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TheItalian geographic region,Italian physical region orItalian region is a geographicalregion[1] ofSouthern Europe delimited to the north by themountain chains of theAlps. This subregion is composed of apeninsular and continental part and aninsular part. Located between theBalkan Peninsula and theIberian Peninsula, it protrudes into the centre of theMediterranean Sea and overlooks theAdriatic Sea, theIonian Sea, theLigurian Sea, theSardinian Channel, theSea of Corsica, theSea of Sardinia, theStrait of Sicily, and theTyrrhenian Sea.
The Italian geographic region,[2][3] in its traditional and most widely accepted extent, has an area of approximately 324,000 square kilometres (125,000 sq mi),[2] which is greater than the area of the entireItalian Republic (301,230 square kilometres (116,310 sq mi)). The region also includes territories that are sovereign parts ofCroatia,France,Slovenia, andSwitzerland, as well as the four smallsovereign states of thePrincipality of Monaco, theRepublic of Malta, theRepublic of San Marino, and theVatican City State (theHoly See).[4]
In common language, the Italian region generally refers to the Italian Peninsula. Similarly, the inhabitants of the islands use the termcontinent to designate the mainland that goes from theAlps toReggio Calabria. Geographically, Italy running in north-west to south-east direction can be divided into thecalcareous Alps, thealluvial plain, the Northern, Central and SouthernApennines andSicily.[5]
The natural limits of the Italian region, marked by the Alpinedrainage divide and the sea, are relatively clear, except at the western and eastern extremities of the Alps.
On the eastern borders, the chain of theJulian Alps and theKvarner Gulf are traditionally indicated, to whichDante Alighieri also refers. However, other proposed limits include a border along theIsonzo (formerly advocated byAustrian Empire), which would exclude the upper Isonzo valley,Trieste and Istria entirely. Other borders were listed by the historian, and exile fromCherso, Luigi Tomaz in "The border of Italy in Istria andDalmatia", among which, in theAugustan regional structure of Roman Italy, the administrative limes along theArsa River, marked the end ofVenetia et Histria.[3]
Therefore, to the east, despite the more depressed character of the orography and the scarcity of surface hydrography found in the region south of theNauporto pass nearPostumia, the continuity of the mountain bulwark is ensured by the reliefs placed between Mount Pomario andMount Nevoso, its terminal pillar, where it reaches the Kvarner Gulf and the Bay ofBuccari, immediately south-east ofFiume.[2][6] To the east, therefore, the extreme limit of Italy is generally identified in Buccari. To the south-east of the Nauporto pass and to the north-west of Mount Pomario, the traceability of the natural border is rather difficult as in this area the hydrographic watershed does not coincide with the orographic chain, which is characterized by rather small peaks.
As for the islands ofCherso andLussino, their belonging to the Italian geographical region may vary according to the sources and interpretations. In particular, they are included in the Italian geographical region as these islands are the natural continuation of Istria, being closer to the Istrian coasts than to the Dalmatian ones.[2][3]
On the contrary, to the west, the boundary is unchallenged and easily definable between the canton ofValais,Savoy,Aosta Valley andPiedmont, near the coast can be represented by that buttress of theMaritime Alps which, detaching itself from the Po-French drainage divide in correspondence withMonte Clapier, follows theAuthion Massif, which culminates inMont Bégo, and divides theRoia basin to the east from theVaro andPaglione basins to the west. The salient created by the side valley of theBevera including theMentone basin is orographically separated from everything, thus grafting the border atCapo d'Aglio where the entire Principality of Monaco is included. Due to the characteristic of being orographically separated from everything, the Menton basin can be excluded. In the latter case, the geographical limit would rejoin the current international state border at the height of Mount Buletta, corresponding with it up to the sea (this is not apriori correspondence but a simple correspondence by convergence between the geographical and political border; the latter is cited for convenience).[notes 1][notes 2][notes 3]
This solution makes it possible to bring the border of the Italian geographic region closer to the ethno-linguistic one betweenLigurian,Intemelio andOccitan languages of theNiçard dialect.[2] Another hypothesis would have it that the border, after touching the top ofMont Pelat, includes the entire basin of the Varo river with its tributaries, placingNice within the Italian region,[7] or that, albeit smaller, than from Monte Clapier divides the Roia and Paglione basins on one side from that of the Varo on the other, reaching the coast not far from the latter's mouth, south-west of Nice,[2][6] thus leaving Nice still in the geographic region of Italy (asFrancesco Petrarca already claimed in 1331).[notes 4] However, there is an opposite thesis, supported byCharles de Gaulle at the end ofWorld War II,[8] which, assigning the nature of a transalpine pass toColle di Tenda, excludes the entire Roia Valley withVentimiglia from the Italian physical region.
