Italian Peninsula

From Metapedia

The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula (Italian: Penisola italiana or Penisola appenninica) is one of the greatest peninsulas of Europe, spanning 1,000 km from the Alps in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south.

Nearly all of the peninsula is part of the state of Italy, apart from two small areas, San Marino and the Vatican City, which remain independent as well as a small part of southern Switzerland.

The peninsula is bordered by the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west, the Ionian Sea on the south, and the Adriatic Sea on the east. The interior part of the Apennine Peninsula consists of the Apennine Mountains, from which it takes its name, the northern part is largely plains and the coasts are lined with cliffs.

This peninsula has mainly a Mediterranean climate, though in the continental part the climate is mildly continental, and its natural vegetation includes chaparral and deciduous and mixed deciduous coniferous forests.