Traditional Sports

1. TraditionalSports

2. Italy ispopularfor some sport suchas football because the Italian national football team, called Azzurri for their blue shirts, is one of the best national teams in the world as it has won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006).

3. FORMULA 1 Formula 1 isverypopularbecauseof the Ferrari, whichis a carcompletelydesigned and built in Italy. The company islocated in Maranello. The officialcar race trackis in Monza, wherefans, comingfromevery part in Italy, join and support the Red Ferrari.

4. Moto GP MotoGP is another popular sport. The Italian circuit is the Mugello one, which is in Emilia Romagna, where the most important Italian pilots were born. In this region there is a strong passion for motorbikes as it is practiced by the drivers since they were children.

5. Cycling Cycling is another sport, practiced by a lot of people also as amateur sport. In Italy there is the Girod'Italia which is an annual bicycle race. It is as the same as Tour de France and Vuelta de España. This tour lasts 3 weeks and it is usually held towards the end of May and beginning of June. It is performed throughout all Italy and it finishes in Milan. The winner of each cycling stage receives the pink shirt.

6. Butthere are alsoothersportsthat are so oldwhoseexistenceweItaliansignorelike:

7. CALCIO STORICO FIORENTINO CalcioStoricoFiorentino which is a football match played in Florence since XIV century. It is considered the father of football as it is similar to it. The match is played on a sand field and lasts 50 minutes. It is played by two teams whose objective is to throw the ball into the net using feet or hands.

8. TROTTOLA Trottola, in English spinning top, consists of launching the top on a limited ground. It is a challenge between two players in which each of them can bump the opponent’s top in order to make it fall or to get it out of the limited space. The looser has to pay his forfait.

9. TIRO ALLA FUNE Tiroallafune, in English tug of war, consists of pulling a rope. It is played by two teams of 8 players. The players have to be of the same weight and the minimum age to take part in is 15.

10. LANCIO DEL RUZZOLONE The word ruzzolone derives from ruzzolare which means to roll. It is a wooden disc with a spool and handle. The trackisabout 500 meters. The game consistsofthrowing the ruzzolone from the startingpointof the trackto the destination, with the fewestnumberofthrows. It's a veryold game dating back to the XV century. Originally a pieceofcheesewasusedinsteadof the ruzzolone. This game isstillplayed. The winnerreceivesas a prize the opponent’s cheese.

11. BOCCE SU STRADA Bocciasustrada, in English road bowl is played in all the Italian regions. It is played on road individually or in teams and consists of a bowl of iron of 1 kg. The bowl is thrown three times. The player or team that covers more road is the winner.

12. LIPPA Lippa is a small wooden piece which has to be hit with a stick by the player. The winner is the person who throws the wooden piece as far as possible.

13. Other sports like lippa are rebatta and fiolet, in which the player has to hit with a stick a small ball.

14. Othertraditionalsports are “tiro con la fionda” (slingshot) e “tiro con la balestra” (crossbow).

15. Famous people of Italy Italy is a countryrich in history, culture and art. We introduce some people representingtheseareas.

16. Romulus and Remus Romulus and Remus are the founders of Rome. According to the legend when they were baby they were abandoned. They were saved and feed by a she wolf. Then a shepherd found them and fostered them to manhood. They decided to found a new town and had a quarrel about its location. Romulus killed Remus and founded the new town, whose name is Rome, after himself. This was the first step to the Roman Empire.

17. Italianartists Italian Renaissance Raffaello Michelangelo Leonardo

18. Raffaello RaffaelloSanzioUrbino, was painter and architect. He started to work very young . He worked mainly in Florence and his masterpieces are: "Coronation of the Virgin", the "Marriage of the Virgin” and painting frescoes in the Vatican Stanze. He exploited the perspective in almost every aspect of architectural illusionism.

19. Michelangelo Michelangelo Buonarroti was a sculptor, painter and architect. His style is characterized by a strong sense of sculpture even in his painting works.

20. Hismostimportantworks are : “David”, Florence. “Pietà”, Vaticane, Rome “The Judgemen”, SistineChapel, Rome

21. Leonardo Da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci was painter, engineer and scientist. L’UltimaCena was one of his most famous paintings even if his masterpiece is “Gioconda” also known as “Monna Lisa”. Leonardo was also interested in human anatomy and birds and made a series of essays and drawings about the possibility of human flight. He was the first to make some study about optics, as well.

