Italy
Italy the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Austria and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 and has a temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe. Due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, Italy has been home to a myriad of peoples and cultures. In addition to the various ancient peoples dispersed throughout modern-day Italy, the most famous of which being the Indo-European Italics who gave the peninsula its name, beginning from the classical era and Carthaginians founded colonies in insular Italy and Genoa, Greeks established settlements in the so-called Magna Graecia, while Etruscans and Celts inhabited central and northern Italy respectively; the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People.
The Roman Republic conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the peninsula, in some cases through the establishment of federations, the Republic expanded and conquered parts of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. By the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became the leading cultural and religious centre of Western civilisation, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Italy's technology, economy and literature flourished. Italy remained the metropole of the Roman Empire; the legacy of the Roman Empire endured its fall and can be observed in the global distribution of culture, governments and the Latin script. During the Early Middle Ages, Italy endured sociopolitical collapse and barbarian invasions, but by the 11th century, numerous rival city-states and maritime republics in the northern and central regions of Italy, rose to great prosperity through shipping and banking, laying the groundwork for modern capitalism.
These independent statelets served as Europe's main trading hubs with Asia and the Near East enjoying a greater degree of democracy than the larger feudal monarchies that were consolidating throughout Europe. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science and art. Italian culture flourished, producing famous scholars and polymaths such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Machiavelli. During the Middle Ages, Italian explorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, John Cabot and Giovanni da Verrazzano discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery. Italy's commercial and political power waned with the opening of trade routes that bypassed the Mediterranean. Centuries of infighting between the Italian city-states, such as the Italian Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, left the region fragmented, it was subsequently conquered and further divided by European powers such as France and Austria.
By the mid-19th century, rising Italian nationalism and calls for independence from foreign control led to a period of revolutionary political upheaval. After centuries of foreign domination and political division, Italy was entirely unified in 1871, establishing the Kingdom of Italy as a great power. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Italy industrialised, namely in the north, acquired a colonial empire, while the south remained impoverished and excluded from industrialisation, fuelling a large and influential diaspora. Despite being one of the main victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil, leading to the rise of a fascist dictatorship in 1922. Participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in military defeat, economic destruction and the Italian Civil War. Following the liberation of Italy and the rise of the resistance, the country abolished the monarchy, reinstated democracy, enjoyed a prolonged economic boom and, despite periods of sociopolitical turmoil became a developed country.
Today, Italy is considered to be one of the world's most culturally and economically advanced countries, with the sixth-largest worldwide national wealth. Its advanced economy ranks eighth-largest in the world and third in the Eurozone by nominal GDP. Italy owns the third-largest central bank gold reserve, it has a high level of human development, it stands among the top countries for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military and diplomatic affairs. Italy is a founding and leading member of the European Union and a member of numerous international institutions, including the UN, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the WTO, the G7, the G20, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Council of Europe, Uniting for Consensus, the Schengen Area and many more; as a reflection
Lugano
Lugano is a city in southern Switzerland in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino bordering Italy. It has a population of 63,494, an urban agglomeration of over 145,000; the 9th largest Swiss city, it is the largest in Ticino and largest with an Italian speaking majority outside of Italy. The city lies on Lake Lugano, surrounded by the mountains of the Lugano Prealps; the eastern part of the city shares a border with Italy. The toponym is first recorded in 804, in the form Luanasco, in 874 as Luano, from 1189 as Lugano. German-language variants of the name were Lowens, Lauwis, Louwerz; the local Lombard form of the name is rendered Lügàn. The etymology of the name is uncertain, suggestions include derivation from lucus, from a vulgar Latin lakvannus and from the god Lugus; the blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a cross throughout argent, between the upper case serif letters "L", "V", "G" and "A". The coat of arms dates from around 1200; the four letters on the coat of arms are an abbreviation of the name Lugano.
The shores of Lake Lugano have been inhabited since the Stone Age. Within the modern city limits a number of ground stones or quern-stones have been found. In the area surrounding Lugano, items from the Copper Age and the Iron Age have been found. There are Etruscan monuments at Davesco-Soragno and Viganello. Graves with jewelry and household items have been found in Aldesago, Davesco and Pregassona along with Celtic money in Viganello; the region around Lake Lugano was settled by the Romans by the 1st century BC. There was an important Roman city north of Lugano at Bioggio. There are fewer traces of the Romans in Lugano, but several inscriptions and coins indicate that some Romans lived in what would become Lugano; the first written mention of a settlement at Lugano can be found in documents, which are of disputed authenticity, with which the Longobard king Liutprand ceded various assets located in Lugano to the Church of Saint Carpophorus in Como in 724. Other documents, dating from 804 and 844 refer to Lake Lugano as Laco Luanasco, an act of 984 indicates Lugano as a market town.
