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.
July 21st 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre Hello again,
Few blogs in a row because i've got some time in florance before my walking tour and free internet - yay!
So cinque terre - one word - amazing! Basically it means 5 towns (Monteross ... 20 photos[full story]
July 21st 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre The Cinque Terre. "Five Lands." Absolutely beautiful.
Our hostel is in Levanto, which is the next town west of the Cinque Terre, five seaside villages. We got up early, had some breakfast, and took ... [full story]
July 19th 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre After our stay in Assisi, we were very excited to move on to the Cinque Terre region. We traveled by train to the region, and as we came out one end of the tunnel, we caught a brief glimpse of the bri ... 14 photos[full story]
July 17th 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre SIKE! We actually love it here and would rather not leave... But don't let the word get out because it is becoming more touristy by the hour. Which is BAD. We apologize for the week-long lapse in blog ... [full story]
July 16th 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre I woke up early today to get some milk, eggs, coffee and croissants from the market. After we made a delicious breakfast, we went to go us the internet and get caught up on everything. Lauren went t ... [full story]
July 1st 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre Vernazza -Cinque Terrq
I have loaded the photos of Cinque Terra with note to let you know what the photos are about. I thought Cinque Terra was a magic place that the locals allowed us to shar ... 43 photos[full story]
July 15th 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre We all slept in again today and I was surprised with breakfast in bed (Jesse brought some chocolate croissants and coffee to me). We then got ready to head back to the beach we went to yesterday. Th ... [full story]
July 14th 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre We woke up around 8:30 this morning (probably because we went to bed so early!) and Jesse, Lauren and I went to have some breakfast on the terrace where we enjoyed chocolate croissants (I think these ... [full story]
July 13th 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre After only an hour of sleep, the five of us departed Arles at 4:30 in the morning... The train rides were very interesting, we all had trouble figuring out which car and which seat we were supposed to ... [full story]
July 14th 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre So, have you figured it out yet? Did you guess where I was heading? Or did it take you until the giant picture of a sign at a rural Tuscan train station to realize that I spent the last three days i ... 55 photos[full story]
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