Italian Peninsula

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

Satellite view of the peninsula in March 2003.

The Italian Peninsula, also known as Italic Peninsula or 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.

Characteristics

Minimum extent

Minimum extent of the Italian Peninsula in dark green.

In general discourse, "Italy" and "Italian peninsula" are often used as synonimous terms. However, the Po Valley may be excluded from the Itallian 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.

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

Country/ Territory	Peninsular area				Description
	Population	km2	sq mi	Share
Italy	26,140,000	131,275	50,686	99.9531%	Effectively the entire peninsula
San Marino	31,887	61.2	23.6	0.0466%	A central-eastern enclave of peninsular Italy
Vatican City	829	0.44	0.17	0.0003%	An enclave of Rome, Italy

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

External links

• Media related to Italian Peninsula at Wikimedia Commons