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122-453: Porto-Vecchio ( / ˌ p ɔːr t oʊ ˈ v ɛ k i oʊ / , French: [pɔʁto vekjo] ; Italian : Porto Vecchio or Portovecchio [ˌpɔrtoˈvɛkkjo] ; Corsican : Portivechju [ˌportiˈbecu] , Portivecchju [ˌpɔrtiˈvɛtju] , or Purtivechju [ˌpurtiˈvetju] (South)) is a commune in the French department of Corse-du-Sud , on

244-596: A 70 meters (230 ft) hill overlooking the gulf. They already had a presence in Bastia . The Genoese were careful to preserve the Roman port within the walls, which are trapezoidal and enclose the main square, place de la République, near the church, Église St.-Jean Baptiste. The Genoese intended a colonia, or replacement of the population, but malaria soon killed most of the Genoese settlers. Another colony in 1546 suffered

366-891: A Csb climate because of its location inside the Alborz mountains . Winters in this zone are rainy and can be mild to chilly. Some locales in this zone experience some amount of snowfall, while others do not. Csb climates are found in northwestern Iberian Peninsula (namely Galicia and the Norte region and west coast of Portugal ), in coastal Northern California , in the Pacific Northwest (namely western Washington , western Oregon and southern portions of Vancouver Island in British Columbia ), in central Chile , in parts of southern Australia and in sections of southwestern South Africa . A few locations close to

488-456: A Mediterranean climate are near large bodies of water, temperatures are generally moderate, with a comparatively small range of temperatures between the winter low and summer high unlike (the relatively rare) dry-summer humid continental climates (although the daily diurnal range of temperature during the summer is large due to dry and clear conditions, except along the immediate coastlines). Temperatures during winter only occasionally fall below

610-613: A century of intensive agriculture. Much of the Overberg in the southern Cape of South Africa , was once covered with renosterveld , but has likewise been largely converted to agriculture, mainly for wheat . In hillside and mountainous areas, away from the urban sprawls , ecosystems and habitats of native vegetation are more sustained and undisturbed. The fynbos vegetation in the South-western Cape in South Africa

732-668: A few kilometres inland. Occasionally also termed the "cool-summer Mediterranean climate", this subtype of the Mediterranean climate ( Csb ) is less common and experience warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 22 °C (72 °F) during its warmest month and as usual an average in the coldest month between 18 and −3 °C (64 and 27 °F) or, in some applications, between 18 and 0 °C (64 and 32 °F). Also, at least four months must average above 10 °C (50 °F). Cool ocean currents, upwelling and higher latitudes are often

854-565: 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

976-618: A large ancient hospital of the Roman era. It never lost that function but continues as a health center employing about 150 people. Nearby is a reservoir, the Lac de l'Ospedale, created with a dam at the foot of punta di Corbu in the forest of Ospedale. These hills culminate at the 1,314 meters (4,311 ft) "peak of the dead cow" (punta di a Vacca Morta). Porto-Vecchio has a hot-summer mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification Csa ). The average annual temperature in Porto-Vecchio

1098-471: 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

1220-657: 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

1342-556: A mean temperature below 0 °C (32 °F) (or −3 °C [27 °F]), depending on the isotherm used). Regions in the Americas with this climate are influenced by the dry-summer trend (though briefly) that extends considerably poleward along the west coast, as well as the moderating influences of high altitude and relative proximity to the Pacific Ocean. These conditions maintain an unusually narrow temperature range through

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1464-544: A month with less than 30 mm (1.2 in) of precipitation and as a month within the high-sun months of April to September, in the case of the Northern Hemisphere and October to March, in the case of the Southern Hemisphere, and it also must contain exactly or less than one-third that of the wettest winter month. Some, however, use a 40 mm (1.6 in) level. The third letter indicates

1586-448: A nature reserve of 36 hectares (89 acres), which are part of the larger reserve of Bouches de Bonifacio ("Straits of Bonifacio"; see under Bonifacio ). From north to south are: Forana; Maestro Maria, the smallest; Piana, the largest, which ascends to 36 meters (118 ft) and Pietrocaggiosa a little more distant. Hills to the northwest are included in the national park; the village of Ospedale there probably takes its name and origin from

