Mention Italy, an ancient civilization, and people will immediately think of the ancient Roman Empire, the ancient city of Pompeii destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 AD, the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, the beautiful water city Venice, and the ancient Roman Colosseum, which is known as the eighth wonder of the world ... Pompeii site is one of the world heritage sites approved by UNESCO. In 79 AD, the ancient city of Pompeii was submerged after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearby. Later, after the excavation of Italian archaeologists, people can see the social life of ancient Rome from the ruins of Pompeii.
14-15th century, Italian literature and art flourished unprecedentedly and became the birthplace of the "Renaissance" movement in Europe. Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Galileo have made unparalleled contributions to the progress of human culture. Today, you can see carefully preserved ancient Roman grand buildings and Renaissance paintings, sculptures, monuments and cultural relics all over Italy.
The Renaissance
Italy is the birthplace of modern civilization.
The ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii illuminate the road of modern human civilization, which is neither a great geographical discovery in Portugal and Spain, nor the Enlightenment in France, nor Queen Elizabeth I who loves Shakespeare's plays, but the torch of the Italian Renaissance in14 ~16th century!
The Renaissance was born in Italy and belongs to Sicily. The Renaissance in Europe opened the prelude to the development of political theory. Machiavelli, Grotius, Spinoza, Hobbes, Milton, Locke and many other thinkers advocated "natural rights", "social contract", "people's revolutionary rights" and "separation of powers". Some people say that the Renaissance denied feudal privileges. In the process of Renaissance, the content of artistic creation gradually shifted from gods and religious stories to ordinary people, even to the bottom people. Therefore, there is no denying the role of the Renaissance in the process of human civilization. In medieval Italy, feudal privileges and family values were taken for granted.
Independence Day:1March 7 (186 1 year).
National Day of the Italian National Emblem: June 2nd (1946).
National Liberation Day: April 25th (1945).
National flag: rectangular, with an aspect ratio of 3: 2. The flag surface consists of three parallel and equal vertical rectangles, which are green, white and red from left to right. Originally, the color of the Italian flag was the same as that of the French flag, but it was only in 1796 that the blue was changed to green. According to records, in 1796, Napoleon's Italian legion used the green, white and red flags designed by Napoleon himself. 1946, People's Republic of China (PRC) established Italy, and the green, white and red national flags were officially designated as Italian national flags.
National emblem: round. The central pattern is a five-pointed star with a red edge, symbolizing Italy and China; Behind the five-pointed star is a big gear, symbolizing workers; The gears are surrounded by olive leaves and oak leaves, symbolizing peace and prosperity. The red ribbon at the bottom says "Repubblica Italiana" in Italian.
National ball: football.
National flower: daisy.
National stone: coral.
Population: 60, 1 14, 02 1 (2009). 94% of the residents are Italian, and the ethnic minorities are French, Latin, Freud and so on. Italian, French and German in some areas. Most residents believe in Catholicism.
Italy also has two sovereign pocket countries: Vatican and San Marino.
Capital: Rome
Language: Italian
National dignitaries: President giorgio napolitano, elected in May 2006; Prime Minister silvio berlusconi, who took office in May 2008; Renato Schifani, Speaker of the Senate, was elected in April 2008. Gianfranco fini, Speaker of the House of Representatives, was elected in April 2008.
Edit this paragraph
country profile
Italy's full name is "Italy * * * and the country", which is located in southern Europe, including Apennine Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia and other islands. It borders France to the west, Switzerland and Austria to the north, Slovenia to the east, Adriatic Sea and tyrrhenian sea to the east, west and south (all sub-seas of the Mediterranean).
It was called "Ionia", "Espe Leah" and "Victoria" in ancient Italy. Later, due to the change of language, the sound of "Wei" became "Yi-Yi", which means "a paradise where calves grow". It is also said that the name "Italy" evolved from the name of an ancient tribal leader in that country. Italy is the birthplace of the Roman Empire. The 2nd and 3rd centuries were the heyday of the Roman Empire, covering the whole Mediterranean coast. From 14 to 15, literature and art flourished unprecedentedly and became the cradle of "Renaissance" in Europe. After several divisions and foreign invasions. The kingdom was founded in 186 1. 1870 to achieve reunification and establish the kingdom of Italy. On June 2nd, 1946, it was officially named "Italian * * * and China".
Related history: Prussia defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War that broke out in 1870, and established the "Second Reich of Germany" in June+10/8 of the following year. The unification of Germany and Italy changed the European balance of power in Vienna system.
Industry is mainly concentrated in the north, forming a triangle with Milan, Turin and Genoa. The main industrial sectors are steel, automobile, shipbuilding, machinery, chemistry, electronics and textiles. Turin is an automobile city, Milan is a chemical base, and Genoa is a shipbuilding industry. In the eastern, middle and emerging industrial zones, small and medium-sized enterprises gather and there are more light industries. Southern Sicily is dominated by oil refining. Oil is imported from North Africa and the Middle East. Taranto is established on the basis of southern ports, which facilitates the import of iron ore and the export of products to the international market.
