TERRITORY OF THE STATE. — It is controversial whether territory should be considered an essential element of the State, but according to Italian positive law the affirmative answer seems beyond doubt, especially when one considers, among other arguments, that an attack against the integrity of Italian territory constitutes a crime against the (international) personality of the Italian State (art. 241 of the Penal Code). In the absence of conventions, it is commonly held that boundaries are marked, for mountains, by their ridge line, for rivers by the median line (the median line of the highest current if they are navigable), and for lakes by the straight line connecting the boundary points on the shore.
Italian boundaries derive partly from long and contested possession (of the ancient Kingdom of Sardinia) and partly from treaties (and related internal executive provisions) of incorporation or separation.
In summary, the following belong to the territory of the State: first, the mainland and the waters enclosed within it; second, the “territorial sea,” i.e., the coastal maritime zone dominated for defensive purposes by artillery, according to a principle of international law commonly accepted but variously interpreted (ranging between 3 and 12 nautical miles). Beyond this lies the “high seas,” open to the free navigation of all. According to Italian law (Navigation Code, art. 2), gulfs, bays, and inlets whose coasts form part of the State’s territory are subject to State sovereignty when the distance between the extreme points of the opening of the gulf, bay, or inlet does not exceed 20 nautical miles. If such distance exceeds 20 nautical miles, the portion of the gulf, bay, or inlet enclosed within the straight line drawn between the two outermost points 20 nautical miles apart is subject to State sovereignty. Also subject to State sovereignty is a belt of sea extending 6 nautical miles along the continental and insular coasts of the State and along the straight lines connecting the extreme points indicated above. This extension is measured from the coastline marked by low tide. However, different provisions established by laws, regulations, or international conventions for specific purposes (e.g., transit of foreign ships, customs, sanitary police) remain unaffected. Also belonging to the State’s territory are the subsoil and the airspace above the mainland and the territorial sea (Navigation Code, art. 3). Other internal and international provisions concern the so-called extraterritoriality of self-propelled vessels, aircraft, and aeronautical craft, whether civilian or military.
As for the nature of the State’s right over its territory, theories are varied: some conceive this right as objective (real), others as subjective (a kind of right over one’s own person); more generally, some either sidestep the issue or consider it non-existent, arguing that it is merely an element determining the validity of norms or a spatial limit of sovereignty.