Welcome to Italy

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In this section, you will read about Italy and her regions, her beautiful cities, landmarks, unknown sites, history, and customs. In addition, you can download my Italian cooking recipes.

  You'll appreciate the information I have compiled for you. Enjoy!

Italy, including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, is slightly larger than Arizona. The country is shaped like a boot. The Ligurian Sea washes its northwestern Riviera, centered on Genoa, while the country's western flank faces the Tyrrhenian Sea. From the heel to the toe, Italy has sandy and pebbly beaches along the Adriatic Sea.

The heel and some coastal areas are fairly low, but the country is generally mountainous. The Italian Alps and the Dolomiti Mountains lie along the northern border and the Appennini form a spine down the peninsula. Sicily and Sardinia are also rocky or mountainous.

Italy is divided into 20 regions, each having its unique history, culture and dialect, and each with a capital city. Regions are broken down into provinces, made up of many "comuni" (districts). Each province has a "capoluogo" (capital or administrative center). Regions have a good measure of self-government under regional councils. The regions of Aosta, Trentino Alto Adige, Sicily, and Sardinia enjoy complete administrative autonomy. The capital of Italy is Rome.

The fertile Po river basin, to the north, holds some of Italy's richest farmland. Grapes have been harvested in Italy from time immemorial. Italy produces about a quarter of the world's wines, with Piedmont having the densest concentration of vineyards, especially in the provinces of Asti, Alessandria, and Cuneo. The Tuscan Chianti and Sicilian Muscats and Marsala have a worldwide reputation.

Olive production is second only to that of Spain. About a third of the groves are in Apulia. The rice paddies of the well-watered plains of Piedmont and Lombardy, and those of Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, cover more than 100 square miles. Italy is the second largest European producer of citrus fruits. The market is dominated by Sicily, which provides 90 percent of lemons, 62 percent of tangerines, and 50 percent of orange crop.

With the national diet based on pasta, it is hardly surprising that wheat is a basic crop. The hard grains used for pasta come in the greatest quantity from Sicily. The Parma area (Emilia-Romagna) is noted for its dairy products and food processing plants, with Parmigiano cheese having a worldwide reputation.