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Villanovan culture

(Encyclopedia)Villanovan culture, the culture of a people of N Italy in the early Iron Age (c.1100–700 b.c.). The term is derived from the town of Villanova, near Bologna, where the first excavations of a Villano...

Mediterranean Sea

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mediterranean Sea [Lat.,=in the midst of lands], the world's largest inland sea, c.965,000 sq mi (2,499,350 sq km), surrounded by Europe, Asia, and Africa. Some of the most ancient civilizat...

Basilicata

(Encyclopedia)Basilicata bäzēlēkäˈtä [key], region, 3,856 sq mi (9,987 sq km), S Italy, bordering on the ...

Brenner Pass

(Encyclopedia)Brenner Pass brĕˈnər [key], Ital. Brennero, Alpine pass, 4,495 ft (1,370 m) high, connecting Innsbruck, Austria, with Bolzano, Italy. The lowest of the principal Alpine passes, it was an important ...

Capua

(Encyclopedia)Capua käˈpwä [key], town, Campania, S Italy, on the Volturno River. It is an agricultural ...

Orvieto

(Encyclopedia)Orvieto ōrvyĕˈtō [key], city (1991 pop. 21,419), in Umbria, central Italy, on the Poglia River. Situated at the top of a rocky hill, it is a tourist and pilgrimage center. Orvieto is probably loca...

Lateran Treaty

(Encyclopedia)Lateran Treaty, concordat between the Holy See and the kingdom of Italy signed in 1929 in the Lateran Palace, Rome, by Cardinal Gasparri for Pius XI and by Benito Mussolini for Victor Emmanuel III. On...

Spartacus

(Encyclopedia)Spartacus spärˈtəkəs [key], d. 71 b.c., leader in an ancient Italian slave revolt, b. Thrace. He broke out (73 b.c.) of a gladiators' school at Capua and fled to Mt. Vesuvius, where many fugitives...

Pertini, Sandro

(Encyclopedia)Pertini, Sandro (Alessandro Pertini), 1896–1990, Italian political leader and journalist, president of Italy (1978–1985). He served in World War I, then became a founding member of the Socialist p...

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