Piedmont - Provinces, History, Municipalities, Notable people from Piedmont, Other, Image gallery

pop (2000e) 4 334 000; area 25 400 km²/9800 sq mi. Region of N Italy; centre of Italian unification in 19th-c; capital, Turin; other chief towns, Cuneo, Saluzzo, Asti, Alessandria; bounded (S) by the Appenines and (N, W) Alps; industries (metalworking, machinery, cars, textiles, leather, foodstuffs) around Turin, Ivrea, Biella; fruit-growing, vineyards, arable farming, cattle in Po valley; tourism in hill regions.

Piedmont (Italian: Piemonte) is a region of northwestern Italy.

Piedmont is surrounded on three sides by the Alps mountain range, including the Monviso, where the Po River rises, and Monte Rosa.

Lowland Piedmont is a fertile agricultural region, producing wheat, rice, maize, and wine grapes.

Provinces

Piedmont is divided into 8 provinces:

Alessandria Asti Biella Cuneo Novara Turin Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Vercelli

History

In 1046, the counts of the House of Savoy added Piedmont to their main territory of Savoy, with a capital at Chambéry (now in France).

The Republic of Alba was created in 1796 as a French client republic in Piedmont before the area was annexed by France in 1801.

Piedmont was the springboard for Italy's unification in 1859-1861, following earlier unsuccessful wars against the Austrian Empire in 1820-1821 and 1848-1849.

Municipalities

In total the region of Piedmont has 1206 comuni (singular: comune).

Notable people from Piedmont

Giovanni Migliara (1785–1837) - painter Urbano Rattazzi (1808–1873) - statesman of the Risorgimento Angelo Morbelli (1854–1919) - painter Carlo Levi (1902–1975) - painter and writer Carlo Carrà (1881–1966) - painter Rita Levi-Montalcini (born 1909 ) - neurobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate and life member of the Italian Senate Oscar Luigi Scalfaro (born 1918) - President of the Italian Republic, 1992–1999 Primo Levi (1919–1987) - Writer and chemist Umberto Eco (born 1932) - semiotician and novelist Gianni Rivera (born 1943) - footballer Luciana Littizzetto (born 1964) - comedian actress Alberto Gilardino (born 1982) - footballer

Other

A "piedmont" is a foothill, and "piedmont" has become a generic designation for foothill regions in geography.

Piedmont is one of the great winegrowing regions in Italy.

Image gallery

Asti

Biella

Verbania

Government agencies

Piemonte Region: Official Site Consiglio Regionale ARPA Piemonte (environmental protection agency) Ufficio Scolastico Regionale (school district)

Specialty sites

Giornale del Piemonte (daily newspaper) Piemonte Magazine La Lingua Piemontese (Piedmontese language) Nòste Rèis (Piedmontese cultural association) Confindustria (manufacturers association) Cucina Piemonte.Net (Piemontese cuisine) TempoItalia (weather forecasts) Piemontesi Nel Mondo of Northern California

Tourism portals

Map of Piedmont Global Geografia Piemondo Piemonte Emozioni Piemonte Online Piemonte Web Itinerari Piemonte v • d • e Regions of Italy

Abruzzo • Aosta Valley • Apulia • Basilicata • Calabria • Campania • Emilia-Romagna • Friuli-Venezia Giulia • Lazio • Liguria • Lombardy • Marche • Molise • Piedmont • Sardinia • Sicily • Trentino-South Tyrol • Tuscany • Umbria • Veneto