Europe's Renaissance period began in Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries. Literary achievements--such as the poetry of Petrarch, Tasso?, and Ariosto? and the prose of Boccaccio?, Machiavelli?, and Castiglione--exerted a tremendous and lasting influence on the subsequent development of Western civilization, as did the painting, sculpture, and architecture contributed by giants such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael?, Botticelli?, Fra Angelico, and Michelangelo. |
Europe's Renaissance period began in Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries. Literary achievements--such as the poetry of Petrarch, Tasso?, and Ariosto? and the prose of Boccaccio, Machiavelli?, and Castiglione--exerted a tremendous and lasting influence on the subsequent development of Western civilization, as did the painting, sculpture, and architecture contributed by giants such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael?, Botticelli?, Fra Angelico, and Michelangelo. |
Italy's Cultural Contributions
Europe's Renaissance period began in Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries. Literary achievements--such as the poetry of Petrarch, Tasso?, and Ariosto? and the prose of Boccaccio, Machiavelli?, and Castiglione--exerted a tremendous and lasting influence on the subsequent development of Western civilization, as did the painting, sculpture, and architecture contributed by giants such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael?, Botticelli?, Fra Angelico, and Michelangelo.
The musical influence of Italian composers Monteverdi?, Palestrina, and Vivaldi? proved epochal; in the 19th century, Italian romantic opera flourished under composers Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, and Giacomo Puccini. Contemporary Italian artists, writers, filmmakers, architects, composers, and designers contribute significantly to Western culture.
Population: 57,634,327 (July 2000 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:
14% (male 4,220,973; female 3,977,962)
15-64 years:
68% (male 19,413,219; female 19,596,668)
65 years and over:
18% (male 4,297,962; female 6,127,543) (2000 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.09% (2000 est.)
Birth rate: 9.13 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Death rate: 9.99 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Net migration rate: 1.74 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth:
1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years:
0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over:
0.7 male(s)/female
total population:
0.94 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 5.92 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
79.03 years
male:
75.85 years
female:
82.41 years (2000 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.18 children born/woman (2000 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Italian(s)
adjective:
Italian
Ethnic groups: Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)
Religions: predominately Roman Catholic with mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community
Languages: Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area)
Literacy:
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population:
98% (1998)
male:
NA%
female:
NA%