100 Interesting Facts About Italy
Hello Friends:
Welcome to Countries Facts so today I'm here to talk to you all about the world's largest high-heeled boot Italy yes Italy is known for its incredible art fascinating culture delicious food great weather beautiful language and for being indirectly responsible for a little TV show known as Jersey Shore hey no one's perfect but which famous Italians finger is on display in a museum in Florence what unusual thing is it illegal to do in felch Arno Delma Seco why not guess in the polyp above and why is it exactly that Italy didn't qualify for the World Cup being good at the sport we English created is like your thing Italy sort yourselves out anyway to r23 those questions are going to be answered so boil some pasta grow thick luxurious moustache and de stick you late wildly at the stereotype you are as we take you through 100 facts about Italy oh and in advance sorry for my pronunciation.
1 Italy officially known as the Italian Republic or Republic italiano is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe if this is the first time you've heard about it don't worry you're in the right place come into my factory arms.
2 Most of Italy is part of a large peninsula that extends deep into the heart of the Mediterranean Sea Italy shares open land borders with France Switzerland Slovenia Austria San Marino and Vatican City.
3 An area of 300 1338 square kilometers which is roughly the same size at the u.s. state of New Mexico I imagine it's a bit nicer than New Mexico though and I'm touching that fully and what I've seen in Breaking Bad.
4 Italy has a mostly temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate which is pretty understandable since it's in the Mediterranean though the Mediterranean climates typical of the region for where it gets its name it's also found in other areas of the world such as California and Australia however neither of those places are Italy so afraid we must move on.
5 The word Italy comes from the word Italia meaning land of carbs this is likely because the bull was a symbol of the southern Italian tribes.
6 Evidence of a Neanderthal presence in what is now known as Italy dates back to around 200,000 years ago whereas modern humans turn up until about 40,000 years ago they're lazy tow-rax.
7 During the age of classical antiquity which dates back from around the eighth century BC to the fifth century AD Etruscans and Celts inhabited the center and the north of Italy whereas ancient Phoenicians Carthaginians and Greeks established settlements in the south of Italy with various other italic people dispersed throughout the territory everything was like crazy.
8 Eventually the italic tribe known as the Latins got their proverbial together and formed the Roman Kingdom which altima we became the Roman Empire that conquered and assimilated everyone in the immediate vicinity becoming the leading political cultural and religious core of Western civilization show-offs.
9 At its height in 117 ad the Roman Empire extended from the lower half of Britain in the north to the deserts of North Africa around the Mediterranean Basin and from Portugal in the west all the way to Syria in the east it covered approximately six million square kilometres and had a population of around 120 million people.
10 Italy didn't have a great time during the early Middle Ages owing to the numerous barbarian invaders waltzing in and ransacking everything hey they're barbarians it's kind of their thing but by the 11th century numerous rival city-states and maritime republics had been established mainly in the northern and central regions of Italy these guys were prosperous as heck having acquired their wealth through commerce and banking laying the foundations mon capitalism.
11 However tragedy was to strike once more in the fourteenth century when most of Europe which as you know now includes Italy was devastated by the Black Death a deadly combination of mostly bubonic plague they killed an estimated 75 to 200 million people in less than a decade not ideal.
12 The Black Death release Europe from its baleful grip the collective mindset of the people of Italy was irreversibly altered forced to confront their worst horrors of pestilence and death people began to question old norms and challenge the status quo not the ban they went around like them though religion continued as a powerful force in the region a first appreciation for reason and critical thinking meant to the rise of humanism which was essential in the emergence and development of the Renaissance.
13 The Renaissance in Italy spine to the rest of Europe and essentially constituted a renewed interest in science art and exploration Italian culture flourished producing famous scholars and artists at Michelangelo Raphael Galileo Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci yeah the guy with the corkscrew plane real smart Leo real smart.
14 Since the Middle Ages Italian explorers like Marco Polo Christopher Columbus Amerigo Vespucci John Cabot and Giovanni de Verano discovered new routes to the new world and the Far East during a period known as the age of discovery an age in which things were discovered.
