Italcult Beijing

Pittura Italiana nelle Collezioni del Museo Pushkin dal Cinquecento al Novecento - Verona
Palazzo della Ragione
Verona
www.pushkinaverona.it
Through Feb. 3, 2008
Opening hours:
Please consult website

A large selection of 16th-to-20th century paintings on loan from Moscow’s Pushkin Museum will be part of this interesting historical exhibit. Included are works by Bronzino, Lotto, Tintoretto, Veronese, Guercino, Reni, Carracci, Tiepolo, Canaletto, Bellotto, Guardi, De Chirico and Gino Severini. This context gives a great demonstration of the relevance of Italian art in the Russian Capital.

Bernini pittore - Rome
Palazzo Barberini
Roma
www.galleriaborghese.it
Through Jan. 20, 2008
Opening hours:
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It’s a great chance to observe the beautiful paintings and drawings of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). His works dominated the Italian art world of 17th century and symbolize the Baroque style. The exhibit reveals a less familiar side of the great Italian Baroque architect and sculptor and these are perhaps the only works he ever produced without a commission.

Roma e i Barbari - Venice
Palazzo Grassi
Venezia
www.palazzograssi.it
January, 26 - July 20, 2008
Opening hours:
Please consult website

The event focuses on the Roman Empire’s most difficult age, when people of profoundly different cultures and traditions from the steppes of Asia and Eastern Europe gradually began to dominate the Western world, leading to the fall of Rome. On show is a vast collection of archeological finds that covers the various phases of coexistence and conflict between the empire and barbarian populations.

Happy Birthday, Andrea Palladio 1508 - 2008 - Vicenza
Vicenza
www.palladio2008.info
Through 2008
Opening hours:
Please consult website

Andrea Palladio is one of the greatest artists of the 16th century. Palladio’s beautiful villas are recognized all around the world for its beauty and in 1994 were put on the UNESCO World Heritage List. To celebrate the 500th birthday of his great artist, the enchanting city of Vicenza will offer different art exhibitions all along 2008. Masterpieces of Michelangelo, Sansovino, Tintoretto, Van Dyck, Canaletto and many other original hand signed drawings will complete this unique art event. There are also chances to taste typical recipes and listen to musical projects of the 16th century.

Garibaldi, il Mito - Genoa
Genova
www.palazzoducale.genova.it
Through March 2, 2008
Opening hours:
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Two hundred years after his birth, Genoa pays homage to Garibaldi, the hero of Italian unification, with various events and exhibits. Known as the “Hero of the Two Worlds,” Garibaldi spent years in South American exile spreading revolutionary ideals and participating in Uruguay’s war against Argentina. When he returned to Italy he conquered the south as part of his unification crusade.

Paul Gauguin Artist of myths and dreams - Rome
Complesso del Vittoriano
Via di San Pietro in Carcere - Roma
www.romeguide.it
Through February 3, 2008
Opening hours:
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A large exhibit is dedicated to one of the world’s most popular artists in the beautiful “Complesso del Vittoriano” in Rome. The Gauguin exposition pulls 150 of the great artist masterpieces together from more than fifty collections in the world wide. The exhibition explores many unknown aspects of the iconography of the French artist. However due to Gauguin’s constant travels to the pacific his works, including paintings, ceramics, drawings and sculptures offer the idea of an artist from somewhere else.

Davide Cantoni - Naples
Galleria Blindarte arte contemporanea - Napoli
www.blindarte.it
Through January 11, 2008
Opening hours:
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Davide Cantoni presents at Blindarte contemporanea his new “burnt drawings” and acrylic “whites” on canvas. Based on images published in the New York Times, the Cantoni’s drawings are interpretations of real life scenes, symbols of events that mark our times. A few of the paintings draw from images published on the cover of the New York Times, while others represent abstract concepts.

Gilbert & George - Turin
Museo d’arte Contemporanea del Castello di Rivoli (Torino)
www.castellodirivoli.it
Through January 13, 2008
Opening hours:
Please consult website

This English Duo, artistically inseparable for over 40 years in the search and experimentation under the sign of irony and irreverence, lands in Turin. The exhibition was designed by the artists and gives participants the opportunity to follow the couple’s creative process from the ‘70s to today. On display about 150 artworks, including some of the most recent ones, inspired by the terrorism acts in London.

