108-479: The Quadrifoglio ( Italian for ' four-leaf clover '; pronounced [kwadriˈfɔʎʎo] ) is the brand used by the Italian auto manufacturer Alfa Romeo to indicate a high performance model. The Quadrifoglio is usually placed on the side panels of the car, above or behind the front wheels—on the front wings in the case of modern vehicles. The logo consists of a green four-leaf clover contained in
216-689: A local language of Italy , most frequently the language spoken at home in their place of origin. Italian is a major language in Europe, being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe . It is the third-most-widely spoken native language in the European Union (13% of the EU population) and it
324-485: A value-added tax of 38% instead of the usual 18%. In 1991, a shortened version of the 164 platform served as the basis of the all-wheel drive Alfa Romeo Proteo concept, which never eventuated. The 164 also served as the basis of the Italdesign Scighera concept sports car unveiled in 1997. The Scighera sported the same 3.0-liter engine as the 164 but with 2 turbochargers. In 1988, Alfa Romeo produced
432-538: A dynamic compromise between road holding and comfort. The 164 was only offered as a four-door saloon, unlike the related Type Four cars that were available in other bodystyles (i.e. Croma and 9000 hatchback; 9000 and Thema sedans; Thema wagon). In addition, until 1993, the 164 was only available in front wheel drive like the related cars. The original 164 range launched in 1987 comprised the following models: European export versions were fitted with catalytic converters to meet more stringent emission standards, including
540-510: 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
648-471: 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
756-484: A major international event. For the Targa Florio of 1923, Merosi developed four cars, entrusting them to Antonio Ascari , Enzo Ferrari , Giulio Masetti and Ugo Sivocci . Sivocci, Ferrari's discoverer and friend, was a pilot of great experience and technical competence, but had poor luck and was considered l'eterno secondo (Italian for 'the eternal second'). To ward away his misfortune, Sivocci had painted on
864-519: A manual transmission. From 1992, this model was powered by the new 24-valve V6 engine. In 1993, Alfa Romeo introduced a four-wheel drive variant called the Q4 (short for Quadrifoglio 4 ), which was equipped with the most powerful 3.0-Litre V6 engine fitted to the 164, featuring 24-valves. The Q4's four-wheel-drive system (" Viscomatic ") was co-developed with the Austrian company Steyr-Daimler-Puch . and
972-444: A part of Alfa's road and race car history since the 1930s. The engine featured fuel injection , controlled by a Bosch Motronic system as well as a chain-driven DOHC cylinder head, a single cooling fan and generator belt, improved reliability and reduced parasitic friction. The battery of all 164s was placed in the trunk to achieve a near 50:50 weight distribution. Next was a turbocharged 2.0 L eight-valve engine, derived from
1080-658: 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
1188-537: A quarter mile time of 9.7 seconds. It was planned to race in a special racing series, as a support event to Formula One Grand Prix. With Alfa Romeo being the only manufacturer to produce a car for this series, the project was ultimately cancelled. Only one rolling chassis with the Alfa Romeo V10 was built by Motor Racing Developments Ltd., the company behind the Brabham Formula One team, which
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#17328025610281296-417: 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
1404-522: A result. Starting in late medieval times in much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin was replaced as the primary commercial language by languages of Italy, especially Tuscan and Venetian. These varieties were consolidated during the Renaissance with the strength of Italy and the rise of humanism and the arts . Italy came to enjoy increasing artistic prestige within Europe. A mark of
1512-513: 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: Alfa Romeo 164 The Alfa Romeo 164 (Type 164) is a four-door executive saloon manufactured and marketed by Italian automaker Alfa Romeo from 1987 to 1998, styled by Pininfarina , and cooperatively designed and sharing platforms and numerous elements with
1620-479: 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
1728-530: A triangle. The four-leaf clover symbol appeared for the first time on one of the four RL Targa Florio autos in 1923. This auto was specially prepared by Giuseppe Merosi for the Targa Florio in Sicily, considered the most prestigious auto racing competition at the time. Despite high aspirations, major success at racing eluded Alfa Romeo until this time. Alfa had won some class victories and minor competitions, but due to inexperience and misfortune Alfa had not won
1836-513: 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
