Italy lies in the southwestern
region of the European Continent.
Occupying 120,000 square miles, 800
miles long and 100 miles wide, it is a little
larger than Arizona, with coastlines on the
Ligurian, Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas. A population
of 60 million people, primarily Italian, also includes small groups of German – French – Slovene and Albanian-Italians. The climate is mild Mediterranean and cold northern winters in mostly rugged and mountainous terrain. Literacy is 98%. Education is compulsory for 14 years. Industry and commerce employ 61 percent of the people, nearly 23 million. Italy has the highest population density in Europe — about 500 people per square mile. Although Catholicism is the major religion, all religious faiths are provided equal freedom before the law by the constitution.
Greeks settled in the southern tip of the Italian Peninsula in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.; Etruscans, Romans, and others inhabited the central and northern mainland. The peninsula subsequently was unified under the Roman Republic. The neighboring islands also came under Roman control by the third century B.C. By the first century A.D., the Roman Empire effectively dominated the Mediterranean world. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the west, in the fifth century A.D., the peninsula and islands were subjected to a series of invasions, and political unity was lost. Italy became an oft-changing succession of small states, principalities, and kingdoms which fought among themselves and were subject to ambitious foreign powers. In 1861, Victor Emmanual II of the House of Savoy was proclaimed King of Italy. Until 1922, Italy was a constitutional monarchy with a parliament elected under limited suffrage. When the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum, Italy became and remains a democratic republic since June 2, 1946.
The diverse nature of the ethnic background of Tucsonans is evident after a short visit. We are proud of the part Italian Americans played in the development of Tucson both physically and culturally. They brought with them the culture and talents of Petrarch, Tasso, Ariosto, Boccacio, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Monteverdi, Palestrina, Vivaldi, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Michelangelo, DaVinci and Donatelo to influence the development of Tucson and surrounding Pima County. The largest immigration to the United States came in the early 1900’s. Father Eusebio Francesco Chini Kino, a Jesuit missionary who was born in Segno, Tyrol, Italy, in 1645, is the earliest Italian of record to the Tucson area. His assignments brought him to Arizona in 1691. The mission San Xavier del Bac, near Tucson, was established in the year 1700 by his efforts. |
