Below, you see a little map overlay with the country of Italy placed under a map of the Continental US state boundaries.
Italy’s total area is 116,350 square miles or 301,340 square kilometers, the 72nd largest country in the world. Almost 40 per cent of that is mountainous territory.
The area of the US is 9,826,675 square kilometers by comparison. Thus the US is about 32.5 times the size of Italy.
By population, Italy is the 23rd largest country in the world with 61,680,122 people living within its borders.
If Italy were a US state, it would lie between New Mexico and Arizona to be the 5th largest state by area.
So if you’re planning a vacation to take in mainland Italy, it would be like taking a New Mexico vacation except that to drive from north to south would be like driving from far northern California to San Diego, a long drive of at least 13 hours if you don’t dawdle.
And the food is better in Italy.
See Also:
How Big is France Compared to the US?
For distances within Italy, see our interactive Italy Distances Map
A large, detailed map of Italy is available, too.