Cultural Analysis of Italy
I. INTRODUCTION
Italy is one of the most crowded nations in Europe with a population of roughly 58.2 million. As country, it has much to offer its citizens and visitors. The capital of Italy is Rome (also known as the Eternal City) and is almost 3,000 years old. It has been the capital since 1871 and is home to the Dome of St. Peter's, the Sistine Chapel, the Coliseum, and the famous Trevi Fountain. They are well known for their culture and food, along with their easily recognizable shape as a boot.
They are passionate about many things, including their food. When McDonald's opened in 1986 in Rome, food purists outside the restaurant gave away free spaghetti to remind people of their culinary heritage. The richness of its past and the 'live-life-to-the-fullest' attitude combine to make Italy a must-see travel destination.

II. RELEVANT HISTORY
Evidence of civilization has been found on the Italian peninsula dating far into pre-history. Thousands of rock drawings discovered in the Alpine regions of Lombardy date from around 8,000 BC. There were sizable settlements throughout the Copper Age (37th to 15th century BC), the Bronze Age (15th to 8th century BC) and the Iron Age (8th to 5th century BC). In the north of Italy, the Etruscan culture took hold around 800BC, while Greeks settled in southern Italy from 700 to 600BC, namely in Apulia, Calabria and Sicily (then known as Magna Graecia).

The Roman Empire (5th Century BC to 5th Century AD)
The Roman Empire was one of the largest and most enduring in world history. The saying "All Roads Lead to Rome" alludes to this central hub of technology, literature, culture and architecture in the ancient world. The engineers of the Roman age created an unparalleled network of roads in ancient history.
Approximately 50,000 miles of roads spread Roman civilization, influence and the mighty legions throughout the western world. They built strong arched bridges, and mastered the concept of running water using aqueducts that, among other things, supplied public baths rivaling today's modern water facilities.
At the height of its power in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, the Roman Empire consisted of some 2.2 million square miles. 60 million people claimed citizenship of Rome and as many as 120 million people may have lived within its borders. Italy flourished under the Roman Empire, which ended in 476 AD with the death of the emperor Augustus.

The Middle Ages (6th to 14th Century)
The Middle Ages began with a series of invasions. In 493, the Ostrogoths, an eastern Germanic tribe, conquered the Italian peninsula. The resulting Gothic War led to the Lombards, another Germanic tribe, establishing a kingdom in northern Italy and three regions in the South in 568. Subsequently, the popes began building an independent state. In 756, when the French defeated the Lombards, they granted the popes authority over central Italy, and the Papal States were created. The northern states of Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany were ruled by the Germanic Holy Roman Empire from 962.

By the end of the 11th century, the worst of the invasions was over and trade began to flourish once again. Four Italian cities – Genoa, Pisa, Amalfi and Venice – became major commercial and political powers. In the twelfth century the Italian cities ruled by Holy Roman Empire campaigned for autonomy. The result was that northern Italy became a group of independent kingdoms, republics and city-states.

The Renaissance (14th to 16th Century)
At this point in the history of Italy, the disparity among the regions was extreme. In contrast to the prosperous northern states, central and southern Italy was economically depressed. The Papacy temporarily relocated to Avignon in France, returning to Rome in 1478. Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia were controlled by foreign powers.

The Italian Renaissance was a cultural movement that began in Tuscany in the 14th century, spreading from Florence to Siena. A number of factors contributed to its emergence, including the influx of Greek scholars following the second invasion of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The patronage of the arts afforded by the Medici family was another contributing factor. The era gave rise to a number of artistic giants – Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarotti, Sandro Botticelli, Dante Alighieri and Francesco Petrarch, to name a few. The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1440s also contributed to a free flow of information.

Reaching southwards to Rome, the Renaissance inspired the Italian popes to rebuild their city and Rome flourished once again. The movement also spread to Milan, Venice, and further north into Europe, influencing art, literature, philosophy, politics, science, religion and other intellectual arenas. Within Italy, the dominance of Tuscan culture led to the Tuscan dialect later becoming the official Italian language.

Foreign Rule (1559 to 1814)
The 'golden' era is followed by a dark one. In 1494, France invaded northern Italy and many of the city-states collapsed. In 1527 Spain and Germany attacked Rome. By the end of the Italian Wars in 1559, three Italian republics regained their independence – Piedmont Savoy, Corsica-Genoa and Venice. Both Savoy and Corsica were later sold to France – Corsica in 1764 and Savoy in 1860.

