What Are the Natural Resources of Italy?

Johannes Simon / Stringer/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Italy is an European country with a few natural resources that include the mineral resources of natural gas, petroleum, mercury, sulfur, zinc, bauxite and pyrite. Some other resources are feldspar, pumice, marble and potash. Because Italy’s terrain is mostly mountainous, its land is not suitable for farming, and only 26.41 percent of the land is considered as arable.

The main industries in Italy are tourism, clothing, machinery, chemical compounds and food processing. However, Italy imports approximately 80 percent of the raw materials and energy sources required for its manufacturing of different goods.

In terms of the exports of Italy, machinery makes up about 20.1 percent of the total exports and is the number one export, according to 2013 statistics. Vehicles are the second top exports and constitute about 7.2 percent of all exports.