During the fighting between Guelphs and Ghibellines and the new disputes between Como and Milan, during the 14th and 15th centuries, Lugano was the scene of clashes between opposing forces. After a long rule by the Rusca family, Lugano was freed from the domination of Como, taken over in 1335 by the Visconti. At the same time the link between town and the valley strengthened. By 1405–06 documents attest to a vallis comunitas Lugani et, a governing body, independent of Como; the new community included the parishes of Lugano, Riva San Vitale and Capriasca. In 1416 the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, conquered the region of Lugano and the Rusca valley and made it a fief. A year Lugano's freedoms were first documented in a series of statutes modeled on those of Como; the town was able to secure complete independence. Between 1433 and 1438 the Duke of Milan, Aloisio Sanseverino sat as a feudal lord over Lugano, he compensated the Rusca family with the ownership of Locarno. Under the reign of his heirs in the following decades rebellions and riots broke out, which lasted until the French invasion of 1499.
It was the object of continuous disputes between the Dukes of Como and Milan until it became a Swiss dominion in 1513. Swiss control lasted until 1798 when Napoleon conquered the Old Swiss Confederation and created the Helvetic Republic. In 1746, the Agnelli brothers opened the first printing bookshop in Lugano, they began publishing the newspaper Nuove di diverse corti e paesi in 1748 and changed its name to Gazzetta di Lugano in 1797. The newspaper was read in north and central Italy, it supported the cause of the Jansenists against the Jesuits and therefore was banned in 1768 in the territory of the Papal States. It was open to the themes of the American Revolutionary War, it was the first newspaper in the Italian language to publish an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence of 1776. After the death of Abbot Gian Battista Agnelli in 1788, the editor for more than 40 years, Abbot Giuseppe Lodovico Maria Vanelli took over the paper. Under Abbot Vanelli, it supported the revolutionary ideas from France, which drew protests from the Austrian government in Lombardy.
The publication of the magazine ceased abruptly after edition number 17 of 29 April 1799, following the anti-French riots in Lugano during which the Agnelli printing house was sacked and Abbot Vanelli was shot. Under the Helvetic Republic, Lugano became the capital of the Canton of Lugano; the canton of Lugano unified the former Landvogteien of Lugano, Mendrisio and Valmaggia. However, as with the other cantons of the Helvetic Republic, the autonomy of Lugano was limited, the republic having been founded by Napoleon in order further to centralise power in Switzerland; the canton was led by a Directory of five members, who appointed a "national préfet". The canton was divided between "patriots" supporting the Cisalpine Republic, traditionalist "aristocrats". By 1799 riots broke out in Lugano, the second préfet, Francesco Capra, fled the city. Power passed to a provisional government sympathetic to the Habsburgs. However, French occupation was restored in 1800. Discontent continued and in early 1802 a revolt in Capriasca led to the autumn pronunciamento of Pian Povrò, which declared the independence of Lugano from the Helvetic client republic.
With the Act of Med
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Eligibility varies by country, the voting-eligible population should not be confused with the total adult population. Age and citizenship status are among the criteria used to determine eligibility, but some countries further restrict eligibility based on sex, race, or religion. After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1980s. In general, low turnout is attributed to indifference, or a sense of futility. According to Stanford University political scientists Adam Bonica and Michael McFaul, there is a consensus among political scientists that "democracies perform better when more people vote."Low turnout is considered to be undesirable. As a result, there have been many efforts to increase voter turnout and encourage participation in the political process. In spite of significant study into the issue, scholars are divided on the reasons for the decline.
Its cause has been attributed to a wide array of economic, cultural and institutional factors. Different countries have different voter turnout rates. For example, turnout in the United States 2012 presidential election was about 55%. In both Belgium, which has obligatory attendance, Malta, which does not, participation reaches about 95%. In Belgium there is obligatory attendance, misinterpreted as compulsory voting The chance of any one vote determining the outcome is low; some studies show that a single vote in a voting scheme such as the Electoral College in the United States has an lower chance of determining the outcome. Other studies claim that the Electoral College increases voting power. Studies using game theory, which takes into account the ability of voters to interact, have found that the expected turnout for any large election should be zero; the basic formula for determining whether someone will vote, on the questionable assumption that people act rationally, is P B + D > C, where P is the probability that an individual's vote will affect the outcome of an election, B is the perceived benefit that would be received if that person's favored political party or candidate were elected, D stood for democracy or civic duty, but today represents any social or personal gratification an individual gets from voting, C is the time and financial cost involved in voting.
