Italy

Expansion of the territory called "Italy" from ancient Greece until Diocletian

The Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries a symbol of the Kings of Italy

Marco Polo, explorer of the 13th century, recorded his 24 years-long travels in the Book of the Marvels of the World, introducing Europeans to Central Asia and China.

The Italian states before the beginning of the Italian Wars in 1494

Leonardo da Vinci, the quintessential Renaissance man, in a self-portrait (ca. 1512, Royal Library, Turin)

Christopher Columbus leads an expedition to the New World, 1492. His voyages are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a new era in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds.

Flag of the Cispadane Republic, which was the first Italian tricolour adopted by a sovereign Italian state (1797)

Holographic copy of 1847 of Il Canto degli Italiani, the Italian national anthem since 1946

Animated map of the Italian unification from 1829 to 1871

The Victor Emmanuel II Monument in Rome, a national symbol of Italy celebrating the first king of the unified country, and resting place of the Italian Unknown Soldier since the end of World War I. It was inaugurated in 1911, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy.

The fascist dictator Benito Mussolini titled himself Duce and ruled the country from 1922 to 1943.

Areas controlled by the Italian Empire at its peak

Italian partisans in Milan during the Italian Civil War, April 1945

Alcide De Gasperi, first republican Prime Minister of Italy and one of the Founding Fathers of the European Union

The signing ceremony of the Treaty of Rome on 25 March 1957, creating the European Economic Community, forerunner of the present-day European Union

Funerals of the victims of the Bologna bombing of 2 August 1980, the deadliest attack ever perpetrated in Italy during the Years of Lead

Italian government task force to face the COVID-19 emergency

Dolphins in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Aeolian Islands

Gran Paradiso, established in 1922, is the oldest Italian national park.

The Italian wolf, the national animal of Italy

Köppen-Geiger climate classification map of Italy

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of Italy.

An Alfa Romeo 159 vehicle of the Carabinieri corps

Group photo of the G7 leaders at the 43rd G7 summit in Taormina

Heraldic coat of arms of the Italian Armed Forces

A proportional representation of Italy exports, 2019

Milan is the economic capital of Italy, and is a global financial centre and a fashion capital of the world.

The Autostrada dei Laghi ("Lakes Motorway"), the first motorway built in the world

FS' Frecciarossa 1000 high speed train, with a maximum speed of 400 km/h

Trieste, the main port of the northern Adriatic and starting point of the Transalpine Pipeline

ENI is considered one of the world's oil and gas "Supermajors".

Solar panels in Piombino. Italy is one of the world's largest producers of renewable energy.

Galileo Galilei, the father of modern science, physics and astronomy

Enrico Fermi, creator of the world's first first nuclear reactor

The Amalfi Coast is one of Italy's major tourist destinations.

Map of Italy's population density at the 2011 census

Italy is home to a large population of migrants from Eastern Europe and North Africa.

Linguistic map showing the languages spoken in Italy

Vatican City, the Holy See's sovereign territory

Bologna University, established in AD 1088, is the world's oldest academic institution.

Olive oil and vegetables are central to the Mediterranean diet.

The Last Supper (1494–1499), Leonardo da Vinci, Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

Michelangelo's David (1501–1504), Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence

The Birth of Venus (1484–1486), Sandro Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Dante shown holding a copy of the Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the mount of Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelino's fresco, 1465

Niccolò Machiavelli, founder of modern political science and ethics

Pinocchio is one of the world's most translated books and a canonical piece of children's literature.

Clockwise from top left: Thomas Aquinas, proponent of natural theology and the Father of Thomism; Giordano Bruno, one of the major scientific figures of the Western world; Cesare Beccaria, considered the Father of criminal justice and modern criminal law; and Maria Montessori, credited with the creation of the Montessori education

Statues of Pantalone and Harlequin, two stock characters from the Commedia dell'arte, in the Museo Teatrale alla Scala

Dario Fo, one of the most widely performed playwrights in modern theatre, received international acclaim for his highly improvisational style.

Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, are among the most frequently worldwide performed in the standard repertoire

Luciano Pavarotti, considered one of the finest tenors of the 20th century and the "King of the High Cs"

Giorgio Moroder, pioneer of Italo disco and electronic dance music, is known as the "Father of disco".

The Azzurri in 2012. Football is the most popular sport in Italy.

Starting in 1909, the Giro d'Italia is the Grands Tours' second oldest.

