Italy, officially the Italian Republic (Repubblica Italiana), is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.
The land known as Italy today has been the cradle of many European cultures and peoples, such as the Etruscans and the Romans. Later it was the birthplace of the Renaissance that began in Tuscany and spread all over Europe.
