Culture of Italy

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Italy is considered the birthplace of Western civilization and a cultural superpower.Italy has been the starting point of phenomena of international impact such as the Magna Graecia, the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, the Romanesque, the Renaissance, the Baroque, the neo-classicism, the Risorgimento and the European integration. During its history, the nation has given birth to an enormous number of notable people.

Both the internal and external faces of Western culture were born on the Italian peninsula, whether one looks at the history of the Christian faith, civil institutions (such as the Senate), philosophy, law,art, science, or social customs and culture.

Italy was home to many well-known and influential civilizations, including the Etruscans, Samnites and the Romans, while also hosting colonies from important foreign civilizations like the Phoenicians and Greeks, whose influence and culture had a large impact through the peninsula. Etruscan and Samnite cultures flourished in Italy before the emergence of the Roman Republic, which conquered and incorporated them. Phoenicians and Greeks established settlements in Italy beginning several centuries before the birth of Christ, and the Greek settlements in particular developed into thriving classical civilizations. The Greek ruins in southern Italy are perhaps the most spectacular and best preserved anywhere.

For more than 2,000 years Italy experienced migrations and invasions and was divided into numerous independent states until 1861 when it became a nation-state.Due to this comparatively late unification, and the historical autonomy of the regions that comprise the Italian peninsula, many traditions and customs that are now recognized as distinctly Italian can be identified by their regions of origin. Despite the political and social isolation of these regions, Italy's contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of Europe and the world remain immense.

The famous elements of Italian culture are its art, music, style, and iconic food. Italy was the birthplace of opera,and for generations the language of opera was Italian, irrespective of the nationality of the composer. Po[CENSORED]r tastes in drama in Italy have long favored comedy; the improvisational style known as the Commedia dell'arte began in Italy in the mid-16th centuryand is still performed today. Before being exported to France, the famous Ballet dance genre also originated in Italy.

The country boasts several world-famous cities. Rome was the ancient capital of the Roman Empire and seat of the Pope of the Catholic Church. Florence was the heart of the Renaissance, a period of great achievements in the arts at the end of the Middle Ages.Other important cities include Turin, which used to be the capital of Italy, and is now one of the world's great centers of automobile engineering. Milan is the industrial, financial and fashion capital of Italy. Venice, with its intricate canal system, attracts tourists from all over the world especially during the Venetian Carnival and the Biennale. Naples, with the largest historic city centre in Europe and the oldest continuously active public opera house in the world (Teatro di San Carlo).

Italy is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (54) to date,and according to one estimate the country is home to half the world's great art treasures.Overall, the nation has an estimated 100,000 monuments of any sort (churches, cathedrals, archaeological sites, houses and statues).

Italian art has influenced several major movements throughout the centuries and has produced several great artists, including painters, architects and sculptors.

Today, Italy has an important place in the international art scene, with several major art galleries, museums and exhibitions; major artistic centers in the country include Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Turin, Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Lecce and other cities. Italy is home to 54World Heritage Sites, the largest number of any country in the world.

Italy was the main centre of artistic developments throughout the Renaissance (1300-1600), beginning with the Proto-Renaissance of Giottoand reaching a particular peak in the High Renaissance of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, whose works inspired the later phase of the Renaissance, known as Mannerism. Italy retained its artistic dominance into the 17th century with the Baroque (1600-1750). Cultural tourism and Neoclassicism (1750-1850) became a major prop to an otherwise faltering economy. Both Baroque and Neoclassicism originated in Rome.and were the last Italian-born styles that spread to all Western art.

However, Italy maintained a presence in the international art scene from the mid-19th century onwards, with cultural movements such as the Macchiaioli, Futurism, Metaphysical, Novecento Italiano, Spatialism, Arte Povera, and Transavantgarde.

   

Architectural ruins from antiquity throughout Italy testify to the greatness of cultures past. The history of architecture in Italy is one that begins with the ancient styles of the Etruscans and Greeks, progressing to classical Roman,then to the revival of the classical Roman era during the Renaissance and evolving into the Baroque era. During the period of the Italian Renaissanceit had been customary for students of architecture to travel to Rome to study the ancient ruins and buildings as an essential part of their education.

the Arch of Constantine in Rome.

Old St. Peter's Church (begun about A.D. 330) was probably the first significant early Christian basilica, a style of church architecture that came to dominate the early Middle Ages. Old St. Peter's stood on the site of the present St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The first significant buildings in the medieval Romanesque style were churches built in Italy during the 800's. Several outstanding examples of the Byzantine architectural style of the Middle East were also built in Italy. The most famous Byzantine structure is the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice.

The greatest flowering of Italian architecture took place during the Renaissance. Filippo Brunelleschi made great contributions to architectural design with his dome for the Cathedral of Florence. Leon Battista Alberti was another early Renaissance architect whose theories and designs had an enormous influence on later architects.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of Italian Renaissance architecture was St. Peter's Basilica, originally designed by Donato Bramante in the early 16th century. Andrea Palladio influenced architects throughout western Europe with the villas and palaces he designed in the middle and late 16th century.

The Baroque period produced several outstanding Italian architects in the 17th century especially known for their churches. The most important architects included Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini. Numerous modern Italian architects, such as Renzo Piano, are famous worldwide.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries Italy was affected by the Neoclassical architectural movement. Everything from villas, palaces, gardens, interiors and art began to be based on Roman and Greek themes,and buildings were also widely themed on the Villa Capra "La Rotonda", the masterpiece by Andrea Palladio.

the EUR in Rome is a perfect example of modern Italian architecture

Italian modern and contemporary architecture refers to architecture in Italy during 20th and 21st centuries.

During the Fascist period the so-called "Novecento movement" flourished, with figures such as Gio Ponti, Peter Aschieri, Giovanni Muzio. This movement was based on the rediscovery of imperial Rome. Marcello Piacentini, who was responsible for the urban transformations of several cities in Italy, and remembered for the disputed Via della Conciliazione in Rome, devised a form of "simplified Neoclassicism".

The fascist architecture (shown perfectly in the EUR buildings) was followed by the Neoliberty style (seen in earlier works of Vittorio Gregotti) and Brutalist architecture (Torre Velasca in Milan group BBPR, a residential building via Piagentina in Florence, Leonardo Savioli and works by Giancarlo De Carlo).

 

Edited April 11, 2019 by -Dark*
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