15 For several hundred years before the present day the political map of Italy was churning massive kingdom's duchies Republic's and city-states all in a state of constant war with each other the 15th and 16th centuries witnessed the violence of the Italian Wars from which no single entity emerges a dominant power leaving them vulnerable to conquest of other European powers such as France Spain and Austria Congrats Italy you played yourself.
16 However a large area of central Italy remained under the control of the theocratic papal States all the way back from the 8th century up till 1870 when Rome and what was left of the papal States were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy leaving only the Vatican remaining under the Pope's control.
17 After several centuries of political division and domination by foreign powers Italy was almost entirely unified in 1971 finally creating the world's largest bhoot.
18 While the new kingdom of italy rapidly modernized in the north between the late 19th century to the early 20th century the South remained largely impoverished overcrowded and excluded from industrialization fueling a large and influential diaspora between 1861 to 1985 more than 26 million people left Italy to seek a better life with only a quarter of these ever returning to their homeland.
19 Despite being one of the main victors in the first world war it to the end of this Malta's period of economic crisis and social turmoil which then to the ascendant in 1922 of a fascist dictatorship oh god I hate those led by none other than Benito Mussolini Italy fought with the Axis powers in World War 2 which I'm sure you're aware ended poorly for them.
20 After the war Italy got busy they abolished the monarchy reinstated democracy and reaped the rewards of a prolonged economic boom since then Italy has grown into the major advanced economy we all know and love today haha they grew up so fast.
21 Today Italy is known as a global center of history and culture indeed Italy's home to a total.
22 World Heritage Sites more than any other country on Earth and is the fifth most visited country overall Italy has around 61 million inhabitants which makes it the fourth most populous EU Member State for now it'll be third in place soon following following.
23 Over 50 million tourists visit Italy every year and the money generated by to these tourism constitutes over 60 percent of Italy's national income.
24 Seaking of national income some study suggested the activities of the Italian mafia accounts for 7% of Italy's entire GDP and that's a spicy meatball am I using that right probably not probably racist.
25 In fact in 2008 it was estimated that four out of every five businesses on the Isle of Sicily were being forced to pay a protection fee to the local mafia mamaia no sorry.
26 Italy was one of the founding members of the state to the European Union and is also a member of the group 8 aka the g8 like a g8 a nice g6 the g8 is a forum of eight fun enough of the world's most powerful and influential countries it since been reformatted as the g7 ever since Russia was excluded for the small matter of annexing Crimea oh no that's probably inappropriate.
27 The Italian the flag is a simple and elegant tricolour composed of three columns of green white and red it said that the green turn to the lush Italian landscape white represents of snow-capped Alps and red symbolizes to blood spilt in many conflicts that led to Italian independence a more religious interpretation states that the green white and red respectively represent hope faith and charity referencing the three theological virtues yeah I know onwards.
28 The Italian wall visit Elise unofficial national animal and plays a large role in the legend of founding Rome oh yeah I didn't mention it Rome was founded by Romulus who was suckled along with his twin brother Remus by a she-wolf no biggie just hanging out sucking on a wolf's boob.
29 Almost four-fifths of Italy is either mountainous or hilly the rest is probably just football pitches I imagine.
30 Italians are subjected to more earthquakes than any other Europeans with a magnitude of 7.1 the 1908 Messimer earthquake is thought to have been the deadliest Italian earthquake ever with some estimates stating that 20,000 people lost their lives.
31 Similarly Italy has more volcanoes out of any other country in Europe and is the only European country with active volcanoes Etna Stromboli and Vesuvius are all in Italy and have all erupted in the last hundred years Vesuvius in particular is known for its ancient eruption in 79 AD which buried the city of Pompeii and its inhabitants under tons of ash leaving behind poverty forward people shaped cavities of which scientists made plaster casts allowing us to see how many people were posed as they died almost 2,000 years ago.
32 Located in the Alps the highest mountain in Italy is Monte Bianco which means white mountain at 4800 8 meters high Monte Bianco is also the highest mountain in all of Europe.
33 Italy has its own subspecies of bear called the Italian brown bear or the MRSA can brown bear sadly though it's severely endangered with only 50 individuals left but they can still be seen in the abrupt so National Park just don't go too close.
