Study, Work or Volunteer in Italy

Located in Southern Europe, Italy comprises the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. A highly-developed country with the 7th-highest GDP and the seventeenth-highest Human Development Index rating in the world, Italy is also a member of many important global organizations.

It is a member of the G8 and a founding member of what is now the European Union (having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957), of the Council of Europe and of the Western European Union. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification as it joined the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999.

Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Puccini, Fellini—the list of Italy’s contributions to world art, culture and history is never ending. Since ancient times, Italy has been at the forefront of many movements that have shaped and defined the world as we know it today.

The capital of Italy is Rome, one of the world’s oldest and most important cities. The ancient Roman empire laid the foundations of Western civilization and Rome is also the seat of Roman Catholicism and home to Vatican City.