128-518: Aragonese Castle ( Italian : Castello Aragonese ) is a castle built on a small tidal island east of Ischia (one of the Phlegraean Islands ), at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples , Italy. The castle stands on a volcanic rocky islet that connects to the larger island of Ischia by a causeway ( Ponte Aragonese ). A first castle was built by Hiero I of Syracuse in 474 BC. At
256-689: A local language of Italy , most frequently the language spoken at home in their place of origin. Italian is a major language in Europe, being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe . It is the third-most-widely spoken native language in the European Union (13% of the EU population) and it
384-400: A President and two vice-presidents. The five-member Council of State ( Italian : Consiglio di Stato ), not to be confused with the federal Council of States , is the executive authority of the canton, and it directs cantonal affairs according to law and the constitution. It is elected in a single constituency using the proportional representation system. Currently, the five members of
512-727: A castle in Italy is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . Italian is the least divergent language from Latin , together with Sardinian (meaning that Italian and Sardinian are
640-525: A headscarf. The Burqa ban was later approved by the Grand Council in November 2015. In September 2016, Ticino voters approved a Swiss People's Party -sponsored referendum that gives precedence to Swiss workers, as opposed to foreign workers, defying freedom of movement agreements between Switzerland and the EU . The canton is divided into eight districts : Leventina was a subject of
768-565: A huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home languages— ciao is derived from the Venetian word s-cia[v]o ("slave", that is "your servant"), panettone comes from the Lombard word panetton , etc. Only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when
896-471: A little over one million people in the United States speak Italian at home. Nevertheless, an Italian language media market does exist in the country. In Canada, Italian is the second most spoken non-official language when varieties of Chinese are not grouped together, with 375,645 claiming Italian as their mother tongue in 2016. Italian immigrants to South America have also brought a presence of
1024-433: A member canton. The former condominiums and Leventina became the eight districts of the canton of Ticino, which exist to the present day and are provided for by the cantonal constitution. There are 108 municipalities in the canton (as of June 2021 ). These municipalities ( comuni ) are grouped in 38 circoli (circles or sub-districts) which are in turn grouped into the eight districts ( distretti ). The mayor ( sindaco )
1152-425: A moderately elevated mountain pass and important north–south axis. The Sopraceneri is constituted by the districts of Bellinzona , Blenio , Leventina , Locarno , Riviera and Vallemaggia , and makes up about 85% of the territory and 43% of the population. The Sottoceneri is constituted by the districts of Lugano and Mendrisio , and makes up about 15% of the territory and 57% of the population. While Lugano ,
1280-658: A poetic and literary origin in the works of Tuscan writers of the 12th century, and, although the grammar and core lexicon are basically unchanged from those used in Florence in the 13th century, the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. However, Romance vernacular as language spoken in the Italian Peninsula has a longer history. In fact, the earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called vernacular (as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae known as
1408-417: A renewed interest in linguistics in the 16th century, sparked a debate that raged throughout Italy concerning the criteria that should govern the establishment of a modern Italian literary and spoken language. This discussion, known as questione della lingua (i.e., the problem of the language ), ran through the Italian culture until the end of the 19th century, often linked to the political debate on achieving
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#17327906960341536-522: A result. Starting in late medieval times in much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin was replaced as the primary commercial language by languages of Italy, especially Tuscan and Venetian. These varieties were consolidated during the Renaissance with the strength of Italy and the rise of humanism and the arts . Italy came to enjoy increasing artistic prestige within Europe. A mark of
1664-403: A seven-vowel system, consisting of /a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/ , as well as 23 consonants. Compared with most other Romance languages, Italian phonology is conservative, preserving many words nearly unchanged from Vulgar Latin . Some examples: Ticino Ticino ( / t ɪ ˈ tʃ iː n oʊ / tih- CHEE -noh ), sometimes Tessin ( / t ɛ ˈ s iː n , t ɛ ˈ s æ̃ / ), officially
1792-479: A single language is that they have evolved so that they are no longer mutually intelligible ; this diagnostic is effective if mutual intelligibility is minimal or absent (e.g. in Romance, Romanian and Portuguese), but it fails in cases such as Spanish-Portuguese or Spanish-Italian, as educated native speakers of either pairing can understand each other well if they choose to do so; however, the level of intelligibility
1920-632: A tunnel with large openings which let the light enter. Along the tunnel there is a small chapel consecrated to John Joseph of the Cross ( Italian : San Giovan Giuseppe della Croce ), the patron saint of the island. Outside the castle are the Church of the Immacolata and the Cathedral of Assunta. The first was built in 1737 on the location of a smaller chapel dedicated to Saint Francis, and closed after
2048-513: A united Italian state. Renaissance scholars divided into three main factions: A fourth faction claimed that the best Italian was the one that the papal court adopted, which was a mixture of the Tuscan and Roman dialects. Eventually, Bembo's ideas prevailed, and the foundation of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence (1582–1583), the official legislative body of the Italian language, led to
2176-779: A volunteer militia in Lugano. Between 1798 and 1803, during the Helvetic Republic , two cantons were created ( Bellinzona and Lugano ) but in 1803 the two were unified to form the canton of Ticino that joined the Swiss Confederation as a full member in the same year under the Act of Mediation . During the Napoleonic Wars , many Ticinesi (as was the case for other Swiss ) served in Swiss military units allied with
