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Italy – General information

President: Giorgio Napolitano (2006)
Prime Minister: Silvio Berlusconi (2008)
Land area: 113,521 sq mi (294,019 sq km);
Total area: 116,305 sq mi (301,230 sq km)
Population (2010 est.): 58,090,681 (growth rate: -0.07%);
Birth rate: 8.0/1000;
Infant mortality rate: 5.4/1000;
Life expectancy: 80.3;
Density per sq km: 197
Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Rome, 3,550,900 (metro. area), 2,455,600 (city proper)

Geography

Italy, slightly larger than Arizona, is a long peninsula shaped like a boot, surrounded in the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and in the east by the Adriatic. It is bounded by France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia to the north. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone; the Alps form its northern boundary. The largest of its many northern lakes is Garda (143 sq mi; 370 sq km); the Po, its principal river, flows from the Alps on Italy's western border and crosses the Lombard plain to the Adriatic Sea. Several islands form part of Italy; the largest are Sicily (9,926 sq mi; 25,708 sq km) and Sardinia (9,301 sq mi; 24,090 sq km).