Acquacotta (pronounced [ˌakkwaˈkɔtta]; Italian for "cooked water") is a hot broth-based bread soup in Italian cuisine that was originally a peasant food. Its preparation and consumption dates back to ancient history, and it originated in the coastal area known as the Maremma in southern Tuscany and northern Lazio. The dish was invented in part as a means to make hardened, stale bread edible. In contemporary times, ingredients can vary, and additional ingredients are sometimes used. Variations of the dish include aquacotta con funghi and aquacotta con peperoni. (Full article...)
Image 4The Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence, which has the biggest brick dome in the world, and is considered a masterpiece of Italian architecture and world architecture. (from History of Italy)
Image 7The Roman Forum, the commercial, cultural, and political centre of the city and the Republic which housed the various offices and meeting places of the government. (from History of Italy)
Image 10Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti was murdered a few days after he openly denounced Fascist violence during the 1924 elections. (from History of Italy)
Image 13The Sassi cave houses of Matera are believed to be among the first human settlements in Italy dating back to the Paleolithic. (from History of Italy)
Areas annexed to Italy in 1920 and remained Italian even after 1947
Areas annexed to Italy in 1920, passed to the Free Territory of Trieste in 1947 with the Paris treaties and definitively assigned to Italy in 1975 with the Treaty of Osimo
Areas annexed to Italy in 1920, passed to the Free Territory of Trieste in 1947 with the Paris treaties and definitively assigned to Yugoslavia in 1975 with the Osimo treaty
Image 56Residents of Fiume cheering D'Annunzio and his Legionari, September 1919. At the time, Fiume had 22,488 (62% of the population) Italians in a total population of 35,839 inhabitants. (from History of Italy)
Image 70the EUR in Rome is a perfect example of modern Italian architecture (from Culture of Italy)
Image 71Mussolini and Hitler in June 1940. (from History of Italy)
Image 72Asylum seekers arrive in Sicily, 2015. The Arab Spring and the Syrian War created factors that led to a migrant crisis that saw hundred of thousands of boat-dwellers seeking refuge in Italy and other Mediterranean countries. (from History of Italy)
Image 75St. Peter's Basilica is the world's largest Christian church. It is the second church to stand above the crypt (tomb) believed to hold the body of Saint Peter, the first pope. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 81Christopher Columbus leads an expedition to the New World, 1492. His voyages are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a new era in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds. (from History of Italy)
Image 97Attack of the far-right terrorist group NAR at the Bologna railway station on 2 August 1980, which caused the death of 85 people. (from History of Italy)
Image 106Giuseppe Garibaldi, celebrated as one of the greatest generals of modern times and as the "Hero of the Two Worlds", who commanded and fought in many military campaigns that led to Italian unification. (from History of Italy)
Image 107The espresso comes from the Italian esprimere, which means "to express," and refers to the process by which hot water is forced under pressure through ground coffee. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 110The Roman Empire provided an inspiration for the medieval European. Although the Holy Roman Empire rarely acquired a serious geopolitical reality, it possessed great symbolic significance. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 114Map of Great Italy according to the 1940 fascist project in case Italy had won the Second World War (the orange line delimits metropolitan Italy, the green line the borders of the enlarged Italian Empire) (from History of Italy)
Image 115The Colosseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 116Italy has been a home for innovation in science in the centuries since Galileo formulated his theories of planetary movement. (from Culture of Italy)
Image 117Italy before the Napoleonic invasion (1796). (from History of Italy)