The Po ( / p oʊ / POH , Italian: [ˈpɔ] ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy, starting from the Cottian Alps . The river's length is either 652 km (405 mi) or 682 km (424 mi), if the Maira , a right bank tributary, is included. The headwaters of the Po are formed by a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face of Monviso . The Po then extends along the 45th parallel north before ending at a delta projecting into the Adriatic Sea near Venice .
88-614: Gancia is an Italian wine-making company which produces a broad range of sparkling and still wines from the Piedmont region. The company was founded in 1850 in Turin by Carlo Gancia. Carlo Gancia is known as the father of Italian sparkling wine , producing the first sparkling wine made with the Classic Method (or Traditional Method) in Piedmont in 1850 on his return from France where he had studied
176-483: A barrier against France. Piedmont was a springboard for Italian unification in 1859–1861, following earlier unsuccessful wars against the Austrian Empire in 1820–1821, and 1848–1849. This process is sometimes referred to as Piedmontisation . The efforts were later countered by the efforts of rural farmers. The House of Savoy became Kings of Italy , and Turin briefly became the capital of Italy. However, when
264-447: A member of the PD who had been mayor of Turin from 2001 to 2011. Chiamparino was in charge until the 2019 Piedmontese regional election , when Alberto Cirio of Forza Italia became the new president of the region. Piedmont is divided into eight provinces. As in the rest of Italy, Italian is the official national language. The main local languages are Piedmontese , Insubric (spoken in
352-528: Is 503 m (1,650 ft) across. The vast valley around the Po is called the Po Basin or Po Valley (Italian Pianura Padana or Val Padana ); the main industrial area and the largest agricultural area in the country - accounting for 35% of Italian agricultural production . In 2002, more than 16 million people lived in the area, at the time nearly one-third of the population of Italy. The two main economic uses of
440-516: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Piedmont Piedmont ( / ˈ p iː d m ɒ n t / PEED -mont ; Italian : Piemonte , pronounced [pjeˈmonte] ; Piedmontese : Piemont , [pjeˈmʊŋt] ), located in northwest Italy , is one of the 20 regions of Italy . It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to
528-629: Is a fertile agricultural region. The main agricultural products in Piedmont are cereals , including rice , representing more than 10% of national production, maize , grapes for wine -making, fruit and milk . With more than 800,000 head of cattle in 2000, livestock production accounts for half of total agricultural production in Piedmont. Piedmont is one of the great winegrowing regions in Italy. More than half of its 700 km (170,000 acres) of vineyards are registered with DOC designations. It produces prestigious wines as Barolo and Barbaresco from
616-539: Is a key factor in the creation of long-lasting value and working in a cooperative and collaborative perspective is essential, the network of the Royal Residences represents an example worth of notice. Piedmont has many small and picturesque villages, 20 of them have been selected by I Borghi più belli d'Italia (English: The most beautiful Villages of Italy ), a non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong historical and artistic interest, that
704-399: Is connected to Milan through a net of channels called navigli , which Leonardo da Vinci helped design. Near the end of its course, it creates a wide delta (with hundreds of small channels and five main ones, called Po di Maestra , Po della Pila , Po delle Tolle , Po di Gnocca and Po di Goro ) at the southern part of which is Comacchio , an area famous for eels . The Po Valley
792-728: Is in Novara by MEMC. Olivetti , once a major electronics industry whose plants were in Scarmagno and Ivrea , has now turned into a small-scale computer service company and no longer produces computers. Leonardo Elettronica in Turin-Caselle develops and manufactures airborne mission systems and airborne computers. Machine building has a long tradition in Piedmont with the manufacturing of excavators, telescopic handlers, industrial refrigerators, printing machines, paper machines, packaging machines, glass machines, turbines, and high-speed trains. One of
880-535: Is located in Piedmont. Below are showed some basic stages of wool processing (not complete). One of Italy's four industrial jewellery districts is located in Valenza . Large jewellery companies such as Damiani , Bulgari , and Cartier have factories here as do many other smaller companies. Since 2006, the Piedmont region has benefited from the start of the Slow Food movement and Terra Madre , events that highlighted
