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About Italy
Adapted from Wikipedia
Italy (Italian: Italia, officially the Italian Republic;
Italian: Repubblica Italiana), is a country located
in Southern Europe, that comprises the Po River valley,
the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in
the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is also
called by Italians lo Stivale ("the Boot",
due to its boot-like shape), il Bel Paese ("the
Beautiful Country") or la Penisola ("the Peninsula"
as an antonomasia). Italy shares its northern alpine
boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.
The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican
City are enclaves within Italian territory, while Campione
d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland.
Italy was home to many well-known and influential European
cultures, including the Etruscans, Greeks, and the Romans.
Its capital Rome has been a historically important world
city, especially as the core of ancient Rome and the
Roman Catholic Church. For more than 3,000 years Italy
experienced migrations and invasions from Germanic,
Celtic, Frankish, Lombard, Byzantine Greek, Saracen
and Norman peoples during the Middle Ages, followed
by the Italian Renaissance period, in which the Italian
Wars took place and various city-states were noted for
their cultural achievements. Italy was divided into
many independent states and often experienced foreign
domination before the Italian unification, that created
Italy as an independent nation-state for the first time
in its history, took place. During the period under
the Italian monarchy and during the world wars Italy
experienced much conflict, but stability was restored
after the creation of the Italian Republic.
Today, Italy is a highly-developed country with the
7th-highest GDP and the 17th-highest Human Development
Index rating in the world. It is a member of the G8
and a founding member of what is now the European Union
(having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957), of the Council
of Europe and of the Western European Union. It is considered
by some as a great power. Starting from January 1, 2007,
Italy is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Inhabitants of Italy are referred to as Italians (Italiani,
or poetically Italici).
Getting to Italy
Adapted from Wikitravel
By plane
Italy has its own luxury national airline, Alitalia,
as well as several smaller carriers, such as Meridiana.
There are 406 budget routes flown from and within Italy
by low cost airlines.
Most of mid-range international flights arrive to the
following Italian cities:
* Milan - with 2 airports: Malpensa (MXP) and Linate
(LIN); in addition, Bergamo (BGY - Orio al Serio) is
sometimes referred to as "Milan Bergamo"
* Rome - with two airports: Fiumicino (FCO - Leonardo
Da Vinci) and Ciampino (CIA)
* Bologna (BLQ – Guglielmo Marconi)
* Naples (NAP - Capodichino)
* Pisa (PSA - Galileo Galilei)
* Venice (VCE – Marco Polo)
* Turin (TRN – Sandro Pertini)
By train
* From France via Nice, Lyon, and Paris
* From Croatia via Zagreb
* From Austria via Vienna
* From Geneva and other Swiss cities
* From Germany via Munich
* From Czech Republic via Prague
* From Hungary via Budapest
* From Slovenia via Ljubljana
* From Spain via Barcelona
By car
Italy borders on France, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia.
French and Austrian borders are open,but cars can be
stopped behind the border for random checks. Switzerland
and Slovenia are not part of the Schengen zone, and
full border checks apply.
By boat
There are several ferries departing from Greece, Albania,
Montenegro and Croatia. Most of them arrive to Venice,
Ancona, Bari and Brindisi.
Some regular ferry services connect the island of Corsica
in France to Genoa, Livorno, Civitavecchia and North
of Sardinia.
Some regular ferry services connect Sicily to some
North African harbours. | 
