Italy--Geography

CIA FactbookThe World Factbook 1993: Italy Geography

Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula in the central Mediterranean Sea

Area: total area: 301,230 km2 land area: 294,020 km2 comparative area: slightly larger than Arizona

note: includes Sardinia and Sicily

Land boundaries: total 1,899.2 km, Austria 430 km, France 488 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.2 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 199 km, Switzerland 740 km

Coastline: 4,996 km

Maritime claims: continental shelf: 200 m depth or to depth of exploitation territorial sea: 12 nm

International disputes: small vocal minority in northern Italy seeks the return of parts of southwestern Slovenia

Climate: predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south

Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands

Natural resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal

Land use: arable land: 32% permanent crops: 10% meadows and pastures: 17% forest and woodland: 22% other: 19%

Irrigated land: 31,000 km2 (1989 est.)

Environment: regional risks include landslides, mudflows, snowslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding, pollution; land sinkage in Venice

Note: strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe