Geography of Italy
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This article describes the geography of Italy.
- Location
- Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia.
- Map references
- Europe
- Area
- Land boundaries
-
- Total: 1,932.2 km
- Border countries: Austria 430 km, France 488 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.2 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 232 km and Switzerland 740 km
- See also Extreme points of Italy.
- Coastline
- 7,600 km
- Maritime claims
-
- Continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation
- Territorial sea: 12 nautical miles
- 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, 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
- Environment--current issues
- Air pollution from industrial emissions such as sulfur 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-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile 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
- Signed, but not ratified: 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