ITALY became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor Emmanuel.

　　An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito Mussolini established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II.

　　A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed.

　　?Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the European Monetary Union in 1999.

　　?Its population is currently 57.6 million, spread across the 301,250-square-kilometre country.

　　?With a GDP of US.18 trillion, the GDP per capita is around US,800. Italy's major industries are tourism, engineering, textiles, chemicals, food processing, motor vehicles, clothing & footwear. Major trading partners are other EU countries and the US.

　　?Dubbed the world's "living art gallery," Italy has more culture than you can shake a baton, paintbrush, quill or chisel at. Whether it's a broken pillar rising up through the linoleum floor of a train station or a baroque church overlooking a cracked antique pediment in the Forum, history and culture surround you.

　　Outside there are Etruscan tombs, Greek temples, cat-infested Roman ruins, Moorish architecture and statue-filled baroque fountains to gawp at.

　　Inside, you can swoon to Roman sculptures, Byzantine mosaics, beatific Madonnas from Giotto to Titian, gargantuan baroque tombs and trompe l'oeil ceilings.