1708-606: A number of oceanic islands such as Madeira , the Juan Fernández Islands , the western part of the Canary Islands , and the eastern part of the Azores . Under Trewartha 's modified Köppen climate classification, the two major requirements for a Cs climate are revised. Under Trewartha's system, at least eight months must have average temperatures of 10 °C (50 °F) or higher ( subtropical ), and

1830-658: 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

1952-399: A public high school and two community colleges, a private hospital of 107 beds, a medical school, a cork industry and extensive tourist facilities. The port includes moorings for 450 small craft, commercial facilities and a ferry station. The population expands to 50,000 in the summer, predominantly Italian. The beaches are well-populated, especially Palombaggia Beach 3 kilometers (2 mi) to

2074-475: A region that in earlier times was marshy and suffered greatly from malaria ; however, the anchorage for a port is excellent. The name means "Old Port", which may refer to the Roman port that left traces in the vicinity. Subsequently, the region was more or less abandoned because of the malarial marshes but became part of a large Christian parish. The city was refounded in 1539 by the Bank of Saint George at Genoa on

2196-417: 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

2318-512: 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

2440-550: A season earlier than at the Dead Sea . In the Holy Land no rain at all falls in summer but early rains may come in autumn. The majority of the regions with Mediterranean climates have relatively mild winters and very warm summers. However, winter and summer temperatures can vary greatly between different regions with a Mediterranean climate. For instance, in the case of winters, Funchal experiences mild to warm temperatures in

2562-447: 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: Hot-summer mediterranean climate The dry summer climate is found throughout the warmer middle latitudes , affecting almost exclusively the western portions of continents in relative proximity to

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2684-400: A shore with cliffs, is less habitable; beyond Chiappa Point (a naturist site) the coast goes southwest to the border of Bonifacio commune. The commune has an area of 168.65 km (65.12 sq mi), of which 120.70 km (46.60 sq mi) is forest. Off the southeast shore are the four îles Cerbicale (seldom shown on the map but visible from satellite photographs), protected by

2806-479: 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

2928-513: 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

3050-597: A yearly cycle in which abiotic (environmental) controls of stream populations and community structure dominate during floods, biotic components (e.g. competition and predation) controls become increasingly important as the flood discharge declines, and environmental controls regain dominance as environmental conditions become very harsh (i.e. hot and dry); as a result, these communities are well suited to recover from droughts , floods , and fires . Aquatic organisms in these regions show distinct long-term patterns in their structure and function, and are also highly sensitive to

3172-533: Is 17.5 °C (63.5 °F). The average annual rainfall is 599.4 mm (23.60 in) with November as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.1 °C (79.0 °F), and lowest in February, at around 10.8 °C (51.4 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Porto-Vecchio was 41.0 °C (105.8 °F) on 11 July 1968; the coldest temperature ever recorded

3294-427: 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

3416-691: 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 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

3538-759: 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

3660-424: Is closely associated with Mediterranean climate zones, as are unique freshwater communities, though vegetation native to the Mediterranean climate zone can also be found in the approximate nearby climate zones, which usually tend to be the humid subtropical , oceanic and/or semi-arid zones, depending on the region and location. Particularly distinctive of the climate are sclerophyll shrublands, called maquis in

3782-576: Is famed for its high floral diversity , and includes such plant types as members of the Restionaceae , Ericas (Heaths) and Proteas . Representatives of the Proteaceae also grow in Australia, such as Banksias . The palette of California native plants is also renowned for its species and cultivar diversity. This subtype of the Mediterranean climate ( Csa ) is the most common form of

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3904-534: 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

4026-406: Is higher, steppe climates tend to prevail, but still follow the basic pattern of the Mediterranean climates. Irregularity of the rainfall, which can vary considerably from year to year, accentuates the droughts of the Mediterranean climate. Rain does not fall evenly, nor does the rain arrive at the same time or within the same intervals. In Gibraltar , for instance, rain starts falling nearly half

4148-460: 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

4270-504: 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

4392-462: 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

4514-648: 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

4636-549: 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

4758-509: 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,

4880-991: 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 ),

5002-702: 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

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5124-852: 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

5246-674: 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

5368-773: 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

5490-554: 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

5612-528: 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

5734-415: The subtropical ridge migrates towards the equator and leaves the area, making rainfall much more likely. As a result, areas with this climate receive almost all of their precipitation during their winter and spring seasons, and may go anywhere from four to six months during the summer and early fall without having any significant precipitation . In the lower latitudes, precipitation usually decreases in both