Since P is zero in most elections, PB is near zero, D is thus the most important element in motivating people to vote. For a person to vote, these factors must outweigh C. Experimental political science has found that when P is greater than zero, this term has no effect on voter turnout. Enos and Fowler conducted a field experiment that exploits the rare opportunity of a tied election for major political office. Informing citizens that the special election to break the tie will be close has little mobilizing effect on voter turnout. Riker and Ordeshook developed the modern understanding of D, they listed five major forms of gratification that people receive for voting: complying with the social obligation to vote. Other political scientists have since added other motivators and questioned some of Riker and Ordeshook's assumptions. All of these concepts are inherently imprecise, making it difficult to discover why people choose to vote. Several scholars have considered the possibility that B includes not only a personal interest in the outcome, but a concern for the welfare of others in the society.
In particular, experiments in which subject altruism was measured using a dictator game showed that concern for the well-being of others is a major factor in predicting turnout and political participation. Note that this motivation is distinct from D, because voters must think others benefit from the outcome of the election, not their act of voting in and of itself. There are philosophical and practical reasons that some people cite for not voting in electoral politics. Robert LeFevre, Francis Tandy, John Pugsley, Frank Chodorov, George H. Smith, Carl Watner, Wendy McElroy, Lysander Spooner are some moderately well-known authors who have written about these reasons. High voter turnout is considered to be desirable, though among political scientists and economists specializing in public choice, the issue is still debated. A high turnout is seen as evidence of the legitimacy of the current system. Dictators have fabricated high turnouts in showcase elections for this purpose. For instance, Saddam Hussein's 2002 plebiscite was claimed to have had 100% participation.
Opposition parties sometimes boycott votes they feel are unfair or illegitimate, or if the election is for a government, considered illegitimate. For example, the Holy See instructed Italian Catholics to boycott national elections for several decades after the creation of the state of Italy. In some countries, there are threats of violence against those who vote, such as during the 2005 Iraq elections, an example of voter suppression. However, some political scientists question the view that high turnout is an implicit endorsement of the system. Mark
Croglio
Croglio is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Croglio is first mentioned in 1335 as burgus de Crolio. Croglio has an area, as of 1997, of 4.38 square kilometers. Of this area, 0.89 km2 or 20.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 3.09 km2 or 70.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.63 km2 or 14.4% is settled, 0.02 km2 or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.05 km2 or 1.1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area and buildings made up 7.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.9%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.5% of the area Out of the forested land, 63.7% of the total land area is forested and 6.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.7% is used for growing crops, while 4.6% is used for orchards or vine crops and 7.1% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water; the municipality is located in the Lugano district in the middle Malcantone valley.
It consists of the settlements of Croglio, Ronco, Madonna del Piano, Barico and Biogno-Beride. Biogno and Beride were two independent municipalities with a shared administration. In 1907, they merged into a single municipality. In 1976 this municipality merged into Croglio. Between 1953-76 the municipality of Croglio was known as Croglio-Castelrotto; the blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a doorless castle gules and in chief a hazel branch with two hazels vert fruited or. Croglio has a population of 854; as of 2008, 15.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has changed at a rate of 4.9%. Most of the population speaks Italian, with German being second most French being third. Of the Swiss national languages, 122 speak German, 20 people speak French, 698 people speak Italian; the remainder speak another language. As of 2008, the gender distribution of the population was 47.5% male and 52.5% female. The population was made up of 341 Swiss men, 63 non-Swiss men.
There were 384 Swiss women, 63 non-Swiss women. In 2008 there were 8 live births to Swiss citizens and 3 births to non-Swiss citizens, in same time span there were 10 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 2 while the foreign population increased by 3. There were 2 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland and 2 Swiss women who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 6 non-Swiss men and 2 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland; the total Swiss population change in 2008 was an increase of 13 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 4 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.1%. The age distribution, as of 2009, in Croglio is. Of the adult population, 77 people or 9.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 122 people or 14.3% are between 30 and 39, 126 people or 14.8% are between 40 and 49, 96 people or 11.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 140 people or 16.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 88 people or 10.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 43 people or 5.1% who are over 80.