1944-477: A very rigid but still relatively lightweight chassis. Although sharing the same platform as that of the Lancia Thema , Fiat Croma and Saab 9000 , by virtue of the fact that it was the last of the four to enter production, it featured unique front suspension geometry and the most distinctive styling of the lot. In fact, for example, the other cars all shared identical side door panels. Though still voluminous,
2052-479: A winner, assuring Alfa Romeo their first international victory. As if to confirm the importance of the quadrifoglio , a few months later on September 8, 1923, a tragic accident occurred in which Sivocci lost his life at the Monza raceway . During practice for the 1st Grand Prix of Europe , Sivocci crashed in his Alfa Romeo P1 No. 17. His P1 did not have the quadrifoglio due to complications that had prevented
2160-427: 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
2268-759: 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
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#17328025610282376-534: 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
2484-460: 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
2592-462: 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
2700-594: Is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom ) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million. Italian is the main working language of the Holy See , serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as
2808-549: 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
2916-509: 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,
3024-991: 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 ),
3132-518: The Fiat Croma , Saab 9000 and Lancia Thema . The 164 succeeded the Alfa Romeo 90 and Alfa 6 . The 164 was followed by the 166 in 1998, after a combined production total of 273,857 units. The 164 started life as Project 156 (not to be confused with Alfa Romeo 156 ) in 1980 as a proposal by Alfa Romeo engineer Filippo Surace as a modular platform for a range of cars aimed to replace
3240-702: 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
3348-674: 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
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3456-773: 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
3564-459: The Lancia Thema i.e. Turbo including an overboost feature. This was later replaced by a turbocharged 2.0 L V6, which was based on the 3.0 L engine and was fitted with a very sophisticated engine management system from Bosch. The top-of-the-line engine was the 3.0 L "Busso" V6 designed by Giuseppe Busso originally for the Alfa 6 . Its 12-valve design was later upgraded to 24-valves for
3672-1033: The Middle Ages , the established written language in Europe was Latin, although the great majority of people were illiterate, and only few were well versed in the language. In the Italian Peninsula , as in most of Europe, most would instead speak a local vernacular. These dialects, as they are commonly referred to, evolved from Vulgar Latin over the course of centuries, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. They are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, but sister languages of Italian. Mutual intelligibility with Italian varies widely, as it does with Romance languages in general. The Romance languages of Italy can differ greatly from Italian at all levels ( phonology , morphology , syntax , lexicon , pragmatics ) and are classified typologically as distinct languages. The standard Italian language has
3780-554: 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
3888-691: 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 the Grisons ), Corsica , and Vatican City . It has official minority status in Croatia , Slovenian Istria , and
3996-546: The Twin Spark Europa model. In 1990, the range was expanded by the sports-oriented 3.0i V6 Quadrifoglio Verde (badged "QV" or "S"). In early 1991, the turbocharged four-cylinder "tax special" version was replaced by a turbocharged, 2-liter V6 with more power. North American export versions were new for the 1991 model year; this range included the luxury-oriented 164 L ("L" for Lusso in Italian) equipped with
4104-528: 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
4212-489: The grille of his car a white square in which stood a green four-leaf clover . The outcome of that Targa Florio race on the track in Madonie convinced the superstitious the four-leaf clover ( quadrifoglio ) charm was effective. Towards the end of the race the chances of victory were limited to the leading trio, composed of Ascari and Sivocci, followed by Minoia on a Steyr VI Klausen Sport. Just two hundred meters from
4320-532: 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
4428-510: 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
Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio - Misplaced Pages Continue