AMERICA! Stories of Paintings from the New World - Brescia
Museo di Santa Giulia
Brescia
www.lineadombra.it
Through May 4th, 2008
Opening hours:
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This magnificent and insightful exhibition featuring over 400 works of 50 artists is the first of its kind in Italy. It brings the visitor through one hundreds years of great adventure and “discovery and wonder” of the New World through the eyes of the artists that lived it, extending from the first decade of the 19th century to the first decade of the 20th. Each view and experience is different than the next, and with 270 paintings, 10 sculptures, and 80 objects, just to name a few, the Museum of Santa Giulia has been totally transformed into re-telling the story of a civilization and a nation in the 19th century. Visitors will come across original clothes, bags and other precious materials from the various periods, including poetry in its original form.

20th Winter Marathon - Madonna di Campiglio
Madonna di Campiglio
www.wintermarathon.it
January 17th - 20th, 2008
Opening hours:
Please consult website

Celebrating 20 years in 2008, the events of the Winter Marathon will begin on January 17th, featuring antique cars racing on icy, slippery roads, fresh snow, arctic temperatures, and steep slopes. These vintage cars (only pre-1968 can enter) are fitted with spiked tires and high beams lights to ensure the driver’s safety. The crews will cover a course of approximately 310 miles, passing through all the major paths of the Dolomites. The race will start and finish in Madonna di Campiglio and it is certainly an exciting event to watch whether you are interested in cars or just up for some thrill and excitement. This series of events is free for spectators.

Luci d’artista - Turin
Different locations throughout the city of Torino
www.turismotorino.org
Through January 13, 2008
Opening hours:
Please consult website

The nights of Turin become only more magical every year around this time when it is once again transformed into a luminous open air art gallery with the lighting up of Luci d’Artista. In its 10th edition, this year’s event features 18 light installations, filling the streets and piazzas of Turin, by some of the most famous and well-known modern, European artists, such as: Mario Airò, Daniel Buren, Rebecca Horn, Mario Molinari, Mimmo Paladino, and many more.

The world in art - Rovereto
MART
Rovereto
www.mart.trento.it
Through April 6th, 2008
Opening hours:
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“The word in art. Research and the avant garde in the twentieth century.” This captivating exhibition focuses on how the word has been used by artists in their works, and shows the fascinating relationship between word and image. This relationship has given life to many expressions of art, several of which will be on display such as paintings, various forms of drawings, manuscripts, installations, poetic and artistic texts, etc. Over 800 works are on display, many from the MART’s own collection, and it hosts this amazing exhibition featuring 20th century artists such as: Sabrina Mezzaqui, Umberto Boccioni, Francis Picabia, Nedko Solakov, and more.

Truth and beauty - Russian realism - Potenza
Galleria Civica Comunale di Palazzo Loffredo
Potenza
www.comune.potenza.it
www.aptbasilicata.it
Through February 10, 2008
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Sunday 9.00/13.00 and 17.00/21.00
Closed on Monday

The exhibit includes about eighty works, such as portraits, landscapes, and still life paintings, from the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga, showcased in Italy for the first time. On display artworks from famous Russian artists such as Ilja Repin, Isaak Levitan, Boris Kustodijev, Alexander Deineka, Maljavin and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. These paintings are among the most representative of Eastern European art from the period between mid 1800 and 1950.

The Macchiaioli. Sentimento del Vero - Rome
Chiostro del Bramante
Rome
www.chiostrodelbramante.it
Through February 3, 2008
Opening hours:
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The exhibition showcases over 100 paintings of the Macchiaioli and sets out to analyze the relationship between these extraordinary artists and the “principles of the real” or “verism” with the purpose of studying the “macchia” which was the expressive modality of the second half of the 19th century to represent reality, period of maximum development of the macchiaioli movement. The exhibition includes works never seen or rarely showcased to the public, among which masterpieces by Fattori, Signorini, Lega, and Zandomeneghi.

Marca Storica: A new itinerary in the province of Treviso
Province of Treviso
Veneto
turismo.provincia.treviso.it

Info:
Please consult website

A new eco-museal itinerary is available for all who yearn to visit the territory of the province of Treviso. Marca Storica is a passage that aims to rediscover any traces of prehistoric life, traveling the ancient Roman roads, admiring the castles, towers, and fortifications of the medieval period. The ancient ruins and the superbly restored noble residences tell the history of this territory that today, presents itself to the visitor like a widespread, spacious museum.

