10 Amazing, Fun & Interesting Facts About Italy

Italy, officially known as Italian Republic is the country situated in the Southern Europe. In terms of population, Italy is 5th and 23rd most populated country in Europe and World respectively. Let us know some more interesting facts about Italy

Interesting Facts About Italy

#1: Beautiful Country

• Italy has been nicknamed Bel Paese meaning beautiful country.
• The official name of Italy is Repubblica Italica (Italian Republic).
• The country looks like a high heeled boot in shape!
• Italia means calf land. The name may be derived from the picture of the bull symbol of the southern Italian tribes.

#2: Cheese

• Parma in Italy is where the Parmesan cheese originated.
• The Italians also have created other varieties like Mozzarella, Provolone, Ricotta, and Gorgonzola.

#3: Fault Line

• Italy has more volcanoes than the other European countries. There is a fault line in the tectonic plates under the country.
• Etna, Vesuvius and Stromboli have erupted in the last hundred years and are major volcanoes.
• The Italians are not spared of Earth quakes either. A 100,000 people died in a 1963 quake. In 1980, 3000 people were killed in one that shook Naples.

#4: Three Fountains

• Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) are the all time famous Italian authors. They are known as the Three Fountains.
• The Divine Comedy by Dante is tremendously influential on the literature.
• Dante is also considered the Father of the Italian literature.

#5: Soccer

• Italians got introduced to the sport in the late 1800s by the British. Mussolini in 1930 promoted the sport to an international level.
• Fans are called tifosi, which meant carrier of typhus. The Italian fans display rowdy behavior and lack inhibition.

#6: Real Human Chess

• This one is probably one of the most interesting facts of Italy: In 1454, a real human chess duel was held to decide who would win the hand of a beautiful girl in Marostica in Italy.
• Even nowadays, in the even numbered years, in September the piazza becomes a live chess board.

#7: Inventions

• The ice cream cone was invented by the Italian.
• The Espresso was invented by an Italian who did so to reduce breaks.
• The Italians invented the Thermometer.
• They also invented the typewriter.
• Italians invented Pizza and ice cream
• As already noted, they also created cheese.

#8: Bizarre Facts

There are many interesting facts about Italy, now let us know some Bizarre Facts About Italy:

• The Italians did not apologize if they felt that they were not at fault. Repentance is best left to confession.
• Drawing with crayons on pavements was criminally equal to beggary and is punished.
• Depending on whether you get one or two invites to a wedding, you attend the official ceremony if you get one and are invited to drinks too if you get the second one too.
• Italian people are very superstitious, considering the fact that they have 150,000 officially registered magicians. Over 16 million people use their services.
• Mussolini renamed Mickey Mouse as Topolino, Donald duck as Paperino, Goofy as Pippo. This was done to eliminate foreign words from Italian.

#9: Two Independent States on the Inside

• Italy surrounds two important independent states of the world.
• The Vatican City is just 108.7 acres and has its own phone company, radio, TV stations, money and stamps. Its army is the historic Swiss Guard!

• The Republic of San Marino is one of the world’s oldest countries and has the world’s oldest continuous constitution. It has a small population of 30,000 people. The citizens are called Sammarinese.

#10: Fashion

• Gucci, Prada, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna, Gianfranco Ferré, Salvatore Ferragamo, Roberto Cavalli, Fendi, Valentino, Trussardi, Benetton are some of the fashion designers of Italy, making the list of very famous fashion designers.