4536-567: The 164 Pro-Car featuring a mid-engine layout and powered by the Alfa Romeo V1035 3.5-litre V10 engine. This unusual powerplant was originally planned to be used by the Ligier F1 team and was rated at 620 hp (462 kW; 629 PS) at 13,300 rpm and 340 N⋅m (250 lb⋅ft) of torque at 9,500 rpm. Weighing only 750 kg (1,653 lb), the 164 Pro-Car achieved a top speed of 340 km/h (211 mph) and had
4644-558: The 164 had the tightest aperture to the rear boot, which had a 510-Litre capacity. Overall, the 164 also benefitted from improved build quality relative to previous Alfa Romeos, due to the extensive use of galvanised steel for the chassis and various body panels for the first time in the brand's history. Moreover, the car featured advanced (but troublesome) electronics due in-part to the most complex wiring harness fitted to any Alfa Romeo. For example: it had three onboard computers (one for air conditioning, one for instrumentation, and one for
4752-428: The 1970s and through the 1980s golden four-leaf clover badges were used to denote the most luxurious and well-equipped variants of Alfa Romeo cars, named Quadrifoglio Oro ('gold four-leaf clover'). The Alfasud , Alfetta , Alfa 6 , 90 and 33 had Quadrifoglio Oro versions. The Q4 name was also used originally introduced in 1992 on the Alfa Romeo 155 Q4 (turbocharged 4 wheel drive, top of line version), and on
4860-562: 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
4968-599: The 2007 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and Spider eight-cylinder sports cars . With the Alfa Romeo MiTo in 2012 and Giulietta in the early 2010s, the Quadrifoglio Verde was reinstated as the sportiest trim level in the range, and green four-leaf clovers on the front wings once again became the hallmark of high-performance Alfa Romeos. Current Alfa Romeo models to wear the Quadrifoglio badge are
5076-406: The 3.0-litre V6 12-valve engine and adjustable damper settings. The engine sat 3 cm (1.2 in) lower, while the suspension was dropped by 2 cm (0.8 in). The added power, up from 184 to 200 hp (135 to 147 kW), was the result of sharper cams, an increased compression ratio, and polished inlets and exhaust. In some markets, like Australia, this was the only 164 available with
5184-399: The 3.0-litre V6 rated at 183 hp (136 kW) and 185 lb⋅ft (251 N⋅m) of torque and the 164 S (in essence, the "QV") with an uprated 200 hp (149 kW) and 189 lb⋅ft (256 N⋅m). Apart from minor running production upgrades, the range was revamped and became known as the 164 Super in 1993. Key differences on the outside consisted of chrome trimmings added to
5292-584: The Alfa Sud and Alfetta. Project 156 was meant to be a rear-wheel drive and powered by the Alfa Romeo's Busso V6. A saloon body was designed by Centro Stile Alfa Romeo's designer Ermanno Cressoni featuring a modern design language according to its times and a tail higher than the Alfetta. A year later, when the tooling and drivetrain development was underway, the Italian Government, which owned Alfa Romeo at
5400-417: 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
5508-489: 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,
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#17328025610285616-556: 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
5724-479: The S model developed 230 hp (172 kW) and 202 lb⋅ft (274 N⋅m). The 3.0-litre V6 was the only engine ever offered there, and 1995 would prove to be the last year an Alfa Romeo sedan would be sold there until the 2017 model year. The 164 was rebadged as the 168 for the Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysian markets, as the number "164" had a very negative connotation (一路死 — a Chinese homophone meaning "all
5832-464: The badge the Q was stylized as a cloverleaf, so it meant Quadrifoglio 4. Since the introduction of 155 Q4, the Q4 badge is used to mark Alfa Romeo all wheel drive vehicles. The same Q4 marking is also used on some new Maserati all wheel drive variants. In 2016 Volkswagen's Audi made trademark swap with FCA, so that Q4 badge can now be used in Audi cars. More recently the quadrifoglio badge was revived on
5940-444: 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
6048-653: 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
6156-573: The country (some 0.42% of the total population). Their numbers dropped dramatically after World War II following the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus , which caused the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians. Italian was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa from 1492 to 1807. It formerly had official status in Albania due to the annexation of
6264-408: 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
6372-446: 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
6480-415: 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
6588-464: 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
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#17328025610286696-420: 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