In Scaena “The Theater of Ancient Rome”
Colosseum
Roma
www.beniculturali.it
Until February 17th, 2008
Opening hours:
Please consult website

This new archaeological exhibit confronts the history of the roman theater in the splendid space of the Colosseum. The course that was chosen for this exhibition focuses on “icons”, putting together 70 works that explore the complex origins of the Greek theater. (Greece, in fact, is where theater of the west bears its’ roots.) The Roman Theater and its evolution, is the test of its success and of its value of festive and metropolitan art. Exhibits comings from the most important national collections are numerous, among which the Marble Herma of Dioniso (from the National Roman Museum of Palazzo Massimo) and the model of scenery in colored terracotta (from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples). The Romans completed the theater as well as the theatrical technologies created by the Greeks, in particular the architecture and the stage preparation of the building.

Nefer, Women in Ancient Egypt - Turin
Palazzo Cavour
Via Cavour 8 - Torino
www.turismotorino.org
through January 6, 2008
Opening hours:
Please consult website

This magnificent exhibition is one that is offering, for the first time, a complete profile of the Egyptian woman in diverse social aspects, and her role in everyday life, in Ancient Egypt. It reveals exceptional modernism of a woman living in an ancient world and ancient civilization. Over 200 archeological discoveries, of great historical and artistic value are on display, that bring the visitor on a journey through the female beauty of ancient Egypt and all of its mysterious glamour. Not much is known by the public regarding the topic of the Egyptian woman and of her everyday life. So, this makes it a very fascinating and educational case for all social societies to uncover.

Pinocchio Park
Parco di Pinocchio
3, Via San Gennaro - Collodi
www.pinocchio.it
Info
Phone:
+39 0572 429 642
+39 0572 429 613
All year round
Opening hours:
Please consult website

The Collodi Park is entirely dedicated to the little wooden puppet who so wished to be a little boy and all the wonderful characters of Collodi’s classic fairy tale. The town of Collodi in Tuscany is the birthplace of Carlo Collodi, the literary creator of the world’s favorite wooden puppet. Born Lorenzetti, the writer paid tribute to its hometown by adopting Collodi as his last name. The park includes a workshop where one can follow the creation of a puppet from beginning to end, as well as shows, exhibits and entertainment. Picnic areas are available throughout the park as well as the Osteria al Gambero Rosso. The park which centers around the Italian Pinocchio imagery and not the Disneyesque version of the character is a fun activity for fans of the puppet, big and small alike and a pleasant way to spend a few hours wondering in the peaceful Tuscan countryside.

“Roma-Pass” also valid for the sea
Rome
Info www.romapass.it
All year round

Everything is in track for the summer season. The Roma Pass was launched by the Municipal Authorities of Rome and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, in conjunction with ATAC, and this new plan expects to make it possible to use the Roma-Pass card for means of transportation that lead from the Capital to the Sea and supplementary services at seaside establishments. It has everything, with one coupon valid for 3 days that also includes the possibility to rent bikes at no charge, given that you reserve them in advance.

Vittoriano Terraces Reopen - Rome
Terrazze del Vittoriano
Via San Pietro in Carcere - Roma
www.quirinale.it
Info 011 39 06 6780664
Opening hours:
Please consult website

New, glass and steel panoramic elevators grant visitors access to one of Rome’s most beautiful terraces, the Quadriga Terrace, set on the tallest point of the Vittoriano from which one can enjoy a truly breath-taking view of “The Eternal City”. Visitors can access to the terraces for free by climbing the 196 steps or by elevator by purchasing a 7 euro ticket.

The Castles of the Duchy of Parma & Piacenza
Associazione Castelli del Ducato di Parma e Piacenza
Piazza Matteotti 1 - 43012 Fontanellato (PR)
www.castellidelducato.it
Info
Phone: 011 39 0521 829055
All year round
Opening hours:
Please consult website

The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza went through 300 years of history, but its fortresses and its castles keep much more ancient memories. Noble families, feudatories, condottieri lived, amid those walls, several events that tell about having the nerve to oppose the enemies in this borderland which is in the middle of the major communication routes. They tell about benefactors that called many artists to give the splendour of the art to their residences. They testify also familiar and personal epic deeds together with betrayals and fights. The Castles were residences, defensive bulwarks, centres of power, administrative and political seats till when, in 1545, they became a State.

