Interesting Facts About Italy

* The official name of Italy is Italian Republic and Italians refer to their country as Italia.

* Rome is the capital of Italy and it was founded in 753 BC.

* Rome is also called as the «Eternal city» and also «Caput Mundi», which means the capital of the world

* Milan is home to Italian fashion and the world’s fashion capital.

* Before Rome became a republic and an empire, it had seven kings. The first king of Rome was its renowned founder, Romulus.

* The first Roman Emperor was Augustus Octavian, who became powerful in 27 BC.

* The Italian flag is green (hope), white (faith), and red (charity).

* At 300,000 sq km, Italy is marginally bigger than New Zealand.

* Italy borders Austria, France, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, and Switzerland and the longest border is with Switzerland.

* There are many vernaculars of the Italian language spoken throughout Italy. However, the official Italian language spoken today originates from the Tuscan dialect (of Latin).

* Did you know Italian is a Romance language? It is related to the other Latin languages- Spanish, French, Portuguese and Romanian.

* Almost 20% of Italy’s population is over 65 years old.

* Italy is famous for its sports cars – Ferrari and Lamborghini and for the Vespa motor scooter.

* Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Cymbeline and more were set in Italy (Verona).

* Most of the famous personalities are born in Italy- Niccolo Machiavelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei, Antonio Stradivari, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, Bernini, Archimedes are a few to name.

* Opera is an Italian creation.

* Italians invented the Viol, violin, cello, piano, mechanical clock, barometer, thermometer, optical glasses and telephone .

* The average consumption of pasta in Italy is 25 kg per person per year.

* Italy has the lowest birthrate in all of Europe.

* Italy is surrounded by 5 seas – Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, Mediterranean, Ionian and Adriatic.

* Italy is surrounded by 6 countries – France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Vatican City and San Marino.

* Italian farms produce grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives, beef, and dairy.

* The city of Naples gave birth to the pizza.

* The longest river in Italy is the Po.

* Cologne and ice cream cone were invented in Italy.

* Before adopting the euro, Italy’s currency was known as the lira.

* The espresso machine hails from Italy.

* The Roman Catholic Church is located in Italy and 98% of Italians are Roman Catholics.

* The national game of Italy is Soccer (Football).

* The national cuisine of Italy is Pasta.

* The national bird of Italy is Bluebird.

* The national animal of Italy is Italian Wolf.

* The national flower of Italy is Lily.

* Italy has three active volcanoes – Vesuvius, Etna, and Stromboli.

* Number Seventeen written in Roman numerals XVII and anagrammed is VIXI, which in Latin means I lived, and therefore am dead!

* It is considered as bad luck when you waste salt. During the times when there was no fridge, salt was the precious commodity as they used it to preserve food.