| 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 Mediterranean 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 Italian Renaissance. Italy's capital Rome has been the center of Western Civilization, and is the center of the Catholic Church. Today, Italy is a democratic republic, and a developed country with the 7th-highest GDP (nominal) and the 17th-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 1957), and also a member of the G8, the Council of Europe, the Western European Union, and the Central European Initiative. |
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| The official language of Italy is Standard Italian, a descendant of the Tuscan dialect and a direct descendant of Latin (Some 75 percent of Italian words are of Latin origin). The Tuscan dialect (or Florentine dialect) spoken in Tuscany was promoted as the standard in large part due to its literary heritage (Dante's Divine Comedy is often credited with the emergence of the Tuscan dialect as a standard). Pietro Bembo, influenced by Petrarch, also promoted Tuscan as the standard literary language (volgare illustre). The spread of the printing press and literary movements (such as petrarchism and bembismo) also furthered Italian standardization. When Italy was unified in 1861, Italian existed mainly as a literary language. Many Romance regional languages were spoken throughout the Italian Peninsula (Italian dialects), each with local variants. |
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| Italy's economic performance has at times lagged behind that of its EU partners, and the current government has enacted numerous short-term reforms aimed at improving competitiveness and long-term growth. It has moved slowly, however, on implementing certain structural reforms favoured by economists, such as lightening the high tax burden and overhauling Italy's rigid labour market and expensive pension system, because of the economic slowdown and opposition from labour unions. Italy has a smaller number of world class multinational corporations than other economies of comparable size. Instead, the country's main economic strength has been its large base of small and medium size companies. Tourism is very important to the Italian economy: with over 37 million tourists a year, Italy is ranked as the fifth major tourist destination in the world. |
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Reasons to invest in Italy
- Property prices in Calabria increased by 20% last year and this trend is set to continue over the coming years
- Demand for new property far outweighs supply, driving prices ever higher
- Great rental potential in resort areas, with annual returns of up to 10% property value
- Beach front apartments are available from as little as £40,000
- Large government and EU investment into southern Italy for infrastructure and tourism improvements will drive up property values
- Low-cost airline flights already available to many destinations with more routes opening regularly
- Year-round Mediterranean climate gives long tourist season
- Italian culture and history attracts over 60 million visitors annually
