1.
Italians
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Italians are a nation and ethnic group native to Italy who share a common culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a native tongue. The majority of Italian nationals are speakers of Standard Italian. Italians have greatly influenced and contributed to the arts and music, science, technology, cuisine, sports, fashion, jurisprudence, banking, Italian people are generally known for their localism and their attention to clothing and family values. The term Italian is at least 3,000 years old and has a history that goes back to pre-Roman Italy. According to one of the common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The Etruscan civilization reached its peak about the 7th century BC, but by 509 BC, when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan monarchs, its control in Italy was on the wane. By 350 BC, after a series of wars between Greeks and Etruscans, the Latins, with Rome as their capital, gained the ascendancy by 272 BC, and they managed to unite the entire Italian peninsula. This period of unification was followed by one of conquest in the Mediterranean, in the course of the century-long struggle against Carthage, the Romans conquered Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. Finally, in 146 BC, at the conclusion of the Third Punic War, with Carthage completely destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved, octavian, the final victor, was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate and thereby became the first Roman emperor. After two centuries of rule, in the 3rd century AD, Rome was threatened by internal discord and menaced by Germanic and Asian invaders. Emperor Diocletians administrative division of the empire into two parts in 285 provided only temporary relief, it became permanent in 395, in 313, Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity, and churches thereafter rose throughout the empire. However, he moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople. The last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476 by a Germanic foederati general in Italy and his defeat marked the end of the western part of the Roman Empire. During most of the period from the fall of Rome until the Kingdom of Italy was established in 1861, Odoacer ruled well for 13 years after gaining control of Italy in 476. Then he was attacked and defeated by Theodoric, the king of another Germanic tribe, Theodoric and Odoacer ruled jointly until 493, when Theodoric murdered Odoacer. Theodoric continued to rule Italy with an army of Ostrogoths and a government that was mostly Italian, after the death of Theodoric in 526, the kingdom began to grow weak
2.
Calabria
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Calabria, known in antiquity as Bruttium and formerly as Italia, is a region in Southern Italy and forms the traditionally conceptualized toe of the Italian Peninsula which resembles a boot. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro and its most populated city, and the seat of the Regional Council of Calabria, is Reggio Calabria in the Province of Reggio Calabria. The region is bordered to the north by the Basilicata Region, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, the region covers 15,080 km2 and has a population of just under 2 million. The demonym of Calabria in English is Calabrian, in ancient times Calabria was referred to as Italy. The Romans later extended the name to cover Southern Italy and then the entire peninsula, the region is a long and narrow peninsula which stretches from north to south for 248 km, with a maximum width of 110 km. Some 42% of Calabrias area, corresponding to 15,080 km2, is mountainous, 49% is hilly and it is surrounded by the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. It is separated from Sicily by the Strait of Messina, where the narrowest point between Capo Peloro in Sicily and Punta Pezzo in Calabria is only 3.2 km, three mountain ranges are present, Pollino, La Sila and Aspromonte. All three mountain ranges are unique with their own flora and fauna, the Pollino Mountains in the north of the region are rugged and form a natural barrier separating Calabria from the rest of Italy. Parts of the area are heavily wooded, while others are vast and these mountains are home to a rare Bosnian Pine variety, and are included in the Pollino National Park. The highest point is Botte Donato, which reaches 1,928 metres, the area boasts numerous lakes and dense coniferous forests. La Sila also has some of the tallest trees in Italy which are called the Giants of the Sila, the Sila National Park is also known to have the purest air in Europe. The Aspromonte massif forms the southernmost tip of the Italian peninsula bordered by the sea on three sides and this unique mountainous structure reaches its highest point at Montalto, at 1,995 metres, and is full of wide, man-made terraces that slope down towards the sea. In general, most of the terrain in Calabria has been agricultural for centuries. The lowest slopes are rich in vineyards and citrus fruit orchards, the Diamante citron is one of the citrus fruits. Moving upwards, olives and chestnut trees appear while in the regions there are often dense forests of oak, pine, beech. Calabrias climate is influenced by the sea and mountains, mountain areas have a typical mountainous climate with frequent snow during winter. Erratic behavior of the Tyrrhenian Sea can bring heavy rainfall on the slopes of the region, while hot air from Africa makes the east coast of Calabria dry. The mountains that run along the region also influence the climate, the east coast is much warmer and has wider temperature ranges than the west coast
3.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
4.
