Q 01/05

Which city was the Kingdom of Italy's capital right before Rome took the job in 1871?

A) Florence

B) Milan

C) Turin

D) Naples

Answer · why

A) Florence

Turin had been the first capital of the kingdom, from 1861 to 1865, before the government moved south.

Q 02/05

Which common object is often used to describe the shape of the Italian peninsula?

A) A boot

B) A star

C) A diamond

D) A circle

Answer · why

A) A boot

Italians call the peninsula lo Stivale, and the regions of Apulia and Calabria form the heel and toe.

Q 03/05

Which mountain range runs 1,200 km down the spine of peninsular Italy?

A) Pyrenees

B) Urals

C) Apennines

D) Carpathians

Answer · why

C) Apennines

The range runs about 1,200 km, joining the Ligurian Alps in the northwest and ending at Reggio di Calabria at the toe.

Q 04/05

Which Roman emperor started building the Colosseum, though he never saw it finished?

A) Nero

B) Vespasian

C) Trajan

D) Hadrian

Answer · why

B) Vespasian

It was finished in AD 80 under his son Titus, and the Flavian dynasty gave it its formal name, the Flavian Amphitheatre.

Q 05/05

Which island, one of Italy's twenty regions, is the Mediterranean Sea's largest?

A) Crete

B) Sicily

C) Cyprus

D) Ibiza

Answer · why

B) Sicily

Its 4.7 million people also make it the most populous Mediterranean island; Palermo alone accounts for 1.2 million.