Did You Know

Interesting Facts about Italy

Trivia, oddities, and curious tidbits about Italy.

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Did You Know?

20 curious facts about Italy.

Venice is a city in Italy. People there often travel along the city's canals in boats called gondolas.
The Colosseum is the most famous monument of Ancient Rome. Its original name is Flavian Amphitheater. It was started by the Emperor Vespasian between 70 and 76 AD, and completed by his son Titus in 80 AD. The Colosseum was dedicated the year after Vespasian's death by Titus. They celebrated the opening by holding 100 days worth of games there. It was built on the site where Nero had had a huge villa for himself. Vespasian wanted to build something for the people rather than for himself. It got its popular name, the Colosseum, because it was built near where Nero had erected a huge statue, or colossus of himself. It showed him as the god of the sun. It was 100 feet high, and it was the largest gilded bronze statue in antiquity. It was later moved away. It took 24 elephants to move it. All over the empire, Romans enjoyed going to the theater to see concerts and plays, and to the stadium to watch chariot races and the amphitheater to watch bloody sports. Going to the amphitheater (Colosseum) was probably the most popular. Gladiatorial combats, fights with beasts and other fights were held in the Colosseum. The Colosseum was big enough to hold the whole population of a town--as many as 50,000 people would sometimes spend the whole day there watching sports. The games were really bloody and for four centuries, men died as an entertainment for the crowd. Gladiators went to training schools; most of them were slaves and criminals. At first there were fights to the death between wild animals: bear against buffalo, buffalo against elephant, and elephant against rhinoceros. Sometimes there would even be fights between men and tame beasts. These fights were called venationes. The Amphitheater is built of travertine outside, and of tufa and brick in the interior. It had Greek columns decorating the outside, but these did not support the architecture. The Colosseum had a circumference of 527m and it was 50m high. There were 80 entrances, all numbered except for the four main entrances which were wider than the others and were reserved for the Emperor. It was designed so that the crowd could get out in five minutes. The interior was divided into three parts: the arena, the podium, and the cavea. Now more than two-thirds of the original building has been removed and the rows of the seats in the cavea are missing. It is very similar to other amphitheaters except this one is much bigger.
The Tower of Pisa is the bell tower of the Cathedral. It's construction began in the August of 1173 and continued (with two long interruptions) for about two hundred years, in full fidelity to the original project, whose architect is still uncertain. In the past, it was widely believed that the inclination of the Tower was part of the project ever since its beginning, but now we know that it is not so. The Tower was designed to be vertical and started to incline during its construction.
The Northern League, a northern separatist party, wants to separate from the south. They would call their new state Padania. The Northern League does not represent the views of all Northerners.

There is no national child care system in Italy. About 7% of parents use private daycare. The daycare centres are called nidi (nests).
More than 70% of the population of Italy live in urban areas.
Since the days of Ancient Rome, the marble quarries of the Apuane Alps of Tuscany have produced much of the world's marble. The region's best marble comes from Massa Carrara. This was the marble the Renaissance artist Michelangelo used to carve beautiful sculptures like La Pietà
Every year on the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist, June 24, an unusual soccer game is played in Florence. The 16th century piazza of Santa Croce is covered with sand and 4 teams of 27 people play the rough game of Calcio Fiorentino in medieval clothing. The teams represent rival neighbourhoods. The prize is a white calf.
The Code of Health was written in verse by Giovanni da Milano in Salerno in the 12th century. For a long time it was used as the standard medical text.
Legend says four learned men, a Greek, a Latin, an Arab and a Hebrew, founded the world's first school of medicine in Salerno, Italy. Benedictine monks ran the school from the 10th century onwards. People from all over the world came to teach and learn at the school. Its importance declined during the 14th century.

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