Yes, the boot heel of Italy does come quite near to Africa.
Drifting the topic a bit, it's stunning to see just how far south the bulk of America (the United States) is compared to most of Europe. Looking at a map using Mercator projection (which the oh-so-PC left deems racist, of course), much of populated Northern Europe would be in the Great White North of Canada. Bunch of hosers those Euros are! :)
