 The majority of Greeks share the same ethnic background and religion.  Most Greeks are Greek Orthodox, which is a form of Christianity and they speak Greek.  Every major town in Greece has a patron saint and they celebrate it with an annual festival.  About 2/3 of Greeks live in cities and many live in Athens, the capital of Greece.

 Greece has a parliamentary democracy in Greece today.  The country is governed by the prime minister, the cabinet, and parliament. (similar to senate). The President of Greece is more ceremonial.  Voting in Greece is required and failing to vote is against the law.

 The economy is behind most nations, because agriculture still makes up most of their economy.  With the location of Greece on the Mediterranean sea tourism, fishing, and shipping are a big part of the economy.

 After the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy split into small city states and eventually they were controlled by France, Austria, and Spain.  Eventually in 1861 Italy unified themselves as an independent country.  In the 1920s dictator Benito Mussolini took control of the Italian government. He eventually was killed as he tried to escape Italy at the end of World War II.

 The Culture of Italy is similar to Greece, the language is Italian a romance language and most Italians are Roman catholic.  Roman Catholic is a Christian religion and the center of the Church is in the Vatican. The Vatican is inside the city of Rome and the smallest country in the world.

 The Italian food changes from the region. In some places you have pasta with tomato sauce in the south to risotto in the North.  Sports are also an important part of Italian culture, many Italians enjoy watching and playing race car driving, cycling, and soccer or football.

 Italy has a parliamentary government, where ¾ of the parliament is elected by voters. The rest are assigned by the government.  In Italy there are so many different political parties that parties and its members usually have to form coalitions.

 Italy was once a agricultural economy, but after the Industrial revolution turned to a industrial nation. Only 5% of the population has farm related careers.  The European Union has helped Italy grow, which as specialized in products such as fashion clothing, shoes, and cars.

 Milan a city in southern Italy is famous for its fashion shows.  Italy’s economic makeup is largely farmland in the south and the North has the bulk of the factories.  This makes the economic output uneven as the North make up a larger piece of Italy's GDP.