Answer:
Answer to question 1: Italy is shaped like a boot.
Answer to question 2: There are two mountains, the Alps and the Apennines, it helped to protect Rome from invasion. The Apennines divide the Italian peninsula in half while the Alps are on the top of Italy. These mountains help allowed the Romans to mass forces for counter-attack whenever they were threatened.
Answer to question 3: A Republic in which a state is ruled by representatives of the citizen body.
Answer to the extra credit: There are two consuls in the Roman Republic.