Friuli-Venezia Giulia is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of 7,924 square kilometres and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many central European countries, the region is traversed by the major transport routes between the east and west of Southern Europe.