2304-412: Is 114.6 persons per km . As of 2000, 83.1% of the population spoke Italian, 8.3% spoke German and 1.7% spoke Serbo-Croatian . As of 2019, 70.0% of the total population was Catholic . According to a 2012 survey, the population aged 15 years and older was mostly Catholic (70%); further Christian denominations accounted for 10% of the population (including Swiss Reformed 4%), 2% were Muslim and 1% of
2432-427: Is 89% with French, 87% with Catalan , 85% with Sardinian , 82% with Spanish, 80% with Portuguese , 78% with Ladin , 77% with Romanian . Estimates may differ according to sources. One study, analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin (comparing phonology , inflection , discourse , syntax , vocabulary , and intonation ), estimated that distance between Italian and Latin
2560-759: Is also spoken by a minority in Monaco and France, especially in the southeastern part of the country. Italian was the official language in Savoy and in Nice until 1860, when they were both annexed by France under the Treaty of Turin , a development that triggered the " Niçard exodus ", or the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy, and the Niçard Vespers . Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about
2688-690: Is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia . Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania , although Italian is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Some speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian (either in its standard form or regional varieties ) and
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#17327906960342816-486: Is given in the following table: Tertiary sector workers make up 76.5% of the Ticinese workforce, compared to the Swiss average of 67.1%. Commerce (23.1%), tourism (10.1%) and financial activities (3.9%) are all important for the local economy, while the contribution from agriculture and fishing is marginal, employing 6.5% of the workforce on a Swiss average of 15.4%. The median gross private sector monthly salary in 2012
2944-534: Is higher than that between Sardinian and Latin. In particular, its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian . As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino and is spoken fluently by the majority of the countries' populations. Italian is the third most spoken language in Switzerland (after German and French; see Swiss Italian ), although its use there has moderately declined since
3072-536: Is increasing. Numerous gardens, especially near the lakes, such as the Brissago Islands and the Scherrer Park , are renowned for their exotic plants. The Diocese of Lugano is co-extensive to the canton. Ticino is one of the wine regions for Swiss wine . The defined region encompasses all of the canton plus the neighbouring Italian-speaking district of Moesa ( Misox and Calanca valleys) in
3200-460: Is markedly lower between Italian-Spanish, and considerably higher between the Iberian sister languages of Portuguese-Spanish. Speakers of this latter pair can communicate with one another with remarkable ease, each speaking to the other in his own native language without slang/jargon. Nevertheless, on the basis of accumulated differences in morphology, syntax, phonology, and to some extent lexicon, it
3328-410: Is not difficult to identify that for the Romance varieties of Italy, the first extant written evidence of languages that can no longer be considered Latin comes from the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. These written sources demonstrate certain vernacular characteristics and sometimes explicitly mention the use of the vernacular in Italy. Full literary manifestations of the vernacular began to surface around
3456-422: Is noticeably warmer and wetter than the rest of Switzerland's . In German-speaking Switzerland, Ticino is nicknamed Sonnenstube (sun porch), owing to the more than 2,300 sunshine hours the canton receives every year, compared to 1,700 for Zurich. The canton can experience particularly heavy storms and rainfalls in summer. It is the region of Switzerland with the highest level of lightning discharge. Conversely,
3584-625: Is one of the three large southern Alpine cantons, along with Valais and the Grisons . However, unlike all other cantons, it lies almost entirely south of the Alps and has no natural access to the Swiss Plateau . Through the main crest of the Gotthard and adjacent mountain ranges, it borders the canton of Valais to the northwest, the canton of Uri to the north and the canton of Grisons to
3712-594: Is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom ) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million. Italian is the main working language of the Holy See , serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as
3840-601: Is the meeting place for both the Grand Council and the Council of State. Nearby Piazza Governo is Piazza Indipendenza, which commemorates the independence of the canton. Since a referendum in September 2013, Ticino is the only Swiss canton where wearing full-face veils is illegal. Supporters of the ban cited the case of a 20-year-old Pakistani woman from Bellinzona , who was killed by her husband for refusing to wear
3968-411: Is the president of the municipal government ( municipio ) which comprises at least three members; a council also exists. The members of the council and the municipio are elected every four years by the citizens resident in the comune – the next elections are scheduled for April 2024. Since the late 1990s, there has been an ongoing project to aggregate some municipalities , with the constitution of
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4096-584: Is traditionally (but not administratively) split into two regions. The northern region, the Sopraceneri , is formed by the valleys around Lake Maggiore and includes the highest mountains of the canton and the main Alpine watershed . The southern region, the Sottoceneri , is the region around Lake Lugano , and marks the beginning of the southern Alpine foothills. Between the two regions is Monte Ceneri ,
4224-549: Is used, and the town of Chipilo near Puebla, Mexico; each continues to use a derived form of Venetian dating back to the 19th century. Other examples are Cocoliche , an Italian–Spanish pidgin once spoken in Argentina and especially in Buenos Aires , and Lunfardo . The Rioplatense Spanish dialect of Argentina and Uruguay today has thus been heavily influenced by both standard Italian and Italian regional languages as
4352-509: The Il Globo (Australia) and the La gazzetta del Sud Africa (South Africa). Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. In the 21st century, technology also allows for the continual spread of the Italian language, as people have new ways to learn how to speak, read, and write languages at their own pace and at any given time. For example,
