Vineyards in the Chianti r

The country was the world's 7th largest exporter in 2009.[110] Italy's closest trade ties are with the other countries of the European Union, with whom it conducts about 59% of its total trade. Its largest EU trade partners, in order of market share, are Germany (12.9%), France (11.4%), and Spain (7.4%).[111] Finally, tourism is one of the fastest growing and profitable sectors of the national economy: with 43.6 million international tourist arrivals and total receipts estimated at $38.8 billion in 2010, Italy is both the fifth most visited country and highest tourism earner in the world.[112]


Vineyards in the Chianti region. Italy is the world's largest wine producer.
Despite these important achievements, the Italian economy today suffers from many and relevant problems. After a strong GDP growth of 5–6% per year from the 1950s to the early 1970s,[113] and a progressive slowdown in the 1980s and 1990s, the last decade's average annual growth rates poorly performed at 1.23% in comparison to an average EU annual growth rate of 2.28%.[114] The stagnation in economic growth, and the political efforts to revive it with massive government spending from the 1980s onwards, eventually produced a severe rise in public debt. According to the EU's statistics body Eurostat, Italian public debt stood at 116% of GDP in 2010, ranking as the second biggest debt ratio after Greece (with 126.8%).[115]
However, the biggest part of Italian public debt is owned by national subjects, a major difference between Italy and Greece.[116] In addition, Italian living standards have a considerable north-south divide. The average GDP per capita in the north exceeds by far the EU average, while many regions of Southern Italy are dramatically below.[117] Italy has often been referred the sick man of Europe,[118][119] characterised by economic stagnation, political instability and problems in pursuing reform programs. By the end of August 2013, unemployment reached 12.2% (40.1% for youths).[120]
More specifically, Italy suffers from structural weaknesses because of its geographical conformation and the lack of raw materials and energy resources: in 2006 the country imported more than 86% of its total energy consumption (99.7% of the solid fuels, 92.5% of oil, 91.2% of natural gas and 15% of electricity).[121][122] The Italian economy is weakened by the lack of infrastructure development, market reforms and research investment, and also high public deficit.[107] In the Index of Economic Freedom 2008, the country ranked 64th in the world and 29th in Europe, the lowest rating in the Eurozone. While Italy received development assistance from the European Union until recently,[123] in 2011 the country was the third net contributor to European Budget after Ge

The Ferrari F12berlinetta. Italy is the world's 7th largest exporter of goods. Italy has a mar

Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol    Trento    13,607    5,254    1,036,639
Umbria    Perugia    8,456    3,265    906,675
Veneto    Venice    18,399    7,104    4,936,197
Economy

Main article: Economy of Italy


The Ferrari F12berlinetta. Italy is the world's 7th largest exporter of goods.
Italy has a market economy characterized by high per capita GDP and low unemployment rates. In 2012, it was the ninth-largest economy in the world and the fifth-largest in Europe in terms of nominal GDP,[3] and the tenth-largest economy in the world and fourth-largest in Europe in terms of PPP.[3] It is a founding member of the G7, G8, the Eurozone and the OECD.
After World War II, Italy was rapidly transformed from an agriculture based economy into one of the world's most industrialized nations[104] and a leading country in world trade and exports. It is a developed country, with the world's 8th highest quality of life in 2005[14] and the 25th Human Development Index. In spite of the recent global economic crisis, Italian per capita GDP at purchasing power parity remains approximately above to the EU average,[105] while the unemployment rate (8.5%) stands as one of the EU's lowest.[106] The country is well known for its influential and innovative business economic sector,[107] an industrious and competitive agricultural sector[107] (Italy is the world's largest wine producer),[108] and for its creative and high-quality automobile, industrial, appliance and fashion design.[107]


Italy is part of a monetary union, the Eurozone (dark blue), and of the EU single market.
Italy has a smaller number of global multinational corporations than other economies of comparable size, but there is a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, 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.[109]

Palazzo Montec

rmed by the representatives of all the anti-fascist forces that contributed to the defeat of Nazi and Fascist forces during the Civil War.[89]
Government
Italy has a parliamentary government based on a proportional voting system. The parliament is perfectly bicameral: the two houses, the Chamber of Deputies (that meets in Palazzo Montecitorio) and the Senate of the Republic (that meets in Palazzo Madama), have the same powers. The Prime Minister, officially President of the Council of Ministers (Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is Italy's head of government. The Prime Minister and the cabinet are appointed by the President of the Republic, but must pass a vote of confidence in Parliament to become in office.
While the office is similar to those in most other parliamentary systems, the Italian prime minister has less authority than some of his counterparts. The prime minister is not authorized to request the dissolution of Parliament or dismiss ministers (that are exclusive prerogatives of the President of the Republic) and must receive a vote of approval from the Council of Ministers—which holds effective executive power—to execute most political activities.


Palazzo Montecitorio, seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.
After the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi on 12 November 2011, economist Mario Monti has been appointed as a technocratic Prime Minister. The Italy's four major political parties are the People of Freedom, the Democratic Party, the Northern League and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC). During the 2008 general elections these four parties won 589 out of 630 seats available in the Chamber of Deputies and 293 out of 315 seats available in the Senate of the Republic.
Most of the remaining seats were won by minor parties that only contest election in one part of Italy, like the South Tyrolean People's Party and the Movement for Autonomies. However, during the last 3 years, a so-called "Third Pole" emerged, merging the Christian Democrats of UDC with some dissident MPs coming from Mr. Berlusconi's cabinet.
A peculiarity of the Italian Parliament is the representation given to Italian citizens permanently living abroad: 12 Deputies and 6 Senators elected in four distinct overseas constituencies. In addition, the Italian Senate is characterized also by a small number of senators for life, appointed by the President "for outstanding patriotic merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field". Former Presidents of the Republic are ex officio life senators.
Law and criminal justice
Main articles: Law of Italy, Judiciary of Italy, and Law enforcement in Italy


The Supreme Court of Cassation.

