4 ms·

I'm shocked that Italy is the eighth largest economy. I kind of thought they were one of those where the major industry was tourism. http://en.wikipedia.org/w

• Vivtek 15y ago
  Italy has a whole lot of little manufacturing companies. And some big ones, too, but really an incredibly resilient manufacturing ecology.
• riffraff 15y ago
  it is in fact also in the top ten exporters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_exports http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_exports
• arethuza 15y ago
  An awful lot of very desirable things get manufactured in Italy and they have an economy that is roughly the same size as California's ($2,112,780M for Italy, $1,911,822M for California): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_U.S._states_and_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_U.S._states_... They also are number 5 in terms of international tourism (France being top): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings
• pyramid 15y ago
  An interesting list I found the other day: Automotive: Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lamborghini, Lancia, Fiat Agricultural and construction equipment: Iveco, New Holland, Case [CHN is the 2d largest agricultural manufacturer in the world and the third construction] Motorbikes: Piaggio (Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Vespa), Ducati, Cagiva [Piaggio is the world's 4th largest motorcycle manufacturer and the largest European one] Bicycles: Bianchi is the world's most prestigious brand of racing bikes. Technogym: official supplier of the Olympics Shipbuilding: Fincantieri is one of the world's largest ship manufacturers having built cruises for Carnival, Cunar, Disney, Holland America, etc. Ferretti luxury motoryatchs. Filippi Boats, the world's premier racing shells Manufacturing: Pirelli (tires), Indesit is Europe's second largest manufacturer of home appliances Candy Group owns Hoover Europe Chicco, toys Finmeccanica (Helicopters (Augusta), Missiles DeLonghi: appliances, owns Kenwood Technology: STMicroelectronics Europe's largest semiconductor company and the world's fifth (after Intel, Samsung, Texas Instruments and Toshiba) Thales Alenia Space, Europe's largest satellite manufacturer, is an Italian/French consortium NHIndustries (Helicopters) Eurofighter, Alenia Fashion: Armani, Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Bulgari, Salvatore Ferragano, Ermenegildo Zegna, Versace, Valentino, Borsalino, Dolce & Gabbanna, Diesel, Bennetton, Mandarina Duck Eyewear: Luxottica is the largest eyewear company in the world. It owns Ray-Ban, Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters, Oakley. It manufactures pretty much every luxury brands in the world. Sports: Lotto, Kappa, Diadora, Geox, Fila, Nordica, MOMO Music Fazionli Pianos are widely regarded as the finest in the world Food: Parmalat is the world's largest dairy products manufacturer Autogrill is the world largest catering company (airports, train stations) Ferrero (Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder and tic tac among others) Barilla: World's largest manufacturer of pasta Wine: Italy produces the largest amount of wine in the world Beverages: Martini, Campari, Cinzano, Maraschino Arms: Beretta, Benelli, Perazzi (precision guns frequently used in olympic competitions) Petroleum: Eni (including Agip) Europe's Third largest oil refiner. Market value of 100 Billion Euros Enel is the third largest electricity provider in the world Finance: Unicredit - Capitalia is Europe's second largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo is Europe's third largest bank Assicurazioni Generali is the world's fifth biggest insurance company Media: Mediaset, Panini Italy is the second largest producer of movies in the western world after the USA. Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Martin Scorcese, Sergio Leone, Roberto Rosellini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Benigni, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Dario Argento, frequent collaborations with Italian Americans like Brian De Palma, Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Cage, Leonardo Di Caprio, Al Pacino, etc.