Italy at a Glance

• Population: approx. 58.5 million


• Capital city: Rome, 2.6 million inhabitants


• Language: Italian


• Religions: Predominantly roman-catholic, approx. 1 million Muslims, 120.000 Buddhists, 50.000 Protestants, 40.000 Jews


• Form of government: Presidential republic

Economy

In bilateral trade in 2004, Italian imports rose but exports to Germany declined. Germany recorded a substantial trade surplus again. Of aggregate Italian exports 13.6% go to Germany and 18.1% of Italy's imports come from Germany. Germans make up the largest tourist contingent by far, accounting for about 35%. The total portfolio of German direct investments in Italy amounts to EUR 19 billion. In 2003, approx. EUR 500 million was invested in Italy. The clear focus of German foreign investments is northern Italy. Amongst foreign investors, Germany is behind its neighbours, Switzerland, Austria, France and the Netherlands as well as the USA and the United Kingdom.

Culture and Science

The particular intensity of cultural relations between Germany and Italy is the fruit of centuries. In no other country has Germany as many cultural institutions as in Italy: four academic institutions (the German Archaeological Institute founded in 1829, the Biblioteca Hertziana founded in 1912, the German Institute of Art History in Florence founded in 1897 and the German Historical Institute founded in 1888), two houses providing scholarships for artists (Villa Massimo in Rome, Villa Romana in Florence), seven branches of the Goethe Institute (Rome, Naples, Milan, Turin, Genoa and Trieste as well as Palermo), the Casa di Goethe museum in Rome, the German-Italian discussion centre Villa Vigoni at Lake Como and finally 30 private German-Italian cultural institutes which receive support from the Federal Foreign Office. Relatively speaking, Italy also maintains the largest number of its cultural institutes in Germany. Furthermore, there are three German schools in Italy (Rome, Milan, Genoa). A German-Italian university centre is to be opened this year in Trentino, which is to focus on looking after students and scholarship-holders. The German Academic Exchange Service sponsors a new prize worth EUR 5,000 for Italian postgraduates to promote German studies in Italy. The European language programme was implemented in Italy with the LINGUE 2000 project, with the Goethe Institute as an official partner of the Italian Education Ministry. The Institute has drawn up syllabi and examinations for extracurricular lessons at the two lowest levels. In schools, three bilingual branches are being run as a pilot project. A further twelve Italian grammar schools have introduced a bilingual module leading to the German language diploma. There are a number of German-Italian university courses and postgraduate colleges. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) seconds exchange lecturers to nine Italian universities.

Links

www.ambberlino.esteri.it (Official Representation of Italy in Germany)
www.rom.diplo.de (German Embassy in Rome)
www.ahk-italien.it (Italian-German Chamber of Commerce)
www.goethe.de/italien (Goethe Institute in Italy)