Italy's ".it" Internet domain suffix is becoming popular among those registering online names.

Take, for example, the simple elegance of what.is.it, who.is.it, this.is.it, love.is.it and even paris.is.it.

Italy has some 418,000 Internet domain names, putting the country in the fourth spot in Europe behind Germany, Britain and the Netherlands but well ahead of France. That may not seem too many in numerical terms, but when you bear in mind the figure represents a 400% increase on 1999, then the potential is clear.

One website captures the mood of Italian-based setups. The site, www.america.is.it, devotes itself to auctioning domain names ending in ".is.it" for US$100,000. Other names the site has offered include europe.is.it, chicago.is.it, japan.is.it and the alluring hollywood.is.it.

Not all the sites have been "homesteaded" by foreign firms. For example, the website www.who.is.it leads to an Italian-based company which guides visitors to online purchasing.

Surprisingly, compared to the high prices asked for "is.it" cities around the world, hongkong.is.it sells at just US$5,000.

by staff writer Anna Cheung, Milan