Reggio Calabria
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Reggio di Calabria, commonly known as Reggio Calabria listen or simply Reggio in Southern Italy, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, Reggio is located on the toe of the Italian Peninsula and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. It is situated on the slopes of the Aspromonte, a long, about 560,000 people live in the metropolitan area, recognised in 2015 by Italian Republic as a metropolitan city. The region has been subject to earthquakes and it is a major economic center for regional services and transport on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. Reggio, with Naples and Taranto, is home to one of the most important archaeological museums, Reggio is the seat, since 1907, of the Archeological Superintendence of Bruttium and Lucania. The city center, consisting primarily of Liberty buildings, has a development along the coast with parallel streets. The city was an Italian candidate to become the European Capital of Culture. in 2019, during its 3, 500-year history Reggio has often been renamed. Each name corresponds with the major historical phases, Recion. Erythrà, the pre-Greek settlement populated by the Italic people, Rhégion, the Greek city from the archaic age to the Magna Grecia age, from the 8th to the 3rd centuries BC. Febèa, a period under Dionysius II of Syracuse, in the 4th century BC. Regium, its first Latin name, during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, rhègium Julium, as a noble Roman city during the Imperial age. Rivàh, Arabic name under the domination by Emirate of Sicily. Rìsa, under the Normans, between the 11th and 12th centuries, regols, Aragonese name under the Crown of Aragon, in the late 13th century. Reggio or Regio, usual Italian name in the Middle and Modern age, règgio di Calàbria, post Italian Unification. The toponym of the city is derived from Chaldean word Rec or maybe from the Greek one régnȳmi referring to the Straits between Calabria and Sicily as a break in the land. The sculptor Léarchos was at Reggio at the end of the 15th century BC, the land around Reggio was first known as Saturnia, or Neptunia, and later Italia, which in Roman times became the name of the whole Italian peninsula. After Cumae, Reggio is one of the oldest Greek colonies in southern Italy, the colony was settled by the inhabitants of Chalcis in 730 or 743 BC on the site of the older settlement, Erythrà, meaning the Red one. This dated back to the 3rd millennium BC and was established by the Ausones
5.
Messina
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Messina is the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is located near the northeast corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina, opposite Villa San Giovanni on the mainland, according to Eurostat the FUA of the metropolitan area of Messina has, in 2014,277,584 inhabitants. The citys main resources are its seaports, cruise tourism, commerce, the city has been a Roman Catholic Archdiocese and Archimandrite seat since 1548 and is home to a locally important international fair. The city has the University of Messina, founded in 1548 by Ignatius of Loyola, Messina has a light rail system, Tranvia di Messina, that was opened on 3 April 2003. This line is 7.7 kilometres and links the central railway station with the city centre. The city is home to a significant Greek-speaking minority, rooted in its history, founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BC, Messina was originally called Zancle, from the Greek ζάγκλον meaning scythe because of the shape of its natural harbour. A comune of its Metropolitan City, located at the entrance of the Strait of Messina, is to this day called Scaletta Zanclea. In the early 5th century BC, Anaxilas of Rhegium renamed it Messene in honour of the Greek city Messene, the city was sacked in 397 BC by the Carthaginians and then reconquered by Dionysius I of Syracuse. In 288 BC the Mamertines seized the city by treachery, killing all the men, the city became a base from which they ravaged the countryside, leading to a conflict with the expanding regional empire of Syracuse. Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Mamertines near Mylae on the Longanus River, carthage assisted the Mamertines because of a long-standing conflict with Syracuse over dominance in Sicily. When Hiero attacked a second time in 264 BC, the Mamertines petitioned the Roman Republic for an alliance, although initially reluctant to assist lest it encourage other mercenary groups to mutiny, Rome was unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and encroach on Italy. Rome therefore entered into an alliance with the Mamertines, in 264 BC, Roman troops were deployed to Sicily, the first time a Roman army acted outside the Italian Peninsula. At the end of the First Punic War it was a city allied with Rome. In Roman times Messina, then known as Messana, had an important pharos, Messana was the base of Sextus Pompeius, during his war against Octavian. In 1548 St. Ignatius founded there the first Jesuit college in the world, the Christian ships that won the Battle of Lepanto left from Messina, the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, who took part in the battle, recovered for some time in the Grand Hospital. The city reached the peak of its splendour in the early 17th century, under Spanish domination, in 1674 the city rebelled against the foreign garrison. A massive fortress was built by the occupants and Messina decayed steadily, in 1743,48,000 died of plague in the city. In 1783, an earthquake devastated much of the city, and it took decades to rebuild, in 1847 it was one of the first cities in Italy where Risorgimento riots broke out
6.
