Top 10 Italy facts

In Naples. Lying mostly underwater, Campi Flegrei comprises 24 craters. It is one of the largest volcanoes in the world, capable of producing VEI 7 (super-colossal) eruptions. Its most recent eruption of 1538 created a new hill, Monte Nuovo.

Smith. "Ferrari" is the third most common surname in Italy. The word has the same root as Italian "ferro" (iron) or Latin "ferrum" (thus, Fe for iron).

In Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15 April 1452, in a farmhouse about 3 kilometers from the town of Vinci, near Florence. His full name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", which means "Leonardo, son of Piero, of Vinci".

Moors. The flag represents four Moorish invaders blindfolded for execution (Moors cut heads are also popular in Spanish emblems). A regional law approved in 1999 changed the flag, with the bandages now encircling the forehead.

Milan. In 286 Diocletian moved the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Rome to Mediolanum. It was from Milan that the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, granting tolerance to all religions within the Empire, thus paving the way for Christianity to become the dominant religion of the Empire. After the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna.

Tuscan, specifically its Florentine variety, became the language of culture for all the people of Italy, thanks to the prestige of the masterpieces of Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, Giovanni Boccaccio and Niccolò Machiavelli. It would later become the official language of all the Italian states and of the Kingdom of Italy, when it was formed. Only 2.5% of Italy’s population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when the nation unified in 1861.

Benito Mussolini. Mussolini (second from left) was captured and executed near Lake Como by Italian partisans. His body was then taken to Milan and hung upside down at a petrol station, the same place that the fascists had displayed the bodies of fifteen Milanese civilians a year earlier after executing them in retaliation for resistance activity.

In Italy. Italy was the first country in the world to start building motorways. Over 4,000 kilometers of multi-lane motorways were constructed in 1920s. The motorways were touted by Benito Mussolini in 1930, as one of the great achievements of his regime.

Italian. Napoleon Bonaparte was born as Napoleone di Buonaparte on the island of Corsica. He was derived from an Italian aristocratic family. His ancestor, Francesco Buonaparte, moved from Liguria to Corsica, which was at the time a part of the Republic of Genoa, in the 16th century.

Name of Etruscans. The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people, identified since the 6th century BCE with the Etruscans of Italy.