The Sarca is a river springing from the Adamello-Presanella mountains in the Italian Alps and flowing into Lake Garda at Torbole . As an emissary of the lake it becomes known as the Mincio river, forming a single river system 203 kilometres (126 mi) long ( Sarca-Mincio ).
129-451: Lake Garda ( Italian : Lago di Garda , Italian: [ˈlaːɡo di ˈɡarda] , or (Lago) Benaco , Italian: [beˈnaːko] ; Eastern Lombard : Lach de Garda ; Venetian : Ƚago de Garda ) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, between Brescia and Milan to the west, and Verona and Venice to the east. The lake cuts into
258-431: A few hours. The first is fed by tourists who want to spend their holidays on the lake, coming from different areas (in addition to Italians, numerous Germans, French, Swiss and Dutch), while the second is fed by those who live a short distance from the lake and who want to spend a few hours there. Both types of tourism have caused notable changes in the organization of the territory and the inhabited centres. Furthermore, in
387-482: A great defense system called Serraglio , the only one of its kind in Italy. This fortified system, completed by Cangrande II in 1355, included isolated castles in Ponti sul Mincio and Monzambano , serious continuous and uninterrupted castles and towers connected by defensive walls starting from the fortress of Valeggio sul Mincio and then continuing up to Nogarole Rocca . The Seraglio remained practically intact until
516-565: 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
645-421: A length of up to 50 centimetres (20 inches). They live primarily in depths of 100 to 200 metres (330 to 660 feet). They feed on zooplankton and bottom-dwelling crustaceans in summer. Males and females reach sexual maturity at two or three years. The mating takes place every one to two years. The spawning takes place in 50 to 300 metres (160 to 980 feet) depth in the vicinity of underwater springs. The maximum age
774-471: 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
903-657: 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
1032-658: 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
1161-475: A rather long period of seismic agitation began in the Baldo area, with earthquakes of varying intensity, tremors, shaking and other phenomena of lesser importance, which saw as the most important event the earthquake of 5 January 1892, which shook the entire Garda region with extraordinary violence, causing the fall of chimneys and walls. Other earthquakes more recently hit Salò and its surroundings, in particular,
1290-536: A regular daily basis. The winds are all named, most in regional Italian dialect so a single wind may have different names. Lake Garda is rich in biodiversity . Salmo carpio , also known as the carpione ( carpione del Garda or Lake Garda carpione ) is a rare salmonid fish endemic to Lake Garda. It has been introduced to a number of other lakes in Italy and elsewhere but unsuccessfully in all cases. The population in Lake Garda has been strongly declining, and
1419-417: 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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#17327721195191548-575: 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
1677-580: 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: Sarca River With its 78 km (48 mi) length, it is the fifth largest river in Trentino after the Adige, Brenta 174 km (108 mi), Noce 105 km (65 mi) and Avisio 90 km (56 mi), while it
1806-479: 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
1935-471: A succession of hilly circles with small flat areas interposed, in some cases marshy, originated thanks to the transport and storage action of the great Garda glacier. These morainic deposits were formed during the glaciations Günz , Mindel , Riss and Würm : very limited morainic deposits are attributed to the two oldest, Günz and Mindel, while the outer morainic circles are attributed to the Riss glaciation and
2064-513: 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
2193-427: 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
2322-535: Is also sailed there every year. Ship transport is provided by Navigazione Laghi . A daily ferry service connects major towns on the eastern and western shores of Lake Garda. The service runs from Desenzano del Garda to Riva del Garda , via Peschiera del Garda , Salò and Malcesine . The region can be reached directly via the Milan-Venice railway , with Desenzano-Sirmione and Peschiera railway station . Buses are faster alternatives to ferry services. On
2451-759: 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
2580-420: Is considered critically endangered ( IUCN 3.1 ). The main threats are due to overfishing, pollution and possibly competition from introduced species such as Coregonus and other Salmonidae . Adult lake trout outside the mating season are silvery with very few black spots on the body and almost none on the head. During the mating season, some males develop a dark mottled body colouration. Garda lake trout reach
2709-634: Is five years. Areas around Lake Garda, inhabited since prehistoric times, are an environment of great naturalistic value, with vegetation typical of the Mediterranean climate such as olive trees , vines , lemon trees , agave and other plants, which thrive thanks to the microclimate created by the Garda basin, which makes winter particularly mild. During the spring wildflowers such as primroses , iris , violets and red lilies are born, while in summer some bloom varieties of wild orchids . Thanks to
