Background: Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the prosperous north.
May 13th 2008Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome Well its been a pretty busy few days but its been great. Got the hostel around 8am, checked in then decided to go for a walk with a Brazilian girl who had just checked in as well. It was just to stret ... [full story]
May 12th 2008Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome Hey all, Drea and I are in Rome now and having a great time, except for the fact that it takes forever to get around in the city. Anyway, back to where I left off last time (with some pictures from e ... 2 photos[full story]
May 10th 2008Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome Today we had our last tour booked - The Cappuchin Crypt, one of the catacombs, and the San Clemente church.
This wasn't until 2:00 though, so first things first - a bit more shopping. There were 2 ... [full story]
May 11th 2008Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome I am so tired right now and not sure why I am awake and have already done a load of laundry. We went out to a club last night and we got home around 4am...I woke up at 9am.
The past few days have b ... [full story]
May 9th 2008Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome Today we had a tour of the Vatican organised, so up we got reasonably early and set out on the bus. After getting a little bit lost - you'd think it would be difficult to miss seeing St Peters dome, ... [full story]
May 9th 2008Europe » Italy » Lazio » Civitavecchia Day 11 Back in Rome
Well the cruise has finished and when we set out we weren't sure whether we'd love it or hate it.
The 11 days were enough to convince us that saving for another cruise would ... 1 photos[full story]
March 9th 2008Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome And then, there it was. The Pantheon. No, not the "Parthenon" like in Athens, but the amazing, simply beautiful, Pantheon. It's famous for its dome and is home to the tomb of the painter Raphael. For ... 23 photos[full story]
March 9th 2008Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome To say that seeing the colosseum was amazing would be an understatement. Seeing the Colosseum
in person makes you gasp outloud, smile, cry, twitch.... it leaves you breathless and wanting more.
Yo ... 71 photos[full story]
March 8th 2008Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome So I have to split today up into several different parts, Too many pics and text to put all into one blog, so just bear with me!!
Rome - Saturday March 8 - Part II
Continued from previous blog ... 56 photos[full story]
January 27th 2008Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome I’m actually back home in Perth now, but I left out a lot of my travels in Europe as my computer broke down about halfway through my stay in Germany. So I thought I’d go back and finish t ... 29 photos[full story]
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