Italy's Birth

History

Italy's birth as a nation began in 1861 when the city/states of the peninsula and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily united under the regime of King Victor Emmanuel.

Originally Greeks had settled in the southern tip of the Italian peninsula in the 7th and 8th century B.C. Etruscans and Romans populated the central and northern regions

By the third century A.D. the peninsula had been unified under the Roman Empire along with the neighboring islands. The Empire dominated the Mediterranean world from 1 A.D. until its collapse in 5 A.D. After the empire's collapse all the once controlled regions were plagued by political discourse, which made them vulnerable to invasion.

In the 11th century the commercial prosperity in the country's northern and central cities combined with the influence of the Renaissance tempered the effects of the existing medieval political rivalries. The calm allowed for the idea of a single Italian government to blossom.

By 1861 a nationalist movement had emerged and reunified Italy, except for Rome, which would follow in 1870, and Victor Emmanuel was proclaimed King.

Italy remained a constitutional monarchy with a parliament elected until 1922 when Benito Mussolini established a fascist dictatorship. Mussolini's disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and was buoyed by the economic revival that followed.

Italy is a charter member of NATO and the ECC (European Economic Community)

Italy has been at the forefront of the European economic and political unification and has been a member of the European Monetary Union since 1999.

People

Italy has the fifth highest population density in Europe (490 people per square miles). Though Italian is the primary language there are still a few minority groups through the country. The largest group is the German-speaking people of Bolzano province and the Slovene in Trieste. There are also small blocks of Albanian, Greek, Ladino, and French inhabitants as well.

Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion among Italians but all faiths are granted equal freedoms under the present constitution. The Roman Catholic Church, though dominant, had its temporal powers ended in 1870 with a series of pacts with Italy's government. The Lateran Pacts of 1929 recognized Vatican City as a sovereign entity. The pacts also include an end of Roman Catholicism as the nations state religion. This allowed for Protestant and Jewish communities to evolve as well as a growing Muslim immigrant community.

Italy's Renaissance period during the 14th and 15th centuries began a cultural revolution that would eventually spread throughout Europe. Authors such as Petrarch, Tasso, and Arioso emerged and invoked a long lasting influence over the literary world, as did the

eraÐ''s artists and composers. The Italian romantic operas penned by Rossi, Verdi, and Puccini along with the artistry of Raphael, Botticelli and Michelangelo set lofty standards that their colleagues today strive for. TodayÐ''s Italy continues in today's world to be a strong contributor to Western culture. Voting in Italian elections is open to anyone over eighteen years of age except in senatorial elections where the minimum voting age is twenty-five years.

Government

The Italian government is a centralized one. Each leader of the five provinces are appointed by and made accountable to the central government. The Italian constitution also provides for twenty regions, which are governed by limited powers. The regions of Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino-Alto Adige, Valle d'Aosta, and Friuli-Venezia Gullah operate under special autonomy statues. The remaining fifteen, which were established in 1970, vote for regional councils.

The Legislative Branch

The 1948 constitution established a bicameral parliament made of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies (Camera Dei Deputati) consists of 630 seats of which 475 seats are directly elected. The remaining 155 seats are elected by regional representation. All members serve five-year terms. The Senate (Senato della Republica) is made up of 315 seats that are elected by a popular vote. 232 of the senate seats are directly elected and the remaining 83 are elected by a regional proportional representation. There is also a small number of "senators for life which includes former presidents. Legislation may originate in either House but a majority in both must pass it.

Between 1983 and 1998 there were three Parliamentary commissions appointed to make major revisions to the 1948 Constitution.

The 13th Legislature (1996-2001) passed four amendments that concerned the parliamentary representation of Italians living abroad, the devolution of powers to the regions and the direct election of the Regions Presidents and the guarantee of fair trials in the courts. More recently, the 14th legislature passed a law and an amendment. The law repealed by the legislature limited the civil rights of the male members and descendants of the House of Savoy (Italy's Royal Family until 1946) and they installed a new provision meant to encourage more female participation in politics.

The Executive branch of the government is led by the president (Chief of State). An electoral college elects the president for a seven-year term. The Electoral College consists of both houses of Parliament and fifty-eight regional representatives. Italy's leader today is President Carlo Aziglio Ciampi who was elected in 1999. The Prime Minister is referred to as the president of the Council Of Ministers. The Council of Ministers is nominated by the Prime Minister and approved by the President.

Judicial Branch

The judicial branch of Italy's government is the Constitutional Court (Camera dei Deputati). Its basis for law is the Italian Constitution of 1948, a written document, which has been amended thirteen times.

The court, as well, was established after World War II. The court is composed of fifteen judges of which a third are presidential appointee, another third are elected by Parliament and the remaining third is elected by ordinary and Administrative Supreme Courts.

The Italian judicial system bases itself on a