Italy did not exist as a state until the country's unification in 1861. Due to this comparatively late unification, and the historical autonomy of the regions that comprise the Italian Peninsula, many traditions and customs that are now recognized as distinctly Italian can be identified by their regions of origin. Despite the political and social isolation of these regions, Italy's contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of Europe remain immense. Italy's global and international impact in politics, history, art, culture, philosophy, literature, archaeology, science, opera, cuisine, architecture, fashion, education, religion, cinema, entertainment and music remain vast up to this day. The Vatican City, in Rome, (where the pope resides), is the only nation in the world to still speak Latin, the world's smallest country, and the only country within a city. Elements which are famous of the Italian culture are its opera and music, its iconic gastronomy and food, which is commonly regarded amongst the most popular in the world (with famous dishes such as pasta, pizza, lasagna, focaccia, espresso and Italian gelato ), its cinema (with classic films such as 8½, Bicycle Thieves, Cinema Paradiso, La Dolce Vita, Life is Beautiful, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly etc.), its collections of priceless works of art (found mainly in cities such as Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples and Milan, to name a few) and its fashion (Milan is regarded as the true fashion capital of the world). Italy, over the centuries, has given birth to a great number of polymaths, geniuses and notable people, such as Julius Caesar, Petrarch, Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Galileo Galilei, Rossini, Vivaldi, Alessandro Volta, Verdi, Puccini, Guglielmo Marconi, Maria Montessori, Enrico Fermi, Federico Fellini, Guccio Gucci, Gianni Versace, Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli, to name a few.
Italy is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (44) to date. From the precepts of the Roman Catholic Church, the spirit of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, are events which greatly shaped Italy's architecture, culture and art. The type of government is a republic. Italy also has the world's 8th highest quality of life index, 2nd best healthcare system and 19th highest life expectancy.
Education
Main article: Education in ItalyItaly's public education is free and compulsory from 6–14 years of age, and has a five-year primary stage and an eight-year secondary stage, divided into first-grade secondary school (middle school) and second-grade secondary school (or high school). Italy has a high public education standard, beating that of the UK and Germany. Italy has both public and private education systems.
Primary school lasts five years. Until middle school, the educational curriculum is uniform for all: although one can attend a private or state-funded school, the subjects studied are the same, except in special schools for the blind, the hearing-impaired, and so forth.
Secondary education (Scuole medie) is further divided in two stages: "Medie Inferiori", which correspond to the Middle School grades, and "Medie Superiori", which correspond to the High School level.
The lower tier of "Scuole Medie" corresponds to Middle School, lasts three years, and involves an exam at the end of the third year; "Scuole Superiori" usually last five years (even though istituti professionali might offer a diploma after only three years). Every tier involves an exam at the end of the final year, required to access the following tier.
The secondary school situation varies, since there are several types of schools differentiated by subjects and activities. The main division is between the "Liceo", the "Istituto Tecnico" and the "Istituto Professionale". Any kind of secondary school that lasts 5 years grants access to the final exam, called Esame di Stato conclusivo del corso di studio di Istruzione Secondaria Superiore or Esame di Maturità . This exam takes place every year in June and July and grants access to any faculty at any University.
Italy hosts a broad variety of universities, colleges and academies. Milan's Bocconi University, has been ranked among the top 20 best business schools in the world by The Wall Street Journal international rankings, especially thanks to its M.B.A. program, which in 2007 placed it no. 17 in the world in terms of graduate recruitment preference by major multinational companies . Also, Forbes has ranked Bocconi no.1 worldwide in the specific category Value for Money . In May 2008, Bocconi overtook several traditionally top global business schools in the Financial Times Executive education ranking, reaching no. 5 in Europe and no. 15 in the world . Other top universities and polytechnics include the Polytechnic University of Turin, the Politecnico di Milano (which in 2009 was ranked as the 57th technical university in the world by Top Universities, in a research conducted on behalf of Times Higher Education . This was a 6-positions growth from the 63rd position in 2008. In 2009 an Italian research ranked it as the best in Italy over indicators such as scientific production, attraction of foreign students, and others ), the La Sapienza (which in 2005 was Europe's 33rd best university, and currently ranks amongst Europe's 50 and the world's 150 best colleges) and the University of Milan (whose research and teaching activities have developed over the years and have received important international recognitions. The University is the only Italian member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), a prestigious group of twenty research-intensive European Universities. It also been awarded ranking positions as such: -1st in Italy and 7th in Europe (The Leiden Ranking - Universiteit Leiden).
Italy and the Western world's oldest college is the University of Bologna. The University of Padua, also remains one of Europe's oldest.
Demographics and Language
Main articles: Italians, Italian nationality law, Demographics of Italy, Italian diaspora, and Italian languageThe Italian people ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common Italian culture, descent, and speaking the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence, and are distinguished from people of Italian descent, and historically, from ethnic Italians living in the unredeemed territories of the Italian peninsula.
Because of wide-ranging and long-lasting diaspora, over 70 million people of Italian or part Italian ancestry live outside of Italy. Nearly two-thirds of Italian descendants live in South America (primarily Brazil and Argentina). About 20 million live in North America and nearly 1 million live in Oceania. In the Americas, most descendants' origins go back several generations and they have assimilated into their respective national identities. Most do not speak the Italian language. Also, some Italians live in parts of Africa, (especially in Libya, Ethiopia and Eritrea) due to the Italian colonial empire.
Starting in the late 19th century until the 1950s, the United States became a main destination for Italian immigrants, most settling originally in the New York metropolitan area, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Chicago. Many Italian Americans still retain aspects of their culture. This includes Italian food, drink, art, annual Italian American feasts, and a strong commitment to extended family. Italian Americans influenced popular music in the 1940s and as recently as the 1970s, one of their major contributions to American culture. In movies that deal with cultural issues, Italian American words and lingo are sometimes spoken by the characters. Although most will not speak Italian fluently, a dialect of sorts has arisen among Italian Americans, particularly in the urban Northeast, often popularized in film and television.
Italian communities, also, once thrived in the former African colonies of Eritrea (50,000 Italian settlers in 1935), Somalia and Libya (150,000 Italians settled in Libya, constituting about 18% of the total population).. A significant portion of the pied-noir community of French Algeria was also of Italian descent, though much of this population naturalized as French citizens, and most migrated to France after Algerian independence.
Literature
Main article: Italian literatureSee also: Latin literatureItalian literature began after the founding of Rome in 753 BCE. Roman, or Latin literature, was and still is highly influential in the world, with numerous formidable writers, poets, philosophers, poets and historians, such as Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid, and Livy, to name a few. The Romans were also famous for their oral tradition, poetry, drama and epigrams. Even though most of these were inspired or even copied from the Greeks, Roman epigrams were usually far more satyrical, using even o
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