Chris

Good. 150/150

Worst Project Ever Created Italian Culture Topics
 * Language
 * Social stratification
 * Gender roles
 * Sexual permissiveness/restrictiveness
 * Family structure
 * Religious/spiritual beliefs
 * Use of sports, games, entertainment, etc.

Italy is located in Southern Europe, its capital is Rome. It has a population of about 60 million that is governed by a parliamentarian government. In Italy education is free and mandatory from ages 6 to 16. Italy has a very unique culture that embraces art and religion. Even with our constantly changing world, Italy has remained mostly old-fashioned and traditional in their beliefs. Soccer is by far the most played and watched sport in Italy. Italy as a whole is sexually restrictive and opposed to gay marriage.



Topics:
 * 1) Language
 * Italic to Latin to Italian. Siblings languages include French, Rumanian, Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese.
 * Rely heavily on hand gestures and body language to portray expressions.
 * May use hand gestures in replace of spoken language.
 * Worldwide approximately 85 million people speak Italian
 * Various different dialects throughout Italy, but in the last couple hundred years the different dialects have become more harmonized.
 * [[image:http://sharingmyitaly.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc_0024.jpg width="151" height="104" caption="Italian"]]
 * [[image:http://www.trentini.com.br/images/noticias/2012-03-21_851b6ed6aa85b83cabc63a10a776bf96.jpg width="168" height="127" caption="Italian"]]
 * 1) Religion
 * Religion is extremely big in Italy and plays a large role in Italian culture.
 * Roman Catholic is the primary religion in Italy and 88% of all Italians are Catholic.
 * Throughout history numerous saints have come from Italy. Currently, there are over 200 saints that were born in Italy.
 * The Pope lives in the Vatican City, which is an extremely small "country" that is completely surrounded by Italy.
 * Religiously Italians are generally very traditional and old-fashioned and this is reflected throughout their society in how they classify and treat people.
 * [[image:http://www.zainoo.com/media/content/173.JPEG width="142" height="96" caption="The feast in the house of Levi"]]
 * [[image:http://www.lifeinitaly.com/sites/default/files/u9299/Depositphotos_38382121_s.jpg width="134" height="91" caption="Pope Francis"]]
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Turin_shroud_positive_and_negative_displaying_original_color_information_708_x_465_pixels_94_KB.jpg width="148" height="99" caption="Holy Shroud's Face"]]
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/c/ce/Duomo_S.Giovanni.jpg width="72" height="97" caption="Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista"]]
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Vuedeloreto.JPG width="70" caption="Holy House of Loreto"]]
 * [[image:http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/ITA/mini/Rome_basilique_StPierre.jpg width="96" caption="Basilica Saint Peter"]]
 * 1) Social Stratification
 * There is a large gap between the rich and the poor in Italy. Generally speaking people in Northern Italy are more well off than people living in Southern Italy.
 * Italy has a large welfare system so the poor are not living in extreme poverty but lack a chance to rise out of poverty without increasing their education.
 * Approximately 30 % of Italians are in an different social class than their parents. So the culture does allow some ability to move up or down in the class system. Easiest and most popular way to move into a higher class system is by furthering their education.
 * Italy has a relatively low birth rate of 1.43 children per woman which is lower than the world average of 2.3.
 * Low birth rates are partially due to the stringent labor market, which makes it difficult for women to have a child and still keep their job. Employers prefer single workers to married workers due to potential commitment issues. Women will often put off getting pregnant because they don't want to risk their job.
 * [[image:http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/ITA/mini/Elba_Moby_ferry.jpg width="159" height="121" caption="ferry boat (Portoferraio - Piombino)"]]
 * [[image:http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/ITA/mini/venise2.jpg width="115" caption="Venice: Water Transport"]]
 * [[image:http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/ITA/mini/Elba_PortoFerraio4.jpg width="126" height="166" caption="Lighthouse of Forte Stella"]]
 * [[image:http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/ITA/mini/Elba_Cavo.jpg width="163" height="124" caption="the coast"]]
 * 1) Gender Roles
 * Still very traditional in that women primarily stay at home and do housework while the man of the house goes out and works to provide for the family. If the wife has a job she is still expected to do a majority of the housework which can lead to extensive work hours for her.
 * In the household girls are given more responsibility and are expected to do more chores around the house. Boys on the other hand are given more freedom and are allowed to spend more times with friends while the girl's actions are restricted.
 * Despite the fact that women often stay home, females are actually more likely to attend high school in Italy. As of 1999 84% of women attended high school and only 84% of men did.
 * 1) Sports
 * Soccer is by far the most popular sport in Italy. Many Italians follow soccer religiously and have experienced success in recent years with their national team consistently being ranked in the top 20 worldwide. In 2006 Italy won the World Cup when they beat France on Penalty Kicks.
 * Basketball has become more popular in Italy in recent years as they NBA had made an effort to increase their global market. Italy is one of the better European countries at basketball and regularly qualifies for the Olympics.
 * Italy has had success in volleyball with both their men's and women's teams finishing strong in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The men's team won the bronze medal and the women's team earned a sixth place finish.
 * Cycling is very popular in Europe and Italy has won the second most world cycling championships of any country.
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Andrea_bargnani_dunk_2009.JPG/220px-Andrea_bargnani_dunk_2009.JPG caption="Andrea Bargnani, an Italian born NBA basketball player"]]
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/16_may_2012_giro_d_italia_Pink_Jersey.jpg/220px-16_may_2012_giro_d_italia_Pink_Jersey.jpg caption="Italian Cycling Competition"]]
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Italia82.JPG/240px-Italia82.JPG caption="National Team at the 1982 FIFA World Cup"]]
 * 1) Sexual Permissiveness
 * With Italy's strong connection to Catholicism they are very traditional in their beliefs of marriage. They believe marriage should only be between one man and one woman. They have become more accepting of homosexuals but gays are still subjected to discrimination and harassment.
 * Italy has relatively high divorce rates which is surprising because the Catholic church frowns upon divorce and believes that marriages should be eternal.
 * 1) Family Structure
 * A typical Italian family is often viewed as an extremely large family with a lot of kids and grandparents sometimes living with the family. This is not as accurate today as birth rates have rapidly decreased and family sizes have decreased. Italian families are still much closer than most families in other cultures and Italian culture puts a big emphasis on closeness and togetherness within a biological family.
 * The reason why many Italian families historically were very close is they all worked on the same piece of land and had limited resources so they chose to live together to save money. As Italy has modernized many families have spread apart as kids have grown up and moved away in search of a job.
 * [[image:http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/ITA/mini/Elba_Rio_NellElba2.jpg width="79" caption="Rio Nell'Elba"]]
 * [[image:http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/ITA/mini/Colosseum.jpg width="118" caption="Italy : Rome - Colosseum"]]
 * [[image:http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/ITA/mini/Elba_Lacona.jpg width="166" height="126" caption="Lacona"]]
 * [[image:http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/ITA/mini/Elba_Sant_Andrea.jpg width="163" height="124" caption="Sant Andrea beach"]]
 * [[image:http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/photos/ITA/mini/Elba_Sant_Andrea.jpg width="163" height="124" caption="Sant Andrea beach"]]

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