach in Tuscany, skiing in the Alps, swimming in Lake Garda, taking a ride in a gondola down the Grand Canal in Venice or enjoying Italy's endless cultural treasures in any one of its numerous cities, Italy provides it all.
In fact the biggest problem a traveller to Italy will face is deciding which of the numerous attractions to visit first. Italy's wealth of culture is unrivalled. Tuscany alone accommodates more classified historical monuments than any whole country in the world and is the undisputed cradle of art. Here you can find examples of every age, style and period, even without entering a gallery, simply walking the streets is like visiting a living-museum.
Due to Italy's growth as a collection of independent city-states, each of its twenty regions varies greatly, often with completely different customs, food and dialects, which makes this a unique place to visit. The north/ south divide is something that many travelers experience. The north being the more advanced industrial area with its capital Milan the epitome of a thoroughly European city. The south, which begins somewhere between Rome and Naples, is comparatively poorer and less industrialized, consisting mainly of agricultural land and in many places is still largely untouched. By stepping off the beaten track and heading further south you can...more
[Edit]History
Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the prosperous north.
