The greater part of Italy consists of the boot-shaped peninsula protruding from southern Europe far into the Mediterranean Sea. About 700 miles (1,100 km) in length, the peninsula extends southeast from the complex mountain ranges of the French, Swiss, and Austrian Alps to the shores of the Ionian Sea; it has a maximum width of about 150 miles (240 km). The area of the national territory, including Sicily, Sardinia, and the smaller islands, is 116,320 square miles (301,268 sq km). Among the smaller islands is the Tuscan Archipelago, located in the strait between the French island of Corsica and the Italian mainland. The largest island of this group is Elba, Napoleon's place of exile in 1814-1815. The volcanic Lipari Islands, northeast of Sicily, are noted for Stromboli, one of Italy's three active volcanoes, and for many hot springs. Off the coast of Naples are the scenic islands of Ischia and Capri. Between Sicily and North Africa is Pantelleria, a small island important for its command of a strategic sea-lane.
Except for a few parts of the Alps, no place in Italy is more than 75 miles (120 km) from the sea. To the east of the peninsula lies the Adriatic Sea, with the Gulf of Venice at its northern end. The Strait of Otranto, between Apulia (the heel of the Italian boot) and Albania, connects the Adriatic with the Ionian Sea. Between Apulia and Calabria (the toe of the boot) the southeast coast of the Italian peninsula is deeply indented by the Gulf of Taranto. Only the very narrow Strait of Messina separates Calabria from Sicily, and the 85-mile (135-km)-wide Strait of Sicily is all that divides Sicily from the coast of North Africa. The Tyrrhenian Sea fills the triangular basin bounded by Sardinia, Corsica, the Tuscan Archipelago, the Italian mainland, and Sicily. North of Corsica lies the Ligurian Sea, with the Gulf of Genoa at its head. The narrow coastal plain along the shore of the Gulf of Genoa is the Italian Riviera (Liguria), whose beautiful scenery and mild climate have made it an important center of tourism.
Sicily and the Italian peninsula have been used since prehistoric times as connecting links between Europe and Africa. Control of the straits between the eastern and western basins of the Mediterranean has been of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Greek and Phoenician colonies in Sicily to the Malta convoys of World War II. In the Middle Ages the location of the Italian peninsula on the trade routes between the Middle East and Western Europe enabled the Italian merchant cities, especially Venice, to dominate the profitable luxury trade.
With the exception of the Po Basin in the
north, most of Italy is mountain or hill land, with few large areas of
level land. The Alps of northern Italy are part of the complex series of
mountain ranges that extend through eastern France, Switzerland, Austria,
and Slovenia. Italy's other major mountain chain, the Apennines, forms
the backbone of the peninsula and continues westward into Sicily. The two
mountain systems are so closely associated that it is difficult to determine
where one ends and the other begins. Some authorities consider the Col
d'Altare, a pass just west of Savona in Liguria, as the dividing line between
the two; others designate the nearby Passo di Giovi.
The Alps and the Apennines are about the same age. They were formed during the Tertiary period (between 65 million and 2 million years ago), when the earth's crust in what is now southern Europe was subjected to much folding. The mountains are, therefore, relatively young. They have undergone several vertical movements with much faulting (fracturing and displacement of the earth's crust) and many volcanic eruptions, especially in the regions of Latium (Lazio) and Campania, both located on the southern half of the west coast of the peninsula, and in Sicily. Italy still has three active volcanoes: Stromboli, at 3,038 feet (926 meters); Vesuvius, at 4,190 feet (1,277 meters), near Naples; and Etna, at 10,902 feet (3,323 meters), in eastern Sicily. Earthquakes occur frequently.