By 1559 Spain controlled Milan, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia and southern Tuscany, and dominated the rulers of Tuscany, Genoa, and other smaller states in northern Italy. Spanish control of Italy lasted until 1713.

During the era of domination by Habsburg Spain (1559 to 1713) and Habsburg Austria (1713 to 1796), Italians enjoyed a long period of relative peace. During the Napoleonic era (1796 to 1814), Italy was briefly united by Napoleon as the Italian Republic and later the Kingdom of Italy, becoming a client state of the French Republic.

After the defeat of Napoleonic France in 1814, the Congress of Vienna divided Italy into eight parts, most under foreign rule: Parma, Modena and Tuscany were ruled by the Hapsburgs; Lombardy and Venetia were ruled by Austria; Piedmont-Sardinia-Genoa and the Papal States were independent; and Naples and Sicily were ruled by France. This abysmal condition was the impetus behind the Italian unification movement.

Unification (1814 to 1861)
The Risorgimento was a complex process that eventually unified the different states of the Italian peninsula into the modern nation of Italy. The movement began in 1815 with a growing resentment towards the peninsula's domination by Austria.

Two prominent figures in the unification movement were Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi. A native of Genova, Mazzini was imprisoned in 1830 for his role in the Carbonari secret society. From his exile in France and later England, he mounted a series of unsuccessful uprisings in Italy, but eventually worked with Garibaldi to achieve their dream of unification. His funeral in 1872 attracted 100,000 people.

Giuseppe Garibaldi was born in Nice, France and was a member of the Carbonari secret society. He fled Italy in 1834 after a failed insurrection, but returned in 1854 to continue his campaign. Italy was officially unified in 1861, with Rome and Latium annexed in 1870 and the Trieste region after World War 1.

Present Day Italy
Since unification, Italy has experienced a tumultuous period that saw a mass exodus of her people and the disastrous consequences of two World Wars. Yet over the past 60 years the country has reclaimed its position as a major social and cultural player in world affairs. Italian goods and services have excellent international reputations, and Italy remains one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. Italy was one of the founding members of the European Economic Community, and despite the turbulent nature of Italian politics, enjoys positive economic growth and a high standard of living.
III. GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING A. LOCATION
Italy is located in Southern Europe and comprises the boot-shaped Italian Peninsula and a number of islands including the two largest, Sicily and Sardinia. Although the country comprises the Italian peninsula and most of the southern Alpine basin, some of Italy's territory extends beyond the Alpine basin and some islands are located outside the Eurasian continental shelf.
Mont Blanc is the highest point in Italy and the European Union. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone and the Alps form its northern boundary, where Italy's highest point is located on Mont Blanc. The Po, Italy's longest river, flows from the Alps on the western border with France and crosses the Padan plain on its way to the Adriatic Sea. The five largest lakes are, in order of diminishing size: Garda, Maggiore, Trasimeno and Bolsena.
The country is situated at the meeting point of the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate, leading to considerable seismic and volcanic activity. There are 14 volcanoes in Italy, three of which are active: Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius. Vesuvius is the only active volcano in mainland Europe and is most famous for the destruction of Pompeii and Herculanum. Several islands and hills have been created by volcanic activity, and there is still a large active caldera, the Campi Flegrei north-west of Naples. B. CLIMATE
The climate of Italy is highly diverse and can be quite different from the stereotypical Mediterranean climate. Most of the inland northern regions of Italy, for example Piedmont, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, have a climate variously described as humid continental or temperate. The climate of the "Po valley region is continental with harsh winters and hot summers". The coastal areas of Liguria and most of the peninsula south of Florence generally fit the Mediterranean stereotype. Conditions on peninsular coastal areas can be very different from the interior's higher ground and valleys, particularly during the winter months when the higher altitudes tend to be cold, wet, and often snowy. The coastal regions have mild winters and warm and generally dry summers, although lowland valleys can be quite hot in summer.

