Italian Peninsula

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"Lo Stivale" redirects here. For the Canadian newspaper, see Lo Stivale (newspaper).

Coordinates: 42°00′N 14°00′E

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Satellite view of the peninsula in March 2003.

The Italian Peninsula, also known as the Italic Peninsula or the Apennine Peninsula, is a
peninsula extending from the southern Alps in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the
south. It is nicknamed lo Stivale (the Boot). Three smaller peninsulas contribute to this
characteristic shape, namely Calabria (the "toe"), Salento (the "heel") and Gargano (the "spur").
The backbone of the Italian Peninsula consists of the Apennine Mountains, from which it takes
one of its names. The peninsula comprises much of Italy, and also includes the microstates of
San Marino and Vatican City and the extraterritorial sovereign territory of the Sovereign Military
Order of Malta.

Contents
 1 Characteristics
o 1.1 Minimum extent
 o 1.2 Climate
 2 See also
 3 References
 4 External links

Characteristics
Minimum extent

Minimum extent of the Italian Peninsula in dark green.

In general discourse, "Italy" and "Italian peninsula" are often used as synonymous terms.
However, the Po Valley may be excluded from the Italian peninsula. In this sense, the Italian
peninsula includes only about 44% of Italy's total area. On the other hand, Sicily and other
smaller islands off the peninsula may be geographically grouped along with it.

Geographically, the minimum extent of the Italian Peninsula consists of the land south of a line
extending from the Magra to the Rubicon rivers, north of the Tuscan–Emilian Apennines. It
excludes the Po Valley and the southern slopes of the Alps.[1][2]

All of these territories lie within the Italian Republic except for the microstates of San Marino
and Vatican City:

Country/ Peninsular area Description

Territory Population [3]
km 2
sq mi Share
 Italy 26,140,000 131,275 50,686 99.9531% Effectively the entire peninsula
A central-eastern enclave of peninsular
 San Marino 31,887 61.2 23.6 0.0466%
Italy
  Vatican
829 0.44 0.17 0.0003% An enclave of Rome, Italy
City

Climate

The peninsula lies between the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west, the Ionian Sea on the south, and the
Adriatic Sea on the east.
The peninsula has mainly a Mediterranean climate, though in the mountainous parts the climate
is much cooler. Its natural vegetation includes macchia along the coasts and deciduous and
mixed deciduous coniferous forests in the interior.

See also
 Apennine Mountains
 History of Italy
 Roman Republic
 Roman Italy
 Insular Italy

References
1.

 De Agostini Ed., L'Enciclopedia Geografica - Vol. I - Italia, 2004, p.78

  Touring Club Italiano, Conosci l'Italia - Vol. I: L'Italia fisica, 1957

1.  Population includes only the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula (excluding

Northern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia).

External links
 Media related to Italian Peninsula at Wikimedia Commons


 v
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Italy articles

 v
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Earth's primary regions and subregions

Categories:

 Peninsulas of Europe
 Geography of Southern Europe
  Regions of Europe
 Metropolitan or continental parts of states

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 This page was last edited on 31 March 2020, at 22:27 (UTC).

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