CENTRAL ITALY
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By Dion Protani
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Latest update: 30 January 2024
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The definition of Central Italy comes despite there being a tendency to split the country merely between Northern Italy and Southern Italy. It can though, be more useful to divide Italy into four distinct areas when outlining the characteristics of each one.
Therefore we can explore the country in terms of the north, the centre, the south and the two Island Regions of Sicily and Sardinia which often get lumped in with Southern Italy despite being detached from the mainland. The area of Central Italy can be defined as the six regions of Tuscany, Lazio, Marche, Abruzzo, Umbria and Molise. |
Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park
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Of the six central regions, Tuscany covers the largest geographical territory with 22,985 km² but it's Lazio that leads the way in terms of population with many of its six million or so inhabitants living within its capital of Rome which is also of course the capital of Italy.
Covering a similar amount of territory to each other are the regions of Marche which lies to the east of Tuscany and faces out on to the Adriatic Coast, and Abruzzo which has its own stretch of the same littoral to the south of Marche and a hinterland that's slightly more rugged than that of its northern counterpart which is characterised more by its undulating vineyard landscapes.
The smallest regions of central Italy are Umbria which is the only one of the six to be completely landlocked; it does though have the large expanse of Lake Trasimeno within its environs. The final region, Molise, was once part of a larger region called The Abruzzi along with the modern-day Abruzzo. Molise has a small stretch of coastline on the Adriatic Coast and a varied hinterland of forest and open plains.
Covering a similar amount of territory to each other are the regions of Marche which lies to the east of Tuscany and faces out on to the Adriatic Coast, and Abruzzo which has its own stretch of the same littoral to the south of Marche and a hinterland that's slightly more rugged than that of its northern counterpart which is characterised more by its undulating vineyard landscapes.
The smallest regions of central Italy are Umbria which is the only one of the six to be completely landlocked; it does though have the large expanse of Lake Trasimeno within its environs. The final region, Molise, was once part of a larger region called The Abruzzi along with the modern-day Abruzzo. Molise has a small stretch of coastline on the Adriatic Coast and a varied hinterland of forest and open plains.
