Italy, the Italian Republic, is on the boot-shaped Italian peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean in Southern Europe and also on the two largest Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Italy's northern boundaries at the Alps are with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia.
The Italian population is over 59 million, the fourth largest in the European Union and at around 196 persons per kilometre, is the fifth highest in the European Union. The highest density is in northern Italy as that one-third of the country contains almost half of the Italian population. Each area of Italy has its own rich heritage and the visitor will find much of interest for weeks in one place from the Alps in the north and the Po River, to the Amalfi coast in the south.