Italian Peninsula

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.

Satellite view of the peninsula in March 2003.


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] The Italian Peninsula has the only active volcano in mainland Europe, the Vesuvius.[3]

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

Peninsular area Description
Population[4] km2 sq mi Share
 Italy 26,140,000 131,275 50,686 99.9531% Effectively the entire peninsula


European climate. The Köppen-Geiger climates map is presented by the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia and the Global Precipitation Climatology Center of the Deutscher Wetterdienst. We can see the natural borders of the mountain ranges of the Alps, Pyrenees, and Balkans.



See also


  1. De Agostini Ed., L'Enciclopedia Geografica - Vol. I - Italia, 2004, p.78
  2. Touring Club Italiano, Conosci l'Italia - Vol. I: L'Italia fisica, 1957
  4. Population includes only the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula (excluding Northern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia).