Italy

Soils 

The varying climate conditions in successive eras and differences in altitude and in rock types have combined to create Italy’s wide range of soils. An extremely common soil, dark-brown podzol, is a characteristic of mountains with a lot of flint, where the rainfall is heavy, as in the Alps that are around 300 feet high. In the Apennines, brown podzolic soils predominate, supporting forests, meadows and pastures. Brown  Mediterranean soils are an attribute of the Apennines. Mediterranean soil is also appropriate for agriculture. Renzinas, typically humus-carbonates, are characteristic of limestone and magensian mountain pastures and also of the many meadows and beech forests of the Apennines. Red earth, also known as the famous terra rossa, is derived from the residue left over by limestone rocks and is not only found in the extreme south of Italy (Puglia, for example) but also in Venetia, where it is common to find it in vineyards, olive groves,  and many gardens.

Climate 

Geographically, Italy lies in the temperate zone. Because of the length of the peninsula, Italy often has many climate variations between the climates of the north, attached to the European continent, and that of the south, bordered by the Mediterranean. The Alps are a partial barrier against the mean winds blowing from the north and west. Sardinia is subject to Atlantic winds and Sicily to African winds. Basically, four main meteorological situations dominate the Italian climate: the Mediterranean winter cyclone, with a corresponding summer anticyclone; the Alpine summer whirlwind, with a frequent winter anticyclone; the Atlantic autumnal cyclone; and the Siberian autumnal cyclone. The meeting of the Atlantic and Siberian autumnal cyclones usually brings heavy  and sometimes catastrophic rainstorms in the autumn. Italy can be split into seven climatic zones. In the most northerly, the Alpine Zone, which has a continental mountain climate,  where the temperatures are lower and the rainfall is higher in the east than the west. Permanent snow line in the Julian Alps is as low as 8350 feet. In autumn and in late  winter, a hot, dry wind known as the foehn blows from Switzerland or from Austria, and in the east the cold, dry bora blows with gusts up to 125 miles per hour. Rain falls in the  summer in the higher, remote areas. Snow falls only in the winter, but can vary from 10 to 32 feet in different years. More snow falls in the foothills than in the mountains and more in the Eastern than Western Alps. Around the lakes the climate is milder, with the  temperature of Milan being 1o C. The hot, humid wind called the sirocco effects Sardinia greatly. But on the west of Sardinia, the island suffers the cold mistral blowing from the northwest.