Are you planning or intending to go to Italy either to live there or to go on holiday there?
ITALY
Are you planning or intending to go to Italy either to live there or to go on holiday there? If you are then hopefully you can find out all the information you would like, about the North and South of Italy. You should be able to compare the two areas by reading the information on the North and then on the South. This booklet mainly concentrates on Naples and Milan.
NORTH-Milan
Location.
Milan is found in the Northern part of Italy. Venice is just east of Milan and Florence is south east of the city. Switzerland is north of it and Lyon, in France, is west of Milan.
Above is a map of Italy highlighting the northern position of Milan.
Climate
* The climate in The North is in between a British climate (temperate) and a Mediterranean climate.
* In the winter it is cold and the temperatures in January is between 0oC-2oC. There is frost in winter quite often and fog too but fog can happen at any time in any year (100days of fog on average in Milan in 1 year).
* When it is summer it is very warm with the temperatures in July about 24oC.
* The rainfall isn't usually heavy and 800mm of rain falls evenly throughout a year.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Ave
MAX (°C)
5
8
3
8
23
27
29
28
24
7
0
6
7
MAX (F)
41
46
55
64
73
81
84
82
75
63
50
43
63
MIN (°C)
0
2
6
0
4
7
20
9
6
1
6
2
0
MIN (F)
32
36
43
50
57
63
68
66
61
52
43
36
50
RAIN (mm)
44
60
77
94
76
18
64
91
69
25
22
77
017
RAIN (inches)
.8
2.4
3.1
3.8
3
4.7
2.6
3.6
2.8
5
4.9
3.1
41
SOUTH-Naples
Location.
The Italian city called Naples is in the south of Italy. Rome, which is the capital of Italy, is north west of Naples and Sicily is south of it. The Adriatic Sea is east of Naples and Tyrrhenian Sea is west of Naples.
Above is a map of Italy highlighting the southern position of Naples.
Climate
* The South has a Mediterranean climate.
* Winter is warm for Naples and in January is between 8oC-10oC.
* When summer comes in the South it is hot and temperatures can react over 26oC in July! There is a risk of drought and heat wave conditions in summer as well.
* In Naples the rain is heavy and 700mm of rain falls form the sky. This rain falls mainly in winter meaning there is not much rain in summer.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Ave
MAX (°C)
2
3
5
8
22
26
29
29
26
22
7
4
20
MAX (F)
54
55
59
64
72
79
84
84
79
72
63
57
68
MIN (°C)
4
5
6
9
2
6
8
8
6
2
9
6
1
MIN (F)
39
41
43
48
54
61
64
64
61
54
48
43
52
RAIN (mm)
16
85
73
62
44
31
9
32
64
07
47
35
915
RAIN (inches)
4.6
3.4
2.9
2.5
.8
.2
0.8
.3
2.6
4.3
5.9
5.4
37
On the previous page is a table of temperatures and rainfall measurements for Milan in a recent year.
Above is a graph showing the average maximum and minimum temperatures for Milan in each month of a year.
Relief
Milan is in part of the North Italian Plain. From the west of Milan round clockwise to the northeast are the Alps, which is a long mountain range.
Milan is found on fairly flat land although there are valleys around the area because there is one of Italy's main rivers near it: the River Po that is 652 kilometres long. Milan is on land that is about 600 feet/200 metres above sea level. An example of the height of an elevation in the land around Milan is 4634 metres.
The Ligurian Sea is just southwest south of Milan. It is about 6000 feet/2000 metres deep and then it becomes shallower as it comes nearer to the coast of Italy. The deepest point of the sea is 2580 metres.
The North Italian Plain was part of the Adriatic Sea before and was created when the rivers on highland areas took silt and deposited it in shallow parts of the sea as the water flowed quickly. The silt piled up above sea level and gradually a very flat and fertile plain was formed.
On the previous page is a table showing the temperatures and rainfall for Naples, for a recent year.
See above for a graph showing the average maximum and minimum temperatures for each month in a year in Naples.
Relief
Naples is in the southern area of Italy with part of the Apennines (another mountain range in Italy) near it. The Apennines runs down the 'leg' of Italy's boot.
The Italian city is situated on some flat land that is a bout 600 feet/200 metres above sea level. It is nearly surrounded by higher land. ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
On the previous page is a table showing the temperatures and rainfall for Naples, for a recent year.