In a narrow sense, the continental part, delimited to the north by theAlpine watershed, to about 40% of the Italian region and is located in the north of an imaginary line that goes from the mouth of theMagra river to that of theRubicone river. Most of them are made up of thewater catchment areas of thePo,Adige,Brenta,Piave,Tagliamento andIsonzo rivers. From the continental part, however, some Alpine valleys are excluded which, although they are part of the Italian State, such as theVal di Lei tributary of theNorth Sea through theRhine river, theVal di Livigno, the Sella di Dobbiaco and the Tarvisio basin to the north-east of the Camporosso saddle, tributaries of theBlack Sea through rivers affluent of theDanube.
TheItalian Peninsula, or the Italic Peninsula or the Apennine Peninsula, is a peninsula on theEuropean continent crossed by theApennine chain and delimited by four seas: theLigurian Sea, theTyrrhenian Sea, theIonian Sea and theAdriatic Sea. Together with theIberian Peninsula and theBalkan Peninsula, they are the three peninsulas that make upSouthern Europe.
The peninsula in a narrow sense begins from the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines, starting from an imaginary line that goes from the mouth of theMagra river to that of theRubicone river, and extends to the extreme southern offshoot ofCapo Spartivento inCalabria. The peninsula has an extension of about 1.000 kilometre (0.621 mi) in a north-west / south-east direction. The closest large islands,Sicily,Sardinia, andCorsica, are not parts of it. The peninsula corresponds to about 45% of the Italian geographical region.
The island part extends over an area of about 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 sq mi) (about 18.5% of the whole Italian region), of which 58,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi) forSicily,Sardinia, andCorsica. Outside these large islands, numerous smaller islands, often grouped in archipelagos, are found along the Italian coast, mostly in theTyrrhenian Sea. The list below shows the largest islands belonging to the Italian geographical region:
| Name | Area | Sea | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sicily | 25,460 km2 (9,830 sq mi) | Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian, Ionian |  Italy |
| Sardinia | 24,090 km2 (9,300 sq mi) | Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian | Italy |
| Corsica[9][10] | 8,681 km2 (3,352 sq mi) | Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian |  France |
| Cres (Cherso)[notes 5] | 406 km2 (157 sq mi) | Adriatic |  Croatia |
| Malta | 246 km2 (95 sq mi) | Mediterranean |  Malta |
| Elba | 223 km2 (86 sq mi) | Tyrrhenian | Italy |
| Sant'Antioco | 109 km2 (42 sq mi) | Mediterranean | Italy |
| Pantelleria | 83 km2 (32 sq mi) | Mediterranean | Italy |
| Lošinj (Lussino)[notes 5] | 74 km2 (29 sq mi) | Adriatic | Croatia |
| Gozo | 64 km2 (25 sq mi) | Mediterranean | Malta |
| San Pietro | 51 km2 (20 sq mi) | Mediterranean | Italy |
The extreme points of the Italian geographical region, measured with respect to theGreenwich meridian, are:[2]
Theorthodromic distance N–S is 1,269 km.
TheItalian Republic occupies 93% of the Italian geographical region. The remaining portion (23 000 km2) is divided between several other states, some of which (in order of geographical extension:Malta,San Marino,Monaco, andVatican City) are entirely included in the political borders. Some strips ofwestern Niçard and the Alpine sector near the French border (Italian up to the1947 Peace Treaty),Corsica,Italian Switzerland, theMaltese Islands, andJulian March, Slovenian and Croatian, are also ascribed to the Italian geographical region, including the city ofFiume.[2][6]
The following countries are entirely included in the limits of the Italian geographical region:[2][6]
The following areas also fall within the borders of the Italian geographical region:[2][3]
Three alpine valleys, tributaries of theRhine andDanube, as well asLampedusa andLampione of thePelagie Islands (small islands located on the Africancontinental shelf) are parts of theItalian Republic even though they are not parts of the Italian geographical region.
The idea of Italy as a geographic region is very old. It was described with the geographical notion of peninsula as early as the 1st century BC in the oldest treatise calledGeographica (in ancient Greek: Γεωγραφικά - Gheographikà),[11] a work in 17 volumes by the Greek geographerStrabo (65/64 – 25/21 BC). In the 15th century,Guarino da Verona translated the entire work into Latin, thus contributing to its rediscovery.
