Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia, and has an estimated urban population of 2,610,483. Mogadishu is located in the coastal Banadir region on the Indian Ocean, which unlike other Somali regions, is considered a municipality rather than a maamul goboleed.
Italian Somaliland was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia. Ruled in the 19th century by the Somali Sultanates of Hobyo and Majeerteen in the north, and in the south by political entities such as the Hiraab Imamate and Geledi Sultanate.
The Catholic Church in Somalia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
Pietro Salvatore Colombo, OFM was the Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Mogadiscio (Somalia) from 1976 until his assassination.
Christianity is a minority religion in Muslim-majority Somalia. According to a report by the Somali Bible Society in 2023, there is estimated population of 178,869 Christian practitioners in Somalia. The Somali population is about 19 million as of 2024.
The Cathedral of Cefalù is a Roman Catholic basilica in Cefalù, Sicily. It is one of nine structures included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Djibouti is the Latin sole diocese in the country of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Mogadishu is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church located in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia. The area of the diocese coincides with that of the country. It is the only diocese in Somalia. The see has been vacant since the assassination of the last bishop, Salvatore Colombo, in 1989. The diocese is a member of the Conference of the Latin Bishops of the Arab Regions.
Italian Somalis are Somali-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Somalia during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Somalia. Most of the Italians moved to Somalia during the Italian colonial period.
The Mogadiscio–Villabruzzi Railway is an historical railway system that ran through southern Somalia. It was constructed between 1914 and 1927 by the colonial authorities in Italian Somaliland. The railway connected the capital city Mogadishu with Afgooye, and subsequently with Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi – usually called "Villabruzzi". The line was later dismantled by British troops during World War II. Plans for re-establishing the railway were made in the 1980s by the Siad Barre administration, but were aborted after the regime's collapse.
Railway transport in Somalia consisted of the erstwhile Mogadishu–Villabruzzi Railway and secondary tracks. The system was built during the 1910s by the authorities in Italian Somaliland. Its track gauge was 950 mm, a gauge favoured by the Italians in their colonies in the Horn of Africa and North Africa. The railway was dismantled in the 1940s by the British during their military occupation of Italian Somaliland, and was subsequently never rehabilitated.
Somaliland is an unrecognized de facto sovereign state in East Africa. The Holy See, in line with all other UN member states, does not recognize the independence of Somaliland, favouring a peaceful solution of unity for all of Somalia. Very few native Christians exist and, owing to its unrecognized status, few expatriate Christian are in the country either.
Somalia Governorate was one of the six governorates of Italian East Africa. It was formed from the previously separate colony of Italian Somalia, enlarged by the Ogaden region of the conquered Ethiopian Empire following the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
The National Museum of Somalia is a national museum in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. It was established in 1933 by the colonial authorities in Italian Somaliland. After shutting down operations in 1991, it later reopened, and presently houses a number of important historical artifacts. In September 2019, the museum was rebuilt; almost 30 years after its destruction.
Italy–Somalia relations are bilateral relations between Italy and Somalia.
The Governor's Palace was the seat of the governor of Italian Somaliland, and then the administrator of the Trust Territory of Somaliland. It was built during the colonial period in the capital city of Mogadishu, situated in present-day southern Somalia. Used as municipality building of Mogadishu, it is one of the most popular government offices in Somalia. It was the first place where the Somali flag waved.
All railway stations in Italian Somaliland were served by the Mogadishu–Villabruzzi Railway of 114 kilometres (71 mi).
Vittorio di Africa was a small town in southern Italian Somalia, created by Italian colonists in the late 1920s near the southern Shebelle river.
The Petrella Airport was the first international airport in Italian Somalia. It was opened in 1928 -just 3 miles south of Mogadishu- with the name "Enrico Petrella" in honor of an Italian pilot who died a few years before in the same airport of Italian Mogadiscio. In 1941 the airport was partially destroyed during WW2 and remained inactive for some years as a civilian airport: only military airplanes used it. In 1950 was reopened as a civilian airport by the Italian authorities of the ONU Fiduciary Mandate.
Giorgio Bertin is an Italian bishop of the Catholic Church who has been the Bishop of Djibouti since 2001 and the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Mogadishu in Somalia since 1990.