4480-991: The La Voce del Popolo ( Croatia ), the Corriere d'Italia (Germany), the L'italoeuropeo (United Kingdom), the Passaparola ( Luxembourg ), the America Oggi (United States), the Corriere Canadese and the Corriere Italiano (Canada), the Il punto d'incontro (Mexico), the L'Italia del Popolo ( Argentina ), the Fanfulla (Brazil), the Gente d'Italia ( Uruguay ), the La Voce d'Italia ( Venezuela ),
4608-666: The French . The canton minted its own currency , the Ticinese franco , between 1813 and 1850, when it began the use of the Swiss franc . As a particularly poor region, Ticino was a land of emigration. Notable examples include the chocolatiers ( cioccolatieri ) of the Val Blenio , who migrated throughout Europe (see Swiss chocolate#History ). Until 1878 the three largest cities, Bellinzona, Lugano and Locarno, alternated as capital of
4736-702: The Gallo-Italic linguistic panorama of Northern Italy , the Italo-Dalmatian , Neapolitan and its related dialects were largely unaffected by the Franco- Occitan influences introduced to Italy mainly by bards from France during the Middle Ages, but after the Norman conquest of southern Italy , Sicily became the first Italian land to adopt Occitan lyric moods (and words) in poetry. Even in
4864-674: The Kingdom of Italy in the Dodecanese ). Italian is widely spoken in Malta , where nearly two-thirds of the population can speak it fluently (see Maltese Italian ). Italian served as Malta's official language until 1934, when it was abolished by the British colonial administration amid strong local opposition. Italian language in Slovenia is an officially recognized minority language in
4992-773: The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ), although the masses kept speaking primarily their local vernaculars. Italian was also one of the many recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city because the cities, until recently, were thought of as city-states . Those dialects now have considerable variety . As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian . The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are syntactic gemination of initial consonants in some contexts and
5120-743: The Maggia Valley , Lugano and Mendrisio were annexed. Subsequently, the upper valley of the river Ticino , from the St. Gotthard to the town of Biasca ( Leventina Valley ) was part of Uri. The remaining territory ( Baliaggi Ultramontani , Ennetbergische Vogteien , the Bailiwicks Beyond the Mountains) was administered by the Twelve Cantons. These districts were governed by bailiffs holding office for two years and purchasing it from
5248-1033: The Middle Ages , the established written language in Europe was Latin, although the great majority of people were illiterate, and only few were well versed in the language. In the Italian Peninsula , as in most of Europe, most would instead speak a local vernacular. These dialects, as they are commonly referred to, evolved from Vulgar Latin over the course of centuries, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. They are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, but sister languages of Italian. Mutual intelligibility with Italian varies widely, as it does with Romance languages in general. The Romance languages of Italy can differ greatly from Italian at all levels ( phonology , morphology , syntax , lexicon , pragmatics ) and are classified typologically as distinct languages. The standard Italian language has
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5376-833: The Moesa in the Mesolcina Valley in the Grisons . The lands of most of the canton are shaped by the river, which in its mid portion forms a wide valley, commonly known as the Riviera . The western lands of the canton, however, are drained by the Maggia . The Verzasca Valley is between the Leventina Valley and the Maggia Valley. There is also a smaller area that drains directly into the Lake Lugano . Most of
5504-424: The Novena Pass to Lake Maggiore . Known as Ticinus in Roman times, the river appears on the Tabula Peutingeriana as Ticenum . Johann Kaspar Zeuss attributed Celtic origins to the name, tracing it to the Celtic tek , itself from an Indo-European root tak , meaning "melting, flowing". The official name of the canton is Republic and Canton of Ticino ( Italian : Repubblica e Cantone Ticino ), and
5632-423: The Placiti Cassinesi from the province of Benevento that date from 960 to 963, although the Veronese Riddle , probably from the 8th or early 9th century, contains a late form of Vulgar Latin that can be seen as a very early sample of a vernacular dialect of Italy. The Commodilla catacomb inscription is also a similar case. The Italian language has progressed through a long and slow process, which started after
5760-435: The Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino , is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation . It is composed of eight districts and its capital city is Bellinzona . It is also traditionally divided into the Sopraceneri and the Sottoceneri , respectively north and south of Monte Ceneri . Red and blue are the colours of its flag. Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. It
5888-421: The Saint-Gotthard Massif and the Lugano Prealps . The longest and deepest valleys are those of the Ticino, Verzasca and Maggia. The two highest mountains are the Rheinwaldhorn and the Basòdino . Other notable mountains are Pizzo Rotondo (highest of the Gotthard Massif), Pizzo Campo Tencia (highest fully within the canton), Monte Generoso (highest south of Lake Lugano) and Monte Tamaro (most prominent of
6016-406: The Western Roman Empire's fall in the 5th century. The language that came to be thought of as Italian developed in central Tuscany and was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri , written in his native Florentine . Dante's epic poems, known collectively as the Commedia , to which another Tuscan poet Giovanni Boccaccio later affixed
6144-427: The canton of Uri until 1798, the year the Helvetic Republic was founded, when it became part of the new canton of Bellinzona along with the Swiss condominiums of Bellinzona, Riviera and Blenio. The condominiums of Locarno, Lugano, Mendrisio and Vallemaggia became part of the new canton of Lugano in 1798. These two cantons formed into one canton, Ticino, in 1803 when it joined the (restored) Swiss Confederation as
6272-434: The canton of Uri , but subsequently lost. Uri conquered the Leventina Valley in 1440. In a second conquest Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden gained the town of Bellinzona and the Riviera in 1500. Some of the land and Bellinzona itself were previously annexed by Uri in 1419 but lost again in 1422. The third conquest was fought by troops from the entire Confederation (at that time constituted by 12 cantons). In 1512 Locarno ,
