Piedmont

From Free net encyclopedia

For other uses, see Piedmont (disambiguation).

**Regione Piemonte**
Image:Piemonte.svg

Capital	Turin
President	Mercedes Bresso (The Union)
Provinces	Alessandria Asti Biella Cuneo Novara Turin Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Vercelli
Municipalities	1,206
Area	25,399 km²
- Ranked	2nd (8.4 %)
Population (2003 est.) - Total - Ranked - Density	4,331,334 6th (7.4 %) 167/km²
Image:Italy Regions Piedmont 220px.png
Map highlighting the location of Piedmont in Italy

Piedmont (Italian: Piemonte) is a region of northwestern Italy. It has an area of 25,399 km² and a population of est. 4.3 million. Its capital is Turin.

Piedmont is surrounded on three sides by the Alps mountain range, including the Monviso, where the Po River rises, and Monte Rosa. It borders with France, Switzerland, and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Emilia Romagna and the Aosta Valley.

Lowland Piedmont is a fertile agricultural region, producing wheat, rice, maize and grapes. The region also contains major industrial centres, notably Turin, home to the FIAT automobile works.

In February 2006 Turin hosted the XX Olympic Winter Games.

1 History
2 Other
3 See also
4 External links

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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 House of Savoy was elevated to a duchy in 1416, and Duke Emanuele Filiberto moved the seat to Turin in 1563. The dukes were also kings of Sardinia starting in 1720. The Republic of Alba was created in 1796 as a French client republic in Piedmont before the area was annexed by France in 1801. In June 1802 a new client republic, the Subalpine Republic, was established in Piedmont and in September it was also annexed. In the congress of Vienna, Piedmont-Sardinia received the Republic of Genoa to strengthen it as a barrier against France.

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.

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Other

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

7.6% of the territory is protected area, 56 different ones of which the most famous national park is Gran Paradiso.

Piedmont is one of the great winegrowing regions in Italy. More than half of its 700 km² (170,000 acres) of vineyards are registered with DOC designations. It produces wines of renowned depth such as the famed Barbera, Barolo, Barbaresco and Moscato, as well as lesser known varieties such as Dolcetto, Freisa, Grignolino and Brachetto.

Apart from the provincial capitals, other notable cities are Vercelli, Verbania, Moncalieri, Rivoli, Ivrea.

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