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—  Region of Italy  —


Coat of arms
Country Italy
Capital Turin
 • President Roberto Cota (LN)
 • Total 25,402 km2 (9,808 sq mi)
Population (30-10-2012)
 • Total 4,366,251
 • Density Bad rounding here170/km2 (Bad rounding here450/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
GDP/ Nominal €127.0[1] billion (2008)
GDP per capita €28,500[2] (2008)
Website www.regione.piemonte.it

Piedmont (Italian: Piemonte, pronounced [pjeˈmonte]; Piedmontese and Occitan: Piemont; French: Piémont) is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres (9,808 sq mi) and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of Cuneo and Turin. Franco-Provençal is also spoken by another minority in the alpine heights of the Province of Turin. The name Piedmont comes from medieval Latin Pedemontium or Pedemontis, i.e., ad pedem montium, meaning “at the foot of the mountains” (attested in documents of the end of the 13th century).[3]



A Montferrat landscape, with the distant Alps in the background.

Piedmont is surrounded on three sides by the Alps, including Monviso, where the Po rises, and Monte Rosa. It borders with France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Aosta Valley and for a very small fragment with Emilia Romagna. The geography of Piedmont is 43.3% mountainous, along with extensive areas of hills (30.3%) and plains (26.4%). Piedmont is the second largest of Italy's 20 regions, after Sicily. It is broadly contiguous with the upper part of the drainage basin of the river Po, which rises from the slopes of Monviso in the west of the region and it's Italy’s largest river. The Po collects all the waters provided within the semicircle of mountains (Alps and Apennines) which surround the region on three sides. From the highest peaks the land slopes down to hilly areas, (not always, though; sometimes there is a brusque transition from the mountains to the plains) and then to the upper, and then the lower the great Padan Plain. The boundary between the first and the second is characterised by risorgive springs, typical of the Padan Plain which supply fresh water both to the rivers and to a dense network of irrigation canals. The countryside is very varied: one passes from the rugged peaks of the massifs of Monte Rosa and of Gran Paradiso, to the damp rice paddies of Vercelli and Novara, from the gentle hillsides of the Langhe and of Montferrat to the plains. The percentage of the territory which is a protected area is 7.6%. There are 56 different national or regional parks. One such park is the Gran Paradiso National Park.


Piedmont was inhabited in early historic times by Celtic-Ligurian tribes such as the Taurini and the Salassi. They were later submitted by the Romans (c. 220 BC), who founded several colonies there including Augusta Taurinorum (Turin) and Eporedia (Ivrea). After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the region was repeatedly invaded by the Burgundians, the Goths (5th century), Byzantines, Lombards (6th century), Franks (773). In the 9th–10th centuries there were further incursions by the Magyars and Saracens.[citation needed] At the time Piedmont, as part of the Kingdom of Italy within the Holy Roman Empire, was subdivided into several marks and counties.

Kingdom of Sardinia in 1856.


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, the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored, and furthermore received the Republic of Genoa to strengthen it as a barrier against France.

Piedmont was an initial springboard for Italy's unification in 1859–1861, following earlier unsuccessful wars against the Austrian Empire in 1820–1821[citation needed] and 1848–1849. This process is sometimes referred to as Piedmontisation.[4] However, the efforts were later contradicted by efforts of rural farmers.[5][6] The House of Savoy became Kings of Italy, and Turin briefly became the capital of Italy. However, the addition of territory paradoxically reduced Piedmont's importance to the kingdom, and the capital was moved to Florence, and then to Rome. One remaining recognition of Piedmont's historical role was that the crown prince of Italy was known as the Prince of Piedmont.


