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Italy Overview
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Mount Vesuvius at night. Photo by Regione Campania
greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (40 as of January 1, 2006). Currency: Euro. Bills are available in 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500; coins in 1, 2 Euros, and in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents. Country Code: +39 Capital: Rome, “The Eternal City” (urban population 2,705,603, city only), area code 06. Major Cities (population): Milan - 1,303,437 Turin - 900,569 Genoa - 615,686
Venice - 271,251 Florence - 365,966 Naples - 975,139 Palermo - 666,552 The Italian Peninsula is divided into 20 regions, two of which are islands (Sicily and Sardinia). Each region holds unique customs, traditions, and dialects. Five regions have a Statuto Speciale (special statute): Valle d’Aosta, TrentinoAlto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sicily and Sardinia. The top travel destinations in Italy include the three cities of Rome, Venice, and Florence, Tuscany, and the Amalfi Coast.
The Land
Entrance to an old house in Bormio. Photo by Bormio Press Office
Italy Now 2008
The Italian Peninsula is bounded by France in the northwest, Switzerland and Austria in the north, and Slovenia in the northeast. Italy juts into the Mediterranean Sea, and is surrounded by the Adriatic Sea on the east, the Ionian Sea on the west, the Tyrrhenian on the west along most of the peninsula, and the Ligurian Sea on the northwest. No other country in the world provides as much variety of landscapes as Italy does. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula’s backbone, with the Alps on its northern boundary. The Alps are divided into sections called, from west to east, the Occidentali, the Centrali, and the
Castel Sant’Angelo at night. Photo by APT Roma
Orientali, and they border with France, Austria and Switzerland. The Dolomites, which are really part of the Alps, are located in the regions of South Tyrol, Trentino and Belluno. The highest point in Italy is Mont Blanc, in the Alps, at 15,770 feet. The largest of its many northern lakes is Garda (143 sq mi; 370 sq km); the Po, its longest river at 390 miles, flows from the Alps on Italy’s western border and crosses the Lombard plain to the Adriatic Sea. Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, is the only active volcano on the European mainland, while Mount Etna, on the island of Sicily, is one of the world’s largest volcanoes. The Alpine foothills cradle the large lakes: Lake Maggiore and the lakes of Como, Iseo, and Garda. 25