Going far back enough, Italy was hardly a boot at all. Just seafloor and volcanic rock engaged in a slow war—The Italian peninsula is still being born.
Fifty million years ago-Africa impacted with Europe. The collision forced the Earth's crust up—Made mountains where there was sea — The Alps rose first.
Then the pressure kept building—The boot shape emerged slowly, violently.
The Apennines mountains formed its spine running down like a broken backbone—Rock folded and fractured—Volcanoes burst through the crust. Etna, Vesuvius, they are still at it now—Still sculpting the terrain.
Sicily was not always present in the picture. It was scattered bits of ancient seafloor fragments raised by the same forces. Calabria, the boot's toe was once joined to Sardinia. Plate tectonics tore it away and turned it like a door on a hinge.
Still sliding under Italy's west coast today, is the Mediterranean seafloor. The Apennines are still rising-the volcanoes are still active. The boot is gradually but definitely shifting in form. In a few million years, it won't look like a boot anymore.
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