Italy

Italy or the Italian Republic is a Southern European country. In the west it borders on France, in the north on Switzerland and Austria and in the east on Slovenia. Within Italy there are two independent microstates of San Marino and the Vatican City. Municipality Campione dellItalia, enclave on the territory of the Italian part of Switzerland, is also part of Italy. Italy consists of: continental Italy bordering on Alpine world in the north, peninsular Italy extending in the Mediterranean Sea and around 150 km away from the African coast, and insular Italy comprising Sicily and Sardinia, two islands of great dimensions (the biggest ones in the Mediterranean Sea), and a series of smaller islands. The capital is Rome. The country was founded in 1861 and became parliamentary republic in 1946.

INTERESTING FEATURES

• Traditionally called
  peninsula due to its prevailing geographic features the boot due to its characteristic shape
  beautiful country due to its climate and artistic and natural beauties.
• Italian coast is 7,500 km long.
• The shortest road distance is in Liguria and measures only 5 metres.
• 90% of town streets have masculine names.
• Italy has 41,000 km of side roads.
• 50% of the worlds artistic works can be found in Italy.
• There are 4 active volcanoes in Italy.
• Average population density is 196,5 inhabitants per km2 (six times the average of European continent, which is 32 inhabitants per km2).
• Italy takes the first place in pasta production and consumption, i.e. it produces 3,046,619 tons of pasta and consumes 1,567,370 tons of pasta per capita.
• There is 32,5% of pizza restaurants in Italy.

BASIC INFORMATION

• Territorial borders measure 1,800 km.
• The coast is 7,500 km long.
• The Italian Republic has more than 59.2 million inhabitants or 196.5 inhabitants per km2.
• Hills are prevailing geographic feature in Italy (41.6?? of the territory).
• Mountains represent 35.2% of the territory.
• Flat land represents 23.2% of the territory.
• Average altitude of Italian territory is around 337 metres above sea level.
• The national flag is green, white and red.
• The national anthem is Mamelis Anthem.
• The capital is Rome.
• The currency is Euro.

ITALIAN ISLANDS

The main two islands are Sicily and Sardinia, although geographically they belong to Sardo-Corsican plate. There are also minor islands, some of which are important from the naturalistic and historical aspect (for example the island of Elba, which was under the influence of Napoleon during his first exile from the continent). Groups of islands represent the main share of minor islands.

SEAS AND GROUPS OF ISLANDS

With more than 7,000 km of coast Italy is actually embraced by the Mediterranean Sea, or il Mare Nostrum as the ancient Romans called it, which is divided into basins with proper names in accordance with the historical areas. Italy is in fact a big peninsula extending from the south to the Alps and reaching into the Mediterranean Sea. In the east of peninsula there is the Adriatic Sea, in the southeast the Ionic Sea, in the west along the entire peninsula there is the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the northwest the Ligurian Sea, in the west part of Sardinia there is the Sea of Sardinia and in the south of Sicily there are the Strait of Sicily and the Malta Channel. Important narrow sea enclosures are the Strait of Messina dividing Sicily and the toe of the Italian boot, the Strait of Bonifacio between Sardinia and Corsica, the Piombino Channel between the Tuscany coast and the island of Elba, and the Corsica Channel separating the west Corsican coast from the west part of the island of Elba.

RIVERS, LAKES AND LAGOONS

The shape of Italy with numerous mountains demonstrates rivers cross Italy, although none of them is very long. As regards the length and the flow, the longest river is the river Po.

VOLCANOES

There are four active volcanoes:

• Etna (the largest active volcano in Europe) reigns over Catania and northwest Sicily. It rises above Catania with a group of high craters (3340 m) forming a regional element typical of Reggio di Calabria, where the snowy beyond originates.
• Vesuvius (1277 m) dominates the town of Naples and the Bay of Naples, the view of which is well known all around the world. It erupted in AD 79, when Ercolano, Pompeii and Stabia were completely covered by lava and ashes.
• Stromboli, always active, raises its volcanic cone directly from the sea and belongs to Aeolian Islands.
• Vulcano, one of the Aeolian Islands, is currently an unusually active volcano, which gave the name to all similar volcanoes.

Extinct or for centuries dormant volcanoes are more numerous. They can be found in the whole Tuscan sub-Apennines zone, where there are numerous thermal springs and wonderful borax fumaroles (Larderello), which are in fact results of local volcano activities.