1. The official name of Italy is the Italian Republic.
2. Italy is approximately 116,400 square miles including Sicily and Sardinia.
3. Almost four-fifths of Italy is either mountainous or hilly.
4. The Italian flag is based on the French flag, from the time that Napoleon brought troops and his flag into Italy in 1797.
5. Most Roman churches have a dress code, especially in Vatican City for the Papal audience.
6. Cities in Italy lack public toilets! Never leave a museum without using the restrooms.
7. Italy is the world’s largest producer of wine while US is the largest consumer.
8. Italy is an earthquake-prone region. It experiences more number of earthquakes than any other European country.
9. The University of Bologna, in Italy, is the Europe’s oldest university in continuous operation since 1088.
10. 34% of the Italians and 33% of the Portuguese have never used the Internet.
11. One of the most famous scenes from the frescoes by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel in Rome is The Creation of Adam.
12. It is the Arab invaders who brought dried pasta to Italy. Before that, the Italians had eaten fresh pasta.
13. Florence was Europe’s first city to have paved streets in 1339.
14. The Ponte Vecchio Bridge over the River Arno in Florence was the only bridge left standing after the bombings of WWII.
15. Benito Mussolini may have been a Fascist, but he was responsible for promoting Italian soccer to the international stage.
16. Italian citizens who are at least 18 years old can vote for the lower house in the parliament, the Chamber of Deputies.
17. Italy’s long coastline and developed economy draws many illegal immigrants from southeastern Europe and Africa.
18. The world’s first operas were composed in Italy at the end of the sixteenth century.
19. Many single Italian children live at home until their 30s, even if they have a job.
20. The Italian family stands at the heart of Italian society.
21. Galileo's tooth, thumb, and finger are on display in Florence, Italy. They were cut from Galileo's corpse during a burial ceremony 95 years after his death in 1642.
22. In central Italy, there is a fountain that flows red wine 24-hours a day. It is free to everyone, except for “drunkards and louts”.
23. Italians suffer more earthquakes than any other Europeans. In 1693, an estimated 100,000 people died in an earthquake in Sicily.
24. Vatican City is the only nation in the world that can lock its own gates at night. It has its own phone company, radio, T.V. stations, money, and stamps.
25. Parmesan cheese originated in the area around Parma, Italy. Italians also created many other cheeses, including gorgonzola, mozzarella, provolone, and ricotta.
26. When McDonald's opened in 1986 in Rome, food purists outside the restaurant gave away free spaghetti to remind people of their culinary heritage.
27. Italians eat seasonally, which means the food that is on their dinner table is influenced by what vegetables are growing in the fields.
28. Italy bursted with artistic talents during the years called the Renaissance, 1400–1500s.
29. Rome is Italy’s capital city and was founded on April 21, 753 BC. That makes the city more than 2,500 years old!.
30. Italy’s biggest cities are Rome, Naples and Milan. Florence, Pisa and Venice are a few other Italian cities that are known around the world for their beauty.
31. Italy looks like a high-heeled boot jutting into the Mediterranean Sea. The boot seems to be kicking a weirdly shaped ball: the island of Sicily.
32. Italian is Italy’s official language, which has its roots in the ancient and dead language of Latin.
33. Pizza was invented in Naples, Italy. There are two classic types of pizza: one topped with a simple red sauce and is called marinara (or rossa) and the other, topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella, is called the margherita after Queen Margherita.
34. Italians celebrate many holidays, and they like to get together with their family to eat big meals.
35. The country is made up of twenty regions, which often speak in their own dialect of Italian and eat their own regional food dishes.
