TERRITORY OF THE STATE. - It is disputed whether territory is to be considered an essential element of the State, but for Italian positive law the affirmative answer does not appear doubtful, if one bears in mind, beyond every other argument, that an attack against the integrity of the Italian State constitutes a crime against the (international) personality of that 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, for rivers by the median line (the median line of the deepest channel, if they are navigable), for lakes by the straight line joining the points of the riparian boundary. Italian boundaries derive in part from long and contested possession (of the ancient Kingdom of Sardinia), in part from treaties (and the related internal implementing provisions) of incorporation or dismemberment.
In summary, the following belong to the territory of the State: in the first place, the mainland and the waters enclosed within it; in the second place, the "territorial sea", that is, the coastal maritime zone dominated for defense by artillery, according to a principle of international law commonly accepted, but variously interpreted (fluctuating between 3 and 12 nautical miles). Beyond that lies the "free sea", that is, open to the free navigation of all. According to Italian law (Navigation Code, art. 2), gulfs, inlets and bays whose coasts form part of the State's territory are subject to the sovereignty of the State when the distance between the extreme points of the opening of the gulf, inlet or bay does not exceed 20 nautical miles. If that distance is greater than 20 miles, the portion of the gulf, inlet or bay comprised within the straight line drawn between the two outermost points 20 nautical miles apart is subject to the sovereignty of the State. Also subject to the sovereignty of the State is the zone of sea extending 6 nautical miles along the continental and insular coasts of the same State and along the straight lines joining the extreme points indicated above. This extension is measured from the coastline marked by low tide. Nevertheless, different provisions established for specific purposes by laws or regulations or international conventions remain unaffected (e.g., transit of foreign ships, customs, health police). Also belonging to the territory of the State are the subsoil and the airspace above the mainland and the territorial sea (Code cited, art. 3). Other provisions, internal and international, concern the so-called extraterritoriality of self-propelled vehicles, aircraft and airships, civil and military.
On the nature of the State's right over its own territory, theories are disparate, since there are those who conceive such a right as objective (real) and others as subjective (a kind of right over one's own person); more generically, in the end eliding the problem or considering it nonexistent, there are those who think that it is a simple element that determines the validity of norms or a limit of extension in space of sovereignty.
Bibliography4 works
Ferruccio Pergolesi