Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - italy

 or Italian Italia or Latin Italia  geographical name  1. peninsula 760 miles (1223 kilometers) long S Europe projecting into the Mediterranean between Adriatic & Tyrrhenian seas  2. country comprising the peninsula of ~, Sicily, Sardinia, & numerous other islands; a republic since 1946, formerly a kingdom capital Rome area 116,313 square miles (302,251 square kilometers), population 57,235,000