ITALYITALY

Fast Facts• Capitol is Rome• Government is a Parliamentary Republic• Religion is mostly Roman Catholicism• The language is Italian• One of 15 countries in the European

Union• The Renaissance began in Italy• Considered the origin of Western

Civilization• The birthplace of Democracy

Euro = $1.46Countries that use the Euro currency:

Austria, Belgium, Cypress, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain

Music•Has been influenced by the many

different ethnic peoples that lived in the area over the years including Germans, Arabs, Greeks, French & Spanish

• Italy is a center for European classical music & opera

•Folk music is very different from region to region

Food

Pasta

• Made of flour & water, but may also contain eggs, spices & cheese

•Under Italian law, pasta may only be made from a certain type of wheat flour, but pasta made in other countries can be made from a variety of flour

•The story that Marco Polo brought pasta back from his travels to China is a legend. Although Chinese have been eating noodles since 2000 B.C., the peoples around the Mediterranean have been eating pasta since long before Marco Polo was alive

Olives

Tomatoes

Gnocchi

Venice

• The city stretches across 117 small islands in the Venetian Lagoon

• The islands are connected by about 400 bridges

• There are about 150 canals• The buildings are constructed on

wood piles sunk into the clay & sand

• Venice is regularly in danger of flooding & has been sinking into the water, making the lower floors of buildings unusable

• In the old center, the only way to get around is either on the water or by foot

• The classic Venetian boat is the gondola• Europe’s largest car-free zone

State of the Vatican City

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Flag_of_the_Vatican_City.svg

• Is a walled city within the city of Rome

• Is the smallest country in the world with only about 109 acres & a population of only 900

• Is ruled by the Pope, the only absolute monarch in Europe

• 25 million people visit every year

The Pontifical Swiss Guard in traditional uniform

Roman Empire

• Began in 753 B.C. & fell in 476 A.D.• Conquered most of Europe, England

& Wales, the coast of northern Africa, Egypt, the Balkans, the Black Sea, the Middle east & Asia Minor

• It was the largest empire the world has ever had

• Contributed to many modern things such as the calendar, roads, democracy & law, art, architecture, war, technology & language

Roman Legion

• The Roman army was the reason why the Roman Empire grew to be so large

• Was very disciplined & organized, unlike most of the tribal armies they fought

• Was made up of mostly professional soldiers

• They wore heavy armor which gave them better protection than their enemies had

• They were very good at war strategies

• One technique they often used was called the turtle: when putting their shields together side by side & on top of their heads, they created a “turtle’s shell” to protect them from swords & arrows

Colosseum

• The largest amphitheater ever built by the ancient Romans

• Built in 80 AD

• Was capable of seating 50,000 people

• Was used for various public spectacles for 500 years– Gladiator fights– Executions– Mock sea battles & re-enactments of famous

battles– Animal hunts

• In the center was a series of underground tunnels used to keep animals & slaves called a hypogeum

Pompeii

•Founded in 600 B.C.•Was a wealthy resort town in Roman times

•Was destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted & buried the city in lava & ash

•No one knew there was a city buried there until 1748 when a foundation was being dug for a king’s palace

Many buildings & wall paintings were found intact

Empty spaces were found in the hardened lava & ash. When the spaces were filled with plaster, the forms of the people who couldn’t escape from the volcano’s eruption were revealed

Leaning Tower of

Pisa• Is the bell tower of the Cathedral of Pisa

• Was built in 1173• Was intended to be

straight, but began leaning soon after being built due to an unstable foundation

• It leans 13 ft to the southeast

Ponte Veccio

• A Medieval bridge in Florence, Italy• Noted for having shops built on it• Built in 1345• The concept of bankruptcy was

started on this bridge: if the merchant couldn’t pay his debts, his table was broken down by soldiers so that he didn’t have a place to sell anymore

• Was the only bridge in Florence that wasn’t destroyed by the Germans in World War II

Leonardo da Vinci

Was a philosopher, scientist, engineer, mathematician, inventor, anatomist, botanist, painter, sculptor, architect, musician & writer

•Regarded as one of the greatest painters of all time & perhaps the person with most varied talents who ever lived

The Last Supper

•Had ideas extremely ahead of his time such as a helicopter, a tank & a calculator

• His notebooks & journals contain 13,000 pages of notes & drawings

• Most of his notes are written backwards. He wrote with his left hand & from right to left

He wrote about a huge range of interests, including boring things like grocery lists & who owed him money, & many very interesting things like a design for wings & for shoes for walking on water. One of his favorite things was anatomy.

Citationswww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Romewww.wikipedia.org.wiki/Colosseumwww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_cuisinewww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italywww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_tower_of_pisawww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinciwww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Italywww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastawww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeiiwww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholicismwww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empirewww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Citywww.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice