Culture 1

Languages of Italy 
(commonly called 'dialects')

Not just standard Italian: in Italy several languages coexist with the official one (especially in small urban or rural areas, especially within aged people).
Of course it's a quite complex issue, used by some political parties in order to gain support (the most known example is Lega Nord - Northern League).
But I think it's important to know that the non homogeneous character of Italy is due - among other reasons - to languages.

For more information take a look here.