Italy is a beautiful country with a vast history!

    Italy is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and includes the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia, which covers an area of 116,305 miles (which is only slightly larger than Arizona).  Italy shares its northern border with the countries of France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia.  The landscape is mostly mountainous, but it has some coastal low lands in the south.  Italy's flag has three vertical stripes. One red, one white, and one green.

    The land known as Italy today has been the cradle of many European cultures and peoples, such as Etruscans and the Romans, and later was the birthplace of the University, the Renaissance that began in Tuscany and spread all over Europe, modern science and astronomy, and opera.  Italy's capital, Rome, is called the Eternal City, because it is one of the world's richest cities in history and art and one of its great cultural, religious, and intellectual  centers.  Italy is home to Vatican City, which is a sovereign city-state within the city of Rome.  It is the smallest independent country in the world, where the Pope is sovereign.