Italy

Italy is beautiful and very appealing to tourists. There is no reason to argue the rich culture and beauty of Italy, with Rome's martial monuments, Florence's Renaissance glories and the beautiful coast lines. While Italy is not only a beautiful place for tourist, it is also a striving country with a rich long history.

Italy became a nation in1891 when the regional states of the Mediterranean Peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily were united under King Victor Emmanuel II. This era of parliamentary government ended in the early 1920s when Benito Mussolini established a fascist dictatorship. Benito's alliance with the Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. After the defeat Italy became a democratic Republic in 1946, which led to an economic revival. Italy was chartered a member of NATO and the European Economic Community. Since then Italy has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Problems that occur persistently in Italy are illegal immigration, organized crime, corruption, high unemployment rates, sluggish economic growth, and low incomes and low technical standards of southern Italy lack compared to the prosperous northern Italy.

Italy is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in southern Europe, and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean sea; Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent states of San Mario and the Vatican City and enclaves within the Peninsula.

Italy is largely homogeneous and religiously, but it is a diverse culture, economically and politically. It has the fifth high population density in Europe with about 200 persons per square  kilometer. Italy's minority groups are small with the majority of people being the German speaking people of Bozano Provence and the Slovenes around Trieste. There are also small communities of Albanian, Greek, Ladino, and French origin. Immigration to Italy has increased over the years, while the Italian population is declining due to low birth rates. Roman Catholicism is the majority of Italy with 90% of all native born cities, however all religious faiths are provided equal freedom before the law by the constitution.

The land of Italy today has been the cradle of many European cultures and people such as the Etruscans and the Romans. Today Italy is a democratic republic and has been since 1946.  Italy is a developed country with a rating of eight on the life index quality in the world. With a population of 58, 126,212 makes it the 24th largest country in the world. The official language of Italy is Italian, but German is spoke in parts of Trentino Alto Adige region, French is spoken in minority in Valle d'Aosta region, Slovene is spoken in a minority in the Trieste Gorizia area.

Italy has a diverse economy which is divided into a developed industrial north dominated by private companies, and less developed, welfare dependent, agricultural south, with high unemployment. The Italian economy is driven in large by manufactures of high quality consumer goods produced by small and medium sized enterprises. 15% of Italy's GDP is accounted for by underground economy. The country has moved slowly on implementing needed structural reforms such as lightening their heavy tax burdens and overhauling the rigid labor market.