Arte Sella Exhibition Centre - Borgo Valsugana (Trento)
Arte Sella Exhibition Centre c/o Malga Costa
Val di Sella - Borgo Valsugana (Trento)
www.artesella.it
Info
Phone: +39 0461/751251
Opening hours:
- June, July, August, September: every day.
- October: weekends only.

Arte Sella is an international biennial exhibition of contemporary art which began life in 1986. It takes places in the open, in the fields and woods of the Val di Sella valley (near Borgo Valsugana in the Province of Trento). Since 1996 the Arte Sella project has been laid out along a path in the woods on the southern slope of the Armentera mountain. The route, named ARTENATURA (“Art in Nature”) is designed to enable visitors to view the artworks and at the same time enjoy the natural site itself (with its different types of woods, rocks and trees …) In the last few years Arte Sella has expanded to include the nearby rustic Malga Costa. This unusual but attractive building has served as the backdrop for various exhibitions and events which have attracted considerable interest. In 2001 near the Malga Costa the artist Giuliano Mauri built the massive “Tree Cathedral” artwork for Arte Sella.

Parco Sculture del Chianti - Pievasciata (Siena)
Parco Sculture del Chianti
La Fornace - S.P. 9, 53010 Pievasciata (Siena)
www.chiantisculpturepark.it
Info
Phone: +39.0577.357151
All Year Round
From November to March by appointment
Opening hours:
please consult website

Parco Sculture del Chianti at Pievasciata (Siena) in the heart of Chianti is the first Italian park situated in a natural wood totally devoted to international contemporary sculpture. From April to October always open from 10 a.m. to sunset except Monday.

In order to build a good society it is very important we strengthen our economy and for that the financial market needs to be strong. Personal Loans, Mortgage markets with different mortgage rates needs to grow. We have to make sure that people invest in the right kind of securities and that would lay a foundation for strong building society towards growth.

The Roman Empire began effectively with AUGUSTUS‘ (the man who would later become Emperor) victory over Mark ANTHONY and CLEOPATRA in 31 BC.  During the following centuries Roman possessions outside Italy substantially expanded, and the complexity of the imperial bureaucracy resulted in a decline in the importance of Italy itself.  A growing number of emperors (whose allegiances lay elsewhere) were born outside Italy, and when Caracalla (AD 212 or 213) proclaimed an Edict which extended Roman citizenship to nearly all free provincials throughout the empire, Italy’s special status had all but disappeared. 

The 7 emperors who reigned between 270 and 284 AD - also known as the “barracks emperors” - (Aurelian, Tacitus, Florianus, Probus, Carus, Carinus jointly with Numerianus and Carinus alone) were all chosen by the army.  Only Numerianus who died during a march and Carus who was killed in battle died in an “ordinary” way.  The other 5 emperors were killed by their own soldiers and generals.  In an attempt to end the chaos of the “barracks emperors”, emperor Diocletian (284-305 AD) established an orderly succession process and divided the power and succession into two separate empires, the East and the West halves.  The East  being the senior emperor.  As of 286 AD, Diocletian as the Eastern emperor was joined by Maximian (286-305) in the West.  Both emperors abdicated in 305 AD. Maximian was recalled in 306 AD by Galerius.  In Subsequent years, that succession rule was bitterly disputed both in the East and the West.  There were a total of 39 claimants to the imperial title between 305 AD and 474 AD and only 5 emperors (Constantine I [312-337], Constantius II [350-361], Julian [361-363], Jovian [363-364] and Theodosius I [392-395]) ruled both the East and the West.  

In 330, Emperor CONSTANTINE I transferred the capital from Rome to Constantinople, built on the site of Byzantium. Italy’s administrative autonomy was lost shortly afterwards when two dioceses were joined with that of Africa to form a single prefecture. The loss of temporal power, however, was to some degree compensated for by the growing importance of Italy as a center of Christianity.  Starting in the 2d Century AD several bishoprics were founded in Milan, Ravenna, Naples, Benevento, and elsewhere in addition to that of Rome.  After 476, when the Germanic chieftain ODOACER deposed the last Western emperor, Romulus Augustus ( 475-476), emperor Zeno (474-491 AD) reunited the empire and continued to reign alone.  Subsequently, military control of Italy fell into barbarian hands under the Ostrogothic king, THEODORIC (493-526), and in practical terms, Italian political and social ties were with the West, in spite of continuing theoretical ties with the BYZANTINE EMPIRE. By 553, however, internal feuds permitted the Byzantine emperor JUSTINIAN I to regain control. Peninsular Italy was administered from its capital at RAVENNA as merely one division of the empire, although the Byzantines gradually admitted the ecclesiastical primacy of Rome in the West.

