The peninsula of Italy looks like it is a boot kicking the island of Sicily towards North Africa. The peninsula is centrally located in the Mediterranean, and the city of Rome is in the center of Italy. The location helped the Romans as they expanded, first in Italy, and then into lands around the Mediterranean. Italy had the advantage of large, abundant plains full of vegetation for the country to enjoy which were found in the north under the Alps, and in the west where the Romans first settled.
I think that this location gave benefit to the Romans because the city of Rome was right in the middle of Italy. The Etruscans ruled much of central Italy, including Rome itself. From the Etruscans, the Romans learned the alphabet that they had earlier acquired from the Greeks. Soon after Etruscan gods and goddesses merged with Roman deities.