Italy is a country in southern Europe. It comprises the boot-shaped Italian peninsula, the Po River valley, and two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia, and shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italian territory.

For more than 3,000 years Italy witnessed many migrations and invasions from Germanic, Celtic, Frankish, Byzantine Greek, Norman, and the French Angevin, and Lombard peoples. Italy was also home to many well-known and influential civilisations, including the Etruscans, Greeks and the Romans.

With regard to folk music, Italy is often divided into four cultural regions. The Celtic-influenced major mode North contrasts with the Arabic and Greek-influenced minor modes and strong melodies of the south. In central Italy, multiple influences combine, while indigenous traditions like endecasillabo singing (using phrases of eleven syllables) remain. The music of the island of Sardinia is distinct from that of the rest of Italy, and is best known for the polyphonic chanting of the tenores.

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