According to later Roman historians, the city of ROME, founded c.753 BC -probably by local LATINS and SABINES- was ruled by Etruscan kings from 616 BC. After the expulsion of the last of these kings, the power of the Etruscans declined as the Romans began the unification of Italy. This process reached its final stage when the right of Roman citizenship was extended throughout Italy in 89 BC, and with the subsequent diffusion of Roman institutions and culture from the Alps to Sicily, and Latin as the general language.

The introduction of Indo-European languages (Latin, Osco-Umbrian, Venetic, and Messapian) into what is now “Italy” dates back to the late Neolithic age. The great cultural units of historical Italy—Etruscan, Latin, Sabellian, and Iapygian in Apulia; Venetic in Venetia—were formed in the 9th and 8th centuries BC.  During the 7th century BC, the non-Indo-European ETRUSCANS became the dominant people of central Italy today known as Tuscany.  In a simultaneous development, Greeks began settling around Italy’s South Western shorelines and on Sicily.  The Greeks made their mark as savvy traders especially with their export of metals.  The adoption of writing, an increasing trend of improved social structures and the urbanization became the foundation of a rapidly developing social and economic transformation in southern and coastal Etruria. Etruscan power, though never unified, was extended through migration, colonization, and conquest. Etruscans founded cities in the Po Valley and in Campania and subjugated various Latin communities, Rome among them. The Etruscan cities were loosely united in a religious league of 12 but were politically independent with independent artistic traditions. The economy was based on agriculture, maritime trade and piracy.

Etruscan dominance ended in the 5th century with their expulsion from Latium and the loss of the sea to Greeks, of Campania to the Sabelli, and of the Po Valley to the Gauls. From the 4th through the 1st centuries, Roman conquest, colonization, and co-optation caused Etruscan civilization to decline and finally end. The Etruscans influenced Roman institutions in various ways, and in spite of the fact that many of their gods were different from those of Rome, they had a reputation at Rome for religious expertise. They were also renowned for luxury, because women were relatively free by the standards of classical Greece.

The LATINS lived on the western (Tyrrhenian) coastal plain—Latium—that stretches from the Tiber in the north to Monte Circeo 65 miles to the south. Northern Latium is enclosed on the east by the foothills of the Apennines; further south, the Lepini Mountains mark the eastern boundary. Traditionally there were 50 small Latin communities which were united by common Latin cults and by the common Latin rights of intermarriage, contractual dealing, and intermigration. By the 7th century, contacts with Etruscans and Greeks had influenced the Latins to organize themselves into about a dozen communities resembling Greek poleis. Although still tied to each other by intercommunal rights and common cults, these Latin “city-states” became increasingly independent and competitive. By the late 6th century several of them had formed a political league centered around Aricia, at the time when Etruscan Rome was pursuing an aggressive policy. Roman preeminence in Latium ended abruptly with the expulsion of Etruscan kings in the late 6th century. Soon after this the Latin League was formed, and a military alliance was made with Rome to defend the homeland against invading Aequi and Volsci. A century of war left Latium free of invaders, but Rome was again poised to dominate the other Latins. This was achieved by a Roman victory in the Latin War, 337–334 (343–338).

In the historical period the Apennines were inhabited by Sabellian peoples who spoke a variety of Osco-Umbrian languages and who periodically raided and sometimes conquered the fertile plains around them. In historical times the Sabines had moved into Latium where they are said to have exerted a formative influence on early Rome. The territories of the Umbrians extended from the highlands east of the Arno and Tiber to the Adriatic coast between Rimini and Ancona. Another Osco-Umbrian-speaking people from the central Apennines were the Aequi, who invaded Latium c. 500 BC. The central Apennines were also home to the Umbrian-speaking Marsi. Further east, Oscan speakers—the Paeligni, Vestini, and Marrucini—held sway; to the southeast, along the Adriatic coast, the Oscan-speaking Frentani dominated. Inhabiting the south-central Apennines were the SAMNITES, who spoke an Oscan language and by the 4th century were united in a loose but formidable confederation. During the late 5th and early 4th centuries, Oscan-speaking peoples moved into Campania, Lucania, and Bruttium, where they came to be known as Campani, Lucani, and Bruttii, respectively.

