Spotlight on Italy

Italy is a popular holiday destination.    With almost 40 million visitors per year, it is the fourth most visited country in the world.  What do you know about this beautiful country and its people?  Here are some interesting facts for you….

• Italians, on average, eat around 30 kg of pasta and drink 60 litres of wine per year.  The ice cream cone is an Italian invention.  Pizza was ‘invented’ in Naples around the time of Unification, in 1861.
• Italians are extremely expressive communicators. They tend to be wordy, eloquent, emotional and demonstrative, often using facial and hand gestures to prove their point.  Italian is a Romance language and is related to the other Latin languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese and Romanian.
•  Italy’s major industries include tourism, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear and ceramics.  Italians prefer to do business with people they know and trust, and they favour face-to-face contact.  Many companies in Italy are closed throughout the month of August.  Italy manufactures most of the world’s top sports cars, including the Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Maserati and Alfa Romeo.
• ‘Bocce’ is a popular sport in Italy.  It is a form of bowls.  Italians are passionate about football.  Italy have won the World Cup four times (in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006)
• The colours of the Italian flag represent three virtues: hope (green), faith (white) and charity (red).  Napoleon chose the colours of the Italian flag, wanting something similar to the French one, and substituting the blue for green – his favourite colour.