Rice fields between Novara and Vercelli


The region contains major industrial centres, the main of which is Turin, home to the FIAT automobile works. Olivetti, once a major electronics industry whose plant was in Scarmagno, near Ivrea, has now turned into a small-scale computer service company. Biella produces tissues and silks. The city of Asti is located about 55 kilometres (34 miles) east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River and it's one of the most important centers of Montferrat, one of the best known Italian wine districts in the world.[8] Alba is the home of Ferrero's chocolate factories and some mechanical industries. There are links with neighbouring France via the Fréjus and the Colle di Tenda tunnels as well as the Montgenèvre Pass. Piedmont also connects with Switzerland with the Simplón and Great St Bernard passes. It is possible to reach Switzerland via a normal road that crosses Oriental Piedmont starting from Arona and ending in Locarno, on the border with Italy. The region's airport, Turin-Caselle, caters domestic and international flights.[7] The region has the longest motorway network amongst the Italian regions (about 800 km). It radiates from Turin, connecting it with the other provinces in the region, as well as with the other regions in Italy. In 2001, the number of passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants was 623 (above the national average of 575).[7]

Lingotto building in Turin, world headquarters of Fiat



Polytechnic Institute of Turin




Historical population
Year Pop.   ±%  
1861 2,759,000 —    
1871 2,928,000 +6.1%
1881 3,090,000 +5.5%
1901 3,319,000 +7.4%
1911 3,414,000 +2.9%
1921 3,439,000 +0.7%
1931 3,458,000 +0.6%
1936 3,418,000 −1.2%
1951 3,518,000 +2.9%
1961 3,914,000 +11.3%
1971 4,432,000 +13.2%
1981 4,479,000 +1.1%
1991 4,303,000 −3.9%
2001 4,215,000 −2.0%
2010 (Est.) 4,456,000 +5.7%
Source: ISTAT 2001

The population density in Piemonte is lower than the national average. In 2008 it was equal to 174 inhabitants per km2, compared to a national figure of about 200. It rises however to 335 inhabitants per km2 when just the province of Turin is considered, whereas Verbano-Cusio-Ossola is the less densely populated province (72 inhabitants per km2). The population of Piedmont followed a downward trend throughout the 1980s. This drop is the result of the natural negative balance (of some 3 to 4% per year), while the migratory balance since 1986 has again become positive because of an excess of new immigration over a stable figure for emigration.[11] The population as a whole has remained stable in the 1990s, although this is the result of a negative natural balance and a positive net migration.


Government and politics[edit]



Administrative divisions[edit]

Piedmont is divided into eight provinces:

Provinces of Piedmont
Province of Alessandria 3,560 438,062 123.1
Province of Asti 1,504 219,629 146.0
Province of Biella 913 187,090 204.9
Province of Cuneo 6,903 584,467 84.7
Province of Novara 1,339 365,156 272.7
Province of Turin 6,821 2,288,614 335.5
Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola 2,255 162,618 72.1
Province of Vercelli 2,088 179,164 85.8


The sport in Piedmont, except for football, developed itself to a certain level only after the Second World War. Piedmontese teams have a rich tradition of sporting excellence and each of the provinces have a number of established clubs in various sports. In football, notable clubs include Juventus and Torino (both based in Turin), the two largest football clubs in the region, and other smaller teams such as Novara, Alessandria, Casale (1 Scudetto), Pro Vercelli (7 Scudetti) and Cuneo. The region currently holds the record for winning the most Scudetti (Serie A championship).

Other local teams include volleyball teams Cuneo (male) and Asystel Novara (female), basketball teams Biella Basketball and Junior Casale, ice hockey team Hockey Club Turin (team founded in 1947) and roller hockey side Amatori Vercelli, that won three league titles, an Italian Cup and two CERS Cup.

See also[edit]


  3. ^ http://books.google.it/books?id=KjttelynsZEC&lpg=PA11&ots=QN_EIDTnjb&dq=nome%20piemonte&pg=PA11#v=onepage&q=nome%20piemonte&f=false
  8. ^ Wine Grape landscapes: Langhe, Roero, Monferrato and Valtellina, Unesco
  9. ^ [1][dead link]
  10. ^ Template:UNICRI
  11. ^ "Eurostat". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 23 April 2010. 

External links[edit]