Italy Facts: basic facts about Italy

Here some basic Italy facts, with information and figures.

Italy facts:tricolore Italia

Italian flag


1) The Italian flag has three vertical bands of equal measures. From left to right are green, white and red.

The flag is fitted with the green color to the flagstaff side.

Red is the blood of those who died for the country. White is the symbol of our mountains and wisdom. Green is our land and hope.

2) The official name is Repubblica Italiana. The President is head of state.

3) The name Italy derived from the population of Italics . They lived in the first millennium BC in the current southern region of Calabria.

4) Italy area is 301,400  km² (116,346 square miles). It is sligthly larger than Arizona, Colorado and New Zealand.

5) The population is about 60.800.000.

6) Density is 200 people per  km² (522.7 per square mile).

7) Italy became a united country in 1861.

8) Italy is a republic since June 2nd 1946.

9) The capital city is Rome. Rome Italy Hotels

10) Major cities are: Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples.

11) The Italian national anthem is Mameli’s Himn. It is called “Fratelli d’Italia”(EN: Brothers of Italy).  It was written by Goffredo Mameli in 1847.

Inno di Mameli – Fratelli d’Italia.


12) The official language is Italian.

13) French is co-official in the Aosta Valley.

14) Slovene is co-official in the provinces of Trieste and Gorizia.

15) German and Ladin are co-official in the province of Bolzano-Bozen (Alto Adige/Südtirol).

16) Italy facts about education: it is free and compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15.

17) The adult literacy rate is of 97 %.

18) The main religion is Roman Catholic (84%).  Another 16% is including Muslim, Jewish, and Protestant.

19) Italy is composed by 20 Regions.  5  are Autonomous regions with special statute. They are Aosta Valley, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol.

Italy position in Europe.

Italy position in Europe

Italy position in Europe, image by CIA

20) Italy is about 1800 km (1119 miles) long. It is shaped like a high heeled boot. It has  7458 km of coastline (4634 miles) in the Mediterranean Sea.

Mount Blanc - Monte Bianco

Mount Blanc – Monte Bianco Europe’s highest mountain

21) Italy has the highest mountain in Europe. It is Monte Bianco (IT) 4,810 m (15,782 ft). It is on the border with France (FR: Mont Blanc).

17) Italy has the highest mountain in Europe, Monte Bianco (IT) 4,810 m (15,782 ft) on the border with France (FR: Mont Blanc). – See more at:
Mount Etna volcano, Sicily - image by Josep Renalias under Creative Commons

Mount Etna volcano, Sicily

22) The highest volcano in Europe is Mount Etna in Sicily. It is over 3,329 m (10,922 ft) high.  This varies with very frequent summit eruptions.

23) To the north, from west to east, Italy borders to France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia along the Alps.

24) Italy also shares borders with 2 other small countries. They are the Republic of San Marino and Vatican City State.

25) San Marino is the oldest surviving sovereign state since Sept. 3th, 301 and the oldest republic in the World since 1291.

26) Italy facts: it was already the center of the vast Roman Empire. It is derived a huge archaeological, cultural and literary heritage.

27) The Italian peninsula was also the cradle of humanism and the Renaissance. Famous personalities such as Machiavelli, Dante, Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo helped to forge political thought, philosophy and art in Europe.

28) Italy is mainly a mountainous country, with the exception of the Po Valley. It extends from the Alps to the Mediterranean. It includes main islands of Sicily and Sardinia, Elba and about over 130 other smaller islands.

29) Italy facts on economics: main activities are tourism, fashion, engineering, chemicals, automotive, wine and food.

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