The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Italy: Italy is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe, located primarily upon the Italian Peninsula. It is where Ancient Rome originated as a small agricultural community about the 8th century BC, which spread over the course of centuries into the colossal Roman empire, encompassing the whole Mediterranean Basin and merging the Ancient Greek and Roman cultures into one civilization. This civilization was so influential that parts of it survive in modern law, administration, philosophy and arts, providing the groundwork that the Western world is based upon.