See above for a graph showing the average maximum and minimum temperatures for each month in a year in Naples.
Relief
Naples is in the southern area of Italy with part of the Apennines (another mountain range in Italy) near it. The Apennines runs down the 'leg' of Italy's boot.
The Italian city is situated on some flat land that is a bout 600 feet/200 metres above sea level. It is nearly surrounded by higher land. A river called the Volturno is north from Naples. The nearest elevation in the land is 1277 metres above sea level, the next nearest elevation is 1591 metres and the elevation, which is the third one nearest to Naples, is 1152 metres above the sea.
The Tyrrhenian Sea is south west of Naples and is about 9000 feet/3000 metres deep. The deepest part of the sea is 3580 metres below the sea's surface.
The Apennines was part of the Mediterranean Sea but when the rocks at the bottom of the sea were later pushed up the mountain range was created. This movement of the earth still happens today and these are what sometimes cause serious earthquakes and can also result to volcanic eruptions.
On the left is a map of Italy.
Land use
Agriculture.
In the North 4 out of 100 workers are farmers. Most of the farms are large with the fields put together in various groups; this makes it easy for farmers to reach them. Farming in the North is intensive and commercial (land isn't wasted and the food grown is sold and gives the seller a profit).
Here vines are grown in the western part of the North, fruit, wheat and rice are grown in the centre and maize/corn is grown in the eastern area.
Above is a pie chart showing the percentage of people working in what job category, in the North of Italy. The North is the richest part of Italy and has many skilled jobs.
Industry
The North has the largest share in industry in Italy, and the best farms, with the farmers, workers and also the employees in service industries all receiving high wages/incomes.
Advertising, publishing and design, and fashion are industries in Milan. Milan's industry includes:
* Car assembly plants e.g. the Fiat firm,
* Newspaper production,
* Banking,
* Fashion,
* Farming,
* Manufacturing,
* Recreation,
* Roads,
* Railways and
* Airports.
And from these industries products such as: chemicals, electric appliances, textiles, transportation equipment and tyres are produced or created.
Tourism
Milan has many places to visit that create interest in people; this also attracts many tourists from all over the world to visit Milan to see the spectacular structures. Four of these places to visit are:
. Piazza Del Duomo,
2. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II,
3. Teatro alla Scala and
Land use
Agriculture
In the South 25 out of 100 people work as farmers. Many farms are small and the fields being spread out from each other, they are an inconvenient distance away from the village for the farmers (where they live). The South's farming is at a subsistence level (the farm produce provides just enough food for the farmers themselves and their family, leaving a small amount to sell).
Below the village, vines, olives and fruit are grown and on the flatter land wheat is grown.
The pie chart above shows the jobs in the Southern part of Italy. This shows that the South is a poor region and many workers are not paid well.
Industry
Southern Italy is a very poor region and so it has never been an important industrial area. Several people are involved with primary work and most people in Naples are not paid that well (low wages).
The industry in Naples includes:
* Steel making,
* Chemicals,
* Manufacturing,
* Car assembling,
* The planting of trees,
* Building of dams,
* Irrigation schemes (the way water is carried to farms),
* Motorways (road making),
* A leading port/harbour and
* Tourism.
The industries above produce things like: cars, cement, chemical products, trains, office machinery, ships, textiles and traditional wares e.g. kid gloves, wine and coral and tortoise shell combs and jewelry.
Tourism
The number of attractions in Naples is very large but they aren't always the grandest. From the many possible attractions to visit or see I will only mention four of them:
. Santa Chiara,
2. Teatro San Carlo,
3. Museo Archeologico Nazionale and
4. Castel Sant'Elmo.
4. Pinacoteca di Brera.
The Piazza Del Duomo is an Italian cathedral that can only be liked by a matter of opinion. People liking Gothic architecture will surely love the sight of the religious building. It's exterior includes 2245 statues, 135 spires, 96 gargoyles and about 1km of tracery (patterns created in stonework). It was built in 1386, Gian Galeazzo Visconti gave orders for the cathedral to be built. He was Milan's ruler of that time.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II was built in the 19th century but to be more specific it was built in 1865. This place contains an arcade of shops and restaurants, perfect for half a day's trip. You can see the local peoples' actions and experience the atmosphere of an Italian city created by the Milanese. Giuseppe Mengoni designed this structure with elegance in every one of its corners and an extremely beautiful glass roof.
