Italy

Italy

Italy ranks 6th in number of biographies on Pantheon, behind Germany, Japan, and France. Memorable people born in present day Italy include Leonardo da Vinci, Marco Polo, and Galileo Galilei. Memorable people who died in Italy include Marco Polo, Galileo Galilei, and Julius Caesar. Italy has been the birth place of many politicians and soccer players and the death place of many politicians and religious figures.

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it consists of a peninsula delimited by the Alps and surrounded by several islands. Italy shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino. It has a territorial exclave in Switzerland (Campione) and an archipelago in the African Plate. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 (116,350 sq mi), with a population of nearly 60 million; it is the tenth-largest country by land area in the European continent and the third-most populous member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city is Rome. Read more on Wikipedia