There is a clear distinction between the relatively prosperous, industrialized North of Italy and the impoverished, agricultural South (Mezzogiorno). The North closely resembles central Europe in climate, natural resources, and economic structure, whereas the South more nearly resembles the true Mediterranean type of region. Historically, the semiarid climate and poor soils made this an area of impoverished subsistence farming that coexisted with a few pockets of more commercialized production. A typical form of farming in the South was the latifundia,
There is a clear distinction between the relatively prosperous, industrialized North of Italy and the impoverished, agricultural South (Mezzogiorno). The North closely resembles central Europe in climate, natural resources, and economic structure, whereas the South more nearly resembles the true Mediterranean type of region. Historically, the semiarid climate and poor soils made this an area of impoverished subsistence farming that coexisted with a few pockets of more commercialized production. A typical form of farming in the South was the latifundia, huge estates of tens of thousands of acres that relied on primitive farming techniques, extensive fallow, and low-cost labor. Extreme rural poverty was one of the reasons why southern Italy became a major source of emigration at the end of the 19th century. Between 1900 and 1914 nearly 11 million Italians emigrated, the majority from the South and mainly to the United States. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Italian governments have attempted to stimulate economic growth in the region, and these efforts became more intensive after World War II. As a result of massive investments in infrastructure and large subsidies from the European Community, the South has experienced unprecedented changes over the past half century, but despite areas of more vigorous growth (for example, Apulia and Abruzzi) the region as a whole continues to lag well behind the North in terms of income, level of employment, standard of services, and social facilities. Opportunities for emigration overseas or to northern Italy have declined, making the large southern cities -- Naples, Palermo, Catania, and Bari -- the principal destination for internal migration. In more recent years the lack of housing and jobs for unemployed and poor families has been accompanied by an alarming increase in organized crime. (See also Abruzzi; Aosta; Apulia; Basilicata; Calabria; Campania; Emilia-Romagna; Friuli-Venezia Giulia; Latium; Liguria; Lombardy; Marches, The; Molise; Piedmont; Sardinia; Sicily; Trentino-Alto Adige; Tuscany; Umbria; Veneto.)
If the structure and relief of the land alone are considered, Italy may be divided into four main regions superimposed on the many smaller subregions mentioned above. There are the Alps and the Po Basin in the north, the peninsula (including Sicily), and Sardinia.
Within Italy the Alps sweep around in a vast
arc, about 500 miles (800 km) long, from Savona in Liguria to the Slovenian
border. They are highest in Piedmont in the northwest, where Monte Rosa
(15,203 feet; 4,634 meters), the highest point in Italy, lies on the Swiss
frontier. Much of Piedmont, however, consists of the foothills of the Alps,
and foothill regions throughout the world are often called piedmonts after
the Italian district. In northeastern Piedmont and farther east in northern
Lombardy is the Italian lake district, containing long, narrow lakes (Como,
Maggiore, Iseo, Lugano, Garda, and others) that were formed when moraines
(material deposited by glaciers) dammed up the southern ends of deep mountain
valleys. The Italian Alps reach their greatest width, about 100 miles (160
km), in Trentino-Alto Adige, east of Lombardy, where they are crossed by
the Adige. The largest river in Italy after the Po, the Adige originates
in the Ötzal Alps on the Austrian border and flows southward to the
Adriatic. East of the Adige the Alps extend through northeast Veneto and
Friuli-Venezia Giulia to the Slovenian frontier.
The high mountains (alps) in the western Alps are composed of hard crystalline rocks, such as granite, which form the core of the chain. Many of the peaks (horns) are in the form of steep, sharp-pointed pyramids, a typical feature of mountains of very hard rock eroded by glaciers. East of Lake Maggiore the hard rocks are overlain by softer limestone, which wears down faster than crystalline rock, with the result that the peaks are not as high nor the valleys as deep as in the west. In the jagged Dolomite Range in Trentino-Alto Adige, however, the limestone is replaced by dolomite, a more resistant rock that erodes into more rugged peaks than limestone.
A number of convenient passes across the main watershed of the Alps provide communications between Italy and its neighbors to the north. Although the passes are high (the Brenner, at 4,495 feet [1,370 meters], is the lowest) and most of them are closed in winter, the Alps have never been a barrier between Italy and the rest of Europe, either for invasion or trade. The main trans-Alpine railroads follow four routes: the Fréjus Tunnel to France, the Simplon Tunnel and the Ticino-St. Gotthard Tunnel to Switzerland, and the Brenner Pass, the only route not involving a long tunnel, to Austria. The Great St. Bernard Tunnel, the first to be expressly designed for motor vehicle traffic, was completed in 1963; and the Mont Blanc Tunnel, in 1962. These vehicular routes are now supplemented by a rapidly expanding rail network linking Italy's industrial cities with the rest of Europe.
While agriculture is well developed in the Alpine valleys, the main importance of the Alps to Italy lies in their extensive timber, the summer and winter tourist trade they attract, and their hydroelectric resources, upon which much of northern Italian industry depends for its power supply.