A Ferrari SF21 by Scuderia Ferrari, the most successful Formula One team

Prada shop at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan

The traditional recipe for spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce

The Frecce Tricolori, with the smoke trails representing the national colours of Italy, during the celebrations of the Festa della Repubblica

The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world.

Country that consists of a peninsula delimited by the Alps and several islands surrounding it, whose territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region.

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Switzerland

Landlocked country at the confluence of Western, Central and Southern Europe.

Founded in 44 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, Augusta Raurica (near Basel) was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is now among the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.

The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark green) to the sixteenth century (light green) and its associates (blue). In the other colours shown are the subject territories.

The Act of Mediation was Napoleon's attempt at a compromise between the Ancien Régime and a Republic.

The first Federal Palace in Bern (1857). One of the three cantons presiding over the Tagsatzung (former legislative and executive council), Bern was chosen as the permanent seat of federal legislative and executive institutions in 1848, in part because of its closeness to the French-speaking area.

Inauguration in 1882 of the Gotthard Rail Tunnel connecting the southern canton of Ticino, the longest in the world at the time

General Ulrich Wille, appointed commander-in-chief of the Swiss Army for the duration of World War I

In 2003, by granting the Swiss People's Party a second seat in the governing cabinet, the Parliament altered the coalition that had dominated Swiss politics since 1959.

Köppen–Geiger climate classification map for Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Council in 2022 with President Ignazio Cassis (bottom) standing on an abstract, reduced railway lines map and positioned at their respective political origins

The Federal Palace, seat of the Federal Assembly and the Federal Council

The Landsgemeinde is an old form of direct democracy, still in practice in two cantons.

The colour-reversed Swiss flag became the symbol of the Red Cross Movement, founded in 1863 by Henry Dunant.

A Swiss Air Force F/A-18 Hornet at Axalp Air Show

Swiss-built Mowag Eagles of the Land Forces

A proportional representation of Switzerland exports, 2019

The city of Basel (Roche Tower) is the capital of the country's pharmaceutical industry, which accounts for around 38% of Swiss exports worldwide.

The Greater Zürich area, home to 1.5 million inhabitants and 150,000 companies, is one of the most important economic centres in the world.

The University of Basel is Switzerland's oldest university (1460).

Some Swiss scientists who played a key role in their discipline (clockwise):
Leonhard Euler (mathematics)
Louis Agassiz (glaciology)
Auguste Piccard (aeronautics)
Albert Einstein (physics)

The LHC tunnel. CERN is the world's largest laboratory and also the birthplace of the World Wide Web.

Members of the European Free Trade Association (green) participate in the European Single Market and are part of the Schengen Area.

Switzerland has the tallest dams in Europe, among which the Mauvoisin Dam, in the Alps. Hydroelectricity is the most important domestic source of energy in the country.

Entrance of the new Lötschberg Base Tunnel, the third-longest railway tunnel in the world, under the old Lötschberg railway line. It was the first completed tunnel of the greater project NRLA.

Population density in Switzerland (2019)

Percentage of foreigners in Switzerland (2019)

Urbanisation in the Rhone Valley (outskirts of Sion)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was not only a writer but also an influential philosopher of the eighteenth century.

Roger Federer has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, making him among the most successful men's tennis players ever.

Fondue is melted cheese, into which bread is dipped

Switzerland is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

Vatican City

The Vatican obelisk, originally taken from Egypt by Caligula

An early interpretation of the relative locations of the circus, and the medieval and current Basilicas of St. Peter.

The Italian peninsula in 1796. The Papal States in central Italy are coloured purple.

Bands of the British army's 38th Brigade playing in front of St Peter's Basilica, June 1944

View of St. Peter's Square from the top of Michelangelo's dome

Map of Vatican City, highlighting notable buildings and the Vatican gardens

Territory of Vatican City State according to the Lateran Treaty

The Apostolic Palace (Palazzo Apostolico), the official residence of the Pope. Here, Benedict XVI is at the window marked by a maroon banner hanging from the windowsill at centre

Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State

A guard of the Vatican at his sentry box

The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets.

The Ingresso di Sant'Anna, an entrance to Vatican City from Italy

Vatican Museums' "New Wing", built by Raffaele Stern (1774–1820)

The Seal of Vatican City. Note the use of the Italian language

The Vatican Museums (Musei Vaticani) display works from the extensive collection of the Catholic Church

The shortest national railway system in the world

The Vatican's post office was established on 11 February 1929

Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (Stato della Città del Vaticano; Status Civitatis Vaticanae), is an independent city-state and enclave surrounded by Rome, Italy.

