ITALY OR OTHER COUNTRY ?

ITALY (IPA: [ITAːLJA] LISTEN [? · INFO]), OFFICIALLY THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC, [7] IS A PARLIAMENTARY REPUBLIC LOCATED IN SOUTHERN EUROPE, WITH A POPULATION OF 60.8 MILLION INHABITANTS AND THE CAPITAL ROME. BORDERED BY THE ALPINE BORDERED TO THE NORTH, FROM WEST TO EAST, WITH FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, AUSTRIA AND SLOVENIA; THE REST OF THE COUNTRY, SURROUNDED BY THE LIGURIAN SEA, THE TYRRHENIAN, IONIAN AND ADRIATIC, JUTTING INTO THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, OCCUPYING THE ITALIAN PENINSULA AND NUMEROUS ISLANDS (THE LARGEST ARE SICILY AND SARDINIA), FOR A TOTAL OF 301,340 KM ². [8] STATE OF THE VATICAN CITY AND SAN MARINO ARE ENCLAVES OF THE REPUBLIC. ROME, WHICH WAS THE CAPITAL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, WAS FOR CENTURIES THE POLITICAL AND CULTURAL CENTER OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. AFTER THE FALL OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE, MEDIEVAL ITALY WAS SUBJECT TO INVASIONS AND DOMINATION OF GERMANIC TRIBES, SUCH AS GOTHS, THE LOMBARDS AND NORMANS. IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, WITH THE SPREAD OF THE RENAISSANCE, ONCE AGAIN BECAME THE CULTURAL CENTER OF THE WESTERN WORLD, BUT AFTER THE ITALIAN WARS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY FELL UNDER THE HEGEMONY OF FOREIGN POWERS SUCH AS FRANCE, SPAIN AND AUSTRIA. DURING THE RISORGIMENTO, FOUGHT FOR THE INDEPENDENCE AND UNITY UNTIL IN 1861 HE WAS PROCLAIMED THE KINGDOM OF ITALY, WHICH CEASED TO EXIST IN 1946, AFTER TWENTY YEARS OF FASCISM AND THE DEFEAT IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR WHEN, FOLLOWING A REFERENDUM INSTITUTIONAL THE ITALIAN STATE BECAME A REPUBLIC.

IN 2012 ITALY, THE EIGHTH-LARGEST ECONOMY AND THE FOURTH AT THE EUROPEAN LEVEL, IT IS A COUNTRY WITH A HIGH STANDARD OF LIVING: THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX IS VERY HIGH, 0.854, AND LIFE EXPECTANCY IS 81.4 YEARS. [9] IT IS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, NATO, THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND THE OECD, THE UN, AND ADHERES TO THE SCHENGEN TREATY. IT IS ALSO A MEMBER OF THE G7, G8 AND G20, PARTICIPATES IN THE PROJECT OF NATO NUCLEAR SHARING IS ONE OF THE REGIONAL POWERS IN EUROPE AND RANKS NINTH IN THE WORLD FOR MILITARY SPENDING. ITALY HAS THE LARGEST NUMBER OF WORLD HERITAGE SITES BY UNESCO [10] AND IS THE FIFTH MOST VISITED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.