|Italy (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic
(Italian: Repubblica Italiana), is a country located on the
Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest
islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy
shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland,
Austria and Slovenia. The independent states of San Marino and
the Vatican City are enclaves within the Italian Peninsula, and
Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The land
known as Italy today has been the cradle of many European
cultures and peoples, such as the Etruscans and the Romans.
Later it was the birthplace of the Renaissance that began in
Tuscany and spread all over Europe. It also played a major role
in the development of modern science and astronomy, particularly
heliocentrism, as well as the University, and opera. Italy's
capital, Rome, was for centuries the center of Western
civilization. Italy possessed a colonial empire from the second
half of the nineteenth century to the mid-