lan
Heights)

Illicit drugs: increasingly concerned about cocaine and heroin
abuse; drugs arrive in country from Lebanon and increasingly Jordan

======================================================================

@Italy

Italy Introduction

Background: Italy became a nation-state belatedly - in 1861 when the
city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were
united under King Victor EMMANUEL. An era of parliamentary
government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI
established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with
Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic
republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival
followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European
Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European
economic and political unification, joining the European Monetary
Union in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, the
ravages of organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, and the
low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with
the more prosperous north.

Italy Geography

Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central
Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia

Geographic coordinates: 42 50 N, 12 50 E

Map references: Europe

Area: total: 301,230 sq km

land: 294,020 sq km

water: 7,210 sq km

note: includes Sardinia and Sicily

Area - comparative: slightly larger than Arizona

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, Switzerland 740 km

Coastline: 7,600 km

Maritime claims: continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of
exploitation

territorial sea: 12 NM

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

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

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m

highest point: Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) 4,807 m

Natural resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, 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 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: regional risks include landslides, mudflows,
avalanches, earthqu