C. TOPOGRAPHY
Except for the fertile Po River Valley in the north and the narrow coastal belts farther south, Italy's mainland is generally mountainous, with considerable seismic activity. During Roman times, the city of Pompeii was devastated first by an earthquake in AD 63 and then by the famed eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. In the last century, an earthquake in northeastern Italy on 6 May 1976 left more than 900 people dead, and a quake in the south on 23 November 1980 claimed at least 4,500 lives.
The Alpine mountain area in the north along the French and Swiss borders includes three famous lakes—Como, Maggiore, and Garda—and gives rise to six small rivers that flow southward into the Po. Italy's highest peaks are found in the northwest in the Savoy Alps, the Apennines, and the Graian chain. They include Mont Blanc, on the French border; Monte Rosa Dufourspitze, and the Matterhorn, on the Swiss border; and Gran Paradiso. Marmolada, in northeast Italy, is the highest peak in the Dolomites.
At the foot of the Alps, the Po River, the only large river in Italy, flows from west to east, draining plains covering about 17% of Italy's total area and forming the agricultural and industrial heartland. The Apennines, the rugged backbone of peninsular Italy, rise to form the southern border of the Po Plain. Numerous streams and a few small rivers, including the Arno and the Tiber, flow from the Apennines to the west coast. The highest peak on the peninsula is Corvo Grande. Vesuvius is the only active volcano on the European mainland.
While altitudes are lower in southern Italy, the Calabrian coast is still rugged. Among the narrow, fertile coastal plains, the Plain of Foggia in northern Apulia, which starts along the Adriatic, and the more extensive lowland areas near Naples, Rome, and Livorno (Leghorn) are the most important. The mountainous western coastline forms natural harbors at Naples, Livorno, La Spezia, Genova, and Savona, and the low Adriatic coast permits natural ports at Venice, Bari, Brindisi, and Taranto.
Sicily, separated from the mainland by the narrow Strait of Messina, has the Madonie Mountains, a continuation of the Apennines, and the Plain of Catania, the largest plain on the island. Mount Etna is an isolated and active volcano in the northeast.
Sardinia, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, is generally mountainous and culminates in the peak of Gennargentu. The largest and most fertile plains are the Campidano in the south and the Ozieri in the north. The principal bay is Porto Torres in the Gulf of Asinara.
IV. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS A. FAMILY 1. The family is the center of the social structure and provides a stabilizing influence for its members. In the north, generally only the nuclear family lives together. 2. In the south, the extended family often resides together in one house. The family provides both emotional and financial support to its members. 3. Since 1970, Italy has witnessed great changes in family size, age at marriage, marriage stability, and birthrate (among the lowest in the world), although the pace of change has differed by region: family behaviors in north-central regions are more like those of western European countries than of southern Italian regions. People marry later and less frequently, have fewer children, divorce more often, and create new family models such as cohabitation, extramarital births, single parenthood, and one-person households. a. As a parent, it is considered foolish to boast too much about one's child. There are many charms and practices to ward off dangers, such as the evil eye. Children are coddled and held to keep them happy and content. They eat at will, are allowed to sleep with their parents, and are taken on family outings. Although times are changing it is still common to have families go to nightclubs and restaurants together. Parents are glad to see signs of activity in children and tease youngsters almost mercilessly to teach them to stand up for themselves. Older children routinely care for younger ones. b. In the past, marriages were arranged and women brought a dowry to the marriage. However, there were ways to help one's parents arrange marriage with the right person. The poorer classes, in fact, had more freedom to do so than did the wealthier ones. Dowries could be waived and often were. Currently, marriage is as free as anywhere else in the world. Except for those who enter the clergy, almost all Italians marry. But there is a custom in many families for a child to remain unmarried to care for aged parents. Divorce was forbidden until recently. 4. Traditionally, men went out to work and women took care of the home. After World War II, that arrangement changed rapidly. While old notions of gender segregation and male dominance prevail in some rural areas, Italian women have been famous for their independence and many anthropological and historical works point out that their assumed past subordination was often overstated. Currently, women participate in every aspect of political, economic, and social life. Women are equal under the law and attend universities and work in the labor force in numbers commensurate with their share of the population.
A sign of female independence is Italy's negative population growth. It is true, however, that women continue to perform many of the same domestic tasks they did in the past while assuming new responsibilities.
In Italian culture, men were given preferential status and treatment. Women were assigned the position of the "soul" of the family, while men were the "head." Men were to support and defend the family while women raised the children and kept themselves chaste so as not to disgrace the family. How much of the ideal was ever found in the real world is problematic. Women in general always had more power than they were traditionally supposed to have. Currently, Italian women are often considered the most liberated in Europe.