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#17327721195192838-534: 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
2967-528: Is located at the centre of a crucial node between Brescia , Verona and Trento , and is therefore easily reachable via the transversal infrastructures of the Po Valley and those of the Brenner - Rome axis: Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] ) is a Romance language of
3096-460: 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
3225-504: 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 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
3354-410: 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
3483-648: Is the main working language of the Holy See , serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as 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
3612-539: Is the second largest in terms of flow after Adige. The river is shallow and fast flowing, passing through the Genova valley (Val di Genova), forming a number of waterfalls, of which Cascina Muta and Saft dei Can are the best known. Before reaching the Rendena Valley ( Val Rendena ), part of its water is diverted to a hydroelectric powerstation. Then its flow becomes less and less tumultuous. The main places on
3741-549: 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
3870-509: 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,
3999-991: 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 ),
Lake Garda - Misplaced Pages Continue
4128-471: The via Gallica , which connected Verona to Milan passing through Peschiera (the ancient Arilica ), and the via Claudia Augusta , which connected the plain with the Resia pass and therefore the northernmost territories, as well as some minor roads that connected the Adige valley with the Garda. Two pagi were also established: pagus Benacenses on Brescia and pagus Claudienses on Verona. In 268 AD
4257-700: The Battle of Lake Benacus was fought between the army of the Roman Empire , commanded by the future emperor Claudius Gothicus , and the German federation of the Alamanni . The overwhelming victory obtained by the Romans allowed the expulsion of Alemanni from northern Italy, due to the very serious losses they suffered during the battle. The Roman presence is amply testified also by settlements, villas (in particular
4386-570: The Bronze Age , when numerous aggregates of stilt houses arose in the lower lake before being abandoned during the Iron Age in favour of more strategic points. Lake Garda was a meeting point between the populations of Reti and Veneti , whose presence is testified in particular by the necropolis of Garda, as well as that of the Etruscans who came to trade in these areas. Also plausible is
4515-690: The Congress of Vienna it was decided to create the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia : in this way, the whole Garda region returned to Austrian hands. The First Italian War of Independence saw an initial slow advance of the Piedmontese army towards the lake: at the news of its approach, Salò rebelled against the Austrians, several soldiers were taken prisoner and the Austrian insignia demolished. During
4644-702: 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
4773-852: 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 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
4902-604: 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 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
5031-620: 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
5160-773: 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
5289-554: 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
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5418-650: The Second War of Independence began; on 18 June the Hunters of the Alps managed to enter Salò, from where Giuseppe Garibaldi wanted to leave to continue the advance towards Veneto crossing the lake with some boats, but new orders forced him to move the troops in the Brescia valleys. However, the Italian troops managed to sink an Austrian steamship before leaving Salò. Shortly after the battle of Solferino and San Martino
5547-584: The Varone/Magnone River [ de ] (via the Cascate del Varone ) and various streams from both mountainsides, while the only outlet is the Mincio River (79 metres or 259 feet, at Peschiera). The subdivision is created by the presence of a fault submerged between Sirmione and Punta San Vigilio which is almost a natural barrier that hampers the homogenization between the water of
5676-528: 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
5805-532: 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
5934-510: 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
6063-438: 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
6192-417: The 2nd and 1st centuries BC. In 89 BC the rights of Latin cities were granted to the Garda areas by the will of the Roman consul Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo , while forty years later Roman citizenship was finally granted to Brixia (whose countryside included the western and northern banks of the Benaco) and Verona (which instead included the eastern shore). During the 1st century AD many roads were built, such as