GREEK COLONIZATION  had a major influence on all the peoples of Italy and Sicily. The first Greek colony was established at Cumae in 750, and Greeks continued founding colonies in Campania, Apulia, and eastern Sicily later known as the Magna Graecia for the following two centuries.

By 2000 BC immigrants from the east had brought the art of metalworking to southern Italy and Sicily; while northern Italian cultures of the same period developed strong links with cultures north of the Alps. During the Bronze Age (c.1800-1000 BC), most of central and southern Italy had unified to a culture known as the Apennine, recognized by large agricultural and pastoral settlements. Evidence found in Sicily and on the southeastern coast of Italy suggests the start of trading contacts with the Mycenaeans. After c.1500 BC, in the northern Italian Po Valley , the terramare culture -known for building its villages on wooden piles, its new techniques of bronze workings, and its cremation rites- rose to prominence. By the time of the introduction of iron into Italy (c.1000 BC), regional variations were well established.

Excavations throughout Italy and Sicily have surfaced evidence of human activity dating back to the Paleolithic period (also called “Old Stone Age”, referring to the period between 2.5Million to 200,000 years ago), and the Mesolithic period. (Also called the “Middle Stone Age”, the word Mesolithic usually refers specifically to a development in northwestern Europe that began about 8000 BC, and lasted until about 2700 BC. By the beginning of the Neolithic period (the period following the Mesolithic period during which men became herdsmen and cultivators, and modifiers of their environment and the social structure became more complex), the small communities of hunters of earlier times had been replaced by agricultural settlements, with some stock breeding and widespread use of stone implements and pottery. Painted vessels that seem to have been influenced by contemporary styles in Greece have been found at Castellaro Vecchio on the island of Lipari.
Created: November 1996
Updated: 04/07/01

Where does the name ‘Italy’ come from and how did Italy get populated over time?

In remote times, going back to the Bronze Age and dated between the 18th and 17th centuries B.C. there was the great maritime migration of the Arcadians from the Aegean towards Southern Italy. Guided by their mythical king Oenotro, these people were called Oenotrians.

From their expansion and mixings with the local populations, and with some complicated integrations, derived the Ausonians (Ausones), the Chones, the Morgetes, of course, the Itali, and the Siculians.

The Latins probably also descended from the Oenotrians, but instead were pushed a bit further North. It has been shown that between the 16th and the 15th centuries B.C. several populations speaking diverse Indoeuropean idioms had already penetrated in Italy.

These populations represent the result of the overlapping and in many ways a blending of a first wave of Indoeuropea in Italy with an existing non-Indoeuropean sub-layer like that very ancient Iberian-Caucasian, who survived the presence, even in the Roman era both in Eastern Sardenia as well as Eastern Sicily, where one refers to the Sicanians, and like the Aegean-Asianic of the Pelasgic type.

The Pelasgi were perhaps the first inhabitants of the Palatine, the hill on which Rome would later rise, and perhaps the very ancient town called “square Rome” is attributed to them. In addition, the ancient God of the Roman hill Janiculum, Janus, came from Tessalia. Although tradition attributes him Indoeuropean origins, some historians say he has Pelasgic origins, with his name coming from Inuus Pelasgic.

Therefore the Central-Southern part of Italy outlines a scenario very similar to that verified previously in Greece, where the Pelasgi, an antique Mediterranean population who lived in Tessalia, the Peloponnesian, the Caria, and quite probably in Crete and Cyprus in addition to the many other small islands of the Aegean, overlapped or fused with their arrival the Indoeuropean Greeks.

The Arcadi, originally from Peloponnesia, speaking an ancient Greek language, and therefore Indoeuropean, is the perfect example of this fusion between Indoeuropean people and pre-Indoeuropean populations, given that Peloponnesia is the region in which the Pelasgic presence lasted the longest.

