ItalyItaly is a beautiful country but is one of those countries which you probably have some questions and preconceptions, before your coming to this special country. A place of olive oil, pasta, wine, mafia and sunshine, roman ruins and renaissance palaces, Italy has a lot to give its tourists. Although some of these conceptions are amazing and interesting, it would be a shame if that was the only thing you come away with. Italy is certainly much more complex and stimulating than these concepts.EATING & DRINKING IN ITALYItaly is a country full of interesting things for the casual tourist and the educated tourist, it has deep Roman Catholic roots. The tourists can stay weeks in important tourist centers without reason to feel bored, but it is equally simple to get off the beaten track. In the north, next to the Alps and the landscapes of the Po river, many cultural gems and highly developed industrial cities fascinate. In this exciting country the people live the "la vita Italiana".Italians are very proud of their cuisine and rightly so, for their food is renowned throughout the world. Italians trace their gastronomicheritage to Romans, Greeks, Etruscans and other Mediterranean peoples who elaborated the methods of raising, refining and preserving foods. Italian cooking is still very regional with the different towns and regions having their own traditions and specialities. Many mouth watering dishes await the intrepid traveller, hundreds of gastronomy specialities, a lot of truly tasty typical products, and all kept very much alive by a modern agricultural system that is careful about preserving the traditional flavours and nutritional values. The persons obtain time to travel and discover their origins and taste the different dishes and delicacies in the many restaurants and taverns all around Italy. You will discover a much wider variety of food compared to the dishes often offered in Italian restaurants abroad.THE ITALIAN LANGUAGEIf you want to complement your meal absolutely, you will want to order a good wine that is free from the chemical processes so much in use today. Italy offers a great range of wines famous all over the world and many people will still enjoy a glass of wine with their meal although there is a tendency to drink wine only on special occasions rather than as an everyday drink. So relax and choose an Italianwine, again, the choice is ample, but always satisfying; the bright whites to go with white meats, the robust r eds for red meats, and then there are the rosés, the sparkling wines, the fortified wines, the liqueurs and the grappas: something to go with every stage of your meal, from an aperitivo at the beginning to a refreshing lemon or strawberry sorbet to round off a perfect evening.Italian is a romance language spoken approximately by 63 million people, principally in Italy and Switzerland. In both of those countries, Italian is an official language. Latin was once the official language in a large part of Europe because the Romans ruled so much of the area. Before the Romans came, people spoke their own languages, and the mixture of these original tongues with Latin produced many of the languages and dialects that are still in use today.Standard Italian language was strongly affected by the Tuscan dialect and is somewhat intermediate between Italo-Dalmatian languages of the South and Gallo-Italian languages of the North. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Out of the Romance languages, Italian is usually considered to be the one most similar to the Latin in terms of vocabulary, though Romanian most closely preserves the declension system of Classical Latinwhile Sardinian is the most conservative in terms of phonology. Italy has 70 million speakers and is a major economic force in Europe and the world.FESTIVALS IN ITALYI taly is a land of beauty and glory. The Italians celebrate Christmas and New Year with great pomp and show. There are hundreds of festivals held every year in nearly every town in Italy. Celebrations, festivals and street parties are a big part of life in Italy.The bright and colorful festivals in Italy all year round, attract a considerable amount of tourists. Even they too get involved deeply in the multiple hues of the festive ambience. Many Italian weekends are spent celebrating food, art, and culture of Italy. Festivals are a way to get in tune with Italian culture. The Italians are more or less always in a festive mood. Every now and then a festive spirit is in the air. The various carnivals, food and wine tasting, Jazz, football, all are parts of the festivities. Italy even hosts a number of international events like, Film Festivals, Dance Festivals and Art Festivals. Towns and cities around the country celebrate with a carnival leading up to the beginning of the religious period of Lent,normally within early February to early March. Well renowned is the Venetian carnival, which is held in the watery city for ten days preceding Ash Wednesday.The festivals are distinguished by food and fun, music and dance. The table laid comprises of mainly, soups, starters, salads, fruits, vegetables, dishes of chicken, turkey and of course desserts, which may include pies, pastries, hot chocolate, ice cream or pudding. During the Rice Festival and Walnut Festival, special dishes like Risotto Con and Rondelli di Polenta con Salsa di Noce respectively, are served. Wine, cheese and pasta are other items served on festivals.ARCHITECTURE IN ITALYItaly is justly renowned for many centuries and styles of stunning architecture. The style of architecture known as Italian was first developed by Filippo Bruneschelli, and flourished during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries; it was an assimilation of classical circular-arch form to modern requirements. In Rome it conformed most to ancient types; in Venice it assumed its most graceful form. It was more suitable to domestic than to ecclesiastical work; but thedome is an impressive feature, and St. Peter's a noble church. The architecture was synonymous with churches. A civil history, a political history, and a history of ideas are juxtaposed with a history of architecture.Italian Renaissance architects based their theories and practices on Classical Roman examples. The Renaissance revival of Classical Rome was as eminent in architecture as it was in literature. A pilgrimage to Rome to study the ancient buildings and ruins, especially the Colosseum and Pantheon, was considered essential to an architect's training. Classical orders and architectural elements such as columns, pilasters, pediments, entablatures, arches, and domes form the vocabulary of Renaissance buildings.。