The Italian frontier does not coincide everywhere with the main watershed of the Alps, nor does the linguistic boundary. The southern tip of Switzerland (Ticino Canton) lies south of the divide, and the inhabitants speak Italian. Yet in two areas south of the frontier Italian is not the prevailing tongue: the Valle d'Aosta, where French is spoken, tucked in between Piedmont, France, and Switzerland; and Bolzano Province where German is spoken, in Trentino-Alto Adige. Both these areas have been granted much local autonomy by the central government.
The Po Basin
The great Po River originates in the Cottian
Alps near the French border in southwestern Piedmont and meanders east
across southern Piedmont, Lombardy, and Veneto to empty into the Adriatic
Sea. Most of its drainage basin was an arm of the Adriatic before the Alps
were formed. After the formation of the Alps, this arm was filled by material
carried down from the mountains by glaciers, and the material was then
re-sorted by the Po and its many tributaries. Thus, the land was created
by the rivers. On the margins of the plain the soil is coarser and tree
and vine crops are grown. Along the Po, the soil is much finer, and swampy
conditions facilitate rice growing. Indeed, a photograph of a Po Basin
rice field might easily be mistaken for a scene in Indonesia. Along the
Adriatic shore, which is edged with brackish lagoons and sandspits (lidos),
the plain merges into a vast delta, much of which is still unreclaimed
Not only is the Po Basin favored by abundant and well-distributed rainfall, but its water supplies, derived from springs as well as the rivers, are used extensively for irrigation, especially in Piedmont and Lombardy. As a result, the Po Basin is the richest agricultural region of Italy, producing most of its corn, rice, fodder crops, meat, dairy products, sugar beets, flax, and hemp, as well as a large share of the country's wine, wheat, and fruit.
The main ridge of peninsular Italy is formed
by the Apennine Mountains, which extend from Liguria to the north coast
of Sicily, in the form of a reversed C. Although much of the range is rugged
terrain, it is much lower than the Alps. There are few spectacular peaks
except in the Gran Sasso d'Italia. This range, about 70 miles (113 km)
northeast of Rome, includes the highest peak in the Apennines, Corno Grande
(9,554 feet; 2,912 meters). Because of the complex topography, some parts
of the Apennines are quite isolated. On the whole, however, the mountains
are not a serious barrier to communications, for there is a choice of fairly
easy, if rather long, passes, particularly in the section between Florence
Most of the land in the Apennines is devoted to pastures and forest, but a large proportion of steep land is cultivated for wheat, vines, and tree crops, especially in the heavily populated valleys and basins.
The main chain of the Apennines continues from Calabria into northern Sicily, the richest part of the island. The irrigated northern coastlands and the volcanic areas surrounding Mount Etna are noted for their citrus groves.
On the eastern flank of the Apennine arc lies a belt of hill country carved out of clays and sands, stretching from Emilia-Romagna through the Marches. Despite the threat of erosion it is intensively cultivated. This hill country is also continued in southern Sicily, but there agricultural development is handicapped by poor soils and low rainfall.
Between the Apennine arc and the Tyrrhenian coast from La Spezia to Salerno stretch the Anti-Apennines, a diverse region that includes hill country, undulating plateaus, and occasional mountain masses. Many of the higher relief features, such as the Lepini Mountains in Latium and the Apuan Alps in northern Tuscany, are of limestone or marble. The Apuan Alps (which, despite their name, are not part of the Alps) are noted for marble quarries. Volcanic rocks predominate in two parts of the Anti-Apennines. One volcanic area extends from Monte Amiata (5,702 feet; 1,738 meters) in southern Tuscany to the Alban Hills, about 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Rome. It is notable for its many lakes, including Bolsena, Bracciano, and Albano, that fill the craters of extinct volcanoes. The other volcanic area, which centers on Naples and is overshadowed by Vesuvius, is of proverbial fertility. A number of rivers have carved valleys, now intensively cultivated, which penetrate the Anti-Apennines and provide easy routes across the peninsula. These include the Arno, which originates northeast of Florence and empties into the Ligurian Sea; the Tiber (Tevere), famous as the main river of Rome and central Italy; and the Liri, which arises near Avezzano and enters the Tyrrhenian Sea just south of Minturno. Although these rivers are relatively small, they are important for hydroelectric power, as well as for irrigation and as a source of water for industrial and domestic purposes. The coastal plains along the Tyrrhenian shore have suffered for centuries from poor drainage caused partly by the frequent flash floods on the silt-laden rivers during the winters; they were once marshy and malarial. The Pontine Marshes south of Rome were reclaimed in the 1930's, and the Maremma, between Rome and Civitavecchia, was recolonized under the land-reform program of the 1950's.