Tourism is developed, and tourism income is an important source to make up for the country's balance of payments deficit. Tourism turnover reached 150 trillion lira (about 71400 million US dollars), accounting for about 6% of GDP, and net income was about 53 trillion lira (about 25.2 billion US dollars). Foreign trade is the main pillar of the Italian economy, with a surplus year after year, and it is the third largest country in the world after Japan and Germany. Imports are mainly petroleum, raw materials and food, and exports are mainly mechanical equipment, chemical products, household appliances, textiles, clothing, leather shoes, gold and silver jewelry and other light industrial products. Foreign markets are mainly in Europe, and the main import and export targets are the European Union and the United States, as well as East Asia and Latin America. The main tourist cities are Rome, Florence and Venice.
The development of history
According to ancient mythology, it is said that Romulus and his twin brother Remus were raised by a female wolf-Rome was founded in 753 BC. In fact, ancient Italian tribes have lived here since around 2000 BC. Etruscan civilization began to develop in 900 BC, and at the end of the 3rd century BC, the ancient Romans occupied Etruscan city.
The Republic of Silla Romana extended to southern Italy, and Sicily was incorporated into its territory after the war of Sekonpuna in 24 1 BC. In 202 BC, Rome defeated Carthage and incorporated Spain and Greece into the territory. Under Caesar, Rome conquered Gaul and Egypt. After Caesar's assassination, Caesar's adopted son Octavian defeated his rival marc anthony and Egyptian queen Cleopatra, and established the Roman Empire in 27 BC, and was honored as Augustus Caesar. Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the state religion and moved the capital to Byzantium (Constantinople) in 330 AD, but it was quickly destroyed by the Goths and Vandals. In the following centuries, Huns and Arabs invaded this land continuously.
The most striking feature of medieval Italy was the rise of a powerful northern city-state. In the 65438+5th century, the Renaissance produced artistic talents, such as Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. By the early16th century, most of Italy was under the rule of Habsburg dynasty in Austria. 1796 after Napoleon's invasion, signs of unity that had disappeared for centuries reappeared. From 65438 to 1960s, with the efforts of patriots Ma Zhini and garibaldi, the unification movement (Italian Renaissance Movement) flourished. 186 1 year, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed and King Emmanuel II became the ruler.
After the unification of Italy, it embarked on the capitalist colonial road of external expansion and emerged as a powerful country in European political diplomacy. In the 1960s and 1980s, it successfully invaded Eritrea and southern Somalia, which are the transportation sites along the Red Sea coast in East Africa. 19 12 captured Libya in North Africa and Rhodes Islands in Aegean Sea; 192 1 year, Mussolini's fascist party seized state power. Signed a series of treaties with Germany and Japan, such as "Iron Union" and "Anti-production Agreement", and established the Axis Group in an attempt to carve up the world again. On the eve of World War II, Europe gained Albania and Africa occupied Ethiopia. 1940, Italy's sphere of influence reached its peak in the Mediterranean, North Africa and East Africa. Later, in the battle with the British expeditionary force, it suffered a series of blows and shrank. 1943 surrendered and withdrew from the axis group, and the overseas territory collapsed. After World War II, only the sovereignty of South Somalia was retained to 1960.
1957 When the Organization for European Economic Unity was founded, Italy was one of the six founding countries. After World War II, the country's economy developed at three times the speed before World War II, which was called the miracle of southern alps by the western media at that time. At that time, only Japan and Germany grew faster than Italy. In the 1970s, Italy's economy began to weaken due to the rampant terrorist organizations such as the Red Brigade and the sharp rise in the prices of oil and energy products. But after the 1980s, Italy's economy took off again, surpassing Britain to become the fifth largest economy in the capitalist world for the first time. But in the 1990s, it encountered economic and political crisis. This huge bribery scandal shocked the whole country. In order to join the European Monetary Union (EMU), Italy had to carry out fiscal austerity. In addition, after the assassination of some famous anti-mafia judges in 1992, Italy resolutely launched a struggle against the Sicilian mafia.
Since 200 1, the media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi has been the prime minister of the country, leading the right-wing Forza Italia. During his tenure, he caused a lot of disappointment, especially the fans of AC Milan, because as the owner of Milan, he has not bought good players for several years, but recently he bought Ibrahimovic and Robinho from his own pocket.
In April 2006, the center-left alliance led by Romano Prodi defeated the center-right alliance led by Berlusconi with a slight advantage in the Italian parliamentary election. Prodi becomes Italian Prime Minister.
In April 2008, the center-right alliance led by Berlusconi won the Italian parliamentary election again, and Berlusconi became the 62nd Prime Minister of post-war Italy.