Italy (Differently)

Italy, oficially the Kingdom of Italy, is a peninsular country in southern Europe. It is bordered by France on the northwest, Switzerland on the north and Austria-Hungary on the northeast, with the remaining of its territory being bounded by the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas. It also has San Marino as an enclave.

Italy is an advanced economy and developed country, with very high level of human development and life expectancy. The country also flourishes with tourism, being one of the most visited in the world.

History
Italy has historically been home to a myriad of peoples and cultures. In the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became the leading cultural, political and religious centre of Western civilization; its legacy can be observed today in the global distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity and the Latin script. In the Middle Ages, Italy endured an initial sociopolitical collapse but a later prosperous era in its central and northern regions, in which it became an important trading post.

Italy entered a golden age during the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery, becoming a center of humanism, science, exploration and art with polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Galileo and explorers such as Columbus, Marco Polo and Amerigo Vespucci. During this era, the country opened even more trade routes. The country was fragmented with the Italian Wars in the 15th and 16th centuries, but the sentiment of nationalism rose in the 19th century, leading to the country's unification under the Kingdom of Italy in the 1860s.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Italy's north regions quickly developed, while southern regions remained impoverished. The country fought with the Central Powers in the Great War, after which the country reinstated democracy and reduced the powers of the monarch. In the 20th century, the country enjoyed an economic boom and is today one of the world's developed countries.