As of 2000, there were 372 private households in the municipality, an average of 2.2 persons per household. In 2000 there were 278 single family homes out of a total of 384 inhabited buildings. There were 60 two family buildings and 15 multi-family buildings. There were 31 buildings in the municipality that were multipurpose buildings; the vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2008, was 0.39%. In 2000 there were 479 apartments in the municipality; the most common apartment size was the 5 room apartment of which there were 153. There were 26 single room apartments and 153 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 371 apartments were permanently occupied, while 102 apartments were seasonally occupied and 6 apartments were empty; as of 2007, the construction rate of new housing units was 1.2 new units per 1000 residents. The historical population is given in the following chart: The entire village of Castelrotto is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 30.42% of the vote.
The next three most popular parties were the SP and the Ticino League. In the federal election, a total of 249 votes were cast, the voter turnout was 38.9%. In the 2007 Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 634 registered voters in Croglio, of which 315 or 49.7% voted. 1 blank ballot was cast. The most popular party was the PLRT which received 93 or 29.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were. In the 2007 Consiglio di Stato election, 2 null ballots were cast, leaving 313 valid ballots in the election; the most popular party was the PLRT which received 86 or 27.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; as of 2007, Croglio ha
Early Modern Switzerland
The early modern history of the Old Swiss Confederacy and its constituent Thirteen Cantons encompasses the time of the Thirty Years' War until the French invasion of 1798. The early modern period was characterized by an aristocratic and oligarchic ruling class as well as frequent economic or religious revolts; this period came to be referred to as the Ancien Régime retrospectively, in post-Napoleonic Switzerland. The loosely organized Confederation remained disorganized and crippled by the religious divisions created by the Swiss Reformation. During this period the Confederation gained formal independence from the Holy Roman Empire with support from France, had close relations with France; the early modern period saw the growth of French-Swiss literature, notable authors of the Age of Enlightenment such as the mathematicians of the Bernoulli family and Leonhard Euler of Basel. The Old Swiss Confederacy between phases of expansion consisted of Eight Cantons during 1352–1481, of Thirteen-Cantons Confederation from 1513 until its collapse in 1798.
The Thirteen Cantons thus correspond to the sovereign territories of Early Modern Switzerland. They were listed in a fixed order of precedence, first the eight, old cantons of the "Alliance of the Eight Lieus" of the 14th century confederacy the five cantons which joined after the Burgundian Wars, within these two groups, the more powerful urban cantons were listed first, with Zürich heading the list as the de facto Vorort of the Eight Cantons prior to the Swiss Reformation; the order of precedence, similar but not identical to the modern order, was as follows: Zurich, city canton, since 1351 Berne, city canton, since 1353. The cantonal coats of arms were accompanied by the coats of arms of the close associates of the confederacy, including Biel, the Imperial Abbey of St. Gallen, Imperial City of St. Gallen, the Sieben Zenden, the Three Leagues, the Imperial City of Mulhouse, the Imperial City of Geneva and the Imperial City of Rottweil; the Reformation in Switzerland left the Old Swiss Confederacy divided between two hostile factions.
But still, Switzerland remained a relative "oasis of peace and prosperity" while Europe was torn by the Thirty Years' War. The cities lay low and watched the destruction from afar, the Republic of Zürich investing in building state-of-the-art city ramparts; the cantons had concluded numerous mercenary contracts and defence alliances with partners on all sides. Some of these contracts neutralized each other, which allowed the confederation to remain neutral – in the 1647 Defensionale von Wil, signed under the impression of the Swedes advancing as far as Lake Constance in the winter of 1646/47, the confederates declared "permanent armed neutrality", the historical starting point of Swiss neutrality, which would be re-confirmed by the Congress of Vienna and adhered to throughout the 19th and 20th century conflicts. At the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the Swiss Confederacy attained legal independence from the Holy Roman Empire, although it had been de facto independent since the Swabian War in 1499.
