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The 'Italian Peninsula' or 'Apennine Peninsula' ( or ''Penisola appenninica'') is one of the greatest peninsulas of Europe, spanning 1,000 km from the Alps in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. The peninsula is well-known for its boot shape, in fact it is known as ''Lo Stivale'' (Italian for "The boot").
Nearly all of the peninsula is part of the state of Italy. Two small areas, San Marino and the Vatican City, remain independent.
The peninsula is bordered by the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west, the Ionian Sea on the south, and the Adriatic Sea on the east. The interior part of the Apennine Peninsula consists of the Apennine Mountains, from which it takes its name, the northern part is largely plains and the coasts are lined with cliffs.
One natural resource that this peninsula contains is petroleum.
This peninsula has mainly a Mediterranean climate, though in the continental part the climate is mildly continental, and its natural vegetation includes chaparral and deciduous and mixed deciduous coniferous forests.