Cannae - ancient city is southeastern Italy where Hannibal defeated the Romans in 216 BC

battle of Caporetto, Caporetto - battle of World War I (1917); Italians were defeated by the Austrian and German forces

Battle of Lake Trasimenus, Lake Trasimenus - a battle in 217 BC in which Hannibal ambushed a Roman army led by Flaminius

Battle of Magenta, Magenta - a battle in 1859 in which the French and Sardinian forces under Napoleon III defeated the Austrians under Francis Joseph I

Marengo - a battle in 1800 in which the French under Napoleon Bonaparte won a great victory over the Austrians

Metaurus River - a battle during the second of the Punic Wars (207 BC); Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal was defeated by the Romans which ended Hannibal's hopes for success in Italy

Battle of Ravenna, Ravenna - a battle between the French and an alliance of Spaniards and Swiss and Venetians in 1512

Salerno - a battle in World War II; the port was captured by United States troops in September 1943

battle of Solferino, Solferino - an indecisive battle in 1859 between the French and Sardinians under Napoleon III and the Austrians under Francis Joseph I

battle of Trasimeno, Trasimeno - a battle in central Italy where Hannibal defeated the Romans under Flaminius in 217 BC

Appian Way - an ancient Roman road in Italy extending south from Rome to Brindisi; begun in 312 BC

Flaminian Way - an ancient Roman road in Italy built by Gaius Flaminius in 220 BC; extends north from Rome to cisalpine Gaul

Leaning Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa - a tall round marble campanile in Pisa that is not perpendicular; construction was begun in 1174

spaghetti Western - a low-budget Western movie produced by a European (especially an Italian) film company

aloha, ciao - an acknowledgment that can be used to say hello or goodbye (aloha is Hawaiian and ciao is Italian)

Italian - the Romance language spoken in Italy

grissino - a long slender crusty breadstick

polenta - a thick mush made of cornmeal boiled in stock or water

calamari, calamary, squid - (Italian cuisine) squid prepared as food

Brigate Rosse, Red Brigades, BR - a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organizaiton that arose out of a student protest movement in the late 1960s; wants to separate Italy from NATO and advocates violence in the service of class warfare and revolution; mostly inactive since 1989

NIPR, Revolutionary Proletarian Initiative Nuclei, Revolutionary Proletarian Nucleus - a clandestine group of leftist extremists who oppose Italy's labor policies and foreign policy; responsible for bombing building in the historic center of Rome from 2000 to 2002

Common Market, EC, EEC, European Community, European Economic Community, European Union, EU, Europe - an international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members; "he took Britain into Europe"

NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization - an international organization created in 1949 by the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of collective security

commune - the smallest administrative district of several European countries

European country, European nation - countries occupying the European continent

Italian Peninsula - a boot-shaped peninsula in southern Europe extending into the Mediterranean Sea

Pompeii - ancient city southeast of Naples that was buried by a volcanic eruption from Vesuvius

Herculaneum - ancient city; now destroyed

Abruzzi, Abruzzi e Molise - a mountainous region of central Italy on the Adriatic

Basilicata, Lucania - a region of southern Italy (forming the instep of the Italian `boot')

Basilicata, Lucania - a region of southern Italy (forming the instep of the Italian `boot')

Bolzano - an Italian city in Trentino-Alto Adige near the Austrian border; noted as a resort and for its Alpine scenery

Brescia - an ancient Italian city in central Lombardy

Calabria - a region of southern Italy (forming the toe of the Italian `boot')