B. EDUCATION
1. Education in Italy is mandatory from 6 to 15/16 years of age, and is divided into five stages: kindergarten, primary school, lower secondary school, upper secondary school, and university. Italy has both public and private education systems. In Italy a state-born Education System has existed since 1859, when the Casati Act mandated educational responsibilities for the forthcoming Italian state. a. The Casati Act made primary education compulsory, and had the goal of reducing illiteracy. This law gave control of primary education to the single towns and secondary education to the counties. The universities were managed by the State. Even with the Casati Act and compulsory education, in rural (and southern) areas children often were not sent to school (the rate of children enrolled in primary education would reach 90% only after 70 years) and the illiteracy rate (which was near 80% in 1861) took more than 50 years to halve. b. The next important law concerning the Italian education system was the Gentile Act. This act was issued in 1923, thus when Benito Mussolini and his National Fascist Party were in power. In fact, Giovanni Gentile was appointed the task of creating an education system deemed fit for the fascist system. The compulsory age of education was raised to 14 years, and was somewhat based on a ladder system: after the first five years of primary instruction, one could choose the 'Scuola media', which would give further access to the "liceo" and other secondary instruction, or the 'avviamento al lavoro', which was intended to give a quick entry into the lower part of the workforce. He enhanced the role of the Liceo Classico, created by the Casati Act in 1859 (and intended during the Fascist era as the peak of secondary education, with the goal of forming the future upper classes), and created the Technical, Commercial and Industrial institutes and also the Liceo Scientifico. The Liceo Classico was the only secondary school that gave access to all types of university, until 1968. The influence of Gentile's Idealism was great, and he considered the Catholic religion to be the "fundament and crowning" of education.
In 1962 the 'avviamento al lavoro' was abolished, and all children until 14 years had to follow a single program, encompassing primary education and middle school.
From 1962 to the present day, the main structure of Italian primary and secondary education remained largely unchanged, even if some modifications were made: a narrowing of the gap between males and females (through the merging of the two distinct programs for technical education, and the optional introduction of mixed-gender gym classes), a change in the structure of secondary school and the creation of new licei, 'istituti tecnici' and 'istituti professionali', giving the student more choices in their paths. c. In 1999, in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Bologna Process, the Italian university system switched from the old system (vecchio ordinamento, which led to the traditional 5-year Laurea degree), to the new system). The new system split the former 5-year degree into two different tracks: a three-year degree akin to the Bachelor's Degree, followed by the 2-year Master's Degree, they later renamed Laurea Magistrale in 2007. A credit system was established to quantify the amount of work needed by each course and exam (25 work hours = 1 credit), as well as enhance the possibility to change course of studies or to continue studies in a foreign country after the first 3 years. However, it is now established that there is just a five-year degree for programs such as Law and a six-year degree for Medicine. The University of Rome is one of the world’s oldest universities and was founded by the Catholic Church in A.D. 1303. Often called La Sapienza (“knowledge”), the University of Rome is also Europe’s largest university with 150,000 students.

C. LITERACY RATE
Currently the literacy rate is 98.9; just under the US at 99.0.

A. POLITICAL SYSTEM 1. POLITAL STRUCTURE
The modern state of Italy came into force on 17 March 1861 when King Victor Piedmont-Sardinia signed into law a bill in which he took for himself the title King of Italy.
Italy adopted a new constitution in 1948 after the traumatic experience of Mussolini's fascism and the Second World War. Unusually the two Houses of the Italian Parliament possess the same rights and powers - a particular form of parliamentary democracy known as perfect bicameralism. However, this is far from being the only oddity of the Italian political system.
Italy is something of an aberration in the democratic sweep of Europe. For decades, it somehow combined the maintenance of the same political party in power with constant changes of government while, in more recent years, it has witnessed a fundamental transformation in the pattern of political parties and this process is still in flux.
Meanwhile, in recent years, the electoral system has been changed frequently and substantially and the current version is both immensely complex and hugely controversial.
Politics in Italy is constantly beset with scandal and corruption and, for so long, it has seemed astonishing that the Italian economic system could be so robust, when the Italian political system has been so chaotic – and I write as a half-Italian. It was inevitable that, sooner or later, the weaknesses in the political system would translate into problems for the economic system and so it proved in the Eurozone crisis of 2011.

2. POLITICAL PARTIES
After the end of the Second World War, Italian politics - and even more so its government – was dominated by a single political party Christian-Democrats for more than forty years, while the opposition was led by the Italian Communist Party. The third important party was the Italian Socialist Party.
From 1946-1992, there were no less than 28 governments and all but two of them were headed by a Christian Democrat.

Everything changed in the early 1990s. First, all the governing parties were caught up in a major scandal called the Tangentopoli and dissolved themselves so that the Christian Democratic and the Socialist parties ceased to exist. Second, following referenda of 1993, substantial electoral changes were introduced, shifting the country from an unstable system of proportional representation to a more stable additional member system (although the voters had actually expressed a wish for a majoritarian system similar to the French model. Third, a further electoral change provides a 'prize' to the coalition which secures the largest number of votes in the Chamber of Deputies (which is intended the give the government a stronger base) which has the effect of encouraging political parties to join one of two major coalitions.

