There’s a decent chance you’ve heard of that one funky place called Italy. It’s got Rome, the Vatican is inside of it, there are these pizzas flying around. But, if you’re not well versed in basic geography, then it may help you to know which countries border Italy. Don’t worry, it’s as much a learning experience for you as it is for us.
Let’s go over the basics: Italy, the famous boot, borders four countries: to the west, you have the border with France. Right above Italy, to the north, you have Switzerland and Austria. To the east, you’ll find the last neighbour of Italy, Slovenia. The last of these is the smallest, at mere 144 miles. The French border and the Austrian borders are comparable in length, at 303 and 267 miles respectively. Finally, the border with Switzerland is pretty massive, at 460 miles in length.
Italy, however, borders 6 countries in total. Yet, there’s no more space up north for another neighbour. Croatia is just out of reach, right under Slovenia. That’s because the two remaining countries are actually inside of Italy – two independent microstate enclaves, the Vatican City and San Marino.
Italy therefore borders the Vatican, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, France and Switzerland. Across the sea, Italy also borders other countries but that’s not what we usually define as ‘bordering’.
One final thing to mention is that Italy, alongside having two enclaves, also has an exclave inside of Switzerland – the Campione d’Italia. It’s literally located slightly over half a mile away from Italy, but you still have to cross a Swiss road to get there. It’s about 2.68 square km in size and formally belongs to the Italian province of Como.
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