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Culture of Italy
The culture of Italy can be found in the Roman ruins remaining in much of the country, the precepts of the Roman Catholic Church, the spirit of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and the architecture. It can also be tasted in Italy's food. Italy is home to the greatest number of World Heritage Sites with 43 sites inscribed in the list of UNESCO, as of 2008.
EducationItaly has a countrywide educational system, with a five-year primary stage and an eight-year secondary stage, divided into first-grade secondary school and second-grade secondary school (or high school). Literature
Portrait of Dante Alighieri, by Sandro Botticelli (1444–1510) ReligionRoman Catholicism is the major religion of Italy. There are mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim community, the latter made up primarily of new immigrants. All religious faiths are provided equal freedom by the constitution. Before the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the state, in the fourth century, the country was officially pagan and worshipped the Roman gods, although there was great religious tolerance. As Edward Gibbon said in his The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, "The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful."[1] The adoption of Christianity by Constantine in the fourth century led to its becoming the majority religion of the Roman Empire and Italy. The head of the Roman Catholic church, the bishop of Rome, known as the pope, resides in Vatican City, in Rome but not a part of Rome. Islam, though historically present in Sicily during the Arab occupation in the Middle Ages, was almost entirely absent in Italy from the time of that country's unification in 1861, until the 1970s, when the first North African immigrants began to arrive. These North Africans, mostly of Berber or Arab origin, came mainly from heavily Islamic Morocco, though they have been followed in more recent years by Tunisians, Albanians and to a lesser extent, Libyans, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Middle Eastern Arabs, and Kurds. Visual art
Self portrait of Leonardo da Vinci Cinema and theatreThe history of Italian cinema began a few months after the Lumičre brothers began motion picture exhibition. The first Italian film was a few seconds long, showing Pope Leo XIII giving a blessing to the camera. The Italian film industry was born between 1903 and 1908 with three companies: the Roman Cines, the Ambrosio of Turin and the Itala Film. Other companies soon followed in Milan and in Naples. In a short time these first companies reached a fair producing quality and films were soon sold outside Italy too. The cinema was later used by Mussolini as a form of propaganda during World War II. After the war, Italian film was widely recognised and exported until an artistic decline around 1980. World-famous Italian film directors from this period include Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Dario Argento. Movies include world cinema treasures such as La dolce vita, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo and Ladri di biciclette. In recent years, the Italian scene has received only occasional international attention, with movies like La vita č bella directed by Roberto Benigni and Il postino with Massimo Troisi. Italian theatre can be traced back into the Roman which was heavily influenced by the Greek tradition, and, as with many other literary genres, Roman dramatists tended to adapt and translate from the Greek. For example, Seneca's Phaedra was based on that of Euripides, and many of the comedies of Plautus were direct translations of works by Menander. During the 16th century and on into the 18th century Commedia dell'arte was a form of improvisational theatre, although it is still performed today. Travelling teams of players would set up an outdoor stage and provide amusement in the form of juggling,acrobatics, and, more typically, humorous plays based on a repertoire of established characters with a rough storyline, called Canovaccio For more information see: History of theater and Commedia dell'arte Music
Antonio Vivaldi, one of the most famous Italian musician of all times Fashion
Clothes by Valentino FolkloreIt's difficult to individuate an Italian folklore, because of the vast differences between regions. In Italy, the following are very important in tradition:
In 1956, Italo Calvino selected and recorded a collection of folktales in Italian Folktales. ReferencesExternal links
See also
cy:Diwylliant yr Eidal es:Cultura de Italia fr:Culture de l'Italie it:Cultura italiana pt:Cultura da Itįlia sq:Kultura e Italisė Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article
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