Editing Geography of Italy (section)

===Seas and coasts===
[[File:Strait of Messina from Dinnammare.jpg|thumb|View of the [[Strait of Messina]]]]
[[File:Urban-Rural Population and Land Area Estimates, v2, 2010 Northeast Italy (13873744025).jpg|thumb|Population density (''left'') and elevation above sea level (''right'') in [[Veneto]] (2010). Veneto is particularly vulnerable to rising [[sea level]].]]

The Italian peninsula overlooks the [[Mediterranean Sea]], which around it is divided into various seas.<ref name=Laghimari />

The [[Ligurian Sea]] bathes the coasts of [[Liguria]] and, according to the cartography of the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy, the northern Tuscan coasts to the south as far as the island of [[Elba]].

The [[Tyrrhenian Sea]] bathes the western coasts of the peninsula south of the island of Elba (and therefore all the regions from [[Tuscany]] to [[Calabria]]), the northern coasts of [[Sicily]] and the eastern coasts of [[Sardinia]].

The [[Adriatic Sea]] bathes the eastern coasts of the peninsula, from [[Friuli-Venezia Giulia]] to the Cape of [[Santa Maria di Leuca]], [[Apulia]].

The [[Ionian Sea]] bathes the eastern coasts of Sicily and Calabria, the coast of [[Basilicata]] and the western coasts of Apulia.

To the south of Sicily lies the [[Strait of Sicily]], while to the west of Sardinia lies the [[Sea of Sardinia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.meteoam.it/modules/theory/bollettino/maremediterraneo.jpg|access-date=14 April 2010|title=Mappa con i bacini del Mediterraneo|language=it}}</ref>

Italy has a coastline of approximately {{cvt|7900|km}},<ref name=Coste>{{cite book|first=Antonio|last=Londrillo|title=Alla scoperta della mia regione|publisher=Bulgarini|year=2004|isbn=88-234-2327-9|language=it|page=32}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cngeologi.it/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/WWF_DOSSIERCOSTE_profilofragile_2012.pdf/|title=Copia archiviata|access-date=17 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204061313/http://www.cngeologi.it/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/WWF_DOSSIERCOSTE_profilofragile_2012.pdf|url-status=dead|language=it|archive-date=4 December 2017}}</ref> with a great variety of shapes that depends both on the nature of the mainland and on the action of the sea.

The Adriatic coasts are quite straight, characterized to the north by the gulfs of [[Trieste]] and [[Venice]], in the center by the [[Monte Conero|Conero]] promontory, to the south by that of the [[Gargano]], which forms the [[Gulf of Manfredonia]]. The Adriatic coasts are low and sandy,<ref name=Laghimari /> with lagoons in the northern section. Only in the Trieste area, in correspondence with the Gargano, the Conero and the lower eastern [[Salento]] (between [[Otranto]] and [[Santa Maria di Leuca]]) do rocky sections follow one another.

The Ionian coasts are mainly low and sandy and are characterized by the wide [[Gulf of Taranto]], closed to the east by the Salento Peninsula (which divides it from the Adriatic) and to the west by the Calabrian peninsula (which divides it from the Tyrrhenian Sea).

The [[Strait of Messina]] connects the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian seas.

The Tyrrhenian coasts are very articulated, with rocky stretches alternating with sandy beaches, with numerous gulfs and headlands. Among the many gulfs include [[Naples]], [[Salerno]] and [[Gaeta]], between the peninsulas that of [[Sorrento]] and the promontories that of [[Circeo]] and that of [[Piombino]]. In the Tyrrhenian Sea, there are three important channels: between the island of Elba and the Tuscan coast the [[Strait of Piombino]], between Elba and Corsica the [[Strait of Corsica]],<ref name=Laghimari /> and between Sardinia and Corsica the [[Strait of Bonifacio]].

The Ligurian Sea, which has the [[Gulf of Genoa]] at its center, has high and rocky coasts in the [[Riviera di Levante]] and mixed coasts in the [[Riviera di Ponente]].<ref name=Laghimari />