6321-424: The 95 kilometres (59 mi) of the basin, while the respective widths are 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) and 42 kilometres (26 mi). The eastern watershed of the Benacense basin has a direction parallel to the axis of the lake, while the western one has a more sinuous course. Within the basin, the major peaks are Presanella (3,556 metres or 11,667 feet) and Adamello (3,554 metres or 11,660 feet). Morphologically,
6450-408: The French advanced to the lake and defeated the Austrians at Borghetto sul Mincio, conquering Peschiera. At the end of July, the French were defeated and had to retreat beyond Salò, which was then occupied by the Austrians. Numerous clashes took place between the adversaries on the battlefield of Lake Garda. In 1797 the French occupied Mantua , while Brescia valleys and towns on the lake rose up against
6579-434: The Garda hydrographic basin can be divided into four areas: the plain of about 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi), the lake surface of about 370 square kilometres (140 sq mi), the western portion of about 500 km² and the eastern one of approximately 1,040 square kilometres (400 sq mi). To the south of Lake Garda, between Brescia , Mantua and Verona , a large morainic amphitheatre develops:
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#17327721195196708-435: The Germanic presence in the area that dated from the 6th to the 8th century CE, in particular, the Lombard one . The name Garda is evolved from the Germanic word warda , meaning "place of guard", "place of observation" or "place of safety". The classic toponym of the lake, or Benācus lacus ( Benaco ), is almost certainly of Celtic origin, therefore prior to romanization, and should derive from bennacus , comparable with
6837-411: The Irish bennach , which means "horned". The term may derive from the many promontories of the lake. The northern part of the lake is located in a depression that insinuates itself inside the Alps , while the southern part occupies an area of the upper Pianura Padana . The shape is typical of a moraine valley, probably having been formed under the action of a Paleolithic glacier. Although traces of
6966-431: The Italian army and were re-equipped as warships. The following year some guns and artillery batteries were installed, but on 20 February 1916, Riva was hit again. The following day three Austrian planes bombed Desenzano, while on 27 February bombs fell in Nago and Torbole. In 1918 Riva was bombed again. Later Limone and, once again, Riva were targeted, but with the end of the war, Trentino also passed into Italian hands. In
7095-417: 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
7224-439: 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,
7353-497: 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
7482-424: The Napoleonic forces, even if the Republic of Venice maintained its neutral status and did not send aid to rescue. The Veronese, on the other hand, autonomously organized expeditions against the centres occupied by the French, but were defeated and forced to retreat to Verona, where on 17 April the anti-French insurrections called " Pasque Veronesi " ( Pasque Veronesi ) began. ". On 17 October the Treaty of Campoformio
7611-405: The Veronese shore, tourism arrived much later, around the 1930s, when the current Strada Gardesana Orientale was built along the shores of the lake. With the arrival of tourists, "lakeside promenades" were planned. Since the 1950s tourism has undergone a sort of transformation: tourism with a long stay has been accompanied by "hit and run" tourism, with a short stop, just for the weekend or even for
7740-503: The actions of the glaciers have cancelled all the clues that could have proved the presence of man. There are some signs of encampments from Upper Paleolithic , in particular on the slopes of Monte Baldo and Stivo . In the Neolithic the populations that inhabited the lake came into contact with the square-mouthed vases culture , as evidenced by the objects accompanying some tombs from this period found near Arco . The greatest evidence of human presence in prehistoric times dates back to
7869-444: 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
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#17327721195197998-455: 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
8127-405: 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
8256-408: 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
8385-446: 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
8514-415: 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
8643-464: 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
8772-420: 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
8901-435: The earthquake of 31 October 1901 caused widespread damage to buildings, some collapses and cracks in the ground, while another earthquake in 2004 caused damage to some buildings. The lake has also numerous small islands and five main ones, the largest being Isola del Garda . Nearby to the south is San Biagio island , also known as the Isola dei Conigli ("island of the rabbits"). Both are offshore of San Felice del Benaco , on