968-447: Is lower than the national average. In 2008, it was equal to 174 inhabitants per km , compared to the national figure of about 200. The Metropolitan City of Turin has 335 inhabitants per km , whereas Verbano-Cusio-Ossola is the least densely populated province, with 72 inhabitants per km . The population of Piedmont followed a downward trend throughout the 1980s, a result of the natural negative balance (of some 3 to 4% per year), while
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#17330858622071056-429: Is now degrading. Venice , which was originally built on islands off the coast, is most at risk due to subsidence, but the effect is realized in the Po delta as well. The causes are first a decrease in the sedimentation rate due to the locking of sediment behind hydroelectric dams and the deliberate excavation of sand from rivers for industrial purposes. Second, agricultural use of the river is heavy; during peak consumption
1144-615: Is situated: Veneto and Emilia-Romagna . The Po Delta Regional Park in Emilia-Romagna, the largest, consists of four parcels of land on the right bank of the Po and to the south. Created by law in 1988, it was managed by a consortium, the Consorzio per la gestione del Parco , to which Ferrara and Ravenna provinces belong as well as nine comuni : Comacchio , Argenta , Ostellato , Goro , Mesola , Codigoro , Ravenna , Alfonsine , and Cervia . Executive authority resided in an assembly of
1232-817: Is the product of the islands of the northern ocean ( Baltic Sea )" and attributes its introduction into the Po Valley to the Veneti , the last link in a trade route to the north through Pannonia . Pliny ( Hist. Nat. , iii. 122) also gives the Ligurian name of the Po as Bodincus , which he translates as "bottomless". The root bod- has been generally analyzed as containing the PIE base * bhu(n)d(h) - seen in Sanskrit budhnah and Avestan buna - "bottom", Greek pythmen "foundation", Latin fundus "bottom", Old Irish bond "sole of
1320-635: The 2006 Winter Olympics . Po River It is characterized by its large discharge (several rivers over 1,000 km have a discharge inferior or equal to the Po). It is, with the Rhône and Nile , one of the three Mediterranean rivers with the largest water discharge. As a result of its characteristics, the river is subject to heavy flooding. Consequently, over half its length is controlled with embankments . The river flows through many important Italian cities, including Turin , Piacenza , Cremona and Ferrara . It
1408-459: The 2010 Piedmontese regional election , which took place on 29–30 March, Roberto Cota of Lega Nord defeated incumbent Mercedes Bresso of the Democratic Party (PD). For the 2014 Piedmontese regional election , Cota chose not to stand again for president and the parties composing his coalition failed to agree on a single candidate, resulting in a landslide victory for Sergio Chiamparino ,
1496-461: The 2020–21 season ) between them (36 titles won by Juventus and seven by Torino), more than any other city in Italy. Juventus is the most successful club in Italy, having won the most league titles (36), Coppa Italia titles (14), and Supercoppa Italiana titles (9) of any team in the country; Juventus Women , established in 2017, also achieved success, immediately becoming one of the country's most successful women's teams. Other smaller teams include
1584-647: The Busa di Tramontana to the north and the Busa di Scirocco to the south, while the mainstream, the Busa Dritta , enters Punta Maistra and exits finally past Pila lighthouse. Despite the park administration's definition of the active delta as beginning at Porto Viro, there is another active channel upstream from it at Santa Maria in Punta, where the Fiume Po divides into the Po di Goro and
1672-676: The COVID-19 pandemic ). The economy of Piedmont is anchored on a rich history of state support for higher education, including some of the leading universities in Italy. Piedmont is home to the famous University of Turin , the Polytechnic University of Turin , the University of Eastern Piedmont , and more recently the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute . The population density in Piedmont
1760-583: The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive , 2000/60/EC. This takes in water management and flood risk plans antecedent. Between 2009 and 2015 the Po Valley Project (the implementation of the plan) took more than 60 measures, notably to: heighten and strengthen levees , increase flood-meadows , resume natural sediment transport and deposition points, enlarge wetlands, afforest, re-nature, promote biodiversity and recreational use. In Roman times
1848-468: The Italian Lakes , and shared with Switzerland. The streams are now controlled by so many dams as to slow the river's sedimentation rate, causing geologic problems. The expansive, moist and fertile flood plain is reserved mainly for agriculture and is subject to flash floods , even though the overall quantity of water is lower than in the past and lower than demand. The main products of the farms around
