Climate: predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south
Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands
Natural resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal
Population: 57.9 million (71% urban, 29% rural)
Life expectancy: 81 (female); 74 (male)
Infant mortality: 8 per 1,000 births
Literacy rate: 96% (female); 98% (male)
Ethnic divisions: primarily Italian but population includes small clusters of German, French, Slovene-Italians in the north, and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south; Sicilians; Sardinians
Principal languages: Italian; parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking; small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region; Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area
Principal religion: Roman Catholic
Rank of affluence among U.N. members: 17/183
Shaped like a boot bisecting the Mediterranean Sea, Italy has been a center of Western art and culture for almost 3000 years. The Roman Empire ruled the world for over six centuries. A thousand years after the fall of Rome, the Italian Renaissance launched a new golden age of science, scholarship, and the arts.
Italy did not consolidate itself as a single country until 1871 under King Victor Emmanuel II. Benito Mussolini led a fascist dictatorship from the mid-1920's until Italy's defeat in World War II. In the past half century more than 50 Italian governments collapsed; yet despite the constant turmoil a single party--the Christian Democrats--dominated throughout. Italians have characteristically exhibited a high tolerance for political turbulence and the rampant institutional corruption, bureaucratic ineptitude, and budgetary red ink that accompany it. Much of this tolerance is owed to the fact that many Italians, especially in the north, rode a wave of prosperity that afforded them lives of comfort, security, and extensive leisure.
In recent years the nation has been ravaged by crime, inflation, and recession as the Christian Democrats' intricate web of politically controlled enterprises--banks, industries, television channels--came unglued. With more than 3000 of Italy's most powerful people, including 200 senators and deputies, jailed or under investigation, voters passed a referendum in 1993 that ended the system that had kept the country in political stasis for almost five decades.
