peninsula
Article
July 6, 2022
The Apennine Peninsula (Italian: Penisola appenninica; also Penisola italiana - “Italian Peninsula”) is one of the largest peninsulas in Europe, located in the south of this part of the world and washed by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The peninsula contains most of mainland Italy, as well as the Republic of San Marino, the theocratic state of the Vatican, and sometimes considered a dwarf state by the Order of Malta. The peninsula got its name from the Apennine mountains, stretching along most of it. The area of the Apennine Peninsula is 149 thousand km². Length - about 1100 km, width - from 130 to 300 km. In the north, the peninsula is bounded by the Padana Lowland, in the west it is washed by the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the east by the Adriatic Sea, in the south by the Ionian Sea. The peninsula has a distinctive heeled boot shape, making it one of the most recognizable geographical features. A feature of the Apennine Peninsula is high seismicity, modern mountain building, ancient and modern volcanic activity (Albanian mountains, Amiata, Vulsini, Vulture, Vesuvius, Phlegrean fields). Strong earthquakes are not uncommon for the Apennine Peninsula. These processes are due to the global tectonic process of the movement of lithospheric plates, when the African plate collides and moves under the Eurasian plate, on which Europe is located.