Economic and geographical characteristics of Italy

The country, located in the center of the Mediterranean, in the south of Europe, in this article is given not only economic and geographical, but also political characteristics. Italy (the Italian Republic) with its third European economy is characterized by such a distinctive feature as the saturation with historical monuments of art, culture, architecture, and this will also be discussed. The country's area is 301 200 square kilometers, which are divided into twenty regions, which in turn are divided into ninety-five provinces. And the division does not end there: in Italy there are eight thousand provincial communes.

Land and water boundaries

In the northwest, Italy borders France for 488 kilometers, then Switzerland - 740 kilometers, and Austria occupies 430 kilometers to the north of the border, and 232 kilometers to the north-east and north of Slovenia. Inside the country, too, there are borders: with the Vatican (the city of the Pope) - three kilometers and two hundred meters and San Marino - 39 kilometers. Characteristic of Italy differs from many other countries in the amount of water resources. Eighty percent of the country's borders pass along the seas - Adriatic, Ligurian, Ionian, Mediterranean and Tyrrhenian. The coastline has an extent of 7375 kilometers. There are many rivers, the largest are Piave, Reno, Adige, Tiber, Po.

There are also many beautiful lakes in Italy - Lugano, Garda, Lago Maggiore, Bracciano, Como, Trasimeno, Bolsena. Characteristics of Italy can not do without mentioning the resort and tourist zones, of which almost the whole country consists. There are many balneological health resorts, as there are thermal springs everywhere - up to 39 degrees Celsius, and cold ones: mineral hydrocarbonate, calcium, sulfur containing with high content of chlorine, iodine, bromide salts, which for certain diseases are used both for drinking and for baths.

Geography

Characteristics of Italy from a geographical point of view begins with the location: this country occupies the whole of the Apennine peninsula and a small part of the Balkans, the islands of Sardinia, Sicily and many small ones. On this territory are located the Southern Alps and the Paduan Plain. The country's relief consists almost entirely of mountains and hills - just one-fifth of it falls on the plains.

The Alps - the longest of the European mountain systems, where Mont Blanc - the largest peak - is in the Courmayeur and Upper Savoy regions, the other part of Mont Blanc is already located in France. This famous crystal array of 4810 meters in height stretched for 50 kilometers. The highest point in Europe, except Elbrus, Dykhtau and a few more peaks of the Caucasus, where the mountains are much more than five and a half kilometers high, is a comparative characteristic. Italy in Western Europe in the height of the mountains there are no rivals. However, here from the tourist point of view, the level of obesity is much higher, an 11-kilometer tunnel for cars is laid under Mont Blanc.

Climate

Further on, the Apennines begin in Italy, they are not too high mountains, but they occupy almost the whole of Italy - a thousand kilometers from north to south along the eastern coast of the peninsula. Vegetation here is the richest: coniferous and beech forests, Mediterranean shrubs and meadows on the peaks. There are active volcanoes here: Stromboli, Vulcano, Etna, Vesuvius. A large extent determines the changes in the mountain climate: in the upper and middle regions it is warm and moderate, and, for example, in Sicily, it is clearly subtropical.

Winters are mild and wet here, and summers are hot and dry. Minus temperatures hardly ever happen, the average winter temperature is eight degrees above zero. In Sicily, a huge number of sunny days, the Riviera is characterized by the even warm weather all year round, and the Salentina peninsula is the smallest amount of precipitation (a total of 197 millimeters - the annual figure).

Nature

On the Apennine peninsula there are more than one hundred and fifty UNESCO monuments, this is more than in any other country in the world. Italy is exceptionally beautiful. Geographical characteristics are not exhausted by enumeration of mountain ranges, lakes, rivers and plains. It is very responsible for nature, only national parks have been established on the territory of about one and a half million hectares. Twenty-one - to such a small country. Five percent of the entire territory is kept in its original state and protected by the state. For example, Gran Paradiso - one of the oldest national parks - is located in the north-west, near the French border, and is considered the largest - about 700 square kilometers.

