The geography of Italy includes the description of all the physical geographical elements of Italy. Italy, whose territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region, is located in southern Europe and comprises the long, boot-shaped Italian Peninsula crossed by the Apennines, the southern side of Alps, the large plain of the Po Valley and some islands including Sicily and Sardinia. Italy is part of the Northern Hemisphere. Two of the Pelagie Islands are located on the African continent.
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy.
The fin whale, also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of cetacean on Earth after the blue whale. The largest reportedly grow to 27.3 m (89.6 ft) long with a maximum confirmed length of 25.9 m (85 ft), a maximum recorded weight of nearly 74 tonnes, and a maximum estimated weight of around 114 tonnes. American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews called the fin whale "the greyhound of the sea ... for its beautiful, slender body is built like a racing yacht and the animal can surpass the speed of the fastest ocean steamship."
Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 km (19 mi) from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately 10 km (6 mi) east to west and 7 km (4 mi) north to south and has about 34 km (21 mi) of coastline and a surface area of 46.3 km2 (17.9 sq mi). It is almost entirely mountainous; the highest peak is Mount Epomeo, at 788 m (2,585 ft). The island is very densely populated, with 62,000 residents.
The volcanism of Italy is due chiefly to the presence, a short distance to the south, of the boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate. Italy is a volcanically active country, containing the only active volcanoes in mainland Europe. The lava erupted by Italy's volcanoes is thought to result from the subduction and melting of one plate below another.
The Sorrento Peninsula or Sorrentine Peninsula is a peninsula located in southern Italy which separates the Gulf of Naples to the north from the Gulf of Salerno to the south.
The Gulf of Naples, also called the Bay of Naples, is a roughly 15-kilometer-wide (9.3 mi) gulf located along the south-western coast of Italy. It opens to the west into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered on the north by the cities of Naples and Pozzuoli, on the east by Mount Vesuvius, and on the south by the Sorrento Peninsula and the main town of the peninsula, Sorrento. The Peninsula separates the Gulf of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno, which includes the Amalfi Coast.
The Province of Naples was a province in the Campania region of southern Italy.
The Gulf of Salerno is a gulf of the Tyrrhenian Sea in the coast of the province of Salerno in south-western Italy.
Citara is a beach located in Forio d'Ischia, in the Ischia island of Italy, near Punta Imperatore and the village of Panza. Its name comes from Romans who consecrated the site to Venus Citarea, whose statue made of white marble was found in the area. An old legend has it that the rocks, which can be seen from the beach, were in origin sailors transformed into stones as a punishment for passing through. The reference is from Odysseus, in which it is told that “Feaci” provided Ulysses with a boat to get home, so the goddess Venus punished them for helping him. On Citara Beach the Poseidon Thermal Garden is provided with a series of sea and thermal water swimming pools. It is known for its sun catching position and limpid sea. Spring water gushes into the sea.
The Gulf of Gaeta is a body of water on the west coast of Italy and part of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is bounded by Cape Circeo in the north, Ischia and the Gulf of Naples in the south, and the Pontine Islands in the west.
The Phlegraean Islands are an archipelago in the Gulf of Naples and the Campania region of southern Italy.
Ischia is a town and comune on Ischia island in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The Campanian Archipelago, also called Neapolitan Archipelago, is an archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea, in southwestern Italy. It principally comprises 5 islands: Capri, Ischia, Nisida, Procida, and Vivara. Most of the archipelago belongs to the Metropolitan City of Naples.
The Diocese of Ischia is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Campania, southern Italy. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Naples. The diocese comprises the entire island of Ischia, which contains seven communes divided into two circumscriptions. In 1743, the population was about 4,000. The city of Ischia constituted one single parish, with two religious houses of men and one of women. In 2018, the population of the town of Ischia was 20,118.
The Diocese of Pozzuoli is a Roman Catholic bishopric in Campania, southern Italy. It is a suffragan of the Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naples, like its other neighboring dioceses, Aversa and Ischia.
The Monti Lattari are a mountain range in Campania, southern Italy, which constitutes the backbone of the Sorrentine peninsula and of the Amalfi Coast.
Parco Virgiliano is a scenic park located on the hill of Posillipo, Naples, Italy. The Park serves as a green oasis, built on the tufa stone typical to the coast of Posillipo.
Capo Miseno Lighthouse is an active lighthouse located at the end of the promontory, with the same name, that marks the north-western limit of the Gulf of Naples as well as the Gulf of Pozzuoli toward the Tyrrhenian Sea in the province of Naples.
Punta Imperatore Lighthouse is an active lighthouse located atop an impressive overhanging promontory in the westernmost point of Ischia, Campania on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The lighthouse serves Naples as sighting approach.