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#17330858622071936-735: The Langhe near Alba , and the Moscato d'Asti and sparkling Asti from the vineyards around Asti . The city of Asti is about 55 km (34 mi) east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River and is one of the most important centres of Montferrat , one of the best known Italian wine districts in the world, declared officially on 22 June 2014 a UNESCO World Heritage site. Indigenous grape varieties include Nebbiolo , Barbera , Dolcetto , Freisa , Grignolino and Brachetto . Tourism in Piedmont employs 75,534 people and involves 17,367 companies operating in
2024-526: The Last Glacial Maximum around 20,000 years ago, which brought the Adriatic to a high point at about 5,500 years ago. Since then the Po delta had been prograding . The rate of coastal zone progradation between 1000 BC and 1200 AD was 4 m/yr. Human factors, however, brought about a change in the equilibrium in the mid-20th century with the result that the entire coastline of the northern Adriatic
2112-665: The Magyars , Saracens and Muslim Moors . At the time Piedmont, as part of the Kingdom of Italy within the Holy Roman Empire , was subdivided into several marches and counties. In 1046, Otto of Savoy added Piedmont to the County of Savoy , with a capital at Chambéry (now in France). Other areas remained independent, such as the powerful comuni (municipalities) of Asti and Alessandria and
2200-667: The Miocene Epoch, the Messinian (7–5 mya ), the Messinian salinity crisis , a near drying of the Mediterranean, was caused by the sea level dropping below the sill at the Strait of Gibraltar and the equilibrium between evaporation and replenishment shifting in favor of evaporation. At that time the Po Valley and the Adriatic depression were a single canyon system thousands of feet deep. On
2288-549: The Parco Regionale Veneto , one of the tracts under the authority of the Parco Delta del Po , contains the latest branches of the Po. The Po di Gnocca branches to the south followed by the Po di Maestra to the north at Porto Tolle . At Tolle downstream the Po di Venezia divides into the Po delle Tolle to the south and the Po della Pila to the north. The former exits at Bonelli. The latter divides again at Pila into
2376-756: The Piedmontese Republic , existed between 1798 and 1799 before it was reoccupied by Austrian and Russian troops. In June 1800 a third client republic, the Subalpine Republic , was established in Piedmont. It fell under full French control in 1801 and it was annexed by France in September 1802. In the Congress of Vienna , the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored and furthermore received the Republic of Genoa to strengthen it as
2464-415: The Po di Venezia . The fossil Po is the region of no longer active channels from the Po to the sea. It begins upstream from Ferrara . The Fiume Po currently flowing to the north of Ferrara is the result of a diversion at Ficarolo in 1152 made in the hope of relieving flooding in the vicinity of Ravenna . The diversion channel was at first called the Po di Ficarolo . The Fiume Po before then followed
2552-489: The Po di Volano , no longer connected to the Po, which ran to the south of Ferrara and exited near Volano . In Roman times it did not exit there but ran to the south as the Padus Vetus ("old Po") exiting near Comacchio , from which split the Po di Primaro exiting close to Ravenna . Before 1152 the seaward extension of today's delta, about 12 km (7.5 mi), did not exist. The entire region from Ravenna to Chioggia
2640-705: The Salassi . They were later subdued 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 successively invaded by the Burgundians , the Ostrogoths (5th century), East Romans , Lombards (6th century), and Franks (773). In the 9th–10th centuries there were further incursions by
2728-665: The Swiss border . 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). There is a Turin–Milan high-speed railway , travel time is only 52 minutes. Turin-Caselle International Airport has domestic and international flights and handle 3,952,158 passengers and 3,334 tons of cargo in 2019 (before
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2816-473: The Taglio di Porto Viro , "Porto Viro cut-off". Their intent was to stop the gradual migration of the Po toward the lagoon of Venice, which would have filled up with sediment had contact been made. The subsequent town of Taglio di Po grew around the diversionary works. The lock of Volta Grimana blocked the old channel, now the Po di Levante , which flows to the Adriatic through Porto Levante. Below Taglio di Po
2904-619: The United States , in Piedmont only the production of New Holland excavators in San Mauro Torinese and IVECO diesel engines in Turin ). Neither of them are headquartered in Turin anymore, however, some research and development centres are still working. Formerly famous automotive design companies also were sold to global automotive groups: Italdesign Giugiaro to Volkswagen , Ghia to Ford , Pininfarina to Mahindra ; Bertone went into bankruptcy in 2014. The massive decline in
