Italy - Location, size, and extent

Situated in southern Europe, the Italian Republic, including the major islands of Sicily (Sicilia) and Sardinia (Sardegna), covers a land area of 301,230 sq km (116,306 sq mi). Comparatively, the area occupied by Italy is slightly larger than the state of Arizona. The boot-shaped Italian mainland extends into the Mediterranean Sea with a length of 1,185 km (736 mi) SE-NW and a width of 381 km (237 mi) NE-SW . It is bordered on the N by Switzerland and Austria, on the NE by Slovenia, on the E by the Adriatic and Ionian seas, on the W by the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian seas, and on the NW by France, with a total land boundary length of 1,932 km (1,200 mi) and a coastline of 7,600 km (4,712 mi). Situated off the toe of the Italian boot, Sicily has a surface area of 25,708 sq km (9,926 sq mi). Sardinia, which is about 320 km (200 mi) NW of Sicily, covers an area of some 24,090 sq km (9,300 sq mi). Within the frontiers of Italy are the sovereign Republic of San Marino, with an area of 61.2 sq km(23.6 sq mi), and the sovereign state of Vatican City, which covers 44 hectares (108.7 acres).

The long-disputed problem of Trieste, a 518 sq km (200 sq mi) area situated at the head of the Adriatic Sea, between Italy and Yugoslavia, was resolved in 1954, when Italy assumed the administration of Zone A, the city and harbor of Trieste, and Yugoslavia of Zone B, the rural hinterlands of the Istrian Peninsula. A treaty of October 1975 made the partition permanent.

Italy's capital city, Rome, is located in the west-central part of the country.