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As of right now, the news is about the female football team in Italy, who are very happy that they have professional status. Also, the entire country is preparing for the world-famous fashion Week in Milan! Fashion Week is a week-long event where designer brands display their new collections. Versace will be there! It is in September, you should visit!

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Italy is amazing! I love my home country! I think it is an amazing place to travel, for so many reasons! We have rich culture and food, amazing and beautiful fashion, and the best beaches! We are home to the Leaning Tower of Piza, the Vatican, and the Sistine Chapel. We are home to amazing cuisine, with foods such as authentic fettucine alfredo, pizza, and tiramisu. Not too mention the gorgeous and luxurious fashion found on the streets of Italy. Luxury fashion brands call Italy home, such as Versace, Prada, Armani, and Dolce and Gabbana. I strongly encourage you to visit Italy as soon as possible!

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Italy is a core country because of its large influence and amount of power in the world. Italy is home to many headquarters of major businesses, and is a hotspot for international fashion and many other things.

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Like many other countries, my beautiful Italy has environmental issues as well! We experience things like climate change, urban air quality issues, waste management and ground water pollution.

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Italy has many popular industries such as tourism, precision machinery, motor vehicles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electrical goods, textiles, and fashion.

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The three main economic sectors, agricultural, industrial, and service all play a large role in Italy's economic. The agricultural sector is extracting natural resources from the earth. This accounts for 2.1% of the population in Italy. The industrial sector, which is processing and manufacturing with those natural resources, is 23.9% and the service sector, which includes the 3rd, 4th, and 5th sector, accounts for 73.9% of the population.

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The HDI is a score from 0-1 showing how developed a country is. The higher the score, the better. Italy has a score of 0.892, which is extremely high and a good thing! This ranks Italy as 29th out of 189 countries around the world. Yay Italy!

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Italy has a very low gender inequality ratio, of 0.069, ranking 14th in the world. This means that there is a lot of equality between gender in the country, and there are equal rights between men and women, and is projected to lower even more in the coming years.

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Italy's cities have grown by a lot, with urbanization becoming so popular across the world. Italy has been actively working to reduce their input in climate change and similar environmental factors that come from the urban areas, and become more sustainable. Italy is the first country to incorporate climate change and sustainable development into curriculum, and has shown a large reduction of the use of fossil fuels. Trento, a city in Italy, is the first city to excel in urban sustainability!

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My amazing country has a largely influential culture. From our luxury makeup, clothing, food, and automobile companies and etc., we have fans and supporters around the world. Examples of this are Fiat, Valentino Fashion, and Versace, of course!

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Rome!

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Italy has no megacities, which are cities over 10 million in population. The largest city is only 2.9 million, found in Rome. It does, however, have a world city, which is Rome! A world city is a primary node in the global economic network. The significance of Rome is the large amount of culture and influential people that came from Rome, which made Rome itself very influential and a large part of the global economy.

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My country is democratic, with a parliamentary system. This means that the government has executed power derived from a cabinet of legislatures, whom the people vote for.

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While Italy isn't in conflict right now, Italy is allies with Russia. The rulers of Italy have to choose to sustain that alliance and continue reaping the rewards of that, or standing up and fighting for what is right.

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One change to the boundary is the boundary between Switzerland and Italy. That is a natural boundary, and the two countries are separated by a glacier. Due to global warming, that glacier has been melting and receding, changing the boundary of the country. Italy and Switzerland agree that wherever the glacier moves, is officially the new border.

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Italy has an elongated state, meaning the shape of the country is very long and narrow, much longer in one direction than the other. It makes transportation and defense difficult for the country.

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Italy was involved in World War 2, which caused political conflicts, because of Italy being an axis power. At the time, Italy had a fascist government, ruled by Mussolini. Italy began losing territories, and due to being a fascist country, Italian emigrants in places like Britain and the U.S were interned. This led to a legacy of bitterness between Italy and other countries.

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The major ethnic group in my country of Italy is Italian, like me! There are many indigenous groups in Italy, such as the Oscans, Celts, Ancient Greeks, and the Apuli people. The first to colonize Italy were the Ancient Greeks, which was in the 8th century B.C. There are many different types of people in Italy, such as Africans, Bulgarians, and Romanians!

