Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Italia, IPA: Template:IPA or Repubblica Italiana, IPA: Template:IPA), is a Southern European country. It comprises the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is shaped like a boot and for this reason Italians commonly call it lo Stivale ("the boot") or, due to its prevalent peninsular geographical nature, la Penisola ("the Peninsula"). [1]
Italy shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italian territory. Campione d'Italia is an Italian enclave in Switzerland.
Italy was home to many well-known and influential European civilizations, including the Etruscans, Greeks and the Romans. For more than 3,000 years Italy experienced migrations and invasions from Germanic, Celtic, Frankish, Lombard, Byzantine Greek, Saracen, Norman, and Angevin peoples, and was divided into many independent states until 1861 when Italy became a nation-state.
Italy is called "il Belpaese" (Italian for beautiful country) by its inhabitants, due to the beauty and variety of its landscapes and for having the world's largest artistic patrimony; the country is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (41 as of July 13 2006).
Today, Italy is a highly developed country with the 7th highest GDP in 2006, a member of the G8 and a founding member of what is now the European Union, having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Inhabitants of Italy are referred to as Italians (Italian: Italiani or poetically Italici).
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