At the southeastern flank of the Apennine arc lies the region of Apulia, which consists of four distinctive subregions. These are the limestone platform of Monte Gargano, extending into the Adriatic like a spur on the heel of the boot; the Murgian Hills, another limestone platform separated from Monte Gargano by a coastal plain known as the Tavoliere (which is a third subregion); and the low and fairly level Salentine Peninsula, which forms the extreme end of the heel of the peninsula. The Tavoliere, once used chiefly for sheep grazing, has been intensively developed for agriculture, although it is arid in summer and threatened by floods in winter. The two limestone platforms and the Salentine Peninsula are almost completely devoid of surface water, but they are nevertheless very productive areas, specializing in wines, olives, and almonds.
The second largest island belonging to Italy, Sardinia is essentially a huge block of hard crystalline rock faulted in the southwest to form a relatively large plain, the Campidano. Thin, poor soils bearing scrub oak and rough pasture cover much of the rugged plateau surfaces, whose impermeability encourages soil erosion. The Tirso River has been controlled for the irrigation of the Oristano plain on the west coast, and the waters of the Flumendosa have been diverted for the benefit of the city of Cagliari and the thirsty Campidano. In the southwest the uplifted plateau of Iglesiente is of some importance for its mineral deposits. The most important minerals found there are lead, zinc, iron, and coal.
The peninsula and Sardinia are Mediterranean,
more typically so toward the south, whereas the Alps and the Po Basin are
essentially central European in climate. Except where higher elevation
causes lower temperatures, the whole of Italy has long, warm summers. Winters
on the coasts are mild, with abundant sunshine. However, only the southern
peninsula, together with Sicily, can truly be called the land of the orange
and the olive. Inland north of Naples the winter frosts prohibit citrus
cultivation, and snow lies on the higher Apennines until May. In the Po
Basin the winters are much more severe, with frequent fogs caused by cold,
still air draining down from the Alps. The lower temperatures in the Alps,
where snowfall is heavy from October to May, are partially offset by prolonged
and intense winter sunshine.
The contrast in the average temperatures of the warmest and coldest months decreases from north to south. Average temperatures in July and January and precipitation for cities from north to south are shown in Table 1.
The annual distribution of rainfall shows marked contrasts between northern Italy and Mediterranean Italy. Northern Italy has abundant precipitation, well distributed throughout the year, but with a peak usually in the autumn. Mediterranean Italy experiences a summer dry spell, which is increasingly prolonged toward the south, especially in Sicily and Apulia. The geographical distribution of areas having the same amount of annual precipitation shows a close relationship between abundant precipitation and higher elevation. For example, the Alps and the Apennines, except in the valleys, receive 40 to 60 inches (1,000-1,520 mm) of rain a year, more than the countrywide average. Over the whole country the precipitation is caused mostly by the mixing of air masses that have different temperatures and hold varying amounts of water vapor, as they rotate around areas that have relatively low air pressure (cyclones). Rain frequently occurs in short, destructive bursts. Mediterranean Italy is at a disadvantage agriculturally, not so much because of the lower annual rainfall, but because the rainfall is unreliable and torrential. Moreover, the greatest amount of rainfall occurs in winter, when many food plants that need higher temperatures to ripen properly cannot be grown. Tree crops can tap subsoil water with their long roots, but field crops are subject to the summer dry spell.
Except in the Alps, where large stands of evergreen fir, pine, and larch still survive, little remains of the forests that once covered all of Italy. The deciduous oaks, elms, poplars, and willows of the Po Basin were long ago cut down so that the land could be cultivated, as were the drought-resistant evergreen oak woodlands of the Mediterranean coastlands. In places the evergreen oak forest struggles on in the form of a scrubland known as macchia, but on limestone soils it has widely succumbed and has been replaced by Mediterranean heathland (garigue). In the higher, wetter Apennines, however, there are still some stands of oak, chestnut, beech, and pine. Many upland areas have been reforested, particularly with drought-resistant evergreens and Australian eucalyptus.
Because Italy has been inhabited by man for so many centuries and is densely populated, few wild animals remain. There are still a few bears and wolves in the Apennines, and foxes and wild boars are also found in the wilder districts. Roe deer and red deer are mostly confined to hunting preserves. The chamois lives in the Alps but is now very rare, and the ibex is restricted to the Gran Paradiso national park. Game birds are scarce because of uncontrolled shooting. In the waters that surround Italy sardines, tuna, and anchovies are caught.