Italy is a peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea. Its most famous feature is its boot like shape, kicking the island of Sicily.
A lot of Italy is covered by mountains. The Dolomite mountains extend across northern Italy and are part of the Alps mountain range. The Apennine mountains cut down the centre of Italy stretching from north to south, dividing the east and west coasts. Italy includes the the two large islands of Sicily and Sardinia and also has two independent cities within its borders, Vatican City which is the worlds smallest country and San Marino.
Italy's geographical size is 116,000 square miles.
There are five major lakes in the Italian lake district – from west to east: Lakes Maggiore, Lugano, Como, Iseo and Garda.
Mt Vesuvius is a volcano in the Gulf of Naples that is best known for its eruption in 79 AD that led to the destruction of the Roman cities Pomeii and Herculaneum. An estimated 16,000 people died due to hydrothermal pyroclastic flows. The last eruption was in 1944 and today it is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and its tendency towards explosive eruptions. It is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world.
The area is so active because it sits near the boundary where the African plate is sliding under the Eurasian plate. The forces of these two pieces of crust coming together have also folded up part of the Earth into the Apennine Mountains that run down the centre of Italy.
A lot of Italy is covered by mountains. The Dolomite mountains extend across northern Italy and are part of the Alps mountain range. The Apennine mountains cut down the centre of Italy stretching from north to south, dividing the east and west coasts. Italy includes the the two large islands of Sicily and Sardinia and also has two independent cities within its borders, Vatican City which is the worlds smallest country and San Marino.
Italy's geographical size is 116,000 square miles.
There are five major lakes in the Italian lake district – from west to east: Lakes Maggiore, Lugano, Como, Iseo and Garda.
Mt Vesuvius is a volcano in the Gulf of Naples that is best known for its eruption in 79 AD that led to the destruction of the Roman cities Pomeii and Herculaneum. An estimated 16,000 people died due to hydrothermal pyroclastic flows. The last eruption was in 1944 and today it is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and its tendency towards explosive eruptions. It is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world.
The area is so active because it sits near the boundary where the African plate is sliding under the Eurasian plate. The forces of these two pieces of crust coming together have also folded up part of the Earth into the Apennine Mountains that run down the centre of Italy.