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 10th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Cortona Here are the pictures of Cortona. I can't seem to figure out how to add them to the other post! ... 6 photos[full story]
June 9th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Cortona Ah Cortona, land of the Tuscan sun. Well, not really. I was promised Francis Mayes' stlye "Under the Tuscan Sun" but got more of under the Tuscan drizzle. Nevertheless, the town is beautiful and I h ... [full story]
June 7th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Cortona I know I say this at every new place we go to but this place is wonderful. It’s a small town in Tuscany and it’s just delightful. So picturesque, unfortunately we’ve only here for on ... [full story]
May 17th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Cortona OK, time to admit that I'm not going to catch up with this thing unless I move into fast forward summary, so here goes.
I think we were heading off to Italy weren't we? We had so many adventures j ... [full story]
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