9030-412: The eastern coast, ATV (Verona Transport Company) provides at least five daily bus routes between Verona and Garda, with one route extending to Riva del Garda . Trentino Transporti provides daily bus routes between Riva del Garda and Rovereto or Trento . On the western coast, SAIA (Brescia Mobilità) provides regular bus services between Desenzano del Garda , Salò , Gargnano and Brescia . The lake
9159-421: The edge of the Italian Alps , particularly the Alpine sub-ranges of the Garda Mountains and the Brenta Group . Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last ice age . The lake and its shoreline are divided between the provinces of Brescia (to the south-west), Verona (south-east) and Trentino (north). In Roman times the lake was known as Benacus and by some it was revered as god Benacus,
9288-478: 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
9417-462: 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
9546-579: The events also Riva del Garda and several towns on the Veronese side rose up. The Austrian army was forced to retreat to the Mincio line due to the advance of the Piedmontese troops and on 4 April the Austrians were driven out of Lonato and Desenzano, while the Piedmontese attempt to conquer Peschiera was unsuccessful. After the Piedmontese defeat of Custoza the pre-war status quo was restored. In 1859
9675-433: 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
9804-481: The fall of numerous houses and caused many victims; in 1810, an earthquake particularly hit Malcesine where it caused a clouding of the waters and the formation of a crack 200 metres (660 feet) long and 18 centimetres (7.1 inches) wide in the town square; in 1836, when the tremors caused some landslides in Mount Tomè, in the northernmost part of Monte Baldo , which in turn caused a strong eruption of water. In 1866
9933-476: 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
10062-414: The glacier's actions are evident today, in more recent years it has been hypothesised that the glacier occupied a previously existing depression, created by stream erosion 5 to 6 million years ago. A characteristic of Garda is the limited size of the hydrographic basin (2,290 square kilometres or 880 square miles) compared to the lake surface: at a length of 52 kilometres (32 mi) of the lake corresponds
10191-471: The humiliating Italian defeat, in 1866 Veneto was finally handed over to the Kingdom of Italy , except for the northern part of the lake which still remained under Austrian control. During the First World War towns on Lake Garda were bombed several times. On 23 July 1915, the first aerial bombardment took place in the area, when Riva del Garda was hit. The steamers of the lake were requisitioned by
10320-469: The inland countries and a strong social awareness and sense of community. In the 13th century, however, the Signoria Scaligera was established and it soon subdued the eastern shore of the lake. The Scaliger built numerous defensive constructions, in particular, they built the castles of Sirmione , Malcesine and Riva, reinforced the port structures of Lazise and Torri del Benaco , and built
10449-605: The inner ones to the Würm glaciation. The morphology of the hills is gentle and with delicate lines; from the highest points, it is possible to perceive the relationships that link the hills to the mountains as well as the circular amphitheatre shape of the hills, which seem to embrace the southern part of the lake. The main tributary of Lake Garda is the Sarca River , others include the Ponale River (fed by Lago di Ledro ),
10578-489: 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
10707-788: The lake was also occupied militarily by the Wehrmacht . In April 1945 the lake was freed by the Allies and later became part of the Republic of Italy . The award winning documentary film The Lost Mountaineers looks at the tragic events that happened in the last days of the war in northern Lake Garda. According to the Greco-Roman mythology , the River Mincius was the child of the Lake Benacus. In ancient German Sagas , Garda
10836-609: The lake's western side. The three other main islands are Isola dell'Olivo, Isola di Sogno, and Isola di Trimelone, all farther north near the eastern side. The particularly mild climate favours the growth of some hardy Mediterranean plants, including the olive tree , parasol pine , mediterranean cypress , chinese windmill palm and Canary Island Date Palm . Some hardy citrus trees, such as hardy lemons and satsuma can also be found, which are extremely rare at this latitude (46° North). In ancient times, poets like Catullus wrote about "Lacus Benacus" with its mild climate vivified by
10965-587: The lake, as well as having new ones built directly on Lake Garda. During the war the Venetians lost part of their domains which were however recovered in 1512. In 1516 emperor Maximilian I came to Italy and the lake returned to German hands again, allowing the Serenissima to recover the lost territories. In 1796 the territories of the Serenissima were involved in the Napoleonic wars : at the end of May,
11094-565: The lake, which thus passed into the hands of Venice: gathered under the flag of the Republic of Venice, the 34 Benacense municipalities obtained ample autonomy. The war returned in 1438, due to the struggle between Venice and Milan : an exceptional event, remembered with the name of Galeas per montes , was the passage of a fleet composed of six galleys and twenty-five ships on the slopes of Monte Baldo, pulled by 2,000 oxen. This fleet sailed on Adige and almost reached Rovereto , from where it