Tyrrhenian Sea
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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, the sea is bounded by the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, the Italian peninsula to the east, and the island of Sicily. The maximum depth of the sea is 3,785 metres, the Tyrrhenian Sea is situated near where the African and Eurasian Plates meet, therefore mountain chains and active volcanoes such as Mount Marsili are found in its depths. The eight Aeolian Islands and Ustica are located in the part of the sea. On the Southwest, A line running from Cape Lilibeo to the South extreme of Cape Teulada in Sardinia, in the Strait of Bonifacio, A line joining the West extreme of Cape Testa in Sardinia with the Southwest extreme of Cape Feno in Corsica. On the North, A line joining Cape Corse in Corsica, with Tinetto Island and thence through Tino, there are four exits from the Tyrrhenian Sea, The Tyrrhenian Basin is divided into two basins, the Vavilov plain and the Marsili plain. They are separated by the ridge known as the Issel Bridge. Its name derives from the Greek name for the Etruscans, who were said to be emigrants from Lydia, the Etruscans settled along the coast of modern Tuscany and referred to the water as the Sea of the Etruscans. The main ports of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy are, Naples, Palermo, Civitavecchia, Salerno, Trapani, in France the most important port is Bastia. Note that even though the port of Rome is frequently used. Instead, the port of Rome refers to the facilities at Civitavecchia, some 68 km to the northwest of Rome. Giglio Porto is an island port in this area. It rose to prominence, when the Costa Concordia ran aground a few metres off the coast of Giglio, the ship was recently removed and towed to Genoa. In Greek mythology, it is believed that the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea housed the four winds kept by Aeolus, the winds are the Mistral from the Rhône valley, the Libeccio from the southwest, and the Sirocco and Ostro from the south
7.
Ionian Sea
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The Ionian Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, all major islands in the sea belong to Greece. They are collectively referred to as the Ionian Islands, the ones being Corfu, Zakynthos, Kephalonia, Ithaca. There are ferry routes between Patras and Igoumenitsa, Greece, and Brindisi and Ancona, Italy, that cross the east and north of the Ionian Sea, and from Piraeus westward. Calypso Deep, the deepest point in the Mediterranean at −5,267 m, is located in the Ionian Sea, the sea is one of the most seismically active areas in the world. The name Ionian comes from the Greek language Ἰόνιον, Ancient Greek writers, especially Aeschylus, linked it to the myth of Io. In Ancient Greek the adjective Ionios was used as an epithet for the sea because Io swam across it, according to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, the name may derive from Ionians who sailed to the West. There were also narratives about other eponymic legendary figures, according to one version, Ionius was a son of Adrias, according to another, Ionius was a son of Dyrrhachus. When Dyrrhachus was attacked by his own brothers, Heracles, who was passing through the area, came to his aid, the corpse was cast into the sea, which thereafter was called the Ionian Sea. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Ionian Sea as follows, On the North. A line running from the mouth of the Butrinto River in Albania, to Cape Karagol in Corfu, along the North Coast of Corfu to Cape Kephali, from the mouth of the Butrinto River in Albania down the coast of the mainland to Cape Matapan. A line from Cape Matapan to Cape Passero, the Southern point of Sicily, the East coast of Sicily and the Southeast coast of Italy to Cape Santa Maria di Leuca
8.
