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    Best viewed with MSIE

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     Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915-1945
    Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915-1945

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     The Fall of Mussolini: Italians and the War, 1940-1945
    The Fall of Mussolini: Italians and the War, 1940-1945

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    About the Country


    Italian maps, Italian history, Italian regions, Italy reference
    Background: Italy became a nation-state belatedly - in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula and Sicily were united under King Victor EMMANUEL. The Fascist dictatorship of Benito MUSSOLINI that took over after World War I led to a disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany and Italian defeat in World War II. Revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC) and joined the growing political and economic unification of Western Europe, including the introduction of the euro in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, the ravages of organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the more prosperous north.

    Map of Italy
    Map courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps
    used with permission.



    Geography

    Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia

    Geographic coordinates: 42 50 N, 12 50 E

    Area:
    total: 301,230 sq km
    land: 294,020 sq km
    water: 7,210 sq km
    note: includes Sardinia and Sicily

    Area - comparative: slightly larger than Arizona

    Land boundaries:
    total: 1,932.2 km
    border countries: Austria 430 km, France 488 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.2 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 232 km, Switzerland 740 km

    Climate: predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south

    Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands


    People

    Population: 58,057,477 (July 2004 est.)

    Population growth rate: 0.09% (2004 est.)

    Ethnic groups: Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)

    Religions: predominately Roman Catholic with mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community

    Languages: Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area)


    Government

    Government type: republic

    Capital: Rome

    Independence: 17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed; Italy was not finally unified until 1870)

    National holiday: Anniversary of the Republic, 2 June (1946)

    Constitution: 1 January 1948


    Economy

    Labor force: 23.6 million (2001 est.)

    Unemployment rate: 9.2% (2003 est.)

    Exports - commodities: engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; food, beverages and tobacco; minerals and nonferrous metals

    Imports - commodities: engineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages and tobacco

    Currency: euro (EUR)


    Military

    Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Carabinieri

    Military expenditures - dollar figure: $28,182.8 million (2003)


    Source of background and statistical data: The World Factbook
    For more on Italy, click here

    Featured Reading
     The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
    The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians

    Peter Heather
     Landscapes and Cities: Rural Settlement and Civic Transformation in Early Imperial Italy
    Landscapes and Cities: Rural Settlement and Civic Transformation in Early Imperial Italy

    John R. Patterson



    Maps Links
  • ArcData Online
  • Clickable map of Italy
  • Gheos.com - Map of Italy
  • Historical Maps of Europe
  • Map Machine National Geographic.com
  • Map of Italy
  • Map of Italy, Malta, San Marino, and the Vatican City
  • MapQuest


  • WorldAtlas.com

    WorldAtlas.com


    Reference Links
  • Atlapedia Online
  • Britannica.com
  • CountryReports.org
  • Italian National Statistical Institute
  • The World Factbook
  • World Desk Reference
  • WorldInformation.com




  • History Links
  • A Chronological Survey of Italian History
  • H-Italy
  • Italian history
  • Italian History on the Web
  • Italian Index
  • The History of Italy
  • Windows on Italy - History


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