Italy /ˈɪtəli/ (help·info) (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica Italiana), 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 Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within the Italian Peninsula, and Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland.

The land known as Italy today has been the cradle of many European cultures and peoples, such as the Etruscans and the Romans. Later it was an important centre of the Renaissance, and also played a major role in the development of modern science and astronomy, particularly heliocentrism, as well as the University, and opera. Italy's capital, Rome, was for centuries the center of Western civilization. Today, the cultural significance of Italy is reflected in the fact that it boasts by far the largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (44) in the world.

Contemporary Italy is a democratic republic and a developed country with the eighth-highest quality of life index rating in the world.[6] It is a founding member of what is now the European Union, having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957, and it is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is a member of the G8, having the world's seventh-largest nominal GDP, and is also a member state of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Council of Europe, the Western European Union, and the Central European Initiative. Italy is a Schengen state. It has the world's seventh-largest defence budget and shares NATO's nuclear weapons.

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'Italy' News
Authors are just like everyone else, says winner of German peace prize - Deutsche Welle
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Authors are just like everyone else, says winner of German peace prize

Deutsche Welle

What does an author do in Berlusconi's Italy ? This seems to be an almost permanent situation. From the outside it looks as if the artists and intellectuals ...

Italian Claudio Magris captures Frankfurt Book Fair prize CBC.ca



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Mon Oct 19 05:18:30 2009
'Italy' Images
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Sat Oct 17 01:38:05 2009
'Italy' Blogs
Islamization Watch: Italy : Two suspects arrested in military ...
islamizationwatch.blogspot.com
Islamization Watch: Italy : Two suspects arrested in military ...

Cole

ue, 13 Oct 2009 11:35:01 GM

Italy. : Two suspects arrested in military barracks attack. [police+dog+sni​ffs+for+evidenc​e+after+bomb+at​tack. Milan, 13 October (AKI) - Two suspects and alleged accomplices were arrested early on Tuesday in connection with the attack ...

Google Blogs Search: Italy,
Wed Oct 14 01:25:57 2009
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