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The Po valley has hot summers but severe winters, worse in the interior than toward the eastern coast. At Turin the average winter temperature is 32.5 °F (0.3 °C) and the summer average 74 °F (23 °C). Rain falls mainly in the spring and autumn and increases with elevation. There is scant snow, and that falls only on the high plain. The temperatures along the Adriatic coast rise steadily from north to south, partly because of the descending latitude and partly because the prevailing winds are easterly in the north but southerly in the south. The average annual mean temperature rises from 56.5 °F (13.6 °C) at Venice to 61 °F (16 °C) at Ancona and 63 °F (17 °C) at Bari. There is scant rain: Ancona has an average of 25.5 inches (650 mm) and Bari 23.6 inches (600 mm). Although Venice averages just 29.5 inches (750 mm) of rain annually, even relatively minor increases in the depth of the Venitian lagoon can subject the city to catastrophic flooding.

Venice: Grand Canal floodingPeople walking on a flooded quay of the Grand Canal of Venice, Italy, 2008.Andrea Pattaro—AFP/Getty Images

In the Apennines the winters vary in severity according to the altitude. Except at specific locations, there are but moderate amounts of both rain and snow; in the cyclonic conditions of midwinter there may be sudden snowfalls in the south. The annual mean temperatures are 53.8 °F (12.1 °C) at Urbino, in the east, and 54.5 °F (12.5 °C) at Potenza, in Basilicata; the annual rainfall is, respectively, 35 inches (890 mm) and 39.6 inches (1,000 mm). Along the Tyrrhenian coast and the Ligurian rivieras in the north, both temperature and rainfall are influenced by full exposure to the noonday sun, by the nearness of the sea, with its prevailing southwesterly winds, and by the Apennine range, which protects the area from the cold north winds. The eastern riviera has more rain than the western: rainfall at La Spezia, on the eastern riviera, is 45.2 inches (1,150 mm), while at San Remo, on the western riviera, it is 26.7 inches (680 mm). Farther south, where the coastal areas extend a great distance inland and are flatter, the mean temperature and annual rainfall are 58.6 °F (14.8 °C) and 30.3 inches (770 mm) at Florence and 61.9 °F (16.6 °C) and 31.4 inches (800 mm) at Naples. As a rule, the Tyrrhenian coast is warmer and wetter than the Adriatic coast. Both Calabria and Sicily are mountainous regions that are surrounded by the Mediterranean, and they therefore have higher temperatures than the high regions of the Italian mainland farther north. Winter rains are scarce in the interior and heavier in the west and north of Sicily. At Reggio di Calabria the annual mean temperature is 64.7 °F (18.2 °C) and rainfall is 23.5 inches (595 mm); at Palermo, in Sicily, they are 64.4 °F (18 °C) and 38.2 inches (970 mm). The sirocco, a hot, very humid, and oppressive wind, blows frequently from Africa and the Middle East. In Sardinia conditions are more turbulent on the western side, and the island suffers from the cold mistral blowing from the northwest and also from the sirocco blowing from the southwest. At Sassari, in the northwest, the annual mean temperature is 62.6 °F (17 °C) and the rainfall 22.8 inches (580 mm), while at Orosei, on the east coast, the temperature is 63.5 °F (17.5 °C) and the rainfall 21.2 inches (540 mm). Plant life

The native vegetation of Italy reflects the diversity of the prevailing physical environments in the country. There are at least three zones of differing vegetation: the Alps, the Po valley, and the Mediterranean-Apennine area.

From the foot of the Alps to their highest peaks, three bands of vegetation can be distinguished. First, around the Lombard lakes, the most common trees are the evergreen cork oak, the European olive, the cypress, and the cherry laurel. Slightly higher, on the mountain plain, the beech is ubiquitous, giving place gradually to the deciduous larch and the Norway spruce. In the high-altitude zone, twisted shrubs, including rhododendron, green alder, and dwarf juniper, give way to pastureland that is covered with grasses and sedges and wildflowers such as gentian, rock jasmine, campion, sea bindweed, primrose, and saxifrage. Farther up there is curved sedge, with the dwarf willow and the lovely anthophytes. On the snow line there are innumerable mosses, lichens, and a few varieties of hardy pollinating plants, such as flags and saxifrage.

Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens).W.H. Hodge

In the Po valley almost nothing remains of the original forests; nearly all the vegetation has been planted or disposed by human activity. Poplars predominate where there is abundant water, but in the drier, more gravelly zones there are a few sedges. On the clayey upland plains, heather abounds, and there are forests of Scotch pine. There are the usual grasses beside the streams and in the bogs and water lilies and pondweed on the banks of the marshes. But the heavily predominant plants are the cultivated crops—wheat, corn (maize), potatoes, rice, and sugar beets.

In the Apennine zone along the whole peninsula, a typical tree is the holm oak, while the area closer to the sea is characterized by the olive, oleander, carob, mastic, and Aleppo pine. There is a notable development of pioneer sea grape on the coastal dunes. The Mediterranean foothill area is characterized by the cork oak and the Aleppo pine. Higher up, in southern Italy, there are still traces of the ancient mountain forest, with truffle oak, chestnut, flowering ash, Oriental oak, white poplar, and Oriental plane. There are quite extensive beech woods in Calabria (on La Sila and Aspromonte massifs) and Puglia, and the silver fir and various kinds of pines thrive in Abruzzo and Calabria. Where the forests have been destroyed in the strictly Mediterranean section of the Apennines, a scrub that is called maquis has grown up. On the island of Sardinia the destruction of the carob forests and on the Apulian Plain the decay of olive trees and shore vegetation have produced steppes of tough plants such as the various sorts of feather grass. Mountain meadowlands are found in Calabria and Basilicata, usually with vetch, bent grass, and white asphodel. The Apennine pasturelands are very much like those of the Alps. The papyrus is quite common in Sicily as a freshwater plant. Animal life

The extent of animal life in Italy has been much reduced by the long presence of human beings. In the Alps there are many animals, such as marmots, that hibernate and others that change their protective colouring according to the season, such as the ermine, the mountain partridge, and the Alpine rabbit. Larger mammals include the ibex, which is protected in Gran Paradiso National Park, the chamois in the Central Alps, and the roe deer in the eastern Alps. The lynx, the stoat, and the brown bear (protected in Adamello and Brenta) are now rare. Alpine birds include the black grouse, the golden eagle, and, more rarely, the capercaillie, or wood grouse. Among the reptiles are vipers, and among the amphibians are the Alpine salamander and Alpine newt. Species that are found in the Alps also exist in other high mountain regions, where there are, however, more foxes and wolves. In Abruzzo the brown bear may be found, and on the island of Sardinia the fallow deer, the mouflon, and the wild boar are present. Among the freshwater fishes are the brown trout, the sturgeon, and the eel. Among sea fishes, besides common species such as the red mullet and the dentex, there are, especially in southern waters, the white shark, the bluefin tuna, and the swordfish. Among invertebrates there is an abundance of red coral and commercial sponge on the rocks of the warm southern seas. In caves the greater horseshoe bat is found.