22. Science Past and Present Galileo Galilei Rita Levi Montalcini

23. Galileo Galilei Galileo Galilei was physicist, philosopher, astronomer and mathematician. He is considered the father of modern science. He perfected the telescope thanks to which he confirmed the Copernican theory showing for the first time that the planets revolve around the sun and not the opposite. He made many important astronomical discoveries and observations like the moon morphology . He created the scientific method which consists of four phases: 1 - to observe nature; 2 - to write about what you have observed; 3 - to propose a general theory; 4 - to test the theory with experiment.

24. Rita Levi Montalcini Rita Levi Montalcini was a greatscientistwhomade a lotofinvestigationsabout NGF , nervegrowthfactor. Herinvestigationshelped the understandingofdiseaselikecancer , Alzheimer and Parkinson. That’s whyshereceived the Nobel Prizeformedecine in 1986.

25. Music ClassicmusicModernmusic Verdi Pavarotti Pausini Ramazzotti Bocelli Puccini Rossini

26. Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer. He is considered with Richard Wagner the most influential composer of operas of the nineteenth century. His most famous works are influenced by popular culture and they are Rigoletto, La traviata, Nabucco, and Aida. The last 10th October was his birth bicentenary, which was celebrated all over the world.

27. Puccini and Rossini After Verdi the most important composers are Puccini and Rossini.Puccini’smost important operas are: La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot. Rossini’ s masterpieces are: The Barber of Sevilla and William Tell.

28. Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti was a popular tenor in all over the world thanks to his voice, intense and shrill, as well as for being a friendly and communicative person.He sang with great artists like Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. They were called “The Three Tenors”. They performed in a lot of concerts all over the world.

29. Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli is a tenor, considered the heir to Pavarotti. He began his career at the Italian Sanremo Musical Festival. Since that moment his performances are characterized by worldwide tours in collaboration with famous foreign singers.

30. Laura Pausini Laura Pausini is a singer-songwriter. In her career she has won the most prestigious international awards. She took part in some international music events like the concert in New York dedicated to September 11th

31. Ramazzotti Eros Ramazzotti is another singer- songwriter. He is known abroad thanks to his album “Dove c’èmusica” and he was on the top spot in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Sweden and the USA.

32. CINEMA Federico Fellini Sofia Loren

33. Federico Fellini was an Italianfilm director and scriptwriter. He is considered one of the most influential film directors of the 20th century. He won the highest number of Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film in the history.He directed La Dolce Vitathat won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1960 Cannes Film Festivaland the Oscar for Best Costumes.

34. Sophia Loren is an actress. She started her career very young and she became a sex symbol. She acted in many films directed by Vittorio De Sica : “La ciociara”, in which she played a dramatic role and thanks to which she won the Oscar for Best Actress, “Ieri, oggi, domani” and “Matrimonioall’italiana”, for which she received a second Oscar nomination.

35. Fashion Dolce & Gabbana Valentino Giorgio Armani

36. Valentino Valentino, is the founder of the Valentino spa brand and company. His style is classic and he became so famous in the world for his red dresses.

37. Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana are founders of an Italian luxury fashion house that started in Milan in 1985 with their first women’s collection.

38. Giorgio Armani Giorgio Armani, knownas “Re Giorgio” (King Giorgio), arrived on the scene withhisradicalnewsuits, menswearknownas the Armani Way. His style issensual and simple and hasbecame a way of life.

39. Business Enzo Ferrari Gianni Agnelli

40. Enzo Ferrari Enzo Ferrari wasanengineer, businessman and also a pilot. Hewas the founderof the Ferrari car company in Maranello and of the Ferrari Stableconcerning the car race Formula 1.

41. Gianni Agnelli Gianni Agnelli was a businessman, the main shareholder and manager of FIAT. Known even such as “The Lawyer”, Agnelli represented the most prestigious figure of the Italian economy as he tried and succeed in making Fiat international thanks to the collaboration with other foreign car companies. He is also remembered as the president of Juventus F.C.