Italy (
Italian
:
Italia
), officially the Italian Republic, (
Italian
:
Repubblica Italiana
), is located on the
Italian Peninsula
in
Southern Europe
, and on the two largest islands in the
Merranean Sea
,
Sicily
and
Sardinia
. Italy shares its northern
Alpine
boundary
with
France
,
Switzerland
,
Austria
and
Slovenia
. The independent states of
San Marino
and the
Vatican City
are
enclaves
within the Italian Peninsula, while
Campione d'Italia
is an Italian exclave in Switzerland.
Italy has been the home of many
European cultures
, such as the
Etruscans
and the
Romans
, and later was the birthplace of the movement of the
Renaissance
, that began in
Tuscany
and spread all over Europe. Italy's capital
Rome
has been for centuries the center of
Western civilization
, and is the seat of the
Catholic Church
.
Today, Italy is a democratic republic, and a
developed country
with the
th-highest
GDP
, the th-highest
Quality-of-life index
,
and the th-highest
Human Development Index
rating in the world. It is a founding member of what is now the
European Union
(having signed the
Treaty of Rome
in ), and also a member of the
G
,
NATO
, the
Council of Europe
, the
Western European Union
, and the
Central European Initiative
. Beginning
January
,
Italy became a
non-permanent member
of the
United Nations Security Council
. |