5856-475: 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

5978-510: 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

6100-562: 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

6222-604: The Andes in Northern Ecuador , Peru , Colombia , and Western Venezuela . The cold-summer subtype of the Mediterranean climate ( Csc ) is rare and predominantly found at scattered high-altitude locations along the west coasts of North and South America having a similar climate. This type is characterized by cool, dry summers, with less than four months with a mean temperature at or above 10 °C (50 °F), as well as with cool, wet winters, with no winter month having

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6344-417: 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

6466-489: 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,

6588-406: The Köppen climate system, the first letter indicates the climate group (in this case temperate climates). Temperate climates or " C " zones average temperature above 0 °C (32 °F) (or −3 °C (27 °F)), but below 18 °C (64 °F), in their coolest months. The second letter indicates the precipitation pattern (" s " represents dry summers). Köppen has defined a dry summer month as

6710-600: The Mediterranean Basin, chaparral in California, matorral in Chile, fynbos in South Africa, and mallee and kwongan shrublands in Australia. Mediterranean vegetation shows a number of adaptations to drought , grazing , and frequent fire regimes. The small sclerophyllous leaves that characterize many of the perennial shrubs of this biome, help conserve water and prevent nutrient loss. The soils generally are of low fertility , and many plants have mutualistic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria . Aquatic communities in Mediterranean climate regions are adapted to

6832-447: The Mediterranean climate typically experience hot, sometimes very hot and dry summers. Winters can be mild, cool or chilly, and some cities in this region receive somewhat regular snowfall (e.g. Kermanshah ), while others do not receive any (e.g. Casablanca ). Csa climates are mainly found around the Mediterranean Sea , southern Australia, southwestern South Africa , sections of Central Asia , northern sections of Iran and Iraq ,

6954-448: The Mediterranean climate, therefore it is also known as a "typical Mediterranean climate". As stated earlier, regions with this form of a Mediterranean climate experience average monthly temperatures in excess of 22.0 °C (71.6 °F) during its warmest month and an average in the coldest month between 18 and −3 °C (64 and 27 °F) or, in some applications, between 18 and 0 °C (64 and 32 °F). Regions with this form of

7076-497: 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

7198-432: The Via Corsicana of the eastern plain and the Roman ports of the south. Some marshland was filled to make the modern city and commercial salt pans were constructed on other parts (from which the commercialized slogan "city of salt"); the rest remains. Crossed by Highway N198 south, it is no longer a barrier. Porto-Vecchio is easily accessed through Figari–Sud Corse Airport , which is 24 kilometers (15 mi) away. It has

7320-431: The average annual precipitation must not exceed 900 mm (35 in), as well as satisfying Köppen's precipitation requirements. [Chile] has four months of winter, no more, and in them, except when there is a quarter moon, when it rains one or two days, all the other days have such a beautiful sunshine that is not necessary to resort to fire. The summer is so temperate, with delicious airs, that man can go all day under

7442-444: 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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7564-400: The coast) of desert and semi-arid climates , and equatorward of oceanic climates . Mediterranean climate zones are typically located along the western coasts of landmasses, between roughly 30 and 45 degrees north or south of the equator . The main cause of Mediterranean, or dry summer, climate is the subtropical ridge , which extends towards the pole of the hemisphere in question during

7686-482: The coast. The climate type's name is in reference to the coastal regions of the Mediterranean Sea , which mostly share this type of climate, but it can also be found in the Atlantic portions of Iberia and Northwest Africa, the Pacific portions of the United States and Chile, extreme west areas of Argentina, around Cape Town in South Africa, parts of Southwest and South Australia , and parts of Central Asia . They tend to be found in proximity (both poleward and near

7808-434: The cold current has a stabilizing effect on the surrounding air, further reducing the chances for rain, but often causing thick layers of marine fog that usually evaporates by mid-day. Similar to desert climates, in many Mediterranean climates there is a strong diurnal character to daily temperatures in the warm summer months due to strong solar heating during the day from sunlight and rapid cooling at night. In winter,

7930-455: 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

8052-405: 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

8174-408: 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

8296-446: 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

8418-415: 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

8540-440: The degree of summer heat: " a " represents an average temperature in the warmest month above 22 °C (72 °F), while " b " indicates the average temperature in the warmest month below 22 °C (72 °F). There is a "c" with 3 or less months' average temperature above 10 °C (50 °F), but this climate is rare and is very isolated. Under the Köppen classification, dry-summer climates ( Csa , Csb ) usually occur on