34 The main language of Italy is Italian which is a Romance language descended from vulgar latin the dialect spoken by the region's inhabitants during the final years of the Roman Empire however owing to the fractured history of the country many areas of Italy have their own dialects that vary so significant in vocabulary and grammar they are often considered separate languages altogether.
35 Standard Italian is the main language in Italy and numerous other regional Italian languages also exist a range of other minority languages are also spoken in parts of the country such as German French Albanian Greek and Slovene not the monsters from Doctor.
36 The purity of the Italian language is steadfastly maintained by the accademia del across sky a society of linguist based in Florence that save the language from the corrupting influence of English hahaha be afraid Italy be mucho afraid.
37 During his time in power during the 1930s and 40s Mussolini also had a crack at eliminating foreign word from the Italian language the wide-bore goal in football was changed to meta and corners were changed to anger loss Mussolini even felt it necessary to change the name of Disney characters Mickey Mouse became topolino donald dark became Papa RINO and Goofy became pipo if he does look like a pipo to be fatter Disney.
38 There are two words in Italian that feature seven consecutive vowels that's a more than likely to butcher here so I'm sorry those words are okay here we go yo yo u L o & Co ul o yah yah UL o refers to someone who sells or produces gravel sexy and a chroma ulo refers to someone who sells leather goods sexier interesting words with pretty boring definitions.
39 Interestingly the Italian language only has 21 letters the letters jkw x and y simply do not exist in italian.
40 Italian surnames ending in the letter i' are often from northern or central italy such names are much rarer in the south of the country where names ending in the letter O a far more common.
41 Italians are known for the let's say energetic de circulations of the company their speech these are actually a bit more sophisticated than you may think there are specific gestures that express fear confusion the enjoyment of a meal a lack of interest in something and good luck and let's pause right there for a quick stereotypical joke from our editor here it is the meaning of life most of the main terms within the realm of music originated from the Italian language.
42 The Italian Language for example the word scale comes from Scala which means step other Italian music terms include a Dante Allegro presto crescendo lasagna fettuccine ravioli oh wait no those last three are music related I'm just hungry.
43 The PRP up here no is generally regarded to be the creation of Italian musical instrument maker but Allah Mayo Christopher E the wide piano is the shortened form of pianoforte which is itself derived from Grissom Barlow core pianoforte which means harpsichord that plays soft and loud.
44 The most popular sport in Italy is football and unlike us lot that actually meant in it they're actually quite good at it Italy has won the World Cup a total of four times making them the second most successful team after Brazil who've won it five times.
45 Football fans in Italy often referred to as too fuzzy which literally means carriers of typhus this is because their fanaticism is seen like a fever I'll take two more like a disease but fever I'm sure works too.
46 Italy has also hosted the Olympic Games three times the 1956 Winter Games were held at Cortina d'Ampezzo in the northern province of balloono and the 1960 Summer Olympics were held in Rhineland most recently the 2006 Winter Olympics were hosted in the city of Turin.
47 It's an is also famous for its incredible food particularly pasta Stav which the first recorded reference thanks back to 1150 for in a book written by illiteracy the Arab choreographer of the then Norman King of Sicily some experts claim that there might be over 600 different types of pasta which is this might be controversial to many do you agree tell us in Austin as he passed a related YouTube poll.
48 They were tallien cuisine is known for the prolific use of Tomatoes the Johnny red fruits actually originated from the South American country of Peru and weren't introduced to Italy until the 1500s.
49 The common usage of the almighty fork can also be credited to Italy it gained popularity there because it allowed Italians to more easily get their beloved spaghetti off their plates into their gaping Italian mouths.
50 Italy is known for creating the heavenly discs of aural euphoria known as pizzas modern pits are evolved from similar flatbread dishes in late 18th century Naples though the first recorded use of the word pizza occurred in 997 ad in a Latin text from a central Italian town of gaya.
51 Pizza wasn't popular in the US until after the Second World War would you believe when US troops came back from occupied Italy with a taste for the circles of pure ecstasy but our pizzas.