11223-459: The lake. One of the first tourist resorts was Gardone Riviera , where the first small hotel was built. Expanded over time, it became one of the buildings that made up the luxurious Grand Hotel Gardone Riviera. In its vicinity other small hotels and villas slowly arose and, after the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio had the Vittoriale degli Italiani built here, the fame of the place grew further. On
11352-577: 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 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
11481-640: 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
11610-498: 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
11739-534: 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
11868-567: 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
11997-517: The mid-19th century when it was partially dismantled. In 1387, following the defeat of Antonio della Scala , the whole Garda area was subjected to the Visconti ; as early as 1405 the eastern shore passed into the hands of the Republic of Venice , while the western shore remained afflicted by the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines . In 1426 the Visconti lost Brescia and the western shore of
12126-456: The name Benaco. After the collapse of the Roman Empire , the Garda region witnessed the passage of numerous Germanic populations, but the first one that settled there, after a long migration, was that of the Lombards . Their testimonies are mostly present along the southern and eastern shores, preferred to other areas due to their strategic importance: from here it was possible to control both
12255-412: 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
12384-700: The notes Grottoes of Catullus ), by the remains of centuriation still visible today, by the remains of sanctuaries, tombstones and epigraphic testimonies. In the Middle Ages Lake Garda was described by Dante in his Divine Comedy : Suso in Italia bella giace un laco, a piè de l'Alpe che serra Lamagna sovra Tiralli, c'ha nome Benaco. Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake, At the Alp's foot that shuts in Germany Over Tyrol, and has
12513-408: 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
12642-630: 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
12771-584: 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:
12900-458: 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
13029-766: The period between the two wars the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio settled in Gardone Riviera , where the " Vittoriale degli Italiani ", his residence and now a museum, would later be built. Until 1943 the events of Second World War did not particularly affect the lake region, but following the birth of the Italian Social Republic (a German puppet state and Fascist Italian rump state ), the German command settled in Limone and, on 10 October, that of Benito Mussolini in Gargnano. The Ministry of Defense
13158-442: The personification of the lake, sometimes associated with the cult of Neptune . Today it is better known as Lake Garda, a toponym of Germanic origin attested since the Middle Ages and deriving from that of the homonymous town on the Veronese shore of the lake, which, together with another famous locality of the lake, Gardone Riviera , and others less known – such as Gàrdola, Gardoncino, Gardoni, Guàrdola and Le Garde – testifies to
13287-406: 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
13416-631: The presence of a Fines Gardenses , an entity with its own officials for the administration of justice, even if not autonomous with respect to the Count of Verona, date back to 825, while after the year 1000 county of Garda was established by the emperor Henry II . Starting from the 11th century, towns around the lake began to develop a differentiated policy compared to that of the major centres of influence – Brescia, Verona and Trento – and this greater autonomy meant that many centres became free communities. These possessed comfortable economic conditions compared to
13545-518: The presence of protected areas, hares and small wild mammals, water birds and birds of prey survive, while ponds and ditches are populated by pike , carp and eels . The herds of cattle, horses and other domestic animals give a bucolic aspect to the hilly landscape. Traces of human presence around the lake have been found related to the Middle Paleolithic , in particular flint tools, but only above certain altitudes, as at lower altitudes,
13674-536: The presence of the Cenomani , who would have settled in the area between Brescia and the lake around the 6th century BC, leaving their traces mostly in the Lombard toponymy. The integration between Romans and Cenomani , who controlled the Garda area, probably began in 225 BC, when there was a treaty of alliance between Cenomani, Veneti and Romans, even if the actual Romanization of the territory took place between
13803-523: 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
13932-528: 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
14061-415: 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
14190-487: 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
