The Country
Italy is a boot-shaped peninsula that juts into the Mediterranean Sea. Its location has played an important role in its history. The sea surrounds Italy, and mountains crisscross the interior, dividing it into regions.
The country is known for its more than 3,000 years of history, and it was a center of ancient Greco-Roman culture. In the 15th-century it was the cradle of the Renaissance and it became the recognized European leader in painting (Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Raphael), architecture (Brunelleschi), sculpture, literature (Dante, Boccaccio, Macchiavelli), music, philosophy (Giordano Bruno), science (Galileo).
The capital is Rome, one of the oldest of the world’s great cities and a favourite of visitors, for its great monuments and works of art as well as for its "dolce vita". Other major cities include the industrial and fashion centre of Milan; Genoa, a handsome port on the Ligurian Gulf; the sprawling southern metropolis of Naples; and Venice, one of the world’s oldest tourist destinations. Surrounded by Rome is an independent state, Vatican City, which is the seat of the Roman Catholic Church and the spiritual home of Italy’s overwhelmingly Catholic population.
The country is considered to have a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural, and diplomatic affairs, and it is a founding and leading member of the European Union and a member of numerous international institutions.