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Latium (Lazio) is a region in Central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian side of the peninsula, except for a small strip on the Adriatic side. Lying to the west on the Tyrrhenian Sea, this region borders to the north with Tuscany, with Umbria and for a short stretch with the Marches. To the east Latium borders with Abruzzo and briefly with Molise and with Campania to the south; within its present limits it has not, however, geographical unity.

History. The morphology of Latium is very complex but four main sub-regions can be defined: the Tyrrhenian coast, the inland plains, the mountains of the Latium Pre-Apennines and a true Apennine area. The coast is mainly low and uniform, broken only by the spurs of Linaro point, Mount Circeo (541 m.) and the Gaeta headland: the Ponzian Islands, which are part of Latium, lie opposite the south coast.

Behind the coastal strip, to the north lie: the Latium Maremma (the continuation of the Tuscan), interrupted at Civitavecchia by the Monti della Tolfa (616 m.), in the centre by the Campagna di Roma and to the south by Agro Pontino. This area, once swampy and unhealthy, was reclaimed over the centuries (though work was finished only in the 1930s) for repopulation and agricultural exploitation. The Latium Pre-Apennines, marked by the Tiber valley and the Liri with the Sacco tributary, includes on the right of the Tiber, three groups of mountains of volcanic origin: the Volsini, Cimini and Sabatini, whose principal craters are occupied by the Bolsena, Vico and Bracciano lakes. Other mountain groups south of the Tiber also form part of the Preapennines: the Albani (or Latium) Hills, also of volcanic origin, and the calcareous Lepini, Ausoni and Aurunci Hills. The Latium Apennines are part of the Abruzzi Apennines: the Reatini mountains with Terminillo (2,213 m.), Mounts Sabini, Prenestini, Simbruini and Ernici which continue east of the Liri into the Mainarde.

The major river is the Tiber; its course, initially southeast in a valley lying longitudinally to the Apennines, deviates south-west across the Campagna di Roma. Various rivers are its tributaries: the Velino, Salto and Turano (through the Nera) and the Aniene. The courses of the Sacco and Liri are similar to that of the Tiber. Other smaller rivers such as the Fiora, Marta and Arrone flow directly into the sea and are relatively short. All the rivers in the region empty into the Tyrrhenian Sea except for the Tronto which crosses the Amatrice dip and flows into the Adriatic. Apart from the lakes already mentioned, others are Albano and Nemi, lying in the craters of two extinct volcanos in the Albani Hills.

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