The results of all these changes are that, in an effort to maximize votes, simultaneously political parties are splitting and political power is now contested by two broad coalitions bringing together most of these (often small) parties:

Democratic Party – a descendant of the Olive Tree coalition - which originally consisted of 11 parties (Democrats of the Left being the largest) and is led by former Communist Pierluigi Bersani
People of Liberty – a descendant of the Pole of Freedoms – which originally consisted of 8 parties (notably Forza Italia, the National Alliance and the Northern League) and is led by Silvio Berlusconi

In July 2010, supporters of Gianfranco Fini, a co-founder of the People of Liberty movement, set up their own groups in both houses of parliament under the name of Future and Freedom for Italy. Technically this means that Silvio Berlusconi lost his majority in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies.

3. STABILITY OF GOVERNMENT
Institutional stability in Italy is very unstable. The government has changed in the last four elections four times. It is always bouncing from left wing to right wing. Two of these last four governments failed and the country had to go to advanced elections, the reason for the party failure is the continuous disagreements between the same party members and the brake up of some alliances. Although all the government instability, the school system remained efficient. So have many other public owned companies like water and postal services.

4. SPECIAL TAXES
Income of all kinds that is received by resident in Italy is taxable in Italy. So is any income received by non-residents from an Italian source. This general rule is subject to the provisions of international tax treaties, of which Italy has signed up to over 100. This prevents the double taxation of expatriates.
Whether you pay U.S. or Italian taxes on your worldwide income comes down to which country you decide to make your fiscal domicile; in other words, where you are resident for tax purposes. If you live permanently in Italy, and your residence is considered to be your fiscal domicile, you must pay taxes to the Italian government on your worldwide income. Basically, you are considered an Italian resident if you spend more than 183 days each year in Italy.
According to the American Citizens Services (ACS) department of the U.S. State Department, living or earning income outside the U.S. does not relieve a U.S. citizen of the responsibility of filing tax returns. However, Italy’s double taxation agreement with the U.S. ensures that you will not be taxed twice on your income. This would include Social Security pensions, which are subject to U.S. withholding tax.
U.S. citizens living or working abroad may also be entitled to various deductions, exclusions, and credits. Along with federal tax forms, the ACS can provide a list of U.S. tax practitioners working in Italy. 5. ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Under the terms of the 1948 constitution, Italy is divided into 20 regions. Five of these regions (Sicily, Sardinia, Trentino–Alto Adige, Friuli–Venezia Giulia, and the Valle d'Aosta) have been granted semiautonomous status, although the powers of self-government delegated from Rome have not been sufficient to satisfy the militant separatists, especially in Alto Adige. Legislation passed in 1968 granted the remaining 15 regions an even more limited degree of autonomy. All the regions elect regional councils, which have so far been dominated by the Christian Democrats and the Communists, although various regional movements have been gaining ground. The councils, which are elected by universal franchise under a proportional system analogous to that of the parliament at Rome, are empowered to choose regional presidents and regional governing boards. A commissioner in each region represents the federal government. The Italian Constitution defines three levels of local government: * Regions: At present 5 of them (Valle d'Aosta, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Sardinia and Sicily) have a special status and are given more power than the others. The constitutional reform of 2001 gave more power to regions. * Provinces: They mostly care to roads, forests, and education. They had more power in the past. * Communes: The Mayor and staff, caring for the needs of a single town or of a village and neighboring minor towns or villages B. LEGAL SYSTEM 1. The Italian judicial system is based on Roman law, the Napoleonic code and later statutes. It is based on a mix of the adversarial and inquisitorial civil law systems, although the adversarial system was adopted in the Appeal Courts in 1988. Appeals are treated almost as new trials, and three degrees of trial are present. The third is a legitimating trial.

There is only partial judicial review of legislation in the American sense. Judicial review exists under certain conditions in the Constitutional Court, or Corte Costituzionale, which can reject anti-constitutional laws after scrutiny.

