Italy fills the Apennine Peninsula that stretches into the Mediterranean Sea from the mainland of Europe. Italy has several islands in the surrounding seas: the greatest of them is Sicily. Other dominant islands are Sardinia, Elba and Capri.
The country has three major geographic feature: the ranges of the Alps, that run at the northern border of Italy, the Apennine Mountain chain, which occupies most of the area of the peninsula, and the Po Plain between these two, which is fed by rivers coming from the surrounding mountain ranges
Lying in the vicinity of the meeting line of tectonic plates, Italy also has some active volcano. Vesuvius, a step from Naples, is the one and only active volcano of the European mainland. Etna on the island of Sicily is one of the world's largest active volcanoes.
The main and longest river of Italy is the Po, which flows from the western Alpine region through the Po Plain eastwards, and ends in a vast delta on the Adriatic Sea. River Adige also originates in the western Alps, and empties into the Adriatic Sea, making it the second longest river in the country. The third longest river is the Tiber, which springs from the Apennines, and is the river of capital Rome.