6400-490: The canton of the Grisons . The current Constitution of the Republic and Canton of Ticino, originating from a draft approved on 18 August 1801 during the Helvetic Republic, was approved on 14 December 1997. In its preamble , it states that it was created by the Ticinese people ( popolo ) "in order to guaranty peaceful life together with respect for the dignity of man, fundamental liberties and social justice (...) faithful to its historic task to interpret Italian culture within
6528-421: The fashion industry due to its closeness to Milan . Hugo Boss , Gucci , VF Corporation and other popular brands are located there. Because the international fashion business has become a significant employer for Swiss and Italians alike, the region has also been termed the "Fashion Valley". Three of the world's largest gold refineries are based in Ticino, including the Pamp refinery in Castel San Pietro ,
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#17327906960346656-456: The southern parts of the Grisons . In 2020, Ticino had a population of 350,986. The largest city is Lugano , and the two other notable centres are Bellinzona and Locarno . While the geography of the Sopraceneri region is marked by the High Alps and Lake Maggiore , that of the Sottoceneri is marked by the Alpine foothills and Lake Lugano . The canton, which has become one of the major tourist destinations of Switzerland, distinguishes itself from
6784-406: The 111 Italian lecturer sections belonging to foreign schools where Italian is taught as a language of culture. As of 2022, Australia had the highest number of students learning Italian in the world. This occurred because of support by the Italian community in Australia and the Italian Government and also because of successful educational reform efforts led by local governments in Australia. From
6912-458: The 13th century in the form of various religious texts and poetry. Although these are the first written records of Italian varieties separate from Latin, the spoken language had probably diverged long before the first written records appeared since those who were literate generally wrote in Latin even if they spoke other Romance varieties in person. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of Standard Italian became increasingly widespread and
7040-438: The 1970s. It is official both on the national level and on regional level in two cantons : Ticino and Grisons . In the latter canton, however, it is only spoken by a small minority, in the Italian Grisons . Ticino, which includes Lugano , the largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy, is the only canton where Italian is predominant. Italian is also used in administration and official documents in Vatican City . Italian
7168-408: The Government are Claudio Zali, Raffaele De Rosa, Manuele Bertoli, Norman Gobbi and Christian Vitta. Each year, the Council of State nominates its president. The current president of the Council of State is Norman Gobbi. The most recent elections were held in April 2019; the next elections will be on 2 April 2023. The cantonal capital is Bellinzona . The Palazzo delle Orsoline on Piazza Governo
7296-424: The Helvetic Confederation" . The Grand Council ( Gran Consiglio ) is the legislative authority of the canton, exercising sovereignty over any matter not explicitly delegated by the constitution to another authority. The Gran Consiglio has 90 members called deputati (deputies), elected in a single constituency using the proportional representation system. Deputies serve four-year terms, and annually nominate
7424-417: The Italian dialects has declined in the modern era , as Italy unified under Standard Italian and continues to do so aided by mass media from newspapers to radio to television, diglossia is still frequently encountered in Italy and triglossia is not uncommon in emigrant communities among older speakers. Both situations normally involve some degree of code-switching and code-mixing . Notes: Italian has
7552-439: The Italian language into a lingua franca used not only among clerks, nobility, and functionaries in the Italian courts but also by the bourgeoisie . Italian literature's first modern novel, I promessi sposi ( The Betrothed ) by Alessandro Manzoni , further defined the standard by "rinsing" his Milanese "in the waters of the Arno " ( Florence 's river), as he states in the preface to his 1840 edition. After unification,
7680-497: The Mediterranean. The increasing political and cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of the rise of the Medici Bank , humanism , and the Renaissance made its dialect, or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts. The Renaissance era, known as il Rinascimento in Italian, was seen as a time of rebirth, which is the literal meaning of both renaissance (from French) and rinascimento (Italian). During this time, long-existing beliefs stemming from
7808-406: The Swiss average of 86,135 Swiss francs, it was still one of the wealthiest areas in Europe. Ticino also had the second highest life expectancy (85.2 years) in Europe in 2018. The Human Development Index of 0.961 in 2021 was one of the highest found anywhere in the world . The name Ticino was chosen for the newly established canton in 1803, after the river Ticino which flows through it from
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#17327906960347936-408: The canton . In winter, skiing is popular in the highest locations, notably in Airolo and Bosco/Gurin . In the lower regions, especially around Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano, vineyards, olive trees and other fruits common to southern Europe are grown. Several types of cold hardy palm trees and other subtropical species may be grown here, and although none are native, their presence in the ecosystem
8064-407: The canton allowing for the Grand Council of Ticino to promote and lead in deciding on mergers. This has resulted in changes to some of the circles, with many circles now consisting of just one or two municipalities. The most populous municipality – Lugano (having merged with numerous other municipalities) – is subdivided into quartieri (quarters) which are grouped into three (cantonal) circles. In
8192-414: The canton can experience severe droughts in both summer and winter, making it the region most affected by forest fires in the country. The climate of Ticino is highly diverse as elevations range from Lake Maggiore, affected by subtropical climate , to the high Alps, affected by subarctic and tundra climate . Therefore, similarly to the rest of Switzerland, many different types of ecosystems are found in
8320-443: The canton's main export market, receiving 23.1% of the total, compared to 15.8% for Italy and 9.9% for the United States. Many Italian companies relocate to Ticino, either temporarily or permanently, seeking lower taxes and an efficient bureaucracy : just as many Ticinese entrepreneurs doing business in Italy complain of red tape and widespread protectionism . The region has been attracting multinational companies particularly from