52 As it happens pizza was actually generally looked down upon in Italy until I was popularized in the US by Italian immigrants after which it was interpreted as a delicacy prompting native Italians to retro actively embrace Pizza as an authentic Italian cuisine this phenomenon is now known as the pizza effect.
53 In the english-speaking world the word pepperoni refers unambiguously to delicious spicy sausage however in Italy there is no Italian sausage by that name in fact in Italy the word pepperoni refers to bell peppers.
54 what are the most famous Italian dishes is tiramisu which was first created in the bakery restaurant in the Mauritian town of tre vo all the way back in 1971 the name tiramisu translates to pick me up which refers to the high-energy ingredients like sugar and strong espresso coffee.
55 For many Italians the evening meal is often preempted by something known as La Paz edgy yata the term refers to a slow gentle stroll through town or along the seafront and is an opportunity to dress up and essentially to be seen by others before settling down for dinner.
56 Italy is the largest producer of wine in the world huh how do you like them apples France I mean how how do you like them grapes France.
57 In the central Italian town of cold re d Ortona which are probably definitely mispronounced there is a fountain that flows with red wine 24 hours a day worst part is it's absolutely free to everyone with the exception of drunkards which surely f1 is after a fountain of red wine but there we are and flounce.
58 When the first McDonald's opened in Rome in 1986 Italian food purists outside the restaurants gave away free spaghetti passers-by in an attempt to promote traditional Italian food while celebrities delivered speeches about the evil to fast-food we just want our chicken McNuggets guys no need to be dicks about it.
59 Many Italians wear a charm known as a corner cello which resembles a small red horn or chili pepper this symbol is said to protect the wearer from the evil eye a curse caused by malevolent glance I've had a few of those in my time mainly from Jennifer Lawrence.
60 If you're a native speaker of English you'll be aware of the superstition at 13 is an unlucky number however in Italy the unluckiest number it's not 13 but 17 this is because the Roman numerals from the number XVII can be rearranged into vixy which means I have lived in Latin a past tense phrase thus implying death not only that the number 13 is lucky in Italy.
61 In Italian culture it's bad luck to wear a hat on a bed this originates for when priests would visit people on their death beds to get them their last rites before which they would remove their hat and place it on the bed.
62 The traditional wage is a good luck in Italy's by saying in Bocca al Lupo meaning into the waltz mouth that seems rather unlucky to non Italian me but hey it's their language.
63 Born in 1564 Galileo Galilei was an Italian scientist and polymath who correctly argued that the earth revolved around the Sun in response the Catholic Church in prison can alejo in his own house for the final 11 years of his life the church issued a formal apology in 1992 nintendo.
64 When Galileo died in 1642 several of his body parts were removed from his body during a burial ceremony and as such his tooth thumb and finger a currently on display in the Museo del Alejo in Florence Italy the finger in question who's actually Galileo's middle finger so he has in fact been flipping off people for centuries.
65 Money historically Christian countries the biggest holiday in Italy is Christmas many people celebrate Christmas Eve with a grand meal featuring seafood known as the Feast of the Seven Fishes whereas regular old meters back on the menu on Christmas Day with a meal known as che known a which literally means big dinner.
66 The city of Rome has been Italy's capitals 1871 and it's almost three thousand years old known as Roma in Italian and additionally by the nickname of the Eternal City Rome contains numerous world-famous cultural landmarks such as the Sistine Chapel the Colosseum dome of st. Peters and Travie fountain.
67 The ancient temple in Rome where Julius Caesar was brutally murdered in the veritable blitz of stabbings it's now a sanctuary for hundreds of cats the torre argentina cat sanctuary as it's known it's run by volunteers who feed and care for approximately 250 cats as well as spaying and neutering their feline asses to keep their numbers in check.
68 Monta testaccio is an artificial Hill in Rome made up of fragments from up to 80 million ancient ceramic junks known as amphora it's towns proudly at 35 meters tall although this was even higher in ancient times.
69 Passed the largest baroque fountain in Rome is the world-famous trevi fountain legend has it that if you throw a coin into the fountain you'll eventually return to the city there is a further belief that Turing in a second coin will ensure a new romance and a third coin will guarantee marriage 67p here that'll do for marriage one it Jennifer Lawrence that's good of Rome.
