Tuscany, Italy: landscapeAn aerial view of the landscape of Tuscany, Italy.Geoff Tompkinson/GTImage.com (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Coastal areas
The seacoasts are quite varied. Along the two Ligurian rivieras, on either side of Genoa, the coast alternates in rapid succession between high, rocky zones and level gravel. From Tuscany to Campania there are long, sandy, crescent beaches and abundant dunes, which are separated by rocky eminences. The coast of Calabria is high and rocky, though sometimes broken by short beaches. The coast of Puglia is level—as is, indeed, most of the Adriatic coast of Italy—although it is dominated by terraced gradients. The majestic delta of the Po River, extending from Rimini to Monfalcone, is riddled with the lagoons that are familiar to visitors to Venice. The Carso, the limestone coastal region between Trieste and Istria, is rocky.
Amalfi, ItalyAmalfi, Italy.© Boris Stroujko/Fotolia
Drainage
Rivers
Po RiverPo River.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Italian rivers are comparatively short; the longest, the Po, is merely 400 miles (645 km) long. While three major rivers flow into the Ionian Sea, in Puglia only two rivers flow to the Adriatic. Along the Adriatic coast a good number run parallel like the teeth of a comb down from the Apennines through Molise, Abruzzo, and Marche regions. The rivers that flow into the Tyrrhenian Sea are longer and more complex and carry greater quantities of water. These include the Volturno, in Campania; the Roman Tiber; and the Arno, which flows through Florence and Pisa. The rivers of the Ligurian rivieras are mainly short and swift-flowing; a few are important simply because cities, such as Genoa, or beach resorts, such as Rapallo, are built on their deltas. But the prince of Italian rivers is the Po. Rising in the Mount Viso area, it runs across the Lombardy Plain, through various important cities such as Turin (Torino) and Cremona, and is steadily enlarged by the numerous tributaries, especially on its left bank. The Po debouches south of Venice, forming a large delta. In Veneto there are also rivers that are not tributaries of the Po. One of these is the Adige, the second longest river in Italy, which flows 254 miles (409 km), passing through Verona and debouching near Adria, south of Venice. The rivers in the south have imposing floods during winter storms, and those that run through zones of impermeable rock may become dangerous; yet during the summer many of these rivers are completely dry. The rivers of the centre and north are dry in the winter because their headwaters are frozen, but they become full in the spring from melting snow and in the autumn from rainfall.
Lakes
There are about 1,500 lakes in Italy. The most common type is the small, elevated Alpine lake formed by Quaternary glacial excavation during the last 25,000 years. These are of major importance for hydroelectric schemes. Other lakes, such as Bolsena and Albano, in Lazio, occupy the craters of extinct volcanoes. There are also coastal lagoons, such as Lakes Lesina and Varano, in Puglia, and lakes resulting from prehistoric faulting, such as Lake Alleghe, near Belluno. The best-known, largest, and most important of the Italian lakes, however, are those cut into valleys of the Alpine foothills by Quaternary glaciers. These, listed in order of size, are Lakes Garda, Maggiore, Como, Iseo, and Lugano. They have a semi-Mediterranean climate and are surrounded by groves of olive and citrus trees. Italy also has considerable areas in which, as a result of porous rock, the water systems run underground, forming subterranean streams, sinkholes, and lakes. These are often associated with caves, the most famous of which are those of Castellana, in Puglia.
Soils
Carnian StageAlluvial plain red clays of the Travenanzes formation, which dates to the Carnian Stage of the Triassic Period, in the Dolomites, northern Italy.Kaapitone
Cambisol soil profile from Italy, showing a characteristic lack of horizon development or accumulation of humus, clay, or minerals.© ISRIC, www.isric.nlVarying climatic conditions in successive eras and differences in altitude and in types of rock have combined to produce in Italy a wide range of soils. Very common is dark brown podzol, typical in mountains with a lot of flint, where the rainfall is heavy, as in the Alps above about 300 ft (90 m). In the Apennines, brown podzolic soils predominate, supporting forests and meadows and pastures. Brown Mediterranean soils also are characteristic of the Apennines and are suitable for agriculture. Rendzinas, typically humus-carbonate, are characteristic of limestone and magnesium limestone mountain pastures and of many meadows and beech forests of the Apennines. Red earth—the famous terra rossa, derived from the residue of limestone rocks—is found mainly in the extreme south, especially in Puglia and southeastern Sicily, where it is the usual soil in vineyards, olive groves, and gardens. Sparse rocky earth, clays, dune sands, and gravel are found in the high mountains, in some volcanic zones, and in gullies in the sub-Apennines. There is also a red loam, or ferretto, composed of ferrous (iron) clay.
Climate
Geographically, Italy lies in the temperate zone. Because of the considerable length of the peninsula, there is a variation between the climate of the north, attached to the European continent, and that of the south, surrounded by the Mediterranean. The Alps are a partial barrier against westerly and northerly winds, while both the Apennines and the great plain of northern Italy produce special climatic variations. Sardinia is subject to Atlantic winds and Sicily to African winds. In general, four meteorological situations dominate the Italian climate: the Mediterranean winter cyclone, with a corresponding summer anticyclone; the Alpine summer cyclone, with a consequent winter anticyclone; the Atlantic autumnal cyclone; and the eastern Siberian autumnal anticyclone. The meeting of the two last-mentioned air masses brings heavy and sometimes disastrous rains in the autumn.
Italy can be divided into seven main climatic zones. The most northerly, the Alpine zone, has a continental mountain climate, with temperatures lower and rainfall higher in the east than in the west. At Bardonecchia, in the west, the average temperature is 45.3 °F (7.4 °C), and the average annual rainfall is 26 inches (660 mm); at Cortina d’Ampezzo, in the east, the figures are 43.9 °F (6.6 °C) and 41.5 inches (1,055 mm). In the Valle d’Aosta, in the west, the permanent snow line is at 10,200 ft (3,110 m), but in the Julian Alps it is as low as 8,350 ft (2,545 m). In autumn and in late winter the hot, dry wind that is known as the foehn blows from Switzerland or Austria, and in the east the cold, dry bora blows with gusts up to 125 miles (200 km) per hour. Rain falls in the summer in the higher and more remote areas and in the spring and autumn at the periphery. Snow falls only in the winter; the snowfall varies from about 10 to 33 ft (3 to 10 m) in different years and in relation to altitude or proximity to the sea. More snow falls in the foothills than in the mountains and more in the Eastern than in the Western Alps. Around the lakes the climate is milder, the average temperature in January at Milan being 34 °F (1 °C), while at Salò, on Lake Garda, it is 39 °F (4 °C).