Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. It consists of a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land border, as well as nearly 800 islands, notably Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and two enclaves: Vatican City and San Marino. It is the tenth-largest country in Europe by area, covering 301,340 km2 (116,350 sq mi), and the third-most populous member state of the European Union, with a population of nearly 60 million. Italy's capital and largest city is Rome; other major urban areas include Milan, Naples, Turin, Palermo, Bologna, Florence, Genoa, and Venice.
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is the only Italian side to have always competed in the top flight of Italian football since its debut in 1909.
Juventus Football Club, commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1897 by a group of Torinese students, the club played in different grounds around the city, and plays now in Juventus Stadium.
Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 127 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are linked by 472 bridges. The islands are in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay lying between the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers. In 2020, around 258,685 people resided in greater Venice or the Comune di Venezia, of whom around 51,000 live in the historical island city of Venice and the rest on the mainland (terraferma). Together with the cities of Padua and Treviso, Venice is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE), which is considered a statistical metropolitan area, with a total population of 2.6 million.
Milan is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban population and the second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city has 3.22 million residents. The urban area of Milan is the fourth-most-populous in the EU with 6.17 million inhabitants. According to national sources, the population within the wider Milan metropolitan area is estimated between 7.5 million and 8.2 million, making it by far the largest metropolitan area in Italy and one of the largest in the EU. Milan is the economic capital of Italy, one of the economic capitals of Europe and a global financial centre.
Naples is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's administrative limits as of 2022. Its province-level municipality is the third most populous metropolitan city in Italy with a population of 3,115,320 residents, and its metropolitan area stretches beyond the boundaries of the city wall for approximately 30 kilometres. Naples plays also a key international role in international diplomacy, since it is home to NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples and of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
Paolo Cesare Maldini is an Italian football executive and former professional footballer who played as a left-back or as a centre-back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time. As the Milan and Italy captain for many years, he was nicknamed "Il Capitano". Maldini held the record for appearances in Serie A (647), until he was surpassed by Gianluigi Buffon in 2020. He also holds the joint-record for most European Cup/UEFA Champions League final appearances (8) alongside Paco Gento. From 2018 to 2023 he worked at AC Milan as sporting director and is a co-owner of USL Championship club Miami FC.
Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly referred to as Atalanta, is a professional football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy, who compete in Serie A, the top tier of the Italian league system.
San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal professional football clubs, AC Milan and Inter Milan, who contest the Derby della Madonnina.
The University of Bologna is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students by the late 12th century, it is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world, and the first degree-awarding institution of higher learning. The university's emblem carries the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, and the date A.D. 1088. With over 90,000 students, the University of Bologna is one of the largest universities in Europe.
The Italy national football team has represented Italy in men's international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for football in Italy, which is a co-founder and member of UEFA. Italy's home matches are played at various stadiums throughout Italy, and its primary training ground and technical headquarters, Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano, is located in Florence.
Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, and by some the greatest ever, he is one of the few recorded players to have made over 1,100 professional career appearances and holds the record for the most appearances in Serie A.
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. In its history, Napoli has won three Serie A titles, six Coppa Italia titles, two Supercoppa Italiana titles, and one UEFA Cup.
The Italy women's national football team has represented Italy in international women's football since their inception in 1968. The team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for football in Italy.
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tier of Italian football. In its early history, Milan played its home games in different grounds around the city before moving to its current stadium, the San Siro, in 1926. The stadium, which was built by Milan's second chairman, Piero Pirelli and has been shared with Inter Milan since 1947, is the largest in Italian football, with a total capacity of 75,817. The club has a long-standing rivalry with Inter, with whom they contest the Derby della Madonnina, one of the most followed derbies in football.
Paulo Exequiel Dybala is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Serie A club Roma and the Argentina national team. Nicknamed "La Joya", he is known for his dribbling and goalscoring.
Matteo Berrettini is an Italian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in January 2022, and world No. 105 in doubles, attained in July 2019. Berrettini has won ten ATP Tour singles titles and two doubles titles, and produced his best major performance by reaching the singles final of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships. He is the first man born in the 1990s and first Italian man to reach the quarterfinals or better at all four majors. Berrettini was part of the Italy Davis Cup team that won the 2024 crown, going undefeated in all his rubbers.
The 2019–20 Serie A was the 118th season of top-tier Italian football, the 88th in a round-robin tournament, and the 10th since its organization under an own league committee, the Lega Serie A. Juventus were the eight-time defending champions and they successfully defended their title following a 2–0 win against Sampdoria on 26 July 2020.
Amad Diallo, sometimes known mononymously as Amad, is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a winger, midfielder, or wing-back for Premier League club Manchester United and the Ivory Coast national team.
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