Italy has nearly 7500 km of coastline: the beautiful Italian coastal territory with its precious heritage and natural environment is distinguished by its clean waters, beaches and environmental protection as a top destination for tourism.
The Italian coasts are characterized by several different types of beaches and tourist resorts fit the topography of the area to ensure the most complete and satisfactory tourism offer together with excellent transport services and favourable average temperatures. The Ligurian coast is a wide arc with the city of Genoa in the middle. In the west coast it is called Riviera di Ponente, while in the east it takes the name of Riviera di Levante.
The Alps and the Apennines stretch up to touch the water and this makes the Ligurian coast rocky and jagged, full of coves and deep water suitable for the creation of marinas. The Tyrrhenian coast is mostly low and sandy, stretching from Tuscany to Campania. To the south of the Cilento up to the Strait of Messina, the coastline of Calabria initially appears to be jagged, to become straight later . The Ionian coast becomes rough in the Sila and then became uniform in Basilicata and Puglia which are rich in natural bays that have hosted the Greek colonies. The Adriatic coast, moving north from Puglia, is uniform and rectilinear, interrupted only by the spur of Monte Gargano and the promontory of Conero.
In the remaining sections, the coastline consists of a large sandy area suitable for mass tourism, and especially for families with children. But Italy also has two islands, two real paradises for lovers of the sea: the coast of Sicily has mostly mountainous and rugged tracts in north and east, whereas on the southern the coasts are slower . Sardinia coasts are indented in the north, high and almost straight in the east, rocky in the west and plain in the south.