The Republic of Italy is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and includes the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern Alpine border with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The weather of the Italian peninsula varies greatly, from the alpine climate of the North to the sub continental climate of the Centre and South with mild, cool winters, hot summers, mist and fog.
The country is divided into twenty administrative Regions, five of which have special autonomous status. Today Italy is a developed country with the 7th-highest GDP, the 8th-highest Quality-of-life Index, and the 20th-highest Human Development Index rating in the world. Italy is a founding member of the European Union (having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957), and is also a member of the G8, the Council of Europe, the Western European Union, and the Central European Initiative. On January 1 2007 Italy became a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. According to GDP calculations, Italy was ranked as the seventh largest economy in the world in 2007, behind the United States, Japan, Germany, China, UK, and France, and the fourth largest in Europe. According to the OECD Italy is the world’s sixth-largest exporter of manufactured goods.
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