72 Facts About Italy

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe in the Mediterranean Sea.

It covers an area of 301,340 square kilometres.

Its capital and largest city is Rome.

Its official language is Italian, and its official currency is the Euro.

Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland, and France are its land neighbours.

It is exotic, has excellent cuisine, thousands of museums, friendly and enthusiastic people, and much more.

Benito Mussolini was a Fascist, but he was instrumental in bringing Italian soccer to the international stage. He attempted to ban the English-sounding "goal" and have the locals call it "meta," but the attempt failed.

The Roman Catholic Church arrested Galileo Galilei nearly 400 years ago for proving that the earth revolves around the sun rather than the other way around. In 1992, the Church issued a formal apology.

To identify houses in the Alberobello region of Bari, Italy, old houses have "trulli" or conical roofs with grey stones and unique shaped chimney stacks at the top of the pinnacle.

Due to high tides and sirocco in the lagoon, Venice is prone to acqua alta (or high water) in the winter. In 1974, a system of walkways about 120 cm above sea level was built along the city's main pedestrian areas.

In 1339, Florence became Europe's first city to have paved streets. Projects to pave roads were abandoned elsewhere in the failing Roman Empire for fear of making enemies attack faster.

The only bridge left standing after WWII bombings was Florence's Ponte Vecchio Bridge over the River Arno. Hitler allegedly spared the bridge because he thought it was too beautiful to destroy!

Turin had a heavily subsidised auto industry in order to supply vehicles to the military, which led to its bombing and destruction during WWII. It is now known as the headquarters of Fiat.

The Italian flag is based on the French flag, which Napoleon brought into Italy with his troops and flag in 1797.

Because David was said to be "strong of hand" or "manu fortis," Italian sculptor Michelangelo created him with his right hand larger than his left.

Cabiria was the first cinema blockbuster, a two-hour-long epic Italian silent film set in Turin that was shown all over the world.

One man, Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, invented the first true piano.

From 1904 to 1999, Italian children were only required to attend school until the age of 14! The compulsory school age is now sixteen.

In Italy, first names usually end in -o (for men) or -a (for women) (for women).

Witches, or women who make healing potions for the locals and pass on their knowledge to their daughters in secret tongues, can be found in Sardinia. Consult them if you wish, but be wary of con artists.

Italian soccer fans are called "tifosi" which may come from the same root as the illness "typhoid". Italian fans can be rowdy and uninhibitedly enthusiastic, and their fervour spreads!

A live human chess game is held in Marostica once every two years in September, as part of a centuries-old tradition. The town's main piazza is shaped like a giant chessboard!

Even in their thirties, Italian sons usually live with their parents until they marry. In the country, the family is a powerful institution.

Today's Via dei Leoni in Florence once housed live lions in cages behind the Palazzo Communale! Today, lion heads can be found all over the city.

Many Italians believe in scaramanzia, which translates as superstitions. One common scaramanzia is that there are no romantic candles in the bedroom; candles are only used for lighting when someone dies.

Most Roman churches have a dress code, especially for the Papal audience in Vatican City.

You cannot use Italian stamps to send Roman postcards from Vatican City. To do so, you'll need to purchase stamps in the Vatican.

The Baboon in Via del Babuino, Madam Lucrezia in Piazza San Marco, and other talking statues in Rome have been used by locals to vent their rage against the authorities in the form of graffiti. These were cleaned up, but you can still see a few here and there.

Lentils are traditionally eaten after the clock strikes 12:00 in Italy. When the new year begins, Italians also associate wearing red undergarments with good luck.

More than three-quarters of Italy is mountainous or hilly terrain.

Tourists who throw small change into the Trevi Fountain for good luck are unaware that the fountain made a million dollars from this small change in 2011. Of course, the funds were donated to charity.

For the last ten years, Venice has been sinking into the mud on which it is built and tilting towards the Adriatic Sea at a rate of 2mm per year.

Dried pasta was introduced to Italy by Arab invaders. Previously, the Italians ate fresh pasta.

On the eve of the Patron Saint's Feast Day, over 70,000 lumini, or candles in a glass container, are lit or set sail on the Arno in Pisa, and the city alongside the Lungarno is a wonderful glowing sight.

Some parts of Italy, such as outside the main post office in Mantova, Lombardy, still have old-style post boxes with separate slots for different types of mail - correspondence in town, letters and postcards in town, air mail and fast mail, and so on.