2992-568: The Vallée Étroite [ it ; fr ] (literally, the Narrow Valley) running from Mont Thabor to the Italian ski resort of Bardonecchia . Although in France, Vallée Étroite is so remote it is essentially administered by Italy (telephone network, rubbish collections, etc. ). Further minuscule parts of the Po's basin (measurable in the hundreds of metres of linear distance) within France are found in
3080-452: The comuni of Alfonsine, Argenta, Cervia, Codigoro, Comacchio, Goro, Mesola, Ostellato and Ravenna. The 53,653 ha (132,580 acres) of the park contain wetlands, forest, dunes and salt pans. It has a high biodiversity , with 1,000–1,100 plant species and 374 vertebrate species, of which 300 are birds. The most recent part of the delta, which projects into the Adriatic between Chioggia and Comacchio , contains channels that connect to
3168-580: The drainage basin – nearly three times higher than estimated. On February 24, 2010, the Po was contaminated by an oil spill coming from a refinery in Villasanta through the Lambro , the Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata news agency has estimated it to be about 600,000 liters. Until 1989 water resources were administered regionally or locally. The major authority on the lower Po
3256-399: The Adriatic and therefore is called the active delta by the park authorities, whereas the fossil delta contains channels that no longer connect the Po to the Adriatic (but once did). The active delta was created in 1604 when the city of Venice diverted the main stream, the Po grande or Po di Venezia , from its channel north of Porto Viro to the south of Porto Viro in a channel then called
3344-618: The American Gancia is consumed massively in Argentina. On the occasion of the 170th anniversary of its foundation, the company was honored by the Italian government with the issue of a commemorative stamp reproducing a 1922 advertising poster by Leonetto Cappiello . Gancia produces still and sparkling wines made from grapes like Brachetto , Chardonnay , Pinot noir , Pinot grigio and Pinot bianco . They also produce Rosso, Bianco and Extra Dry vermouth . This winery -related article
3432-520: The Apennines filled the valley and the central Adriatic generally to a depth of 1,000 m (3,300 ft) to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) but from 2,000 m (6,600 ft) to 3,000 m (9,800 ft) off the current mouth of the Po, with pockets as deep as 6,000 m (20,000 ft). At the start of the Pleistocene the valley was full. Cycles of transgression and regression are detectable in
3520-607: The Elder has the most to say about the Padus of his times. Herodotus had expressed doubt concerning the existence of a river in Europe, Eridanos , which flowed into the northern sea, he said, from which amber came. He believed it was a Greek name (there are other Eridanos rivers in Greece), "invented by some poet," but makes no conjectures as to where it might be. Pliny points out that in his own time
3608-474: The Eridanos had become wrongly identified with the Padus . He does not know when or how, but like Herodotus, he blames the poets. Amber is supposed to have come from there. Phaëthon , son of the sun, struck by lightning changed into poplars and exuded tears every year, which is the source of amber (a myth of Pausanias ). Expressing surprise at the ignorance of the poets, Pliny says "There can be no doubt that amber
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3696-664: The Italian Piemonte , and other variant cognates come from the medieval Latin Pedemontium or Pedemontis , i.e. ad pedem montium , meaning "at the foot of the mountains" (referring to the Alps ), attested in documents from the end of the 12th century. Piedmont is surrounded on three sides by the Alps , including Monviso , where the river Po rises, and Monte Rosa . It borders France ( Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ), Switzerland ( Ticino and Valais ), and
3784-467: The Italian capital was moved to Florence , and then to Rome , the administrative and institutional importance of Piedmont was reduced. The only recognition of Piedmont's historical role was that the crown prince of Italy was known as the Prince of Piedmont . After Italian unification, Piedmont was one of the most important regions in the first Italian industrialization. The gross domestic product (GDP) of
3872-399: The Italian regions of Lombardy , Liguria , Aosta Valley , and for a very small part 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 coincident with the upper part of the drainage basin of the river Po , which rises from
3960-624: The Lake District ("Piedmont's riviera"), which accounts for 32.84% of total overnight stays, and the metropolitan area of Turin, which accounts for 26.51%. In 2006, Turin hosted the XX Olympic Winter Games , and in 2007 it hosted the XXIII Universiade . Alpine tourism tends to concentrate in a few highly developed stations like Alagna Valsesia and Sestriere . Around 1980, the long-distance trail Grande Traversata delle Alpi (GTA)
