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.
June 7th 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Sanremo Flew into Nice. It was lovely. Got my anual beggining of summer sunburn. Took the train to San Remo. Most of the people here (all 140 of us) are really lovely. There are SO many diffrent accents! ... [full story]
May 26th 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Sanremo We needed to do some washing so went into San Remo, $A10 a load, wash only. This is bedlam. Cars and scooters darting everywhere, so we decided to park the car ASAP. We drove into what looked like a m ... [full story]
May 22nd 2008Europe » Italy » Liguria » Sanremo After several more hours on the expensive toll roads we start to climb up into the hills behind San Remo on the Italian side of the French boarder along a very narrow, very windy road…scary. Ou ... [full story]
Map of Italy
Italy's Flag
