Dubbed the world's 'living art gallery', Italy has more culture than you can shake a paintbrush at. In fact it's fair to say that if something can be painted, played, eaten, sang, sculpted or written about, the Italian's had a hand in elevating its appreciation to the highest art form. The world has much to thank the Italians for.
Writers from Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Livy and Cicero to Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Ficino, Mirandola and Vasari all sprang from Italian loins. Modern literary Italian appeared in the 13th and 14th centuries, developing out of its Latin heritage, the country's many dialects and the works of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, who wrote chiefly in the Florentine dialect.
Dubbed the world's 'living art gallery', Italy has more culture than you can shake a paintbrush at. Whether it's a broken pillar rising up through the linoleum floor of a train station or a baroque church overlooking a cracked antique pediment in the Forum, history and culture surround you. Outside there are Etruscan tombs, Greek temples, cat-infested Roman ruins, Moorish architecture and statue-filled baroque fountains to gawp at; inside, you can swoon to Roman sculptures, Byzantine mosaics, beatific Madonnas from Giotto to Titian, gargantuan baroque tombs and trompe l'oeil ceilings.
Italy's many regional cucine, while remaining distinctive to their regions of origin, have undergone a pan-Italian fusion in the hands of chefs, evolving into a unique cuisine that is justifiably world famous. Cooking styles vary notably, from the rich and creamy dishes of the north to the hot and spicy specialities of the south. Northern Emilia-Romagna has produced the best-known dishes - spaghetti bolognese, lasagne and tortellini - and is also home to the best prosciutto and mortadella. Liguria is the home of pesto, that mainstay of cafes worldwide. Spectacular vegetable and pasta dishes feature just as predominantly as seafood and exotic meats - anyone for frog rissotto, donkey steak or entrail pudding? Desserts - cassata, cannoli, zabaglione, granita and marzipan - come into their own in Sicily, while Sardinia is famous for its spit-roasted piglet. Coffee, beer and wine are of course magnificent countrywide.
Cinema would not be the same without Italy's Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Magnani, Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren or directors Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini, Frederico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Bernardo Bertolucci.
The Italians were no slouches when it came to music; they invented both the piano and our system of musical notation, as well as producing Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Verdi, Puccini, Bellini and Rossini.
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