14319-416: The ruling classes. In particular Sirmione was a privileged place for the presence of sulphurous springs that allowed thermal use. Starting from the Renaissance the lake returned to be populated with noble villas. Tourism in the modern conception of the term, however, developed from the end of the 19th century, even if it was still an élite tourism that concerned almost exclusively the north-western area of
14448-441: The second half of the 20th century, a real entertainment industry was formed along Lake Garda as a series of parks were built. The most important is Gardaland , the biggest Italian theme park which hosts numerous tourist attractions. Lake Garda is also a popular destination for sport tourism . Riva, Torbole and Campione are famous for winds that attract people who practice sail , windsurf and kiteboard . The Centomiglia Regatta
14577-473: 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,
14706-469: 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
14835-542: 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 ),
14964-455: The town is probably due to the cracking and landslide of the mountain above Toscolano, which caused the flooding of a small lake enclosed by the mountains, whose waters submerged the populous town. Other earthquakes, more or less intense, followed one another periodically: in 793, when according to the chroniclers it caused great calamities, especially in the Baldo area; in 1457, during which a mountain above Salò lowered; in 1703, when it caused
15093-566: The two zones. If the water level of the Adige River is excessive, water is diverted to the lake through the Mori-Torbole tunnel . The Lake Garda area is considered one of the most seismic in Italy. The oldest known earthquake that struck the Garda region seems to have occurred in 243 (or perhaps 245): it was so disastrous that the city of Benaco, located where Toscolano Maderno stands today, suddenly disappeared. The disappearance of
15222-402: The waterways of Garda and Mincio, and the Adige valley. During the Lombard hegemony, there was a first administrative reorganization, as well as the definitive Christianization of the area, begun in the previous centuries by Vigilius of Trent and Zeno of Verona . The lake remained on the border between three powerful Lombard duchies: Brescia, Verona and Trento. The first documents that testify
15351-427: The winds. The lake is oriented from north to south towards the Po Valley , so many winds typical of the lake are the result of a difference between lower and higher altitude temperatures. Due to this, winds are generated that descend from the mountains to the plains in the morning and go back to the mountains in the afternoon. The bottleneck formed by the lake basin affects the timing of the winds, many of which happen on
15480-659: 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 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
15609-561: 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
15738-525: 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
15867-441: Was home to Ortnit . Around Lake Garda there are 26 comuni , the most populated being Desenzano del Garda (29,179 inhabitants), followed by Arco (17,857) and Riva del Garda (17,518). Garda's economy is mostly depended on tourism. Back to Roman times, especially from the early imperial age, magnificent villas were present on the shores of the lake, conceived as places dedicated to otium , an activity actually reserved for
15996-886: Was located in Desenzano; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Popular Culture and the press agencies settled in Salò, which became the capital of the newborn Fascist Italy . At the end, Mussolini was strung up on a lamppost in his Lake Garda enclave . Fasano was the seat of the German embassy and Gardone of the Japanese one, while the Ministry of the Interior and the seat of the Republican Fascist Party (PFR) found accommodation in Maderno. The upper part of
16125-443: 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
16254-658: 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
16383-488: Was signed: the southwestern shores went to the French, while the north-eastern ones went to the Austrians. In 1799 the war continued until the following year the lake returned to French hands: it became part of the Cisalpine Republic (later transformed into Italian Republic and then again in Kingdom of Italy , always under French control. In 1815 following the definitive defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte , during
16512-610: Was transported to Lake Garda by land through the valley of Lake Loppio . The fleet was then used to counter the Milanese one and had its greatest success in a battle at Riva del Garda, which was followed by the capitulation of the city. In 1508 the League of Cambrai was formed against the Serenissima: Venice strengthened the castles of its mainland domains, including those of Salò and Padenghe, and sent several galleys to
16641-541: Was won by the Franco-Savoyards and Peschiera was besieged. With the armistice of Villafranca the war was put to an end: Garda returned to be a land border, on this occasion between Italians and Austrians. During the Third War of Independence Garibaldi returned to Salò again and from there he invaded Trentino . Meanwhile, the Austrians repeatedly bombed Gargnano and tried to impose their dominance. Despite
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