The Constitutional Court is composed of 15 judges one of which is the President of the Italian Constitutional Court elected from the court itself. One third of the judges are appointed by the President of the Italian Republic, one-third is elected by Parliament and one-third is elected by the ordinary and administrative supreme courts. The Constitutional Court passes on the constitutionality of laws, and is a post-World War II innovation. Its powers, case load, and frequency of decisions are not as extensive as those of the U.S. Supreme Court. Italy has not accepted compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. 2. Italy uses civil law. Civil law is based on the Roman law. The principle of civil law is to provide all citizens with an accessible and written collection of the laws which apply to them and which judges must follow. It is the most prevalent and oldest surviving legal system in the world. 3. The Italian Delegate for Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights and his office supervise Italy's relations with all the international organizations, particularly the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Patent Office and with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM, with headquarters in Alicante). Their purpose is to prepare agreements and directives in the field of intellectual property with regard to: patents (European Community, PCT); trademarks (and signs and models for public use); copyrights (and related rights); geographic indications (according to the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Agreement); and the fight against international piracy and fakes. C. SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 1. On public transportation, younger people should give up their seats to older people, while men should still give up their seats to women.
Eye contact remains direct and is the way Italians show their interest. Be aware that looking away may be perceived as a sign of boredom or outright rudeness. A romantic interest is usually implied when the eyes of two strangers meet and linger.
Do not presume to seat yourself at a gathering; whenever possible, wait for the host to tell you where to sit.
Placing the hand on the stomach signifies dislike, usually for another person.
Rubbing the chin with the fingertips, and then propelling them forward, is a gesture of contempt.
Contorting the fingers and hand to resemble the devil's horns pointed outward is an obscene gesture. Pointing the fingers inward, however, is a sign to ward off evil.
Pointing with the index and little finger is a gesture used only when wishing someone bad luck.
Slapping one's raised arm above the elbow and thumbing the nose are both considered extremely offensive.
In public, behaviors such as gum chewing, leaning, and slouching are unacceptable. Likewise, it is rare to see Italian businesspeople eating as they walk along a street. Eating ice-cream is the only and perfectly acceptable exception to this. 2. Bourgeoisie- 10% (includes high-class entrepreneurs, managers, politicians, self-employed people, etc.)
White-collar middle class- 17% (includes middle class workers not employed in manual work.)
Urban petit bourgeosie- 14% (mainly made up of shopkeepers, small-business entrepreneurs, self-employed artisans etc.)
Rural petit bourgeoisie- 10% (consists of small entrepreneurs or estate owners who operate in the countryside, mainly in agriculture and forestry.)
Urban working class- 37% (refers to the people employed in manual work.)
Rural working class - 9% (consists of people operating in the primary industry, such as farmers, loggers, fishermen etc.) 3. The Catholic Church is deeply involved in various charitable activities in Italy. In addition to the Church's activities on behalf of the homeless, poor, orphans, prisoners, and others, there are a number of other NGOs operating in Italy. The Italian Red Cross and Caritas, for example, are involved in various projects to resettle refugees in Italy. The Association for Minority People works on behalf of minorities worldwide, including in Italy. COSPE is another agency that works with minorities and refugees, teaching languages to minority ethnic groups in Italy, and with programs in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. 4.

F. BUSINESS PRACTICES AND CUSTOMS
Italian history has played a crucial role in the modern business world. Some of their contributions include banking, insurance, and double-entry bookkeeping. "Time is money" is not a common phrase in Italy. Foreign businessmen/women should be punctual for business appointments, although the Italian executive may not be. Handshakes are common for both sexes, and may include grasping the arm with the other hand. Do not expect quick decisions or actions to take place, as the Italian bureaucracy and legal systems are rather slow. Italian companies often have a rigid hierarchy, with little visible association between the ranks. It is common for everyone to speak simultaneously at Italian gatherings. This applies to business meetings as well as social events. Do not exchange business cards at social occasions; but it is the norm at business functions and meetings. Italians often have two different business cards, one with business credentials for formal relationships, and another with personal information for less formal relationships. Italian business cards are often plain white with black print. When entering a business function, the most senior or eldest person present should always be given special treatment. When invited to someone's home, bring gift-wrapped chocolates, pastries, or flowers. Flowers must be given in even numbers, except for a dozen (12) or half-dozen (6), especially if roses. If you bring wine as a gift, make sure that it is of excellent vintage, as many Italians are wine connoisseurs. Avoid giving anything in a quantity of 17, as 17 is considered to be bad luck, or a doomed number. English is spoken by many businesspeople.

References http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Italy.html http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/italy.htm http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Italianpoliticalsystem.html http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/06296l.htm http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_20072008_EN_Complete.pdf http://www.sangiuseppedemerode.it/ http://www.lifeinitaly.com/religion/religion.asp