4048-811: The Ministry of Public Works, headed by a chairman appointed by the Head of State and the Council of Ministers. Its headquarters are in Venice. Its domain is the management and protection of the water system in Veneto , Mantua , Trento , Bolzano and Friuli-Venezia Giulia . In 1989 in response to the major geologic problems that were developing along the river Law no. 183/89 was passed authorizing The Po Basin Water Board (Autorità di bacino del fiume Po), which would direct operations concerning all
4136-477: The Po, for which the European Environment Agency cited the city. Since 2005, all sewage from Milan is treated in plants at Nosedo, San Rocco and Peschiera Borromeo. These treat the sewage from over 2.5 million inhabitants. In 2005, water from the Po was found to contain much benzoylecgonine , passed by cocaine users in urine . Based on these figures, cocaine consumption was estimated to be about 4 kg daily, or 27 doses per day per thousand young adults in
4224-455: The Po. Nine gates are 6.5 m (21 ft) high and two are 8 m (26 ft) high for sediment-scouring purposes. A spillway to the right passes through a hydroelectric station of 4 generators of 76 MW each operated by a 3.5–11 m (11–36 ft) head of water. The spillway connects to a diversionary canal subtending a 12 km (7.5 mi) loop of the Po. A ship lock 85 m (279 ft) long and 12 m (39 ft) wide next to
4312-796: The automotive industry caused other regions like Veneto (€163 billion in 2018) and Emilia-Romagna (€161 billion in 2018) to surpass Piedmont (€137 billion in 2018) in GDP and led to relative high unemployment. The peak of Italian motor vehicle production is reached in 1989 with 2.22 million units, but in 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy ) it was only 0.92 million units. Even existing Italian car production now relocated to South Italy , such as in Pomigliano d'Arco (140,478 in 2020), Melfi (229,848 in 2020), and Atessa (257,026 in 2020), because of cost cutting. There are some automotive suppliers of: There are some important companies in high-tech manufacturing: Comau (industrial robots) and Prima Industrie (laser equipment). Silicon wafer production
4400-406: The course was diverted to lessen the risk of devastating floods. The Tanaro is about 50 km (31 mi) longer than the upper Po at their confluence near Alessandria . The longest tributaries of the Po are Adda (313 km), Oglio (280 km), Tanaro (276 km) and Ticino (248 km). The Po Delta wetlands have been protected by the institution of two regional parks in the regions in which it
4488-447: The east, and the Aosta Valley region to the northwest. Piedmont also borders Switzerland to the north and France to the west. Piedmont has an area of 25,402 km (9,808 sq mi), making it the second-largest region of Italy after Sicily . As of 31 January 2021, the population was 4,269,714. The capital of Piedmont is Turin , which was also the capital of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1865. The French Piedmont ,
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#17330858622074576-571: The eastern part of the region), Occitan (spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Province of Cuneo and the Metropolitan City of Turin ), and Franco-Provençal (spoken by another minority in the alpine heights of the Metropolitan City of Turin), like in the Susa Valley and Walser (spoken by a minority in the Province of Vercelli and Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola ). In association football , notable clubs in Piedmont include Turin -based Juventus and Torino , who have won 43 official top-flight league championships (as of
4664-444: The ex-Fiat plants now belong to other companies: aerospace is owned by Leonardo S.p.A. , turbo jet engines by General Electric , high-speed trains by Alstom , bearings by SKF . Fiat does not exist anymore as an independent company; car production belongs to Stellantis , and trucks, buses, tractors, agriculture and construction machines are produced by the independent company CNH Industrial (most manufacturing activity takes place in
4752-407: The first Italian institution to combine the activities being carried out by pre-existing local organizations to promote the territory internationally. The region contains major industrial centres, the most important of which is Turin, home to the Fiat conglomerate, but mass-market Fiat cars are not produced anymore, only small-scale manufacturing of luxury Maserati cars (36,702 in 2020). Most of
4840-528: The flow in places nearly dries up, causing local contention. As a result of decreased flow, salt water is intruding into the aquifers and coastal ground water. Eutrophication in standing waters and streams of low flow is on the increase. The valley is subsiding due to the extraction of ground water. Always prone to fog, the valley is subject to heavy smog due to industrial atmospheric emissions, especially from Turin . The city of Milan had no sewage treatment plants. Sewage went through channels directly into