Ionian Sea Mediterranean Sea

Venezia Giulia
Aosta
Valley
South Tyrol
Trentino
Veneto
Lombardy
Adriatic Sea
Ionian Sea
Mediterranean Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
Ligurian Sea

Region[note 2]    Capital    Area (km²)    Area (sq mi)    Population
Abruzzo    L'Aquila    10,763    4,156    1,342,177
Aosta Valley    Aosta    3,263    1,260    128,129
Apulia    Bari    19,358    7,474    4,090,577
Basilicata    Potenza    9,995    3,859    587,680
Calabria    Catanzaro    15,080    5,822    2,011,537
Campania    Naples    13,590    5,247    5,833,131
Emilia-Romagna    Bologna    22,446    8,666    4,429,766
Friuli-Venezia Giulia    Trieste    7,858    3,034    1,235,761
Lazio    Rome    17,236    6,655    5,724,365
Liguria    Genoa    5,422    2,093    1,616,993
Lombardy    Milan    23,844    9,206    9,909,348
Marche    Ancona    9,366    3,616    1,564,886
Molise    Campobasso    4,438    1,713    319,834
Piedmont    Turin    25,402    9,808    4,456,532
Sardinia    Cagliari    24,090    9,301    1,675,286
Sicily    Palermo    25,711    9,927    5,050,486
Tuscany    Florence    22,993    8,878    3,749,074

of Nations. Consequently, Italy allied with Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan and strongly

was a large growth of the public debt. Whereas hundreds Italians were left in the new founded Kingdom of Yugoslavia[i] half a million South Slavs,[60] mainly Slovenes and Croatians, and about two hundred thousand germanophone Tyroleans became part of the Kingdom of Italy. Under the Peace Treaties of Saint-Germain, Rapallo and Rome, Italy obtained most of the promised territories, but not Dalmatia (except Zara), allowing nationalists to define the victory as "mutilated". Moreover, Italy could annex the Hungarian harbor of Fiume, that was not part of territories promised at London but had been occupied after the end of the war by Gabriele D'Annunzio.
Fascist Regime
Main articles: Italian Fascism and Military history of Italy during World War II


Benito Mussolini, Duce of Fascist Italy.
The socialist agitations that followed the devastation of the Great War, inspired by the Russian Revolution, led to turmoil and anarchy throughout Italy. The liberal establishment, fearing a Soviet-style revolution, started to endorse the small National Fascist Party, led by Benito Mussolini. In October 1922 the blackshirts attempted a coup (the "March on Rome"). The coup itself was a failure, but at the last minute king Victor Emmanuel III refused to proclaim the state of siege and appointed Mussolini prime minister. Over the next few years, Mussolini banned all political parties and curtailed personal liberties, thus forming a dictatorship, who attracted international attention and that served as the inspiration, among others countries, for Nazi Germany and Francoist Spain, in Europe and outside.
In 1935 Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, resulting in an international alienation and leading to Italy's withdrawal from the League of Nations. Consequently, Italy allied with Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan and strongly supported Francisco Franco in the Spanish civil war. In 1939, Italy annexed Albania, a de facto protectorate for decades. Italy entered World War II on June 10, 1940. After initially advancing in British Somalialand and Egypt, the Italians suffered heavy defeats in Greece, Russia and North Africa.
After the attack on Yugoslavia by Germany and Italy, suppression of the Yugoslav Partisans resistance and attempts to Italianization resulted in the Italian war crimes[61] and deportation of about 25,000 people to the Italian concentration camps, such as Rab, Gonars, Monigo, Renicci di Anghiari and elsewhere. After the war, due to the Cold war, a long period of censorship, disinterest and denial occurred about the Italian war crimes and the Yugoslav's foibe killings.[62][63][64][65] Meanwhile about 250,000 Italians and anti-communist Yugoslavs fled to Italy in the Istrian exodus.
Sicily was then invaded by the Allies in July 1943, leading to the collapse of the Fascist regime and the fall of Mussolini on 25 July. On 8 September 1943, Italy surrendered. The Germans shortly succeeded in taking control of northern and central Italy. The country remained a battlefield for the rest of the war, as the Allies were slowly moving up from the south.
In the north, the Germans set up the Italian Social Republic (RSI), a Nazi puppet state with Mussolini installed as leader. The post-armistice period saw the rise of a large anti-fascist resistance movement, the Resistenza. Hostilities ended on 29 April 1945, when the German forces in Italy surrendered. Nearly half a million Italians (including civilians) died in the conflict,[66] and the Italian economy had been all but destroyed; per capita income in 1944 was at its lowest point since the beginning of the 20th century.[67] Following the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties, Italy surrendered to Yugoslavia almost all the territories gained on the East border at the end of WWI, Briga and Tenda to France and lost all its colonies except for Somalia.
Republican Italy
Main article: History of the Italian Republic