A set of landscapes is simply magnificent, as they are created by differences in altitudes from 800 to 4,5 thousand meters: here and glaciers are stern and unapproachable, and fat alpine pastures strewn with bright colors. Equally attractive are all other national parks and reserves. For example, Abruzzo annually attracts a million tourists, despite the fact that these places are reserved. Here not only the unique flora and fauna, but also the remains of ancient civilizations, necropolises, the exceptional beauty of shepherds' trails, leading to the remains of medieval fortresses. And of course, excellent ski trails attract tourists no less.

Economy

In the Mediterranean, Italy occupies the most important positions, because it is located right in the center of the main routes from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries to industrial Western Europe, the main consumer of these riches. Italy occupies a very advantageous geographical position.

The characteristics of the country are almost entirely dependent on it, since it affects the economic and political position of the country in the European Union, where it has been a member since its inception. The peculiarity of such a high place is that it is in Italy that two very important independent states have settled down - the Vatican as the seat of the head of the Christianity of the planet and San Marino, the oldest republic in Europe with the Constitution of 1600.

San marino

This is the smallest country and the proudest - reluctantly submits to the Council of Europe and in every possible way opposed the accession to the European Union. However, even Italy dictates the republic how it should live: it forbade San Marino to open gambling houses and even have its own television, money and customs.

However, Italy partially compensates these restrictions. Pilgrims, millions of visitors to the Vatican, as well as tourists, no less eager to go to San Marino for landmarks, bring much more tangible benefits to Italy - the revenues are simply enormous.

Resources

To the economic-geographical characteristics of Italy was sufficiently complete, it is necessary to designate it with all sorts of natural resources, including minerals, since a rare country can build an economy through one tourism. It should be noted that this country is provided with raw materials and energy not only unevenly, but also insufficiently. Virtually all of its deposits are small in volume, and the deposits for development are inconvenient. With its own energy, Italy satisfies itself only by 17 percent.

The lack of coal is very acute. In Kalobria, Tuscany, Umbria and Sardinia there is a stone and brown coal, but the deposits are not large. Oil is in Sicily, but also very limited, provides only two percent of the need. Comparative economic and geographical characteristics of Italy, for example, with Germany, clearly shows that the resources of the Italians are poor. With Russia, of course, the comparison will not be correct: coking coals we have 200 billion tons only in the explored deposits, the same proportions with gas, oil and any other minerals.

Wealth of the Earth

With a better gas: the Padua plain and its continuation - the shelf of the Adriatic Sea - give about 40 percent of the required. The deposits of natural gas in the Apennines and Sicily have been discovered but not yet developed, but all together not more than 46 percent of the country's demand. Iron ore is mined here for almost three thousand years, the reserves are very small, about 50 million tons have been preserved on the Elbe and Aosta, which, of course, is very, very small. A brief description of Italy in terms of resources can sound like this: there are almost no resources.

Polymetallic ore in Italy is slightly richer, besides in the ore there are zinc, lead and silver, as well as impurities and other metals. There are many mercury ore deposits in the country, cinnabar, which lies in the volcanic massif of Tuscany. There are also pyrites. In Apulia - the development of bauxites, in Sardinia - antimony ores, in Liguria - manganese. The only thing that Italy really is rich in is granites, marbles, tuffs and other building materials. The famous Carrara marble, for example, is very expensive. But it is not so much left, either. The formulation of the economic and geographical characteristics of Italy must begin with tourism. And perhaps, they finish.

Industry

Italy's GDP is divided according to its structure in the following way: two percent for agriculture, 27 for industry, and the remaining seventy-odd for services, that is tourism. More than 70 percent of mined mineral resources and more than 80 percent of energy carriers go for imports.

At the end of the twentieth century, nuclear power began to develop, but in 1988 the referendum covered it. Therefore, without electricity imports, Italy will not survive. Of all the industries most developed machine building, automotive, manufactured agricultural machinery. In the world market, Italian furniture, textiles, and ceramic tiles are valued. It's all.

Agriculture

In agriculture, a huge number of small farms (and unprofitable, especially in southern Italy) with an average area of about six hectares, which is very small even for the European Union.

Produced purely Mediterranean products - olives, wine, citrus. Crop production in agriculture occupies more than 60 percent, and livestock farming - less than forty.