Tuscany: Home To The Etruscans

It is what feeds the culture and its people. In Italy pastas are a staple to the arsenal of food items they enjoy (A. Nadalini, personal communication, October 19, 2016). Food varies by region and personal preferences, but overall there are common similarities among Italians. Pasta, canned veggies, and coffee are important in the Italian culture (Parasecoli, 2004). Pizza is also very popular in Italy; there are many pizza restaurants all over the country (A. Nadalini, personal communication, October 19, 2016). The food dishes in Italy are exactly what you would expect. In addition, wine is important at almost every meal (A. Nadalini, personal communication, October 19, 2016). Specifically, local wine is the preference of many Italians (Parasecoli, 2004). Overall, Italy has an abundance of food choices and a unique way of preparing each dish. Food is a major component of the Italian culture because most of the meals are shared with family and close

Now each city-state had a product that made them prosper. For Florence it was cloth, Milan arms, but Venice and Genoa became extremely rich of off trade. That would be why the wealthiest city-state was Venice. That is because they were excellent shipbuilders, sailors, and merchants. They figured out how to trade with the biggest economic power in the region, the Ottomans. They created most their profit from trading paper to the Ottomans. Another way they turned a profit was with the highly sought after Florentine textiles due to the textiles vibrant color that was dyed with alum. Now they could only get this chemical for the Ottomans until 1460. That was when the Pope's godson found alum in Italy and they started to mine the alum. The family in charge of the alum mining rights were the Medici.

Geography/Location of Italy Out of the seven continents in the world, Italy; The seventy second largest nation in the world is located in Europe. Italy is a boot-shaped country that covers 294,149 square kilometers of land and 7,200 square kilometers of water, totaling 301,340 square kilometers and is apart of the eastern Hemisphere and located in Southern Europe. Located in the Mediterranean Sea is where this Peninsula lies and is surrounded by rolling hills, valleys, along with Alps and Apennine Mountains. Italy is accompanied by Croatia, San Marino, Slovenia, Vatican, Austria, Switzerland and France (Where is Italy). Not to mention Italy is home to some of the largest active Volcanoes in Europe.

A lover of Italian food and wine since her first trip to Italy in 2001, Wei Garofolo is a true cultural enthusiast who spends a good portion of her time in Rome. In her spare time, she often enjoys wandering and exploring the greater Rome area (specifically in/around Castelli Romani).

Why was Florence important? Florence is arguably the starting place of the renaissance. With many different artists there, the Medici Family in control and a very strong trading system, it was a very powerful city-state during the renaissance. During this time, the feudal system was no more. The people in

After the Punic wars with Carthage, Rome acquired many new lands that it did not have before. During peace times it was easy to govern these areas but during war times it proved difficult.

Two Civilizations: Change Over Time and Continuity Over Time During this time period, there were alterations in many civilizations. Some had multiple major fluctuations, while others did not change much but were long lasting. The Mongols, for instance, did similar (if not the same things) over and over again throughout their

Tuscan food is lighter than normal Italian food, including fewer pastas and bread based foods. It produces many wines, of which Chianti is the most well known. Although modernization has changed some of the culture, the love of the traditional Tuscan foods remains strong in Tuscany, and most of its inhabitants enjoy their cuisine. Tuscany is an administrative unit, and has its own center of government located in Florence. This government is fairly liberal, with the Democratic party in control. People visiting Tuscany would mostly come for the tourism aspect, visiting the historic architecture and art centers that are widely prevalent in the

Etruscans: The Building Block of Rome "The dominant early settlers on the Italian peninsula were a non-Indo-European-speaking people known as the Etruscans" (Coffin & Stacey 168). The Etruscans were among three groups of people from the East that entered Italy as colonists and later as rulers of various segments of the peninsula. The Etruscans came into Italy about 800 B.C.E. following the Adriatic Sea. Although our knowledge of the Etruscans is severely limited by the fact that their language, although written in a Greek alphabet, has not been fully deciphered, traces remain that they left significant evidence of their effect and influence on Rome. The Etruscans left evidence throughout nearly every aspect of Rome including their

At the beginning of the 14th century, Italian cities was lands of first and foremost importance in the way of economic and political organization. Italy is the richest merchant country for both Europe and the East. In addition, Italy was fortunate to have a huge repository of classical monuments and artifacts. For examples, Roman architectures and Sculpture were found in most towns and cities, including copies of lost sculptures from ancient Greece, which were familiar in centuries. These are the conditions that made Italy became the first place where the Renaissance began on the Late Middle Ages, then spreading to the rest of Europe at different scales and levels. Renaissance means "rebirth," which embraces the flourishing of Latin as well

While reading The Food of Italy: a Journey for Food Lovers I was reminded of a dinner that family and myself had while visiting Rome. In the summer of 2007 my family flew to Rome, Italy, it was my first experience in Europe, and I was a very picky eater. The cultural significance that the city has with its food did not fare well with my typical diet of chicken strips and fries. While the cultural diversity of new foods is a blessing to many people who seek out the great reputation of Italian food, I was in cultural food shock.

Italy stands as the embodiment of unique cuisine, fashion, industry, and culture. Italy holds a long and rich history, starting from how it became one country during ancient times. For thousands of years, people have lived in Italy, relying on its vast amount of assets and resources. There was no established group of settlers to arrive first, because the chief pioneers entailed many different types of people who spoke different languages. Italy was at first preceded by several non-Italian cultures, including Greeks. The Greeks occupied southern Italy, including areas around Sicily. This remained a wealthy extent of land because of the tremendously fertile soil, which then caused the sprout of new cities and civilization. These Greek cities ultimately stood taken over by Roman control. As far as northern city-states, the Etruscans lived in areas influenced by Greek culture. The Etruscans stayed well-known engineers, builders, and traders. Italy was always back and forth in the control of foreign authorities, but finally landed in the power of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire took over at about 450 B.C., but eventually collapsed. The land that now stands as Italy was ruled by Julius Caesar. There were many civil wars before and after Julius Caesar’s death. The land was then restored by Octavian, Caesar’s son, who later passed his throne to his son Tiberius. Although ancient Italy had been taken over by diverse commands, it still held on to its vast culture and

Florence was way different it had no military when been ruled by the Medici family. However, they had strong walls protecting the city-state. The republic of Florence brought other cities allies when been attacked. When It come to controlling other territories, do you think a city-state that has no own military when relying on other cities allies would control any other territories? But surprisingly they did control territories. Everyone knows that Florence was rich in wealth. Later on, it became so wealthy that it started to control its surrounding cities, which were the Lucca, Arezzo, and Livorno. This nation is filled with different and weird twists of ending in history.

The political history of Italy is quite extensive. The Greeks were the first to settle in Italy and established colonies in the southern part of the country and in Sicily. There was not a sense of political reality as much as there was a civilization (Windows on Italy- History). While the Greeks controlled the south the Gauls, or Celtic people, ruled the north and the Po Valley. But the most important group to settle in Italy was the Etruscans. Because of their advanced civilization, the Etruscans were the only ones to establish political and cultural ideas before the Roman Empire (Windows on Italy- History). At the end of the Etruscans rule, Rome began a unification of Italy and established Latin to be the general language (Defusco).

When people think about food shopping in Italy the first thing that comes to mind is the corner shops, fruit and vegetable vendors, and the small town butchers, but that is not realistic. In reality, most families do most of their shopping at the local supermarket. Even though Italian supermarkets can compare to the ones in the States, there are some key differences. Depending on where the supermarket is located will depend the style of the store. Once located in a city are very different, but the ones in the suburbs are much more similar.