The country I picked to do my report on was Italy.
Italy, officiallythe Italian Republic, is an independent nation in southern Europe. The word”Italy” comes from the ancient Oscan language and means “Calf”. Italy is afairly small, important mediteranean country of about 116,328 square miles. Its capital city “Rome” is both the industrial center as well as the culturalcenter of Italy. Romes current population is about 2,786,307 people. With thecountries over all population estimated at 57,904,628 people, at a density of498 people per square mile.
72% of these people living in urban areas, while28% of the population resides in rural areas. Some of Italy’s major importsinclude industrial raw materials, petroleum, meat, and cereal grains. Theprincipal exports are manufactured goods and craft items, along with fruits andvegetables. Italy usually suffers a trade deficit, but the difference ispartly offset by its large and profitable tourist industry and by money sent byItalian citizens working abroad. Italy is a country far from being land-locked,with 9 major ports including Genoa, Trieste, Taranto, Venice, Savona, andNaples.
Italy has been historically important since Roman times, and millionsof tourists are attracted each year to its ancient cities and art treasures. Modern Italy is an important industrial nation and a leading member of theeuropean community, also known as the “EC”. Italy’s principal trading partnersare other members of the EC, especially Germany and France. Italy’s government was originally a republic, then was a monarchy, thena republic, then a monarchy. It was reverted back to a republic for a finaltime in 1946.
According to the constitution, executive power lies with thecabinet, and legislative powers are vested in a parliament consisting of a 630-member chamber of deputies and a 315-member senate. Except for a few lifemembers of the senate (including former presidents and some prominent citizensnominated by the president), both houses are elected directly by universaladult suffrage for 5-year terms unless dismissed earlier. The president of therepublic is head of state and is elected to a renewable 7-year term by a jointsession of Parliament and three delegates from each of the regionallegislatures. Executive power rests with the council of ministers headed bythe prime minister appointed by the president.
The principal political partyis the Christian Democratic party, which has led or participated in everygovernment since 1945. Other major parties are the Democratic Party of the Left(the former Communist party) and the Socialist party. Smaller political groupsinclude the Social Democrats, the Republicans, the Greens, the Liberals, andthe neo-Fascist Italian Social Movement.THE END Category: History
