"The country with 50% of the world's monuments!" Italy by Mikebond

Italy Travel Guide: 83,982 reviews and 173,265 photos

Italia is the country where everybody would like to live... except Italians ourselves. Italia is the homeland of arts, with its long tradition in literature (from Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio over Ariosto and Tasso until Manzoni, Pirandello and Quasimodo), painture (Giotto, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raffaello, etc.), sculpture (Michelangelo), music (melodrama was born here).
Italia is said to house 50% of the monuments of the world. It wouldn't be a non sense because even little villages have something beautiful that doesn't exist elsewhere.
So, Italia is really a must-visit country. Pity that we Italians are too rarely proud of the cultural richness of our own country and often prefer what other peoples do. We mostly travel abroad, listen to foreign music and watch foreign films (this is not meant to be an anti-American statement). Well, some more patriotism would be necessary. As the Latins said: in medio stat virtus ("virtue lies in the middle")!

Campioni del mondo!

Italia World Champion 2006

Italia won the Football World Cup on 9th June 2006 for the fourth time, twenty-four years after España 1982! Great! Grande! or better: Grosso!

Pros and Cons

Pros:the most beautiful country in the world
Cons:our cultural richness is not exploited enough and we have fewer tourists than we deserve

Intro Updated Oct 5, 2007
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Reviews (4)

Festa della Repubblica (2nd June) - Italy

Festa della Repubblica (2nd June) Local Customs (3)

June 2nd is the Republic Day in Italia. It is a public holidays to commemorate the 2nd June 1946, when Italians chose,... more travel advice

Veneto: the "locomotive of the... Things to Do (1)

Veneto is not only the most important region of North-Eastern Italia (it is often referred to as the locomotive of the... more travel advice

Italians in the world Local Customs (3)

Maybe you didn't know it, but there are more than 40 million Italians living all over the world (Italia has 58 million... more travel advice

General facts about Italia Local Customs (3)

AREA: 301,338 sq. kms. (except San Marino and Città del Vaticano) POPULATION: 57,888,245 (2003) DENSITY: 192 inhab./sq.... more travel advice

Comments (7)

Nemorino Nov 16, 2009 at 4:09 AM Report Abuse

Interesting tip on Italians and especially Venetians all over the world.
Lacristina Feb 7, 2009 at 12:06 PM Report Abuse

Grazie per la lezione! Ho devuto cercare la parole "scorcio" nel mio dizionario grande...e ho devuto ricordarmi del significato di "incantevoli." C'e' tanto che non so!
kiwi Mar 26, 2008 at 12:33 PM Report Abuse

Haha yes you are right about NZ and Italy - i hadn't considered the shape thing though, thanks for that!! :-))
hunterV Aug 23, 2006 at 1:55 PM Report Abuse

Hi and thanks for the tips!
Kuznetsov_Sergey Jul 10, 2006 at 1:24 AM Report Abuse

I congratulate you, Michele, with the victory! I advise you to make a tip: Italia - the CHAMPION!
JLBG Jun 11, 2006 at 12:06 AM Report Abuse

Bonne intro sur l'Italie avec des données très interessantes. Le vote de 1946 paraissait avoir une faible marge (2M!) mais maintenant, il y a (partout) des votes avec des majorités encore plus faibles!
Angelinka Jul 15, 2005 at 3:26 AM Report Abuse

Sono daccordo, l’Italia e’ un bellissimo paese. Andro` presto col mio ragazzo in Sicilia….non vedo l’ora!