Time Difference:
UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Travel Climate:
Italy's climate is generally pleasant. Although summer temperatures can rise into the mid-90s with high humidity, evenings are considerably cooler, allowing people to take to the streets and squares. In the winter, night time temperatures often drop to freezing, but snowfall outside the mountains is rare. In all seasons, the south tends to be warmer and drier than the north.
Travel Currency:
euro (EUR)
Language Spoken:
Italian is the official language. There are significant French and German-speaking minorities, and Slovene is spoken by some. Many Italians are bilingual.
Languages:
Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area)
Ethnic Groups:
Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)
National Holiday:
Republic Day, 2 June (1946)
Geographic Coordinates:
42 50 N, 12 50 E
Location:
Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia
Airports:
98