Insular Italy

geographic region of Italy

Insular Italy (Italian: Italia insulare or just Isole) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a NUTS1 level region.

Insular Italy
Italia insulare  (Italian)
Location of Insular Italy
CompositionSardinia Sardinia
Sicily Sicily
Area
 • Total49,801 km2 (19,228 sq mi)
Population
 • Estimate 
(2022)
6,377,044[1]

Insular Italy is defined only for statistical and for some elections and includes the two main Italian islands: Sicily and Sardinia, together with other small islands and archipelagos next to them.

Geography

change

Sicily is the largest Mediterranean island with an area of 25,832.39 km2 (9,973.94 sq mi). To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide in the north, and about 16 km (9.9 mi) wide in the southern part. Its highest point is Mount Etna (37°45′1″N 14°59′41″E / 37.75028°N 14.99472°E / 37.75028; 14.99472 (Mont Blanc)), the largest active volcano in Europe with an altitude of 4,810 metres (15,780 ft).[2] The longest river of the island is the Salso river, 144 km (89 mi) long.

Sardinia is the second largest Mediterranean island with an area of 24,100 km2 (9,300 sq mi). To the east is the Tyrrhenian Sea that separates the island from mainland Italy, and to the north is the Strait of Bonifacio that separates Sardinia from the French island of Corsica. Its highest point is Punta La Marmora (39°59′16″N 9°19′28″E / 39.98778°N 9.32444°E / 39.98778; 9.32444 (Punta la Marmora)) with an altitude of 1,834 metres (6,017 ft).[3] The longest river of the island is the Tirso river, 151 km (94 mi) long.

Regions

change

Insular Italy has 2 of the 20 regions of Italy, including 24 provinces and 1,789 comuniː

Region Capital Population[4]
(2016)
Area[5]
(km²)
Density
(inh./km²)
Provinces Comuni
Sardinia Cagliari 1,658,138 24,100.02 68.8 5 377
Sicily Palermo 5,074,261 25,832.39 196.4 9 390
Total 6,732,399 49,932.41 134.8 14 767

The comuni with more than 100,000 persons living in them areː

Comune Population[4] Province Region
Palermo 674,435 Palermo Sicily
Catania 314,555 Catania Sicily
Messina 238,439 Messina Sicily
Cagliari 154,460 Cagliari Sardinia
Sassari 127,525 Sassari Sardinia
Siracusa 122,291 Siracusa Sicily
change

References

change
  1. "Dato Istat al 31 dicembre 2022". Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  2. "Etna, Italy". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  3. "Punta la Marmora, Italy". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Statistiche demografiche ISTAT" (in Italian). Demo.istat.it. Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  5. "Regioni italiane" (in Italian). Tuttitalia.it. Retrieved 28 January 2017.