General Information about Italy
Italy is considered by many as the cradle of art, and has everything from Roman mosaics and Renaissance masterpieces to baroque statues and modern works.
Italian architecture is no less varied with Greek temples and ancient stadium like the Colosseum standing cheek by jowl with great cathedrals and baroque palaces.
There is so much to see that most of it never makes the guidebooks, with an architectural gem literally around every corner in many of its cities and towns.
General Information About Italy
Capital: Rome
Official language: Italian
Population: 58 million
Currency: Euro
Calling code: +39
Italy comprises a boot-shaped peninsula and two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. San Marino and the Vatican City are contained within Italy, but are independent of it.
Climate
Italians summers are hot and dry, especially in the South, though less so near the Alps and along the northern coasts. Winter varies from very cold in the Alps, cold and damp in the northern Po Plain and the central Apennines to mild, even warm, on the Ligurian and Neapolitan coasts and in Sicily.
Religion
Italy is still a predominately Roman Catholic country but there are also quite large Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community.