4928-408: The foot". The word Bodincus appears in the place name Bodincomagus , a Ligurian town on the right bank of the Po downstream from today's Turin. The Po, along with other rivers in northern Italy , was the scene of numerous military episodes throughout the Middle Ages and all the major cities and coastal lordships were equipped with real river fleets. Particularly violent were the clashes between
5016-449: The form of small streamheads forced into France by the 1947 Peace Treaty of Paris as a punitive measure against Italy. These can be found on the Mont Cenis and Mongenevre passes. The former contains a reservoir dammed at the Po end and so technically constitutes part of its basin, although it contributes little to the water flow as the water is, by definition, retained by the dam. The Po is the longest river in Italy; at its widest point it
5104-413: The historical and cultural heritage of Piedmont and nowadays they play a central role in the tourism field. In a reality in which the tourism industry is characterized by an amalgam of several players and stakeholders, the creation of a system or network like the one of the Royal Residences represents an added benefit for the whole territory as well as a competitive edge. Therefore, considering that tourism
5192-439: The hospitality and catering sector, with 1,473 hotels and other tourist accommodation. The sector generates a turnover of €2,671 million, 3.3% of the €80,196 million total estimated spending on tourism in Italy. The region is popular with both foreign visitors and those from other parts of Italy. In 2002 there were 2,651,068 total arrivals, 1,124,696 (42%) of whom were foreign. The traditional leading areas for tourism in Piedmont are
5280-405: The late Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire , long after the valley had been occupied successively by prehistoric and historic peoples: Ligures , Etruscans , Celts , Veneti , Umbri , and Romans. At that late date, the ancient authors were attempting to explain the provenance of the name. Perhaps the earliest of these, Polybius (2nd century BC), uses Pados (in Greek) and says that it
5368-441: The marquisates of Saluzzo and Montferrat . The County of Savoy became the Duchy of Savoy in 1416, and Duke Emanuele Filiberto moved the seat to Turin in 1563. In 1720, the Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia , founding what evolved into the Kingdom of Sardinia and increasing Turin's importance as a European capital. The Republic of Alba was created in 1796 as a French client republic in Piedmont. A new client republic,
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#17330858622075456-460: The migratory balance since 1986 has again become positive because of immigration. The population remained stable in the 1990s. The Turin metro area grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s due to an increase of immigrants from southern Italy and Veneto and today it has a population of approximately two million. As of 2008 , the Italian national institute of statistics (ISTAT) estimated that 310,543 foreign-born immigrants lived in Piedmont, equal to 7.0% of
5544-431: The most important industries in Piedmont is military aerospace with plants: Piedmont has several notable IT firms such as Olivetti and Arduino . Italy is the world's largest exporter of carded (71.8% in 2018) and combed (73.4% in 2018) wool fabrics. These are the only two types of fabrics not dominated by Chinese textile exports. There are three industrial districts that process wool in Italy. One of them, Biella ,
5632-727: The old "Piedmont Quadrilateral" components Novara , Alessandria , Casale , and Pro Vercelli . With the pre- World War II success of Pro Vercelli in 1910s and Juventus in 1930s, as well as winning cycles of Torino during the Grande Torino years and Juventus in different eras since 1950, the region became the most successful in terms of championships won. Casale and Novese contributed with one scudetto each. Other local teams include volleyball teams Cuneo (male) and AGIL Novara (female), basketball teams Biella Basketball and Junior Casale, ice hockey team Hockey Club Turin, and roller hockey side Amatori Vercelli , who have won three league titles, an Italian Cup, and two CERS Cups . Turin hosted
5720-471: The plains. 7.6% of the entire territory is considered protected area . There are 56 different national or regional parks; one of the most famous is the Gran Paradiso National Park , between Piedmont and the Aosta Valley . Piedmont has a typically temperate climate , which on the Alps becomes progressively temperate-cold and colder as it climbs to altitude. In areas located at low altitudes, winters are relatively cold but not very rainy and often sunny, with
