Italy, country of south-central Europe, occupying a peninsula that juts deep into the Mediterranean Sea. The capital is Rome, one of the oldest of the world’s great cities and a favorite of visitors, who go there to see its great monuments and works of art as well as to enjoy the city’s famed dolce vita, or “sweet life.” Geographically, Italy lies in the temperate zone. Because of the considerable length of the peninsula, there is a variation between the climate of the north, attached to the European continent, and that of the south, surrounded by the Mediterranean.