| Country Name | Italy |
| Full Country Name | Italian Republic |
| Local - Long | Repubblica Italiana |
| Local - Short | Italia |
| Former Name | Kingdom of Italy |
| Etymology- history of name | derivation is unclear, but the Latin "Italia" may come from the Oscan "Viteliu" meaning "[land] of young cattle" (the bull was a symbol of southern Italic tribes) |
| Government Type | parliamentary republic |
| Capital Name | Rome |
| Capital - geographic coordinate | 41 54 N, 12 29 E |
| Capital Time Difference | UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
| Daylight Savings Time | +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October |
| Independence | 17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed; Italy was not finally unified until 1871) |
| National Holiday | Republic Day, 2 June (1946) |
| Constitution |
history: previous 1848 (originally for the Kingdom of Sardinia and adopted by the Kingdom of Italy in 1861); latest enacted 22 December 1947, adopted 27 December 1947, entered into force 1 January 1948 amendments: proposed by both houses of Parliament; passage requires two successive debates and approval by absolute majority of each house on the second vote; a referendum is only required when requested by one-fifth of the members of either house, by voter petition, or by five Regional Councils (elected legislative assemblies of the 15 first-level administrative regions and 5 autonomous regions of Italy); amended many times, last in 2012; note - a referendum held on 4 December 2016 on constitutional amendments was defeated |
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