Culture

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe with a population of about 61 million people. The capital is Rome. In Rome is the independent city Vatican City located, the pope is the in this place. Another independent location is San Marino, wich is near the seaside of Rimini on the east coast. Other important cities in Italy are Milan, Turin, Genoa, Venice, Florence, Verona, Naples, Messina and Palermo.

The majority of the Italian population speaks Italian, including several dialects. There are German, French, Slovenian, Greek- and Croatian speaking minorities. In Alghero on the Island Sardinia people speak Algherese. The Italian language comes from Latin, wich was spoken by the Romans.

Something that is very important in Italy is family. They often dine together and make this into a festive event. Family members also help each other, for example elderly usually take care of their grandchildren when the children’s parents are working. Another big thing for an Italian family is going to church together.

Ethnic groups

Since the early 1980’s, Italy began to attract foreign immigrants. Today there are about 5 million foreign residents, making up a little over 8% of the total population. This number includes half a million children born in Italy to foreign nationals, but it excludes those who’ve acquired Italian nationality over time.

The official numbers also exclude illegal immigrants. Since the fall of the Berlin wall and the enlargement of the European Union, a lot of immigrants have come from Central and Eastern Europe. North Africa, East Asia and Latin America are the other most important places of migration to Italy.

At the end of 2000, the foreign born population was from Europe (54%), Africa (22%), Asia (16%), America (8%) and Oceania (<1%).

Only 13% of all the immigrants live in the Southern half of the country, while the majority lives in the economically developed North.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy