Italy

B

Religion

The dominant religion of Italy is Roman Catholicism, the faith of more than 90 percent of the people. About 95 percent of Italians are baptized, and about 85 percent claim themselves to be believers as adults. However, the Catholic church’s role in Italy has declined. Despite opposition from the church, civil divorce was introduced in 1970, and abortion was legalized in 1978. A law ratified in 1985 abolished Roman Catholicism as the official state religion and ended mandatory religious instruction in public schools. The constitution guarantees freedom of worship to the religious minorities, which are primarily Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish. Protestants include Waldenses, Methodists, Baptists, and Lutherans.

C

Education

The Italian impact on European education dates back to the ancient Roman educators and scholars, outstanding among whom were Cicero, Quintilian, and Seneca. Later, during the Middle Ages, Italian universities became the model for those of other countries. During the Renaissance, Italy was the teacher of the liberal arts to virtually all Europe, especially for Greek language and literature. The educational influence of Italy continued through the 17th century, when its universities and academies were European centers of teaching and research in the sciences. After a decline during the 18th and 19th centuries, Italian education regained international notice in the 20th century, partly as a result of the method for teaching young children developed by Maria Montessori.

The modern educational system of Italy dates from 1859, when a law was enacted providing for a complete school system that extended from the elementary through the university levels. Improvements were introduced later in the 19th century. In 1923 the philosopher Giovanni Gentile, minister of public instruction under Benito Mussolini, promoted complete governmental control of education, and the control was reinforced by the School Charter of 1939. With the collapse of fascism in 1944, however, Italy undertook to organize the school system along democratic lines. The constitution of 1947 and later laws raised the general educational level and encouraged experimentation, such as televised adult education (telescuola).

Traditionally, the goal of the Italian educational system has been to establish a well-trained minority rather than a widely educated majority. Education is free and compulsory for all children aged 6 through 14. The compulsory term includes five years of elementary and three years of secondary education. From the ages of 14 to 18 students may attend a higher secondary school to gain specialized training or to prepare for university entrance. Higher secondary studies may be taken in classical, scientific, teacher-training, foreign language, technical, or business schools. A student may also enter an art institute or conservatory of music.

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C

1

Elementary and Secondary Schools

In the 2000 school year about 20,361 primary schools with some 262,675 teachers were giving instruction to about 2.8 million pupils. Some 4.5 million students were enrolled in secondary schools.

C

2

Universities and Colleges

Much attention is given to higher education in Italy. Six Italian universities were founded in the 13th century and five in the 14th. The oldest is the University of Bologna, dating from the 11th century, and the largest is the University of Rome. Other notable institutions are those of Bari, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Padua, Perugia, Pisa, Siena, and Trieste. In addition to the state universities, there are also polytechnic institutes at Milan and Turin and several private universities. The largest private university is the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart at Milan. Some 1.9 million students were enrolled in higher education in Italy in 2001–2002.

D

Culture

The cultural tradition of Italy is one of the richest in the world. In art, architecture, literature, music, and science, Italians have often stimulated cultural development far beyond Italy’s borders. Even before the great contributions of the ancient Romans (see Roman Art and Architecture), the Etruscans in Tuscany and the Greeks in the south of Italy created flourishing cultures. In the 14th century that great flowering of Italian culture known as the Renaissance began. The Renaissance lasted for almost three centuries, and during that period Italians led all Europe in learning and the arts (see Renaissance Art and Architecture). Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo are among the most famous painters and sculptors in the history of art. Writers such as Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio developed new forms that influenced writing outside Italy for centuries.

Italian culture developed in many different centers because of the country’s long history of political fragmentation. From the Renaissance to recent times every large provincial city in Italy has been a cultural capital, on however modest a scale. Each center has its own history and distinctive culture. During the 20th century, cultural regionalism gave way to the effects of political unity, modern education, and mass communications, and Italian culture gained national and international scope. From opera to popular music, from painting to design, from cinema to fiction, Italians have continued to make outstanding contributions to contemporary culture.

Many of the great Italian painters, such as Giotto, Fra Angelico, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, and Amedeo Modigliani, are covered in separate articles in the encyclopedia, as are famous Italian composers, such as Antonio Vivaldi, Gaetano Donizetti, Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Rossini, and Giuseppe Verdi. Italian contributions to 20th-century culture came from motion-picture directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio de Sica, Federico Fellini, and Bernardo Bertolucci; artists such as Sandro Chia, Giorgio de Chirico, and Giacomo Manzù; writers such as Alberto Moravia, Italo Calvino, Natalia Ginzburg, Primo Levi, and Umberto Eco; and opera singers such as Enrico Caruso, Renate Tebaldi, and Luciano Pavarotti. See also Architecture; Italian Literature; Motion Pictures, History of; Music, Western; Opera; Painting; Sculpture.