70 As you may have guessed the Italians are fairly religious people the vast majority of whom are Catholics modern Rome contains more than 900 Christian churches more than any other city.
71 Stendhal syndrome known as hyperkalemia is dizziness confusion fainting and even hallucinations that occur when one is overwhelmed by incredible art it's known as Florence syndrome owing to the conditions association with all the beautiful arts and culture that the city has to offer.
72 Some experts believe that there may be a lost masterpiece fight eventually eventually known as the Battle of Anghiari hidden behind a wall in Florence however nobody is willing to take the wall down because it happens to have painted on it another priceless fresco.
73 Michelangelo's David was created out of a huge block of deteriorated marble that had been left neglected in a Florence churchyard for 25 years after two other sculptors tried and failed to turn it into a sculpture Michelangelo presumably saw the block and thought here that looks like a nice bit of marble in that accent for some reason and the rest is history.
74 Italy during the Black Death was basically a non-stop party okay well kind of some people thought it was the end of the world so they had power companies any other way oh geez some people ended up getting fairly rich fairly quickly as their older relatives all died at once so they had geez some people in certain parts of Italy such as Florence and Venice even thought that getting stinking drunk and participating in orgies would kill off the disease so guess what they had Oh silly people of Florence and Venice the only thing orgies killer your sense of inhibitions and any chance of looking at your neighbor in the eye again.
75 The famous city of Venice is built across over 100 small islands linked together with hundreds of bridges much of the city was built on a foundation of tree trunks and most of these wood stacks are still intact even after 1200 years of submersion.
76 Old gondolas in Venice are required by law to be painted black oh that guy's my dear for custom gondola decals eight months of meticulous planning all down the drain because of one fact.
77 The word quarantine originates from the days of the Black Plague when ships entering Venice were forced to remain anchored offshore for 40 or Cuarenta days before being allowed to enter the city.
78 The 417 aforementioned Venetian bridges 72 of them are completely private meaning all those pesky tourists will have to find another bridge on which to unoriginal II propose.
79 Captain Turin San Giovanni Cathedral for at least 420 years blaze it the Shroud of Turin into an ancient piece of linen cloth believed to have been used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ following the crucifixion despite most scientists agreeing that it was actually made no earlier than the 1200 so probably not legit.
80 Soon after the construction of the Tower of Pisa began in 1173 it started to lean due to an inadequate foundation on one side prompting the more popular name of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in 2008 engineers declared that stabilization efforts had stopped the tower from moving for the first time in its history and that the tower would be stable for at least 200 years.
81 valcamonica is one of the largest valleys in the central Alps in northern Italy and is notable for containing 350,000 stone carvings or petroglyphs these were made 10,000 years ago the carvings depicted range of images including people animals flowers and various other symbols.
82 Vegan Ella is a town in the Italian region of Piedmont that is located at the bottom of a deep valley surrounded by mountains that block the Sun and plunge the town into constant darkness for several weeks between November and January to combat this huge mirrors have set up on the mountainside that reflects sunlight onto the town square during the winter this is the same method used by Rican or Norwegian town that's also situated in a shadowy Valley but this video is about Italy not Norway so screw them temporarily.
83 There is such a gun take 55 meter long stuffed pink bunny on top of a hill in Piedmont named Haase meaning hare the bunny is an artwork rated by the Viennese art collective gelatin who say that it will decay entirely by 2025.
84 Crushed rensky is famous for having a 14th century church steeple rising out of its depths the tower is the only visible building of a submerged village and when the lake freezes over in the winter it's possible to walk up to the tower on top of the ice.
85 There is an exclusive restaurant and a central Italian village called the cony it accommodates about two to two people aptly named solo Purdue a meaning just for two the restaurant is located close to the ruins of an ancient villa we just want home to Latin poet Horacio.
86 The small town of falchion Oh del masa co-located in southern Italy it's illegal to cross the border of earthly life and enter the afterlife yep it's a town where it's illegal to die the law was enacted simply because the cemetery was full but at least a small number of people have faulted the law by dying illegally but really what can they Lord do about it.
