You may love Italy for its food and culture, but even you may not be fully aware of how great Italy really is. For instance, did you know that Italy is the country with the most UNESCO sites in the world.? Or How much pasta does an average Italian consume.?
Clearly, there’s more to Italy than meets the eye. So, in this post, I am gonna help you realize how great Italy is with some crazy, awesome, and weird facts.
Fun Facts about Italy
1. Italy is easy to recognize on any world map, as it is shaped like a high-heeled boot.
2 The Italian flag is based on the French flag, from the time that Napoleon brought troops and his flag into Italy in 1797. The colors of the Italian flag, Green represents hope, white represents faith, and red signals charity.
3. Italy is undoubtedly the fashion capital of the world. Armani, Versace, Gucci, and Prada are all Italian fashion brands. Moreover, fast and furious car makers such as Ferrari and Lamborghini are Italian too.
4. An average Italian consumes 25kg of pasta per year. Mama Mia!
5. Tourists toss around €3,000 a day into the Trevi fountain. This amounts to roughly a whopping €1,000,000 every year, which is all donated to charity.
Weird Facts about Italy
6. In the city of Turin, dog owners must walk their dog at least 3 freaking times a day or else they will be fined.
7. In Milan, it is an old law to smile constantly when one is in a public space. The only exceptions to this law are those who are attending funerals and workers in hospitals. If you don’t obey the law, you will be fined.
8. As per the court order, Italian men are not allowed to touch their own genitals in public.
9. When McDonald’s opened it’s first store in Italy, the Romans protested by giving out free spaghetti to the supporters of the protest!
This has to be the most Italian fact on the list 🙂
10. Italians love their cats so much that they are considered “a bio-cultural heritage”. Anyone who dares to kill a cat could face a €10,000 fine and up to 3 years in prison. And, It is estimated that Rome alone is home to around 300,000 cats.
Awesome Facts about Italy
11. Italy is roughly the same size as Arizona, But, It is the fifth most visited country in the world, welcoming some 46 million foreign visitors annually.
12. One of the most awesome facts about Italy is that it’s packed with historic treasures. As of 2021, Italy is home to 58 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Despite being so small, Italy is the country with the most UNESCO sites in the world. Some of the most famous gems in Italy include the Colosseum in Rome, the city of Pompeii, and the glorious Amalfi Coast.
13. The Leaning Tower of Pisa built-in 1173 is one of the most famous Italian monuments. The tower probably because of its weak foundation started leaning soon after its construction. However, In 2008 the Reconstruction work was carried out, and the engineers declared it safe for another 200 years.
14. Once every two years, You can play a live human chess game in Marostica in September. It is a tradition that is hundreds of years old.
15. Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Christopher Columbus, Leonardo Fibonacci, Enzo Ferrari, and Guglielmo Marconi are some of the famous people born in Italy.
Moreover, 13 of Shakespeare’s 38 plays are set in Italy.
Bonus facts:
16. In Italy, the number 17 is considered Unlucky.
17. Europe’s three active volcanoes, Etna, Stromboli, and Vesuvius are all located in Italy. And almost four-fifths of Italy is either mountainous or hilly.
18. Lamborghini donated 2 cars to Italian police, saying that they would make use of the supercar’s “high-speed capabilities to good use in urgent situations as a first-aid vehicle and as a transporter for organs”.
19. It is common in Italian culture for single children to live at home until their 30s.
That’s it for this post guys, I hope you had fun while reading about 25 Unbelievable facts about Italy that everyone must know.
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