8448-429: The canton). For an exhaustive list, see list of mountains of Ticino . The area of the canton is 2,812 square kilometres (1,086 sq mi), of which about three-quarters are considered productive to trees or crops. Forests cover about a third of the area, but also the lakes Maggiore (or Verbano ) and Lugano (or Ceresio ) make up a considerable minority. The canton shares borders with three other cantons across
8576-433: The canton. In 1878, however, Bellinzona became the only and permanent capital. The 1870–1891 period saw a surge of political turbulence in Ticino, and the authorities needed the assistance of the federal government to restore order in several instances, in 1870, 1876, 1889 and 1890–1891. The current cantonal constitution dates from 1997. The previous constitution, heavily modified, was codified in 1830, nearly 20 years before
8704-444: The case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages. The economic might and relatively advanced development of Tuscany at the time ( Late Middle Ages ) gave its language weight, although Venetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life, and Ligurian (or Genoese) remained in use in maritime trade alongside
8832-408: The castle was sold to a private owner. Today the castle is the most visited monument of the island. The castle is built on a small tidal island east of Ischia (one of the Phlegraean Islands ), at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples , Italy. The castle stands on a volcanic rocky islet that connects to the larger island of Ischia by a causeway ( Ponte Aragonese ). It is accessed through
8960-455: The colonial period. In the early 19th century, Eritrea was the country with the highest number of Italians abroad, and the Italian Eritreans grew from 4,000 during World War I to nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II. In Asmara there are two Italian schools, the Italian School of Asmara (Italian primary school with a Montessori department) and the Liceo Sperimentale "G. Marconi" (Italian international senior high school). Italian
9088-481: The constitution of the Swiss Confederation . Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. With a few exceptions in the extreme north and south of the canton, it lies entirely in the Ticino basin, a tributary of the Po . Along with Valais and the Grisons , it is one of the three cantons whose territory extends into the Po basin (lands to the south of the Alps ). However, unlike the other Po basin cantons (and all other cantons), all settlements of Ticino are on
9216-573: The country (some 0.42% of the total population). Their numbers dropped dramatically after World War II following the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus , which caused the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians. Italian was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa from 1492 to 1807. It formerly had official status in Albania due to the annexation of
9344-518: The country to the Kingdom of Italy (1939–1943). Albania has a large population of non-native speakers, with over half of the population having some knowledge of the Italian language. The Albanian government has pushed to make Italian a compulsory second language in schools. The Italian language is well-known and studied in Albania, due to its historical ties and geographical proximity to Italy and to
9472-446: The country. A few hundred Italian settlers returned to Libya in the 2000s. Italian was the official language of Eritrea during Italian colonisation . Italian is today used in commerce, and it is still spoken especially among elders; besides that, Italian words are incorporated as loan words in the main language spoken in the country (Tigrinya). The capital city of Eritrea, Asmara , still has several Italian schools, established during
9600-579: The country. The official census, carried out in 2002, reported 2,258 ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians ) in Slovenia (0.11% of the total population). Italian language in Croatia is an official minority language in the country, with many schools and public announcements published in both languages. The 2001 census in Croatia reported 19,636 ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ) in
9728-464: The design and fashion industries, in some sports such as football and especially in culinary terms. In Italy, almost all the other languages spoken as the vernacular —other than standard Italian and some languages spoken among immigrant communities—are often called " Italian dialects ", a label that can be very misleading if it is understood to mean "dialects of Italian". The Romance dialects of Italy are local evolutions of spoken Latin that pre-date
9856-588: The diffusion of Italian television in the country. Due to heavy Italian influence during the Italian colonial period , Italian is still understood by some in former colonies such as Libya. Although it was the primary language in Libya since colonial rule , Italian greatly declined under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi , who expelled the Italian Libyan population and made Arabic the sole official language of
9984-478: The educated gentlemen was to make the Grand Tour , visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. It was expected that the visitor would learn at least some Italian, understood as language based on Florentine. In England, while the classical languages Latin and Greek were the first to be learned, Italian became the second most common modern language after French, a position it held until
10112-462: The establishment of Italian, and as such are sister languages to the Tuscan that was the historical source of Italian. They can be quite different from Italian and from each other, with some belonging to different linguistic branches of Romance. The only exceptions to this are twelve groups considered " historical language minorities ", which are officially recognized as distinct minority languages by
10240-433: The fact that it was linguistically an intermediate between the northern and the southern Italian dialects. Thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy. Italian was progressively made an official language of most of the Italian states predating unification, slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign powers (such as Spain in the Kingdom of Naples , or Austria in
10368-476: The free website and application Duolingo has 4.94 million English speakers learning the Italian language. According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs , every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students who study the Italian language; they are distributed among the 90 Institutes of Italian Culture that are located around the world, in the 179 Italian schools located abroad, or in
