ECM has been ministering in Italy since the 1950’s and now has 7 missionaries working in 4 locations.

Italy is famous. A lot more of the history and culture of the West depends on it than you would expect from its size. The Roman Empire, the Renaissance (some estimate that one third of the Western World's art treasures are in Italy, not to mention its contributions to Science, Literature and Music), the Roman Catholic Church – and even the mafia. There are cities well known to tourists like Rome, Florence, Venice, as well as other sites like Pompeii, Cinque Terre, the Alps and the beaches of the Mediterranean. In fact Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country. The economy is one of the largest in the world, and "Made in Italy" is a synonym for excellent design – names like Armani, Ferrari, Campari, Benetton and many others are known the world over. And in sport, the Serie A is recognised as one of the strongest soccer competitions in the world.

Today Italy has almost 60 million inhabitants, and even though large scale immigration is only a recent phenomena, the country is rapidly becoming a multicultural society as the number of ethnic Italians decrease and age, and large numbers of immigrants (mainly from North Africa and East Europe) come in and have more children on average. But even before this input of new cultures, Italy has always been a very varied country, with big differences between the north and the south, and even every region (and often every city) has always had its own culture, usually speaking a dialect which is incomprehensible in the other regions.

Quick Info:

• Area: 301,000 sq km
• Population: 56 million
• Capital: Rome
• Population: 3.8 million
• Language: Italian
• Website: Italy Tourism

Source: Operation Transit 2001