8662-464: 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

8784-588: 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

8906-408: The direction of Figari , the hamlet of Ceccia also has prehistoric remains, and not far away is another Torréen site, Castellu di Tappa . Castellu d'Araghju is at 45 meters (148 ft), just above the village of Araggio. It has a circuit wall 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) thick and 4 meters (13 ft) high. West of the commune is the prehistoric site of Tivulaghju . Porto-Vecchio is placed in

9028-478: 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

9150-462: 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

9272-433: 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

9394-476: 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

9516-557: The freezing point and snow is generally seldom seen. Summer temperatures can be cool to very hot, depending on the distance from a large body of water, elevation, and latitude, among other factors. Strong winds from inland desert regions can sometimes boost summer temperatures up, quickly increasing the risk of wildfires . Notable exceptions to the usual proximity from bodies of water, thus featuring extremely high summer temperatures and cooler winters, include south-eastern Turkey and northern Iraq ( Urfa , Erbil ), surrounded by hot deserts to

9638-706: The interior of northern California west of the Sierra Nevada , along the Wasatch Front in Utah , and inland areas of southern Oregon west of the Cascade Mountains . Southern California's coasts also experience hot summers due to the shielding effect of the Channel Islands . However, unshielded areas of that coastline can have warm-summer Mediterranean climates with hot-summer areas just

9760-489: 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

9882-587: The island of Corsica . Porto-Vecchio is a medium-sized port city placed on a good harbor, the southernmost of the marshy and alluvial east side of Corsica. It is the seat of two cantons: Bavella and Grand Sud . To the north of the commune is to be found the prehistoric site of Torré, which has given its name to the Torréen Culture. Dated to the Corsican Bronze Age , it features circular or semi-circular (abutting) citadels of stone. In

10004-577: 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

10126-640: 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

10248-498: 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

10370-534: 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

10492-567: 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

10614-432: The lowland areas, temperatures which can sometimes prohibit the growth of typical cold-sensitive Mediterranean plants. Some Spanish authors opt to use the term 'continental Mediterranean climate' ( Clima Mediterráneo Continentalizado ) for some regions with lower temperatures in winter than the coastal areas, but Köppen's Cs zones show no distinction as long as winter temperature means stay above freezing. Additionally,

10736-412: 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

10858-408: 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

10980-630: 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

11102-584: 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:

11224-458: 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

11346-406: 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

11468-469: 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

11590-528: 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

11712-415: 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

11834-477: The reason for this cooler type of Mediterranean climate. The other main reason for this cooler type is the altitude . For instance, Menton on the French coast has a Csa climate while Castellar, Alpes-Maritimes , the adjacent town just north of Menton, with an altitude between 100 and 1,382 m (328 and 4,534 ft), has a Csb climate instead. The village of Siah Bisheh in Northern Iran also has

11956-650: The recent effects of climate change . The native vegetation of Mediterranean climate lands must be adapted to survive long, hot summer droughts in summer and prolonged wet periods in winter. Mediterranean vegetation examples include the following: Many native vegetations in Mediterranean climate area valleys have been cleared for agriculture and farming. In places such as the Sacramento Valley and Oxnard Plain in California , draining marshes and estuaries combined with supplemental irrigation has led to

12078-542: 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

12200-473: The same fate and subsequently the colony became a conurbation instead. Sempiero Corso occupied the city for a few months in 1564. Some of the population began to return with the drainage projects instituted under the Second Empire , but they were minimally successful. World War II brought the presence of allies who were determined to eradicate malaria for the health of all concerned, but especially

12322-505: The so-called "Mediterranean trinity" of major agricultural crops have traditionally been successfully grown ( wheat , grapes and olives ). As a result, these regions are notable for their high-quality wines, grapeseed/olive oils, and bread products. Under the Köppen climate classification , "hot dry-summer" climates (classified as Csa ) and "cool dry-summer" climates (classified as Csb ) are often referred to as just "Mediterranean". Under

12444-431: The soldiers and airmen. Through drainage, filling and spraying they succeeded, making the region newly attractive because less pestilential. The current population derives from an expansion that started about 1950. The commune of Porto-Vecchio is 64 kilometers (40 mi) east of Sartène . The north shore of the gulf has many resorts, such as Benedettu, Marina di Fiori, and others of the commune of Lecci . The east coast,