10496-524: The gross cantonal product. Because of Ticino's shared language and culture, its financial industry has very close ties to Italy. In 2017, Ticino had an unemployment rate of 4%, higher than the Switzerland average which was estimated at 3.7%. Frontalieri , commuter workers living in Italy (mostly in the provinces of Varese and Como ) but working regularly in Ticino, form a large part (over 20%) of
10624-501: The inhabitants against the raids of pirates. Around 1700, about 2000 families lived on the islet, including a Poor Clares convent, an abbey of Basilian monks (of the Greek Orthodox Church ), the bishop and the seminar, the prince with a military garrison. There were also 13 churches. In 1809, the British troops laid siege to the island, then under French command, and shelled it to almost complete destruction. In 1912,
10752-489: The island of Corsica (but not in the neighbouring Sardinia , which on the contrary underwent Italianization well into the late 18th century, under Savoyard sway: the island's linguistic composition, roofed by the prestige of Spanish among the Sardinians , would therein make for a rather slow process of assimilation to the Italian cultural sphere ). The rediscovery of Dante's De vulgari eloquentia , as well as
10880-530: The land is considered within the Alps, but a small area is part of the plain of the Po which drains the north of Italy . Although it includes the lowest point of Switzerland (Lake Maggiore) as well as its lowest town ( Ascona ), the topography of Ticino is extremely rugged, as it is the canton with the fourth largest elevation difference . It lies essentially within the Alps, in particular the Lepontine Alps ,
11008-640: The language to that continent. According to some sources, Italian is the second most spoken language in Argentina after the official language of Spanish, although its number of speakers, mainly of the older generation, is decreasing. Italian bilingual speakers can be found scattered across the Southeast of Brazil as well as in the South. In Venezuela , Italian is the most spoken language after Spanish and Portuguese, with around 200,000 speakers. In Uruguay , people who speak Italian as their home language are 1.1% of
11136-712: The largest city, is in the densely populated Sottoceneri, the two other main cities, Bellinzona and Locarno , are in the Sopraceneri. The Ticino, which gives its name to the canton, is the largest river of Ticino. It flows from the northwest through the Bedretto Valley and the Leventina Valley to enter Lake Maggiore near Locarno . Its main tributaries are the Brenno in the Blenio Valley and
11264-498: The late 18th century when it tended to be replaced by German. John Milton , for instance, wrote some of his early poetry in Italian. Within the Catholic Church , Italian is known by a large part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and is used in substitution for Latin in some official documents. Italian loanwords continue to be used in most languages in matters of art and music (especially classical music including opera), in
11392-534: The late 19th to the mid-20th century, millions of Italians settled in Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Brazil and Venezuela, as well as in Canada and the United States, where they formed a physical and cultural presence. In some cases, colonies were established where variants of regional languages of Italy were used, and some continue to use this regional language. Examples are Rio Grande do Sul , Brazil, where Talian
11520-567: The law. On the other hand, Corsican (a language spoken on the French island of Corsica ) is closely related to medieval Tuscan , from which Standard Italian derives and evolved. The differences in the evolution of Latin in the different regions of Italy can be attributed to the natural changes that all languages in regular use are subject to, and to some extent to the presence of three other types of languages: substrata, superstrata, and adstrata . The most prevalent were substrata (the language of
11648-503: The leading manufacturer of minted gold bars. Large companies based in the canton include: Bally , Hupac . The opening of the Gotthard Railway in 1882 led to the establishment of a sizeable tourist industry mostly catering to German speakers, although since the early 2000s the industry has suffered from the competition of more distant destinations. In 2011, 1,728,888 overnight stays were recorded. The mild climate throughout
11776-778: The main ridge of the Alps: Valais to the northwest, to which it is connected by the Nufenen Pass , Uri to the north, to which it is connected by the Gotthard Pass and the Grisons to the northeast, to which it is connected by the Lukmanier Pass and the Mesolcina Valley; the latter valley, a few kilometres north of Bellinzona, being the only (natural) low elevation access to another canton. Ticino shares international borders with Italy as well. To
11904-603: The members of the League. The lands of the canton of Ticino are the last lands to be conquered by the Swiss Confederation . The Confederation gave up any further conquests after their defeat at the battle of Marignano in 1515 by Francis I of France . The Valle Leventina revolted unsuccessfully against Uri in 1755. In February 1798 an attempt of annexation by the Cisalpine Republic was repelled by
12032-518: The modern canton of Ticino. Because of its unusual position, the canton relies on important infrastructure for connection with the rest of the country. The first major north–south railway link across the Alps, the Gotthard Railway , opened in 1882. In 2016, the Gotthard Base Tunnel was inaugurated, which finally provided a fully flat route through the Alps. The GDP per capita of Ticino was 83,450 Swiss francs in 2020. Despite being below
12160-480: The modern day, the circle serves only as a territorial unit with limited public functions, most notably the local judiciary. Religion in canton of Ticino (age 15+, 2012) Ticino has a population (as of 31 December 2020) of 350,986. As of 2013 , the population included 94,366 foreigners, or about 27.2% of the total population. The largest groups of foreign population were Italians (46.2%), followed by Croats (6.5%) and Portuguese (5.9%). The population density (in 2005)
12288-512: The most conservative Romance languages). Spoken by about 85 million people, including 67 million native speakers (2024), Italian is an official language in Italy , San Marino , Switzerland ( Ticino and the Grisons ), Corsica , and Vatican City . It has official minority status in Croatia , Slovenian Istria , and the municipalities of Santa Tereza and Encantado in Brazil . Italian
12416-412: The nation was unified in 1861. Italian is a Romance language , a descendant of Vulgar Latin (colloquial spoken Latin). Standard Italian is based on Tuscan , especially its Florentine dialect , and is, therefore, an Italo-Dalmatian language , a classification that includes most other central and southern Italian languages and the extinct Dalmatian . According to Ethnologue , lexical similarity
