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 5th 2008Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice
Despite all appearances and the vast amounts of time taken to write up all this blathering gibberish I do actually do quite a lot of work. To understand my days off and how I use my free time I&r ... [full story]
July 4th 2008Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice Venice was awesome, we stayed in a place called Lido which was the very last stop on the water taxi, opposite our hotel was a cool beach and there was a neat little township just down the road. The f ... 10 photos[full story]
July 3rd 2008Europe » Italy » Veneto We are in Venice, and never leaving. The gelato is amazing and we will never see any of you ever again because the city has stolen our hearts. The end. :) ... [full story]
July 3rd 2008Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice Good morning everyone. Well, for you guys it's late night. I woke up today in dire need of doing laundry. That's the bad things of trips like this. Also, with the ridiculous humidity, I'm relegated to ... 15 photos[full story]
June 30th 2008Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice I woke up today really excited to check out Venice. From the little I saw in the dark yesterday, it seemed beautiful.
My first order of business was to check out St. Mark’s Square and the st ... 154 photos[full story]
July 2nd 2008Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice Venice was amazing! We had heard about Venice from friends who had traveled there before and also had seen it on movies (ie Indiana Jones, Just Married, and more) but we both were still suprised when ... [full story]
July 2nd 2008Europe » Italy » Veneto » Vicenza 24-27 june
I sit and watch venice float away in the train window. Its just amazing I could vacation there, its just great. I meat some truly great people and had a great time. First day I found a fel ... [full story]
July 2nd 2008Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice
Good morning everybody, I’m sat in my baking hot apartment at 07.45 killing 13 minutes of time before starting my duties at the Ambasciatori Palace, I must confess that I’m not entirel ... [full story]
June 30th 2008Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice Tuesday 17th June - Wednesday 18th June
We arrived around midday after a 2hr train trip from Verona. Our hotel was close, only 5 minute walk so that was good. After checking in we went exploring.
... 6 photos[full story]
June 29th 2008Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice Oh man, not only is this place better, but the beds are by far the best I’ve had in any of the hostels so far. Yes, even better than the ones in Paris. I slept SOOOOOO good this morning.
I g ... 7 photos[full story]
Map of Italy
Italy's Flag