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My home country is all about fresh vegetables, flavorful pastas, and delicious cheeses. Some common cultural foods are neapolitan pizza, risotto, lasagna, and more classic Italian dishes. Some desserts include tiramisu, gelato, and biscotti. I love all the delicious flavors and fresh herbs that go into the food in Italy.

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Here in Italy, things like wine and cheese are essential to daily life. Italy's north produces lots of grains, meat, and dairy. The south produces fruits, vegetables, wheat, wine, and olive oil! I love the rich, delicious flavor of all of our produce, and love that it comes from my home country.

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We are in the Mediterranean climate type, meaning we produce lots of grapes, apricots, figs, olives, etc. The Mediterranean climate means dry summers and mild, wet winters.

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Food is such an important part of life in Italy! It brings people together and gives us life. We love it!!

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The major religion in Italy is Roman Catholicism, followed by 81.7% of the Italian population. The country also has a growing Muslim population, and including Atheists and other minor religions, it is about 20%. The Roman Catholic religion is very popular in Italy, which is no surprise because it originated in Rome when Christianity spread there! It started in 1st century Rome and diffused along with the Roman Empire to the New World through missionaries and explorers. A little fact about me is that I am Roman Catholic as well!

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There are many different languages spoken in Italy, but Italian is the most popular. The Italian language is so beautiful, and I love to speak it. It is apart of the Romance branch, in the Indo- European language Family.

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The folk music of Italy changes wherever you go throughout the country, due to a large number of ethnic cultures from all over, such as Arabic, Celtic, and Persian. Italians also have holidays and celebrations specific to one city, as my people love to celebrate! Some examples of this are Epiphany and La Befana, which is a time when old women give gifts to children in Florence, and Scoppio del Carro which is a folk tradition that means "Explode the cart", which is when they fill a cart with fireworks. We have frequent family gatherings, as family means everything to us, and children are taught to stay close to the family upon adulthood. My people are also very superstitious and are careful of things like the number 7, the color purple, or the 13th guest of a dinner.
The pop culture of Italy is so important, being as Italy is so influential around the world! Our fashion, food, and architecture are a few things we are recognized for, so let's talk about them! Italy, again, loves celebrations, so they celebrate things like New Year, Christmas, and Easter, because they are mostly catholic, due to being the home of the Roman Empire. Things like wine, cheese, pizza, and pasta are well known in Italy, as well as around the world. Food is a large part of the culture in Italy because, in Italy, food is life! Italy's styles of architecture are a huge part of its identity, and things like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and The Sistine Chapel are great examples of that. It is so popular that Italy's style has been spread to places like Las Vegas, where many of the buildings on the strip are designed to replicate Rome and Vatican City. Opera music is also a big part of the culture there, known throughout the land. I love listening to my fellow Italians sing their hearts out. As we all know, Italy is a powerhouse in designer fashion. A few examples of these are Versace (Me!!), Gucci, Prada, Fendi, and Armani.

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The culture of Italy is rich and beautiful! It has roots connecting to the Ancient Roman Empire, and even further back! Italian culture has amazing art, music, food, and more. I love my home country so much, which is why I recently bought another house there!

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This pyramid shows a low amount of young people, with a larger working age cohort.

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Italy is in the 4th stage of the demographic transition model. This means that the birth rate is low and the death rate is higher because of an elderly population. There is also a lot of emigration. Overall, they have decreasing population due to being more developed, which leads to a lower birth rate. One pull factor is that the United States has more economic opportunities. This pulled Italians into the United States. Some push factors are poverty and natural disaster.

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My home country, Italy, is a beautiful peninsula of Europe going into the Mediterranean Sea, with beautiful and scenic landscapes. My country is often referred to as a boot, and is home to many wild animals such as bears and boars. There are also many active volcanoes! The absolute location of Italy's capital is 41.8719 degrees North, and 12.5674 degrees East. It is located next to France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia. The capital of the beautiful country of Italy is Rome.

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Hi! My name is Donatella Versace, and I am Italian! I wanted to share a little but about my home country, because it is amazing! This is my country's flag, I love the colors!