chnical standards of southern Italy compared with the
prosperous north.

Geography Italy

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:
territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

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) de Courmayeur 4,748 m (a
secondary peak of Mont Blanc)

Natural resources:
coal, mercury, zinc, potash, marble, barite, asbestos, pumice,
fluorospar, feldspar, pyrite (sulfur), natural gas and crude oil
reserves, fish, arable land

Land use:
arable land: 26.41%
permanent crops: 9.09%
other: 64.5% (2005)

Irrigated land:
27,500 sq km (2003)

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-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile
Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol,
Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic
Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol,
Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94,
Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic