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About Italya

     Italy (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic, (Italian: Repubblica Italiana), is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within the Italian Peninsula, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland.

     Italy has been the home of many European cultures, such as the Etruscans and the Romans, and later was the birthplace of the movement of the Italian Renaissance. Italy's capital Rome has been the center of Western Civilization, and is the center of the Catholic Church.

     Today, Italy is a democratic republic, and a developed country with the 7th-highest GDP (nominal) and the 17th-highest Human Development Index rating in the world. It is a founding member of what is now the European Union (having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957), and also a member of the G8, the Council of Europe, the Western European Union, and the Central European Initiative. Beginning January 1, 2007, Italy became a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Italy is also a modern great power, and a regional power.

     The origin of the term "Italy" (It: Italia), from Latin Ītalia, is uncertain. According to one of the more common explanations, the term was borrowed through Greek, from Oscan Víteliú, meaning "land of young cattle" (cf. Lat vitulus "calf", Umb vitlo "calf") and named for the god of cattle, Mars. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italian tribes and is often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Samnite Wars.

      The name Italia applied to a part of what is now southern Italy. According to Antiochus of Syracuse, it originally only referred to the southern portion of the Bruttium peninsula (modern Calabria), but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to use the name "Italia" for a greater region, but it was not until the time of the Roman conquests that the term was expanded to cover the entire peninsula

 

About Cassino

     Cassino is a comune in the province of Frosinone, Italy, at the southern end of the region of Lazio.

     Cassino is located at the foot of Monte Cairo near the confluence of the Rapido and Liri rivers. The city is best known as the site of the Abbey of Montecassino and the Battle of Monte Cassino during World War II, which resulted in tremendous Allied and German casualites as well as the near total destruction of the town itself. Today, Cassino is also home to the University of Cassino and a FIAT automotive plant.

     Cassino's origins lie in the Volsci settlement of Casinum , at the base of the nearby Monte Cairo. Casinum passed under the control of the Samnites, but the Romans eventually gained control of Casinum, establishing a colony there in 312 BCE. At least once during Punic Wars, Hannibal passed near Casinum. Casinium was also the site of a villa belonging to Marcus Terentius Varro.

     The modern town which arose on the site of the ancient town of Casinum was called San Germano, but in on 28 July 1863 the name was officially reverted to "Cassino".

     The site of fierce fighting during the Battles of Monte Cassino during World War II, the old town was almost completely destroyed and was rebuilt south-east of its prior location in a relatively quick time. Thanks to this, the town has a somewhat disordered network of roads.