LadIes and gentleman, teachers and

Studentswe Are

very pleased and proud to introduce

you one of the most beautiful Country in the world …

A short trip to discover

Landscapes

Culture Gastrono

my

Of our …

Italian peninsula is located in Southern Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia and is roughly delimited by the Alpine watershed, enclosing the Po Valley and the Venetian Plain. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone. To the south, it is landed by Mediterranean Sea. Because of its shape, it is often called ”the Boot”. It’s divided in 20 regions. The capital of Italy is Rome.

-Something about Geography-

Natural Landscapes: from the Mountains…

The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain 

range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching 

approximately 1,200 kilometres.

Mont Blanc spans  the  French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the  highest  mountain  in  the Alps.  The  Alpine  region  area contains about a hundred peaks higher  than  4,000 m,  known  as the "four-thousanders".

… to the Sea.“Elba” is the largest island of Tuscan archipelago, about 50 kilometres east of the French island of Corsica. Best known as the site of Napoleon’s exile, Elba’s long history stretches back to pre-Roman times, when it was settled by Ligures and then Etruscans.

In Campania region, there are three famous “faraglioni”(Italian term used to refer to stacks, a coastal and oceanic rock formation) located in the Bay of Naples, off the island of Capri .

History: A dive into the Past…

-Antiquity-The Ancient peoples of pre-Roman

Italy – such as the Umbrians, the Latins (from which the Romans emerged),

Volsci, Samnites, the Celts and the Ligures which inhabited northern Italy, and many others – were Indo-

European peoples.

The main historic peoples of non-Indo-European heritage

were the Etruscans. They were the first to use the bow in

Italian architecture and influenced a lot the future

Greek art.

-Greek Age-

Between the 17th and the 11th centuries BC Mycenaean Greeks established contacts with Italy and in the 8th and 7th centuries BC Greek colonies were established all along the coast of Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula became known as “Magna Graecia”. In the picture we can see one of the most famous temple: Hera’s Temple in Paestum (Campania).

-Roman Age-

Rome, a settlement around a ford on the river Tiber conventionally founded in 753 BC, grew over the course of centuries into a massive empire, stretching from Britain to the borders of Persia, and engulfing the whole Mediterranean basin, in which Greek and Roman (and many other) cultures merged into a unique civilisation . In a slow decline since the third century AD, the Empire split in two in 395 AD. The Western Empire, under the pressure of the barbarian invasions, eventually dissolved in 476 AD, when its last Emperor was deposed by the Germanic chief Odoacer, while the Eastern half of the Empire survived for another thousand years.

-Middle Ages-After the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy was invaded by Germanic tribes (such as the Lombards). In the south, Sicily had become an Islamic emirate in the 9th century. Through a complex series of events, southern Italy developed as a unified kingdom, under the German House of Hohenstaufen. Italy was divided in small states.

Although it was a complex period under a social and political point of view…

Frederick II Hohenstaufen

… the 14th century was a very flourishing cultural period for Italy, thanks to the works of the three great writers of this time: Dante Alighieri (Divine Comedy) Petrarca (Canzonierie) and Boccaccio (Decameron).

Thanks to the travel made by the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus, the discovery of America (1492) marks the passage from the Middle Ages to Modern Ages.

In the port of Barcelona, we can see a copy of the famous three caravels.

-Modern Ages-

The Renaissance( 15-16th century),was a period of vigorous revival of the arts and culture thanks to the genius of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raffaello. Under the patronage of Medici family, Florence became the most important cultural center of this time.

-1861: the Unification-The birth of the Kingdom of Italy was the result of efforts by Italian nationalists and monarchists to establish a united kingdom encompassing the entire Italian Peninsula. In 1860–61, general Giuseppe Garibaldi led the drive for unification in Naples and Sicily, allowing the Sardinian government led by the Count of Cavour to declare a united Italian kingdom on 17 March 1861. In 1866, Victor Emmanuel II allied with Prussia during the Austro-Prussian War, waging the Third Italian War of Independence which allowed Italy to annexe Venetia.

Finally, as France during the disastrous Franco-Prussian War of 1870 abandoned its garrisons in Rome, the Italians rushed to fill the power gap by taking over the Papal States.

-XX Century: First Half-During the First World War, after several defeats , in October 1918, the Italians launched a massive offensive, culminating in the victory of Vittorio Veneto against Austro-Hungarian Empire .

