Officially the Italian Republic (emitaliano: Repubblica Italiana), is a parliamentary republic unitárialocalizada in south-central Europe (Southern Europe). To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along dosAlpes. South, which consists of the entirety of the Italian, Sicily, Sardinia-the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea peninsula, and many other smaller islands surrounding the Italian territory. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclavesno within Italy, whilst Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland.

Rome, the Italian capital, was for centuries the political and religious center of Western civilization as the capital of the Empire Romanoe as headquarters of the Holy See after the decline of the Romans, Italy suffered numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, 4 an extremely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent European thought.

For much of its post-Roman history, Italy was fragmented into numerous kingdoms (such as the Kingdom of Sardinia; oReino of the Two Sicilies and the Duchy of Milan) and city-states, but was unified in 1861.5 after a tumultuous period history known as "Il Risorgimento" ("The Resurgence"). In the late nineteenth century through the First and Second World War, Italy possessed a colonial empire, which extended its domain to

Libya, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, Albania, the Dodecanese and a concession in Tianjin, China.6

Modern Italy is a democratic republic, ranked as the 24th most developed country in the world.2 index and quality of life in the top ten of planet.7 The country enjoys a high standard of living and has a high nominal GDP per capita. 8 9 It is a founding member of the European Union and the euro zone, and is a member of the G8, G20, NATO, OECD, World Trade Organisation (WTO), Council of Europe, the Western European Union and the United Nations. Italy has the third largest reserves of gold, eighth largest nominal GDP, tenth highest GDP.