6804-420: 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
6912-413: The engine management); air conditioning and instrument functions shared a multiple-mode coded Zilog Z80 -class microcontroller for dashboard functioning). The instrumentation included a full range of gauges including an advanced check-panel. The interior was spacious and modern, available with standard velour seating or a leather trim depending on the model. The dashboard continued the avantgarde design of
7020-409: 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
7128-407: The existing tooling developed in house for Project 156 by modifying it to accommodate the front-wheel drive layout of the new platform while Cressoni's team refined the design further to suit the new platform's changed architecture. However, this time they had direct competition from renowned styling house Pininfarina . It was however, the latter's design proposal styled by Enrico Fumia which gained
7236-552: The exterior with a centre console that was dominated by a large number of seemingly identical buttons arranged in rows. Air-direction within the ventilation system was controlled by a pair of servomechanisms , which used fragile plastic gears. Depending on the model, the 164 featured automatic climate control and electronically controlled damping suspension - the latter, for example, in the sports-oriented Quadrifoglio Verde ("Green Cloverleaf ") and 164S models. This suspension actively reduced damping in response to conditions to provide
7344-433: 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
7452-407: The finish, the Alfa RL of Ascari went out. Ascari's lead allowed his mechanics to arrive in time to restart his engine, but in their euphoria they all got on board to cross the finish line with Ascari, causing a disqualification. So Ascari returned to the point where he had stopped his car to retrace that part of the track. He finished second behind Sivocci who, meanwhile, had crossed the finish line as
7560-422: The first 1:1 scale model produced in 1982. Design cues were publicly revealed on the Alfa Romeo Vivace concept car, which was exhibited at the 1986 Turin Motorshow that went on to influence the design of the Alfa Romeo GTV and Spider (916 series) launched in 1994. The 164 became the first Alfa Romeo to benefit from extensive use of computer aided design , used to calculate structural stresses that resulted in
7668-410: 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
7776-468: The green four-leaf clover. In memory of Sivocci, the white square was replaced by a triangle to signify his absence, and the symbol remains that way to this day. After World War II the quadrifoglio was used to distinguish particularly sporty versions of production Alfa Romeos, appearing for the first time on the side of the Giulia TI Super of 1963, also called Giulia Quadrifoglio . This
7884-574: The high performance versions of the Giulia and Stelvio . Although the verde adjective is not used with these models, the QV abbreviation is still often used informally when referring to them, for example Alfa Romeo Giulia QV . As of 2017, the Quadrifoglio badge was seen on the Ferrari SF70H formula 1 car and the suits of Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel . As of 2018, the Quadrifoglio
7992-489: 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
8100-640: 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
8208-498: 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
8316-534: 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
8424-567: 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
8532-437: The management's approval in 1984 and was approved for production. However, early development mules of the car, now known as 164, utilized body panels made from the now cancelled Project 156 confusing spy photographers and journalists. Some design elements from Project 156 made their way to the Alfa Romeo 75 . The 164 featured a wedge shape yielding it a drag coefficient of C d =0.30. The design would later influence
8640-820: 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 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
8748-412: 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
8856-463: The new V6 models and, specifically, the QV and Q4. For Europe, there was also a turbodiesel version with an engine sourced from the Italian engine maker VM Motori . Rated at 92 kW (125 PS; 123 hp), with this engine, the 164 had a top speed of 200 km/h (124 mph). A 2.0 L V6 turbocharged engine was intended for the domestic market, due to an Italian law at the time under which cars with engine displacement over 2000 cc had
8964-408: 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
9072-590: The official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . Italian has a significant use in musical terminology and opera with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide. Almost all native Italian words end with vowels , and the language has a 7-vowel sound system ('e' and 'o' have mid-low and mid-high sounds). Italian has contrast between short and long consonants and gemination (doubling) of consonants. During
