Wildlife in Italy | Types of Italian Animals

Below you’ll find a complete list of Italian animals with pictures. We currently track 138 animals in Italy and add more daily!

National Animal of Italy: Italian Wolf
Approximate Number of Animal Species in Italy (Excluding Bacteria, Viruses): 57,000
Most Dangerous Animal in Italy: Marsican Brown Bear

Italy Wildlife and Geography

Italy is a biodiversity hot spot that’s home to more animal species than any other European country. Impressively, a third of the continent’s fauna is represented in Italy. Why? Because the boot-shaped peninsula is the joint connecting Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. As such, it’s a cornucopia of ecological features that includes the Alps and Apennine mountain ranges, central woodlands, and southern shrublands. The fauna-rich cherry on top is Italy’s 4,900 miles (8,000 kilometers) of coastline that falls smack in the middle of the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity zone.

Italy’s wildlife is so impressive that UNESCO declared the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park a World Heritage Site in 2009.

Italy Animals

Excluding bacterias, viruses, and most microscopic invertebrates, Italy is home to about 57,000 known species, 4,777 of which are endemic to the region.

Italian Mammals

Between 102 and 126 mammal species live within Italy and its surrounding waters. According to the IUCN, of those mammals, four are Near Threatened, nine are Vulnerable, two are Endangered, and one, the North Atlantic right whale, is Critically Endangered.

Commonly spotted mammals in Italy include several types of shrews, Alpine marmots — which look like chubby squirrels — European snow voles, wild boars, and steinbocks.

Notably, Etruscan shrews — the smallest known mammal by mass — resides in Italy. The tiny and solitary animals weigh only .063 ounces, which is about half as heavy as a pencil. Another standout Italian mammal is the Alpine ibex. Found in northern Italian mountain ranges, males of the goat-antelope species are known for their gigantic, backward-hooking horns.

Italian Birds

How many bird species are in Italy? The latest count stands at 516, but only about 267 nest in the nation. Bluethroats, hoopoe, and the stunning European roller, with its turquoise and electric blue feather patterns, are common. Birds of prey in the region include Bonelli’s eagles, Eurasian eagle-owl, and the griffon vulture.

Italian Reptiles and Amphibians

Scientists cannot agree on the number of reptiles and amphibians in Italy. Numbers range between 44 and 59 each. Common reptiles and lizards found in the country include spectacled salamanders, Italian newts, Italian stream frogs, Sicilian pond turtles, and the Italian Aesculapian snakes.

Italian Fish

Hundreds of fish and marine mammals swim through Italian waters. Common species include the Italian loach and Italian barbel. Jellyfish, porcelain crabs, and octopus are also plentiful.

Italian Insects

Researchers and naturalists have observed about 37,303 insects in Italy, and nearly 200 butterfly and moth species flit through the nation’s skies. Scarlet dragonflies, Cleopatra butterflies, and Praying mantis are all at home in the southern European country.

Endangered Animals in Italy

Below is a table that details a sampling of Italian animals deemed threatened, to some degree, by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. This Italian endangered animals list is not exhaustive.

Animal	Alternative Names	IUCN Classification	Region	Threats	Interesting Fact
Corsican Hare	Apennine Hare, Italian Hare	Vulnerable	Southern and Central Italy	Habitat Loss, Hunting, Food Competition	Once Regarded As a Subspecies of the European Hare
Sardinian Long-Eared Bat	NA	Vulnerable	Three Caves in Central Sardinia	Tourism Disturbance, Habitat Loss	Only Surviving Mammal Species Endemic to Sardinia
Corsican Red Deer	Corsican Deer, Sardinian Deer	Near Threatened	Corsica Island, Sardinia Island	Habitat Loss	Smallest of the Red Deer Subspecies
Brown Cave Salamander	Gene’s cave salamander, Sardinian cave salamander, Sardinian salamander	Vulnerable	Sardinia	Habitat Loss	Habitat Loss
Italian Cave Salamander	NA	Near Threatened	Northern and Central Apennine Mountains	Habitat Loss	Prefers to Live around Limestone Rock
Monte Albo Cave Salamander	Stefani’s salamander	Near Threatened	Sardinia	Habitat Loss	Reproduces Through Direct Development of Terrestrial Eggs
Sardinian Brook Salamander	Sardinian mountain newt	Endangered	Sardinia	Habitat Loss, Pollution, Tourism Disturbance	Stays Close to Water at All Times
Apennine Yellow-Bellied Toad	NA	Endangered	Throughout Italy	Habitat Loss	Hibernates from November to April
Aeolian Wall Lizard	Raffone’s Wall Lizard	Critically Endangered	Aeolian Islands	Competition with Italian Wall Lizard	Only Four Populations Remain
Salmo Carpio	Carpione, Carpione del Garda	Critically Endangered	Only in Lake Garda	Overfishing, Pollution, Competition	Didn’t Survive in any Other Lakes to which it Was Introduced
Salmo Fibreni	Fibreno Trout	Vulnerable	Lago di Posta Fibreno	Habitat Loss	Freshwater Trout
Common Bent-Wing Bat	Schreibers’s Long-Fingered Bat, Schreibers’s Bat	Vulnerable	Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East	Pesticides, Habitat Loss	Named after Austrian Naturalist Carl Franz Anton Ritter von Schreibers
Italian Wolf	Apennine Wolf	Vulnerable	Apennine Mountains, Western Alps	Human-Wolf Conflict, Poaching	Protected Since 1970s
Marsican Brown Bear	Apennine Brown Bear	Critically Endangered	Apennine Mountains	Human-Bear Conflict, Habitat Loss	Has a Different Hibernation Routine than Other Brown Bears

Italian officials keep an eye on conservation and the country supports 20 national parks and 130 regional parks. Additionally, lawmakers have carved out 150 federally protected wildlife territories, 270 state ones, and 16 marine reserves.

Most Dangerous Animals in Italy

Italy is bursting at the seams with fauna species, and some are dangerous! Although, compared to a country like Australia, which is awash in lethal animals, Italy’s creatures are comparatively tame.

The six most dangerous animals in Italy are:

Marsican Brown Bears
Eurasian Lynx
Asp Vipers
Jellyfish
Weever Fish
Black Widow Spiders

National Animal of Italy

The Italian wolf — also known as the Apennine wolf — is the national animal of Italy. It’s symbolism dates back to the mythological story of Romulus and Remus. According to legend, a shewolf discovered the infant twins and kept them alive via interbreed suckling. Eventually, humans took the boys in, and they went on to found Rome.

Italian wolves are a subspecies of grey wolves and native to the Italian Peninsula. Today, between 600 and 700 individuals are alive and well. But in the not too distant past, only about 70 Italian wolves were left. Thanks to public and private conservation efforts, the species is making a comeback.