Big Old Boot by Matthew Lorenz

1. Big Old Bootby Matthew Lorenz

2. Geography and Climate • Italy is a peninsula at the southern part of Europe • Italy is surrounded by the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas. • Northern Italy has warm summers and frigid winters • Southern Italy has hot summers and mild winters • Italy has mountains running through it called the Alps • The area of Italy is 116,324 square miles • There are small amounts of usable farmland • The capitol of Italy is Rome • Around 16 million people live in Italy and most of them speak Italian and English

3. Definitely Developed • Italy is a developed country • Their gross domestic product per capita is 30,100 U.S. dollars • Their unemployment rate is 10% but the U.S. is 9% • Their poverty rate is a shocking 4% compared to the U.S. at 15%

4. Italian Cultures • Italy has some of the highest rated food • Most people know the main food pizza, pasta, tortellini, and ravioli but considering Italy is a peninsula they also eat fish • 15 percent of Italian’s diet is fish • Among strangers, a firm handshake and direct eye contact is accepted, and as you become more familiar to someone, air kissing on both cheeks is the expected method of greeting • Italy is considered a beautiful country with famous cities and art • In 753 BC was the time period believed when the capital, Rome, was founded

5. Current events • There was no clear winner in the recent presidential election • Because of this election uncertainty Italy's GDP per capita is decreasing by 2.9% • The United States Is worried about this because Italy's third most important export partner is the United States