After the win of the First World War, from a political point of view Italy was under the Fascist Regime , ruled by Benito Mussolini. Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940. After initially advancing in British Somalialand and Egypt, the Italians suffered heavy defeats in Greece, Russia and North Africa.

-XX Century: Second Half-

Italy became a republic after a referendum held on 2 June 1946, a day celebrated since as Republic Day. This was also the first time that Italian women were entitled to vote. Victor Emmanuel III's son, king Umberto II, was forced to abdicate and exiled. The Republican Constitution was approved on 1 January 1948.

Our flag: Green = the continue revival

of hopeWhite = faith in the ideas that

make soul divineRed = passion and blood of

the heroes

But now … let’s

discovery our region:

Campania

In particular, the National Park of Cilento, where we came from.

Cilento is an Italian geographical region of Campania in the central and southern part of the Province of Salerno and an important tourist area of southern Italy.

Its name drifts by the Latin word Cis Alentum: "On this side of the Alento“, the most famous river.

The region is steeped in Greek mythology and

legends…

… In 1998 the park became a World Heritage Site of UNESCO.

The Cilentan Coast is extended from Capaccio-Paestum in thenorth-west to Sapri in the south-east.

-Agropoli-

Main sights:

The town, where some tombs predating the Byzantine period were recently found, also houses the medieval ruins of San Francesco's monastery and the Churches of the Holy Mary of Constantinople (16th century), San Marco, and San Francesco. The beaches of “Trentova Bay ”contribute to make Agropoli an important seaside resort. In the Municipal Antiquarian, there is a sizeable collection of archaeological finds, representing life in the area from prehistoric to medieval times.

-Ascea –Velia-

Velia was an ancient city of Magna Graecia on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, founded by the Greeks with the name of “Elea” .The city was known for being the home of the philosophers Parmenides and Zeno of Elea, as well as the Eleatic school of which they were a part. Today is still possible to see what remains of the city walls, with traces of one gate and several towers.

-Camerota-In the 17th

century Camerota was a little group of houses, and

the urban population expanded it around a

church of Saint Dominic.The town was a place of emigration to South

America, especially to Venezuela in the 19th century. The relationship

with the American country is still strong, evidenced, for

example, by a statue of Simón Bolívar built in the

middle of the village, in front of the harbour side.

-Paestum-

Paestum was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia. After its foundation by Greek colonists under the name of “Poseidonia”. It was eventually conquered by the Lucanians and later the Romans. What remains today is the amazing complex of three temples in Doric style, dedicated to Hera, Neptune and Ceres. Paestum is also renowned for its painted tombs, mainly belonging to the period of the Lucanian rule. One of the most famous is the “Tomb of the Diver”: it represents a symbolic dive, is the moment in which the deceased is going into the afterlife.

-Palinuro-

“Cape Palinuro” Natural Arch

The name of the town is derived from “Palinurus”, the helmsman of Aeneas, as recorded in the fifth and sixth books of the Aeneid. It is popular with tourists, especially in summer, due to the cleanliness of its waters and beaches; and is regularly awarded a Blue Flag. The town is also famous for the caves along its coast, which are regularly visited, especially by frogmen.

-Licosa Island-

The toponym derives from the Greek word Leukosia meaning "white". A legend says that Leucosia was one the 3 mythological sirens met by Ulysses in the Odyssey. The toponym is therefore related to Nicosia, capital of Cyprus, and to Nicosia, a town in Sicily. Its coastline, characterized the flysch rocks, is part of the marine protected area of Santa Maria di Castellabate.

-Vallo della Lucania-

It’s the town of our school! It lies in the middle of Cilento and, with a population of about 9,000 people ,is one of the most important centre, above all for the public services (Hospital, Schools). The ancient name of Vallo della Lucania was "Castrum Cornutum", from the place of origin of its founders, who, came from Cornutum, a Dalmatian town. Vallo owns the land of Mount Gelbison, sacred mountain, which boasts one of the most famous places of worship of the South, the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Novi Velia.

-What about Gastronomy in Cilento?-

Obviously our “model” is the Mediterranean diet: the principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate wine consumption, and low consumption of meat and meat products

By the way the chief-town of our region is Naples and, as everybody knows, it is the birthplace of the best food in the world: Pizza !!!

Thanks for the attention

we hope you enjoyed our

presentation !!!

Made by Antonio, Giovanni, Rosario