Italy marks the Republic Day on June 2

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Republic Day, also known as Festa della Repubblica in Italian (Festival of the Republic), is a national holiday in Italy on June 2 each year. It celebrates the day when Italians voted to abolish the monarchy in 1946 so their country could become a republic.

Republic Day is a day off work for many people in Italy, with celebration events including official ceremonies, military parades or wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, inside the Altare della Patria in Rome.

On June 2, 1946, Italians voted in a referendum to rid of the monarchy and for the country to become a republic. The public was hostile to the monarchy, which had supported Benito Mussolini’s rule. Around that time, the Italian royal family was also exiled from Italy.

Each year, a wreath is laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Republic Day. The tomb, which also has an eternal flame, was added to the one of Italy’s largest national monuments, Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland), on November 4, 1921. However, the tomb, which was designed by sculptor Alberto Sparapani, was not completed until 1924.

The gates of the Palazzo del Quirinale Gardens, official residence of the President of the Italian Republic, are opened to the public for the subsequent celebrations where concerts are performed by the band of the Italian Army, Italian Navy, Italian Air Force, Carabinieri, State Police, Guardia di Finanza, Polizia Penitenziaria (Penitentiary Police) and Corpo Forestale dello Stato (State Forestry Department). Italian delicacies like Italian cheese, pizzas and wines are abundantly available.

Country profile

Italy, commanding a long Mediterranean coastline, has left a powerful mark on Western culture and cuisine. Its capital, Rome, is home to the Vatican as well as landmark art and ancient ruins. Other major cities include Florence, with Renaissance treasures such as Michelangelo’s “David” and its leather and paper artisans; Venice, the sinking city of canals; and Milan, Italy’s fashion capital.

While playing a prominent role in European and global military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, Italy is considered a major regional power. It has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and the eighth largest in the world. The country is a founding member of the G7, G8, OECD and the Eurozone.colaj ec it

Italy is regarded as one of the world’s most industrialized nations and a leading country in world trade and exports. The country is well known for its creative and innovative business, a large and competitive agricultural sector (Italy is the world’s largest wine producer) and for its influential and high-quality automobile, machinery, food, design and fashion industry.

Italy is the world’s sixth largest manufacturing country, with a smaller number of global multinational corporations than other economies of comparable size and a large number of dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises instead, notoriously clustered in several industrial districts, which are the backbone of the Italian industry.

This has produced a manufacturing sector often focused on the export of niche market and luxury products, that if on one side is less capable to compete on the quantity, on the other side is more capable of facing the competition from China and other emerging Asian economies based on lower labour costs, with higher quality products.

Tourism is one of the fastest growing and profitable sectors of the national economy: with 47.7 million international tourist arrivals and total receipts estimated at $43.9 billion in 2013, Italy was the fifth most visited country and the sixth highest tourism earner in the world.

Yet, despite its quick industrial growth, Italy took a long time to confront its environmental problems. After several improvements, it now ranks 84th in the world for ecological sustainability. National parks cover about five percent of the country. In the last decade, Italy has become one of the world’s leading producers of renewable energy, ranking as the world’s fourth largest holder of installed solar energy capacity and the sixth largest holder of wind power capacity in 2010. Renewable energies now make up about 12% of the total primary and final energy consumption in Italy, with a future target share set at 17% for the year 2020.

People

From the late 19th century until the 1960s Italy was a country of mass emigration. Between 1898 and 1914, the peak years of Italian immigration, about 750,000 Italians emigrated each year. The diaspora reached to more than 25 million Italians and it is considered the biggest mass migration of contemporary times. As a result, today more than 4.1 million Italian citizens are living abroad, while at least 60 million people of full or part Italian ancestry live outside of Italy, most notably in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, the United States, Canada, Australia and France.

Italians love sports. Cycling, Skiing, Soccer and Motor Racing are just some of the sports Italians have very strong interest in and good teams of sportsmen and -women. Inter Milan, Lazio Roma and Juventus Turin are just some of the Italian famous soccer teams worldwide.

The family is very important for Italians, where there are still many big families including grandparents, parents and children in the household. Italians love their food, which is usually prepared freshly by the “Mama”, but more and more men love to cook and break away from the typical image of the Italian “macho” and nowadays help in the household or stay at home with the kids while the women goes to work.

Italians are famous for their inventions and discoveries. The Italian explorers Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci discovered the Americas while Marco Polo explored the East.Colosseum

Leonardo da Vinci was a scientist and artist who was the first to prove the world is round and not flat and Alessandro Volta, was the pioneer who did studies in electricity, hence the name “Volt” describing a unit of electricity. Italy’s contributions to science also include the barometer, the electric battery, nitroglycerin, and wireless telegraphy. Did you know that Italians also invented the piano (as well as the violin and the cello) and the thermometer?

Did you know that…

  • Rome is further North than New York City. New York City is about the same latitude as Naples Italy?
  • Pizza was “invented” in Naples around 1860s and is one of the fewest words which is understood all over the world?
  • Almost 20% of Italy’s population is over 65 years old?
  • Enrico Fermi, inventor of the nuclear reactor, was an Italian?
  • The Eau de Cologne was invented in Italy?
  • The typewriter is an Italian invention?
  • The vespa scooter was invented in Italy in 1946?
  • Italy surrounds two of the world’s smallest countries? These are San Marino in Northern Italy, the oldest republic in the world and Vatican City in Rome, the smallest country in the world.
  • Italy has three active volcanoes: Vesuvius, Etna, and Stromboli?
  • Italy is home to the largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites – more than 40 and sixty percent of the world’s art treasures are in Italy?
  • Italy has over 3,000 museums?
  • Italy has the most hotel rooms of any European nation?
  • Opera was created in Italy?
  • Italy holds the Guiness record for having the most elevators?
  • Italians invented optical eyeglasses?
  • The oldest film festival in the world, beginning in 1932, is the Venice Film Festival?
  • Italy has more famous fashion designers than any other country?
  • Carabinieri uniforms are actually designed by Valentino?
  • Italy is the largest wine-producing country in the world?
  • The largest white truffle in a half century weighing over 3 pounds, was unearthed near Pisa, Italy?
  • Venice has over 400 footbridges?
  • The oldest olive tree in Italy, in Umbria is reportedly over 1700 yrs. old?

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