Official Name: Italian Republic Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia. Capital: Rome Area: total: 301,230 sq km land: 301,230 sq km (includes Sardinia and Sicily) water: 7,210 sq km Lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m. Highest point: Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) de Courmayeur 4,748 m.

Victor Emanuel Monument, Rome, Italy More pictures Purchase this poster

Population: 58,147,733 (July 2007 est.) Nationality: Italian(s) Ethnic groups: Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south). Religions: Predominately Roman Catholic with mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community. Languages: Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area).

Predominantly Mediterranean. Alpine in the far north. Hot and dry in the the south.

Government type: Republic. Independence: 17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed independence. Italy was not finally unified until 1870). National holiday: Republic Day, 2 June (1946).

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