5808-404: The possibility of snowfall, sometimes abundant. Snowfall, on the other hand, is less frequent and occasional in the northeast areas. Summers are hot with local possibilities of strong thunderstorms. Below are listed other towns of Piedmont with more than 20,000 inhabitants sorted by population. Piedmont was inhabited in early historic times by Celtic - Ligurian tribes such as the Taurini and
5896-431: The presidents of the provinces, the mayors of the comuni and the board of directors. They employed a Technical-Scientific Committee and a Park Council to carry out directives. In 1999 the park was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and was added to "Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta." From 2012 the park is managed by the Ente di Gestione per i Parchi e la Biodiversità - Delta del Po , composed by
5984-442: The production techniques of champagne . After 15 years of trials and small batches, he commercialized it on a large scale in 1865. This innovative wine is still produced today, a premium Asti DOCG, aged for at least 24 months. Due to the complexity of the process Gancia is the only winery producing this product. The company is also known for its Gancia Aperitivo Originale. Like other Italian alcoholic beverages (such as Fernet ),
6072-399: The region was 137.4 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 7.8% of Italy's GDP. GDP per capita at purchasing power parity was 31,300 euros or 104% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 111% of the EU average. Since 2006, the Piemonte Agency for Investments, Export and Tourism began to facilitate outside investment and promote Piedmont's industry and tourism. It was
6160-433: The rest of the non-Italy basin is in Switzerland , primarily in the canton of Ticino , which is essentially drained by the river Ticino rising in the Gotthard Area , and includes Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano . A small part of the canton of Grisons drains to the Po, partly via the Ticino. The Simplon Valley in the canton of Valais is drained by the Diveria . A minute section of the Po basin belongs to France in
6248-637: The rich agricultural and viticultural value of the Po Valley and northern Italy. A chain of food halls Eataly works in collaboration with Slow Food . Piedmont is the leading producer of confectionery, coffee, rice, and white truffles in Italy. It is ranked 3 of 20 for the production of quality DOC and DOCG wines with 1,982,718 hl, there are 17 DOCG wines of all possible types (white, red, sweet, sparkling). In 2019, Piedmont accounted for 16.5% of wine exports from Italy, ranking second behind Veneto , with 36%. The typical food industries in Piedmont are: The unemployment rate stood at 6.2% in 2023. Lowland Piedmont
6336-418: The river are cereals including – unusually for Europe – rice , which requires heavy irrigation . The latter method is the chief consumer of surface water, while industrial and human consumption use underground water. The Po has 141 tributaries . They include (R on the right bank, L on the left, looking downstream ): The Reno (R) was a tributary of the Po until the middle of the eighteenth century when
6424-402: The river. However, transit is severely hampered during summer months by low water levels. At the village of Isola Serafini in the comune of Monticelli d'Ongina , Piacenza Province , 40 km (25 mi) downstream from Piacenza, a 362 m (1,188 ft) long, 20 m (66 ft) high gate dam featuring eleven 30 m (98 ft) openings gated by vertical lift gates, crosses
6512-468: The severity, resulting in a "decrease in precipitation during critical crop growing seasons". In July 2022, the Italian government declared a state of emergency in the regions Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Water levels decreased and revealed large riverbed areas and lost objects. The Po is first certainly identified in the Graeco-Roman historians and geographers of
6600-411: The slopes of Monviso in the west of the region and is Italy's largest river. The Po drains the semicircle formed by the Alps and Apennines , which surround the region on three sides. The countryside is very diverse: from the rugged peaks of the massifs of Monte Rosa and Gran Paradiso to the damp rice paddies of Vercelli and Novara, from the gentle hillsides of the Langhe , Roero , and Montferrat to
6688-644: The southwest the Apennine Mountains bordered a land mass termed Tyrrhenis geologically. Their orogeny was just being completed in the Miocene. On the north the Alpine Orogeny had already created the Alps . At the end of the Messinian the ocean broke through the sill and the Mediterranean refilled. The Adriatic transgressed into all of northern Italy. In the subsequent Pliocene sedimentary outwash primarily from
6776-497: The station passes some traffic through the canal, but above the dam traffic is mainly barges. The average flow at the dam is 854 m /s, with a 12,800 m /s maximum. The historic average flow for June is 1,805 cubic metres per second. In late June 2022, the flow measured in Ferrara fell below an average of 145 cubic metres per second. Climate change has caused several droughts across Northern Italy, with predictions for their frequency and