Teatro ala Scala is truly different to any other opera houses in the world; in fact it's the worlds' most distinguished opera house. The auditorium seats 2800 people and has the largest stage in Europe. It was named after an earlier church on the site, and it was first opened to the public in 1778. Much of the building was built in 1946 because of the amount of damage it suffered from the war. It was reopened after repairs were made to it.
Pinacoteca di Brera is a gallery in Milan, which contains Northern Italy's second finest collection of paintings as Venice's Gallerie dell'Accademia contains the finest. The gallery was built in the 18th century (about 1700), Napoleon gathered together paintings from churches and palaces all over Italy to bring together such a fine collection.
Above is picture of the elegant Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
Santa Chiara is a Provencal Gothic type of structure and was built in 1328, but had to be rebuilt after the terrible World War II.
Teatro San Carlo is an opera house that is the largest and leading one in Italy. It is also one of the most distinguished opera house in the European country.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale is a very important attraction as it homes many antiques from the past. It contains the Farnese collection of antiquities that are from Luzio and Campania, and some of the best objects found from the Roman Pompeii and Herculaneum. The museum contains ancient and old objects such as:
* Mosaics,
* Wall paintings from the villas of Pompeii and Herculaneum,
* A cork model of what Pompeii looked like,
* Sculptures,
* Pictures,
* And many objects from Campanian cities like glass, silver, ceramics, charred pieces of rope and food, maybe preserved.
Above is a picture of one of the displays of the Farnese collection in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, Italy.
Castel Sant'Elmo is a star shaped fortress, which is at Naples highest point. This beautiful tourist attraction was built in the 14th century (about 1300). Today exhibitions and also concerts take place in the Castel Sant'Elmo. When in this building a person can see the best and fantastic views of the Italian city, Naples.
Transport
Transportation in Milan is extremely important if you want to be able to go anywhere!
Many roads are in the Northern part of Italy, some of these roads being in Milan or leading into the city. So instead of naming all the roads that is ridiculously stupid or might take ages to do so. Anyway so a few main roads in Milan are:
. Magenta,
2. Nero,
3. Giorgio and
4. Via Santa Sofia.
(See map of Milan in Map book-page 1.)
The Metropolitan railway line in Milan consists of many stations, for example:
. De Angeli,
2. Crocetta,
3. Sesto Rondo and
4. Cassina de Pecchi.
(See the Map book for a tube map for Milan showing the other names of the stations-page 3.)
(ALSO see page 5 for main rail lines in Italy and main ones in some parts of the rest of the world.)
The use of airports help people transport from country to country whether on holiday or for some other reason. Actually there aren't any airports exactly in the centre of Milan be there are some near the Italian city. Two of the main airports are:
. Linate Airport and
2. Milan's Malpensa Airport.
Linate Airport is about 7 kilometres from Milan.
Milan's Malpensa Airport is about 46 kilometres away from Milan. It was designed to handle 24 million passengers each year and has two terminals. Terminal 1 is Malpensa's west terminal and was finished being built in 1998. Terminal 2 is Malpensa's north terminal; its enlargement was completed in 1994.
(See Map book-page 6 for a map of Milan and its airports.)
Local culture
Transport
Life wouldn't be the same without transport in Naples, actually that implies with the whole world!
There are roads in Naples, obviously and each road has a name that helps to locate places and where people exactly are. Here are the names of a couple main roads in Naples:
. Via Roma,
2. Apostoli,
3. Emanuele II and
4. Cavallerizza.
(See map of Naples in Map book -page 2.)
The underground Metropolitan tube railway line is an important form of transport for people within the city or country (Italy). These are a few names of some tube stations:
. Campi Flegrei,
2. Vanvitelli,
3. Colli Aminei and
4. Secondigliano.
(See tube map for Naples in Map book for other station names-page 4.)
(ALSO see page 5 for main rail lines in Italy and main ones in some parts of the rest of the world.)
