Take the art works of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tintoretto and Caravaggio, the operas of Verdi and Puccini, the cinema of Federico Fellini, add the architecture of Venice, Florence and Rome and you have just a fraction of Italy's treasures from over the centuries.
While the country is renowned for these and other delights, it is also notorious for its precarious political life and has had several dozen governments since the end of World War II.
Overview
The Italian political landscape underwent a seismic shift in the 1990s when the "Clean Hands" operation exposed corruption at the highest levels of politics and big business. Several former prime ministers were implicated and thousands of businessmen and politicians were investigated.
Venice: The city built on islets has been sinking
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Italy was one of the six countries which signed the 1951 Paris Treaty setting Europe off on the path to integration. It has been staunchly at the heart of Europe ever since, although in the early 2000s the government of Silvio Berlusconi adopted a more Eurosceptic stance.
Mr Berlusconi sought to align Italy more closely to the US, breaking ranks with the country's traditional allies, France and Germany, in his support for the US-led campaign in Iraq.
The Europhile Romano Prodi, who succeeded Mr Berlusconi in 2006, pulled the Italian troops out of Iraq and set about restoring good relations with other EU member states.
Italy is the fourth largest European economy and has one of the highest per capita incomes in Europe. The country's traditional manufacturing industries suffered a downturn during the final years of the twentieth century, but there have recently been some signs that the economy is beginning to recover from its decade-long slump.
There is concern over Italy's birth rate - the lowest in Europe - and the economic implications of an ageing population. With the population forecast to fall by nearly a third over the next 50 years, the late Pope, John Paul II, instructed Italians to "rediscover the culture of life and love and... their mission as parents".
Facts
- Full name: Italian Republic
- Population: 58.9 million (UN, 2007)
- Capital: Rome
- Area: 301,338 sq km (116,346 sq miles)
- Major language: Italian
- Major religion: Christianity
- Life expectancy: 78 years (men), 83 years (women) (UN)
- Monetary unit: 1 euro = 100 cents
- Main exports: Machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, clothes, wine
- GNI per capita: US $30,010 (World Bank, 2006)
- Internet domain: .it
- International dialling code: +39
Leaders
President: Giorgio Napolitano
Giorgio Napolitano, a former Communist Party member, was sworn in as Italy's 11th post-war president in May 2006.
The Italian president heads the armed forces and has powers to veto legislation, disband parliament and call elections.
Prime minister: Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi began his third term as prime minister of Italy in May 2008, heading a centre-right coalition including his own Forza Italia party.
Three-times premier Silvio Berlusconi
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The dominant figure on the right since 1994, when he first moved directly into politics, Mr Berlusconi built a business empire out of construction and media interests in his native Milan.
He is one of Italy's wealthiest men, and owns three of the country's seven television channels and several leading newspapers. He also has interests in banking and insurance, and owns the AC Milan football team.
Mr Berlusconi launched his political career during the corruption inquiries of 1994, which paralysed the established parties.
His brand of populism and can-do image, heavily promoted through his media empire, made his new Forza Italia ("Let's go, Italy!") party the largest in the new parliament, and he headed a fractious right-wing coalition that fell after a few months.
He used the period in opposition to reorganise Forza Italia along more traditional party lines, and won the 2001 elections at the head of a broader centre-right coalition with a commitment to simplify the tax system and halve unemployment. He also aligned Italy more closely with the United States on foreign policy, including support for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The government was not able to meet its economic targets, and narrowly lost power in 2006.
His business contacts and media role have led to accusations of conflict of interest, especially over legislation seen as protecting his commercial interests. Mr Berlusconi has been put on trial at least six times over financial matters. Although found guilty on three occasions, he was later acquitted or benefited from the expiry of the statute of limitations.
Media
Italy's heady blend of politics and media has made headlines inside and outside the country, with watchdogs and some politicians pointing to Prime Minister Berlusconi's influence over both public and private broadcasting.
The public broadcaster, Rai, has traditionally been subject to political influence, and Mr Berlusconi's Mediaset empire operates Italy's top private TV stations.
Between them, Rai and Mediaset effectively control Italy's TV market and are a potentially powerful political tool.
A media law, passed in 2004, heralded the creation of new digital TV channels and the partial privatisation of Rai. Critics said the bill reinforced Mr Berlusconi's hold on the media.
The Italian press is highly-regionalised. Milan in particular is home to a large number of dailies and news magazines. Most newspapers are privately-owned, often linked to a political party or run by a large media group.
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The Berlusconi family has a major stake in TV giant Mediaset
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Rupert Murdoch's News Corp secured a virtual monopoly of the pay-TV sector when it launched Sky Italia in July 2003. The service was created through the merger of two existing pay-TV services - Stream and Telepiu.
Around 2,500 commercial radio stations broadcast in Italy. A few of them have national coverage; most are music-based. They share the airwaves with public broadcaster Rai's radio stations.
The press
Television
- Rai - public, stations include Rai Uno, Rai Due, Rai Tre, rolling news channel Rai News 24 and cable/satellite services
- Mediaset - main private TV broadcaster, operates Italia 1, Rete 4 and Canale 5
Radio
- Rai - public, stations include flagship national network Radio 1, entertainment-based Radio 2, cultural station Radio 3 and parliamentary station GR Parlamento
- Radio 24 - commercial network, news and business
- R101 - commercial network, pop music
- Radio Italia - commercial network, Italian pop music
News agency
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One-Minute World News
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