87 In 1325 an entire war started between the rival city-states of Bologna and Modena because some Modena soldiers stole a bucket from a well in Bologna Bologna declared war which culminated in the Battle of zeppeli no resulting in roughly 2,000 casualties Bologna failed to reclaim the bucket and the bucket remains in Modena to this day must be a really nice get like an award-winning bucket.
88 The oldest university in Europe that still in continuous operation is it Elise University of Bologna we just found it all the way back in 1088 making it the best part of a millennium old.
89 Michelangelo was first offered the job of painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican he initially said nah as he considered himself more of a sculptor than an artist he was then presumably shown a large briefcase full of money or gold or I don't know clay maybe and he then said I'll do it just like in the movies.
90 When King Francis the first of Naples visited the Pompeii exhibit in the Naples National Archaeological Museum in 1819 he was so scandalized by the erotic art work that he orders it to be locked away and made accessible only to people of amateur age and respected morals if that sounds prudish you probably should know that one of the most famous pieces in the collection is a sculpture called Pan copulating with a goat which depicts the god Pan literally with a goat in the missionary position.
91 In 2007 a specially trained sniffer dog named Rocco it looks like a good boy found a record-breaking 3.3 pound truffle in the Italian region of Tuscany the truffle was later sold at auction to Macao casino mogul and billionaire Stanley ho for the Sakharine price of $330,000.
92 Funnily enough there are two tiny dots on the map of Italy that are not in fact Italy the first is the republic of san marino an unclaimed microstate located in the northeastern side of the Apennine mountains that covers an area of only 65 square kilometers it's home only to 30,000 people known as the Sammarinese san marino is the world's oldest republic having been founded in the year 301 ad and has the world's oldest continuous constitution.
93 The other non Italian bit of the Italian peninsula is Vatican City an independent state located within the city of Rome Vatican City falls under the sovereignty of the Holy See and it's officially a soccer total monarchical state with museums gardens a supermarket a post office and national railway system and radio and TV stations all crammed into just under half a square kilometer over the way it's also known between the seats the Roman Catholic Church which is the largest single religious group with around 1.3 billion members I probably should mention.
94 In 2012 the highest court in Italy ruled that telling a man that he has no balls is literally a crime as such an insult has an interest quality the event is also punishable by fine what if the man you're saying it to literally lost his balls in like a bizarre gardening an accident what then Italian Supreme Court what do we do then.
95 It's fairly common for single Italian children to live at home with their parents until they are well into their 30s even if they're employed more than a third of single Italian men between 3035 still live with their parents.
96 It's estimated that approximately half a million Italians fitted an exorcist every year should someone tell them that exorcisms aren't real someone should tell them.
97 Despite Italy's reputation for producing passionate lovers who engage in all manner of highly erotic and varied sexual encounters the country's birth rate is the second lowest in the Western world maybe they're just careful.
98 According to figures released by the EU in 2014 an entire third of Italians have never used the Internet you've got to get on this Italy it's a hoot stop going outside and you know making passionate love to people.
99 That being said not all Italians are hopeless technophobes the widely used multimedia formats MPEG and mp3 were created by Italian engineer Leonardo Touareg Leone thanks leo well Jim angelicus.
100 It's a well-known fact that China was responsible for inventing fireworks that much is true however it was Italians who Gazin color which was achieved by adding metallic powders barium makes green sodium makes yellow and calcium makes orange the Italians also added cylindrical tubes that created whistling sounds and flash powder to make the large booms that terrified dogs ah number 100 on opera some of you may know the character of mrs. Lovett from the tale of Sweeney Todd who had a habit of turning Todd's victims into pies a sinister real-life version this story occurred in the case of Leonarda Cianciulli an Italian serial killer who killed three women between 1939 and 1940 and infamously cooked the remains of her victims into tea cakes which she then served to guests who are yeah that's right what a note to end on serial pie murdering but a despite that that with 100 Padua Italy.
I hope you enjoyed did you enjoy let me know in the comments below also what would you like to see next in the meantime though I've got two lovely on screen for you now to watch beside carefully but they're both great but still decide carefully because if you make the wrong decision there isn't a wrong decision just watch one of them anyway goodbye.