With the support of the Duke of Orléans, prince of Neuchâtel and the head of the French delegation, Johann Rudolf Wettstein, the mayor of Basel, succeeded in getting a formal exemption from the empire for all cantons and associates of the confederacy. During the Thirty Years' War, the Drei Bünde had been caught in the middle of internal and external conflict; because the Leagues were decentralized, conflicts over religion and foreign policy broke out during the war. Following the war the League took steps to strengthen itself; the Valtellina, which had broken from the Three Leagues, became a dependency once again after the Treaty and remained so until the founding of the Cisalpine Republic by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797. Following the Thirty Years' War, as France grew into a great power in Europe, the newly independent Confederation turned to France for trade and protection. In 1663, the Confederation agreed to a new treaty with France which granted Swiss mercenaries certain rights and protections as well as promised French neutrality in Swiss religious conflicts.
However, as a consequence of this treaty Switzerland could do nothing when Louis XIV took Alsace, Franche-Comté and Strasbourg. Following Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Protestants, the Protestant cantons began to favor military service with the Protestant Dutch who were fighting a series of wars against several Europ
Milan
Milan is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, the second-most populous city in Italy after Rome, with the city proper having a population of 1,372,810 while its metropolitan city has a population of 3,245,308. Its continuously built-up urban area has a population estimated to be about 5,270,000 over 1,891 square kilometres; the wider Milan metropolitan area, known as Greater Milan, is a polycentric metropolitan region that extends over central Lombardy and eastern Piedmont and which counts an estimated total population of 7.5 million, making it by far the largest metropolitan area in Italy and the 54th largest in the world. Milan served as capital of the Western Roman Empire from 286 to 402 and the Duchy of Milan during the medieval period and early modern age. Milan is considered a leading alpha global city, with strengths in the field of the art, design, entertainment, finance, media, services and tourism, its business district hosts Italy's stock exchange and the headquarters of national and international banks and companies.
In terms of GDP, it has the third-largest economy among European cities after Paris and London, but the fastest in growth among the three, is the wealthiest among European non-capital cities. Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and one of the "Four Motors for Europe"; the city has been recognized as one of the world's four fashion capitals thanks to several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair, which are among the world's biggest in terms of revenue and growth. It hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015; the city hosts numerous cultural institutions and universities, with 11% of the national total enrolled students. Milan is the destination of 8 million overseas visitors every year, attracted by its museums and art galleries that boast some of the most important collections in the world, including major works by Leonardo da Vinci; the city is served by a large number of luxury hotels and is the fifth-most starred in the world by Michelin Guide.
The city is home to two of Europe's most successful football teams, A. C. Milan and F. C. Internazionale, one of Italy's main basketball teams, Olimpia Milano; the etymology of the name Milan remains uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name Mediolanum planus. However, some scholars believe that lanum comes from the Celtic root lan, meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence Mediolanum could signify the central sanctuary of a Celtic tribe. Indeed, about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France bore the name "Mediolanum", for example: Saintes and Évreux. In addition, another theory links the name to the boar sow an ancient emblem of the city, fancifully accounted for in Andrea Alciato's Emblemata, beneath a woodcut of the first raising of the city walls, where a boar is seen lifted from the excavation, the etymology of Mediolanum given as "half-wool", explained in Latin and in French; the foundation of Milan is credited to two Celtic peoples, the Bituriges and the Aedui, having as their emblems a ram and a boar.
Alciato credits Ambrose for his account. The Celtic Insubres, the inhabitants of the region of northern Italy called Insubria, appear to have founded Milan around 600 BC. According to the legend reported by Livy, the Gaulish king Ambicatus sent his nephew Bellovesus into northern Italy at the head of a party drawn from various Gaulish tribes; the Romans, led by consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, fought the Insubres and captured the city in 222 BC. They conquered the entirety of the region, calling the new province "Cisalpine Gaul" – "Gaul this side of the Alps" – and may have given the site its Latinized Celtic name of Mediolanum: in Gaulish *medio- meant "middle, center" and the name element -lanon is the Celtic equivalent of Latin -planum "plain", thus *Mediolanon meant " in the midst of the plain". In 286 the Roman Emperor Diocletian moved the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Rome to Mediolanum. Diocletian himself chose to reside at Nicomedia in the Eastern Empire, leaving his colleague Maximian at Milan.
Maximian built several gigantic monuments, the large circus, the thermae or "Baths of Hercules", a large complex of imperial palaces and other services and buildings of which fewer visible traces remain. Maximian increased the city area surrounded by a new, larger stone wall encompassing an area of 375 acres with many 24-sided towers; the monumental area had twin towers. From Mediolanum the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, granting tolerance to all religions within the Empire, thus paving the way for Christianity to become the dominant religion of Roman Europe. Constantine had come to Mediolanum to celebrate the wedding of his sister
