Italy 5 Themes Of Geography Analysis

This essay outlines the five themes of Geography for Italy. The five themes are location, place, human and environment interaction, movement, and regions.

The country of Italy is located at 41.9000 degrees north and 12.4822 degrees east in southern Europe. Most of the country is surrounded by water of the Tyrrhenian, Mediterranean, and Adriatic Seas, which makes it a huge peninsula, a piece of land that is surrounded by water on three sides and not four like an island. Border countries are France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia to the north.

As for place, Italy’s climate is Mediterranean for the most part. In the North it is cold and in the South it is hot and dry. It also has a huge variety of landforms like rivers or volcanoes. The Alps and Apennines are mountain ranges that form an arch-like barrier that protects the country from foreign threats in the north. The Apennines are sometimes called the

“backbone” of Italy because of their location in the northwest and their rigid features. Volcanoes that are well known throughout the world are Mount Vesuvius and Mount Etna. Both of them are still very active. Luckily not very many people live around these volcanoes. The highest mountain in Italy is Monte Bianco, which is just about six thousand feet above sea level. Italy’s largest lake is Lake Garda, which covers about 400 kilometers. Other major lakes include Como, Iseo, and Maggiore. The Po is the longest river in Italy. It runs about 650 kilometers. Along the banks of the river, the soil is extremely fertile making the crops grown there, such as tomatoes and corn, extremely fertile too. The natural vegetation and forests in Italy were destroyed very early, due to the settlement of the Italian peninsula and the Roman high culture. Mostly pastures and vineyards replaced them. Fortunately Italian officials have preserved the rest of these forests in national parks. In these parks there are many different species of trees like the holly, pine, and cork oak. Outside of the parks, there are three different vegetation zones: Alps, Po valley, and Mediterranean area. In the Alps, types of trees include cork oak, European olive, cypress, and cherry laurel. In Po valley, species include Scotch pine, and plants called water lilies and bogs. The Mediterranean is the last zone. This one includes Holm oak, olive, oleander, carob, mastic, and Aleppo pine. It is the same story as plant life with animal life. Because of the national parks, many animals are now thriving. Carnivores in Italy are badgers, arctic wolves, brown bear, wild cat, and foxes. Sea mammals include Atlantic dolphins, killer and false killer whales, grey dolphins, and long-finned pilot whale. Bats in Italy include whiskered bat, greater mouse-eared bat, long-fingered bat, European free-tailed bat, and Brandt’s bat. Species of rabbits are brown hare, European rabbit, Arctic hare, and Sardinian pika. Finally, rodents include European snow vole, forest dormouse, crested porcupine, Eurasian harvest mouse, and yellow-necked field mouse.

Food is also an important part of place for Italy. Classic and traditional foods include regional cuisine, pasta, clams, shellfish, spaghetti, tomatoes, chili peppers, and garlic.
Also under place is religion. Italy is huge in the Christian religion. In fact, some 88 percent of the country’s people practice the Christian religion, especially Roman Catholic, though only one third of these regard themselves as “active”.
Architecture is big in Italy too. Some of the world’s most iconic buildings are in Italy. Examples of these are the Roman Coliseum, Pantheon, and the Florence Cathedral. The Roman Coliseum was built in 70 A. D., and has been the site for celebrations, many sporting events, and also bloodshed. This is one of the most iconic architecture in the entire world. It has 3.9 million visitors each and every year. The Pantheon was built in 125 A. D. over the ruins of a temple that was built in 27 A. D. It was turned into the church it is today in 607 A. D. and amazingly, the people of Rome still attend church services here. The Florence Cathedral was built in 1367 by a man named Arnolfo di Cambio. Just like the Pantheon, people still attend church here at this amazing piece of architecture.
For human and environment interaction, the population of Italy is sixty-two million, which is the fifth largest in Europe.

It also has the eighth largest economy in the world. The people grow tons of crops including citrus fruits, olive oil, and rice too. They are also the largest producer of wine in the world. This is why they have such a huge and steady economy. One example of how the environment affects humans is the houses. People build their homes with the land instead of going against it. This is because the country is so very mountainous. The city of Venice is an example of humans effecting Italy’s environment. All Venice is, is a man-made floating city. It is a cluster of Islands that had been there before but all humans did was change the look of them by building structures on them. But there are still many problems in the city like the fact that it is sinking about 2 millimeters each year. At this rate, Italy will be half way underwater by the year 2070. Fortunately, people are making efforts to save the city and they are making good efforts

too.
Italy is very hot and humid in the summertime. Sometimes, the residents of the country walk around with a parasol or an umbrella over their heads to protect them from the heat and the sun too. In addition to the heat and the humidity, the majority of Italy’s water is not very safe for human consumption. Because of this, almost all of their drinking water comes from a bottle. Other environmental issues include air pollution. This is because of all of the exhaust that comes from all the motorized vehicles. Another issue is insufficient waste disposal. This is because people dump their waste in small lakes. They do not realize that those lakes could run into rivers. This is also one of the reasons that most of the water is not safe to drink. Italian government officials are trying to stop this by inspecting lakes all over the country.
As for the movement and how the people get around in Italy, there are many different ways for people to get around besides the little scooters, also called vespas, on the tiny and narrow streets in the cities of Italy. This certainly depends on the location of course but, major cities like Rome, Naples, and also Milan offer a transportation method or system that is underground as well as above the ground. This includes subways, gondolas, and cars too. Because of its watery geographical location, it is a very common place to see boats here too. Especially in the canal river city of Venice. It could be a fisherman’s boat or a ferry but this is a very popular way to get around in Italy. The majority of Venice’s travel is done with boats called gondolas. These little boats came to be in the 1490’s. They are the oldest form of transportation in Italy and are still used today in the canals. Most of the immigrants that come to Italy move to the North. This is mostly because it is the most populated area in the entire country. Italy has also been having a major problem with illegal African immigrants coming to the country ever since 2007. This is because of how easy it is to get to the country by ship. Considering how hard it is to get on a plane, people are overlooking ships. But the path to Italy from Africa is a very treacherous one by water. It has lead to four major ship wrecks: the Malta migrant shipwreck, the Libya migrant shipwreck, the Lampedusa migrant shipwreck, and the Mediterranean migrant shipwreck, which is the most recent one. Tourists still come and look over all of this and have a great time. It’s the same with the people that live there.
There are three main regions have a huge impact on population in Italy. Northern Italy is the first and most populous region. States in this region include Aosta Valley, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont, Trentino Alto Adige, and Veneto. Central Italy is the next one. States in this region include Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche, Tuscany, and Umbria. The third, final, and least populous region is Southern Italy. States in this one include Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia, and finally Sicily. National parks in Italy play a major role in the region’s plant and animal life. The names of the national parks are Asinara, Cilento & Vallo di Diano, Cinque Terre, Gran Paradiso, and Stelvio. There are many different islands in Italy. The names of them are Favignana & the Aegadian Islands, Lipari & the Aeolian Islands, Asinara, Capri, Lampedusa & the Pelagie Islands, Ischia & the Phlegraean Islands, Ponza & the Pontine Islands, and Elba & Tuscan Islands.
In this essay, I talked about the 5 themes of geography for Italy. The 5 themes were location, place, human and environment interaction, movement, and regions.