Airports can be found all over the world but they take up a lot of space. Air travel also links different countries of the world, so that you can go to other countries other than your home one. There are two main airports in Naples and they are:
. Naples International Airport and
2. Naples Capodichino Airport.
Naples International Airport can be found just 7 kilometres from the heart of Naples with its location in an easily accessible place. In the year 2000 over 4 million passengers were served and about 130 flights arrived and departed from the airport. This airport is highly graded and is said to have very good services, reliable facilities and is efficient.
Local culture
The local culture for Milan and Naples is roughly the same i.e. the food people eat, the religion the majority of the country believes in and the fashion in Italy.
The food.
The main meal of the day is traditionally eaten at around about midday. A course of antipasto (this an appetizer) is sometimes eaten but not always. Antipasto includes a variety of different foods like cold meats (e.g. prosciutto -a type of spiced ham), vegetables, salami, olives and artichoke hearts (these are delicious with an olive oil, melted butter and herbs sauce (my mom's recipe)! I know this as I have tried it loads of times). After antipasto a large meal is eaten and usually this is pasta course and then a meat or fish dish.
In the North of Italy the people there have a favourite pasta dish which is flat, ribbon shaped pasta with creamy sauces.
Macaroni with tomato-based sauces is the most popular dish in the Southern part of Italy. Pizza was invented in Naples by a baker in the royal court in 1700.
All kinds of soups are also eaten instead of pasta for a first course. Another Italian favourite first course dish is called risotto that is a rice dish and vegetables. Veal and pork are the most popular meats in Italy. Cheeses are also an important type of food and is eaten by itself or put into other dishes. Pizza is a very popular snack and is eaten a s a light meal as well. Fruit is a favourite dessert. Wine in Italy is traditionally drunk at every meal except when it comes to breakfast.
Food from Italy are quite popular in the whole world especially pizza and pasta.
Religion.
The main religion of Italy is Roman Catholic and 95% of the people in Italy are Roman Catholics. Most baptisms, weddings and funerals take place in church. BUT out of the 95%of the people who are Roman Catholic ONLY 30%of them attend church regularly. Some of the people who aren't Roman Catholic form several small religious groups including Protestants, Muslims and Jews.
In the south of Italy the Roman Catholics hold an Easter procession annually.
Fashion.
The Italian people in Italy like to dress in style therefore fashion trade is a massive business. There are many things that we buy from fashion labels in the UK and in other countries and some of us don't even realize that lots of the fashion labels are Italian. Fashion label such as Armani, Versace, Valentino, Moschino and Gucci all come from Italy and are famous all over the world.
To the left is a Versace logo which is the head of
the myth, Medusa. Such a logo can be found on products
by Versace all over the world.
People and lifestyles
The population in Milan is approximately 1,634,638. It is the second largest and most populated city in Italy.
People and lifestyles
In Naples the population is about 1,210,503 and is the third largest and most populated city in the whole of Italy.
Italian is the main language used in Italy. Just like Spanish and French Italian is a Romance language and is one of the several languages that come from Latin. By the use of Italian in state schools and on television most people in Italy understand it.
All children in Italy have to go to school from the age of 6 to 14 and this is a law. Over 90% of the children attend a state school.
City life.
The oldest sections of an Italian city mostly have low buildings with apartments around a central courtyard, and the newer parts have large blocks of flats. It is very uncommon for a resident to rent a flat rather than buy it.
Unmarried children usually live with their parents and once a child is a young adult and old enough to live by themselves, the parents often help them to buy a flat of their own. Young working woman who work out of home get the grandparents to look after their children although there are child-care centers in most urban areas that can be used.
Rural life (life in the countryside).
Before most rural townspeople lived in flats but only the wealthy could afford their own houses in the centre of the community. Nowadays more and more houses for one family are being built in the rural areas and often outside of the old community.
The Milanese are well known for being ambitious, energetic and skilled in business. Many people work in tertiary (i.e. working as a business personnel with a business firm or as a skilled worker).
The people in Naples are known as lively and more carefree compared to the people in other Italian cities. Music plays a very important part in Neapolitan life. Some songs coming from Naples are well known around the world e.g. "Santa Lucia," "O Sole Mio" and "Funiculi, Funicula."
The people in Milan like going to a café in the afternoon in the city whether making business or simply just to meet some friends. A popular meeting place is Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (See section on tourism for more information).
The Teatro San Carlo is one of the largest opera houses in Italy and seats an audience of 3500 people (See section on tourism for more information on Teatro San Carlo).