In the introduction of his book, Strabo gives his definition of Italy:
Present-day Italy begins at the foot of theAlps: [I mean present-day Italy], because this name initially indicated only the ancient Ouitoulía, that is the district located between theStrait of Sicily and thegulf of Taranto andPoseidonia; but, having taken on a sort of predominance over time, this name has ended up extending to the foot of the Alps, also embracing, on the one hand, all ofLiguria up to theVaro and of course also the surroundings ofLiguria from the border with theEtruria, and, on the other side, all of Istria up toPula.[12]
— Strabo,Geographica - Book V - Chapter I: The Transpadania and the Cispadania
For several centuries, the geographical description of Strabo did not change until the publication of the first universal geography ofConrad Malte-Brun (1775–1826),Geography or description of all parts of the world.
After thefall of the Western Roman Empire, and in particular with the arrival of theLombards, Italy lost its political unity. In theCarolingian age, a newKingdom of Italy was born (in Latin,Regnum Italicum), it includes onlyNorthern Italy. Conversely, from the point of view of theByzantine Empire,Italía was predominantly coterminous withCatepanate of Italy, i.e. the Southern Italy that they controlled and that was home to a substantial Greek-speaking population. In addition, starting from the 12th century, Northern Italy itself found itself divided into a myriad of small states often in conflict with each other or victims of foreign expansionist aims.
However, in the 14th century,Dante Alighieri wrote in theDivine Comedy (L'Inferno, Canto IX, 114):
As inPola, near delCarnaro, where Italy closes and its terms wet.
— Dante Alighieri
Similarly,Francesco Petrarca wrote at the same time in his work theIl Canzoniere (s. CXLVI, 13–14):
thatfair country, the Apennines divide, and Alps and sea surround.
— Francesco Petrarca
In his memoirs written during his captivity on the island ofSaint Helena, but published only in 2010,Napoleon Bonaparte makes a description of Italy in the first chapter:[13]
Italy is surrounded by the Alps and the sea, its natural limits are determined with the same precision as if it were an island. It is located between 36° and 46° degree of latitude, 4° and 16° of longitude of Paris; it consists of three parts: the mainland, the peninsula and the islands. The first is separated from the second by the Isthmus of Parma. If from Parma, as the center, a semicircle is traced on the north side with a radius equal to the distance from Parma to the mouth of the Var or the mouth of the Isonzo (60 leagues), the development of the chain of the upper part of the Alps that separates Italy from the mainland. This semicircle forms the territory of the so-called continental part, the surface of which is 5,000 square leagues. The peninsula is a trapezoid between the mainland to the north, the Mediterranean to the west, the Adriatic to the east, the Ionian Sea to the south, the two main sides of which are 200 to 210 leagues long, and the other two sides 60 to 30 alloys; its surface is 6000 square alloys. The third part, that is the islands, that is Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, which geographically belongs more to Italy than to France, forms an area of 4000 square leagues; which brings the surface of the whole of Italy to 15,000 square alloys.Here we have considered the natural limits without entering into any political division. Thus we have not understoodSavoy, which is beyond the Alps, nor Dalmatia, nor Istria, and we have understood the part of the Italian-Swiss nurses that are below the Alps, and all the part of Tyrol that pours its waters in the Adige and under the Brenner; all this, moreover, forms few changes. On the eastern side the border mark was placed on the Isonzo, even if the natural division of the mountains would pass between Laybach and Isonzo, would include a portion of Carniola and Istria, and would unite the Adriatic to Rijeka; but at the Isonzo the mountains of the Alps are lowered and their consideration becomes less
— Napoleon Bonaparte
After the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of theabsolutist monarchical regimes, Italy remains according toMetternich's expression "a simple geographical expression" without political unity. However, a process has been set in motion that will lead to theunification of Italy.
After theproclamation of Vittorio Emanuele II King of Italy on 17 March 1861, thenew united Italy experienced the birth of theItalian nationalism and theItalian irredentism, which claimed that the natural border of Italy had to pass on the crest of the Alps based on geographical concepts. Furthermore, the environment that gravitates around theSocietà Geografica Italiana ofRome and theSocietà di Studi Geografici ofFlorence was strongly imbued with a nationalist spirit which, during the following decades, will become more and morecolonialist and militarist. This would explain, as Lucio Gambi[14] demonstrated, the enthusiastic and almost unanimous adhesion of Italian geographers tofascism a few decades later.[15]
AfterWorld War I, the notion of the Italian geographical region diminished, as the natural borders, except for some marginal territory, were mostly reached with the annexation ofTrentino-Alto Adige andJulian March, and it was on other scales that Italian nationalism and imperialism were expressed, well beyond the borders of the Italian geographical region.
After World War II, Italy lost a large part of Julian March, and Italian geography eliminated all political and nationalistic aspects to focus only on geographic ones.[16][17] Therefore, the notion of Italian geographic region, including territories that are not part of the Italian Republic, continues to be present in some Italian geographic encyclopedias,[2] such as the one published by theDe Agostini.
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