Which country is shaped like a boot?
Italy is the country shaped like a boot. The peninsula looks like a high-heeled boot kicking the island of Sicily, with Puglia forming the heel and Calabria the toe.
The Italian peninsula stretches about 1,000 kilometers into the Mediterranean Sea from the Alps in the north. The top of the boot connects to mainland Europe, where Italy borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The Apennine Mountains run down the boot like a spine.
Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, sits just off the toe, separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Sardinia, another large Italian island, lies to the west. The heel region, Puglia, is famous for its whitewashed towns, olive groves and cone-shaped houses called trulli.
Countries inside Italy
Two independent countries lie entirely inside Italy: Vatican City, the smallest country in the world, within Rome, and San Marino, one of the oldest republics in the world, in the northeast. Italy's capital, Rome, sits about halfway down the western side of the boot.
Did You Know?
Italians often call their country lo Stivale, meaning the Boot.