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Italy (; (イタリア語:Italia) ), officially the Italian Republic (),〔(Search the agreements database ) Council of the European Union (retrieved 13 October 2013).〕〔(Italy: The World Factbook ) Central Intelligence Agency (retrieved 13 October 2013).〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Country names )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=BBC News – Italy profile – Facts )〕 is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe.〔The Italian peninsula is geographically located in Southern Europe, while North Italy can be placed partly or totally in Central Europe. Due to cultural, political and historical reasons, Italy is a Western European country.〕 Italy covers an area of and has a largely temperate climate; due to its shape, it is often referred to in Italy as ''lo Stivale'' (the Boot).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Maltempo, è emergenza su tutto lo Stivale. Si cercano due dispersi )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=L'Italia vista dallo spazio: lo stivale illuminato di notte è uno spettacolo )〕 With 61 million inhabitants, it is the 4th most populous EU member state. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino and Vatican City. Since ancient times, Greek, Etruscan, Celtic, and other cultures have thrived on the Italian Peninsula. Rome ultimately emerged as the dominant power, conquering much of the ancient world and becoming the leading cultural, political, and religious centre of Western civilisation. During the Dark Ages, the region suffered sociopolitical collapse amid calamitous barbarian invasions, but by the 11th century, numerous Italian city-states rose to great prosperity through shipping, commerce and banking, and even laid the groundwork for capitalism. The Renaissance led to a flourishing of Italian culture, producing famous scholars, artists, and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. Italian explorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and Giovanni da Verrazzano discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery. Nevertheless, Italy remained politically fragmented and fell prey to European powers such as France, Spain, and later Austria, subsequently entering a long period of decline that lasted until the mid-19th century. After various unsuccessful attempts, the second and the third wars for Italian independence resulted in the eventual unification of most of present-day Italy by 1866. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, the new Kingdom of Italy rapidly industrialised and acquired a colonial empire, becoming a great power.〔http://globalmakeover.com/sites/economicreconstruction.com/static/JonRynn/FirstChapterDissertation.pdf〕 However, southern and rural areas of the country remained largely excluded from industrialisation, fuelling a large and influential diaspora. Despite being one of the main victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil, leading the way to the rise of a Fascist dictatorship in 1922. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in military defeat, economic destruction and civil war. In the years that followed, Italy abolished the monarchy, reinstated democracy, and enjoyed a prolonged economic boom, thus becoming one of the world's most developed nations.〔〔(The Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life index, Economist, 2005 )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=CIA World Factbook, Budget )〕 Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and the eighth largest economy in the world. It has a very high level of human development and enjoys the highest life expectancy in the EU. Italy plays a prominent role in global military, cultural and diplomatic affairs and is also considered to be a major regional power in Europe.〔"Italy plays a prominent role in European and global military, cultural and diplomatic affairs. The country's European political, social and economic influence make it a major regional power." See ''Italy: Justice System and National Police Handbook'', Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: International Business Publications, 2009), p. 9.〕〔"Operation Alba may be considered one of the most important instances in which Italy has acted as a regional power, taking the lead in executing a technically and politically coherent and determined strategy." See Federiga Bindi, ''Italy and the European Union'' (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2011), p. 171.〕 Italy is a founding and leading member of the European Union and the member of numerous international institutions, including the UN, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the WTO, the G7/G8, G20, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Council of Europe, Uniting for Consensus, and many more. As a reflection of its vast cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is one of the most visited countries. == Etymology == (詳細はNapoli, L'Orientale, ISBN 978-88-95044-62-0〕 According to one of the more common explanations, the term ''Italia'', from ,〔OLD, p. 974: "first syll. naturally short (cf. Quint.''Inst.''1.5.18), and so scanned in Lucil.825, but in dactylic verse lengthened ''metri gratia''."〕 was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan ''Víteliú'', meaning "land of young cattle" (''cf.'' Lat ''vitulus'' "calf", Umb ''vitlo'' "calf").〔J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, ''Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture'' (London: Fitzroy and Dearborn, 1997), 24.〕 The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus,〔Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Roman Antiquities'', (1.35 ), on LacusCurtius〕 mentioned also by Aristotle〔Aristotle, ''Politics'', (7.1329b ), on Perseus〕 and Thucydides.〔Thucydides, ''The Peloponnesian War'', (6.2.4 ), on Perseus〕 The name ''Italia'' originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, the southern portion of the Bruttium peninsula (modern Calabria: province of Reggio, and part of the provinces of Catanzaro and Vibo Valentia). But by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name "Italia" to a larger region, but it was during the reign of Emperor Augustus (end of the 1st century BC) that the term was expanded to cover the entire peninsula until the Alps.〔Pallottino, M., ''History of Earliest Italy'', trans. Ryle, M & Soper, K. in Jerome Lectures, Seventeenth Series, p. 50〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Italy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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