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| | Learn more about Italy in the online encyclopedia. (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-18) |
 | | Although Roman Catholicism is the majority religion (85% of native-born citizens are nominally Catholic) there are mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community. |
 | | Literary achievements, such as the poetry of Petrarch, Tasso, and Ariosto and the prose of Boccaccio, Machiavelli, and Castiglione exerted a tremendous and lasting influence on the subsequent development of Western culture, as did the painting, sculpture, and architecture contributed by giants such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raffaello, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, and Michelangelo. |
 | | The musical influence of Italian composers Monteverdi, Palestrina, and Vivaldi proved epochal; in the 19th century, Italian romantic opera flourished under composers Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, and Giacomo Puccini. |
| www.onlineencyclopedia.org /i/it/italy_1.html (1450 words) |
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