12544-530: The northeast; the latter canton being also the only one to share some borders with Ticino at the level of the plains. The canton shares international borders with Italy as well, including a small Italian enclave . Named after the Ticino , its longest river, it is the only canton where Italian is the sole official language and represents the bulk of the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland along with
12672-408: The number of printing presses in Italy grew rapidly and by the year 1500 reached a total of 56, the biggest number of printing presses in all of Europe. This enabled the production of more pieces of literature at a lower cost and Italian, as the dominant language, spread. Italian became the language used in the courts of every state in the Italian Peninsula , as well as the prestige variety used on
12800-590: The official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . Italian has a significant use in musical terminology and opera with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide. Almost all native Italian words end with vowels , and the language has a 7-vowel sound system ('e' and 'o' have mid-low and mid-high sounds). Italian has contrast between short and long consonants and gemination (doubling) of consonants. During
12928-630: The openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local language (for example, in informal situations andà , annà and nare replace the standard Italian andare in the area of Tuscany, Rome and Venice respectively for the infinitive "to go"). There is no definitive date when the various Italian variants of Latin—including varieties that contributed to modern Standard Italian—began to be distinct enough from Latin to be considered separate languages. One criterion for determining that two language variants are to be considered separate languages rather than variants of
13056-584: The original inhabitants), as the Italian dialects were most probably simply Latin as spoken by native cultural groups. Superstrata and adstrata were both less important. Foreign conquerors of Italy that dominated different regions at different times left behind little to no influence on the dialects. Foreign cultures with which Italy engaged in peaceful relations with, such as trade, had no significant influence either. Throughout Italy, regional varieties of Standard Italian, called Regional Italian , are spoken. Regional differences can be recognized by various factors:
13184-458: The other hand, almost everyone still speaks the Corsican idiom , which, due to its linguistic proximity to the Italian standard language, appears both linguistically as an Italian dialect and therefore as a carrier of Italian culture, despite the French government's decades-long efforts to cut Corsica off from the Italian motherland. Italian was the official language in Monaco until 1860, when it
13312-448: The population adhered to another religion (including Jews 0.1%). The official language, and the one used for most written communication, is Swiss Italian . Despite being very similar to standard Italian , Swiss Italian presents some differences to the Italian spoken in Italy due to the influence of French and German from which it assimilates words. Dialects of the Lombard language such as Ticinese are still spoken, especially in
13440-406: The population of Italy could speak Standard Italian. He reports that in 1951 that percentage had risen to 87%. The ability to speak Italian did not necessarily mean it was in everyday use, and most people (63.5%) still usually spoke their native dialects. In addition, other factors such as mass emigration, industrialization, and urbanization, and internal migrations after World War II , contributed to
13568-469: The proliferation of Standard Italian. The Italians who emigrated during the Italian diaspora beginning in 1861 were often of the uneducated lower class, and thus the emigration had the effect of increasing the percentage of literates, who often knew and understood the importance of Standard Italian, back home in Italy. A large percentage of those who had emigrated also eventually returned to Italy, often more educated than when they had left. Although use of
13696-528: The pronunciation of stressed "e", and of "s" between vowels in many words: e.g. va bene "all right" is pronounced [vabˈbɛːne] by a Roman (and by any standard Italian speaker), [vaˈbeːne] by a Milanese (and by any speaker whose native dialect lies to the north of the La Spezia–Rimini Line ); a casa "at home" is [akˈkaːsa] for Roman, [akˈkaːsa] or [akˈkaːza] for standard, [aˈkaːza] for Milanese and generally northern. In contrast to
13824-415: The publication of Agnolo Monosini 's Latin tome Floris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604 followed by the first Italian dictionary in 1612. An important event that helped the diffusion of Italian was the conquest and occupation of Italy by Napoleon in the early 19th century (who was himself of Italian-Corsican descent). This conquest propelled the unification of Italy some decades after and pushed
13952-487: The referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among the Italian Savoyards ) took refuge in Italy in the following years. Corsica passed from the Republic of Genoa to France in 1769 after the Treaty of Versailles . Italian was the official language of Corsica until 1859. Giuseppe Garibaldi called for the inclusion of the " Corsican Italians " within Italy when Rome
14080-467: The region. In the lower areas, deciduous forests are omnipresent, while at high elevations they tend to be replaced by coniferous forests, except in the Sottoceneri ( Lugano Prealps ), where they are almost absent. The treeline is located at around 2,000 metres in the Sopraceneri and 1,600 metres in the Sottoceneri. The Basòdino , Ticino's second-highest mountain, is covered by the largest glacier of
14208-522: The rest of the country by its warm climate, and its culture and gastronomy. The land now occupied by the canton was annexed from Italian cities in the 15th century by various Swiss forces in the last transalpine campaigns of the Old Swiss Confederacy . In the Helvetic Republic , established in 1798, it was divided between the two new cantons of Bellinzona and Lugano . The Act of Mediation in 1803 saw these two cantons combine to form
14336-465: The same time, two towers were built to control enemy fleets' movements. The rock was then occupied by Parthenopeans , the ancient inhabitants of Naples . In 326 BC the fortress was captured by Romans, and then again by the Parthenopeans. In 1441 Alfonso V of Aragon connected the rock to the island with a stone bridge instead of the prior wood bridge, and fortified the walls in order to defend