Every year in July and August, Siena hosts a horse race known as the Palio. The race between 17 Contrada, or camps, takes place in the heart of the city in the Piazza del Campo, and it is an important part of Sienese culture. Every person is born with a Contrada!

Pinocchio, the wooden lying boy with the long nose, was created in the 19th century by a Florentine named Collodi for local publication.

The Creation of Adam is one of Michelangelo's most famous frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Some experts believe that this scene is also intended to resemble the outline of the human brain!

"hic Phoebus unguentarius optime futuit," or "here Phoebus the apothecary screwed best," reads one ancient lewd graffiti from Pompeii, preserved for over 2000 years under volcano ash.

There are no public toilets in Italian cities! Always use the restrooms before leaving a museum.

Locals in Palermo play a game called tocco to drink their friends under the table. The game has the potential to escalate into brawls of warlike proportions!

Genoese, a Roman dialect, is spoken by the people of Genoa. The younger generation is losing this language, despite the efforts of many organisations to reverse the trend.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel, the world's longest, connects Switzerland and Italy. It took 17 years to construct and is 57 kilometres long.

34 percent of Italians and 33 percent of Portuguese have never used the Internet.

The University of Bologna, located in Italy, is Europe's oldest university, having been in operation since 1088.

Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country in the world, with 47 cultural and four natural sites.

The United States is the world's largest consumer of wine, while Italy is the world's largest producer.

Two Lamborghini Gallados are used by the Italian Traffic Police.

Italy is an earthquake-prone country. It has the highest number of earthquakes of any European country. Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey are also among the most earthquake-prone countries.

Because the region has the most "lava spitting monsters," Italians are constantly threatened by volcanoes. The three major volcanoes in Italy are Etna, Stromboli, and Vesuvius.

Italian fashion houses include Armani, Versace, Gucci, and Prada. Italy is also known for its high-performance automobile manufacturers, such as Ferrari and Lamborghini.

Italy is a member of the G8, a governmental political forum, along with Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

San Marino and the Vatican City are two independent states entirely within Italy's borders.

In Italy, the number 17 is considered unlucky, which is why some hotels do not have a 17th floor.

Because there were 13 people at Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting "The Last Supper," it is considered unlucky to seat 13 people at the dinner table.

Traditionally, meatballs are not served with pasta in Italy. The first course (primo piatto) in most Italian meals is pasta, followed by the main course of meat or fish (the secondo piatto).

While the'mad cow' disease rendered an Italian delicacy known as Pajata illegal for 14 years, it is now back on menus. Pajata is made from the intestines of milk-fed calves, and it is a creamy intestine dish when cooked in tomato sauce or grilled.

If you search for Pepperoni Pizza in Italy, you may be served a vegetarian pizza. In Italy, "pepperoni" means peppers, not salami!

If you ask for your favourite "latte" in Italy, you will most likely be served a glass of milk. Instead, request a "latte macchiato," which is milk mixed with espresso.

The Italians adore organ meats and pig's blood. Just before Ash Wednesday, people in Southern Italy eat a sweet pig blood pudding mixed with chocolate and cream. Locals refer to it as Sanguinaccio dolce.

Casu marzu - rotten cheese - is another unusual Italian dish that is not for everyone. This rotten cheese is made from sheep's milk and contains real live maggot larvae. If you're brave enough, go to Sardinia.

When McDonald's first opened in Italy, the Romans protested by providing free spaghetti to protesters!

Italians have a high level of education. Over 99% of people can read and write.

The Italian brown bear, also known as the Marsican brown bear, is critically endangered and only found in the Abruzzo National Park.

Christmas is the most important holiday in Italy. The nativity crib scene is meticulously constructed.

The Italians introduced the world to ice cream as we know it today, but China may have invented it first.

Italy is slightly larger than Arizona, but it has the eighth largest economy in the world!

For centuries, Rome has been known as the Eternal City because the Romans believed the city would last forever.

Italy also has Europe's highest peak, Monte Bianco (White Mountain), which is part of the Alps and is 15,771 feet high.

"Russo" is the most common surname in Italy.

Famous Italians include Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Christopher Columbus, Leonardo Fibonacci, Enzo Ferrari, and Guglielmo Marconi.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, built in 1173, is a well-known Italian landmark. Soon after its construction, the tower began to lean due to its shaky foundation. Engineers declared it safe for another 200 years after reconstruction work was completed in 2008.