True or False Quiz
ITALY
TRUE
FALSE
1
Italy’s flag has 4 equal stripes of green, white, red and blue.
2 More than 75% of Italy is hills or mountains.
3 The country is shaped like a dragon.
4 The original Parmesan cheese comes from a place in
Italy called Parma.
5 Italy has more volcanoes than any other European country.
6 Italy has won the FIFA football World Cup four times.
7 The Italians originally created Brie and Camembert cheeses
before production moved to France.
8 Italy introduced Britain to football.
9 The Vatican City and San Marino are two very small
countries inside Italy.
10 Vermicelli pasta translates as ‘worms’.
11 The name Italy comes from the Ancient Italian ‘italiotos’
which means ‘bull’.
12 The famous Italian desert tiramisu means ‘pick-me-up’.
13 Cats are a very considered a very special animal in the city of Rome.
14 When Pizza was invented in the 18th century it was considered
to be food for poor people.
15 The word ‘spaghetti’ means ‘hair’.
16 The pasta ‘tagliatelle’ was created by a chef in honour
of the long, blond hair of a duchess.
17 Italian money is called ‘lira’.
18 Olives and olive oil are a very important part of the Italian diet.
19 Italians drink milky coffee such as cappuccino and latte
after most meals.
20 Mont Blanc, in Italy, is the highest mountain in the European Union.
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True or False Quiz
ANSWERS
False. Italy’s flag has 3 equal stripes of
green, white and red. Green represents
hope. White represents faith and red charity.
2 True. Italy has two large mountain ranges:
The Alps in the North separate Italy from
France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia;
and the Apennine mountains separate the
East and west of the country.
3 False. Italy is often said to resemble a highheeled boot which is kicking a ball (the island
of Sicily)
4 True. It is a very hard, cow’s milk cheese
called Parmigiano-Reggiano in Italian.
5 True. There is a fault line in the tectonic
plates under the country. Italy has Europe’s
only three active volcanoes: Etna, Stromboli
and Vesuvius. They are all in Southern Italy.
6 True. Italy is considered to be one of the best
teams in the world and have won the cup
more times than any other country except
Brazil, who has won 5 times. The last time
Italy won was in 2006.
7 False. Both cheeses originated in France.
8 False. The Italians were introduced to
football in the late 1800s by the British.
9 True. The Vatican City is situated within
Rome and is the smallest country in the
world; it is led by the Pope and is the
headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.
San Marino is situated within Northern Italy
and is the fifth smallest country in the world.
10 True. It is a traditional type of long pasta that
is thicker than spaghetti.
11 False. The name comes from a Greek word,
‘italos’ and means ‘calf’.
12 True. It was invented in the 1970s and is
called ‘pick-me-up’ due to two of its
ingredients; coffee and cocoa.
1
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13 True. The Romans love their cats and there
are estimated to be around 300,000 cats in
the city. There is a law to protect the cats
which says that anyone who kills one may be
fined up to 10,000 euros and may get up to
three years in prison. Cats are also the only
creatures to be allowed on the Roman ruins.
14 True. It was originally just a piece of flat
bread. In 1889 Queen Margherita of Italy
tried some and liked it. Her chef then made a
pizza using the colours of the Italian flag:
tomato for the red; mozzarella cheese for the
white and basil for the green. He named it in
her honour and it is still known as Pizza
Margherita.
15 False. The word actually means ‘strings’ but
it was originally called ‘maccheroni’.
16 True. It was created in honour of Lucrezia
Borgia, the Duchess of the town of Ferrara
who lived from 1480-1519.
17 False. The lira was the currency in Italy until
2002 when it was replaced by the euro.
18 True. In an area of Tuscany in Italy there is a
tree known as ‘The Witch’s Olive Tree’
(L’Olivo della Strega) It is believed to be over
2,000 years old and it is said to be magical!
19 False. This type of coffee is considered a
breakfast drink. Italians often dunk biscuits
and cakes into their milky coffee and
sometimes even mash their biscuits into the
cup and eat it like a soup.
20 True. Mont Blanc (or Monte Bianco) means
‘white mountain’ and is the highest
mountain in the Alps at 4,810 metres above
sea level.