ITALY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND IN EUROPE

Geographical Position
Italy is situated on the southern border of Europe and her peninsula, with surrounding islands, reaches almost to the coast of Africa. Just because of this geographical position, Italy has direct contact with the main ethnic and cultural areas of the Old World (neo-Latin, Germanic and Slav-Balkan) as well as, through the North Africa countries, with the world of Arab-Islamic civilization.

Italy lies between the northern latitudes of 47º05'29'' (m 2,837 from the Testa Gemella Occidentale/Westl. Zwillingsköpfe in the Aurine Alps on the Austrian border) and 35º39'26'' (Punta Pesce Spada on the island of Lampedusa to the south of Sicily), and the eastern longitudes from Greenwich of 6º37'32'' (m 3,178 from the minor peak north of the Rocca Bernauda in the northern Cottian Alps, upper Val di Susa, on the French border) and 18º31'13'' (Capo d'Otranto on the Salentina Peninsula).

The territory of the Italian Republic covers 301,278 sq km (including the enclave of Campione in Switzerland and the states of the Republic of San Marino and of the Vatican City, measuring together 61 sq km). This is equal to a 35th part of Europe and slightly more than a five-hundredth of all the world's landmass. In Europe, excluding the Soviet Union, Italy's territorial extent is considerably smaller than that of France, Spain and Sweden, while only being slightly less than that of Finland, Norway and Poland.

Consequently, while remaining firmly anchored in the world of western or European civilization, which was the direct heir of the Graeco-Roman culture that developed and flourished on this very peninsula for over a millennium, Italy seems to stretch out naturally towards the opposite shore of the Mediterranean, practically dividing its western and eastern basins. Thus Italy can be considered the most logical link between Europe and the peoples of Africa and Asia, bordering as they do on the same sea and sharing over many centuries both historical events and cultural influences.