Geography of Italy

Topographic map of Italy

Italy's cities and main towns

Italy viewed from space.

southern Italy and Sicily on the 1849 map

Italy is located in southern Europe and comprises the long, boot-shaped Italian Peninsula, the land between the peninsula and the Alps, and a number of islands including Sicily and Sardinia. Its total area is 301,230 km², of which 294,020 km² is land and 7,210 km² is water.

Italy borders with Switzerland (740 km), France (488 km), Austria (430 km) and Slovenia (232 km). San Marino (39 km) and Vatican city (3.2 km) are both entirely surrounded by Italy, so are the lesser known The Principality of Seborga and Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Including islands, Italy has a coastline of 7,600 km on the Adriatic, Ionian, Tyrrhenian.

Higest peak in Italy is Mont Blanc 4810 meters above sea level.

Italy is a mountainous country, with the Alps as the northern boundary and the Apennine Mountains forming the backbone of the peninsula, but in between the two lies a large plain in the valley of the Po, the largest river in Italy, which flows 652 km (405 mi) eastward from the Cottian Alps to the Adriatic. Worldwide-known mountains in Italy are Matterhorn (Cervino), Monte Rosa, Gran Paradiso in the West Alps, and Bernina, Stelvio and Dolomites along the eastern side of the Alps.

Most of Italy's rivers drain either into the Adriatic Sea (like Po, Piave, Adige, Reno) or into the Thyrrenian (like Arno, Tiber and Volturno), though the waters from some border municipalities (Livigno in Lombardy, Innichen and Toblach in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol) drain into the Black Sea through the basin of the Danube, and the waters from the Lago di Lei in Lombardy drain into the North Sea through the basin of the Rhine.

In the north of the country are a number of subalpine lakes, the largest of which is Garda (370 km² (143 sq mi)).

Several islands form part of Italy. The largest are Sicily 25,708 km² (9,926 sq mi) and Sardinia 24,090 km² (9,301 sq mi).

There are also a few active volcanoes in Italy: Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe; Vulcano; Stromboli; and Vesuvius, the only active volcano on the mainland of Europe.

Statistics

Natural resources

Mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal, arable land

Land use

• Arable land: 31%
• Permanent crops: 10%
• Permanent pastures: 15%
• Forests and woodland: 23%
• Other: 21% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land

27,100 km² (1993 est.)

Natural hazards

Regional risks include landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence in Venice

Maritime claims

• Contiguous zone: 24 nmi (44.4 km; 27.6 mi)
• Continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
• Territorial sea: 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi)

Environment—current issues

Air pollution from industrial emissions such as sulphur dioxide; coastal and inland rivers polluted from industrial and agricultural effluents; acid rain damaging lakes; inadequate industrial waste treatment and disposal facilities

Environment—international agreements

• Party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography—note

Strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe.