"to the east, Greece to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The coastline has a total length of and specifically marked by a mountainous landscape supplied with deep bays, numerous islands, high cliffs, rocky and sandy coasts and a unique marine life. The Ionian Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea positioned south of the Adriatic Sea, which extend from Sicily up to the Strait of Otranto between Salento and Bay of Vlorë. It is bordered by Italy in the west, Greece and Albania in the east. Though considered by ancient authors to be part of"
"Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea (, ""Iónio Pélagos"" ; ; ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by Southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and the west coast of Greece. All major islands in the sea belong to Greece. They are collectively named the Ionian Islands, the main ones being Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Lefkada, and Ithaca. There are ferry routes between Patras and Igoumenitsa, Greece, and Brindisi and Ancona, Italy, that cross the east and north of the Ionian"
"in the east: Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea (, ""Iónio Pélagos"" ; ; ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by Southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and the west coast of Greece. All major islands in the sea belong to Greece. They are collectively named the Ionian Islands, the main ones being Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Lefkada, and Ithaca. There are ferry routes between Patras and Igoumenitsa, Greece, and Brindisi and Ancona, Italy, that cross the east and north"
"() are enclaves. Including islands, Italy has a coastline of on the Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Ligurian Sea, Sea of Sardinia and Strait of Sicily. Almost 40% of the Italian territory is mountainous, with the Alps as the northern boundary and the Apennine Mountains forming the backbone of the peninsula and extending for . In between the two lies a large plain in the valley of the Po, the largest river in Italy, which flows eastward from the Cottian Alps to the Adriatic. The Po Valley is the largest plain in Italy, with , and it represents over"
"Gulf of Squillace The Gulf of Squillace (; Latin: Scylleticus Sinus or Scyllaceus Sinus; Greek: ) is a body of water, an inlet of the Ionian Sea along the Calabrian coast of Italy. The gulf, renowned for its natural beauty, is part of the Ionian Sea and makes up part of the east coast of the region of Calabria. It takes its present-day name from the coastal town of Squillace. Anciently known as Scylleticus Sinus, from the ancient coastal city of Scylletium, which Strabo mentions is situated on the east coast of Bruttium (modern Calabria), situated on the shores of"
"Isthmus of Catanzaro The Isthmus of Catanzaro (or ""Isthmus of Marcellinara"", also called ""Saddle of Catanzaro"" or ""Saddle of Marcellinara"" due to its morphology) is the narrow strip of land separating the Ionian Sea from the Tyrrhenian Sea, and is also the narrowest part of the Italian Peninsula. The Isthmus is approximately 30 kilometres long and is situated in the lowlands between the south end of the Calabrian Apennine Mountains and the northern part of the Calabrian Serre. The valley between the two mountain ranges is approximately 2 kilometres wide in its narrowest point, and it opens wide to form"
"Strait of Sicily The Strait of Sicily (also known as Sicilian Strait, Sicilian Channel, Channel of Sicily, Sicilian Narrows and Pantelleria Channel; ; ) is the strait between Sicily and Tunisia. The strait is about wide and divides the Tyrrhenian Sea and the western Mediterranean Sea, from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The maximum depth is . Deep currents in the strait flow from east to west, and the current nearer the surface travels from west to east. This unusual water flow is of interest to oceanographers. There are regular ferries between Sicily and Tunis across the Strait of Sicily. The"
"Albanian Ionian Sea Coast The Albanian Ionian Sea Coast ( — ) is a coastline of the Northeastern Ionian Sea, that encompasses the southwestern border of the Republic of Albania, stretching from the southern half of Karaburun Peninsula, across the historical region of Labëria, the city of Sarandë, the mountains of the Ceraunians and the Albanian Riviera, to the Lake of Butrint, where the Strait of Corfu separates the country from Greece. Albania is located in Southern and Southeastern Europe in the western section of the Balkan Peninsula. It borders on Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, Macedonia"
"""heel"" and the ""boot"" is the Gulf of Taranto, named after the city of Taranto, which is at an angle between the heel and the boot itself. It is an arm of the Ionian Sea. The island of Sardinia, right below the French island of Corsica, might also be included. On the eastern coast is the Adriatic Sea, leading into the rest of the Mediterranean through the Strait of Otranto (named after the largest city on the tip of the heel). On the Adriatic, south of the ""spur"" of the boot, the peninsula of Monte Gargano; on the Tyrrhenian Sea,"
"Straits of Corfu The Straits of Corfu or Corfu Channel is the narrow body of water along the coasts of Albania and Greece to the east separating these two countries from the Greek island of Corfu on the west. The channel is a passage from the Adriatic Sea on the north to the Ionian Sea that is used by shipping local to Albania and Greece to the ports of Saranda, Albania, and Igoumenitsa, Greece, and by local and tourist traffic in Albania and from the Greek mainland to Corfu, in addition to some international traffic from the Adriatic. The Corfu"
"Gulf of Trieste The Gulf of Trieste (, , , ) is a very shallow bay of the Adriatic Sea, in the extreme northern part of the Adriatic Sea. It is part of the Gulf of Venice and is shared by Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. It is closed to the south by the peninsula of Istria, the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, shared between Croatia and Slovenia. The entire Slovenian sea is part of the Gulf of Trieste. The gulf is limited by an imaginary line connecting the Punta Tagliamento on the Italian and Savudrija (""Punta Salvore"") on the"
"Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast The Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast ( — ) stretches along the Southeastern Adriatic Sea that begins from the Gulf of Drin in the north, across the port cities of Shëngjin, Durrës and Vlorë, to the Bay of Vlorë in the south, where the Albanian Riviera and Albanian Ionian Sea Coast begins. Albania is geographically positioned in Southeastern Europe within the western portion of the Balkan Peninsula. It borders on Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, Macedonia to the east, Greece to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The total length of"
"All of the peninsula lies within the territory of the Italian Republic except for the microstates of San Marino and Vatican City. Additionally, Sicily, Elba and other smaller islands, such as Palagruža (), (which belongs to Croatia) are usually considered as islands off the peninsula and in this sense geographically grouped along with it. The peninsula lies between the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west, the Ionian Sea on the south, and the Adriatic Sea on the east. The backbone of the Italian peninsula consists of the Apennine Mountains, from which it takes one of its names. Most of its coast"
"sides: the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea in the south, and the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west. Most of rivers of Italy drain either into the Adriatic Sea, such as the Po, Piave, Adige, Brenta, Tagliamento, and Reno, or into the Tyrrhenian, like the Arno, Tiber and Volturno. The waters from some border municipalities (Livigno in Lombardy, Innichen and Sexten in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol) drain into the Black Sea through the basin of the Drava, a tributary of the Danube, and the waters from the Lago di Lei in Lombardy drain into the North"
"of the Ancona–Zadar line, with the deep Middle Adriatic Pit (also called the Pomo Depression or the Jabuka Pit). The deep Palagruža Sill is south of the Middle Adriatic Pit, separating it from the deep South Adriatic Pit and the Middle Adriatic basin from the South Adriatic Basin. Further on to the south, the sea floor rises to to form the Otranto Sill at the boundary to the Ionian Sea. The South Adriatic Basin is similar in many respects to the Northern Ionian Sea, to which it is connected. Adriatic Basin The Adriatic Abyssal Plain, more commonly referred to as"
"delimited by the Alpine watershed, enclosing the Po Valley and the Venetian Plain. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula and the two Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Sardinia, in addition to many smaller islands. The sovereign states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The country's total area is , of which is land and is water. Including the islands, Italy has a coastline and border of on the Adriatic, Ionian, Tyrrhenian seas (), and borders shared with France (), Austria"
"Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; , , , , , ) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people, identified since the 6th century BCE with the Etruscans of Italy. The sea is bounded by the islands of Corsica and Sardinia (to the west), the Italian peninsula (regions of Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata, and Calabria) to the east, and the island of Sicily (to the south). The Tyrrhenian sea also includes a number of small islands like Capri, Elba and Ustica. The maximum depth of the sea is"
"the seafloor and continues onshore. This subduction is also responsible for the volcanics of southern Italy. The eastern Italian Peninsula, the coastal part of Slovenia and the Adriatic Sea are on the Adriatic/Apulian Plate. Mesozoic sedimentary rocks deposited on the plate include the limestones that form the Southern Calcareous Alps. Adriatic Plate The Adriatic/Apulian Plate is thought to still move independently of the Eurasian Plate in NNE direction with a small component of counter-clockwise rotation. The fault zone that separates the two is the Periadriatic Seam that runs through the Alps. Studies indicate that in addition to deforming, the Eurasian"
"island of Pantelleria lies in the middle of the strait. Strait of Sicily The Strait of Sicily (also known as Sicilian Strait, Sicilian Channel, Channel of Sicily, Sicilian Narrows and Pantelleria Channel; ; ) is the strait between Sicily and Tunisia. The strait is about wide and divides the Tyrrhenian Sea and the western Mediterranean Sea, from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The maximum depth is . Deep currents in the strait flow from east to west, and the current nearer the surface travels from west to east. This unusual water flow is of interest to oceanographers. There are regular ferries"
"features are: The entire Slovenian coastline is located on the Gulf of Trieste. Its length is . Towns along the coastline include (from east to west) Koper, Izola, and Piran. Gulf of Trieste The Gulf of Trieste (, , , ) is a very shallow bay of the Adriatic Sea, in the extreme northern part of the Adriatic Sea. It is part of the Gulf of Venice and is shared by Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. It is closed to the south by the peninsula of Istria, the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, shared between Croatia and Slovenia. The entire"
"the coastline is approximately , of which are taken up by white sandy beaches and the remaining by different landforms. The Adriatic Sea is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea extending all the way from the Strait of Otranto in the south up to the Po Valley in the north. The sea is apportioned into two major basins, wherein Albania is entirely located within the deepest and southernmost one. The coastline is one of the wealthiest scenery of the country in terms of biology, holding an outstanding diversity of ecosystems and biodiversity found within a precious mosaic of wetlands,"
"part. The sea receives the Arno River from the east and many other rivers that originate in the Apennines. The ports of Genoa, La Spezia, and Livorno are on its rocky coast. It reaches a maximum depth of more than northwest of Corsica. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Ligurian Sea as follows: ""On the Southwest."" A line joining Cape Corse (Cape Grosso, 9°23′E) the Northern point of Corsica to the frontier between France and Italy (7°31′E). ""On the Southeast."" A line joining Cape Corse with Tinetto Island () and thence through Tino and Palmaria Islands to"
"Istria Istria ( ; Croatian, Slovene: ""Istra""; Istriot: ""Eîstria""; ; ), formerly ""Histria"" (Latin), ""Ίστρια"" (Ancient Greek), is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Kvarner Gulf. It is shared by three countries: Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy. Croatia encapsulates most of the Istrian peninsula with its Istria County (""Regione istriana"" in italian). The geographical features of Istria include the Učka mountain ridge, which is the highest portion of the Ćićarija mountain range; the rivers Dragonja, Mirna, Pazinčica, and Raša; and the Lim bay"
"Gulf of Venice The Gulf of Venice is a gulf that borders modern-day Italy, Slovenia and Croatia, and is at the north of the Adriatic Sea between the delta of the Po river in Northern Italy and the Istria peninsula in Croatia. On average the gulf is 38 meters deep. It is the home of the popular destination island Albarella. The Tagliamento, Piave, Adige, Isonzo, Dragonja, and Brenta rivers run into it. Major cities that lie on it are Venice, Trieste, Koper, Chioggia and Pula. In antiquity the gulf was southern terminus of Amber Road. The Gulf of Venice gets"
"Giudicarie Line The Giudicarie Line is a major geologic faultzone in the Italian Alps, named for the Giudicarie valleys area. It runs from Meran in the northeast as a more or less straight line along the lower part of the Val di Sole, along the Val Rendena (upper Sarca valley) and then along the Chiese valley to the Lago d'Idro (Idro Lake). The northern part of the line is part of the Periadriatic Seam that separates the Southern Alps from the nappe stacks of the Central Alps and runs from west to east along the Alpine mountain chain. The Periadriatic"
"50° and forming the Ligurian Sea. The sea covered the hill of Turin, the Langhe, Montferrat and the Po Valley. The rotation of the Corsica-Sardinia block opposed by the African block produced a pressure that gave rise to the Apennines. 8 million years ago to the east of the Corsica-Sardinia block opened wide north-south divide that separated the Italian peninsula from Corsica and Sardinia, this gap widened to become the Tyrrhenian Sea. In the period from 7 to 5 million years ago the Mediterranean Sea was closed and remained isolated from the Atlantic Ocean. This resulted in the increase of"
"45°47' north, representing the Mediterranean's northernmost portion. The sea is geographically divided into the Northern Adriatic, Central (or Middle) Adriatic, and Southern Adriatic. The Adriatic Sea drainage basin encompasses , yielding a land–sea ratio of 1.8. The drainage basin's mean elevation is above sea level, with a mean slope of 12.1°. Major rivers discharging into the Adriatic include the Po, Soča, Krka, Neretva, Drin, Bojana, and Vjosë. In the late 19th century, Austria-Hungary established a geodetic network with an elevation benchmark using the average Adriatic Sea level at the Sartorio pier in Trieste, Italy. The benchmark was subsequently retained by"
"to the Ionian Islands Region except for Kythera, which belongs to the Attica Region. The seven islands are; from north to south: The six northern islands are off the west coast of Greece, in the Ionian Sea. The seventh island, Kythira, is off the southern tip of the Peloponnese, the southern part of the Greek mainland. Kythira is not part of the region of the Ionian Islands, as it is included in the region of Attica. In Ancient Greek the adjective ""Ionios"" () was used as an epithet for the sea between Epirus and Italy in which the Ionian Islands"
"its name from when the Venetian Republic was at the height of its power, at this time that state encompassed most of the northern Adriatic Sea. Gulf of Venice The Gulf of Venice is a gulf that borders modern-day Italy, Slovenia and Croatia, and is at the north of the Adriatic Sea between the delta of the Po river in Northern Italy and the Istria peninsula in Croatia. On average the gulf is 38 meters deep. It is the home of the popular destination island Albarella. The Tagliamento, Piave, Adige, Isonzo, Dragonja, and Brenta rivers run into it. Major cities"
"Venetian Lagoon The Venetian Lagoon (; ) is an enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea, in northern Italy, in which the city of Venice is situated. Its name in the Italian and Venetian languages, '—cognate of Latin ', ""lake""—has provided the international name for an enclosed, shallow embayment of salt water, a lagoon. The Venetian Lagoon stretches from the River Sile in the north to the Brenta in the south, with a surface area of around . It is around 8% land, including Venice itself and many smaller islands. About 11% is permanently covered by open water, or canal, as"
"Strait of Messina The Strait of Messina (), is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily (Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria (Punta Pezzo) in the south of Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north with the Ionian Sea to the south, within the central Mediterranean. At its narrowest point, between Torre Faro and Villa San Giovanni, it is wide. At the town of Messina it is wide. The strait's maximum depth is about . The strait has strong tidal currents that create a unique marine ecosystem. A natural whirlpool in the northern"
"Ligurian Sea The Ligurian Sea (; ) is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, between the Italian Riviera (Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is theorized to be named after the ancient Ligures people. The sea borders Italy as far as its border with France, and the French island of Corsica. In the east the sea borders the Tyrrhenian Sea, while in the west it borders the Mediterranean Sea proper. Genoa is the most prominent city in the area. The northwest coast is noted for its scenic beauty and favourable climate. The Gulf of Genoa is its northernmost"
"in a more or less continuous from Ortona to Rimini although phenomena ""francavillizzazione"" in course not lacking. The coastline is long 6 km approximately and is divided into a stretch of sandy beach (Le Morge) to the north, and a gravelly stretch (Green Coast) to the south; In latter-diving underwater. The sandy beach is protected by a system of breakwaters placed a short distance from the shore in order to combat erosion and storm surges, as reported in local newspapers, they have in the past destroyed the bridge of the Adriatic highway. It is for this reason that the beach"