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Italian Culture
| Climate |
Italy has a highly diverse climate because of its position in the Mediterranean and the mountainous terrain. The higher altitudes tend to cold, wet, and snowy, and the coastal regions have mild winters, warm and dry summers, and even hot summers in the low valleys.
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| Events / Festivities / Holidays |
Merry Christmas => Buon Natale!
Happy New Year => Buon Anno!
Happy Thanksgiving =>
Happy Easter => Buona Pasqua!
Happy Halloween =>
Happy Valentine's Day =>
Happy Birthday => Buon compleanno!
Happy Saint's Day =>
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| Sports / Music / Art |
The most popular sports include basketball, football, volleybal, waterpolo, fencing, rugby, cycling, hockey, and motor racing. Sports are also part of festivities like Palio, and the Gondola race. Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Italy.
The arts go back centuries (remember the Romans?). Much of what the world has in art and music, theater and opera, is due to Italian influence or invention. Amongst its greatest artistic heritage are artists like: Bernini, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian.
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| Politics |
There is more than enough history to have several pages of information about the politics of Italy, but this is an attempt to keep it fairly brief and focused on modern day Italy:
Parliament consists of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate, a separate judiciary and executive branch headed by the Prime Minister over a Council of Ministers (or cabinet). The President of the Italian Republic is elected for 7 years. The President nominates the Prime Minister, and elections choose him and the houses of paliament.
Elections are complex. Both houses are elected for up to 5 years, but can be dissolved by the President. The judicial system is based on Roman law and the Napoleonic code, along with other statutes.
Italy has 20 regions, five of which have special status to enact legislation on local matters. Within each region there are provinces and municipalities.
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| Religion |
About 85% of the population is Catholic. The remainder are Protestants, Jews, and Muslims. All faiths have equal freedom.
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| Dress / Food |
Italians are rich in culture. This is no different for their styles in fashion and food. They enjoy a rich cuisine, with pastas, wine, and bread being the most recognized. The U.S. attributes pizza to Italy, though a true Italian pizza is quite different from the traditional pizza found in the U.S.
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| Localization |
There are many subdialects in Italy, and the most note-worthy is that of the Tuscan language (which is really just a combination of several subdialects). The pronunciation is softer, and there are a few grammatical differences as well. For example, instead of saying "I like it", the Tuscan dialect will say, "Me, I like it."
There is a northern and southern subdivision of the Tuscan language: the north having Fiorentino, Pistoiese, Pesciatino or Valdinievolese, Lucchese, Viareggino, Pisano-Livornese; and the south having Aretino-Chianaiolo, Senese, and Grossetano. The northern dialects have more similarities to French.
Other Italian dialects are Abruzzese, Cicolano-Reatino-Aquilano, Pugliese, Umbrian, Laziale, Central Marchigiano, Lombard, Molisano, Neapoloitan, Piemontese, Sicilian, Venetian. It is said that Piemontese, and Sicilian are different enough to be their own languages. Italian subdialects will have similarities to French, Spanish, and other languages.
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