Italy occupies a Peninsula running southeast into the Mediterranean from the mainland of Europe.
Italy has many islands: the largest of them is
Sicily. Other important islands are Sardinia, Elba and Capri.
In the North, Italy shares the
Alps with
France,
Austria and
Switzerland. A major mountain chain, the
Apennines, runs down the centre of the country. Vesuvius, close to Naples, is the only active volcano on the European mainland;
Etna on Sicily is one of the world's largest volcanoes.
Rome is the capital city and among other important cities are Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, Turin and Venice.
The largest river in Italy is the
Po, which begins in the Alpine region in the west of the country and ends in an extensive delta on the Adriatic. The Tiber and the Arno are the other major rivers.
