 Italy is a country in southern Europe. It comprises the boot-shaped Italian peninsula, two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea (Sicily and Sardinia) and the Po River valley. Italy shares its northern alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italian territory.
The Apennine mountains form the backbone of this peninsula, leading north-west to where they join the Alps, the mountain range that then forms an arc enclosing Italy from the north. Here is also found a large alluvial plain, the Po-Venetian plain, drained by the Po River--which is the Italy's biggest river--and its many tributaries flowing down from the Alps, Apennines and Dolomites.
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