14464-516: The south side of the Alps, therefore separated from the Swiss Plateau (and most of the country) by the great Alpine barrier. The canton also comprehends some small areas in the Rhine basin in the north, at the Gotthard Pass and around lake of Santa Maria . The extreme south of the canton is drained by the Po as well, but through the Breggia and Adda , and Gaggiolo, Olona , Lambro . The canton
14592-493: The southwest is the region of Piedmont and to the southeast is the region of Lombardy . The main border crossing between Italy and Switzerland is that of Chiasso , in the extreme south of the canton. The climate of Ticino is mostly influenced by the Mediterranean Sea, the Alps protecting it from north European weather. As a consequence, the plains experience warm and moist summers, and mild winters. This climate
14720-545: The suppression of Convents in 1806 as well as the nunnery of the Clarisses. Ischia Film Festival , an international film festival , is held in the castle each year from late June into early July. The castle was used as Riza's 'Fortified Fortress' in the 2019 film Men in Black: International . It was also mentioned in the book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History . This article about
14848-473: The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church began to be understood from new perspectives as humanists —individuals who placed emphasis on the human body and its full potential—began to shift focus from the church to human beings themselves. The continual advancements in technology play a crucial role in the diffusion of languages. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century,
14976-469: The title Divina , were read throughout the peninsula and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language. In addition to the widespread exposure gained through literature, the Florentine dialect also gained prestige due to the political and cultural significance of Florence at the time and
15104-542: The total population of the country. In Australia, Italian is the second most spoken foreign language after Chinese, with 1.4% of the population speaking it as their home language. The main Italian-language newspapers published outside Italy are the L'Osservatore Romano ( Vatican City ), the L'Informazione di San Marino ( San Marino ), the Corriere del Ticino and the laRegione Ticino ( Switzerland ),
15232-573: The two-letter code is TI. It is one of the four cantons of Switzerland officially referred to as "republics", along with Geneva , Neuchâtel and Jura . During the Bronze and Iron Ages , the area of what is today Ticino was settled by the Lepontii , a Celtic tribe. Later, probably around the rule of Augustus , it became part of the Roman Empire . After the fall of the Western Empire, it
15360-540: The valleys, but they are not used for official purposes. Despite the dominance of Italian speakers, fluency in Standard or Swiss German is sometimes taken to be an important prerequisite for employment, regardless of sector or sphere of work. In 2016, Ticino was the European region with the second highest life expectancy at 85.0 years, and the highest male life expectancy at 82.7 years. The historical population
15488-568: The workforce, far larger than in the rest of Switzerland, where the rate is below 5%. Foreigners in general hold 44.3% of all the jobs, again a much higher rate than elsewhere in the Confederation (27%). Frontalieri are usually paid less than Swiss workers for their jobs, and tend to serve as low-cost labour. Italy is by far Ticino's most important foreign trading partner, but there's a huge trade deficit between imports (5 billion CHF ) and exports (1.9 billion). By 2013, Germany had become
15616-759: The year makes the canton a popular destination for hikers. The high Alps of Ticino include numerous tourist facilities such as the Monte Generoso Railway , the Ritom Funicular and the Cardada Cableway. Among other tourist attractions are the Verzasca Dam , popular with bungee jumpers, and Swissminiatur in Melide , a miniature park featuring scale models of over 120 Swiss monuments. The Brissago Islands on Lake Maggiore are
15744-533: Was 5,091 francs (US$ 5,580), below the national average of 6,118 francs (US$ 6,703). However, due to lesser cost of living and lower taxation compared to most other cantons, the overall disposable mean income is high. The GDP per capita at 82,438 francs in 2014, was seventh highest in Switzerland. Ticino is counted among the most prosperous regions of Switzerland and of Europe. Lugano is Switzerland's third largest financial centre after Zurich and Geneva. The banking industry alone has 8,400 employees and generates 17% of
15872-561: Was also introduced to Somalia through colonialism and was the sole official language of administration and education during the colonial period but fell out of use after government, educational and economic infrastructure were destroyed in the Somali Civil War . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. Although over 17 million Americans are of Italian descent , only
16000-525: Was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , but King Victor Emmanuel II did not agree to it. Italian is generally understood in Corsica by the population resident therein who speak Corsican , which is an Italo-Romance idiom similar to Tuscan. Francization occurred in Nice case, and caused a near-disappearance of the Italian language as many of the Italian speakers in these areas migrated to Italy. In Corsica, on
16128-443: Was mirrored by a decline in the use of the dialects. An increase in literacy was one of the main driving factors (one can assume that only literates were capable of learning Standard Italian, whereas those who were illiterate had access only to their native dialect). The percentage of literates rose from 25% in 1861 to 60% in 1911, and then on to 78.1% in 1951. Tullio De Mauro , an Italian linguist, has asserted that in 1861 only 2.5% of
16256-658: Was replaced by the French. This was due to the annexation of the surrounding County of Nice to France following the Treaty of Turin (1860) . It formerly had official status in Montenegro (because of the Venetian Albania ), parts of Slovenia and Croatia (because of the Venetian Istria and Venetian Dalmatia ), parts of Greece (because of the Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands and by
16384-718: Was ruled by the Ostrogoths , the Lombards and the Franks . Around 1100 it was the centre of a struggle between the free communes of Milan and Como : in the 14th century, it was acquired by the Visconti , Dukes of Milan . In the fifteenth century, the Swiss Confederates conquered the valleys south of the Alps in three separate conquests. Between 1403 and 1422 some of these lands were already annexed by forces from
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