'Ndrangheta
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The Ndràngheta is organized crime centered in Calabria, Italy. A US diplomat estimated that the narcotics trafficking, extortion. Since the 1950s, the organization has spread towards Northern Italy, according to a 2013 Threat Assessment on Italian Organised Crime of Europol, the Ndrangheta is among the richest and most powerful organised crime groups at a global level. In 1861 the prefect of Reggio Calabria already noticed the presence of so-called camorristi, since the 1880s, there is ample evidence of Ndrangheta-type groups in police reports and sentences by local courts. At the time they were often being referred to as the picciotteria, onorata società or camorra, an 1897 sentence from the court in Palmi mentioned a written code of rules found in the village of Seminara based on honour, secrecy, violence, solidarity and mutual assistance. In the folk culture surrounding Ndrangheta in Calabria, references to the Spanish Garduña often appear, aside from these references, however, there is nothing to substantiate a link between the two organizations. In many areas of Calabria the verb ndranghitiari, from the Greek verb andragathízesthai, the first time the word Ndrangheta was mentioned before a wider audience was by the Calabrian writer Corrado Alvaro in the Corriere della Sera in September 1955. Until 1975, the Ndrangheta restricted their Italian operations to Calabria, mainly involved in extortion and their involvement in cigarette contraband expanded their scope and contacts with the Sicilian Mafia and the neapolitan Camorra. With the arrival of public works in Calabria, skimming off public contracts became an important source of income. Disagreements over how to distribute the spoils led to the First Ndrangheta war killing 233 people, the prevailing factions began to kidnap rich people from northern Italy for ransom. It is believed that John Paul Getty III, kidnapped for ransom in 1973, was one of their victims, the Second Ndrangheta war raged from 1985 to 1991. The bloody six-year war between the Condello-Imerti-Serraino-Rosmini clans and the De Stefano-Tegano-Libri-Latella clans led to more than 600 deaths, the Sicilian Mafia contributed to the end of the conflict and probably suggested the subsequent set up of a superordinate body, called La Provincia, to avoid further infighting. In the 1990s, the organization started to invest in the international drug trade. Deputy President of the parliament of Calabria Francesco Fortugno was killed by the Ndrangheta on 16 October 2005 in Locri. Demonstrations against the organization then ensued, with young protesters carrying banderoles reading Ammazzateci tutti, the national government started a large-scale enforcement operation in Calabria and arrested numerous ndranghetisti including the murderers of Fortugno. The Ndrangheta has recently expanded its activities to Northern Italy, mainly to sell drugs, in May 2007 twenty members of Ndrangheta were arrested in Milan. On 30 August 2007, hundreds of police raided the town of San Luca, over 30 men and women, linked to the killing of six Italian men in Germany, were arrested. On 9 October 2012, following a long investigation by the central government the City Council of Reggio Calabria headed by Mayor Demetrio Arena was dissolved for alleged ties to the group
9.
