25 Surprising Facts About Italy

A young country with an ancient past

Italy feels timeless, but as a single country it is younger than the United States. Its regions spent centuries as separate kingdoms, republics and city-states, which helps explain why every region has its own dialect, food and identity.

These first facts are about how Italy came to be.

• 1. Italy was unified as a kingdom in 1861, and Rome became its capital only in 1871. Before that, the peninsula was divided between several states, including the Papal States, ruled by the Pope.
• 2. Italy became a republic after a referendum in 1946, when voters chose to abolish the monarchy.
• 3. There are two independent countries entirely inside Italy: Vatican City in Rome and San Marino in the hills near Rimini. Vatican City is the smallest country in the world by both area and population.
• 4. San Marino claims to be the oldest surviving republic in the world, with a traditional founding date of 301 AD.
• 5. Modern standard Italian is based largely on the Tuscan dialect of Florence, helped by the prestige of writers such as Dante. Many regional languages and dialects are still widely spoken, and German is an official language in South Tyrol and French in the Aosta Valley.
• 6. The University of Bologna, founded in 1088, is widely regarded as the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world.

Volcanoes, mountains and lakes

Italy's landscape is more dramatic and more geologically active than many visitors expect. The Alps form its northern border, the Apennines run down its length like a spine, and the south has some of Europe's most active volcanoes.

Here is what shapes the land.

• 7. Mount Etna in Sicily is the tallest active volcano in Europe, and it erupts frequently. Its height changes over time as eruptions add and remove material from the summit.
• 8. Stromboli, an island north of Sicily, has been erupting almost continuously for thousands of years, with small explosions every few minutes. Sailors once called it the lighthouse of the Mediterranean.
• 9. Vesuvius, near Naples, is the volcano that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD. It last erupted in 1944 and is closely monitored because so many people live around it.
• 10. Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, sits on the border between Italy and France. On the Italian side it is called Monte Bianco, and the exact line of the border near the summit has long been disputed.
• 11. Lake Garda is Italy's largest lake. Together with Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and others, it sits in valleys carved by glaciers at the foot of the Alps.
• 12. Italy's long coastline touches several seas, including the Adriatic, the Ionian, the Tyrrhenian and the Ligurian, which is why the beaches, food and character of the coast vary so much from one region to the next.

Cities and landmarks

Italy has an extraordinary concentration of historic sites. It has long been at or near the top of the list of countries with the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and many of its city centres are listed as a whole.

Some of its most famous landmarks have stories that are less well known.

• 13. Venice is built on more than a hundred small islands in a shallow lagoon, linked by hundreds of bridges. There are no cars in the historic centre; boats, including the water buses called vaporetti, do the work of streets.
• 14. The Leaning Tower of Pisa started to lean during its construction in the twelfth century, because the soft ground beneath it could not support it evenly. Engineering work completed in 2001 reduced the lean and stabilised it.
• 15. The dome of the Pantheon in Rome, completed in the second century AD, is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. The circular opening at its top, the oculus, is open to the sky, and the floor has drains for the rain.
• 16. Coins thrown into the Trevi Fountain are collected regularly and donated to charity. Tradition says that one coin, thrown over your shoulder, means you will return to Rome.

Food and drink

Italian food is regional above all. Dishes that are famous abroad are often specific to one city or region, and there are strong opinions about how they should be made.

A few facts about what you will eat and drink, and how.

• 17. Tomatoes, now central to Italian cooking, came from the Americas and only arrived in Europe in the sixteenth century. For a long time they were treated with suspicion before becoming a staple in the south.
• 18. The art of the Neapolitan pizza maker was added to UNESCO's list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2017. The story that the Margherita was named after Queen Margherita in 1889 is popular, though historians debate the details.
• 19. Cappuccino and other milky coffees are traditionally drunk in the morning, not after lunch or dinner. Ask for un caffè and you will get an espresso.
• 20. In many cafes, it costs less to drink your coffee standing at the bar than sitting at a table, where table service is added. This is normal and nothing to be suspicious of.
• 21. Many restaurants add a cover charge, called the coperto, for bread and table service. It should be shown on the menu, and it is not a tip.
• 22. Real mozzarella di bufala is made from the milk of water buffalo, which are raised mainly in Campania, the region around Naples.

Inventions and traditions

Italian inventors, scientists and musicians have left marks on everyday life far beyond Italy. Some traditions, too, are quite different from what visitors might expect.

Here are the final three.

• 23. The piano was invented in Florence around 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori. Its full name, pianoforte, describes its ability to play both soft and loud, and much of the vocabulary of music, such as allegro, forte and crescendo, is Italian.
• 24. The volt, the unit of electrical potential, is named after Alessandro Volta, the Italian physicist who built the first electric battery around 1800.
• 25. In Italy, presents are traditionally brought not only by Father Christmas but also by La Befana, a kindly old woman on a broomstick who visits children on the night before the Epiphany, on the 6th of January.

Putting the facts to use on your trip

A few of these facts are genuinely useful when you travel. Expect regional differences in food and customs, and ask what the local speciality is wherever you go. Remember the coperto and the bar-versus-table difference when you look at a bill, so neither comes as a surprise.

If you plan to drive, be aware that many Italian towns and cities have limited traffic zones, known as ZTL, in their historic centres. Entering one without a permit usually triggers a camera and a fine, which can arrive months later through your rental company. Parking outside the centre and walking in is usually easiest.

Finally, timing matters. August, and especially the days around the 15th, known as Ferragosto, is when many Italians take their holidays, so beaches are crowded and some city businesses close. Spring and early autumn are calmer for city sightseeing. A travel eSIM gives you mobile data abroad, which helps with maps, train times and museum bookings, and our Italy travel guide covers the main regions in more detail.