Southern ItalySouthern Italy (Sud Italia ˈsud iˈtaːlja or Italia meridionale iˈtaːlja meridjoˈnaːle; 'o Sudde; Italia dû Suddi), also known as Meridione (meriˈdjoːne) or Mezzogiorno (meddzoˈdʒorno; Miezojuorno; Menzujornu; Midday) is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern regions. The term Mezzogiorno today refers to regions that are associated with the people, lands or culture of the historical and cultural region that was once politically under the administration of the former Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily (officially denominated as one entity Regnum Siciliae citra Pharum and ultra Pharum, i.
Giorgio NapolitanoGiorgio Napolitano (ˈdʒordʒo napoliˈtaːno; born 29 June 1925) is an Italian politician who served as president of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first to be re-elected to the office. Due to his dominant position in Italian politics, some critics have sometimes referred to him as Re Giorgio ("King Giorgio"). In office from 2006 to 2015, he is the longest-serving and longest-lived president in the history of the modern Italian Republic, which has been in existence since 1946.
Flags of Napoleonic ItalyThe Flags of Napoleonic Italy were the green, white and red tricolour flags and banners in use in Italy during the Napoleonic era, which lasted from 1796 to 1814. During this period, on 7 January 1797, the green, white and red tricolour was officially adopted for the first time as a national flag by a sovereign Italian state, the Cispadane Republic. This event is commemorated by the Tricolour Day.
DiasporaA diaspora (daɪˈæspərə ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently reside elsewhere.
Italian city-statesThe Italian city-states were numerous political and independent territorial entities that existed in the Italian Peninsula from antiquity to the formation of the Kingdom of Italy in the late 19th century. The ancient Italian city-states were Greek (Magna Graecia), Etruscan (Dodecapolis), and Latin, most famously Rome, but also of Umbrian, Celtic and other origins. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, urban settlements in Italy generally enjoyed a greater continuity than settlements in western Europe.
National colours of ItalyThe national colours of Italy are green, white, and red, collectively known in Italian as il Tricolore (il trikoˈloːre; the Tricolour). The three Italian national colours appeared for the first time in Genoa on 21 August 1789 on the cockade of Italy shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolution, on 11 October 1796 they were used for the first time in Milan on a military banner, while on 7 January 1797 in Reggio Emilia they appeared for the first time on a flag.
Italy (geographical region)The Italian geographic region, Italian physical region or Italian region is a geographical region of south-central Europe delimited to the north by the mountain chains of the Alps. This subregion is composed of a peninsular and continental part and an insular part. Located between the Balkan Peninsula and the Iberian Peninsula, it protrudes into the centre of the Mediterranean Sea and overlooks the Adriatic Sea, the Ionian Sea, the Ligurian Sea, the Sardinian Channel, the Sea of Corsica, the Sea of Sardinia, the Strait of Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian Sea.
History of the Italian RepublicThe history of the Italian Republic concerns the events relating to the history of Italy that have occurred since 1946, when Italy became a republic. The Italian republican history is generally divided into two phases, the First and Second Republic. After the fall of the Fascist regime in Italy and the end of World War II, Italian politics and society were dominated by Christian Democracy (DC), a broad-based Christian political party, from 1946 to 1994. From the late 1940s until 1991, the opposition was led by the Italian Communist Party (PCI).
Gianfranco FiniGianfranco Fini (born 3 January 1952) is an Italian politician who served as the president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2008 to 2013. He is the former leader of the far-right Italian Social Movement, the conservative National Alliance, and the center-right Future and Freedom party. He was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Silvio Berlusconi's government from 2001 to 2006. Fini was born on 3 January 1952 in Bologna. His grandfather, a communist activist, died in 1970.
Tourism in ItalyTourism in Italy is one of the economic sectors of the country. With 65 million tourists per year (2019) according to ISTAT, Italy is the fifth most visited country in international tourism arrivals. According to 2018 estimates by the Bank of Italy, the tourism sector directly generates more than five percent of the national GDP (13 percent when also considering the indirectly generated GDP) and represents over six percent of the employed.