The Itali lived in the southern part of present-day Calabria, that is, within the “toe” of the boot called Italy. Their name came from Vitulus, meaning veal or calf, since the area was rich with bovine, and perhaps the Itali took the name symbolically since it identified them with their land. But in the times of the Magna Grecia, following the Greek colonization of the majority of their territory, the coastal regions were renamed Italoi, the Greek word for Vitulus.

And so the name “Italoi” was inherited by the Romans upon conquering this territory which extended all the way down to the southernmost tip of the peninsula. Although for some time the land had been conquered by second-wave Indoeuropean populations such as a type of Sabellians called Bruttii.

From this, the name “Italy” was extended by the Romans first to cover Southern Italy and later to include the entire peninsula.

Many tales about contacts between the Aegean world and the Italic world make references to more recent migrations than the first Arcadian immigration, between the 13th and 12th centuries B.C. around the period of the Trojan war, in 1180 B.C.

During that period, the late Bronze Age, almost half of the Italic peninsula was made up of migrants from various places within the Aegean-Anatolic area.

This half consisted partly of people speaking Indoeuropean idioms, like Arcadians of Evandro, of whom the presence on the Roman hills of the Palatine would be dated to 60 years before the Trojan war or, like Ulysses’ Achei and Enea’s Trojans, immediately after the Trojan war.

The other half was made up of Mediterranean populations very similar to the Pelasgi but not speaking proper Indoeuropean languages and identified as Maritime Populations, such as Sardens or Shardana, meaning Sardanioi, that is, the Sardinians, and the Trs or Tursa, meaning the Tyrosine, that is the Tyrrhenians who perhaps originally came from Lydia in Asia Minor or from the Aegean island of Lemno, from which the Etruscans or Tusci come.

Source: Fabrizio Bianco (c) 2002, Inside Lazio; Ancient Italian Regions, “a brief introduction to the origins of the name ‘Italy’

Anhui
* Hefei
* Huangshan

Beijing

Chongqing

Fujian
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Gansu
* Dunhuang
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* Zhangye

Guangdong
* Dongguan
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* Zhuhai

Guangxi
* Beihai
* Guilin
* Longsheng
* Nanning
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Guizhou
* Anshun
* Bijie
* Buyi
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* Kaili
* Miao Region
* Tongren

Hainan
* Haikou
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Hebei
* Chengde
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Heilongjiang
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Henan
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Hong Kong

Hubei
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Hunan
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Inner Mongolia
* Baotou
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Jiangsu
* Kunshan
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Jiangxi
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Jilin
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Liaoning
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Macau

Ningxia
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Qinghai
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Shaanxi
* Xian
* Yan’an

Shandong
* Jinan
* Qingdao
* Qufu
* Yantai
* Tai’an

Shanghai

Shanxi
* Datong
* Pingyao
* Taiyuan

Sichuan
* Chengdu
* Leshan
* Jiuzhaigou

Taiwan

Tianjin

Tibet
* Lhasa
* Shigatse

Xinjiang
* Hetian (Hotan)
* Ili
* Kashgar
* Korla
* Turpan
* Urumqi

Yunnan
* Dali
* Jinghong
* Kunming
* Lijiang
* Shangri-La

Zhejiang
* Hangzhou
* Ningbo
* Shaoxing
* Wenzhou
* Yiwu

In China, a vast land spanning many degrees of latitude with complicated terrain, climate varies radically. China has a variety of temperature and rainfall zones, including continental monsoon areas. In winter most areas become cold and dry, in summer hot and rainy. In Xinjiang Province, people have the saying, “we wear a leather coat in the morning and gauze at noon; eat watermelon around a fire.”

Temperature Zones

Temperatures vary a great deal. Influenced by latitude and monsoon activities, in winter, an isotherm of zero degrees traverses the Huaihe River-Qinling Mountain-southeast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Areas north of the isotherm have temperatures below zero degrees and south of it, above zero. Mohe Town in Heilongjiang Province can hit an average of 30 degrees centigrade below zero, while temperature in Hainan Province is above 20 degrees.

In summer, most of areas are above 20 centigrade, despite the high Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and other mountains such as Tianshan. Among these hot places, Turpan Basin in Xinjiang is the center for intense heat at 32 centigrade on average. There are also the famous ‘Three Ovens’ cities along the Yangtze River in summer: Chongqing, Wuhan, and Nanjing.

From north to south, there are five temperature zones and a plateau-climate zone: one cold-temperate zone, mid-temperate zone, warm-temperate zone, subtropical zone, tropical zone and a plateau climate zone.