6864-422: The total regional population. Most immigrants come from Eastern Europe (mostly from Romania, Albania, and Ukraine) with smaller communities of African immigrants. The Regional Government ( Giunta Regionale ) is presided by the president of the region ( presidente della regione ), who is elected for a five-year term and is composed of the president and 14 ministers, including a vice president ( vice presidente ). In
6952-583: The valley and the Adriatic as far as its centre and in the southern Adriatic. From the Pleistocene alternation of maritime and alluvial sediments occur as far west as Piacenza . The exact sequences at various locations have been studied extensively. Apparently the sea advanced and receded over the valley in conformance to an equilibrium between sedimentation and glacial advance or recession at 100,000-year intervals and 100 m (330 ft) to 120 m (390 ft) fluctuation of sea level. An advance began after
7040-472: The valley are for industry and for agriculture. The industrial centres, such as Turin and Milan, are located on higher terrain, away from the river. They rely for power on the numerous hydroelectric stations in or on the flanks of the Alps, and on the coal/oil power stations which use the water of the Po basin as coolant. Drainage from the north is mediated through several large, scenic lakes, commonly referred to as
7128-544: The water resources in the Po basin (see under Po Valley ). Its headquarters have been in Parma since its inception in 1990. It considers itself a synergy among all the institutions concerned with the preservation and development of the Po basin. It is administered by officials chosen from the administrations of the constituent regions and provinces. In 2009 the water board began its Integrated River Basin Management Plan to meet
7216-490: The waterway was navigable as far upstream as Turin . Today the waterway is navigable for substantial craft (up to 1350 tonnes —the European Class IV waterway standard ) from Cremona to the river delta on the Adriatic . Passage by smaller vessels is available for some distance above Cremona. In the lower reaches the surrounding basin is generally flat and it is served by a complicated network of small canals linked to
7304-554: Was created to draw more attention to the variety of remote, sparsely inhabited valleys. Within the tourism industry in Piedmont, a reference to the system of Royal Residences has to be made. First of all, it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1997 and, secondly, it represents a peculiarity of the region, since such a network cannot be found elsewhere in Italy. The Residences of the Royal House of Savoy belong to
7392-619: Was dense swamps, explaining why the Via Aemilia was constructed between Rimini and Piacenza and did not begin further north. The Mediterranean Basin is a depression in the Earth 's crust caused by the African Plate slipping under the Eurasian Plate . Typically in geologic history the depression is filled with sea water under various geologic names such as Tethys Sea . In the last period of
7480-782: Was founded on the initiative of the Tourism Council of the National Association of Italian Municipalities. There are links with neighbouring France via the Fréjus and Colle di Tenda tunnels as well as the Montgenèvre Pass . Piedmont also connects with Switzerland by the Simplon and Great St Bernard passes. It is possible to reach Switzerland via a normal road that crosses eastern Piedmont, starting from Arona and ending in Locarno , on
7568-473: Was the Magistrato alle Acque di Venezia , first formed in the 16th-century Republic of Venice . It made all the decisions concerning the diversion of the lower river. Most part of the delta is still in Veneto . In 1907 under the Kingdom of Italy the agency became the Magistrato alle Acque and took responsibility for all the water resources in northeastern Italy. Currently it is a decentralized institution of
7656-449: Was the territory of Roman Cisalpine Gaul , divided into Cispadane Gaul (south of the Po) and Transpadane Gaul (north of the Po). The Po has a drainage area of 74,000 km in all, 70,000 of those being in Italy, of which 41,000 is in montane environments and 29,000 on the plain. The slope of the Po's river valley decreases from 0.35% in the west to 0.14% in the east, a low gradient. Along its path lie 450 standing lakes. Almost all of
7744-479: Was to be identified with the Eridanos of the poets. Moreover, the country people call it Bodencus . This implies that a "country" population either remained from prehistoric times or adopted the name in use by that substrate. The name has been segmented as Bod-encus or Bod-incus , the suffix being characteristic of the ancient Ligurian language of northern Italy, southern France, Corsica and elsewhere. Pliny
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