9180-630: 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
9288-584: 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:
9396-458: 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
9504-440: The painting of the bodywork. The fact that he crashed in a vehicle that lacked the quadrifoglio made a lasting impression among the pilots, mechanics and technicians of the world of competitions. For the same superstitious reasons the number 17 was no longer assigned to Italian racing cars after this crash. Even in the absence of official regulations, from the 1924 season the bodywork of racing Alfa Romeo autos were decorated with
9612-406: 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
9720-523: 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
9828-528: 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
9936-415: 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
10044-487: 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
10152-404: The rest of the Alfa Romeo range (starting in 1990 with the major redesign of the 33 and culminating with the 155 . Ultimately unveiled at the 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show , the 164 was the last model to be developed while the Alfa Romeo was still a fully independent company, and was formally launched a few months after the takeover by Fiat. The 164 was styled by Enrico Fumia of Pininfarina, with
10260-473: 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,
10368-514: The time, cut back the funding which resulted in the shelving of the project. Surace then engaged in talks with Lancia engineer Sergio Camuffo to discuss a joint venture in order to save development costs for a new model range. This joint development brought Alfa Romeo into the Fiat Tipo Quattro platform which was itself originally a joint development between Fiat and Saab tracing its roots to October 1978. Surace nonetheless utilized
10476-469: 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
10584-542: 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 ),
10692-531: The upper edge of the bumpers bars and revised headlights now with a slimmer profile. Inside, there were revised instruments and a centre console that featured more delineated switchgear. The range was now also bolstered by the following models: In the North American market, the new 24-valve version of the 3.0L V6 was rated at 210 hp (157 kW) and 198 lb⋅ft (268 N⋅m) of torque in LS trim while
10800-424: The way to death"), and "168" has quite the opposite meaning (一路發 — "all the way to prosperity"). The 164 QV or Quadrifoglio Verde was available from 1990 to 1992 as the top of the range model. It was fitted with a bodykit that comprised an extended front spoiler, deeper side-skirts and a deeper rear apron. Inside, the QV featured sculpted sports seats whereas, mechanically, it was fitted with an up-rated version of
10908-517: Was a variant of the Giulia sedan devised for competition but regularly put on sale; it had green four-leaf clovers on its front wings, without the triangle. In the 1970s Quadrifoglio Verde ('green four-leaf clover') became the trim level for each model's sportiest variant, equipped with the most powerful engine. It is often abbreviated QV . The Alfasud , Sprint , 33 , 75 , Spider , 164 and 145 all had Quadrifoglio Verde versions. Also in
11016-561: 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
11124-525: 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
11232-537: Was equipped with a Getrag 6-speed manual gearbox. The base 164 engine was the 2.0 L Twin Spark inline-four engine with two spark plugs per cylinder. Apart from that, this engine was also notable for having a two-stage valve timing system (before Honda 's VTEC ), and an induction valve blade-type system, both aimed at improving low-end torque. The block of the Twin Spark was the same 2.0 L that had been
11340-443: 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
11448-530: Was more advanced than other systems offered at the time. The system consisted of a viscous coupling unit, central epicyclic differential and Torsen differential in the rear. Connected to the ABS and "Motronic" engine management modules, the power driven to the rear axle was continuously variable from 0 to 100% subject to road conditions. Torque was distributed between axles depending on the speed, turning radius, engine rpm, throttle position and ABS parametrics. This model
11556-658: 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
11664-691: Was seen in Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team , and from 2019 until 2023 it was seen also in the Alfa Romeo Racing Formula One team. Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of
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