Distributions are as follows:

Cold-temperate zone: north part of Heilongjiang Province and Inner Mongolia

Mid-temperate zone: Jilin, northern Xinjiang, and most of Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and Inner Mongolia

Warm-temperate zone: area of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Hebei Province.

Subtropical zone: South of isotherm of Qinling Mountain-Huaihe River, east of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Tropical zone: Hainan province, southern Taiwan, Guangdong, and Yunnan Province
Plateau climate zone: Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Precipitation

Precipitation in China is basically regular each year. From the spatial angle, the distribution shows that the rainfall is increasing from southeast to northwest, because the eastern seashores are influenced more than inland areas by the summer monsoon. In the place with the most rainfall, Huoshaoliao in Taiwan, the average annual precipitation can reach over 6,000 mm!

The rainy seasons are mainly May to September. Thus rich rainfall sometimes creates floods and drought accounts for the dry air in winter. In some areas, especially in the dry northwest, changes in precipitation every year are greater than in the coastal area. This is caused by the advance and retreat of the irregular summer monsoon. Viewed spatially, South China, with its longer rainy season, has more rainfall than the North.

Based on precipitation, the area divides into four parts: wet area, semi-wet area, semi-dry area and dry area. The first two are distributed alongside the Qinling Mountain-Huaihe River division, the 800 mm annual precipitation line (isohyet), and are the dominant farming areas. The 400 mm annual isohyet lies along the Daxing’an Mountains-Great Wall-Gangdisi Mountains, and divides the semi-wet and semi-dry areas. The last two areas support a very small population. Their boundary, the 200 mm annual isohyet, is approximately via middle Inner Mongolia and the Helan and Qilian Mountains to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Monsoon

In summer, a southeast monsoon from the western Pacific Ocean and a southwest monsoon from the equatorial Indian Ocean blow onto the Chinese mainland. These monsoons are the main cause of rainfall.

Starting in April and May, the summer rainy season monsoons hit the southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan. In June, the rains blow northward, and South China gets more rainfall with the poetic name, plum-rain weather, since this is the moment when plums mellow. North China greets its rainy season in July and August, says farewell in September; gradually in October the summer monsoons retreat from Chinese land.

Eastern China experiences many climate changes, while the northwest area is a non-monsoon region.

China, representing one of the earliest civilizations in the world, has a recorded history of about 3,600 years. It possesses rich historical documents as well as ancient relics. Like other nations, China, in its development, passed through the stages of primitive society, slave society, and feudal society. During the middle decades of the 19th century, capitalist forces of foreign countries invaded China, and China was slowly transformed into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The founding of the People’s Republic in 1949 marked China’s entry into the socialist stage. During the long period of historical development, the industrious, courageous, and intelligent Chinese people of all nationalities collectively created a great civilization. They made great contributions to all of mankind.The following is a list of the dynasties:

Chinese Dynasties	Period
Prehistoric Times	1.7 million years - the 21st century BC
Xia Dynasty	21st - 16th century BC
Shang Dynasty	16th - 11th century BC
Zhou Dynasty	Western Zhou (11th century BC - 771 BC)
	Eastern Zhou —- Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC) —- Warring States Period (476 BC - 221 BC)
Qin Dynasty	221 BC - 206 BC
Han Dynasty	Western Han (206 BC - 24 AD)
	Eastern Han (25 - 220)
Three Kingdoms Period	220 - 280
Jin Dynasty	Western Jin (265 - 316)
	Eastern Jin (317 - 420)
Northern and Southern Dynasties	Northern Dynasties (386 - 581)
	Southern Dynasties (420 - 589)
Sui Dynasty	581 - 618
Tang Dynasty	618 - 907
Five Dynasties and Ten States	Five Dynasties —- Later Liang (907 - 923) —- Later Tang (923 - 936) —- Later Jin (936 - 946) —- Later Han (947 - 951) —- Later Zhou (951 - 960)
	Ten States (902 - 979)
Song Dynasty	Northern Song (960 - 1127)
	Southern Song (1127 - 1279)
Liao Dynasty	916 — 1125
Jin Dynasty	1115 — 1234
Yuan Dynasty	1271 — 1368
Ming Dynasty	1368 — 1644
Qing Dynasty	1644 — 1911