San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino (Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino), is a small country (and a European microstate) in Southern Europe enclaved by Italy.

Austria

Landlocked country in the southern part of Central Europe, situated at Eastern Alps.

Venus of Willendorf, 28,000 to 25,000 BC, at the Museum of Natural History Vienna

The Battle of Vienna in 1683 broke the advance of the Ottoman Empire into Europe.

The Congress of Vienna met in 1814–15. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.

Map of the German Confederation (1815–1836) with its 39 member states

An ethno-linguistic map of Austria-Hungary, 1910

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination sparked World War I, one of the most disastrous conflicts in human history

German-speaking provinces claimed by German-Austria in 1918: The border of the subsequent Second Republic of Austria is outlined in red.

Adolf Hitler speaking at Heldenplatz, Vienna, 1938

Austria in 1941 when it was known as the "Ostmark"

The liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp, 1945

The United Nations Office in Vienna is one of the four major UN office sites worldwide.

Austria joined the European Union in 1995 and signed the Lisbon Treaty in 2007.

The Austrian Parliament Building in Vienna

The Leopoldine Wing of Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, home to the offices of the Austrian president

The Federal Chancellery on Ballhausplatz

The European Parliament: Austria is one of the 27 EU members.

A topographic map of Austria showing cities with over 100,000 inhabitants

Köppen-Geiger climate classification map for Austria

A proportional representation of Austria exports, 2019

Austria is part of a monetary union, the eurozone (dark blue), and of the EU single market.

Children in Austria, near Au, Vorarlberg

Bilingual sign of Oberwart (in Hungarian Felsőőr) in Burgenland

The birthplaces of foreign-born naturalised residents of Austria

The Basilica of Mariazell is Austria's most popular pilgrimage site.

Stiftsgymnasium Melk is the oldest Austrian school.

The campus of the Vienna University of Economics and Business

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a well-known Austrian and American actor.

Wiener Schnitzel, a traditional Austrian dish

Innsbruck hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics, as well as the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics, the first in history.

Ski racer Franz Klammer won a gold medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.

The country is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west.

Southern Italy

Abruzzo's Gran Sasso d'Italia, the highest peak in Abruzzo

Chronological map of the main seismic events occurring in Southern Italy over the modern and contemporary age.

Greek temple of Hera, Selinunte, Sicily.

The Kingdom of Sicily at its greatest extent, during the 12th century.

Castel del Monte, built by Frederick II between 1240 and 1250 in Andria, Apulia.

Castel Nuovo, Naples: initiated by the Anjou, it was heavily altered as it served as Spanish headquarters until the 18th century.

A 19th century map of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Map of the Bourbon-led Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1853, seven years before the annexation by the House of Savoy.

A band of Southern Italian briganti ("brigands") from Basilicata, ca. 1860

Map of the Southern Italian criminal syndicates

Modern-style pizza, such as the Pizza Margherita, originated in Naples.

Sassi di Matera, the first site from Southern Italy to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993

Range of the Southern Italian dialects (Neapolitan)

Range of the Extreme Southern Italian dialects (Sicilian)

Southern Italy (Sud Italia) also known as Meridione or Mezzogiorno, is a macroregion of Italy consisting of the southern half of the Italian state.

France

Transcontinental country spanning Western Europe and overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

One of the Lascaux paintings: a horse – approximately 17,000 BC. Lascaux is famous for its "exceptionally detailed depictions of humans and animals".

Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar during the Battle of Alesia. The Gallic defeat in the Gallic Wars secured the Roman conquest of the country.

The Maison Carrée was a temple of the Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day Nîmes) and is one of the best-preserved vestiges of the Roman Empire.

With Clovis's conversion to Catholicism in 498, the Frankish monarchy, elective and secular until then, became hereditary and of divine right.

Joan of Arc led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), which paved the way for the final victory.

Metropolitan France territorial evolution from 985 to 1947

The Château de Chenonceau, nowadays part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was built in the early 16th century.

Louis XIV, the "Sun King", was the absolute monarch of France and made France the leading European power.

Ouverture des États généraux à Versailles, 5 mai 1789 by Auguste Couder

The Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 was the most emblematic event of the French Revolution.

Le Serment du Jeu de paume by Jacques-Louis David, 1791

Napoleon, Emperor of the French, built a vast empire across Europe. His conquests spread the ideals of the French Revolution across much of the continent, such as popular sovereignty, equality before the law, republicanism and administrative reorganisation while his legal reforms had a major impact worldwide. Nationalism, especially in Germany, emerged in reaction against him.

Animated map of the growth and decline of the French colonial empire

French Poilus posing with their war-torn flag in 1917, during World War I

Charles de Gaulle took an active part in many major events of the 20th century: a hero of World War I, leader of the Free French during World War II, he then became President, where he facilitated decolonisation, maintained France as a major power and overcame the revolt of May 1968.

The May 68 protests, a massive social movement, would ultimately led to many social changes, such as the right to abortion, women empowerment as well as the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

Republican marches were organised across France after the January 2015 attacks perpetrated by Islamist terrorists; they became the largest public rallies in French history.

A relief map of Metropolitan France, showing cities with over 100,000 inhabitants

Mont Blanc, the highest summit in Western Europe, marks the border with Italy.

Geological formations near Roussillon, Vaucluse

Reed bed on the Gironde estuary, the largest estuary in Western Europe

Köppen climate classification map of Metropolitan France

Marine (blue), regional (green) and national (red) parks in France (2019)

The lands making up the French Republic, shown at the same geographic scale

The National Assembly is the lower house of the French Parliament.

The basic principles that the French Republic must respect are found in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

88 states and governments are part of La Francophonie, which promotes values of democracy, multilingualism and cultural diversity. France has been a key member of this global organisation since its inception in 1970.

The European Parliament in Strasbourg, near the border with (Germany). France is a founding member of all EU institutions.

Examples of France's military. Clockwise from top left: nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle; a Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft; French Chasseurs Alpins patrolling the valleys of Kapisa province in Afghanistan; a Leclerc tank

La Défense (as seen from the Eiffel Tower) was in 2017 ranked by Ernst & Young as the leading Central business district in continental Europe, and the fourth in the world.

Composition of the French economy (GDP) in 2016 by expenditure type

Champagne is from the Champagne region in Northeast France.

The Eiffel Tower is the world's most-visited paid monument, an icon of both Paris and France.

The Château de Marqueyssac, featuring a French formal garden, is one of the Remarkable Gardens of France.

Belleville Nuclear Power Plant. France derives most of its electricity from nuclear power, the highest percentage in the world.

A TGV Duplex crossing the Cize–Bolozon viaduct. The train can reach a maximum speed of 360 km/h.

Air France is one of the biggest airlines in the world.

France is in 2020 the biggest national financial contributor to the European Space Agency, which conceived the Ariane rocket family, launched from French Guiana (Ariane 5 pictured).

The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble

Population density in France by arrondissement. The main urban areas are visible, notably the Paris (centre-north), Lille (north), Marseille (southeast) and Lyon (centre-southeast) urban areas.

Notre-Dame de Reims is the Roman Catholic cathedral where the Kings of France were crowned until 1825.

The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, a teaching hospital in Paris, is one of Europe's largest hospitals.

The École normale supérieure (ENS) in Paris, established in the end of the 18th century, produces more Nobel Prize laureates per capita than any other institution in the world.

Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People (1830) portrays the July Revolution using the stylistic views of Romanticism. Since Liberty is part of the motto "Liberté, égalité, fraternité", as the French put it, this painting has become the primary symbol of the French Republic.

The Louvre Museum, widely recognised as one of the finest art museums in the world, was in 2019 both the largest and the most-visited museum in the world.

Claude Monet, founder of the Impressionist movement

Le Penseur by Auguste Rodin (1902), Musée Rodin, Paris

Saint Louis's Sainte-Chapelle represents the French impact on religious architecture.

Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux, an example of French baroque architecture

The Capitole de Toulouse hosts Toulouse City Hall.

French literary figures. Clockwise from top left: Molière is the most played author in the Comédie-Française; Victor Hugo is one of the most important French novelist and poet; 19th-century poet, writer and translator Charles Baudelaire; 20th-century philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre

René Descartes, founder of modern Western philosophy

Serge Gainsbourg, one of the world's most influential popular musicians

Daft Punk, pioneers of the French house movement

A Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival, one of the "Big Three" film festivals alongside the Venice Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival

Louis de Funès, often called "France's favourite actor", has played over 130 roles in film and over 100 on stage.

Chanel's headquarters on Place Vendôme, Paris

The Parisian headquarters of Agence France-Presse, one of the world's oldest and leading news agencies

Le Figaro was founded in 1826; many of France's most prominent authors have written in its columns over the decades, and it is still considered a newspaper of record.