Piromalli 'ndrina
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The Piromalli ndrina is one of the most powerful clans of the Ndrangheta, a criminal and mafia-type organisation in Calabria, Italy. The ndrina is based in Gioia Tauro on the Tyrrhenian coast, the Piromallis are allied with their relatives of the Molè family, also from Gioia Tauro. Often they are referred to as the Piromalli-Molè clan, the Piromalli clan contains more than 200 members. The Piromalli-Molé clan was involved in a feud with the Ventre-Carlino clan in the 1950s, in which Antonino Piromalli. The clan rose to prominence under the rule of the brothers Mommo Piromalli and their senior position was recognized by all other family chiefs and their advice was in most cases followed without protest. When Girolamo Piromalli died of causes in 1979, his brother succeeded him as head of the clan. Since the mid-1970s, according to several pentiti, members of the Piromalli family, in Gioia Tauro, blood relatives of the Piromalli long represented the interest of the clan in the city council. Peppe Piromalli was captured on February 24,1984, at age 83, he died on February 19,2005 and his nephew Giuseppe Piromalli succeeded him. Giuseppe was a fugitive since 1993 and included in the list of most wanted fugitives in Italy until his capture in March 1999, while in the strict Article 41-bis prison regime he nevertheless keeps on conducting his business and direct the clan outside. The Piromalli clan tried to relax the strict regime for their boss, one of the plots was to deliver votes to Berlusconi’s People of Freedom coalition during the election campaign in 2008 in return for a relaxation of Piromalli’s prison stature. Micciché asked two leading members of the Piromalli clan to visit Marcello DellUtri – Berlusconis right-hand man – at his Milan office. The subcontracts for the steelwork in Gioia Tauro, whose value reached the astronomic amount of US$3.8 billion were largely distributed on the basis of territorial criteria. More than half the contracts were granted to the Piromalli family, the Ndrangheta exploited the construction of the steelworks until the project was abandoned when the government decided there was no economic base for it. In 1977 disagreements about business interests emerged between Piromalli and the De Stefano clan, a hit squad headed by Peppe Piromalli killed the clans boss Giorgio De Stefano. Some 1,000 people were killed in clan wars over the construction contracts, the Piromalli clan managed to condition the management of the new container terminal in the port of Gioia Tauro. Additionally, the Piromalli’s desired contracts, subcontracts, and jobs in the two firms that run the port, as well as other companies in the surrounding area. Despite subscribing to an anti corruption pact with the government, the managers of both Contship and Medcenter gave in to the demands, “It effectively eliminated legitimate competition from companies not influenced or controlled by the mafia in providing goods and services, performing construction work and hiring personnel. And it threw a shadow over the behaviour of government and other public bodies. ”The Piromalli’s were allied with their relatives of the Molè family
10.
J. Paul Getty
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Jean Paul Getty was an American industrialist.2 billion. At his death, he was more than $2 billion. A book published in 1996 ranked him as the 67th richest American who ever lived, based on his wealth as a percentage of the national product. Despite his wealth, Getty was notably frugal and he famously negotiated his grandsons ransom. He established the J. Paul Getty Trust in 1953, the trust is the worlds wealthiest art institution, and operates the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Foundation, the Getty Research Institute, and the Getty Conservation Institute. Getty was born to Sarah Catherine McPherson Risher and George Getty and he enrolled at the University of Southern California, then at University of California, Berkeley. In 1913, he obtained a diploma in Economics and Political Science from the University of Oxford and he spent his summers between studies working on his fathers oil fields in Oklahoma. Running his own oil company in Tulsa, he made his first million by June 1916, the Nancy Taylor No.1 Oil Well Site near Haskell, Oklahoma, was crucial to his early financial success. This oil well was the first to be drilled by J. P. Getty, in 1919, Getty returned to business in Oklahoma. During the 1920s, he added about $3 million to his sizable estate. His succession of marriages and divorces so distressed his father, however, just before he died in 1930, George Franklin Getty said that Jean Paul would ultimately destroy the family company. In 1967 the billionaire merged these holdings into Getty Oil, beginning in 1949, Getty paid Ibn Saud $9.5 million in cash and $1 million a year for a 60-year concession to a tract of barren land near the border of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. No oil had ever been discovered there, and none appeared until four years had passed, from 1953 onward, Gettys gamble produced 16,000,000 barrels a year, which contributed greatly to the fortune responsible for making him one of the richest people in the world. Getty increased the wealth, learning to speak Arabic, which enabled his unparalleled expansion into the Middle East. Getty owned the controlling interest in nearly 200 businesses, including Getty Oil, associates identified his overall wealth at between $2 billion and $4 billion. It didnt come easily, perhaps inspiring Gettys widely quoted remark—The meek shall inherit the earth, J. Paul Getty was an owner of Getty Oil, Getty Inc. George F. Getty Inc. He moved to Britain in the 1950s and became a prominent Anglophile, Getty lived the rest of his life in the British Isles, dying of heart failure at the age of 83 on June 6,1976. Getty was married and divorced five times, timmy died at age 12, and Getty, living in England apart from his wife and son back in the U. S. did not attend the funeral