12566-419: The south and mountains to the north. Those places routinely experience summer daily means of over 30 °C (86 °F) and daily highs above 40 °C (104 °F), while receiving enough rainfall in winter not to fall into arid or semi-arid classifications. As in every climatologic domain, the highland locations of the Mediterranean domain can present cooler temperatures in the summer and winter than

12688-546: The south coast of England such as Weymouth and Portland just scrape into this climate classification due to very low rainfall in July. A trend towards slightly drier summers during the 1971–2000 climate average period, meant that this classification previously extended slightly further to include a few other weather stations in southern England, such as Bognor Regis and Teignmouth . Rarer instances of this climate can be found in relatively small and isolated high altitude areas of

12810-444: The south-east. In 1983 it acquired a Film Institute, which organizes an annual film festival. List of recent mayors: This town is a terminus of a branch line of the now closed metre gauge Corsican Railways, which junctioned off the main system at Casamozza . Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] )

12932-675: The summer and migrates towards the equator during the winter. This is due to the seasonal poleward-equatorward variations of temperatures. The resulting vegetation of Mediterranean climates are the garrigue or maquis in the European Mediterranean Basin, the chaparral in California, the fynbos in South Africa , the mallee in Australia, and the matorral in Chile. Areas with this climate are also where

13054-537: The sun. Poleward extension and expansion of the subtropical anticyclone over the oceans bring subsiding air to the region in summer, with clear skies and high temperatures. When the anticyclone moves Equator-ward in winter, it is replaced by traveling, frontal cyclones with their attendant precipitation. During summer, regions of the Mediterranean climate are strongly influenced by the subtropical ridge which keeps atmospheric conditions very dry with minimal cloud coverage. In some areas, such as coastal California ,

13176-473: 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,

13298-461: The temperature and rainfall pattern for a Csa or even a Csb climate can exist as a microclimate in some high-altitude locations adjacent to a rare tropical As ( tropical savanna climate with dry summers, typically in a rainshadow region, as in Hawaii). These have a favourable climate, with mild wet winters and fairly warm, dry summers. The Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome

13420-469: 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

13542-542: 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 ),

13664-702: The tropics, on Haleakalā Summit in Hawaii. In South America, Csc regions can be found along the Andes in Chile and Argentina. The town of Balmaceda, Chile is one of the few towns confirmed to have this climate. Small areas with a Csc climate can be found at high elevations in Corsica . In Norway, the small fishing village of Røstlandet , in Røst Municipality , above the Arctic Circle has

13786-510: The western sides of continents. Csb zones in the Köppen system include areas normally not associated with Mediterranean climates but with Oceanic climates, such as much of the Pacific Northwest , much of southern Chile , parts of west-central Argentina , and parts of New Zealand . Additional highland areas in the subtropics also meet Cs requirements, though they, too, are not normally associated with Mediterranean climates. The same goes for

13908-541: The winter and summer due to higher evapotranspiration . Toward the polar latitudes, total moisture usually increases; for instance, the Mediterranean climate in Southern Europe has more rain. The rainfall also tends to be more evenly distributed throughout the year in Southern Europe, while in places such as Southern California , the summer is nearly or completely dry. In places where evapotranspiration

14030-410: The winter, with frost and snowfall almost unknown, whereas Tashkent has cold winters with annual frosts and snowfall; or, to consider summer, Seville experiences rather high temperatures in that season. In contrast, San Francisco has cool summers with daily highs around 21 °C (70 °F) due to the continuous upwelling of cold subsurface waters along the coast. Because most regions with

14152-659: 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

14274-554: The year for climate zones at such distances from coasts. In North America, areas with Csc climate can be found in the Olympic , Cascade , Klamath , and Sierra Nevada ranges in Washington, Oregon and California. These locations are found at high altitude nearby lower altitude regions characterized by a warm-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csb ) or hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csa ). A rare instance of this climate occurs in

14396-505: 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

14518-525: 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

14640-443: 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

14762-658: 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

14884-511: Was −2.9 °C (26.8 °F) on 10 February 1986. The heights of Ospedale (or Spedale in earlier literature) are noted for their forest of Corsican Pine . Between them and the coast extends a plain drained by the Stabacciu, which flows into the end of the Gulf of Porto through salt marshes, where Cork Oak and Eucalyptus grow. These marshes were a barrier between the Roman settlements along

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