Admittance of Germaine Tillion, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Pierre Brossolette and Jean Zay at the Pantheon, a mausoleum for distinguished French people, in 2015

Sculpture of Marianne, a common national personification of the French Republic

French wines are usually made to accompany French cuisine.

Starting in 1903, the Tour de France is the oldest and most prestigious of Grands Tours, and the world's most famous cycling race.

Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic Games

Zidane was named the best European footballer of the past 50 years in a 2004 UEFA poll.

France borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Andorra, and Spain in Europe, as well as the Netherlands, Suriname, and Brazil in the Americas via its overseas territories in French Guiana and Saint Martin.

Central Italy

Central Italy (Italia centrale or just Centro) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency.

Northern Italy

Migration of the Lombards towards Northern Italy

Member cities of the first and second Lombard League.

Anti-Fascist Partisans in the streets of Bologna after the general insurrection of April 1945

The Alps in Val Maira, Province of Cuneo

Farming landscape in the Po Plain at Sant'Agata Bolognese

Alpine lakes like Lake Garda are characterised by warmer microclimates than the surrounding areas

Fog on the Secchia River near Modena. Fog is a common occurrence in the Po Plain

Languages and regional varieties in Italy

Northern Italy (Italia settentrionale, Nord Italia, Alta Italia or just Nord) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy.

Roman Kingdom

The earliest period of Roman history when the city and its territory were ruled by kings.

A map of Rome in 753 BC. Colours show topography, with green lowlands and brown highlands. The Latin names of hills are included in all caps.

Growth of the city region during the kingdom

A map of the City of the Four Regions, roughly corresponding to the city limits during the later kingdom. The division is traditionally, though probably incorrectly, attributed to Servius Tullius. The seven hills of Rome are shown in green, with Latin names.

The Capitoline Brutus, an ancient Roman bust from the Capitoline Museums is traditionally identified as a portrait of Lucius Junius Brutus

According to oral accounts, the Roman Kingdom began with the city's founding c. undefined 753 BC, with settlements around the Palatine Hill along the river Tiber in central Italy, and ended with the overthrow of the kings and the establishment of the Republic c. 509 BC.

Mediterranean Sea

Sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant.

Greek (red) and Phoenician (yellow) colonies in antiquity c. the 6th century BC

The Roman Empire at its farthest extent in AD 117

The Battle of Lepanto, 1571, ended in victory for the European Holy League against the Ottoman Turks.

The bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in support of an ultimatum to release European slaves, August 1816

Approximate extent of the Mediterranean drainage basin (dark green). Nile basin only partially shown

Map of the Mediterranean Sea from open Natural Earth data, 2020

Alexandria, the largest city on the Mediterranean

Barcelona, the second largest metropolitan area on the Mediterranean Sea (after Alexandria) and the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean

The Acropolis of Athens with the Mediterranean Sea in the background

The ancient port of Jaffa (now in Tel Aviv-Yafo), from which the biblical Jonah set sail before being swallowed by a whale

Catania, Sicily, Italy, with Mount Etna in the background

İzmir, the third metropolis of Turkey (after Istanbul and Ankara)

Africa (left, on horizon) and Europe (right), as seen from Gibraltar

View of the Saint George Bay, and snow-capped Mount Sannine from a tower in the Beirut Central District

The Port of Marseille seen from L'Estaque

Sarandë, Albania, stands on an open-sea gulf of the Ionian sea in the central Mediterranean.

The two biggest islands of the Mediterranean: Sicily and Sardinia (Italy)

A submarine karst spring, called vrulja, near Omiš; observed through several ripplings of an otherwise calm sea surface.

Messinian salinity crisis before the Zanclean flood

The thermonuclear bomb that fell into the sea recovered off Palomares, Almería, 1966

The reticulate whipray is one of the species that colonised the Eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal as part of the ongoing Lessepsian migration.

A cargo ship cruises towards the Strait of Messina

Kemer Beach in Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (Turquoise Coast). In 2019, Turkey ranked sixth in the world in terms of the number of international tourist arrivals, with 51.2 million foreign tourists visiting the country.

Coast of Alexandria, view From Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt

The beach of la Courtade in the Îles d'Hyères, France

A view of Raouché off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon

Sunset at the Deir al-Balah beach, Gaza Strip

The countries surrounding the Mediterranean in clockwise order are Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco; Malta and Cyprus are island countries in the sea.