Destination: ITALY
Things To Know Bella Italia Diverse Regions The People Country of Contrasts Exploring Italy Culinary Traditions Pastimes The Etruscans	Diverse Regions Until 1870 Italy was a collection of separate and disparate states with a complex history, which does much to explain the diversity of people and attitudes. Camillo Cavour (statesman and first prime minister of a united Italy) remarked after unification in 1860, “We have made Italy, now we must make Italians.” This aim still seems to await fruition, such is the gulf between the different regions. Italy has been a republic since 1946, the 21 regions (regione) enjoying a large degree of self-government; some, such as Sicily and Sardinia, are semi-autonomous. Italians would be the first to agree that there is no such thing as “an Italian.” Ask an Italian where he's from and the answer will be “from Tuscany, from Rome, from Naples, from Sicily,” but never “from Italy.” Primary loyalties are firmly local and regional. The Italian character, attitudes, outlook and prejudices have been formed by the native region, not by the country as a whole. So the fiery Sicilians are light years away from the Milanese and their urbane efficiency, the cool and rational Tuscans or the abrasive Romans. Language has also played a part. Modern Italian, rich, elegant and musical, derives from Tuscan, a medieval dialect used by Dante and Petrarch and firmly based on Latin. But throughout Italy there are some 1,500 diverse dialects, which were in daily use until widespread literacy and access to television. There are still some elderly people who have difficulty speaking modern Italian, although mass media are rapidly weakening dialects. The considerable geographic differences between the north and south have produced another element of regionalism - a very real economic and cultural divide between the halves of the country. The cooler, more fertile north is richer, more advanced and more successful than the arid and impoverished south.	COUNTRY Introduction Things To Know Survival Guide TimeLine Essential Info REGION Tuscany & Florence CITIES Rome Florence Naples Venice MAPS World Europe TRAVEL BOOK