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 » Tuscany » Florence Today I discovered more things about Florence:
1. Staying in a renaissance apartment does not guarantee you the peace and quiet of 400 years ago. I wake up staring at the beautiful fresco on our be ... [full story]
May 12th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence I knew I would love Florence. Not just because I had heard good things either. Before setting foot on the ground, I had this vision in my mind of what I would love about Italy. Florence definitely has ... [full story]
May 12th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence May 8, 9, 10, 2008
FLORENCE, Italy
Thursday morning we left Milan for the ½ day drive to Florence. ( Firenze ). Again a great, easy drive on a good highway through the beautiful Italian countrys ... [full story]
May 10th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence Bonjourno from Italy!
Gotta be quick and I can hardly use this keyboard.
Having a blast, sorry no pics again, canąt work it out.
France was AMAZING and Monaco was incredible. Saw the F1 tra ... [full story]
May 9th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence Sorry we got caught off from the phone last night mom. Since chris and I booked all of our hostels through hostelbookers.com, they sent us a free phone card. The only problem was, when we finally co ... [full story]
May 7th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence How is it possible to sum up the last two weeks in less than 100,000 words? It's basically been the happiest two weeks of my life; I've been so many places both in and out of Italy, and I've also expl ... [full story]
May 7th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence Hey all!
I know it's been a while since I blogged, but internet access has been expensive and we've been real busy. Everything's been expensive, thanks to the weak dollar and rising EU prices, but ... [full story]
May 6th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence Hello Everyone!
Sooo... we made it to the bullfight, barely!
We arrived in Ales at 1615. We decided it may be better to take a cab to the hotel instead of trying to find a map and navigate our ... [full story]
March 29th 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence Making History!!
Well these trips are coming thick and fast. To this end we didn't have many on this trip,however they all told me they were saving for Manchester!! How right were they??
As ev ... 52 photos[full story]
May 1st 2008Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence My time in Italy, though not that long, has been great. I started out in Rome and saw most of what there is to see in the city (although I'm sure there are still tons of hidden churched, piazzas, and ... [full story]
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